Hello again!

As you see, I never got around to finish my little blog on my trip to Germany last summer, but all my pics are on Facebook if you want to see!

I am going to change the language here back to Norwegian, just because most my non-Norwegians are on Facebook and can follow me there. If anyone has any objections - please let me know..! ;)

Hugs from a busy girl :)

Tyskland: Berlin & Halle

Hey everyone, it's been a while!
This time I'm visiting Franzi and Caludi that I met at Concordia College 4 years ago. WOW, how time flies!!

Anyway, I'm having a GREAT time. First day I spent alone in Berlin, just walking around checking out the sites. Berlin is so much more beautiful than I remembered from my first and only trip here with the White Buses when I was 15! PLus, I had AWESOME weather!

Friday 18th of June Franzi met me in Berlin and we went to the "Funkturm" and 4 different musums. We were COMPLETELY dead at the end of the day!! But we had lots of fun and enjoyed it very much! The weather was of course also great that day, a special order from Franzi, hihi! ;) Then we drove to Halle, where Franzi's parents live, said hello, ate awesome meatsoup and went to bed. TIRED!!! :O

Saturday we went sightseeing in Halle, a "ganz schön Stadt"! We even happened to stop by a church (Paulus Kirche) where a mideavel "band" were rehearsing for a concert later that day, AWESOME! They sounded great! We also went to a mideavel ruin from a small fort. Name: Giebichenstein Burg! Saturday evening was just relaxation - much needed!

Sunday we attended a bike-marathon!!! We went with 2500 other people on a 20km long course through gorgeous nature, and were pretty tired after also biking from their house and back, so all together we rode around 35km and was out for 6 hours. YAY!!! :D Evening was spent BBQ-ing and presenting the family and friends to Norwegian cousine! Ate too much sugar and was high too long. Monday morning was aweful, haha.


Monday we went to Jena, and that comes in a different post!
Bis später! :D

Summer!

I love spring. And I also love when spring turns into summer, and it's happening outside right now!!!!!! I have so much to do inside, but I need to get out of here at some point. Soon. AAAAAAHHHHHH! :P

So what's going on? My birthday is coming up, so I bought myself a new pair of dancing shoes, hihi. I also made my parents buy another pair, they were on a discount you see, hihihi. LOVE them! :D I also bought myself a pink computer today, as i need one that works most of the time, a lot for work actually. Cause I also just bought myself a keyboard!!!! :D Well earned, and VERY much needed, oh my.
I got part og my gift from Espen already too, he made me enter an online program for people who wants some coaching to change their way of thinking, exercising and eating! So excited, hihi. he is joining me, so this should turn out AWESOME!!! :D

We also just finished a huge National Choir Festival, and we had so much fun! It was exhausting though, we ran up and down, here and there for 3,5 days, enough is enough sometimes. But we had a blast, and our choir got a LOT of publicity! So now we're famous, hihi.

Now I need to get to work. And eat. Homemade bread, hihi.
Ciao!

South Africa part IV

Hi again!

Wow I'm getting tired. After the safari we went out last night, and I wasn't in bed until close to 2.30.am. Ouch.
But been sleeping on the bus a bit today: First we went to a Malayan musicians house and met his band. WHAT an experience! He opened his home to us and made everyone come to his place to jam and play for us. I think they must have been at least 10 guys, and a man age 84 played the bass! But they also had a soloist age 17, hehe.
They played their music for us, and one of the styles is a kind of ragtime-style, which is just incredibly happy and joyus music!! I LOVED it!!! I also got a new best friend, she is 3 years old and loved my diamond necklace, haha.

Later we went to Cape Point and did some sightseeing there. Too little time and too many places to be, but it was nice to move around a little.

In the evening we had a farewell-dinner, and we sang, danced and ate and had a marvelous time. It'll be sad to go home today, but at the same time I'm so freaking tired that I need some down-time.



We are leaving in 1.5 hours now, and I'm packing. What an unreal trip, so many emotios are moving on the inside... Photos and more stories will come when I have got the time and mentality to do it, hehe.

Thank you South Africa!!!! :D

South Africa part III

WOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!
The two last days have been incredible.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to listen to the rehearsal of Filharmonic Orchestra in Cape Town. They played Wagner, and it was sooo beautiful! Then we went up to something called Table Mountain, which is completely flat on top! And very straight down on the sides, hehe. At night we just relaxed, took a swim in the pool and a walk in to town, and then eraly to bed. After all, we had to get up at 6am for the SAFARIIII!!!

