KEEP ME POSTED!

feel an urge to stare...?

2010-03-07T22:34:00.002+01:00

great webpage made of a friend of mine - open up a page... and wait... and watch and listen to see what is hiding in the images. Same interesting thing when pointing with your cursor over various parts and pages..

LOOK HERE...its called skinn/shine

why bother to complain about the cold?

2010-01-11T22:38:00.002+01:00

PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!

i mean.. its -20degrees celsius outside. There is snow - its crispy under your shoes when you walk - its makes noises that remind of lost childhood days. The view I wake up to everyday makes me smile - the soft and cool white, grey and blue tones of the landscape og frosty sunbeams that make their way through compact fog. it bliss. so i put on a lot of clothes and go outside and enjoy it.

Id rather experience this than wet sloppy ground that sokes up into my shoes when i just barely put my feet on the ground. Rather this than dark gloomy windy chill autumn evenings where you cant see your hand in front of you unless a car comes screeching towards you with his lights swithed on fully cause he just recently noticed you - 2feet in front of him. Id rather have this than a whole summer that rained away.

i am a winter person when the conditions for winter are so perfect that you cant think of anything else that adds to what you are already experiencing. i love this winter this year.

soon to be christmas

2009-12-20T22:25:00.001+01:00

wow, 2010 coming up.

a meeting place for business and researchers?

2009-08-29T10:15:00.004+02:00

Have a look at the eMATCH conference to see what some international communities are doing for the Future Internet. Its an initiative to further open up the borders between businesses and research in Europe.
I will be giving a short summary of the Media Zone project and how the semantic web architecture of this system is built on Friday of this event.

What is interesting is that the meetup`s focus is the Internet - the cloud sphere, the web and the networks. It is about connecting and communicating across the wires of the globe on topics such as pharmacy, tourism, oil and gas and library technologies.
(I have to add that the internet is not the same as the web) (another parenthesis to say, that i also have non-technical readers, I do not try to underestimate those who are interested in techspecs) :)

At least I am excited!! Will try to give a summary on some of the most interesting pointers during this session, which takes place 10th-14th of September in Oslo and Finse in Norway.

For å si det pent..

2009-02-18T09:38:00.004+01:00

..så kunne jeg faen meg ikke sagt det bedre! Dette er innertier for hvordan man bør være obs på journalistikkens mange "stråmenn" og metodikker for å kunne rundsnakke folket.

Dessverre innser jeg til stadig at kvaliteten på verkene til dagens journalister (noe som IKKE ser ut til å gjelde for forfatter av denne artikkelen - Jon Niklas Rønningen) har stupt til et så begredelig nivå at man skulle tro alle korrekturlesere og kvalitetsikringsrutiner hadde gått dunken i alle Norges mediebyråer. Enkelte ganger blir tekstene nærmest så folkelige at man tydeligvis har glemt journalistikkens kunster som forskjønner skriftene ved å ta ibruk disse velformulerte "hemmeligheter" artikkelens forfatter referer til. Det er et yrke, en integritet og en kunst å formulere seg riktig - at kunsten i seg selv blir så folkelig at den blir en gjenganger blant massene og attpåtil kamuflert som "normalt" i mange bransjer og samfunnsgrupper - det er jo trist, men Jon Niklas ser ut til å konstatere et faktum.

financial times of crisis for the grass roots..not just the banks.

2009-01-26T14:37:00.005+01:00

We were today in Norway introduced to a "crisis wallet" that the government has found in their back pockets to save the state and its people in more difficult times.

It is aiming at, as in many other countries, to save certain parts of the business world from total collapse. In Norway, we havent seen the extreme consequences of a financial crisis. Yet. An arguable amount of few people have lost their jobs and people are losing their businesses and houses. Nothing less was excepted. However, when something should be saved in times like these - isnt is wrong that schools and old peoples homes become the losers again? What about private owners of smaller firms? Are not these companies the evidence of a thriving economy - those we should try to save as well? Resourcful people who are making it by working hard to build and create capita. These people will help rebuild the country in hard times - they should not be punished for not working for a large, stable government supported company.

If every person depending on their own companys income lost what they have, and there are thousands of such companys in the country, then MANY people will suffer. They too, pay large amounts of taxes to the government and feed the mill of democracy just, but most importantly they lift the weight of responsibility off society because they take the burden of making things happen, themselves. Still, it has not been made easy to start a business and keeping it going strong.

Grass root power. What kind of power is it? If only the large solid companies and building contractors are the ones to be saved, who will actually be the target for a direct hit of the financial crisis?

I am asking for a strategy for those who struggle to contribute to society, inspiring to create new wealth and ways to further prosperity, but at a grass root level - those who fill in the blanks and create variety desperately needed for a society to thrive. What will these people do if no tax relief is given to them? Is it so that in poor times the government should support larger companies and those who can maintain jobs for people at the moment or should there also be focus on those who take the responsibility in their own hands and seek to create new jobs in the future? Will it help to continue to ignore the encouragement of a small business? If it means they too will need to depend on the large company that have the government support after the crisis? Will it gain the society?

Grass rot power. Where is it taken into consideration in a large economy?

talkshows

2009-01-11T14:03:00.002+01:00

are often hosted by women.... what does that say? Women have a lot of sensible things to say? Talkshows are not necessarily funny, unlike stand up shows. It has something to do with pinpointing an issue - not just blab about it over and over and over again..

Great male comedians - any female comedians?

2009-01-10T23:59:00.003+01:00

it just hit me as a puzzle (I might be incredibly politically incorrect right now) to whixh extent I could suddenly only name male comedians as favorites: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Dunham, Jack Dee, Lee Mack, Rowna Atkinson, Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Leif Juster, Dagfinn Lyngbø, Atle Antonsen (last three names are Norwegian) etc etc. Where is the long list of female comedian mega superstars?

I also began thinking that in real life this personality trade of being funny or entertaining is more likely to stand as a male characteristic. And it got me thinking. Its no brain surgery or rocket science to see that it takes a good portion of self confidence and ego to be a comedian. Women tend to be critical about every little tiny bit of themselves and especially towards other women, so I guess it does not come as a big surprise that we are not so good at taking a piss at ourselves as men are (unless the man is a %&%?$ that thinks there are actually laws written in the case if anyone would be so cheeky to offend him - HIM of all people). Oh well, taking a piss at woman AND men here..

My point was just that - well I didnt have a point really. Just couldnt think of any female comedians yesterday and it got me thinking... which clearly was not a good idea.

A good night to you. :)

wishes for the new year

2008-12-31T15:36:00.002+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

I will have to improve on my poor blogging skills for the coming year and I hope I can get this up and running again within a few weeks =)

oh yes.. and stop drinking so much coffee..
oh.. and remember other peoples birthdays.. =)

and not the least bit sentence about being better at worknig out more often and eating more healthy =)

quicksilver for Mac.

2008-08-27T10:26:00.005+02:00

So, a simple program was developed for Mac to search and navigate and open programs and files, called Quicksilver. Around a year ago a test was performed on this freeware, only brought to my attention recently. It began with the sentence: "seldom have I ever been so impressed with a freeware before..." As I started using Quicksilver I started wondering how on earth i ever got by without it! its genious. And so the article finished off with comments from various users and the mandatory "the same can be done just a simple on Windows..". "Oh well, so how can it be done?" I thought to myself, correcting myself with a "don´t be so prejudice about Windows" and looked at the instruction only to be surprised by... - what I already knew. Six steps towards opening Firefox "simply" using only a selected abbreviation in "Run". Problem is, you have to configure the abbreviation first. That´s not simple. I will however, not let this influence my next account with Windows. Hopefully it wont possibly pretend to be as simple as something else, when it involves finding paths, making files and storing something before you make use of it. I like spending most of my time on my work, not making shortcuts or finding paths. That is why I stick to my Mac. But I am sure it can be done on a Windows machine too..

link to article here.. click at the bottom for the link about windows..

this is how geeky ive become..

2008-07-03T15:19:00.003+02:00

I laughed out loud =)

finito!

2008-06-01T12:50:00.002+02:00

Finally, I have a master degree.
I am thrilled - but shouldn´t there be rockets and firecrackers and stuff going off in my head? There just isn´t. Life just kept moving forward. Just like before.

The sweat, tears, pain and agony from the stress that I have gone through these last six months has taken its toll on me and made me realise a thing or two about myself. I will take these insight of wisdom with me, as I realised (a good couple of months before I handed the paper in) that there is more to life than writing a master thesis. Good thing I realised that early on and did not get "the scare" where many get to the point of never handing the thesis in in fear of getting the final grade. I, personally, don't think of the grade as the work I have done. Rather, I have been reading and writing and analysing and thinking about one - 1 - thing for a year or two and THAT is what is the real experience of going through with this process, NOT getting the grade necessarily. Understanding your limits, your ways of working, how you withstand pressure, working on complex issues for long periods of time and getting a good long look at your field of specialty. Because thats what it is. My field of specialty. Then my insights and understanding of the field becomes primary to my resume. Unfortunately, this does not automatically show in a piece of paper. I left the task of writing to those who want to be authors, I am a thinker. I think about things and put them together in different contexts. Perhaps having a great writing ability helps though. And writing an excellent thesis will help to show that there is proof in writing that your insights are there.

Frustrating, but life moves on. A good grade is great, but a bad one could imply so much more than the first alternative many people like to cling to; the reflection of an average or lazy student.. No, perhaps a it is just a reflection of a person who see other values in life.

Oh well, I still haven't got a grade yet, but it does not bother me either. I am realistic, I'll have a life afterwards too. Just like now. Everything moves on, even if it stands to be an A or not.

local warming

2008-05-09T17:16:00.003+02:00

You HAVE TO see this video - why has noone been concerned with this perspective before?!

Jess, this is an issue definitly worth considering before buying a lap top. I had a good looong laugh in front of my stationary computer at uni!! =) Good thing i'll be finishing up very soon so that I dont have to be at risk of radiation 14hours a day for trying to write the closing arguments for my master thesis!

(sorry for the inconvenience, I forgot my password on youtube, so i have to link to the video..)

henvising til Hell

2008-05-09T13:25:00.006+02:00

Fant denne diskusjonen på VG http://www.vg.no/reise/artikkel.php?artid=519979 der omdøping av ulike turistmål førte med seg et fantastisk forslag. Jeg har hørt at man holder rockekonserter i Hell, nettopp pga navnet, så hvorfor ikke omdøpe flyplassen?!
Go to Hell!-
"Diss is the kæpten spiking. Welcåmm aboard to diss flight to Hell!"
Departures til Hell på andre flyplasser reserveres selvfølgelig alltid
til Gate 666, så slipper reisende å spørre teite spørsmål som: "Exuse me,
where is the gate to Hell?"
Flyplassens eget flyselskap må selvsagt hete "Highway to Hell" med
mottoet "To Hell with everybody!"
Utnytt markedsverdien i å annonsere med "Ticket to Hell and back, only $666".
For å ikke snakke om t-skjorte salget på flyplassen med diverse ymse
slagord som "I've been frozen in Hell..."
"You are now arriving Hell" Kjempeide for turismen
Jernbanen på Hell har for lengst tatt i bruk "Hell"-navnet for alt det er
verdt. Turister kommer i hopetall fra hele kloden for å bli avbildet på
perrongen med skiltet "Hell, Gods-expedition" i bakgrunnen.

engasjement

2008-04-25T18:20:00.005+02:00

hun er en båt
uten anker
hun har hodet
fullt av tanker
og et hjerte som banker
for ting som hun tror på

(lest av en do vegg en gang)

Hand(y) phone

2008-03-06T17:31:00.003+01:00

Can you imagine not having to search for your cell phone when its making a hell of a noise with your newly acquired ringing tone in your purse or pocket? Instead you can press your arm and just talk. Check out the article here: http://www.tu.no/forbrukerteknologi/article141997.ece (in norwegian)

In short, we might be a lot closer to a wireless future than we ever could imagine for 2008. A designer has now developed a phone, that is operated in underneath your skin. It will be with you for as long as you live and not visible when its not in use. When in use, it looks like a tattoo and power is provided by pressure from the blood streams in your veins. Bluetooth enables talking, listening and internet I assume.

