Its a sad day for football fans...

Just had to share this...

Adorable!

Apologies! Remorses! Regrets! ...Sorry!

I'm so so sorry that I have not been active as of late, my Norwegian classes have been taking up my time, as well as Lessi!  Let me introduce our new little friend...Lessi!

Lessi is a female 2 and a half year old Cairn Terrier.  She's such a lovely character, can be sneaky at times too!  She's not stupid!  We got her on the 1st April, so we've had her nearly 3 months now, its flown by!  We've been on quite a few trips with her already, we regularly visit the local lake, where she can run free, although she can't right now as there's a certain time in Norway where its illegal to have your dog off the lead...which is slightly depressing, you'd think it would make more sense to have them off the lead now, when they can actually go outside because its not meters deep in snow, icy, and when the hunters are out in the woods shooting anything that moves, it doesn't make much sense to me to be honest!!!  We've loved every moment with her so far and look forward to a happy life with her!

I visited home in April for my Dad's 60th birthday, i had an amazing time, it was so lovely to be back with my family again.  We went on a mini break to Portland near Weymouth and had fantastic weather, we were actually able to sit out on the balcony we had in our holiday place, it was lovely!   I would definitely go back there.

Since I've been back I have just been focusing on my Norwegian lessons and trying to bring my Norwegian up to speed!  I feel that I've come a long way since I started just 6 months ago, i can nearly read all Norwegian, I can write a little less and I can understand a little less than that, but my speaking is still very basic, you really need to be able to think on the spot and translate in your head super fast to be able to actually speak a different language, its so hard for me!  I'll really have to practice my speaking over the summer holiday as i have a test in October!  I finished for the summer holidays last Thursday and start back again on the 20th August.  I'm hoping that I can consider finishing and step out into the big wide world after Christmas, fingers crossed!

My family will be visiting us here in Norway for the first time next Saturday!  I'm so excited yet nervous at the same time, I'm hoping they like it here!  Now I've finished school, this last week will be spent preparing for their arrival, sorting out the apartment, buying food etc....I can't wait to see them!  I'll be driving down to the airport to pick them up the most excited I've ever been I think!  We've many plans during their 2 week stay, visiting the royal palace in Oslo, staying in a cabin for 3 nights, visiting Sweden for cheap shopping!  Tours around the local nature, mountains, lakes etc....visiting the Olympic Stadium in Lillehammer, visiting Hamar, Trysil, and many more!  It will be a fun-filled 2 weeks!

I better be off to do some more clearing in the apartment, I'm scared I'll wake the dog though, she's sound asleep next to me on the sofa, snoring away, bless!

A Scary Adventure

Since the last time I wrote I have started back at my Norwegian classes as the winter holiday is over.  It felt strange to be back at first even though it was only a week, however I still enjoyed being back nevertheless.  We are currently studying about England's favourite topic, and what seems to be Norway's favourite topic too, the weather!  I have recently found out that my Norwegian teacher reads my blog!  Så jeg må skrive på norsk nå ikke sant? Lol.

The weekend before we started back at school, Thomas and I took a little trip up to the Elverum ski jump.  I had a huge surprise.  You are allowed to just walk straight up to the jump and even walk up it!  The actual wooden structure that the jump is on....you can walk on it!  If that were in England it would be closed off if no one was manning the jump for safety.  Talking about safe, it didn't look safe at all!  The jump itself was made out of old weather wood that looked like it would crack at any moment, I didn't feel safe walking up it at all!  Then when you reach the top you realise that it is so so high, I was shaking and i'm not even scared of heights!  The wind was blowing so strongly at the top of the jump that I couldn't even breathe.  The view was lovely, the experience was not!  After taking in the view, Thomas and I went home to warm up!

I still haven't been able to try out my spark as the snow hasn't been good enough, i'm hoping we have some more soon! I have no more lessons the rest of the week so I get some more time to myself again which will be nice.  I'm going over a friend's house tomorrow so that should be fun.  Bye for now!

