Goodbye to January

Still loads of snow on the ground. Im dying to take off the damn wellies I've had to wear since November 26th and burn the bloody things and slip on a pair of nice shoes and walk on soft, green grass. Will the snow ever melt? In some places it is piled up almost 7 feet tall. It feels never ending (and more is forecast this week)
This weekend we had coffee at the lovely Laundromat Cafe in Oslo (I want to steal all their lamps/lights) ate fluffy pancakes at home and walked miles discovering lots of new places.
This weekend I loved Norway......

Rosinboller

Yesterday evening Henrik made Rosinboller. We buy these all the time at the supermarket (they remind me of a British hot cross bun, but with cardamom in) but they were something else homemade. Oh my god, they are good! Now, the kitchen is normally my domain and I could not quite leave Henrik to bake in peace, I tormented him for the whole time he baked, wound him up, tickled him until he became really cross and threw me out of the kitchen! What's that all about?

Today

We were walking today when we came across a cute little community of little wooden houses and decided to go and have a look. Lots of little summer cottages too cold to stay in during the winter. We wandered around, I took some pictures and then we tried to leave but the gate we came in through was locked and the fence was taller than Henrik so there was no chance of climbing over! I started to panic but after trudging round the area in knee deep snow, we managed to find a nice man who unlocked the gate for us. Panic over, we came home, made a pizza are now enjoying an afternoon of Seinfeld.

I have been a day behind all week. I woke up thinking it was Wednesday and was thrilled to be told it is in fact Thursday which means no norwegian classes and I made a deal with myself that I'm not going to speak a single word of norwegian today. Im going to talk only english, watch english tv, eat english food. I spoke to all the shop assistants in english this morning and tonight when we go to the cinema I shall see an english film!
I don't want to deal with verbs, bestemt,ubestemt,flertall,entall,ø,å or æ. I want it all to just go away until I'm back at school tomorrow!
p.s It is stupidly cold here today, but the sun is shining.

Tirsdag

Henrik is home from Stockholm bringing me a book that I've been after for a while. It's so nice to have him home again, it felt so strange to be alone in Norway!
Norwegian classes are going well. Been having some very funny conversations with my classmates about what we ate for breakfast(including a conversation about nuts (nøtter in Norwegian) with a russian guy, he didnt know what the word meant so I mimed a squirrel eating nuts which lead him to think our teacher had eaten a squirrel for breakfast!) We have many moments like these but for me non English speakers are perfect to talk to cause I'm then forced to speak norwegian. I sleep well on these days as Im worn out!
It is -13c this morning which feels like a bit of a shock after yesterday being 1c! Come on Spring!

Mandag

Henrik has been in Stockholm for the last three days for his job and it's the first time we have been apart since getting married and I hate it! The only thing I was looking forward to was having the bed to myself but all that space meant that I slept in a very strange position and have done something very painful to my back!

Helping me through the winter

Seinfeld box sets, candle light,nice moisturisers and a good lip balm (such cold weather means my skin is very thirsty!) have helped me through this looooooong winter (and it's not over yet!)

This evening

I have been slaving over my homework this evening as Henrik is going to Stockholm on Sunday for work and if I leave it til Sunday night (as I usually would do) then I'm buggered if I get stuck.
As a "well done, Im proud of you" present Henrik bought me some iittala Ultima Thule glasses. Im hoping if the good work continues then I'll have a set of 10 by the time the course finishes (now if that's not an incentive to learn Norwegian then I don't know what is!)

Veldig Kald

Today was freezing but beautiful. Bright blue skies and frozen trees. I can cope with this weather as long as the sun is shining
I know I moan about Norway/Norwegians rather a lot but I also want to mention that I love living here and right now would not want to live anywhere else- I just have days when adjusting to this new life can be very frustrating! (plus I love a good moan)

Ikea love

I love Ikea. I love going to Ikea. Long live Ikea!
(Sofa, blankets,glasses,tea towel hanger,rug,bowls,cabinet all from Ikea)