Norway

Summer is on its way

Oh, I can feel it already! Winter is gone, I can smell the fresh air, but it doesn´t have a sting to it anymore. Summer is on its way! I´ve been longing for it for so long, anticipating, making plans, I´m sure it will be the best summer yet!

We don´t have that many holiday plans yet, but we´ll probably take all those weekend trips we never get around to do otherwise. Except for two short breaks in May- me in Lisbon with a friend and Vuong at a fair in Barcelona, and 10 days in Belgrade in June, we have absolutely no idea what we´ll be doing. It just has to include Sam and some good weather. And shrimps and white wine.

Take a look at Drøbak, it´s a small town dream just an hour away from Oslo where we spent a Saturday last year.  It was such great fun, can´t wait to go back. They have a lovely antique shop, white wooden houses, a small marina and a couple of restaurants. Who needs more?

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Sunday walk

On a sunny day, Oslo is the best thing you could ever wish for! We have the forrest just a tube ride away, the marina downtown and lots of cafés around. Besides, going out to enjoy the sun and get some D-vitamin is mandatory. Everybody does it. You just can´t let the chance pass you by.

Yesterday was such a day and since Sammy is the real deal, we decided to go to Frogneseteren.  It´s a nice walk in the woods and on the top you get to eat some goodies, too! This is the Romanian way, nothing is too strenuous if you have the prospects of a good meal afterwards.

Afterwards we left Sam à la maison and  went to Sørenga to have a coffee in the sun. My friend Elif joined us and it was a really pleasant afternoon. Dim sum and a movie were in order, so we watched Non Stop with Liam Neeson, an exciting, though pretty straight forward type of movie. Now that´s what I call a Sunday well spent!

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Norway on Sunny Days

Thought I´d throw in a couple of pictures of my adopted country in good weather, since it started snowing today and it got me into a seriously bad mood. To think I was sure the spring was already here! I´m so good at deceiving myself!;-)

 

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I´m back!

In case you´ve missed me, I´ve been down with a terrible cold with fever and sneezing and the whole shabam. And since I had some work to do instead of  nurturing my cold it took me ages to recover. Now I´m back on track and ready to roll!;-)

Anyway. Let me tell you about the week that passed. It kind of started on Wednesday, before that I was too sick and too tired to care about anything else than work and sleep. To sum it up, it was all about eating and socializing, as I was lucky not to have too much work on my agenda.

Wednesday- lunch with my lovely friend Elif at The Nighthawk Diner, burgers and fries. Chit chatting and chilling, the perks of being a freelancer finally pay off.

Thursday- out with my friend Kristin, dinner and margaritas at Taco Republica. It´s a fairly new and trendy eatery in Oslo, where they only serve organic food in a cosmopolitan environment.

Friday I had lots of time for my beauty sleep, but also for a walk with Sammie, his girlfriend and a couple of friends. In the evening we attended a fare-well party for a Danish friend who´s both moving back to Copenhagen and getting married. Now that´s what I call a wonderful excuse for social get-together and some bubbles!

Saturday greeted us with sunshine, Vuong took Sammy to the woods while I saw The Forsyte Saga. We then met some friends for coffee, had Chinese dim-sum  at Taste of China and made some pizza for a couple of friends in the evening.

Today was for a good day for soup and reading The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak. It´s a compelling book, but not really my type of writing, so I can’t wait to start a new one.

Here are some pictures.  Hope you had a good week!

xx, Alina

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Stavanger

It´s nice to leave home along with one´s comfort zone once in a while. It´s so refreshing to get some new impulses from the change of architecture, dialect, food and weather! And I don´t know about you, but I love sleeping in hotels! And Nordic Choice was really nice, it really felt like something else! Concrete, modern art, brand new. Had it not been for the haunting mirrors that added 10 kg to my normal weight, I wouldn´t have anything to complain about. 😉

I enjoyed 7 degrees outside and with the sun peeping out today it felt like spring! Stavanger is a small and intimate town, so you get to really feel the holiday mood.

I went to Stavanger to interpret in court and instead of rushing to and from the airport, I decided I should book a hotel room and travel a day in advance. So I had time for dinner with a friend yesterday and lots of time to do whatever I pleased today. Except for the hour at the court house. It was the best idea I´ve had in months!;-) Not only did I get to relax a bit, but I also found time to do some work at a brochure translation. I ate lots and took many scenic pictures, unfortunately I didn´t think of bringing our camera with me, since this was like a “business” trip- haha!

I also did some shopping, shops still had sales miraculously enough! The bargains were peach leather trousers from Alexander Wang at 7% of their original price, as well as Tommy Hilfiger deux-pieces (jacket and skirt) at 50%. Yey, me!;-)

I should do this more often. You don´t need a whole weekend to visit another place, sometimes a day away is enough.

xxx, Alina

 

February

February started with a pang- a whole Saturday of training for the my oral examination in order to become a certified interpreter. We were three Romanian interpreters, two role-players and a certified English interpreter who volunteered to help us. It was really tough and I have to admit I had to swallow my pride a little bit at the end of the session. Everybody has stuff that need working on, but one never likes being reminded of that.

