guest writer

Little did my sister know that when she sent an email in response to my last "onjo" entry she was about to become a guest writer:

Let me tell you about hell, Rachel.

It's nintey-seven degrees outside. I'm on a motorcycle. The wind in my face as I ride down the baking highway feels like a blast-furnace, I am wearing tight-ass dark blue denim pants and a black leather jacket, my ass is wet with sweat, my head aches from dehydration, and the heat coming off the motor is BURNING MY ANKLES. And for three hours, to top-off this ultimate misery, I am singing:

"Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we're in the mood --
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys --
In-di-gestion!

Food, glorious food!
We're anxious to try it.
Three banquets a day --
Our favourite diet!
Just picture a great big steak --
Fried, roasted or stewed.
Oh, food,
Wonderful food,
Marvellous food,
Glorious food."

Can you think of anything more awesome? As in, awe-inspiringly painful and unpleasant?
Not exactly "Born to be Wild," eh?
Think about that next time you see a hell's angel. You never know what song they're really singing...

It's a relief to know that I'm not the only one with ridiculous songs stuck in my head all the time. Oh, and thanks, M. I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and now all I can think about is a big ol' bowl of pease pudding and some savory saveloys.

What?

R

this is the dawning of the age of aquarius

I just have a feeling that's what this is. Like right now. THE DAWNING OF THE AGE OF AQUARIUS.

If I ever have a piece of music stuck in my head there's a 50% chance it's "Aquarius" from the musical "Hair." Awesome.
And there's another 30% chance that it's "Who's That Lady." Even awesomer.
And - oh wait - yet another 20% chance that it's the song "Blue." You know. The Eiffel 65 hit. "I'm blue da ba dee." Yep. Awesomest of all.

If you are having trouble sensing the sarcasm in this post, allow me to be a little more straight forward. I would rather be locked in a closet with 150 screaming infants or spend 24 hours driving around the island on the bus listening to the bus doors screech open and closed than have any of these three songs stuck in my head. What's the deal? I don't even listen to these songs. Why can't I have a nice song stuck in my head for once? Like "Chariots of Fire" or "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"Blue are the people here that walk around
Blue like my Corvette - it's standing outside
Blue are the words I say and what I think
Blue are the feeling that live inside me."

Brilliant.

mellomveien

My favorite road in Tromsø is called Mellomveien. I have been running and walking on it a lot quite recently as it starts near my apartment and heads south. I am more keen on going south at this point. The Uni is north. Telemedesin is north. The house where many of my peace friends lived before they all left for home and fieldwork is north. Telegrafbukta and Sydspissen, on the other hand, are south. So is Blå Rock, for that matter. And the Midwest is also south...and west. So Mellomveien seems like the right road to take if I feel like lounging in the sun or having a beer, which is what I feel like doing most of the time.

I am sitting in the Centre for Peace Studies now.
North.
Have to work.
Ugh.

"lotr" på svensk

Stian just showed me this video and I had to put a link to it on my onjo. Unfortunately, it will only be funny if you understand Swedish...and if you've seen Lord of the Rings.
http://media.putfile.com/Sagan-om-de-bannlysta
It's the find of the week as far as I'm concerned. Oh geez!

the digit can be salvaged

I must be stressed out er something because I have almost chewed my entire right thumb off my hand. Yeah, yeah. I can hear many of you saying "Rachel!!! Stop it. Just stop it, for crying out loud." But none of you are here to enforce it! So I will just keep chewing until I have no thumb left at all.
No, I applied pressure to stop the bleeding this morning and put a band-aid on it. I think the digit can be salvaged.

It's just me and Stian sitting in the reading room today. He keeps asking me how to say intelligent sounding words for his methods paper. We've landed on "similarly," "acknowledge," and "aesthetic." Spelling and usage is entirely up to him.
Stian: "Shit! I'm using so many difficult words. I think this is gonna be a really great paper. [pause] 1000 words! All right! I'm taking a break."

PS: Happy GOLDEN Birthday and Happy Travels to Namibia Day, Hanne!

heart ache

I know I'm ready to come home for a while when my heart starts to ache and when I get tears in my eyes when I read the lyrics to Boston's Peace of Mind in an email my sister sends me. And they start out as tears of hilarity because I am laughing so hard at this email, but then I realize how much I miss people and find myself sitting alone in this reading room at nine am on a Wednesday morning feeling my heart ache inside my chest. It's a good thing I am coming home in a few weeks.

Clearly sentimentality has got ahold of me right now, (or maybe it's the melancholy music I keep listening to), so instead of waiting until right before I leave Tromsø for two months, I might as well sum up this past year right now - while the trees bud and the workers strike. I have learned a lot about myself this year. Maybe more than any other year. I have found a good place in this town and things that I probably should have figured out last year or even the year before finally started to make sense to me - which resulted in one substantial sigh of relief about three weeks ago. Just relax, Rachel. And focus. This is how it all goes.

Or in the words of Boston and the self-proclaimed personal philosophy of my sister:

I understand about indecision
But I dont care if I get behind
People livin' in competition
All I want is to have my peace of mind

oh lordi

Saturday night was the infamous Eurovision Song Contest. If you are not familiar with the concept, those Eurpoean countries that qualify - and qualification is clearly independent of talent or musical ability, and based entirely upon if you have big boobs or look good with your shirt unbuttoned - send a musical representative to compete against the other countries at the big show which is held in the country of last year's winner. I have experienced this Eurovision phenomenon once before - when I lived in Alta - and I remembered it being pretty hilarious. But this year was utterly ridiculous. 85% of the songs had the word "love" in the title, and if the performers weren't taking themselves way too seriously, they were making fun of the whole concept. Take this year's winners, for example. The band is called Lordi and they are from Finland. I have included a picture of the band and some of my favorite lyrics from their winning song "Hard Rock Halleluja." (I have bolded the best bits.)

