Dill-dall

It's raining cats and dogs here. And a few elephants too. I had forgotten how dark and cold it can be here when it's raining constantly. So yes, that's how the weather is right now. (Just wanted to let you know, in case you thought I spend my days sunbathing on the beach. No no no.) And this shows how much I'm influenced by living among English people; I'm talking about the weather. (Ha ha ha)

Tonight I've watched an interesting film; "The Hours". I remember watching the film with my friend Marit, back in 2002, when we were studying English at the University of Oslo. I was thinking of Marit now, and realised that I haven't written anything about her visit on my blog. Now it's just three months since she was here, so I'm not that late.

Marit and I had five fantastic days together in Tarifa, Casares, at a friend's BBQ (with our own, private swimming pool ... what a luxury!!), at the local market here in Nueva Andalucía, in Puerto Banús with all the rich people, and at the local Indian restaurant. And, most importantly, we had lots of time to catch up and talk about everything. Thanks for lovely days, Marit!

It's already a month since my friend Kari and I went to Barcelona. I have previously posted some pictures, and there will be more. Barcelona: what a great city! The cosmopolitan and urban feeling. Oh joy!! We did the obligatory tourist things; La Rambla, the old town, Parque Güell (disappointing), the port, the Picasso Museum etc, and lots of other things. We also went to a few other interesting places and saw lots of great art. I was fascinated by the exhibition at MACBA. The mysterious, fairy tale-like cathedral La Sagrada Familia was also incredibly fascinating! We lined up for hours just to get in there, and it was definitely worth it!! (The Pope visited a few days after we were there.) We also enjoyed lots of nice food and drinks, and I even went on one of those typical tourist buses on a round trip with our new friend Gordon. (Btw, Gordon was American, and he had no idea of who Gordon Brown was... ha ha! Is that normal?)

The last part of the half term (høstferie) was spent with my mum, sister and niece here in Nueva Andalucía. It is standard procedure to have dinner at the Pasta Café the first night my family visits. This is something my niece Oda introduced, and we've done it ever since. (In my opinion the food there is boring, and it's a really touristy place, but hey, if it makes your niece happy, then why not?) We also went to the local market to get new flamenco shoes for my niece, and the other ladies got some shopping done as well. The Raustøl/Kroken ladies also experienced their first ever Halloween party. (Yes, it's true, I've never been to a Halloween party before. Or was it actually a Halloween party you had, lille-Natasha, at Sogn studentby many years ago? I remember Marisol bringing the blonde wig and the whip....) Anyway, Oda finally got to meet her special friend Lucas again (my neighbour) and we all dressed up in strange outfits. On the dia de todos los santos, allehelgensdag, the day for all the saints that haven't got their own day (in Spain all saints have their own day, but there are more saints than days, so the less important (?) saints get a day on the 1st November, or something like that?!), we went to Fuengirola to visit friends from Brumunddal, Reidun og Leif Gunnar Sørlien, who work in the Swedish church there. When we got there, they served us waffels on their fantastic veranda. We also went to Mijas Pueblo with Reidun. And guess who got a taxi ride on the donkeys? Oda and her auntie! :) It was great to have some quality time her with the ladies of the family, and we even got to spend some time by the pool. Yeah!

I have to tell you that the ten sing choir from Brumunddal came to Calahonda and gave a concert in the Norwegian church a few weeks back. I went to their concert, and it was really fun.

Talking about music, this month I have really enjoyed singing. We're practising for the big Christmas concert now, and in a life with lots of work related stress (reports, parents' evenings, schemes of work, marking, teaching TOK etc.) it is lovely to switch off all that, and meet other people who also enjoy singing, and just sing for two hours every week!

Another thing I'm enjoying more and more now is speaking Spanish. I took the Level 1 Spanish exams last week, in Málaga, and even though it was quite easy, I know I've got some stupid errors. Celebrated with some friends in the evening (thank you, Mariela, for cooking lovely Italian food to the exam people!) and spoke a bit of Spanish there. Went out with two of the Spanish girls I met in Oslo in the summer, and three of their friends last Saturday. They are lovely people, but blimey it's hard to speak Spanish all the time. All the time.

Today was the annual X-mas Bazaar at Aloha. It's a shame that the weather was crap, but hey, there were lots of people there, and I think it was successful. The school choir sang Christmas Carols, and two lovely songs: "We are the world" and "Don't Stop Believing" (from Glee), and everyone seemed happy! It was nice to taste some Scandinavian food from the Scandinavian stall, and my friends really enjoyed the rye bread with shrimps, the saucages etc. (Unfortuntately I couldn't name all the dishes there...)

Last night I was reminded of how lucky I am to be involved in the Cambridge exams here in Andalucía; We had a farewell party for our excellent team leader. It's really rewarding to be working with the Cambridge exams here, and I've met many nice people through the Cambridge University system.

This last month has also been marked by problems with the Internet and the electricity. It's annoying when you come home in the evening to find your apartment all black, and the food in the freezer gone off. And it's quite fascinating that your apartment can go black about 20 times in one evening. Yai! :)

So, that was a few words, eller litt dill-dall, about my life. Because of the Internet problems (the line, or the dongle, is extreeeeeemely slow) it was impossible to upload pictures. So, dear friends, use your imagination and your creativity, cause this blog entry is nothing but words. Words. And more words.

God Adventstid!