Sunday I was so beat I couldn´t lift a finger. I had to take a nap for a couple hours after waking up because everything was blurry and I was feeling both nauseous and dizzy. I was so exhausted I almost got worried, but today I was ready to resume my normal life course.

I had a day off and although I spent most of it on accountancy, I got to enjoy the rays of sun piercing through our window. And so did our cat. He was so happy observing the birds outside, probably sensing spring in the air, he wouldn´t move for ages, eating some leaves from my favorite plant (that makes him throw up) and warming himself up.

In the afternoon a friend dropped by for coffee and we found ourselves reminiscing about our youth over a biscuit or two. I´m now making mousakka ´cause I need to get rid of all those organic potatoes and eggplants. Meanwhile, I´m sipping some wine and looking forward to Californication. 😉 Have a lovely week!

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Tired of winter

If you ask me, I think winter should only last one month- December. It´s heavy on my feet, it ruins my shoes, I don´t get to wear my dresses and my hands are always freezing! Besides, there´s a limit to a girl´s guilty conscience! I constantly feel I should be more outdoors, learn to ski, walk in the woods more often or go sledging. But I never feel like doing anything else than sit by the fireplace. Now that´s what I call a challenge since Norwegian winter lasts for ages.

I should probably start traveling to a warmer destination, like many Scandinavians do, but I kind of try to stick to our European seasons. I sometimes imagine myself being happy in a place where it´s never cold, but then I think I´d miss winter. Or maybe all my wool scarves. You see, I´m not as shallow as I like to give the impression of, but I´m positive I was some sort of diva in another lifetime. 😉 haha!

Right now I´m tucked in a blanket and have just finished watching the 3rd season of Mad Men. I´ll make myself a cocoa and hope for milder weather next week. Have a good one!

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Snowy days

It´s been snowing for days and it´s so very pretty outside! Snowflakes big like butterflies, they keep on falling down hurriedly, with vigor, as though they had only one purpose in life. It´s windy and it´s ruthless outside and I feel like a polar explorer when I dare leave the house. I hadn´t realized how much I´d missed it, it reminds me of my mother country, the panic on the news and the closed schools. Yet I´m not a winter´s child, I prefer admiring it from under the blanket, with a cup of tea in my hand.  Staring at the snow safe and sound with the cat besides me, I can feel nostalgia slipping into my thoughts.

I´m going home in February and I´m as excited as ever. Every time I go back home it´s like taking a trip back in time. I don´t just go on a holiday, I go back to being 19. And it´s soaring. It´s not about age or accomplishments, it´s just that beginning, the promise of something bigger, I always wonder when I decided I got there. Don´t get me wrong, I´m pretty happy. The only thing I want is a baby and a picket fence, otherwise I´m good. I have it all. Just not the promise. I´m not 19 any more and the promise is gone. And I don´t know how to go home and not look for the time that passed…

Grunnerløkka, Oslo

If you haven´t been to Oslo yet, Grunnerløkka is the hipsters´arena. It´s a former working class area where most of the old buildings have survived and make for a pretty quaint atmosphere.The constant flux of young people, Sunday open shops and the Sunday market in Birkelunden keep the area bustling even when the rest of the town is dormant. The borough has lots of nice eateries, coffee shops and shops and it´s always ready for a new wave of people. Long way to go to achieve any Berlin status, but cool is in order. Although a bit too fussy for me to live in, I enjoy taking a day trip to its stores and have lunch nearby.

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2013 in pictures

2013 was a good year in many ways. I established myself as an interpreter and worked hard, so hard that I needed almost a month´s break to realize how burnt out I was. I won´t repeat that mistake in 2014. Besides, I alienated many of my friends because I didn´t even have time for myself, let alone for others.

On a personal level, we´re still going strong, trying to have a baby one way or the other.  Meanwhile, we decided to get a dog and that´s how Sam the samoyed entered our lives. We got him in February and he´s been filling every day with pure bliss ever since. He´s such a good natured pup and so affectionate, I never thought you could love anybody as much as we love him! He even befriended our 9 years old cat, at least at a frenemy-level.

Family-wise,  I rejoiced in my niece´s presence when I visited my family in Romania for Easter, as well as in everybody else´s. My parents visited us in July, when Norway showed itself from its best side, it was hot and not a cloud in the sky. Christmas was spent with friends and my husband´s family.

Travel-wise, I savored Palma de Mallorca during our summer holidays, unfortunately we didn´t think of bringing the camera with us, so only Instagram can tell the tale. The fall was busy and stressful, but a short break to Berlin for a conference made it bearable. To get into Christmas mood we went to Tallinn for 3 days and it proved to be a terrific idea. Christmas break was long and lazy, I indulged myself in doing as little as possible.

2014 is the year! I´ll get my driving license, travel outside Europe and work my body in good shape again. And be kind. I´ll start with myself. Have a good one!

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