S people having various technological gadgets implemented in to their bodies is suddenly not so unlikely? What if someone calls you in the middle of the night? Or the ligth malfunctions and you can't turn it off at night? That would be annoying. Or if something malfunctions and you need to place it to service three times before you can have a new one? That would require a lot of operations?

Another thing is the security issues. Can you then be tracked down when wearing it? Just how (un)fortunate can it be that personal information can leak out if your blood pressure, heart condition etc can be measured by this apparatus as well?

Anyhow, they are still testing it, so we will have to wait and see what they come up with. I can't hide the fact that I think the phone looks really cool though =)

Christmas pre preparation time

2007-12-13T11:04:00.001+01:00

So now i am soon heading for a warmer climate once again to avoid the jolly spirit of pre christmas preparations! =) I am very much looking forward to it - I found a picture somewhere on the web that I imagine provide a good description of what I can expect.

The most Christmas spirit I found myself in was when they brought in the Christmas tree that stands in the city centre of Bergen on Torgalmenningen. The tree was being dragged by a huge truck to its destination. It was a fascinating sight and I had to take a picture of the tree blocking the pedestrians crossing as I was about to cross.. I´ve also been to the Pepperkake village (gingerbread cookies) which is supposedly the largest in the world, but I don´t know how many countries actually hosts these kinds of events in the first place =) It was great fun and I allowed myself to take on the appearence of a five-year-old that never had seen so many cookies in one place before! In addition to that the people I live with and I held a Christmas workshop where we made various candles, candy and decoration - as we played Christmas songs for eight hours! It was the best of times!

Oh well, I guess I have done a lot of christmassy things lately, and enjoyed it! I´m still gonna enjoy a vacation in 20 + degrees anyway! Have a great Christmas pre preparation time - may it not exhaust you before Christmas...!

Outside the borders..

2007-11-02T13:49:00.000+01:00

Since I will be heading to China next year right before the Olympics I find it interesting to pay attention to articles that have been written about China as you might have noticed by now.. Most of them focus on problems that China could run into in relation to the Olympics. But, in addition to the more common angles on Chinese politics (one child policies, poverty gap, olympics reforms a.s.o) there are other views that also have caught my attention.

The most nuanced article I have read in a while on China's success doesn't concern itself with the above mentioned things in particular or other issues which concern China's situation internally. It brings attention to how China, as a rising nation, has been forced to take a stand in issues - internationally. Often, articles on China tend to focus on internal problems, but doesn't focus on why this has become of current interest. Which is why I think this is a breath of fresh air in the row of articles about China because it says something about the fact that China can no longer hide behind its closed doors to the extent it has done before by just putting a lid on tough political issues. Perhaps this development not only leads to emerging diplomacy, it could also lead to further secrecy and increased cencorship, but the international community is paying attention. Still, China is not only a manufacturer anymore, but a participant and a partner in global issues - a change that results in an increased focus on solving internal conflicts - which in turn forces it to take action within its own borders as well. Hopefully.

Its status is anyhow different now from what it used to be - not only being a booming country and a factory for the world. We are entering a new era of China.

THE GOLD IS HOME!!

2007-10-23T00:57:00.000+02:00

GULLET ER HEME!!!!!!!

The city´s soccer team where I live - BRANN - just won the gold in the soccer series in Norway for the first time in 44 years!! It is being celebrated like only the supporters of Brann can as I write!! Congrats - you deserve it!!!

e-learning in china

2007-10-04T13:57:00.001+02:00

E-learning is a big issue in China and can be a factor for improving many issues concerning resource, economical and social gaps in the society. Retraining people for new and different tasks that follow from the continuously changing markets has become a high priority in China. Educating people in rural areas where children not always have expert help within reach might now have the opportunity to connect with teachers and other co-students through the internet and various e-learning tools. For now this project is located in the 20 major cities in China, but it has passed the crucial seeding and has now grown roots in the chinese educational system and it will be exiting to see how e-learning`s full potential can be exploited in a country with so many differences and variables.

differentiated one child policy - a BBC view.

2007-10-04T10:33:00.000+02:00

On BBC news they discuss some of the viewpoints of the one child policy in China. This gives a short overview of some of the issues. Some months ago China once again declared that they would sustain an even stricter one child policy to enforce the development - they say they`ve prevented 400 million births till now since the beginning in 1979 when the policy was first introduced.

Although the rich can afford having more than one child it is unfortunately an arrangement that is hitting the poorest hardest and has lead to further problems such as protests and stripping homes for valuables in order to collect the fines. This has created dislikement amongst the less economic fortunate who are angry with the rich and famous who can write a check each month without noticing much difference in their credit balance and thus plead to the government to stop them from having two and three children. Ironically it has turned out that many of the rich are government officials which doesn`t exactly send out the right message.

The rules are of course not as black and white as most people think. When I was in China I spoke to some of my chinese friends who had siblings who explained to me that if their parents did not have any siblings they could have two or more children. This is just one of the exeptions which most Westerners don`t know about. Thus there are grey areas in this policy which you can read more about here.

One of the major problems China will have to face is that the country will host approx. 40 million single men by 2020 which BBC news has reported on before. What will they do to bring on the next generation? How will this induce sustainable growth within the economy and the future job market?

How will also the low number of young generations be able to take care of the old and elderly? Traditionally families take care of eachother and the elderly are of course provided for by their children. The results are showing already as schools are turned into old people`s homes. As it is getting gradually even more difficult for young people in the cities to move out and get a life of their own due to high living costs and crowded city spaces, they cannot start saving with only their own future in mind.

Traditions haven`t changed in the same pace as the society has changed and so these children still need to attend to many issues by themselves and feeling responsible for the "face" of the family, which previously would be shared on several siblings. The "few" children which the past AND future generations are now relying on, are facing enormous pressure and many fear they cannot live up to this. Many children feel they must live up to an image of the "perfect child", an image arisen due to the fact that the parents only have "one shot" of making it right. It`s a tuff reality.

and so its election day...

2007-09-10T16:06:00.000+02:00

...once again, and hopefully the population will be happy when the winner is announced. Of course there is always something to complain about no matter the outcome of an election. As if it really matters in a country like ours, when most of the parties have so similar standing points on so many counts its barely going to be noticed when we change course every fourth year. I am not saying they are all the same, but lets face it: its not the most politically unstable history we have to show to. Luckily! No major surprises will pop up and no tyranns will appear out of nowhere because no one expected them to become leader. I am glad we live in a system that we have in Norway, but I wish I had a party to vote for that dared to think outside the box sometimes, foreseing some greater visions and who didnt devote the entire election campaign to minor details that have been discussed for so long.. Its important yes, to find a solution, but what solution and how do you incorporate it into our future plans for this country? Where do we want to be in ten years?

keeping in touch

2007-08-27T23:11:00.001+02:00

I forgot what I wrote on the right hand side of my blog, claiming to keep in touch with my friends through my blog. Ijust read it and wanted to tell you that I am now sick of just doing that. I have decided that I will now do my best to actually go and visit them instead of just calling for them on this web page. So now I have travelled to Copenhagen, Lund and now Uppsala and Stockholm to do just that. I love it! From now on less money will be devoted to surviving and shopping, and more will be spent on travelling, probably mostly throughout Europe for obvious financial reasons. Just my thought of the week.

go!

2007-08-19T21:43:00.000+02:00

And so it begins. My journey towards actually rounding off my time at university - namely finishing my masters degree.. And I am once again feeling excited about it though I am not expecting it to be an easy journey. Only two people will be writing their thesis this autumn so we need to stick together to share hours of agony when nothing will stick to the paper.. and you search for the right words and ideas to reveal the next chapter of your thesis. It´ll be great fun and I hope I can share some ideas with others who might be interested in knowledge sharing across cultural barriers with the use of technology. I hope.

lost summer

2007-08-07T13:20:00.000+02:00

Many things has happened since the last time I wrote on this blog. First of all, I am now back in Norway and have been for a while, enjoying time with my friends and family. Unfortunately the summer hasnt shown its sunny face for a while and so it doesnt really feel like summer holiday.. BUT I have been so lucky to have friends visiting me throughout the summer and so they have brightened up my days with their smiles! =) I am very grateful for the fact that they have wanted to come here and let me show them my country, especially friends from the far east! =) Back to my studies in Bergen, I have decided to finish my masters and so I will begin to write my thesis this autumn.. I have long been quarrelling with myself whether to continue or not, but Ive come to the conclusion that I dont like to leave things in between places - and so I need to finish them. So this has been a summer of decisions, but also a summer that went by so fast due to visitors and travelling that I simply dont know what happened to all those days..

Vacation update!

2007-06-14T14:24:00.000+02:00

After traveling now for 15 days, I figured it was about time to update you on some of the things we have done! Unfortunately, as we speak, I cannot upload pics, because our bus to Mui Ne is arriving any second.. We are now in Saigon, a hectic, chaotic and dirty city that differs a lot to other cities we have seen so far. We are coming back here in five days or so, and today was not a pitstop we necessarily wanted to make, but were forced to when it turned out that the bus wasn`t actually leaving at two pm, but at eight pm instead.. Our flight was already booked so we would be in Saigon at half past ten..

Anyway! We began our journey traveling from Hong Kong to Guanzhou first, where our train for Nanning would depart from. Then we went to Pingxiang from there after ten hours onboard, crossed the border to Vietnam at friendship pass and took a local train from Dong Dang to Hanoi which took us seven hours. All in all we traveled for one and a half day and were exhausted when we got to our hostel! The last train ride was worth it though, it was a semi cargo and passenger train and we got a close first encounter with the locals.

After some days in beautiful Hanoi we went to Halong Bay to enjoy a nice island all to ourself (and the rest of our party of twelve). Oh, bus outside, have to go!

siste post fra HK med mac'en

2007-05-26T06:11:00.000+02:00

ja... Idag blir siste dagen jeg har med mac'en min før jeg kommer hjem igjen. Min kjære bror har vært så snill å tilby seg å ta noen av tingene mine med seg hjem neste gang han besøker HK! Vanskelig å bestemme seg for hva man skal ta med og hva man skal sette igjen og hva som skal få være med på turen videre til Vietnam. jupp, det var alt jeg ville si! =)

Hot pot dinner with girls in my hallway

2007-05-20T08:20:00.000+02:00

This hot pot was really HOT, and even some of the girls shed tears from eating the spicy food, but I did it and ate till I was stuffed - it tastes fantastic - if you can get over the fact that it is insanely spicy..
I will miss these girls..

GRATULERER MED DAGEN

2007-05-17T13:10:00.000+02:00

...til alle kjære fellow norwegians!! =)

Vi feiret med lakse bagel og nytrukket kaffe, kledde oss i røde t-skjorter og veivet våre små medbrakte flagg i den varme vinden her nede! =) Camilla hadde planlagt det som en overraskelse og det kunne ikke vært en bedre start på dagen =) Takk Milla!