A Pleasant Surprise!

This week definitely hasn't been a dull one!  On Tuesday it was Pancake Day, yes you guessed it...I made pancakes!  They were the best ones that I have ever made, even if I do say so myself!  I made plain pancakes with raisins, then covered them in sugar and lemon juice, they were absolutely delicious!  They tasted just like the ones that my Mum makes so it very much reminded me of home.

On Wednesday I had a few friends from my Norwegian Class round and I made them Cottage Pie to give them a taste of England!  (I also made pancakes for dessert seeing as it was Pancake Day just the day before!).  They all seemed to enjoy it and went home completely stuffed, mission accomplished!

Yesterday I had a huge surprise!!  Some friends of my boyfriend and I gave me an old spark!  It was their Grandmother's and they thought that I could now have it instead...how lovely!  I didn't see that coming at all!  Ever since I first came to Norway I have fallen in love with the spark, and now I have my very own!  It needs some work but i'm sure I can do something with it, I'm just so very happy!!  Huge thanks to Nina and Bård!  That was so very very kind of you!! :)

The next few days here in Norway are meant to be really nice, with temperatures reaching 6 degrees, that's tropical!  I think a few mini trips can be planned to make the most of the sunshine :)

What a week!

So following my last update I have been bugged with a bad cold, they always seem to hit me hard, its like they try to punish me for something!  I've not been up to much at all really, I haven't even been doing my housework! (Quick update, if i'm not cleaning there's something definitely wrong with me).  Our apartment has been a mess the whole week.  I managed to drag myself to school on Thursday seeing as it was only a couple of hours long and was the last day before the winter holidays.  I was given my Norwegian test results (I had a short test during the week) I managed to get 89%, i'm so chuffed with myself!  Other than that, nothing!

Today though I have finally cleaned our apartment now that i'm well again.  We can have a nice roast dinner tonight too which i'm really looking forward to, mmm roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings....over the last few days, Thomas and I have been living off ready meals because he came down with a bad cold too, he had to have a few days off work, so we've both been down in the dumps!  The worst time to get ill is when you're both ill as then the other can't look after you, you actually have to try and fend for yourselves...

Now that Thomas is feeling better too he has gone to his football manager course this weekend so I've the whole apartment to myself!  (To do some cleaning. Yawn)  I was going to go out for a little walk today as it is absolutely beautiful outside but by the time I finished my cleaning the sun had disappeared for a while, typical! I'll be taking the car to pick Thomas up soon anyway, thought I better give it a little run so that we don't have the battery dying on us again like last week.

I've still no update on the job department i'm afraid, so I have the whole of next week to myself seeing as its the winter holidays so there is no school.  I think the weather's meant to be quite nice, quite warm too, around 4 degrees apparently!  Hot!  So perhaps i'll have a chance to go for a few strolls then.

I really can't believe its nearly March already, where does the time go??  In a way it is a good thing as it means it is only 6 weeks until I go back to England for the Easter holidays to see my family!  Of course I won't want time to fly by whilst i'm there though, which of course it will.

Well that's pretty much all you have to catch up on for now, I've really not done anything whilst I've been ill.  Hopefully i'll get up to a few adventures next week on my week off!

...Signing out :)

One Experience After Another!

This week has definitely been one I won't forget!  Earlier in the week I was given the opportunity to try chicken heart.  My Thai friend made lunch for all of us in class which included a mixture of vegetables in a spicy sauce with chicken hearts.  I must admit, they didn't look too appetizing, especially after I had noticed that I could see one of the valves in a heart that was on my plate!!  I gave it a try though and it tasted just like chicken!  I was pleasantly surprised!  However I don't think that I will be eating any more anytime soon by choice, the look and thought of it is enough to put me off!

