Edinburgh4
I really liked Edinburgh. Really, really liked it. There was something about the atmosphere in the city making me feel at home. Not that it reminded me of my home in Norway, but I could easily make myself feel at home there. I was there for only four days, so of course I can’t know for sure if I’d like living there, but it made me want to go back.

We only had time to see the typical tourist attractions. Actually there were many attractions we didn’t have time to see, which I thought was kind of sad. I think I could have stayed for an entire month without getting bored. I really enjoyed just walking around the town looking at people, buildings, pubs and shops… We also went up to Arthur’s seat, which I really enjoyed. I have never went hiking with shopping bags and a purse before, and felt kind of stupid bringing it all, but as my dad said; this is such a small mountain from a Norwegian point of view, so we don’t even consider it a real hike. After all they call it the city park. I guess I’m excused if I looked a bit like I didn’t know what I was doing. Heehee…

I also had the best milkshake ever at a hamburger restaurant in the royal mile, called Wannaburger. They had really good burgers too. (I guess burgers and shakes aren’t what I should be reporting from Edinburgh, but I enjoyed it very much. *grin*)

Of course we went to see the castle.

We also took a sightseeing bus, and learned a lot about Sean Connery… I do like to watch James Bond, so I didn’t mind. Einar and I went for two ghost tours as well, which I had been very sceptical to, since I hate horror movies and similar things, and consequently never watch anything like it. My brother likes watching horror movies, and maybe this was the reason why he found it scarier than I did. (Neither of us thought it was very frightening anyhow…) It was actually a bit fun. We also saw Mary King’s close, which was more interesting. It was like a very interesting history lesson full of superstition. ;)

Oh, and I also had one of the best desserts ever at Maxies bistro and wine bar at Johnston Terrace. It was some kind of chocolate fudge cake with ice cream and cream (not whipped as we thought it would be, but that was even better.) Any chocolate lover visiting Edinburgh should go there and try it. ;)

Today I had my last day of work in the supermarket. I have been working there for more than two years, and have really liked it. Yesterday we had cake, as is usual when someone who's been working there for a while quits. It was really nice. But even though I have enjoyed it, I am very glad to have finished that period, because that means something new is about to get started! I am very excited about what plans God has for me in Bergen.

Edinburgh3

There was a great view in more than one direction from the top of Calton hill. Here are mom and dad taking pictures.

Then There's Einar studying the information board.

Edinburgh2
We went for a walk as soon as we could after arriving Edinburgh. As I didn't know very much about the city before I went there, I was surprised to find this greek looking monument on top of Calton hill. I have been to Athens once, and both Acropolis and Calton hill with their monuments and green spots made me feel like I was miles away from a large city.

Edinburgh
My brother and I had a laugh at the names of these two places lying diagonally in a cross road. I guess you'd have to be Norwegian to understand. -or maybe just very silly.

I was in Edinburgh together with mom, dad and Einar, my brother, in the beginning of July. I loved it! I'm going to post a few pictures from the trip over the next few days.

Taking this picture was one of the first things I did when I got there. It's taken very close to the hotel we stayed at.
















There were lots of these flowers there.

It won't be long now before I move to Bergen to go to bible school. I am so excited about it. I think God is going to be teaching me a great deal of things, and it's going to be so good for me. I have two main expectations for my bible school year. The first thing is of course that I'll learn to know God and his word better. A lot better. The second thing is that I believe he will show me more of what direction my life will take. It's been a while now where I haven't known at all what I'd be doing in a year or two, or even ten years. But lately God has brought up some old dreams of mine and even given me some new ones, and I am so excited to see what more he has to say about that.
I have only two days left at my job in the supermarket, and even though I have really liked my job, I am so excited about quitting, because I can't wait to see what God has planned for me in Bergen. I really feel like this coming year is going to be a really important year for me.

I am so blessed with many good friends. This summer I get to live with my friends Inger Kari and Iselin at Sagene in Oslo. They are both away this week, but now my friend Kaja stays here as well. Today her boyfriend Lars Martin has been here, and we have had dinner together. Yesterday I was at the beach together with Kaja, Lars Martin and my other friends Selja, Kjetil and Paul among others. The weather was beautiful and we had a good and relaxing time. After that some of us watched a movie (which unfortunately was really poor). This is what is so great about summer. -friends, hanging out, the beach, active days outside and late nights with movies and talking inside.
And then there is books. Good books. Lots of good books.

Jeg har hatt en veldig bra pinsehelg. Foruten å jobbe på lørdag, og å blant annet se en dokumentar om pirater i dag (hehe), har jeg hatt gleden av å være med på felleskristen pinsefeiring i går, i Storsalen og Filadelfia. Veldig bra, altså! Jeg fikk være med å synge i koret, og det er ingenting som å få prise Gud sammen med andre til stort band og mye trøkk. :) Det er så bra å få kjenne på at Gud faktisk har bare én menighet i Oslo, ikke mange små, og at vi alle hører sammen, og elsker den samme Jesus.
I tillegg er det fortsatt strålende vær, og det er superdeilig. Jeg avsluttet denne pinsehelga med noen runder bedagelig jogging rundt Sankthanshaugen. Digg!

Det er nesten utrolig hvor mye eplekake jeg klarer å spise i løpet av en kveld... Eplekake, catching up med en sjelden venn, samt en cheesy Hugh Grant-film, utgjør til sammen en ganske så fin mai-kveld.