...bilder kommer senere!

outdoor-good-bye-barbecue

2007-05-15T14:19:00.000+02:00

keep reading..

2007-05-06T16:30:00.000+02:00

I know the last post was kinda looong, but I got complaints about not telling anything about the trip, so I decided to release the first chapter of my new book. LOL - enjoy!

Everything from Shanghai!

2007-05-05T20:39:00.000+02:00

The story of a trip to Shanghai I wish lasted for at least two more weeks... I travelled with the fantastic four: Andreas, Christian, Daniel and Juan and we ate, walked, talked, slept, laughed, nagged, danced, partied, and explored Shanghai together for five days that seemed like one day cause it went by so fast!

Thursday April 26th
Met up at University kcr station at 6.00 pm after dinner, took train to Shenzhen, crossed border, took taxi to airport, checked in, got on a turbulent plane ride, landed, maglev train closed, tried to take taxi, but they wouldn´t take five people, took the bus, met a Moroccan couple, got off at a stop in Pudong, got ripped off taking a taxi to the Beehome hostel, couldn´t find hostel, stood in dark back alley at three in the morning wondering what to do, met three Chinese people who wanted to help us, found hostel, but gate was closed and no one answered phone number written as contact number at night, shouted a little through the closed gate, a tired man came and opened for us, we got our fantastic room and went to sleep.

Friday April 27th
Slept till twelve and thought that this was going to be the day we would sleep long unlike other days when we were going to get up early and see everything in the city... We talked to the people at the hostel who knew English and found out that our hostel was only one month old – the reason for why the room and the bathroom, free Internet access, and bar was so incredibly nice! They told us how to get around in Shanghai and that the metro station we lived by was Dongchang Lu (Lu means road). After buying a csc travel card (resembles an Octopus card in HK), we went for our first discovery walk on the Puxi side. We lived in Pudong, which is the new grand commercial centre and skyline of Shanghai. Puxi is situated on the other side of the river which divides Shanghai into two – old Puxi and new Pudong. Traffic is horrible either you go by car, bus or walking, but the metro is superefficient. We got off at Nanjing Donglu (donglu = East road) which is an all pedestrian shopping street in Shanghai, with the exception of the tourist trains that run back and forth bugging the hell out of pedestrians…We weren´t sure of were to begin sightseeing because the city is pretty big! The government estimates that there is somewhat in between 18 and 30 million people living in Shanghai, but no one really knows.

I was recommended to see People’s square and park where you can relax and feel like you are in a small haven in the middle of a roaring machine. Beautiful lakes and trees surrounding every piece of building around you makes it a nice place for people in love, bench sleepers and everyone else who appreciates some silence and privacy. When the afternoon came we wanted to eat something and ended up in a Hawaiian restaurant in Nanjing Lu. Good food, very small dishes and not cheap. Juan was not happy. I would have preferred something a little more Chinese. We continued down to Huangpi Lu and found, close to this, a place called Xintiandi, which I was told by my Shanghaiese friend Jo (who lives in my hallway in HK) is built of old bricks from a low rise building from the early 1900’s. It has been added a modern twist and is packed with bars, restaurants and classy shops. Most of the places had a nice price tag on them too.. Anyway, we contacted Martin (friend of Peder) to hear if he could show us some restaurants or take us out somewhere in the evening. He brought us to Zapatas – a place where they have tequila hours. If you hear the music – go to the bar and open your mouth and the bartenders will pour a shot of tequila directly in your mouth.

Saturday April 28th
Got a late start on the day – started sightseeing around one.. But it started good as we went to the place that our local hostel people pointed us to. It was a tiny house where two women sat and made dumplings behind a window that covered almost all the wall. Outside they were steaming dumplings in towers of wooden baskets. Locals occupied all the tables. One basket with eight dumplings cost 3 yuen. We bought four baskets and two soups and sat down at a table in the sun outside. It tasted marvellous.

We decided to walk to Puxi instead of taking the metro. The buildings surrounding us were enormous. Everything was under construction and there are probably many, many more to come of the same type of skyscrapers – all looking like something pictured in futuristic portrayals from the 50’s. All of it is new and it seems like a prestigious area for new companies to settle. Our mission was though to go up in the tallest building in China - JinMao Tower. It was situated next to the almost erected World Finance Building, but not finished completely and seemed frighteningly close to the building we were about to climb. We took the elevators up to the 54th floor first when we had to change elevator to get to the 86th floor before we ended up on the 88th floor! It made me a little anxious that there was an air balloon flying right above the building and around it all the time, but the boys calmed me down and we stayed and took a lot of pictures of the city from our bird view.

Our walked continued to the famous TV and radio tower (that looks like a spaceship), but we never went inside as we thought it cost too much. However, we found out that there was an under the river sightseeing tunnel which seemed interesting. Unfortunately we got ripped off badly as it turned out to be a tunnel filled with changing lights that you crossed in a wagon. It got us to the Bund in Puxi and so we got to see this old and majestic harbour area of Shanghai, which was the heart of the former international settlements. Tailor of silk products and expensive restaurants and banks were what we saw in addition to the actual architecture. We headed back to our hostel and found out that we would eat at the restaurant that Martin had recommended to us for great Chinese food- South Beauty. Only thing is that it took us 1,5 hours to find it.. Cause the five tourist forgot to bring the map.. and had to guess what direction to go in. It did not help that locals couldn’t speak English and kept pointing us in different directions. BUT we found it and had a HUGE and fantastic gourmet dinner for five people for 900 yuen (6-700kroner?). Not insanely cheap, but very, very affordable considering how much food we got! After that we went to BonBon – a nightclub with 120 yuen cover and open bar till five in the morning.

Sunday April 29th
Late start again! Daniel was always the first one to get up and kept us on the right track so that we actually got to see anything this trip. This day however, was not spent getting up early. Around three all of us where still exhausted and just wanted some simple cheap food. Ashamed to say so – we went for pizza right across from our hostel, walked a little around in Pudong and went home again to have an early night.. Had a good time with the group though as we only talked and joked all day long.

Monday April 30th
Wanted to get the most out of the day, so we got up relatively early and went to the dumpling place to have breakfast again. It was raining this day so we sat inside. The dumplings were still amazing. On this day we wanted to see the French Concessions and the famous neo classical buildings and art deco – supposedly the best architecture in Shanghai. We strolled the area for a couple of hours just to look at the contrasts of old, new, small and huge buildings. it was a good walk and it took us to some nice back alleys where we could really smell and feel the atmosphere of this place. I will agree with Lonely Planet when they say it is one of the most interesting places in Shanghai. Walking back towards Huaihai Lu we passed by a restaurant recommended by the book just mentioned. When we finally found it turned out that the chef had gone home and they weren´t open until another two hours. Still, when we said it was too bad and we had been looking for this particular place he called the chef and made him come back so that they could serve us! Once again, we ate good traditional Chinese food at a low price.

Tuesday May 1st
We saw the old town of Shanghai as the last thing we really wanted to do before we left. My flight to HK was at six thirty pm and the boys’ flight to Beijing was at eight pm so we had the whole afternoon to go sightseeing. Old town is a remarkable place that collides completely with the new identity of the biggest city in China. Here, people are poor, they live in filthy, smelly back alleys, have nothing, live in the oldest buildings in the city and still seemed so happy. Food and handmade artefacts were being sold side by side in the streets. Traffic was roaming through the main street and wedding dresses from the numerous wedding shops in the wedding street were hanging down from the electric wires to dry together with people’s laundry in general. Whenever we talked to someone (or the guys tried to talk to them, I just watched) people just smiled and seemed so cheerful. It is also a charming part of Shanghai and the hours flew by as we realised we had to leave again. It is a part of the city you can walk in for hours I think, always something to look at and always something to take in and include as a part of the Shanghai atmosphere. That is what I did in general I think. Seeing absolutely all of the sights isn’t necessary here, but catching the essence of the city through looking at it, breathing it (so much pollution!!), smelling it, walking through it and dining in it is what paints the full picture. It is a city that needs to be explored and discovered by being in it. And I would love to go back.

Labour day

2007-05-01T17:57:00.000+02:00

This is news about what is going on in China on Labour day.

big growing country, TONS of pollution

2007-04-24T21:59:00.000+02:00

Black days of coalminers in China. The situation is getting worse and there doesn't seem to be too much evidence that the government takes this development seriously enough, and most importantly, that they do so quickly enough. The country is running severe risks of permanently damaging farmland, air and the people on its steady course of becoming strong economic power, but it is not willing to give that up just for the sake of cleaner air. The report (mentioned in the last link) states that China feels that greenhouse gas is caused and must be paid for and repaired by wealthy western countries. Might this be because China is feeling held back when being asked by western countries to take care of their greenhouse gas production?

Then you can start wondering what our primeminister can do to change it. This is from the talks they had when he was visiting China on March 26th:

"Both sides also exchanged views on environmental protection and climate changes. They agreed to set a cooperation framework on environmental protection to better scheme long-term collaboration between the two countries. Stoltenberg said the environmental problems in today's world were largely caused by the industrialization of developed countries which have obligation to fund developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emission. Norway would like to help China achieve this goal by increasing investment and technique transfer, he said. Wen said China supports the Kyoto Protocol, though it does not set gas emission reduction targets for developing countries. "China has always observed its obligation with a responsible attitude," Wen said, pledging the country is ready to work with the international community including Norway to cope with climate change and green house gas emission, improve energy efficiency and tap clean energy."

When our primeminister says he wishes to help paying for China, will China then ever stop hiding behind this argument and take responsibility for what they are doing?

Farewell party!

2007-04-23T11:18:00.000+02:00

So, this is good bye. This weekend we had our farewell party and already now have folks left the country to go travelling.. Except for us who are stuck with writing our final papers. There are actually quite a few of us. I had no idea a term could end this quickly. It feels strange, yet at the same time I am looking forward to leave HK behind and bypass vietnam and thailand in order to reach my final destination - home. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE being in Hong Kong, but it gives you a certain feeling of being restless, not really being in a place that you would stay put in forever. It gives you an exhilirating feeling of fantasticness as well - always giving you input and new impulses - always driving you to move on - which was a feeling I was searching for when I came here in the first place. I found it here and will bring it with me back home.

Nevertheless, it is a little sad to say goodbye to people, but also its left me with many extraordinary memories and experiences that I will never forget. The city has in a way outplayed the role of the people here, but there are a few amazing people I´ve met here that I will truly miss a lot. Having a big whooping final party evening with everyone was soo much fun and a good way of concluding these four months of rollercoaster cultural experiences!

Marcus, meg og Aoife
Sarah og Arnout
Dronning Marcus og Kong fabulous Jamie
Gaelle og Eefje
Meg og Misako

Housearrest for humanitarian work...

2007-04-22T06:00:00.000+02:00

I am trying to read up on news of "my" province and I found some news about it today.

"Just this month, in the southern province of Guangdong, police broke up an unsafe blood-selling racket involving homeless people illegally donating blood for cash up to 15 times a month.
It is not thought they were screened for HIV or other diseases."

The quote is on the state of blood transfusions in China and the high risk of running diseases when given blood. It is Dr Gao, an old woman who have been batteling the government to provide better healthcare and blood transfusions to avoid a greater epidemic of HIV and AIDS in China, but who is put in house arrest and keeps struggling to continue her work. She was kept from leaving the country to get acknowledgement for her work in 2001, but was allowed to leave eventually.

