a whole new (english speaking) world.

sitting here monday morning, brewing the chocolate-caramel coffee i bought at whittard's in london, watching sondre lerche on "god morgen norge." he is one of my favorite musicians, but he's one of those guys who you would think looks just plain weird if he wasn't a musician.
london. sigh. it was wonderful. the ground wasn't covered in snow, they spoke english, they had starbucks, and people were kind - even men. when i got to the airport thursday at midnight, i decided to get a hotel and they sent a shuttle to pick me up. the chauffeur even got out of the car, took my bags, and helped me in the van. he talked to me for quite awhile and asked where i was coming from. i told him norway and later on in the conversation he commented on how good my english was. i told him i hoped it was good - i was american. he didn't think that was nearly as exciting, so he didn't ask many more questions. =)
on saturday, my friend kjersti and her friend remaliah and i were walking down oxford street when we heard a crunching noise and then a scream. suddenly, a car went speeding down the road. a girl had been hit with a car and the driver just drove off! she limped off to the sidewalk and people began rushing towards her. crazy.
it was a great weekend. now it's back to even more snow (i think we have close to a meter now) and teamweek. and i'll sign off to drink a little coffee and listen to sondre.

no thoughts really

sitting here, wishing i would just go to bed, but instead i'm watching the olympics and checking out other people's blogs. just have to put a shout out to randy in k. are you up to visitors next year?
today was one of those melancholy days where i thought about everything, analyzed it, chewed on it, and received absolutely no clarity. i hate these confusing times.
time is a'running and i'm soon off to london. the problem is i have no idea where to stay when i arrive the first night, so i guess it's just me and stansted airport. but on friday... starbucks here i come! one of my favorite things to do in louisville was to sit at borders on friday nights for hours, listening to the live music, reading mindless novels and magazines, having free refills on coffee. i know the perfect little borders in london that serves starbucks, so you can find me there on friday.
feeling a bit intellectual now, so i'll share a nugget of knowledge from henri nouwen: "in solitude we discover the community is not a common ideology, but a response to a common call. in solitude we indeed realize community is not made but given." amen.
i think i'll have a handful of the peanut butter m&m's ruth silje brought me from the states and call it a night.

we're back, hallelujah. a week with a fin, german, an indian, an american, and 4 norwegians proved to be quite interesting.

my life in pictures

me and me friend janne

skien under snow

the new roomate in our apartment. he's small (but growing), dark, a bit hairy. his name is "mold."

jorun, kati, and iida in finland

ekki ("super ekki"), karen amalie, and anne randi at the superhero lovefeast. the theme was just an excuse for the guys to wear their underwear outside their pants.

the weeked is here (eller "helgen er her" paa norsk). we've thrown a birthday party (40so people came, which is a feat for our small apartment), teaching has been good and quite heavy, lots of meetings, a lovefeast, little sleep, and last night my students came over for a late dinner. i even cooked! meat and vegetarian lasagne, french bread, chocolate chip cookies. to top it off we had swedish cider.
i leave tuesday for sogndal for a week. i'm looking forward to go to the west coast, but am a bit tired of traveling. tonight though, a few of us are going to go see "Walk the Line."

a new calling

i think God may be calling me to work in oslo... starbucks is coming! woohoo!