Easter is finally here and it couldn’t have come any sooner! I’ve been busting my ass off lately, traveling here and there, planes and trains and cars and busses and what not. I really need some time off, sunny days filled with good food and drink, walkies with Sammy, dosing off in front of our new favourite series- Hotel Beau Séjour- and painting around the house. I’m finally selling after the holidays and I need all the help I can get from a fresh coat of paint and newly washed windows. I was about to write “if you feel like helping out”, but then I realised what I need most is some people detox. Haha! Too much socializing in my line of work, they end up eating you alive!
sunny
Kristiansand II
I came home yesterday evening and I’m still drawing my breath. Interpreting is very demanding as it is, but when your colleague is entirely useless and you end up working hours on end because she can’t fix the job she gets paid for, it leaves you dead tired. I really liked her, though, so nothing personal. But as in every other line of work, you need to be qualified, interested and invested to do a good job. Needless to say the system is flawed when you order an “interpreter” for the sole reason that she lives nearby and not her qualifications. So I see myself forced to write a complaint these days. And it’s arghhh, ’cause I don’t like being perceived as a jerk, but then again it’s my job we’re talking about and I take it very seriously.
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Stavanger
A couple of weeks ago I received a mail about interpreting during a two-days case in Stavanger and although I answered within an hour, they´d already found someone else. I have to admit I was a bit beat up about it, not that much for the money itself, but for the opportunity to travel. Besides, what made me really upset was that the trial is in November, but an interpreter is not seen as worth more than a couple of minutes’ waiting, if you’re not available, someone else will be. So when I got a call on Friday afternoon about traveling there yesterday for work, I immediately said yes, although it took a couple of arrangements to make it. 
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Perks of an Interpreter
Yey, 2016 is here and I´m back on track, meaning back to my workaholic old me. And that helps a lot when everything else seems to hang by a thread, I tell you! 😉
Yesterday I flew to Trondheim for a job, but the flight was delayed and I didn´t get to do much, other than take a bath, drink the overpriced wine and eat a real chunk of beef in the downstairs restaurant. Luckily, I´d made sure I had a couple hours on my hands after the assignment today, so I could take a stroll in this lovely city, grab a coffee and enjoy a long lunch on my own. 
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Urban Sunday
It took me many years to stop sighing for a bigger, more exciting city, like Paris, London and Berlin, and instead enjoy the cosy little Oslo we have. 😉 Yes, it´s a bit provincial, no, there aren´t as many good eateries or things to do as in a metropole, but you can get to the sea and the woods in 15 minutes, we have fresh air and pretty great neighbours (we’ve lived four places and definitely prefer the “rougher” East side, people are so much nicer!).
Weekend treat
How have you been and what´s your weekend been like? 😉 We had amazing weather and spent our Saturday mostly outside with a glass of Prosecco in our hand, barbecuing, picking raspberries and having fun. The day started by giving Sam a much needed bath, ´cause he´s been dipping in all the ponds and bays and stank like a dog pound. I then took him for a long walk in the sun to dry and we ended up in Kaffebrenneriet in Grønland, in a former fire department quarters, where they have a pretty garden and amazing coffee to savour.
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Sunday in Oslo
Last Sunday we both had a day off and thought it´d be nice to spend it outdoors since the weather Gods were on our side. 😉 We decided we should take a stroll along the Aker river with Sammy, so he could run freely and take a dip here and there. There´s nothing like a bath in the river to cool off this happy dog of ours. We were heading towards the Food Court- Mathallen, but then we saw Nedre Foss Gård, a restaurant I´d just tried a couple of days before and that appealed to us now, as well. The court yard was pretty and summery, all “dressed up” in orange. 😉 The service was great and so was the food!
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Celebrating my husband´s success at Taco Republica
Yesterday my husband made his first satchel and I´m so immensely proud of him! He´s designing and making leather accessories by hand and although very talented, it´s been a tough ride. The Norwegian market is small and uptight and people are so rude, 90% of all mails he writes remain unanswered! This being said, we´re going to Berlin for the SEEK trade show! And we have high hopes! He´s already been contacted by a trade show in New York (they tried to persuade him to attend), an internet shop that wants to promote his products and a couple of private persons for smaller commissions. 😉 Yey!
So today we felt like celebrating his success and what better way to do it than with a beer and some tacos in the sun! In Scandinavia, you learn to make do with the weather you have and a sunny day is a festivity in itself! 
1st of May
Yesterday we had a day off and had planned in advance to meet with our friends Kristin and Jack and their kids for a stroll in the Ekeberg Sculpture Park. I invited them over to our apartment first and served them freshly baked ham and cheese horns, coffee and juice. After playing with Sam and Beo, the kids were excited to go outside and walk for a bit. The park is just 15 minutes away from our place, but it´s like entering a whole different world nevertheless. An enchanted one. 
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Sunday fun day
We´ve had amazing weather this weekend, it was warm enough to strip down to your t-shirt in the sun, so we´ve been working on our tan from different terraces in town, enjoying a coffee or a beer with good friends. Yesterday we hit the flea market and found a lovely antique mirror and today we met Irina and Stefan downtown for a chat. My father´s still in Oslo and he´s been enjoying the sunny days as much as we have. We´be been walking until our feet hurt, showing him some of the cosy places in town, admiring buildings and churches and smiling at people sunbathing in their bikinis in the park. And Sam has been with us all the time, of course. 😉
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life in a bubble 