The problem is huge in China. It is estimated that 650 000 people have HIV in China.

From BBC on Asian-Pacific conditions.

High death tolls in China industry

2007-04-19T08:17:00.000+02:00

It is not the first time I´ve read about it since I first came to Hong Kong, but the article I refer to here states that 127 000 Chinese workers are killed annually in industrial accidents. Not too long ago tens of men were killed in a coal mine accident, and we hear about them almost on a daily basis. It is tragic and disturbing that this many people in a country undergoing so rapid economic development have to work under such poor conditions. This is of course the biggest and one of the many obstacles that China has to face in its transformation towards change and what many people here are worried about. The gap between the poor and the wealthy is only getting wider and it seems nearly impossible to assemble the nation as a whole to prepare for the future. Hopefully the workers in industrial areas will meet a better tomorrow.

A perfect night out

2007-04-17T18:15:00.000+02:00

Thursday - went out dancing in LKF after being to an incredibly cool jazz concert at the philia lounge seeing and hearing Eugene Pao - apparently one of the best guitar players in Asia?! He was truly fantastic and the band members (a contrabass player and a pianist) were also amazing! After the concert we all went out clubbing and me and Jay danced four hours straight untill they actually kicked us out of the club! =) Had a goooood time!

litt huminf faktisk!

2007-04-12T06:33:00.000+02:00

I en artikkel i Aftenposten om spill for skoleelever i Oslo blir det skrevet at utviklingen av læringsspill for skoleelever Oslo kommune foretar seg nå vil føre til mer effektiv læring. Jeg håper de klarer å utvikle noe som faktisk er interessant og bra å spille, hvis ikke vet de ikke hvor mye tid og penger de kaster ut vinduet. Spillmarkedet er ekstremt vanskelig - uten at Oslo kommune skal begi seg ut på det - og enorme summer brukes for å utvikle og teste nye spill. Det sier også noe om hvor raffinerte spillerne er og hvor høy standard de setter før de setter seg inni et nytt spill. At de nå setter fokus på nye læringsmetoder er godt og at digitale hjelpemidler blir tatt i bruk er enda bedre, men jeg håper de har tenkt gjennom en god løsning før de nå begir seg ut på spillteknologiutvikling selv.

(lack of) Easter activities in HK

2007-04-10T13:56:00.000+02:00

Vi vara toorristaa
To all of you at home in Norway who have been enjoying horrible snowy, cold or warm sunny Easter weather at a remote cabin in the mountains of Norway - they don´t celebrate Easter in China. It is coincidental that their festival to honor the dead falls on the same weekend as the Western Easter holiday. Wednesday 4th of April was the day when all Chinese go to visit their ancestors graves - og which most of the mainlanders in HK need to go to the mainland to do so - which fell on the same day as we chose to cross over the border to show Camilla´s parents who were visiting, what China is like. Well, needless to say, they got a funny experience of what a crowd of about 250 000 Chinese looks like. They were practically running like "five year olds in an amusement park" (camillas quote) whenever they saw an opportunity to sneak further ahead in the sea of people who all wanted to cross over simultaniously - no queue culture here..

A practical thing about being a city in between two cultures like HK is that they can choose the best things from both cultures - including holidays it seems, a benefit which they apparently are taking advantage of, by adding Easter as a holiday where they can get extra days off from work, but thats about it. So, not too many things that resemble a normal Easter as most Western people might be familiar with except a few weird things imported from our culture such as waitresses wearing bunny ears and stuff. I was pretty happy when Camillas parents presented me with an Easter egg of good tradition filled with Norwegian liquorice! =)

As a result of us lacking a travelling plan during Easter and having visitors, we´ve been guides most of the time (thus we finally managed to take a photo of us with the famous HK Island as background - see the top photo). When we haven´t been guides, we´ve gone out and looked at the nightlife of HK. That lead to some fantastic photos of me and Camilla smoking cigars in a bar called Castro. Behold!

Dance event at CUHK

2007-04-05T19:05:00.000+02:00

There was yesterday a big dance show at CUHK - apparently it is an annual thing that everyone in HK know about (fact retrieved from a local CUHK student, so who really knows?! ) Anyway, I went to one rehearsal to be in this show, but realised that I had been put in the wrong class.. Hardcore Hip Hop.. AND I would be away three out of four weeks of rehearsal because of my travelling to china and malaysia.. It was nice going to the actual show to watch it though! It lasted from 7:30 untill 11.30 which a bit too long, but okay and every hour was packed with choreography - not just the dance acts in themselves, but even the two guys talking in between in mandarin, of which we couldn´t understand anything... The whole audience seemed to like it, so I took it as a sign of them actually hitting their target and being funny. So I just enjoyed the show and the bits of things I could extract as wisdom about cultural differences. One pic is of the four best dancers that were on stage performing the coolest hiphop - pop´n´lock choreography to 70s music, and the other one of two excited spectators!

Tribeca

2007-04-05T19:02:00.000+02:00

A big big party was arranged at Tribeca - a cool club in HK. We of course attended it, unfortunately Camilla fell ill that very same day (or the one before) and so she couldn´t come! Here are some photos I manage to get hold of from Marcus - a Swede that had brought a camera with him and was willing to use it.

taking a piss...

2007-03-26T17:57:00.000+02:00

sorry, no offense, but this is kind of funny... not gonna display the video here, but click on the link below to witness imense harsh reality.. Not that this can´t be found elsewhere.

Americans aren´t that dumb!

Rainy season...

2007-03-26T11:24:00.000+02:00

It is actually raining in Hong Kong.. Good thing is that it is hotter and more humid than ever!! Well, the hot part is nice, the humid part of it means breaking a sweat just by turning around when you wake up in the morning. Hehe, have been told by HK chinese that june and july and august is intolerable and they hate it due to humidity. I don´t care, I´ve lived so long in Bergen, I hardly notice it if my clothes and hair gets wet. =)

Stolten' jo!

2007-03-25T20:21:00.000+02:00

Jøss, leste at statsministern var i dette landet gitt! Skal proklamere miljø og menneskerettigheter her borte. Blir nok lite coverage her om det..

Benytter anledningen til å si - hvor er alle kommentarene!?????!!!!

Camilla and talked about this and agreed that we won´t write anymore posts about the trip unless we start seing that someone are reading them!

Takk for meg og dagens syting..

chinese cooking

2007-03-22T11:49:00.000+01:00

shaomai

I finally decided that it was about time to learn how to cook these fab chinese dishes we have been served the past two months. I actually bought some vermicelli in the store and shaomai which is very hard to buy due to the labelling in chinese. Hence, the time it took me to build up the guts to go and buy it. I ate some extremely good homecooked rice, corn and veggie shaomai in Shantou, but they only had shrimp, fish and chicken in the store, so I went with the latter one. I put vegetables and the shaomai, into the vermicellis and made a wonderful soup! Hooray for chinese cooking!! =) When I got to the eating part of it, I realised I was out of wooden chopsticks that we always take with us from the cantine. I don´t find it easy to eat noodles and shaomai with a fork, but searched for it in order to find out that it has been lost somewhere unknown. I knew I should have bought chopsticks for myself sooner. My conclusion today is that I have to invest in a pair of my own chopsticks. That is for sure.

pictures say it all..

2007-03-20T08:01:00.000+01:00

teaching in Shantou - part 3

2007-03-12T19:32:00.000+01:00

Next day we left early in the morning to go for a city tour before our bus returned home to HK. Hau came to see us off and Joy came with us as we sat in the minibus. They drove us through a hundred years old part of the city, which probably won´t be there in ten years due to the lack of money to rehabilitate them. They are deteriorating and a looong history will disappear. They apparently didn´t want to show us this part of the city so they took us to Walmart instead! We said we wanted to see more of the busy everyday streets of Shantou and they took us there after a while – though a little reluctant and not really understanding why we wanted to see that part of town. We saw what we came for though, chaos in the streets, a thriving street packed with bicycles, motorbikes and cars and buses all of were going around each other on whatever side was convenient. Along the streets there were merchants selling vegetables, salads, meat and everything else you can think of – fairly unaffected by the busy traffic passing them only half a meter in front of them. Joy was like a shepard, making sure that we wouldn´t get run over by traffic or got stuck with a salesperson somewhere along the street. She was sweet and took good care of us. As we were departing she took out a handful of jewelry she had bought for us and they were all especially chosen to each and everyone of us and none of them were the same. We were all so grateful and surprised that she had made such a gesture to us. Next time a class will come here we will send something for her with them. Filled with all of these impressions, we entered the bus – which turned out to be a business class bus with leather seats and tv – what a contrast to what we just experienced!

teaching in Shantou - part 2

2007-03-12T19:26:00.000+01:00

We ate breakfast at 8am. I had a good nights sleep in the warm beds and enjoyed the big breakfast we had with porkbuns, egg, pai, porridge and salty and bitter vegetables to have in the porridge. The classes then started at 8.30am. We divided into two groups. Arnout, Bonnie and me functioned as one teacher group for the less well speaking students. They were between 16 and 18 years and were in total 30 people. Most of them seemed interested in what we had to say, but many acted like teenagers most and were too cool to pay attention to the teacher. Still, I think we managed to keep their attention through the whole three hours to a more or less high degree. We taught them about our countries, what Europe was, their hobbies, we played my ship contains, hang-man and strayed through many other topics when they started being impatient.

Afterwards though, they came up to us and wanted to be taken a picture of together with us! So we spent ten fifteen minutes being taken a picture of, which was sort of cute and we got the chance to talk a little bit with them. We had lunch for two hours and went to see the garden that was lying next to the school. Newly built Buddhist garden with trees and lakes and bushes and small houses and pagodas created a small oasis in the middle of the half dry grass and dirt roads that surrounded us.

Coming back to the classes at 2pm was allright, but tiring. We took over the class of the better speaking English class consisting of 10 girls. No surprise huh? Guess it works like in our own classes in Norway? Anyway, they were more interested in our countries (Holland, England and Norway respectively) and asked frequent questions about our nature, animals, people and such. It was a giving experience, but drained us from energy. We had to wait until six to have dinner, and I wanted to have a nap before that. The others decided to visit the local nearby market and were followed there by the same girl who took us to the garden - Joy. Only thing was that when the clock turned six, they had not returned yet. I was awaken by two Chinese speaking girls in their Pjs, telling me that my friends were late and told me to wait in the kitchen/restaurant. I went with them and sat down and waited for the rest of my group to return.

As time passed by and became 7pm I was more hungry than an hour ago and a little more annoyed at the others for not showing up in time. People around me were starting to be worried as if to whether I was hungry and talked to me in Putonghua without me understanding anything of course. Luckily a guy called Hau helped me communicating with the chef and his wife and their son and the rest of the people surrounding me. Before he came along I had been sitting there on my stool, drinking numerous cups of the traditional tea, just looking and smiling to these people who kept talking and laughing and looking at me. It felt strange and I made an effort to try to speak slowly in English with some of the students who were sitting next to me, but I don´t know if they were quiet because someone told them to keep me company. See, they all knew why my friends were being late and that is why they kept asking me about food. I though it would be rude to eat without them so I waited, but no one could explain to me that they were actually being interrogated by the marines in the base next to the school for taking a photo of a guarding soldier…

They came back at 10pm. By that time I had got to know Hau and his future plans and wishes, about China and my country, family and life. He even gave me a Chinese name. We talked a lot and played basketball, taught each other card games and watched the gatekeeper shooting birds in a tree for fun! Nothing is impossible for a willing heart. That was our shared motto. I learned a lot that evening and was grateful for my experience with the people at the school even though I couldn´t talk directly with them, they treated me as one of them.