Yesterday I went to my Bulgarian friend's house as it was her turn to host a meal!  What did we have?  Chicken liver.  For an English person...eating the insides of animals isn't normal!!  She served chicken livers in a dish with onions, all baked in the oven.  She also made a combination of an egg, Bulgarian cheese and pastry thing.  It tasted absolutely delicious!  I might even try my own combination in the future, it was so yummy!

The chicken livers however didn't have such an exciting outcome from me.  The taste was actually alright, it was more the texture that put me off.  The texture is not like meat at all, it just seems to turn into a paste in your mouth, very strange.  So it was the thought and the texture of the liver that put me off this time, I won't be eating anymore anytime soon if I don't have to!

I did however have a lovely time, Ani was a great host!  Its lovely to finally have my own little group of friends here in Norway!  We all seem to get along really well.

After the meal, on my way home I decided to take some pictures as the sun finally came out!  It has been all cloudy and dull here in Elverum for nearly 2 weeks now, a little bit of sunshine goes a long way!  The temperature has warmed quite a bit to what we have been used to recently too, it is at an average of -8 at the moment.  I'm finding it quite hot!  The snow has started to melt on the very tops of roofs and icicles have started to form on the edge of roofs, making it extremely dangerous for the pedestrians below.  My boyfriend is constantly having to knock them off our roof by our front door, otherwise walking to our door is like walking through a death trap!  Especially with the huge patch of ice at the bottom of our steps.  I don't like it when the snow melts.

Elverum Hospital

Here you can see how deep the snow is as the gravestones are practically hidden in the cemetery.

Elverum Church

This weekend, Thomas and I will be off to Osen to visit his grandparents so i'm sure we will be busy!  Its always lovely to see them, Osen is a lovely place too, so beautiful.  I'll make sure to take some pictures!  This will be my last update for the week seeing as we are going away so...as the Norwegians say 'God Helg!' 

An extremely belated Happy New Year!

I apologise for the VERY late blog update, however Christmas arrived, and then the new year, then I started my Norwegian classes and everything's been super super busy!  I shall give you a brief update, as brief as possible as not to bore you!

So we last left off from the 16th December, not long after that, Thomas and I traveled up to Hitra to stay with his Mum for Christmas.  It was very strange for me not to be in England for Christmas, it was my first time away from home during the festive season, very odd.  However I did have a lovely time, I enjoyed new experiences and celebrating Christmas the Norwegian way.  The Norwegian Christmas day is on the 24th December,this was very weird!  Yet festivities didn't start until the evening, Norwegians don't open their presents until the evening, I couldn't believe it!  I'm so used to Christmas's in England where we always open our presents in the morning and carry on with the festivities throughout the day, it very much felt like Christmas hadn't arrived until the evening!  We had what the Norwegian's call 'Ribbe'  which is basically some pork ribs with amazing crackling on the top, prepared with all kinds of spices, it is extremely delicious!

With the Ribbe we had boiled potatoes, red cabbage, 'Jul pølse' which is 'Christmas sausage' literally translated, this is a white sausage that Norwegians only eat during the Christmas period, it tastes just like English sausages!  I wish they sold this all year round as I would buy it all the time!  Very delicious.  After we had finished eating we then went into the living room and opened our pressies.

On the 25th it was just like a normal day, however I called my family on Skype and we opened our pressies together as this was our Christmas day!  It was very nice to be able to see and speak to my family on Christmas day, especially being able to see my Grandma as I don't get to very often since I moved away.

Thomas and I drove back to Elverum on the 28th ready for the New Year!  We went to a friend's house to celebrate and during the celebration we went outside and went on to the top of a nearby hill to see all of the fireworks in Elverum, it was such a beautiful sight!  Seeing the fireworks being set off, surrounded by snow with a view of Elverum, beautiful!  It was a lovely way to welcome in the New Year!