Table Mountain




So today (Saturday) we went on the safari, and I mostly slept in the car up there. The reserve we went to is called Aquila, which is a bird I think, and is situdated in "Caru", the beginning of the desert, or a semi-desert. The area isn't to large, so we hoped to see lots of animals! Now, going by horse has it's limitations, like we couldn't get to close to the Buffalo or the Elephants. Here is waht we saw though:
- Ostritch
- Elephants
- Buffalo
- Springbuck (Antilope)
- Rhino
- Hippo
- Looooooooooots of birds
- Zelbuck (or something)
- Giraff
- Lions
- Cheetahs
- Crocodiles

I'll tell you all about it if you want me to, hihi. We had a wonderful time, and now we have sore bottoms and thighs, hihi.

Wooooot!!!! :D

South-Africa part II

Hi again!!!

This country continues to amaze this entire group I'm traveling with.

Yesterday we visited one of the poorest towns around East London - Dytuwa. We were met with a huge number of cars OUTSIDE the town along the road, where even the local police had come to escort us safely in to our destination. Hugs and kisses and more hugs and smiles and cheers, WOW!!

We had a big lunch with EVERYONE taking some little part in our visit, and then we toured some schools and heard their choirs. We even got to join in here too! The school I went to showed us their choir of 130 girls and boys - all cramped up in a small room to sing for us. We exchanged gifts, cultures and musical knowledge and had a fun time.
Later on we traded folksongs with the Teachers Choir, which is a very good choir - compared to where they come from and what their culture provides. We taught them Per Spelmann, and they though us actually a few songs! One was Volanvolan...hmhmhmmmmm somthing, I sang the alto voice which had three words: Hai, yo and ewe/Amen.

At the end they had a concert for the whole town, and we entered the stage first alone and then with them - the whole room was on fire!!!! Such joy, such enthusiasm and such ENERGY they brought! I'll post pictures when I get home, and if you ask me I might send some vidoeclips, hihi. WOW!!! :D

At the end a girl from the choir sang "Time to say goodbye" - and I think all the Scandinavians had teary eyes. She had THE most amazing voice. I felt sad cause she would have no opportunities to show the world her talent, but was EXTREMELY happy when I heard she is actually going to Cape Town to attend the Opera school there this fall. YAAAAAYYYY!!! I get teary-eyed just from writing it, but you'd have to be there of course...


Now I need to eat and then learn over-tone singing! ;)

Later! :D

South-Africa, part I

Yes, that's right, I'm actually in South-Africa!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D

We had a looooong flight down here from 28th til 29. of March, with little sleep on my part, and then we ran around St. Johns College in Johannesburg for several hours before tokk ANOTHER plane to East London! No bed EVER looked more inviting, hehe.

The next day we went to the beach which is only 300m from the hotel! The ocean is actually only half the distance away, but with lots of rocks. There were some fantastic waves there, mom you would have loved it! :)
Then we went to visit local schools in groups, and we met a choir with at least 90 singer age 12 to 20. And WOW... I have taped them, hehe.
After dinner we went to a concert in the same poor area, and had the JOY of joining them in song and dance!!! They loved it almost as much as we did, haha. It was very spontaneous, but that was the charm of it!

Today we are going to an even poorer area, I'll write more about it later!

Now we need to leave, sooo... Bye for now! :D

Embarrasing

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the date for my last post here - it was April last year for goodness sake!!!! :O That's horrible! I have neglected this blog for so long! I hope times will change, a little at least, from now on.

So, what can I say? Lets talk about the weather. Cause that's what people do when they have nothing to say, or can't come up with anything new and exciting to talk about - they talk about the weather.
It's been a real winter in Norway this year, at least it is a LOT better than last year! We've had a LOT of snow, and a fair amount of coldness. We had a white Christmas of course.
This past week it's been freeeeeeeeeezing, but so gorgeous and sunny outside!!! If my nose hadn't fallen off from being outside, I'd be out all day! It's been snowing a little too, biiig chunks of crystal balls of snow, and some days you could clearly see each and every individual snowflake, so perfect all on it's own. I was so fascinated I almost drove into a car observing them on my front window, haha....