Teaching in Shantou

2007-03-12T18:46:00.000+01:00

Friday at 12.30pm was the time for Gaelle (Switzerland) and me to leave our Postgraduate hall in order to get to our final destination - Shantou in China. The rest of the group that we went with consisted of Andy (US/Taiwan), Maaike (Holland) and Arnout (Holland). Our chaperon for the weekend was Bonnie from the International office of CUHK and I was pretty happy about that since she is our age and a cool lady. We got on a bus that would drive through Shenzhen to cross the border and continue towards Shantou. The purpose of the trip was to go to a school and teach the children English by talking with them about our own countries and cultural differences and for us to learn about their lives.
All of us on the bus

My expectations of Shantou were not high. I assumed it to be a city that used to be a fishing village. I heard great things about the seafood there and that they spoke a language of their own in that region which was not anything like Putonghua (Mandarin) or Guang dong Hua (Cantonese). I had no expectations about the school or accommodation and thought it was going to be simple and rural. How wrong was I!?!?

The city of Shantou is huge!! It thrives from a blooming economy ranking it seventh best rate of commerce in all of China. It is one of the most important open-to-the-world harbours and is one of five special economic zones in China. The seafood cuisine is famous as I mentioned and so is also their special Gongfu tea, which is being served in a specific manner in tiny cups and drunk as a shot.Gongfu tea

We arrived around seven at the bus station in Shantou and were met by many people asking if we needed taxi. Everyone stared bluntly and was clearly not as used to seeing foreigners as people are in HK. We were picked up in a van by two of the schools teachers of whom one of them spoke a little English, but preferred to speak in Mandarin. Bonnie speaks Cantonese, but understands and can answer a little in Mandarin, Andy speaks quite well and Gaelle has studied Mandarin for two years, so I didn´t feel like I went with the worst group of people! I wish I knew a little as well and I now understand how important it is too know the language because barely anyone understands English. I took this opportunity to learn just a little bit when I had the chance.

We drove 13 km outside of the city centre to get to the school that was surrounded by.. nothing. It had a huge mountain in the background and other than that.. nothing. The school gate was old and guarded by the gatekeeper. We were told that there was a curfew after six o´clock. The airport was on the other side of the mountain and the extreme sound of the planes roaring above our heads appeared in intervals of ten minutes. We were lead to our rooms, the girls to one building and the boys to another. The four of us shared a small apartment with a bathroom and a kitchen – apparently a teacher apartment – the highest standard they could give us. The floor was made of concrete and the walls were of chalk and didn´t reach the ceiling, but it was clean and had four beds for us to sleep comfortably in. The toilet didn´t work so we couldn´t throw paper into it and to flush it we had to use a bucket of water, but it was an ordinary toilet and not a squatting toilet, so no one complained.
Our bathroom
The girls rooms
We were immediately escorted (yes, escorted everywhere, they were worried we would get lost) to the main kitchen on the premises were we would be served dinner. It was a shed where they had a small kitchen and some plastic tables and stools. The teachers had their own “restaurant” room inside the shed where we could sit together and discuss tomorrow’s events over an incredible meal! We got fresh fish, siu mai (sort of dumpling, but open at the top), pai, fish balls, meatballs, clams and lots of other stuff. It exceeded what I had heard about the region’s meals – it was goooood. Afterwards, we played some cards with my excellent 54-views-from-Norway cards for a while, but had to go early to bed because we were tired after the trip and we had to get up at 7.30am the next day.

in between locations

2007-03-12T02:30:00.000+01:00

I just came back from a teaching in Shantou trip - I will try to write something about it during the day, but I am leaving for Malaysia tomorrow so i´ll see if I can make it between school projects, packing and such!

Tickets in my hand!

2007-03-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

Peder, Camilla and I have finally managed to buy the tickets to our destination for next week (13th to 18th) - Langkawi in Malaysia! We have spent weeks on this, never been able to decide whether to go or not to go on a short notice or where to go for that matter. Now, we finally made it and I am looking at the tickets as they are lying on my desk, just waiting to be used. Needless to say - it is a goooood feeling.

just doing as the others did..

2007-03-06T07:56:00.000+01:00

Seeing as both Britt and Camilla posted a map of visited countries in the world, I figured I could do the same. I included the countries Camilla and I are about to visit as well.. Hope noone considers me a cheater.. =)

create your own visited country map

AWESOME!!!!

2007-03-03T18:15:00.000+01:00

I know that sounds way too american or australian or teenage or "whatever" - but the MUSE concert was absolutely fantastic!!!!!!
I´VE SAID IT BEFORE, BUT I WILL SAY IT ONCE AGAIN - I LOVE MUSE!! THEY KICKED ASS IN HONG KONG!!!!! Juan, Eefje and me stood AT THE FRONT, ENJOYING THIS GREAT DISPLAY OF SUPREMACY!!! The crowd was pretty young though, probably never heard all the albums, but still, it was soooo worth the 700HK dollars we paid!!!!! I am gonna quit before I sound too teenager-like.. But experiencing them in Hong Kong is something I do not regret.

THANK YOU MUSE, for making my first concert experience with you that %$ #$% awsome.

time is flying by...

2007-03-01T12:14:00.000+01:00

1ST OF MARCH ALREADY!?!??!!

dumplings in the microwave again?

2007-02-25T16:19:00.000+01:00

Those of you who know me knows that I like to cook. This has not been particularly easy here seeing as we have no idea what half of the stuff in the supermarkets or markets are and therefore we don´t kjnow how to prepare it either. So we have to buy everything in advance or go out to eat in the various cantines that they have on campus. This is of course pretty nice because its easy and you don´t pay more than 23 dollars (16kr?) max for a big dinner.

This has only one drawback as far aas I am concerned. If you are hungry after eight o`clock or if you come home late and didn´t have time to eat or forgot it - your only alternativ is.... microwave food from seven/eleven.... Now this is not ordinary food. As if its not bad enough that it is, in fact microwave food, they put all sorts of things in the micro here.... (which you find out as soon as you open up the micro door in the kitchen at the dorm) They even have dumplings that you can reheat.. yuk.

Today I ate that. It was warm. it was eadable. I not hungry anymore. I am once again reminded that I should remember to buy food earlier in the evening. Or have a stock at home. Just in case. So, thank you Tommy for the noodles :P They will come in handy. =)

Busy week - part 4

2007-02-21T17:56:00.000+01:00

Monday – I woke up at four in the afternoon. Got up. Had to go out the door again to see the fireworks in Central! Met so many other exchange students at the kcr that it was impossible to keep the whole group together through the entire evening due to the 1million other people who also wanted to get the best view of the fireworks that evening. The view was AMAZING and it lasted for 25minutes. Unfortunatley we didn´t get a panoramic view to the amount of people around us, but it was a lot of fun just listening to the reactions of the crowd - ooohhh, aaahhh, hihihi and general cheering when the fireworks were BIG! It covered the whole sky infront of us and sounded loudly behind us from the echoing of the building!! We took a couple of pics, but didn´t want to spoil the experience with only trying to capture the perfect kodac moment - it would never have been better than the visual images I have vividly kept in my mind! Here are some pics of what the sky looked like - they capture some of the mood at least if not the actual fireworks. (Too bad I couldn´t get a picture of the smiley faces - that would have been funny!)

Busy week - part 3

2007-02-21T17:36:00.000+01:00

Saturday - I went jogging before we left for Lantau to visit Julie! She lives in Discovery Bay, which she had told us was a resort filled with westerners, but when we got of the ferry both Camilla and I were in shock. We felt like we had come to a southern vacation PARADISE and not just taken a 25 minutes ferry ride from one of the busiest places on earth! It was very resort like, but still nice. Julie is not too happy about all the families with kids who are living there, but with all the other bonuses you get by living there I don´t think it is too bad still. =) We ate dinner and had a drink at one of the newly built restaurants by the sea and relaxed for a couple of hours with Sameer, Smithy (brother and sister and friends of Julie) and Christina (Julie´s room mate). They all live here in paradise and they are all very friendly beautiful people! =) We couldn´t and didn´t want to stay up too late because we were going hiking the next day, but we still managed to sit at one of the tables in the central open places and have a beer untill one in the morning.

Jungle feeling at the very beginning of our hiking trail
Sweaty at the top of the hill!
Waterfalls and dragon pools.
This was the view we left behind - IFC Tower on HK Island

Sunday - We got going for our hiking trip at around one on Sunday, met with Sameer and Smithy and started walking. The landscape is truly amazing in this area with palms, hills, beaches, waterfalls and so on. We walked for about two or three hours and got nice and sweaty since it has suddenly become really humid in HK lately and of course, since we walked up a hillside (I am not even going to try to make you believe that I am in a great shape ;) ). The great parade of Chinese New Year started at eight in central so we needed to get back in order to have the time to shower, get changed and then take the ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui. We had heard that it would be hard finding places along the parade route so we wanted to be early so that we´d get good seats.. We waited for two hours before it actually started.. Think one of the wagons caught fire and that´s why it was delayed because there was this sudden rush of fire trucks and photographers running to the direction of the parades beginning. Anyway, it was okay, lots of sweet kids in cute costumes, talented folks and cool wagons! Went to a dinner place called Knutsford and met around twenty other exchange students and had a great Vietnamese/thai dinner, a nice cold beer and a sit!!! My feet were so tired by then!

Classic Chinese poster that is put up EVERYWHERE for good luck during Chinese Lunar New Year
Fun red things you could hit together to make noise and hit eachother over the head with during the parade! A lot of fun - even for us semi grown ups..
Classic Chinese dragon at the parade.

Busy week!! part 2

2007-02-21T17:32:00.000+01:00

Crowded in the streets!
Relaxed monkey dude - we got pretty close to this one!

Friday - Monkey Mountain and Hong Kong World Carneval – Tom and I went to Monkey Mountain which lies half an hour from Sha Tin with bus. People say it is a great mountain trail as well, but we didn´t have the time or the equipment to go on a long hike this day. We just wanted to see the monkeys – and boy, did we not only see them - we were surrounded by them!! They were actually quite scary some of them, we accidentally came in between a mother and an infant and it screamed at us!! So we held close together and try not to look at them, walk towards them, stop or anything else that might provoke them. Plastic bags are the worst thing you can have with you, and luckily we knew that otherwise they come running towards you thinking you might feed them and they start pulling your clothes and stuff.. They´re only small macaques, but still.. Check out the two different macaque species that live in HK here and here. After a quick stop at KFC in Sha Tin we headed straight for the fair that is in town now at Admiralty – called the Hong Kong World Carnival. We had looked so much forward to this – it is brightly lit and clearly visible on HK Island and had been calling for us to go there and have fun for so long!! First thing we queued for was called G-force – a giant windmill like thing with two wings that put you through 2G!! It was the coolest thing I have ever been in and the upside down and high rise view we got at the HK skyline was definitely worth the 1,5 hours we had to wait to go for a ride!!!

The carneval with the surrounding building as the backgorund scenery - notice how they are decorated to celebrate the New Year.

Camilla and me!

2007-02-20T20:04:00.000+01:00

I just liked this picture of us! =)

Busy week!! part 1

2007-02-20T18:59:00.000+01:00

Last week has been incredibly busy!!

