About time

It is getting close to a decade since I went to the first ever DATAROCK show. Handpainted cds, handmade tshirts (both now collector's items, for sure), and a minimalistic stage show, to put it mildly. Dimensions have changed since then, and DATAROCK have finally released their new single (in Norway. The rest of you will get it soon.)

Straight outta Chisinau

Yesterday I was in Moldova. So was PacMan.

News from the continent

It has been good so far. 2009. Started off in style, with a New Years Celebration in 60/14 featuring peculiar Norwegian food like rakfisk (or råkåfisk, as it is called where I'm from. Described by Wikipedia as "a traditional Eastern Norwegian fish dish made from trout [...], salted and fermented for two or three months, then eaten without cooking." Yes, I got that through customs. From the supermarket, though. Vacuum wrapping and all.) and pinnekjøt, lamb ribs a la Western Norway. Among other ingredients were Stevie Wonder, banana microphones, heels, a big fat misteltoe for those so inclined.

The festivities were followed up by more days of leisure, due to this year's fortunate calendar. Went to Melk in the Wachau valley, home to an enormous baroque Benedictiner Abbey, and all the gold and the pink marble that comes with it. Drove further along the Danube to Burg Aggstein, for what must have been the fifth time during my stay in Vienna. The lure of the old robber baron castle doesn't seem to wear off, I think I might have read Astrid Lindgren's Ronja Røverdatter (YouTube clip) too many times in my childhood. I even had a wig back then, long brown hair that made me feel exactly like her when I ran around in the woods behind our house. (Photo: Jo and Ingrid, Burg Aggstein)

Back to Vienna, where January also saw me turning no less than 30. I have even gotten glasses now. Still weird to type those digits, but who cares: at least it was a good excuse for a party. With more interesting Norwegian cuisine. This time we introduced fenalår (a slow-cured lamb's leg), kindly brought by Bjørn, who came visiting from Oslo. My initial fears regarding the fenalår's encounter with the refined palates of my continental guests were groundless, and we almost finished the whole thing in one go. (Photo: A French gourmet gets back to basics, Scandinavian style)

In relation to the above mentioned day, Rys dropped by on her European tour and generously took me for a weekend trip to Bratislava. As you can see, it was a trip in grainy black and white, with the sightseeing-hotel ratio tipping in favour of the latter. But who were we to blame, when the Hotel Marrol's had such lovely beds, as well as a complementary minibar and 200 tv channels? I am happy to report that the weekend was utterly relaxing. Ready for 2009!


(Far right: Minibar is complementary? What kind of hotel is this?!)


(Left: Warhol and Rys. Right: Why wait for paparazzis when you can bring your own?)

The longest breakfast of the year

Every Christmas Day, my aunt and uncle host the longest breakfast of the year, this year stretching from 11:00 to 20:00.


















My dad and Ida on a kicksleigh - the best means of winter transportation























Alva and Frida - the family magicians















Alva, Ida, Selma, and Frida getting ready for the annual couronne tournament

Dear all,

I am back in the Norwegian winter wonderland to spend the holidays with my family. The tree has been decorated, my sister has been playing Christmas records all day, and I am seated by the kitchen table, where I intend to stay for the next few days.

Although this will have pompous Oscar speech connotations, I want to thank all of you for making 2008 an exciting year. To everyone in Bergen, Oslo, Dombås, Hønefoss, Lesja, Modalen, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Leipzig, Berlin, Roma, Latisana, Pescara, Brussels, DC, Saskatoon, Melbourne, London, Tbilisi, Samarkand, Tashkent, Jalalabad, Vienna: Happy holidays, let's hope we meet in 2009!

Vienna





















- Linn Kaja, Eirik, Thomas, Lena, July, Kelly, Siri, Julie, Einar, Mari, Mads, Johanne, Trond, Anne, Frederik, Cecilie for filling my Viennese weekends and evenings; Bjørn, Irene, Lisa, Josina, Ole, Vilhelm, Johanne, Ida for visiting;


Model OSCE (click link for YouTube clip)


















- Virginie, Lena, Gulya, Martin, Christina, Alessia, Raphael - I'm proud we made it! (Photo: OSCE/Susanna Lööf)

Samarkand (click link for Flickr photo album)

















- Students and teachers at the Samarkand Summer School, Natasha and Viktor, Muxabbat and family, the Italian archaeologists, Olahenning for coming to Tashkent, Komila, Shakhnoza and Sevilya.

Harry is coming to town

Ok, I can't help being a tad patriotic: The first clips from the coming Harry Potter movie have been released, and it turns out that the train to Harry's school Hogwarth passes through my ancestral hinterland, of all places. This scene is shot half an hour's drive from my home town. You can see the trailer here.
(Copyright Warner Bros)

Horse hooves outside my window

Back in Vienna, the city where it is perfectly normal to wake up to the sound of a horse-drawn carriage passing by your window on a Sunday morning. Where the Christmas decorations are more classy than elsewhere, chandeliers hanging above the heads of people strolling down Graben on a cold November night with a cup of hot punsch in their hands.

I came back from Uzbekistan and was lucky enough to be offered a 6 month contract in the OSCE Secretariat. This time I am working in the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit, on a topic that at first sight might not be very closely associated with counter-terrorism, I guess. I am working on travel document security in the OSCE region, where we assist participating States with improving their border security and their ability to stop individuals trying to enter with either stolen or forged passports. A very practical project compared to the Model OSCE project in the spring, - we are byuing passport readers and linking border control posts in Moldova up to an INTERPOL database of lost and stolen travel documents. Nice to learn something completely different about the work of the Organization, as well as familiarizing myself with border posts and police stations between the rivers Prut and Dniestr!

Samarkand, unfinished
I didn't get around to writing as much as I had hoped from my great trip to Uzbekistan. Perhaps there will come more stories here later. For now, I just would like to send my best wishes to some of the lovely people I met. Ludmila, Vika, Tatjana, Natasha, Firdauz, Shakhnosa and Sevilya, Muxabbat and family: I hope this winter will not get as cold as the last one, and that you will have enough gas, electricity and tea to manage well till spring comes! I am carrying with me pictures of you in my head, and hope our paths will cross again.