It's true

Dear family and friends. Merry Christmas!!

I can't believe it. It's Christmas Eve in a week. We had our last day of work at Aloha today. Not going back until the 11th January 2011. (11/01/11.... Nice!!) It was a freeeeezingly cold day (+10...), which was perfect for the Inter house sports competition!! (Not...) Anyway, the Christmas spirit is slowly beginning to come to Casa Raustøl.

It has been an extremely busy week with lots of social stuff, and I have enjoyed everything!! The choir (Collegium Musicum) has had a few concerts, and there's more to come. (I love singing!!) There's been drinks and tapas and burritos etc. with different people, and I haven't really had enough sleep. I'm dead tired, and in two hours I'm expecting a few Aloha teachers over for drinks before we go down to Puerto Banús for a Christmas meal with other Aloha people. For some reason (and this may come as a shock to my family!!!) I'm actually enjoying making the apartment a bit Christmassy now!! Playing lots of nice Christmas music provided by Elaine! (Thanks my dear!)

Last night was the (now) annual Senior School Christmas Concert at Aloha (last year was the first one in many years, apparently). Karol (music teacher) had worked really hard with the different musical talents at Aloha, and we had done quite a good job with the school choir as well. The concert was a great success, even though one student fell off stage and we had some technical problems with the microphones. I am so glad I get a chance to help Karol with the Christmas concerts at Aloha. It's sooooooo nice to do something else than just the normal class room teaching!!

Tomorrow afternoon my choir is singing at a Christmas Carol service in San Pedro, followed by a lovely dinner (or a feast, to quote the chef!) with friends. Rumours say there will be more karaoke singing at the dinner party!!

This year Aloha gave us a Christmas present instead of a gift voucher. Here's a picture of the present. I can't remember what they call it, but apparently it has a name. Lots of nice food and drinks.


I'm flying to Norway on Monday. Looking forward to some relaxing days with my family and friends there.

I have to continue tidying up here now. I'm very tired so I'm sure my English is very bad, but I don't care. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone in Norway and Spain and everywhere else, and to tell you that I'm excited about the holidays!!

I will finish off with a little curious remark I made this morning. This shows how much I am influenced by the English people around here. It was freezing this morning, and suddenly I heard myself saying this to Karol: "The weather is horrendous today, isn't it?" Ha ha! Very English! Very funny! (Must be read with a proper Queen's English accent!!)

Christmas Tree and Lucia

Yes! Verden står ikke til påske! I've got my own Christmas tree, for the very first time in my life. And halleluja how tacky it is. I bought it at the Chinese Bazaar next door this afternoon. (Gosh, I feel like a proper grown-up now. The owner of my very own flashy Christmas tree.)

The flashlights change from blue to green to red, and luckily they can also be switched off. Isn't it fantastic? Or just dead ugly? I don't know. I think it's fun! Take a look at the lovely blue star on the tree. Fiona gave it to me today; it's from the V&A museum in London. It's lovely!

Just to get in the right mood, I also bought some new candles, and a Christmas stocking with Feliz Navidad written all over it. It's Christmas time in my casa. And it's the Lucia Day in the Scandinavian countries today. Look at the picture below, copied from the World Wide Web.

Kids walk in Lucia parades while singing the Lucia song, and they wear electric candles on their heads, eat the famous lusekatter, and generally have fun. Go Christmas traditions!!

Oslo in minus 20, Wednesday morning

On my way to the airport yesterday, after a very nice breakfast with my mum, I actually had to get off the tram and take some pictures of the sea and the fog that was dancing on among the boats. This is at Rådhusbrygga. Between Aker Brygge and Akershus Festning. The bed of fog (?) on the sea is actually just the cold, I think. Or...? It looks very magic!

Can you see the green light coming from the lighthouse on the other side of the sea, at Nesoddtangen in the picture below? It reminds me of the green light (and all its symbolic value) in The Great Gatsby. On Daisy and Tom Buchanan's dock there's a green light. Very interesting for Mr. Gatsby!

Concerts

Two Christmas concerts coming up with my choir the next couple of weeks. And ... lots of deadlines at work as well. So, back to work now. No more procrastination!!