Tuesday – uni pub. Walked home with Gaelle when the pub closed at one, but met so many people on our way home that we spent one and a half hours to walk the ten minute way it usually takes! =) Was a lot of fun, had many nice conversations! =)

Wednesday - The usual three hours lecture about movies was great this time as well! Next time we are having a presentation on the cultural differences between two movies! Went directly from school to the train station and met with Tom who needed to buy some stuff. Of course we ate our usual dinner at Cheung Chi before leaving. =) Tom has been talking about bamboo and kyrasin for a couple of weeks now, and I´ve been wondering what dangerous stuff he was up to. On Wednesday I found out. He can do really cool stuff with a stick on fire! =) Have some pics of it, though they are of poor mobile camera quality. Tim, me and Fantasia spent two hours watching Tom doing fast and furious stuff that lit up in the dark! We even got to try for a little bit when the flames where are about to go out. The temperature has risen the last days as well, so it was a nice way of spending a couple of night hours outside in a t-shirt!

Thursday - Stanley market, flowermarket and party! Tom and I went to Stanley Market on the other side of HK Island. Takes one hour to get to Central from uni and another 30 minutes on a bus to Stanley Bay. It is a known and very touristy market, but they have some nice things and the place is definitely worth a visit just because of the scenery you pass on the bus ride to get there and to catch some of the atmosphere at the very market. Flower markets are traditional during Chinese New Year celebrations and so we had to visit one and chose the largest one in Causeway Bay. It was packed with people and they had one-way street signs at the whole area to avoid chaos. Chinese people are truly organised. Everyone walked the right way! Afterwards we had beers at seven eleven (only 6dollars for a can) and sim sim (sort of fish dim sum on a stick) from a street kitchen. Found a nice bar to sit in for a while as well! Afterwards, we went to Cavern to celebrate Louis´ birthday and every exchange student showed up and we had a blast! Got home at four..

some contrasts of HK

2007-02-20T07:43:00.000+01:00

Small buildings, tall buildings, supernice dinners in Fo Tan in a tent restaurant where the food is marvellous and expensive beers in fancy bars in Central in the IFC building where they had a live band.

general environment here on campus

2007-02-20T07:40:00.000+01:00

One pic of my room seen from the door. one of me and camilla and the beautiful sea and palms in the background of our Jockey Club home in HK. Last one in one of the parks at Cheung Chi College.

Valentinesday in HK

2007-02-14T15:46:00.000+01:00

...is very different from home. Here in Hong Kong they LOVE Valentinesday!! One girl in my hallway apparently has two guys running after her judging by the insanely expensive and huge flower bouquets outside her door just waiting for her to come home and find them!! Everywhere I went today I walked past the endless row of loving couples leaning against eachother while walking hand in hand - the girl carrying an enormous bouquet - the guy carrying all her shopping bags.. Hahaha, what a sight. Jason, a chinese guy that lives in my dorm said that here in China they should rename this day into "girls day" because it is the day when the guys do anything for the girl that stole their heart! Which is pretty apparent - they have a very romantic view on love- love at first sight for example. I think they fall in love with peoples appearence actually and then they get to know them afterwards - so beware of telling anyone that you think they are cute or otherwise - the girls interpret it as if you were in love with the guy you spotted! The same thing goes for a lot of the films here as well, but within the romantic comedy genre that is a universal theme. I am sorry to say that I didn´t take a picture of all the couples (and ONLY couples) who were queueing to get into the restaurants in HK - an amusing sight!

Since I am not a true believer of love I took this opportunity on this bright and shiny day to share how the Chinese view the big L - word. Happy Valentinesday people! =)

kulturell dose igjen

2007-02-09T03:56:00.000+01:00

ja, på onsdag var jeg og Camilla invitert av Julie (kjæresten til Kristoffer som er en venn av Peder her nede) til å se en moderne danseforestilling på the Fringe Club. Den var koreografert av Christina Jensen som hun bor med. Denne jenta har bodd helet livet sitt i HK og snakker lite dansk, og ville uttrykke livet i Hk som den eklektiske hverdagen det er å bo her. Kontrastene, hektiske stunder og de mange mulighetene. Hun hadde klart det på en veldig spennende måte med bruk av "statister" (Julie, Nelly +) og lysbilder og bra musikkvalg. Dansen var veldig opp i min gate og jeg må innrømme jeg hadde litt problemer med å sitte stille når jeg så henne danse!!

Etter forestillingen dro vi alle 5 på en bar i IFC tower, som er verdens fjerde høyeste bygning ble jeg fortalt, og satte oss på G-bar som bød på liveband og skyhøy utsikt som matchet drinkprisene.. Derfor tok vi oss en øl til norsk pris likesågreit. Var et utrolig kult sted da, og bandet var veldig soul/funk inspirerte og rocket stedet. Eller rettere sagt, bare oss. Stor kontrast til forrestningsmennene som satt litt lenger bak i baren =) Dro hjem i halv tolv tiden, så det var heller ikke så verst sent.

jepp, nok en kulturell opplevelse, denne kvelden var helt perfekt kom både jeg og camilla frem til! Storkoste oss! Takk til Julie som inviterte oss!

tuesday nights and pool

2007-02-07T05:44:00.000+01:00

There is a tradition created by the exchange students that were here last term, which includes going to the Uni pub, socialising, drinking beer and playing pool - every tuesday. This is a lot of fun and usually everyone shows up and the place is packed at eleven. It closes at twelve (but more often closer to 1am) and people are home by 1.30am at the latest. Anyway, I was bragging about my excellent pool skills (LOL) from when I was sixteen and hung out in a (very dogdy) youthclub with my fellow pupils from back then. ehm... that is eight years ago.. I haven´t touched a queue since then. Guess they were (no less than I was!) surprised when I actually hit the balls and put them in the pockets! =) I didn´t do fantastic, but okay. Think I will use a little time on reviving my "skills" on my speartime. Nothing like competing with the guys at pool.

Musikk i HK

2007-02-05T17:20:00.000+01:00

På the EDGEvar det på lørdag en konsert med gruppen Hardpack. Det var utrolig deilig å gå på punkrock konsert igjen og dette bandet kicket på scenen! Gutter med stil er også SJELDEN kost her borte har jeg og camilla funnet ut.. Uansett - øl og musikk etter en laaaang dag på handletur i Shenzhen - nok en gang! =) Fikk tak i billige saker og koste meg mer enn sist gang. Har blitt litt hardere på utsiden i forhold til alle selgerne, og da går alt så mye mye bedre! =) Tilbake til musikken - ikke helt den samme kick ass følelsen på nettsiden til Hardpack, men det får gå. Festlig å høre dem synge på kantonesisk hvertfall - mye sprøtt man kan finne her og nettopp det er jo halv moroa med å lete opp en ny type musikk scene enn den man er vant med hjemmefra!

Annet av musikk nyheter er at MUSE skal spille her i HONG KONG og jeg digger digger digger det!!!!!!!!!!!! Frontseat stå plasser for 680HKdollar. Ikke billig, men ikke dyrt heller (550NOK). Gleder meg som en unge!! Savner anlegget mitt hjemme!! Ikke det samme å høre på musikk fra iPod eller Mac´en, men det får duge for et halvt år - blir musikk hungrig, men heldigvis er det en fellow musikk elsker her nede! Wolf er tysk, har vært i HK et halvt år allerede og liker å finne underground steder og band og siden det visstnok er få av oss her, må vi holde sammen!

Har kjøpt meg MUSE billetten forresten - konserten er på chep lap kok (flyplassen) den 3. mars!! Har nedtelling på rommet mitt!

comments?

2007-01-30T05:39:00.000+01:00

I´ve noticed that there has been little activity on the commenting side on both mine and camilla´s blog! Whats up with that? Anyway, I still haven´t bought a camera and it is impossible to choose from which place to buy it from since it absolutely is packed with places to buy - some more legit than others of course ;)

We have been watching movies (Uni has a library of movies you can borrow for free!!) and been catching up on our readings these days and will spend this week to continue doing that. The courses are getting more interesting - and our presentations and handins are coming up real soon. I like the challenge it is to have a collaboration with the chinese students - they work in a different manner than what I am used to, the time spent here is good practice in that sense if I am to work with international businesses one beautiful day! There are lots of opportunities here and many people get internships in huge companies while they are still studying. It is tough so not too many recommend it.

More trivial information I have is that I think I am now addicted to dried mango. Wow, that stuff is good! =) We have also found a coffeshop here!!! It is not too far from us here on campus and it is cheap! Well hidden behind all sorts of buildings and only lovals go there. And now - Camilla and I.

thats all for now folks! Got to go to school! =)

p

part 3, Tai O, the fishing village

2007-01-25T04:36:00.001+01:00

Shen who showed us around in the village..

part 2, A tempel in the forrest

2007-01-25T04:18:00.000+01:00

part 1, tian tan buddha

2007-01-25T04:13:00.000+01:00

In the gondol - a ride that took us 25minutes, hanging high above the sea and the ground as it peaked at 900 something meters..

The Tian Tan Buddha seen fra the gondol.

The Tian Tan Buddha up close. It is 23 meters tall and weighs 202 tonns.

Details from the tempel nearby

perfect picture time!

2007-01-24T06:44:00.000+01:00

Lantau on saturday (in norwegian i´m afraid..)

2007-01-22T18:18:00.001+01:00

I går hadde jeg en helt utrolig reise til Lantau – øya som ligger rett utenfor HK island som også huser Disneyland. Sammen med tre følgesvenner som alle er utvekslingstudenter kjørte vi rett forbi parken og ut til Tung Chung hvor vi tok en gondol helt opp til Ngong Ping Village som ligger på 900 meters høyde. Dit dro vi for å se Tian Tan Buddha i bronse som er 23m høy og verdens største sittende utendørs-Buddha av denne typen. Helt utrolig å se den der den befant seg midt oppe på en ås langt oppe i fjellet, akkurat som om noen hadde sluppet den rett ned fra himmelen. Vi besøkte tempelet som lå rett ved siden av for å spise vegetarmat. Nydelige våruller og taro pai, men stedet var fullt av turister. Vi bestemte oss for å gå litt rundt i området og se den virkelige siden av øya. Vi hadde hørt litt om en trivelig sjarmerende gammel bygd på øya og begynte på nedstigningen til fiskerlandsbyen Tai O som lå to timers gange fra toppen. På veien ned dit tenkte vi å gå innom et tempel eller to.

Det første tempelet lå utenfor allfarvei og nedover stupbratte bakker I en skråning. Da vi kom fram viste det seg å være under oppussing og vi måtte klatre opp igjen (ja, klatre nesten, var helt utrolig tung og lang bakke) opp til hovedveien igjen.. Etter en times gange til midt ute i ingenting og mer ingenting og skog kom vi til et stort monument som vi forsto tilhørte et kloster som ikke var merket på kartet. Det lå godt gjemt og hadde bare noen få turister som dro rett etter at vi kom og siden var det bare oss og munkene. En chanting var å høre på hele området og inscent var å lukte overalt. Men klosteret og skogen rundt som dekket hele området var helt stille. Kontrasten fra Hong Kong som kun lå en time unna var enorm.

Templene og bedehusene tok pusten fra meg - blomsterdekorasjonene, statuene og husene var veldanderte og umåtelig vakre. De hadde også 10 000 Buddha´s hall som lå på toppen av hovedtempelet. Over trettito rader i taket var det plassert små Buddhaer – i fem versjoner - tett i tett - nærmere 13000 gull Buddha statuer dekket taket inne i tempelet og ytterligere fem digre statuer prydet midtgulvet. De fem statuene representerer Buddha i fem tilstander. (som beskytter, når han ber, når han underviser etc..) Tror jeg sto og så opp I taket I en halvtime uten å si et ord. Ut vinduene kunne man bare se frodige åser nesten så langt øyet kunne se og helt, helt I enden kunne man se havet. Dette tempelet var utrolig skjermet fra overturistifiserte bronseattraksjoner på toppen av fjellet som vi nå hadde lagt bak oss.

