Bergen!

I love Bergen. You can feel the good atmosphere as soon as you leave the boat in the harbour. We stayed five days at Kari and Andreas´ and had a really good time climbing Stolzekleiven one day in the sun, walking around in the city, playing Backgammon in Kvarteret, having beer in the sun, breakfast on Zakcariassenbryggen, and dinner in the good, old Italian. We visited Kristin and Oeyvind in their new flat in Vademyra, Hiwa, Camilla and Saia Oline in their new apartment just below the former one, we got surprising news from Juan Carlos over a beer; he´s going to be a father! I also got to have a Haci-coffee and a discussion about my thesis with my tutor Haci. The last eveningin Norway, on Pablo´s birthday, we had a great party on Kari and Andreas´ roof-terrace where we could watch the sunset over Askoy! Thanks for a great time everyone! I miss you!

Vacations!

It’s been a while now since I’ve written anything on my blog. Can it be that vacations are busier than working? The 29th of March Mari and I went to Nairobi to meet Atle, Mari’s scuba-diving-friend. We had lunch the following day with our friends James and Daniel that studie in Nairobi before we said ‘kwaheri’ and Mari and Atle wet to the coast to explore life under water and I headed north. I’ve been in Europe for more than two weeks now and I must admit I am quite used to it now. When I arrived Brussels in the morning I happen to change the clock in wrong direction, so the patisseries with croassants and café o’ lait that I had been looking forward to was of course still closed. There was little to do in the capital of the European Union at 7.30 in the morning and it was freezing! I was not very inventive later in the day either. I had a fabulous coffee, bought a pair of socks, went to the hairdresser and thougt it was a bit strange that the streets were full of mzungus.

Despite that some football fanatics had parked their car in the middle of the road, Pablo arrived in time to pick me up in the airport in Sevilla! It was great to at last be with Pablo!

By coincident I realizeed that my brother Martin was in Cadiz with his ship waiting to continue to the Canary Islands. We had not met since July so Pablo and I jumped on a train the next day to meet him. I hardly recognized my own brother when he arrived on a DBS bike with a helmet on his head. I haven’t seen him like that in at least 10 years.

We had some trouble getting back to the flat that night. Semana Santa had just started, the streets were packed with people and Pablo’s flat seemed to be enclosed by processions of people wearing pyramide hats in different colours covering their faces. Now and then an impressive installation of Maria or Jesus strided down the street being carried by 50 people. It was all beautiful, imposing and slightly irritating when we just wanted to go home.

Before we left for Norway I got to meet Pablo’ two months old nephew Sergio in Jerez. Pablo had told me he was beautiful and big. I agreed on the first one but he was definitely a baby and in my eyes very small.

We slept one night in a hotel in Stansted and were surprised on how well the taxi-system works at the airport. You go to a desk, tell your destination, pay, get a receipt and a number and in some way a taxi-driver outside knows you will come and he will be ready to open the trunk and take you safely to your destination.

In the plane the next day I met Jorunn, a classmate from high-school. She is a teacher in London so we exchanged experiences from our lifves as Ms Omdal and Madam Inga and we agreed that glasses are essential devices in our profession!

Even if it seems like we would land in the sea, the pilot once again brought the passengers safely to the island outside Haugesund. The weather was grey, cold and windy

Pablo has rediscovered the tights. He told me that his mother had a hard time making him wear stilongs when he was young. In Norway it didn’t take more than a short evening-hike to the mountain Alvanuten before he voluntarily put a woolen tights under his trousers…and wore it the next 10 days!

We went on a family-hike with four generations the following day, from Steinsfjellet to Haavaashytta. Great trip, with some snow, a pick-nick with matpakke, coffee on a thermos and oranges to peel and eat on the short breaks. My grandfather tried to convince Pablo that Columbus was Norwegian…without any great success I think.

In a tiny, cosy café in Skudeneshavn with plastic bananas in the lamp, porcelein dwarfs at the counter and photoes of the owners´ family on the walls we had vafler and coffee and Pablo got to put a sticker on Jerez on a big world map hanging on the wall. Luckily for Pablo the only stickers left were somewhat bigger than the ones already on the map, so Jerez now looks like the main spot!

It was great to see everyone and spend some time at home although it was a very short stay. Hopefully I will see Pappa, Mamma and Steinar in Kenya in not too long! After four days we took the boat to Bergen.