And what else is new? Hm.... Oh, I know, haha. I was very good at bragging about my grades when I attended Concordia, so I'll pick up that habit again now. ;)
Sooo...I somehow, of no reason sensible in my head, got a B on my last math-final!!!! That's just crazy!!!! I barely made it to E and extremely seldom a D during High School!!! So I'm a bit proud, hihi. Hope to keep it up! :)

I also got head-hunted by a conductor I know (The one that got me into Concordia, hehe) to be part of his choir just for this Choir-Competition they have signed up for in Malta this fall, hihi. Some days it's good to know certain people. ;)
This year I am also going to be part of A Choir Country Festival in May, Queen and La Traviata plus a jazz concert in June, Ronja Røverdatter in August (a story/play by Astrid Lindgren), this Malta-thing in October/November, and another Choir Competition in Vienna with my regular choir in November. Some would say I have a busy year ahead of me. I'd agree.

I probably have LOTS more to write here, but I'll leave some for later ;)

Later! :)

Finally SPRING!!!

It's heeeeeeeeeereeee!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D
I love this warm sun, the flowers popping up, the trees trying to go green - it's marvelous! :D It's been sunny for several days in a row now, and I feel EXTREMELY energized! Going to my work-out is just pleasant cause the sun is shining and I have good music on my iPod, hihi.
"Akta dig Birk, för her kommer mitt vårskrik!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Spring on it's way!

This winter has been ice, ice, and a whole lot more ice. And some snow :D But now it's getting closer to Easter, and the snow, forgive me; ICE, is melting more and more, day by day! Sun is getting warmer, and stands higher in the sky - it's time to enjoy life even more!!!!
My heart melted a long time ago though, hihi. Yes yes, another cliché, I know. But I'm in love, what can I say...? :P This guy is just.... <3 :D



This is from my friends birthday party, we had a lot of fun, hihi.

I still don't have shot of me with my new phase II pants, which is just ridiculous, so I'll fix that this week! :D Espen is pretty excited about me taking phase III this summer, and is happy that we can move on to more advanced stuff. I must say I am too! There hasn't ben too much challenge the past few months, except whatever you make of it yourself of course, so I like the change of pace! We've started to work out together more often, both with Kali and weightlifting and all that good stuff, I like it! :D Read more if you want at my Work Out Blog ;)

School is a little slack at the moment, not because I am slacking, but because the material is easy and one class is out doing teaching these days. But me and a classmate got a really good response on this assignment to make a storyline teaching-"program" or plan. They said it was a textbook example of how to do it, hihi. Go us!!!!! :D


Just gotta post this before it gets too old! More coming up!

Christmas again!!!! :D

Wow, this fall has just flown by, and now Christmas has been here again! Can you imagine it's a whole year since I was midway through my year at Concordia, celebrating Christmas with a bunch of our relatives in the US??? Wow, time goes by...

This year has been extremely eventful, lots of little things, and a few very big things. Of course, one has to mention the new boyfriend, hihi. I came out of a very long relationship this fall, which in reality had been dead for quite some time. Fate had it that I had already known this guy for almost 2 years, and little by little we grew closer. It feels indescribably awesome, and who knows where the world will take us, hehe.
Here we are anyway, cute as ever :P


That's from New Year's Eve, and during that week I had two german girls visiting me too!!!! Franzi and Claudi came up to celebrate with us, and we had a wonderful time! :D Here we are:


Check out pictures at www.facebook.com if you want more! ;)

Christmas was so awesome this year. I got to bake with mom several times, got good presents for everyone, got to be with the entire family, got to see the polish Cinderella story with Kristin, yaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!! Everything was just so right :)
1st day of Christmas we got moms youngest brother and all the others of them over for dinner, that was super nice!!! We jammed with durms and ukuleles and had a blast!!!
2nd day of Christmas I went to Espen's and had dinner at his grandma's before returning home picking up my german girls on the way!
New Year's Eve was fun, we had an AWESOME meal cooked by two germans and 1,5 norwegian (my sister helped squeezing the lime, hehe), and we had great food the entire night. The main course was Bangkok Chicken, look it up!
We also traveled around a little, even going to our cabin after New Year's, and I LOVED it!!!! Espen came too, and my family of course! Lots of snow, skiing, snow-racing, good food, great company - I had the best time I've had in a long time up there, so thanks to all who joined me! :D





Oh, btw, Espen and I are taking dance classes with his mom, and since he was competing in this stuff until he was 17, it's a JOY to literally flyyyyy and float around on the dancefloor with him! I LOVE it!!! Hey, I love him, hihi. :D Pic coming up when I get one!

