Bits and pieces

So, not much interesting happening at the moment! I'm all alone at work untill Wednesday because people are away on holiday, and there aren't a lot of my friends left in the city in the summer either. I had quite a productive day yesterday though, first at work, then going to the hairdressers and then cleaning my whole apartment afterwards! (Not that cleaning takes that long, but still...) It was nice getting a haircut cause I haven't had one since last August! So now I look like this: The weather hasn't been too good lately so that kinda sucks. But I've borrowed all the seasons of Gilmore Girls from a friend of mine, so I'm not bored! :)

It's three weeks since I came home, and I'm amazed how fast time flies! And thinking about it, it's three years since I went off to live in New Zealand! Still miss you guys and hope to see you in the not too far future.

And last but not least: I want to go off travelling again...

Quarterlifecrisis?

I reached the milestone of being halfway to 50 yesterday! Doesn't really feel any different than two days ago I must say. But according to my lifeplan of 5 years ago I was to have a stable relationship and kids when I was 25! And well, I'm as single and childless as one can be.

So new plan is: No plan!

It was a nice day though, I made the most amazing trufflecake, it was divine... With raspberries dipped in melted chocolate on top. Mmmmm! My Mum, stepdad, Grandparents, cousin and uncle came over and helped me eat it. And I managed to convince my brother to get on a plane and come up aswell!

As for everyone else, don't worry, I'll make a new cake for the official party which I'll throw a bit later when more people are back from their holidays.

Home sweet home?

Well, I've been home for a week now, and I'll tell you one thing: it's not as fun as travelling!! I arrived back in Trondheim late last Friday after about an 18 hour journey. Didn't sleep much on the flights despite having stayed up singing karaoke untill 4 in the morning, so I was quite tired when I got home.

At least the weather was good the first days after I got home, so on Saturday I bought strawberries and shrimps and went up to my Grandma and sat on the veranda basking in the sun. I had to show her my tattoo, and luckily she didn't freak out as bad as I thought she would. She actually admitted it was pretty even though she really really doesn't like tattoos! When I told my mum on the other hand she screamed... And said "and you did this even though you knew I'd react like this!!" "Yup..." I sent her a picture on the phone and she texted me back saying "uuuæææææ" and then about ten crying smilyfaces, hehe.

Going back to work on Monday was quite a shocker to the system! I had "only" 220 e-mails to deal with so that took most of the first day, but after that it's been a bit quiet. I guess people are on holiday... It was nice meeting my colleagues again though.

I have aquired a bit of an eating problem by being in a country with so much good food for the last 7 weeks... My body is now used to eating a LOT of food, and preferably warm lunches and meat twice a day. So now that I'm back on my "normal" diet, I'm constantly hungry and craving snax... Not good! I have to start running again soon to get back into shape...

It's been raining for the last couple of days, which means I have to wear shoes instead of flip-flops. I MISS TRAVELLING!!!

Beijing

The last three days I spent in Beijing, and I was actually quite positively surprised by the city! My mum had warned me that it was very polluted and dirty, but it actually wasn't at all! I think they've cleaned it up quite a bit in relations with the Olympics, because it wasn't hazy at all, blue skies all along and you could actually se stars at night!

The first day we went to the Summer Palace and the Forbidden City. I liked the Summer Palace a lot, so many beautiful buildings set in lush forest and with a huge lake as part of it. Wondered around for a few hours before we headed to the Forbidden City. It was getting quite warm by that point and there were so many tourists there! So I got a bit cranky in the end (sorry Rachel and Mike...). But it was nice, it's quite amazing how it's built, with walls inside walls inside walls and lots of little courtyards and temples, and some huge courtyards with huge temples. We'd had enough by 4.30, so took a taxi back to the hotel where I had a liedown and a nice long shower which washed away all my crankyness.

In the evening we went to see acrobats, and man, the Beijing acrobats are amazing! It was a show that lasted about 1,5 hour, and we saw people bending their bodies in nonhuman ways, balancing umbrellas and spinning plates, jumping between poles, balancing on chairs, juggling, playing with the diabolo. And guess how many girls you can get on one bike? About 15. All in all, an amazing show. After we went for a Korean barbeque, which of course was great. Then we went out for drinks as it was the last official day of the trip.

The second day I did something completly different, (my dear parents and grandparents, please sit down if you're not already) I got a tattoo! It's the Tibetan eyes on my lower back, and it looks amazing! The Tibetan eyes are the eyes you find on stupas around Nepal and Tibet, they're basically eyes with eyebrows, a bindi and a kinda whirly thing for a nose. I fell in love with them the first time I saw them. I have been concidering getting a tattoo for quite a while, and suddenly it just dawned on me that this was the one! The tattoo-artist was really great, he uploaded my photo of the eyes on his computer and drew freehand right onto my back. When he first started it didn't really hurt, and I was like "jeez, what's all the fuss about" but then he started filling it in and then I almost fainted, haha. It took about 1,5 hours, and I survived just about... Four of the other guys got tattoos aswell, so I basically spent the day in the tattoo-studio. In the evening we went out for drinks with Leon and Nat from the last group who happend to be in Beijing. Great seeing them again!

The last day I went shopping at the Silk Market, which is a huge shoppingcentre with stalls that have everything! All fake of course, and you have to bargain like hell. I came home with a few tops, a dress, shoes, a handbag, a jumper and lots of pearls and jewelery. And nice feet after getting a footmassage and a pedicure. Went out for drinks and a last dinner with Rachel, Mike, Leon, Nat, Olivia, John, Ray and Liz. Very nice, but sad aswell. Was planning on going off to bed after, but then I found Ant, Adam, Stormy and our chinese guide and they were going to sing karaoke, so I joined them and it turned into a late night.

Slightly hungover and very tired on my way home, and after 18 hours travellingtime I'm now back in Trondheim. It's a bit sad being home, it's gone so quickly but yet again I've experienced so much! It's been a fantastic trip, and I miss all of my travelsmates already! Hope to see you again someday!