Turen derfra gikk med buss de siste minuttene det hadde tatt oss å gå, men på dette tidspunktet var vi bare kjempeslitne.. Da vi kom til Tai O virket det som et helt forlatt sted der turistene bare kom for å dra I båt og se på de tyggis-rosa delfinene. Jeg visste at byen var kjent for sin saltede fisk og at mange lokale reiste hit for å få tak i dette. I tillegg har det vært en brann I 2000 som ødela mange av de originale pålehusene som står i elveleiet i ”sentrum”. Mens jeg satt på kaien og tok bilder begynte en gammel mann å snakke med meg. Jeg så på ham og ville gjerne forstå hva han prøvde å si. Han gestikulerte ”å se” med begge hendene som sirkler foran øynene. Pekte på seg selv og så inn mot gatene. Jeg visste ikke helt hvordan jeg skulle reagere og prøvde å gestikulere tilbake om han mente at han ville vise noe. Til slutt tok jeg tak I en engelsk-kantonesisk talende person og ba ham fortelle meg hva den gamle mannen prøvde å si. En familie hjalp til og fortalte at han kunne ta meg med til den delen av byen som fremdeles sto igjen etter brannen for at jeg skulle kunne ta gode bilder der. Jeg sa ja. Han begynte å gå sakte og rolig mot gatene i den lille byen. Mine venner fulgte med etter oss. Han tok oss med opp gjennom markedsgaten der all fisk ble forberedt og solgt. En smal lang gate med mange selgere. Den sterke fiskelukten ble merkbar etter hvert som vi nærmet oss vannet og enda flere deler av fiskemarkedet. Til slutt tok han en sving til venstre inn en sidegate og enda en gang til venstre inn en sidegate – inn blant husene der folk i Tai O bor. Vi gikk sammen uten å si et ord hele veien med unntak av et par forsøk på å forklare og gestikulere navnet vårt og hans forsøk på å forklare hva vi så. Hans navn ble uttalt shen. Når vi ikke forsto hverandre smilte vi begge og lo litt og nikket og fortsatte å gå. Shen var pensjonert virket det som. Hva han hadde gjort tidligere var uvisst. Han var pent kledd og virket godt stelt. Blid som en soloppgang var han også. Og med en indre ro som var reflektert på utsiden I hans stille spankulering oppover gatene. Jeg ville så gjerne spørre ham hva slags liv han hadde levd og hvor han kom fra, hva han hadde gjort og om han var lykkelig. Til slutt spilte det ingen rolle. Han var der og han var en god mann som ville vise oss sin hjemby. Husene var som skur. Trange gater med åpne dører og trange smug overalt. Fiskelukten fulgte med hvor enn man gikk. Da vi nærmet oss noe som lignet en bro gikk vi over til husene som lå langs elvebredden. Men vannet lå langt unna. Hans gestikulering og hans ord forklarte at vannet var blitt lavere, men at det skulle komme tilbake. Han viste videre husene som var blitt bygget opp igjen etter brannen. Og merkene av pålene som sto igjen etter de husene som ikke klarte seg. Skurene på påler som sto igjen reflekterte fattigdom. Uendelig fattigdom. Men ikke ulykke. Menn og kvinner gikk og satt ute I gatene og snakket sammen I det stille. Kontrasten fra det enorme suset I Hong Kong var helt uvirkelig. Han smilte til meg og pekte på klokken og gestikulerte at han skulle spise klokken fem ved å skyve mat I munnen og vise femtallet på klokken. Han fortsatte å snakke, men det var helt umulig for meg å forstå hva han sa videre. Mmgai sai, var alt jeg kunne si til ham. Det eneste jeg kan på kantonesisk som betyr tusen hjertelig takk. Siden jeg trodde han spurte om vi skulle følges tilbake og hvor vi skulle sa jeg bare Tung Chung. Byen vi skulle tilbake til snart. Til virkeligheten og videre til universitetet. Han nikket, etterlignet ratt bevegelsen min og pekte mot der bussen skulle gå fra. Jeg nikket også. Vi kjøpte en trebuddha av en venn av ham på vei tilbake gjennom markedet. Hele handelen forgikk med takkeord og mye latter. Vi var fornøyd og han var fornøyd.

Idet jeg gikk bukket jeg med hendene foldet foran meg og sa ”mmgai sai” igjen. Han tok meg I hånden og takket han og vinket oss avgårde til bussen og gikk for å spise middagen med vennene sine som han allerede var for sen til. Jeg vet ikke hvordan jeg skal beskrive den overveldende følelsen jeg satt med da jeg gikk ombord i bussen annet enn at jeg måtte felle en tåre da jeg tenkte på hvor uendelig snill han var og hvilket møte det hadde vært mens vi kjørte over fjellet igjen tilbake til våre liv.

En jente fra Shenzeng som jeg er blitt kjent med fra gangen jeg bor i kalte møtet mitt med Shen for -Yuan- da jeg fortalte henne denne historien. Dette er et fenomen som beskriver et møte med en fremmed som man trekker kjensel på en ubevisst måte og som er et resultat av at det er en person man kan ha kjent i et tidligere liv. Fin tanke.

Culture in all forms

2007-01-22T04:00:00.000+01:00

Yesterday on sunday a great girl from Shenzeng (right outside HK border on Chinese mainland) took Camilla and I to the museum of HK history in Hung Hom. It was an amazing museum which contained everything from how the landscape was created 400 million years ago to the plant and animal life in HK, through all the dynasties, the colonial period, the opium wars, the Japanese occupation, the development of new HK, trade to film and popular culture and the transferral of HK back to Chinese ownership. It covered A LOT and took us four hours to go through!

After the wonderful trip to Lantau on Saturday I have to conclude that this has been a most cultural weekend, seeing everything from the inner life of Central in HK - to the rural parts of the region with its local inhabitants to a deep introduction to their whole history.

Today we are going back to school and back to cantine life! What a contrast. Which is exactly what HK has to offer.

Gratulerer med dagen PAPPA!!!

2007-01-16T17:50:00.000+01:00

Håper dagen har vært feiende fin og at dere nå er ferdig på jobb og er på vei hjem for å feire! Spis masse kake og enda litt til for meg!! Har feiret med en liten øl her sammen med Camilla - hun hilser!! Nå skal jeg legge meg.Har vært en lang dag og imorgen skal vi hente visumet til Kina!! Da skal vi en av de nærmeste dagene reise rett over grensen (30 minutter fra HK) for å få billige massasjer!

Og gratulerer så masse masse med dagen JON MARTIN!!!

Og Selvfølgelig også gratulerer med dagen BEATHE!!

Og enda mer selvfølgelig - GRATULERER MED DAGEN ANE!!!!!

Håper dere også har hatt en strålende dag så langt!!! Dere er mange om benet!!

some cultural differences

2007-01-13T16:52:00.000+01:00

Leeho

The experience of being among almost only chinese and hong kong students is an extraordinary interesting one. Apparently they are not as used to foreigners as one might expect them to be and they are eager to get to know you. This is of course a fantastic opportunity for both sides to experience a different culture close-up, yet sometimes a bit overwhelming. Some examples of situations we´ve encountered are necessary (public education - they are very committed to this) and interesting to tell to you.

In almost all classes we get stares and giggles every time we come through the door the first time. In our first class I could understand it, since the class turned out to be only in cantonese and everyone probably wondered why we tried to be that courageous. The second time it was because the class was an all boys class. Hehe. The other reason most likely was also that the class was of Information engineering which probably doesn´t hold to many girls in the whole department at all. Not even chinese girls. They had a lot of math. They probably thought we were a bit too couragous there as well. Which was a right assumption.

The last class we went to was called communication in an intercultural setting (or similar). Most of the participants clearly wanted to learn this. By getting to know us. After class they all rushed towards us to ask if we wanted to join their group for the project. One girl even admitted that she was doing a side project and needed us for observation purposes by hanging out with us. Very flattering, but we are not used to being so different. Just like a rabbit in a glass cage. I think that course could be extremely interesting because it gives us insight in their way of thinking and it gives them insight in our way of thinking. It will be very valuable I hope.

Today though I had a great experience with one of the girls in my hallway. To begin with noone talked to me at all. Now there are three girls who have offered their help and guidance in the Hong Kong and Chinese way of living. I have gladely accepted all their offeres amongst others the one about cooking. Most of them love to cook and they are eager to show me what they are used to from their own villages and regions. Back to today, Susan (she has another really complicated name in Chinese) came by my room to ask if I wanted to taste some of her dessert. She told me it was a traditional Hong Kong dessert and wondered if I liked it. It was delicious and sweet and consisted of milk, coconut and western rice (what she called it) if I remember correctly. She said thank you for liking this dessert and if you are hungry another day I will be happy to cook more traditional food for you! I accepted again and am now waiting for her to knock on my door and give me another great meal!

Public education is a fascinating phenomenon here. Everywhere you can see signs of prohibited and encouraged behaviour. They even throw in why this behaviour is preferred and how much it will cost you to ignore their messages. Camilla took some nice photos of these signs and we will post them as soon as possible. Especially are the signs of handwashing very visible everywhere. Think they are running a campaign against bacteria. Which is good. the hygiene is not the best one here at all times. They barely touch the water after visiting the bathroom. Their showering habits are very different too and they shower all around the clock - preferably in the evening or at night (like now - it is twelve thirty at night and they have been shuttle trafficking to the shower which I live next too...).

Oh well, I am looking forward to them telling us about all the weird things they think we do too. That is the best thing of living like this - so far away from your normal everyday and so close to the locals. Hong Kong was a good choice of city to go and live in and luckily there arent too many exchange students so we are the ones who get to experience all this!

pictures btw

2007-01-12T02:12:00.000+01:00

Hello again! Check out some of the pictures we´ve posted, they are on camilla´s blog (link to the right). Have a nice day! We are off to get a chinese visa so that we can cheap clothes and massages right outside the border!!

Besides they have a teaching in china programme here, were you can go a village close to here for a weekend and teach the children there english. It is a fantastic opportunity to see the real culture up close and I hope I can get a seat in that programme! (and also therefore I need a visa =)

again, have a beautiful day!

part 2

2007-01-09T13:16:00.000+01:00

Hey again,

I am now sitting in the eighth floor of our postgrad building writing this post today. wE are still not connected..

This morning we went to Shatin to have breakfast and ended up shopping before we went back to school at 2.30 pm. Good thing, after a week we already know the most important directions and can manage fine on the train by ourselves! The system is perfect, every two minutes there is a train and if you miss the last train home in the evening it costs 100 HKdollars (80-90kr) to get home in a taxi even though we live 20 minutes outside the HK central area! We are happy about that because it is more quiet and more nice to walk around at the campus when all you are surrounded by are huge university buildings and trees and hills! Very romantic place!

The class was okay, but with young students and a strict american teacher soon turning 40. We have three papers to hand in (each month) on ten pages AND to pages each week in addition just to let him know what we think of every part of the curriculum that we read. Did I mention we do all this for six ECTS???? We need about thirty so this is going to be tough if every course is similar..

I am tired now and have to go and lie down for a second before we continue to run around!!