Now I hope it won't be this long until I blog again, but.....
Now let me relax with my book. ;)

Happiness

Happiness...
...is what I am filled with these days!
That's pretty much all I wanted to say. I have found someone who truly cares for me in ways I didn't believe anyone could, someone who is willing to be there for me and stand beside me through thick and thin. And I will of course do the same!!

But that isn't the only reason why I'm doing great right now!
This fall has been amazing in so many ways!!! My choir went to Italy and competed in 3 classes for women choirs, and we won all three by a pretty good margin!!! We got from 26 to 28 points out of 30 in all classes, so we feel we did a good job, hehe. ;)
We also had our annual Christmas cabaret in Hamar, and we were sold out one week before the premier! Everyone had a solo, but we focused more on choir-arrangements this year. Also, because the choir was 15 years old, and it was our 10th cabaret, we had a "Best of Christmas cabaret's" theme.



Most of you know I'm studying math this year, and I just finished one out of 3 math-exams over one year, and I feel SO relieved! I answered every question, but who knows if they're right or not. But it feels ok. :)

Hm, what else. Oh, yeah, I got my first degree in Kali (the martial art) just before Christmas! :D I had a REALLY bad cold with fever and slime and snot and coughs, and I wasn't feeling well at all. But I got a grip on myself and actually did a decent job! :) It helped that Espen was there too, fortunately the people with a higher degree could pick who they wanted to go against, and Espen chose me :) Normally any one would be fine, but that day I was thankful he was there...! After all, he brings out the best in me, hehe. ;)


Just a little sick. Just a little. ;)


Espen had made his mom sew the patch on a pair of martial art pants that I got as an early Christmas gift! :D

_____________________________________

And now it's been so long that I now have phase II in Kali!!!! Just got it this weekend actually! :D So now you really shouldn't mess with me. :P
I almost wasn't able to do it though, I hurt my ancle kicking Espen's elbow, hehe (and a few other bodyparts got a beating during traning too, hihi), and the night before my grading I woke up to an extremely painful ancle. I mean, I'm used to getting beaten now, and I can deal with pain, but moving that ancle hurt so bad I cried. But after some pain relievers "provided" by Espen, I managed to ignore the pain and sleep it off - literally. I woke up, and the pain was gone. I managed to step on it after a little while, and by the time the grading was, I felt no pain what so ever. Woooooooot!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Espen and I are still going strong, and we're still madly in love, hihi. I hope this bubbly feeling won't go away in a loooooong time! :D
Math went fine too, according to the American system I got a C, which is pretty good if you consider my math skills, haha. Right now I'm still doing math, and also a math/norwegian class. Both is going ok, but we haven't really gotten started for real yet.
My choir is probably recording a cd this spring, so whatch out for it ;)
Other than that I'm just enjoying life, looking forward to spring, and doing the best I can at what I can do something about. Hope ya'll are great too :D

Lots of love from a busy bee in love, hihi.

Life changes fast..!

Why am I saying that? Well, one reason might be this guy:


His name is Espen, and we are officially a couple! Yes, I'm happy about it, hehe, and he seems to be too, so who can complain? ;)

I'm not gonna post his entire life-story here, so if you want to know more just ask me! I can say that the first time I met him he experienced my endurance in singing while at a Wow-party, and we weren't the best of friends at that point, haha. Good thing it changed :)

And yes, I have turned into a giggling 14-year old. I'm pathetic :P
WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

BTW

Need to show you guys the picture of my arms during/after the Kali seminar in Kristiansand in September, it's a little freaky, hehe... Enjoy!

SNOOOOOOOW!!!!!!!

And so it came around these days this year too.
The first snowfall.
I really don't care how long it stays or how wet or cold or dry it is - it's the first snow this fall!!! And it always makes me smile, and always gives me more energy, so YAAYYY!!! :D

And now I need food, have been working out :) And then I'm meeting Ingvild from Snertingdalen, yay! (Cabin-neighbor) And then It's Kali, MAN what a great day!!!!!!

Love ya'll! ;) *giggle*

Update!

