Hungary visit, Norway visit, 17 May and more

Hey guys!

So I've arrived safely back from Norway now, caught up on work and I've actually got some energy to spare. Today I seem to have too much energy actually, I went for a run at lunch time (very happy with that run actually... "I dun gud" (",) ) and I'm still sort of bouncing off the walls so I thought I'd spend some of the energy on a long overdue blog post.

Since the last post I’ve been to first Hungary, then Norway. The Hungary visit was wonderful as always, but then that’s not difficult when the people there are so much fun to spend time with. (“,) This was back in March but that didn’t stop us from going swimming... outside... in naturally heated mineral water. I still remember the look on the faces of the kids who tried the pool next to ours, and their incredibly hasty retreat. I guess that one was not heated! I also added a few dishes to the ever-increasing list of Hungarian food I’ve tried and I still love all of them. Maybe I should be careful saying that – they may try something really unusual next time!

Just recently Peti and I both went to Norway. I still think he was brave for that but I’m very happy that everyone got along so well. Even Bella gave him an enthusiastic welcome by jumping into the bed one morning and trying to sniff his face... but I’m not sure if he enjoyed dog breath in the morning quite as much.

On 16th May we went to Oslo to visit Knut André, Tina and Julia. We had a walk up Akerelva and Peti was chosen by Julia to get to play with her. Luckily he’s very good at that and seems to enjoy it! After dinner we went down to Aker Brygge and then went to the roof of the new opera house in Oslo. I’d never seen it before, I was impressed!

We went onto the roof and took pictures of Oslo and important things like me taking a picture of Peti taking a picture of me, or Knut André describing the sights.

17th of May was great, it was reasonably warm, the sun was almost breaking through and it was so nice to see everyone again! Philip had the cutest suit on and Emilie was beautiful as always, wearing a bunad. She seemed very happy about the pink dolphin balloon she received while Philip was in heaven, being held by his Bestefar. And of course the ice cream and hot dogs is traditional... and joyfully received! I even got Peti to wave a Norwegian flag, and I took the picture to prove it (“,). You're honorary Norwegian now hunni!

After the parades we went back to Odd Martin, Ingeborg, Emilie and Philip’s house where my dad was selected by Philip as his playmate and Emilie decided that Peti would be the perfect target for tickling and being “scared” with whistles. I helped her with both tasks. I’m very kind like that (evil grin).


On the 18th we went down to Nordbytjærnet just by where my dad and his wonderful wife lives. It’s about 5km walking around and it was so nice and warm that day. At least in comparison to the other days – it seems like nothing compared to the 30 degrees we had in England this Monday but I must admit I’d rather have the cooler temperature. I guess I’m a viking!


On the 19th we both went back to our respective countries and probably we both slept very very well that night. I know I did.
So back in England, I’ve been told by my helpful running trainer that we’re going to increase the distance we’re running so by the end of June we’ll run 10km, end of July we’ll run 15, end of August we’ll run 20 and then we’ll be all set for the Windsor ½ marathon in end of September. I’m nervous about it of course but if Leo says that I’ll be able to do it, I have faith in him. After all, he’s gotten me this far!
This is a long catchup post but I’ll sign off now. I hope you all had a wonderful 17 May wherever you were, lots of love to you all!

Birthday greetings, life in general

Hello all!

First of all i would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Knut André! A giant hug is being sent your way big bro! (",)

So... another week gone by. Actually quite a bit has happened this week. On Monday I went to have dinner with some very dear friends of mine, Tor and Louise. They are two of the sweetest people I know. Louise’s sister, Phillipa and her boyfriend Wayne were there. That gang is one of the main reasons why I like South Africans so much! When Tor and Louise’s kids were asleep we just sat and chatted for hours, it was my favourite evening this week.

It’s funny actually... every time we meet we say that it’s been too long and we need to meet up sooner, then life kicks in and we don’t see each other for a month or two. But somehow it never matters. My dad always says that the mark of a good friend is that you can not talk to them for ages and then when you see them again you’re right back where you were last time, talking like you’d never been apart. I’m lucky, I have friends like that!

When I came back from their house I found out that my washing machine had decided to say “so long and thanks for all the fish”, so I spent about 40 minutes wringing out all the clothes that had been in it. I must admit it was good exercise for my arms! The next day I bought a new one. It was a rather painful experience for my bank account but at least the new one arrived yesterday and it’s great! I know, it’s very geeky to be excited about a washing machine... but hey, we all need a bit of geekidity in our lives! And yes – I do think I just made up a word there. (“,)

Other than this I have decided to do the Windsor half marathon in September. All tips on surviving are most welcome (“,) but I’m hoping that since I start this early I’ll have plenty of practice time. One of my friends from work is a really good runner and he’s very kind in helping me get in shape for it. Actually he’s a South African too, I sometimes feel like I’m surrounded by them. I must be a lucky girl!

My victory of the week however was with my writing. As many of you know I’m writing a book. It’s been going slowly because when I started I didn’t have a plan, I just wrote the story as I went. I got up to 34,000 words and I got stuck, because of the lack of plan.

Then I decided to try and plot out the story in advance and it went even more slowly, possibly because I wasn’t used to that method of writing. Happily, I was reading a forum the other day and someone suggested starting at the end and working backwards instead so I went outside in the park at work on Friday lunchtime and sat down and started at the end.

I put on some music and wrote a brainstorming bubblechart, starting with the baddie, listing his attributes and alliances and then went on to how he could be defeated. I spent such a happy hour being creative, it was a shame to have to go back in again. I’m sure the result looks a complete mess to anyone else but at least I feel like I am getting somewhere! It’s such a relief after about a year of not having a clue. I think that every lunchtime I’m not running I’ll be re-visiting that spot with my pencil and notebook, having some creative time. Sounds like bliss!

This is getting long now so I’ll leave it here for today. I’ll try to update the blog at least once a week or so, unless absolutely nothing happens of course and then I won’t bore you. Also when I get stuck for random names for characters I may give a shout here for help, I’m not so good at thinking of those.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. Love you all!

Greetings and salutations

Hey everyone!


It seems I have finally succumbed to the lure of the blogs. You can blame Tina; she suggested it the other day. (",)


I don’t pretend that my (very) random musings are going to be of earth-shattering importance but I thought this could be a nice way to keep in touch with friends and family. A sort of open letter if you will, and updates on anything nice/interesting that’s happening. If you want to comment on anything it would be great, but don’t feel like you have to.


I think since everyone is so spread out it is sometimes difficult to know what’s happening to everyone, we only hear about it if/when something big happens… and sometimes not even then. I would love to get to know everyone again with the more daily things, the small blessings or tribulations that make up life instead of the major ups and downs which seem to be what is usually communicated in daily emails.


The reason for writing in English is that since so many of my friends are English they’ll understand too. Of course you can comment in whatever language you wish, maybe I’ll do some posts in Norwegian if it’s something more for family but for the opening post I thought I’d do it this way.


As you can probably tell I’m not really used to this so I’m rambling a bit. I guess it’ll be a good way of flexing my writing muscles too, as what I seem to be doing mostly these days is emails about work, spreadsheets with numbers and formulas and messaging back and forth with my friends. Not especially conducive to “leisure” writing.


So, here’s to you all. Thank you for being a part of my life, I love you all lots!


Eva Susanne