Hard Rock Hallelujah!
Hard Rock Hallelujah!

The saints are crippled
On this sinners' night
Lost are the lambs with no guiding light

The walls come down like thunder
The rocks about to roll
It's The Arockalypse
Now bare your soul

Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high

The true believers
Thou shall be saved
Brothers and sisters keep strong in the faith
On the day of Rockoning
It's who dares, wins
You will see the jokers soon'll be the new kings

All we need is lightning
With power and might
Striking down the prophets of false
As the moon is rising
Give us the sign
Now let us rise up in awe

Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
Demons and angels all in one have arrived
Rock 'n roll angels bring that Hard Rock Hallelujah
In God's creation supernatural high

when the moon hits your eye...

Baker Dan the Pizza Man wanted to have a pizza party at the Peace Apartment last Friday night. Done and done. The party was a great success! They came. They ate. They conquered (the town afterwards.) In fact, it was such a fantastic party that we will surely be doing it again next fall. "Let's go pizza crazy, you fools!"
Check out the video at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2865841078577038453&q=Yttersia

17. mai continued

17. mai

I had a really fantastic 17. mai. I got really nostalgic, spent time with great people I haven't spent a lot of time with before, laughed a lot, ate a lot, experienced snow, and sun, and had a generally splendid day...from when a marching band woke me up playing right below my bedroom window at 7.oo am - after about four hours of sleep, mind you - until I walked home from Sydspissen in the daylight at 22.50. Here is some photo documentation.

happy mother's day, mom!

It's Little House on the Prairie family at Thanksgiving last year. Pictured (from left to right): Laura, Ma.
You're the best (and cutest) "Ma" in the world. (We need to get an updated picutre when I get home.)

oh stine

These are my friends Line and Stian. They're dating, so we like to refer to them as Stine. As you can see in this series of pictures, Line likes to dance and save people from avalanches, while Stian prefers to play backgammon online. But they are both new-age hippies, so we think it's cool.

peace students at work

little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,

Little boxes, little boxes,

Little boxes, all the same.

There's a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one

And they're all made out of ticky-tacky

And they all look just the same.

[While I was walking through the neighborhoods of Tromsø recently I realized that "Little Boxes" is an ode to the city. Most houses in this place are like boxes. They are on the hillside. And they are multi-colored.]

And the people in the houses

All go to the university,

And they all get put in boxes,

Little boxes, all the same.

And there's doctors and there's lawyers,

And business executives,

And they're all made out of ticky-tacky

And they all look just the same. -Malvina Reynolds

lite-brites and bed-tents

I've been thinking about being a kid lately. When I was a kid - a younger kid, I mean - I loved Lite-Brite. Here's a nice Lite-Brite picture I found on the internet. I also loved our bed-tent. It was a navy blue tent that fit onto a twin matress. I think I loved it so much because it was like sleeping in a cave, and it's not every day that a kid gets to sleep in a cave. You could zip yourself up inside and sleep in the blue dark. And the air holes in the top - or whatever they were - looked like stars. Perfectly round stars.

night lights

All of these pictures were taken after ten pm. Can you believe it?! Look how light it is! The group ones only look dark because of the flash. It was really quite light. Oh heavens.

And today is yet another fantastic day in Tromsø. The whole city is sitting outside on porches and verandas soaking in the hot sun. Mmmmmmmmmm.

ja, så har det blitt...sommer kommer

As a kind of apology for the horrible fall we had, Mother Nature has sent Tromsø the finest stretch of beautiful, sunny, warm weather. I am sitting outside on the porch at the peace house with a tank top and short pants on. The sun has been beating down on us all day and my skin is turning pink. We have had a number of days like this recently, and according to the weather report, there will be more. It is light outside pretty much all day and all night, but I am not having any trouble sleeping. I think that is because I love taking naps in the middle of the day and have gotten accustomed to sleeping in the light. Hurray for naps!
Now Scott is going to go get me a beer.
Happy Friday, everyone!

no, i'm alive

When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing
And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising
And it seems like all is dying and would leave the world to mourn
In the distance hear the laughter of the last unicorn

I’m alive, I’m alive.

this one's for you, mom

workers of the world unite

Yesterday was labor day in Norway. I went to the parade. It was a beautiful day.

mn on tv

Last evening Tove, Curt, Espen, Lars, Kjersti, Scott, Hanne, and I watched the last ever episode of "Typisk Norsk" on NRK1. We had a little party with cinnamon buns and tea - very extreme. The episode featured the Norwegian language in Minnesota and it was the closest I had been to home in nine months. There were familiar places, familiar faces, and the final segment in the show was of Skogfjorden friends at Det Hvite Slottet in Minneapolis singing A-ha's "Take on Me" - in Norwegian. You will probably be able to watch this episode online by searching for "Typisk Norsk" and clicking on the episode that aired on April 30th. It's pretty excellent.

Now I am going to ride my bike home in the warm sunlight on this beautiful Norwegian Labor Day. The flags are flying, the people are out, the businesses are closed. I want a hotdog.