i thought i'd post some pictures, but the batteries are dead on my camera. i'm looking into buying a quality digital camera, so if anyone has suggestions, let me know.

2 weeks. 2 weeks until i head off to botswana. every time i go somewhere new i just can't psych myself up. yes, i'm excited to go and see new places, minister, all that good stuff. but i'm a bit tired of new places and just want to sit in skien for a month or so. plus... i've been attacked. it came out of nowhere and POW! it hit and hit hard. culture shock. it sucks. look to my friend evan's blog to read all about it. there's not so many of us foreigners working here and when one of us gets culture shock, it spreads like wildfire. here's what goes through my mind. "hmm, so-and-so is irritated with norwegian. good, now i'm allowed to actually say how i feel. hmm, so-and-so is irritated with the way things are done. good, now i have an excuse to feel this way." it's dangerous. the first time i had culture shock i thought i was going crazy - seriously. i wanted to scream at everyone who opened their mouths and hit them in the gut. this weekend i went to see "match point" with a couple friends and there was a man standing in front of us wearing a very norwegian sweater (hand knit, made of wool, probably had reindeer or something on it) and even the sweater irritated my friend. you just can't help it. it's hard to have culture shock - it's not that i dislike being here or i dislike the people i'm around. quite the contrary. it just feels like i have a neon sign over my big head of hair, screaming, "she doesn't belong here! she's american! americans are trying to run the world and they really stink at learning norwegian! beware!" whew, glad to get that off my chest. i know it will pass and i just try to laugh at it, but at this time the laughter sounds a bit sinister.

yes, i still speak english

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

15% Yankee

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

perspective

today one of the students - a girl in my small group and also a friend - went home because her father is dying. perspective. i hear people complaining all day because they are too busy, too tired, blah, blah, and i contribute to the pile of muck by complaining about the freezing temps and snow, how i'm tired as well and it is all worth absolutely nothing. nothing. her father is dying and we complain. perspective. i remember listening to a man whom i worked with one summer share about what it is was like when his wife died and left him with 5 children. he said he everything else seemed secondary. when a child spilled a glass of milk at a restaurant, it didn't matter. if someone forgot something at home, it wasn't worth making a big deal. it changed his perspective.
i remember taking a class in college and one of the lectures was about what to say/not to say to people who are hurting. i tried to remember what we were told to do as i sat there and she cried on my shoulder, but i remembered nothing. i just let her cry. maybe that was enough though.
situations like this never seems to answer any of life's questions. if anything, it raises more. but as many of us stood around and prayed tonight, i was reminded that Jesus never changes. circumstances may, lives may, but Jesus never does. maybe that doesn't solve anything, but it helps. "my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. on Christ the solid rock i stand, all other ground is sinking sand. all other ground is sinking sand."

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.