Conference, dog-sitting and such

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How are you? I´ve had a productive start on this week, attended a two-days conference on HIV and made a new friend, too. (And a stalker, for that matter.) A couple of colleagues interpreted into English and so I spent both days listening to them and felt my chest raise with pride! Wow, the things we can do, it´s amazing! I won´t pretend to be at the same level as they are, I´m relatively new at this job and irrespective of my endeavour to be noticed, there aren´t as many conferences in Romanian! 😉 Not in Norway, at least. 😉 Continue reading

Walnuts and donuts

IMG_7771This weekend we had fabulous weather and so we took Sammy to the woods both days. The forrest is so pretty in its autumn attire, it looks like a queen all dolled-up for a party. Lots of pictures on my Romanian blog, if you want to take a look!

Yesterday I invited a couple of friends over for what seems to be growing into a tradition- Sunday coffee and cake at the Trans. 😉 I had big plans for this weekend´s treat, given that I ´d already made a huge lasagna form (and resisted the urge to share with our next-door neighbours, so we´ve been eating that for lunch and dinner since Friday!), I only needed to make something sweet and it could be elaborate, too. Easier said than done, because after some hours in the woods, with a clear head, but heavy feet, baking is the last thing you feel like doing. :-/
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Café Sara

Yesterday afternoon we met with a couple of friends over a beer and some Mexican food. We´ve been regulars at Café Sara for more than 12 years now and it´s never disappointed us. The food is yummy, the prices- low and the atmosphere- perfect, whether you´re a broke student or a millionaire. It´s neither more, nor less than it pretends to be and that´s perhaps its recipe for success. A quick lunch, a late night dinner, a couple of beers in the backyard or simply a Friday evening with friends, with café Sara you´ve got it right! And you don´t see any slick stuck-up people as in the Western part of the city (we don´t care too much for them).IMG_5294

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Let me tell you about my weekend

Long time, no see. Hope you´ve missed me. 😉 This weekend was exhausting, I swear!

On Friday we went to a party in town and I was confronted with my lack of social skills- I don´t dance, I´m not good at mingling (unless I´m drunk or I know everybody there), I don´t hear very well when the music is loud and I´m terrible with strangers. Hahaha! So after trying to look cool and glam and a citizen of the world for an hour and a half, I suddenly felt the urge to go home to my couch and Twin Peaks. 😉 Bahaha! And that would have been fine, had I not forgotten my keys and spoilt V´s party, too. 😉 Tough luck.

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Easter blues

It´s strange how holidays always are a bit tricky when you´re far away from your family, even as a grown-up. It´s like the thread of  “the way it´s always been” gets cut. And I like things to be the way they´ve always been, even though I have an ambivalent relationship to traditions.  Like it or not, traditions are the glue that keeps together past and present. We can chose to keep some and forget others, but they do define us in a way or another. All these years, I´ve let customs go and embraced others, we´ve created our own traditions as a family of two and we´ve been with the big family sometimes, too. Since my husband was born a Buddhist, Easter never had loud resonances in his family. In Romania however, we celebrate by going to church, meeting family and friends and eating until we end up in a hospital. 😉

Norwegians are said to go skiing on Easter holiday. The paper said it´s more of a myth nowadays, but I still feel it´s the general rule. Since we don´t ski, we go to Romania every now and then, take a city break other times, but mostly stay at home and celebrate an urban Easter. We´ve had amazing weather, we´ve gone on lovely trips, met people for lunch and coffee and still I feel there´s something missing. I´ve been trying not to fall prey to melancholy all this time, but the church bells this morning were too much. Why don´t I go to church or dye some eggs then? Because it wouldn´t be like home anyway. So why even try?

Source: uneromaineaparis.com

It´s weekend again

Hi! How are you all doing? In Oslo we´ve been having some nice weather, but today is grey and it´s been raining a little, too. March is bipolar, they say, and I have to agree with that. The problem is that I´m both lazy and capricious.  And the weather doesn´t help, either. I´ve been struggling with what looks like a spring asthenia- low energy and an exaggerated need for sleep- so I´ve done my best to take some extra walks and go hiking in the woods with my Sammy. I don´t know if it helps, yet, but at least when I´m not home, I can´t sleep. hahha! 😉

Today however, I felt like doing everything at once and decided in the end to take Sammy for a city walk to Grunnerløkka, where they “happened” to sell a Ted Baker purse at Fretex, the Salvation Army store. Needless to say it was gorgeous and a bargain, so the walk and the coffee were just a bonus.

This evening me, Vuong and some friends are going to see the Romanian movie “I´m a Communist Biddy” and then have a bite or two. I´ll let you know what I think of it. 🙂

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures of Sam and his girlfriend, Emi, while I take my long-awaited nap.

Kisses, Alina

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