On the 9th of January I started my Norwegian lessons.  Everything is going well so far and I have already picked up quite a few words and phrases, i'm so proud of myself!  My Norwegian writing has hugely improved!  I still need to work on actual conversation though.  It is very difficult to remember the words when you are actually speaking to someone as you don't have the time to think about which word should go where, what words to use, very confusing!  The longer it takes me to decide the more agitated I get!  Hopefully this will improve soon.  

I have also made a lovely group of friends from Norwegian classes, we all get on really well and spend a lot of time together away from classes too.  We are from 5 different countries!  England (of course...) Thailand, the Philippines, Bulgaria and Columbia!  We often go to each others houses and make each other food from our own countries, it will be my turn in March!  Today we are going to the Bulgarian friend's house where we will try Chicken liver....i'm not looking forward to it as it doesn't sound too appealing however i'm willing to give it a try.  Yesterday I tried chicken heart as my Thai friend brought in lunch for us all in class, I didn't like the look or thought of it however it tasted just like chicken!  I don't think i'll be eating it by choice in the future though as the looks and the thought of it put me off, despite whether it tastes alright or not!

Apologies again for not posting much recently as I have been extremely busy however I shall try and be a good girl from now on!

A Wish Come True!

It's as if someone heard my call out for a Christmas miracle yesterday!  It's snowing!  Of course I shall be going out very soon so that I can make the most of it.  Whether the snow will stay until Christmas day however is yet to be seen....  But this is very good news!  Exactly what the weather should be and exactly why I came to Norway!  Oh and to live with my boyfriend of course...  Let it snow!!

(By the way...for readers back home...this is just 1 hours worth of snow, and it's still snowing quite heavy now!)

Today is a sad day...

...The snow is melting.  What happened to our winter wonderland?  I came to Norway almost certain that I would have a white Christmas.  Now this might not happen at all!  We need a Christmas miracle.  That is all.

Busy Busy Bee!

Huge apologies for the silence over the last few weeks, I've been so busy!  I went back to England and had an amazing time, I met with the family, shopping in Bristol, then I graduated!  I can't believe it actually happened and that I've actually finished University.  It still hasn't sunk in and I don't think it ever will!  I had to wear the silly gown, which looked ridiculously huge on me, because of my super skinny shoulders the gown wouldn't stay up so I kept having to hoist it back up, annoying!!  I was so nervous when it was my turn to walk up on stage and shake the Chancellor's hand too, so scared I was going to fall over or that I was going to lose my hat, extremely nerve wracking!  In fact, I was so nervous that I barely remember the actual ceremony!  It was still a lovely day though and I was so glad that my family and Thomas were there with me.

Since being back in Norway I've turned 22!  It was my birthday last Saturday and I had such a wonderful day.  Thomas was due to work (or so I thought) then an hour later I have a knock on my door, who else is it but Thomas stood there with flowers, I was so shocked!  That was a lovely surprise!  I spent present opening time on Skype with my family and then used my time to make my own birthday cake, cakes in Norway are super super expensive and they don't sell them in their supermarkets, crazy!!  In the evening Thomas had booked a table at my favourite restaurant, where they surprised me again with ice cream with a sparkler in it, amazing!  So thanks again to Thomas for giving me such a wonderful 22nd birthday.

The next day we put up our Christmas decorations, our tree looks amazing!  (even if I do say so myself...)

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year, despite the fact of not being with my family, that will be extremely odd and I really am missing the fact i'll be able to celebrate with them this year, however this will be the first proper Christmas that Thomas and I spend together and it is my first Christmas in Norway, i'm really looking forward to see the Norwegian Christmas traditions!  Thomas and I have finished buying Christmas presents for everyone, we just have to get wrapping now, bring on Christmas!  (I'm super super excited!!)