All in all, we are having a super time here and are looking forward to all the new things that are to come in near future!

Tommy: Hope you had a great time in Trondheim, tell me about in in a mail! I miss you lots!
Iselin, Britt, Annette: We miss you girls, not the same without the whole gang down here!
JM: Thanks for good tips, more than welcome to come back here while we are here!
Rolf og Helene: Thank you for wanting to know what I do down here! Appreciate it so much!

A meeting with a new culture

2007-01-08T04:56:00.000+01:00

Hey everybody!!!
We are still not connected to the internet at our postgraduate hall 1, but we are still hoping for the best. Apparently a problem to have a Mac or Apple machine as they say, if they understand what we meant with saying Apple at all.. Hard to tell what they say back to us as well, but I think we can expect a phonecall or an email on how to solve the problem.

Camilla and I were not overly thrilled with our rooms the first day, but after getting used to the room itself and after bying a lot of stuff to try to make it more like home - the five centimeter matress on a wooden board, the unisolated room and the kitchens we dont dare to set foot in and the common shower/toilet facilities, seem sort of okay and we have now acclimatized and got accustomed to this new way of living! All shops, stores and school buildings are at the top of the hill though and its a good fifteen minute walk straight upwards to get water... No, all jokes aside, we actually are the lucky ones, we live in the best dormitory on campus (or so weve heard..) and we have found it quite comfortable to live at the bottom of the enormous hill which the university is situated on.

The first thing is that we live close to the train station so that when we come home from a shopping spree we dont have to climb up the hill in question to get home! jei! Secondly we live next to the sports center (irony, oh the irony..) and the water sports center (we live by the sea which is fantastic, but I wouldn`t know, Camilla got the view!) An its nice to live where all other people in the same building are postgraduates! Not too many of us here, so we got to stick together!

It is cold here too! At least it feels cold in the evening since it gets down to almost twelve degrees in the evening and the night and there is no such thing as heating here! Good reason for buying a nice jacket! In the day it is absolutely wonderful and we enjoy the good twenty degrees in the sun! The campus is fantastic and it is a strange feeling to walk around here surrounded by the huge mountains and forests when we are in a 7 million city!

We wanted to get into the HK/chinese way of living so we have tried all kinds of foods since we got here! Yesterday I even ate three oysters.. with pepper and lemon. okay, but not the best I have eaten unfortunalty.. We had an international dinner with ten dishes (went fast, almost like speed eating) and we ate all sorts of stuff, but noone told what is was so I cant tekll you either. Some of it looked strange I can tell you though, but good! We also got to eat vegetarian food prepared by monks in a traditional chinese tempel, and that is the best meals I have eaten so far!! Tofu, veggie stuff, rice, tea and so on.

Oh and there are so many nice people here! Most of them are, as I already mentioned, undergrads, but it doesnt really matter if they are younger that us, we have our PGH1 to withdraw to if it gets too wild for us oldies. No.. Actually everyone thinks we are younger than we are..

Got to go, finnish later,

ciao!

countdown..

2006-12-31T00:00:00.000+01:00

..to both New Years Eve AND Camilla and mine take off to the far East! I got a call from a good friend of mine who actually recommended not to pack anything at all - because you could buy anything in HK and most importantly, probably would buy anything because of the amount of things at a low cost! HOOORAY!!! Camilla, we are leaving in three days!!!!
20 degrees and sunshine!

But, first, New Years Eve which I am looking forward to celebrating with the guys I have always celebrated New Years Eve with every single year since high school!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2006-12-24T14:19:00.000+01:00

Have a fantastic christmas evening and enjoy this time with your family!!

check, check, check and check

2006-12-22T11:01:00.000+01:00

Yes, I have now checked out all my points on the to do list. I have taken my vaccines, my doctor things, HK things, visa, buddy programme (my buddy´s name is Lijuan), and all the rest of the stuff that takes time to take care of... geeezz, really should get credits for applying for an exchange programme...

Anyway, today will be a day of baking and cooking for christmas! I will also try to clear out the heaps of papers that have piled up in m room... Oh, and listen to christmas music! It is after all almost christmas now, I have avoided all sorts of christmas gadgets and widgets and feelings since early november, but I will now allow myself to indulge in the christmas atmosphere! Hope you are too!

Gratulerer med dagen mamma!!

2006-12-20T11:51:00.000+01:00

Mamma og mummi (mormor)!

Gratulerer med dagen mamma!! Og gratulerer med overstått til mormor også som hadde bursdag på luciadagen!

broadband at home!!

2006-12-20T10:47:00.000+01:00

This is like a dream! Sitting at home at my parents house and surf on the Internet! I love it! Even my parents wonder why they havent done this before! It is wonderful to sit at home and being able to check all sorts of things during family discussions or on a quiet evening when you actually have the time to write an email or a blogpost! =)

I am currently writing my "remember this" - list for Hong Kong. It is going to be long, but it will be even worse when I see the stack of things and pile of clothes on my bed when I am packing.. I am NOT looking forward to that.. Slowly I am getting to grip with the fact that I am leaving for six months.. Strange. People seem even more exited than me on my behalf - which is fantastic! I think I have arranged all the necesary arrangements for me to be gone this time - postal adress, banking, insurance, dentist, doctor, university, studio apartment, phone... and the list goes on and on and on and on.. Who knew!?!?

Anyway, I hope people are enjoying their christmas preparation week and not stressing it away!!

For now - give your time to someone instead of spending time on getting presents for them!

empty!

2006-12-16T22:02:00.000+01:00

I have now officially moved from Bergen and my room is incredibly empty! All my stuff has been packed away - either to the attic or to be moved away by car (my parents drove to get me and my stuff back home for christmas). Anyway, some sadness bubbles up inside of me when I see that I actually have to leave, but new adventures are awaiting and I am soooooo looking forward to meeting good old friends and seing new exciting places in January!!

Those who don´t check your blogs during the holidays - a merry christmas! The rest - I hope to see some updates and comments on your blogs and mine!

cheers!

more on Berlin

2006-12-12T14:54:00.000+01:00

Hey, I forgot to tell you that I met Peter Scott, head of the Centre of New Media Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University in UK. I found him sitting in a corner in a corridor at the conference, connected to the net, balancing his apple laptop on his knees - perhaps reporting from the conference to his vlog. I saw his presentation in the plenary session and found his utterings quite fascinating and wanted to tell him that and perhaps get some more thoughts on the subject of the knowledge worker out of him. Instead he vlogged me! =) In the left column there is a link called in the corridor at educa - it starts with one guy and finishes of with a short introduction of me. Quite a funny experience. Stop strangers more often - you never know what might happen..

Berlin!

2006-12-06T15:18:00.000+01:00

I had a wonderful time in Berlin at theOnline Educa Berlin 2006 and with Dominik! I would not have made it through such a huge city if it weren´t for him and he showed me all the worthy sights that was possible in the short time that was left after the conference. Fantastic breakfasts was absolutely something I will remember - thanx Dominik!

Pictures and a more detailed update might come later!

ELMO!!

2006-11-23T22:34:00.000+01:00

I definitely want one like this for christmas!! I want one, I want one!! Get me one of these!!

language blooper...

2006-11-21T23:36:00.000+01:00

Oh well, it has just proven itself again.. So many people claim that they speak and write a language fluently.. Yet again.. I was typing in the adress for a norwegian online dictionary when this appeared on my screen.. A great example that meaning, cultural sayings etc is NOT the same as knowing the correct spelling or syntax in a language..

Yes darling, apparently you guys have some issues you should deal with..

(In norwegian this is quite the funny joke.. sorry dom..)

my Christmas wish list

2006-11-19T23:33:00.000+01:00

I just realised that wanting a snowboard for christmas might not be the best of ideas now that I have been accepted in Hong Kong...

HONG KONG - Here we Come!!

2006-11-18T11:56:00.000+01:00

Hoooray!!! Camilla and I ordered our flight to Hong Kong! We are now officially leaving for six months to discover the great East!

I did it!!

2006-11-06T20:23:00.000+01:00

This was an awesome experience, though it was over pretty quick. I was scared!! But afterwards I just laughed in relief - it was so fun I wanted to have another go!

I went to a two day course on search engine optimalisation. This was situated out on Falck Nutec a company that works with offshore security and they do lifeboat releases!! A drop from 30meters straight into the water! And we got to try!!

some funny pictures..

2006-11-06T18:54:00.000+01:00

Here are some "try to be gorgeous" pictures we took on my birthday - and I forgot to post them!! Hysterically funny moment - these are the worst results of the evening..!

Perfect test for Knowledge Enterprises

2006-10-31T10:46:00.000+01:00

"When we were making widgets, it was about control.

"We at Widget Corp have carefully developed the optimum standardised process for widget production. There are 7 key steps in the production procedure. These must be followed by everyone. If you deviate in any way from any of the 7 steps in the widget production procedure there is a significant risk of physical harm to you and your colleagues and an unnacceptably high number of defective widgets. Widgets can only be made on our premises for health and saftey reasons. Our salespeople sell 1,000 widgets a week - we therefore need every employee to produce 5 perfectly formed widgets per day (during their 8 hour shifts between the hours of 6.00am and 10.00pm) in order to meet orders and create reserve stocks. If you cannot produce 5 perfect widgets per day, we can always find someone else who can. Because of the physical strength required in the production process, widgets are traditionally only created by men."

All perfectly (ahem) reasonable.

Now go back and substitute "idea" for "widget" throughout that paragraph.

That's why Kmanagement isn't about control."
(this is my source)

MAKE LOVE, NOT WARCRAFT!!

2006-10-16T00:06:00.000+02:00

Haven´t quite got the hang of how I can upload videos directly from youtube and onto my blog, so this will have to do for now. ANYWAY, take your time to watch this, it is definitely worth it!! Southpark and World of Warcraft - it says it all.

(Start from the top and pick the next link under when it stops.)

part 1
part 2
part 3

If you are one of those who are afraid of the end of the world.... of warcraft - you shouldn´t see it. If not - enjoy and join the crew for making love, NOT warcraft! hehe ;)

BIFF

2006-10-14T13:55:00.000+02:00

Bergen International Film Festival has just laid out the programme the this years movies! I am exited and hopefully I can get the time to see many of these films!

thanks

2006-10-14T12:34:00.000+02:00

I had a birthday and I want to thank all of you who remembered me!!! Thanks wherever you are in the world now! I enjoyed my pre-birthday-in-oslo-with-good-old-friends AND the day I spent in Bergen!!

Anyway, go get hold of the film: thank you for smoking -fantastic marvellous movie!!

Enough thanking for today..

Internet city

2006-09-28T00:13:00.000+02:00

I just moved into Internet city. We are two cities in Norway competing to be the bigger one. Very complex. =) I am looking forward to do some research on this new city and I am eager to do my morning walk (maybe more like mid-day stroll) through the streets to see what fun I can find!

It is situated at Nettby.no Do you have something similar where you come from?

B-b-b-b-bad

2006-09-11T09:53:00.000+02:00

Worst case scenario, or a little too realistic?

Close to blasphemy?

2006-09-05T10:50:00.000+02:00

"One must strive to eat dangerously as one comes into the Will to Power Oneself Thin," Nietzsche wrote. "What do you fear? By this are you truly Fattened. You must embrace your Fears, as well as your Fat, and learn to Laugh as you consume them, along with Generous Portions of Simple Salad. Remember, as you stare into the lettuce, the lettuce stares also into you."

There are many ways to lose weight.More on this exiting new way of dieting. Why bother go to the gym?