Sunday afternoon

Henrik got the i phone 4 last week and I have been hogging it since. Must let him use it!
My only complaint is that Hipstamatic makes me look like I have stubble! (beard pic not shown for reasons of vanity!)

Sunrise

It's already +2c so Im hoping some of the snow is going to melt today as we spent way too many hours at the weekend clearing it from around the windows (and yes, I realise the star light is a christmas decoration but I'm keeping it there until the clocks change and things get a bit lighter around here!)

Afternoon in Oslo

We walked for hours,stopping for food and drinks and to visit Henrik's office, by the time we arrived home my ears were so frozen i feared they may fall off!
Thanks to you all for your support with the language learning and reminding me that I'm actually getting three languages for the price of one! Norwegian, Danish and Swedish! (Although I must admit that I cannot understand the Danish accent at all as they seem to "swallow" their words but Swedish I can understand better as it sounds like a softer,nicer version of Norwegian!)

yesterday

So much snow here and even as I type now it's still coming down. Enough!
It did look beautiful yesterday though so I can't complain too much. I'm now learning to tell the time in Norwegian and it's difficult as they tell the time very differently to the English way! Also at my class yesterday I had to stand in front of everyone and make a conversation and I totally choked! I could not remember anything and a lovely Croatian girl had to take over from me. I wanted to cry! I have a ton of homework to do this weekend but first we need to go outside and have some fun in all this snow!
The dummy tree picture is from my local library where kids go to hang up their dummies with a little note once they have grown out of them!

This morning

The snow has stopped and it's warm and cozy inside. Did I ever mention how warm our flat is? I am very impressed with Norwegian heating and insulation. We don't have a single draught with any doors or windows and after living in draughty Victorian London houses this is heaven!
I had a very quick trip to Ikea yesterday because, despite the snow I needed to check out their sale and I'm glad I did cause I found a half price VILMIE throw that I've had my eye on for a while.

Last night over a foot of snow was dumped on us- thankfully I don't have to go to school today (as they double booked my classroom)I attempted to take the train into oslo this morning but the knee high snow was too tiring to wade through so I gave up and came home (taking a few pics of my street along the way!) so Im hanging out on the sofa practising my verbs now(having calmed down from my little meltdown last night!
p.s Forgot to pencil in my eyebrows this morning so Im looking rather alien like in above pic! ugh!

I admire each and everyone of you that speaks a language other than your mother tongue.
Three days into my Norwegian course and already Im tearful and feeling inadequate. I have really enjoyed the course so far it's just the thought of the long road ahead of me that is sooooo daunting.
Right now, I just want to go home (and speak English)

Snø days

I've cleared away Christmas and it feels nice to have got rid of all that clutter!
Yesterday it snowed a lot and as I drove to my class they had not yet ploughed but with my winter tyres I was there in no time! I now feel as any day soon we will lose the views from the windows in our flat if there is much more snow ( and a foot of the white stuff is due to arrive today!)

Here in Norway alcohol is really expensive and can only be bought in one place. Vinmonopolet is owned by the government and sells all alcohol over 4.75% (beer and cider can be bought at the Supermarket-at a price!) You cannot buy alcohol and wine anywhere else! I would never buy spirits here as we make enough trips back to England and stock up each time but I do love to compare prices when we are in there (usually only buying wine) A bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin (which we just bought in England for £13) was a staggering 446Kr (about £48) The Government claim that the high costs are to limit the amount of alcohol consumed here but from what I've seen Norwegians love to drink and do not let the high prices deter them (also they earn a lot more money so it's all relative) So, it's a win-win situation for the government! Ker-ching!
p.s Personally I'm not a big drinker so I'm not too bothered about the high prices, but if the Government do the same to chocolate......then there will be trouble!

Just got back from my first Norwegian lesson and after 4 months of not using my brain, it is now feeling slightly frazzled!
We covered the basics today but I did learn a few new tricks and look forward to learning more !
(Totally random picture above as for once I have been too busy to get my camera out!)

Thawing

Yesterday the temp raised to 1c which actually felt quite warm. Lots of the ice on the fjord is beginning to melt (sadly so are my ice lanterns!) As cold as its been so far I have not found the Norwegian winter to be quite as dark, cold and depressing as I'd imagined. That said, I am so looking forward to summer (Even when a Norwegian said to me recently, "Ah,yes, I remember last summer..... It was on July 23rd!") and not having to be wrapped up all the time and swimming at the beaches that we now have to wrap up to visit!

Happy new year!

I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2011!
Thanks to you all for following my blog and all your lovely comments over the last year.
Being the party animals that we are not we stayed home last night eating good food and drinking Mount Gay rum (I'm not a big drinker so I was drunk by 8pm)
This morning- a big breakfast before the diet starts tomorrow!
Monday- Norwegian lessons start and it appears I have been put on the intense course. Yikes!