Idet jeg trodde jeg skulle sprekke av rastløshet og trang til å flytte på meg, lærer Gud meg å se kortsiktig…
For noen er det kanskje en utfordring å se langsiktig, og sette seg mål og visjoner. Jeg derimot trenger å lære meg å se stort på små ting.
Jeg innså i dag at det å tenke virkelig stort, innebærer mer enn langsiktige mål, store tall og omfattende virksomhet. Det betyr kanskje vel så mye å kunne se det store i det tilsynelatende lille.
Jeg har igjen ca. tre måneder her i hovedstaden før jeg vender nesa vestover mot Norges nest største by for å lese i Bibelen et års tid. Tre måneder. Hva kan vel skje på tre måneder?! -Mye, hvis jeg lar Gud styre skuta, og lærer å bruke Guds målestokk. Gud har fortsatt bruk for meg her.

Another weekend
It's been a whole week already... I've been working every day this week, as usual, exept that on thursday I spent all of my work day at a cheese course! I'm so lucky to get to work with cheese, and it was really interesting learning more about it. As a matter of fact I didn't know very much about it before. -I just pack and price it, and taste those I haven't tried before. My only judgement of them is either "good" or "not good", or maybe "mild" or "strong". Heehee.

I even got homework. I'm going to focus on one cheese each week for six weeks, and try to raise the sale of it by being creative. If anyone has ideas, please give them to me.

Cheese is fun. And most of them are good too. The only cheese I have tried that I thought was really, really horrible is the Norwegian "Gammelost". It's made of old skim milk and looks like this:
The word "gammelost" means "old cheese". It says quite a bit, even though I learned on thursday that gammelost is actually very young when it comes out for sale. -only about a month.

Perfect weekend.
Early home from work on friday. Cheese, biscuits and a glass of wine with friends on friday night. Sleeping in on Saturday before cleaning the apartment and doing laundry most of the day. Chilling and doing nothing on Saturday night. Sleeping in again on Sunday morning, waking up to sunshine. Having extra time to be with God, and maybe read or go for a jog. Exactly what I needed this weekend.

Prayer answered. -again.
It's been long since I wrote. It seems like it becomes more difficult to find good things to write if it's been a while. -the longer between the posts, the more difficult...
Anyway, I just wanted to share something encouraging. Last night a friend dropped by to visit I.K (one of the girls I live with.) She (our friend) has had problems with her leg for a couple of years, and it's been impossible to sit certain ways or sleep in certain possitions. We prayed for her, and she became better at once. It was still hurting a little, but she could suddenly bend it far more than earlier. It is so great when God heals like that.
God also reminded her through me of the words in Luke 11:5-8 where this guy knocks on his neighbour's door in the middle of the night to borrow some bread, where the point is to be patient in prayer. She was reminded of this scripture the day before by different person as well, so we are sure her leg will become perfectly good!

I wanna go to Britain again...

Fish. Bread. Ovens. Chicken. Pork chops. Knives. Salads. Meat balls. Meat loaves. Soap. Dishes. Too much water everywhere. Custumers. Smiling people. Grumpy people. Colleagues. Nice colleagues. Jesus in the middle of it all. That is my life these days. Tomorrow is the last day of this working marathon lasting for twelve days. It is a little bit rough on a former student who is not used this kind of work, for this many hours, for this many days in a row. But I like it. I really believe God wants me to be exactly where I am. That is in my local grocery store right down the street, bringing His kingdom to my colleagues and neighbourhood just by being there.

We had our first gathering after the summer with all of our church tonight. I can't wait to see what this fall will bring! God is good. We talked about discipleship, fellowship, seeing people saved, God's plan for Oslo and other stuff that really gets me on fire. I'm ready to get rid of the remainders of my student life style, and get on with new things. I just feel like I need to change a couple of habits that I have gained over the last years, and get new habits that will help me follow Jesus in a better way.

New semester. New situation. Long time since last time on here.
Done with school, done with studies. For now.
Eventful summer. Both good and sad. Mostly good. The good was very good, the sad was very sad.

Rainy summer here in Norway. Everyone's complaining. But I've spent ten days in Kyrgyzstan, and that was an experience that marked me. In good ways. Mostly. It was my first trip outside the western world. Oh, how I enjoyed it! It will not be the last.

I'm working in a grocery store this semester. I'm surrounded by bread, chicken and fish. It's something I can like. It's a job, but I make myself find it interesting. And my colleagues -they're nice people.

It's interesting really, working in a grocery store. It's one of very few places where all kinds of people go at least once a week. Everyone needs to eat. I like watching people, and maybe have a little chat. Wondering who they are and what they're like. People make the world interesting.

"Alene spente han himmelen ut
og skrider fram over havets bølger.
Han skapte Løven og Orion,
Sjustjernen og sørhimmelens stjernebilder.
Ja, han gjør storverk som ingen kan granske,
og under som ingen kan telle."

Job. 9: 8-10.

Spring's around! And it's making me feel good. The weather is lovely these days, and it's warm outside. I make sure to enjoy it even though I'm busy with exams these days. I'm done with two small final exams, working on a large third one, and have three more coming after that. This coming weekend the great people from my church is going on a trip. I am looking forward to that! (Yes, I'll bring my lap top and work on my exam. :P ... But I'll almost be done by then anyway.) Well, now I'm off to go for a walk and enjoy the pleasant evening and the lovely green spring!