About time with an upate if you ask me, it's been over a month since I've written wanything here! :S Sorry about that guys. But here it is at least :)

Well, I've made friends at school, am coping with math somewhat, and still feel very motivated with everything! :D I even managed to talk a girl from class into coming with me to a Kali-practise, so she's coming next week I think! :D

Single life is still treating me pretty good, but I notice every once in a while that I miss to have someone to lean on, someone to call just because, and someone to say goodnight to. But the last week I've become even more independent, so it's not a problem, and I hope it won't be! :) I moved out a month ago, am still moving, haha, and will be on the move for probably another month, lol...
But at least I have my own place, and I like it here! It's kind of a dorm with several people sharing a bathroom and a kitchen/livingroom. Nice people, no huge issues (except the garbage, hehe) and a great janitor running around fixing stuff for us! :D

I no longer feel so lost, am more confident and feel like I can stand on my own two feet - more than I have before. Right now I have no one to lean on in my everyday life, it's me and only me I can "rely" on, and it feels darn good to know I can be me and only me and still get through rough times - like my two first weeks after moving out. Not because of the break-up, but because of everything else to be honest. Just was extremely busy, but I turned it around and made it work and got through it! So keeping busy became more real than I wanted, haha, but I had myself to blame, so couldn't really complain either I guess.

Wow, that was a lot of me me me me me meeeeeee, but it's my blog, isn't it? :P *hihi* Oh, and I'm now a member of Gjøvik IKAEF Klubb, where i practice Kali with some great people every Wednesday and Thursday, at least that's the plan, hehe. Go see the website here: http://gtren.blogspot.com/
I am really falling inlove with this stuff, and I'm sending lots of thanks to Espen for introducing me to it!!! :D

Thanks to my little-sister too, who had to put up with me a couple of weeks ago, and still has to! Hihi.... Love you heeps my love!!!!! *smootch*
Ok, mom, dad - thanks to you too, you spoil me wrotten, but I love you for it, hihi... Thanks for being there! :)

Now I gotta go to bed, it's way too late...!

Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Niebuhr

School

First day of school is here, and I'm a little nervous. No friends, no idea what I'm up against in math, and no idea if I'll manage to stay motivated to make sure I can cope with math, hehe. But my spirit is strong! ;)

Life as "Annema" and not "girlfriend of Anders" is ok so far, we're still friends and all. Looking at appartments this week though, so it won't get more awekward than it maybe is. There are some cute guys walking around campus too, hihi... ;)

If all goes well, I'll be happy, if it turns out to suck, I'll be crabby and miserable. I'm guessing you'll find out which one I go for soon, hehe. This is so new, and I feel a little small, but I'll figure it out as I go along I guess. Head and stomache is a little off, but if I keep busy, I'm sure I'll be fine - that's usually how it works. If you don't have time to think, you won't notice how life is passing by, hihi.

Feel free to leave encouraging comments here, or any other place for that matter, that's always nice :)

Now I need to go kick some math-ass.

Single

Alright, so it's finally official: Anne Marie is as single as can be...!
So yes, you may ask me out, yes, I might say no (hihi), yes, you may hit on me, and NO, you can't sleep with me, hehe... :P ;)

Anders and I broke up Sunday, and so far we are still good friends! :) We both saw it coming, so there was no big fuzz, and we're both fine with it so far. Maybe that indicates that it was the right thing to do.
Yes, I'm fine, so don't worry, right now I'm actually kind of excited to see what is coming next in life. Lots of new things going on!! :)
Posting later! ;)

Job-interviewing!

This Friday I was at a very exciting job-interview! It was for Viken Folkehøgskole at Gjøvik, and I applied for a small possition as a voice teacher! I really hope I get the job, it would be a great experience! :D I was hyped before the interview, during, and DEFINITELY after, cause I felt it went pretty well! I'm still hyper, cause I'll get the notification this week!
It's 4 in the morning and I can't sleep, partially cause I'm sick and partially because I just can't relaxe knowing I might get my reply tomorrow/today! So I've been up for an hour or so fixing stuff online and stuff. Tomorrow/today is school too, so I could really use the sleep, but I guess that's not possible atm. We'll see later.
But guess I should go, and updates will come!

PS: been to other interviews oo, but this was a big one ;)

And here is a pic from Botanical Garden in Gothenberg :)

Feeling better

Mood is up, energy is up, it's all good again! I'm glad THAT'S over, gosh. Today I also got a call to come to an interview I'm really nervous about, yikes...! Plus, the interview was set to this Friday, and I have to prepare 4 songs, so YEAH, I hvae reason to be a little nervous. But hey, it's all gonna be goooooooooood :P

Other than that I'm still applying for jobs, still working out, going to my cabin this weekend, then a party, then maybe Gjøvik for some more "I'll kill you!"-work-outs, hehe. Then scool starts! SCHEIZE!!!!!!!! But it'll be good to get into a normal rhythm too.

The rest I will update you on later next week ;)
Check out my Facebook for pictures soon! :D