We have finally had our first proper snowfall too, the first snowfall was around 3 inches, followed by another 3/4 inches a couple of days later, it really does look like a winter wonderland outside now.  This was also the first time that I have EVER had snow on my birthday, despite being born in December, i've never had snow on my birthday until now!  I love going out nearly every day now just so that I can walk in the snow, i'm like a little child!  I even made my very first snow angel when we had our first fall, even Thomas was saying that i'm like a little child, I just love snow!  He's determined that i'll be fed up of it in 6 months time.  We shall see, but for now....Let it snow!

Just a quickie!

Just before I leave....It snowed in Elverum today!

A November Stroll

My boyfriend and I went on a 2 hour walk this morning, I've been looking forward to it all week!  We decided to go through the museum grounds then circle back to our apartment, it was a lovely walk, it was lovely for the two of us to spend some quality time together too.  The scenery was amazing.

Elverum is really starting to look all wintery now, we've definitely entered a winter wonderland.  It was nice to just nice to be able to breath without any worries, just the two of us.

When the sun started to come out, Elverum really started to look magical as the sun shined on all of the frost covering every surface possible.

You may have noticed that the background to my blog has been changed to the theme of London!  This is because on Saturday, my boyfriend and I shall be heading back to England for my graduation, we shall be staying there for the week, I'm so excited!  Very nervous about my actual graduation though, and i'm starting to panic with all of the stress of packing and having to be at certain places at certain times, stress!  I'm sure I shall be fine though and everything shall go well.  So if you don't hear from me for a while, it's because i'm in England!  Speak soon!

I take that back...

So...what I said yesterday about Elverum escaping the Winter Wonderland?  Mother Nature must have heard me, we woke up to a white Elverum this morning (Covered in frost, not snow...might I add...) This was the view from our window all day.

An Unknown Journey

On the weekend, Thomas and I took a trip to Osen to visit his Grandparents.  This time however, we used my Sat Nav that I have brought over with me from England.  We've not had the chance to try it in Norway before so we thought it best to use it then seeing as, if we do get taken away from our usual route, we'll most likely still know where we are!

It was a chilly but sunny day, like many of the days we are having currently.  We plugged in the Sat Nav and the route took us nearly up to Trysil, then round Osensjøen (Osen Lake) The opposite side to where we usually come from.  We decided to still go for this route as neither of us had never travelled the opposite side of the lake before.

As soon as we had left Elverum (which has seen no signs of Winter as of yet), the trees all of a sudden started turning white, and there was a light frost on the ground, the type of things we should be seeing at this time of year!  The journey was so beautiful.  However, as we reached Osensjøen, the sun had obviously been out for quite a while, as the frost suddenly disappeared.

Then suddenly...we were thrown right back into the beginning of winter, and not only that...but we were also expected by my Sat Nav, to travel on what seemed a dirt track for the last 30 minutes of our journey!  Both Thomas and I were dreading what our car may look like after this trip, stones were flying up from everywhere, even though we had slowed right down!

The track went on and on...

For what seemed like forever!

Then finally, we reached Osen, goodbye dirt track, hello the frozen side of Osensjøen!

The scenery was absolutely beautiful.  I was slightly jealous however, of how Osen looked like some type of winter wonderland, when Elverum wasn't even showing any signs of starting winter anytime soon.  Everything looked beautiful!

We had a lovely day with his Grandparents, we both arrived home that evening, safe, well, and well fed!  A trip to Osen is always worthwhile!  We shall not however, be taking the advice of my Sat Nav ever again if it tells us to drive round Osensjøen the eastern side! 

I was due to go out for a mini trip in Elverum today to show you some more pictures, however something came up so i'm hoping to go out tomorrow, if not, definitely Thursday!  Keep your eyes peeled.

Rememberance Day

Tomorrow is the 11th November.  This means that it is the day that we all remember those who were killed during the First World War, this is due to Germany signing the treaty in Berlin to mark the end of the war on the 11th November 1918, at 11am.  So now we all take a minutes silence at 11am, on the 11th of November.  Today however, we also use this date to remember those who were killed in the Second World War, and all those that followed.

This has been the tradition in the United Kingdom for many years, and will be for years to come.  I feel so guilty that I haven't been able to wear a poppy this year, so my tribute is to change the background of my blog to Poppy's instead.  I will also be watching the ceremony online tomorrow morning, live from the Cenotaph in London.

Thank you, R.I.P.

Four Words...

...Where is the snow?

Nothing beats a delicious Roast Dinner.

I've missed roast dinners for so long, they're one of my favourite meals!  So today I decided to cook one, which meant I cooked Roast Potatoes from scratch for the very first time as they don't sell them in Norway!  I must say, they were delicious, I can't believe how well they turned out for my first try, they're easy peasy!  I also attempted to cook some honey roasted carrots but they didn't turn out so well, I think I used too much honey, better luck next time!  I could eat a whole tray of those Roast Potatoes...

We had Roast Chicken by the way... its just missing the Yorkshire Pudding!

Hurray for Winter Tyres!

Today, Thomas and I managed to have our winter tyres fitted correctly!  We found out that they couldn't be fitted correctly before because you have to actually change the bolts too.  So with the help of Thomas's Dad, we are now prepared for the winter - bring it on!

Funnily enough though....we have a bit of strange weather happening at the moment.  It is now November...there is no snow....what's going on Norway?!  The snow normally starts to arrive within the last couple of weeks of October, this is so strange!  Its probably because i'm here or something, the English girl has jinxed Norway.  I have jinxed it with my pure excitement to experience winter in Norway in its full form.  I feel like a little girl again, waiting, hoping, wishing for the snow to arrive!  Yes i'm 22 in a month.

Today was also the first time that I have made something called Kjøttkaker!  Literally translated as Meatcakes.  They are delicious!  Thomas's Grandma kindly gave me the meat I needed to make the meatcakes and gave me a few instructions on how to make them, easy peasy!  The only mistake I made was to use flour to 'mold' them together, apparently you can simply use water.  So because I used flour there are a few brown marks on the cakes, but apart from that, they tasted just as they should, delicious!  I am so impressed with myself that I served a Norwegian meal!  I even served the meal with Flat bread and Ripsgele (a type of jelly you serve with hot food, especially delicious on potatoes)  The meal even had approval from Thomas!

This is Norwegian Flat Bread, typically used as a side with hot meals, it is thin and crispy in texture, quite plain in taste, but very delicious with hot meals.

I'm not quite sure that Thomas and I have much planned for the next few days, hopefully we can have a relaxing weekend!  I shall keep you posted.

Belated Happy Halloween!

Apologies that I haven't written for a few days, i've been quite busy!  What with visiting Thomas's family on the weekend and then preparing for Halloween all of yesterday, i've been little busy bee! 

Yesterday I had planned to make some muffins and a cake with a punch so that Thomas and I could have a mini Halloween party to ourselves.  I made a fruit cake with chocolate icing, with a spider web decoration iced on top.  This was my first time at decorating so the spider web didn't look too great, it was more of a square!

Next I had planned to make some chocolate muffins with a buttercream icing on top with a green spider web decoration.  However, I was left with way too much batter after I had filled all of my muffin cases, so I decided to use the left over batter to make another cake.  So that left me with 2 cakes and 12 muffins!  Just for 2 people!  It was getting rather late by the time I was able to ice the muffins, disaster struck.  The butter cream icing wouldn't set!  Which meant that the muffins now looked awful, tasted amazing, but looked awful! It also meant that the spider web decoration wouldn't really stick to the butter cream.  So I decided to use my green decoration icing to decorate the spare chocolate cake instead.  I was too tired by this point to put a spider web on the green cake, even though a simple white web would have looked really good on top.

It had reached midnight by the time I had finished baking and making the Spiced Autumn Punch.  Despite being tired and worn out from all of the hard work I had created myself, everything tasted delicious!  There's definitely one thing that me and Thomas can be sure of for a while....we're stocked up on cake!!