So… I’ve been working for five whole weeks now (in the rain). Work’s been a pleasure since Ben’s been here, it’s so much nicer working with nice people. Oh, and… when I said “in the rain”, I meant IN THE RAIN. Out of five weeks of working, we’ve had approximately one week of nice weather. Spread out randomly, one day every now and then. Then… rain, rain rain. We’ve had some nice weekends though, so that’s good. I’m starting to miss holidays now though. Or, miss them and miss them… I’m starting to wish for some holiday now. Just to do holiday stuff. Only three-ish more weeks of work though, and then we’ll have a few weeks to just enjoy before Ben leaves for Amiens again.

Oh, and it’s my lovely Ben’s birthday tomorrow.

I’m amazed that people still visit my blog, after so many weeks of my absence!  How are you all?

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Can’t get that Waka Waka song out of my head… I first heard Shakira’s World Cup version on the radio while at work the other day, and when I got back home I looked it up on Youtube, and… I completely and utterly fell in love with the way she was dancing, as well as the chorus itself, which is awfully catchy… So, I looked around a bit to see if I could find a translation of some sort… Which led me to the original version of this song, from 1986 (Zangalewa, by Golden Sounds)… And you MUST watch the music video while listening to it. It’s so peculiar, I love it! Go watch it straight away. Go!

Alright, watched it now? Understood what I meant by peculiar? Good.

“The song is still used today almost everywhere in Africa by soldiers, policemen, boy scouts, sportsmen and their supporters, usually during training or for rallying. It is also widely used in schools throughout the continent especially in Cameroon as a marching song and almost everyone in the country knows the chorus of the song by heart.

The men in the group often dressed in military uniforms, wearing pith helmets and stuffing their clothes with pillows to appear like they had a swollen butts from riding the train and fat stomachs from eating too much. The song, music historians say, is a criticism of black military officers who were in league with whites to oppress their own people. Or at least, some of it was. The rest is Cameroonian slang and jargon from the soilders during the war.

The lyrics, which are in a Cameroonian language called Fang, read like this:

Tsa mina mina eh eh

Waka waka eh eh

Tsa mina mina zangalewa

Ana wam ah ah

Zambo eh eh

Zambo eh eh

Tsa mina mina zangalewa

Wana wa ah ah.

Meaning of the words in Fang language * Tsaminamina means Come. * Waka waka means Do it – as in perform a task. Waka is pidgin language meaning walk while working. * Tsaminamina zangalewa means where do you come from?. * Wana means it is mine. * Zambo means wait.”

I also love how they keep speaking randomly in French every now and then. Tout le monde! This song will definitely be part of my soundtrack for the summer!

BUT! To change the topic: This is what me and my friend Charlotte did yesterday. We had the most wonderful Tone&Charlotte’s Day Of Fun! It’s all in Norwegian though, but I guess you can sort of tell from the pictures what we did. By the way, the link is to Charlotte’s blog.

My blogging mood has run away and left me at the moment, so I’ve been having a little break from this whole blog thing, something which you guys (the mucho wonderful and very few of you who actually read my blog from time to time) might’ve noticed already.

By the way, GO WATCH GLEE.

Just do it.

You know you want to.

Come ooooooooooooon.

It’s in the name: GLEE.

Link here.

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When I was little, I used to wish my name could be only Elisabeth, no Tone. Now I don’t even really feel like an Elisabeth, now I’m just Tone. Tis good.

I want to share three things with you guys today.

1. Camelia Jordana.

Check out the music video behind the link, she looks like a mightily confused and reluctant female Harry Potter!

2. Coeur de Pirate

She’s so adorable I just want to hug her! And she’s French-Canadian.

3. It’s Cohen.

Apparently.

Go check them all out.

Share something with me?

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Today has been a pretty laid back day. No stress really, at all. It’s been nice! This morning my dad and I unloaded all my boxes and furniture from the lorry (which is standing in the middle of the driveway like a big white brute taking up all the space) and put it all in the garage. Then I started carrying boxes and furniture from the garage to the bedroom in the basement, where I’ve been unpacking and putting things into order all day. I’m trying to make it as nice as possible, since it will be the bedroom for both Ben and me all summer. It’s nice, because it’s bigger than my old room, and it’s in the basement, so it’s a lot cooler down there, which is a really good thing, especially when it’s dang hot at night during the summer time and we’re two people sleeping in the same room. I’ll upload pictures when I finish unpacking!

I’ve also downloaded 14527309 summer songs today. Or, not really. But I downloaded at least 70! Summer songs make me feel so cheerful! Some of them I haven’t even heard before. Both old songs and new songs. And new versions of old songs! I found a new version of the song “Sugar Sugar”, which was originally sung by the Archies back in the 60s (used to be one of my favourite songs when I was younger) in a very modern dance version, which was really interesting! And actually not at all bad.

I LOVE DECORATING ROOMS SO SO SO MUCH! *jumps around in glee* Apart from the fact that I have too much stuff. And only one room to decorate… *scowls* Oh, and talking about glee… I’ve started watching Glee! Watched the first episode last night, LOVED IT, will watch another one tonight before going to bed.

Oh, and I have an extra day of relaxation before starting work, apparently I’m starting on Tuesday, and not Monday like I thought. Oh, joy!

If I ask a question at the end of every blog post, will you guys take the time to answer it?

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1. Things that fascinate me about Ben.

2. The packing and carrying of heavy objects.

Haha! I just feel like being very structured today. Or, maybe it’s just that I’m finally starting to realise that I DO have “mental holidays” as I like to call it (not to be misinterpreted), and finally feel I can start being creative again and actually let my brain just wander off unattended and do its “thang”. See? I’m even using weird words that I never would use normally. WIN!

So, alright.

ONE! Or, 1.

a) One thing that really fascinates me about Ben is his ability to make a delicious meal from… whatever. I mean, you can give him ANY combination of ingredients, and he’ll turn it into a delicious meal. Ben + Stove = LURVE. Honestly. I love it when he cooks for me, because he never really explains the dish properly in advance, so I never know quite how it will turn out, or what he has in mind. He’s an expert at mixing flavours and spices, and he always seems to know what goes well together.

b) Another thing that also really fascinates me about Ben is his relationship with the flora, and his knowledge about all sorts of plants. Every time we go for a walk, he’ll find herbs and leaves and flowers for me to smell, and he’ll pick plants and tell me about their origin and inform me about their usage. I like plants a lot, and biology has always interested me, but.. my knowledge is just a tiny drop in the ocean compared to the seemingly almighty lexicon of information that he seems to possess (ok, see, my creativity IS recovering!). Like, one thing you guys probably didn’t know… (I know I didn’t).

This is conium, or “poison hemlock“, which is, surprise surprise, poisonous.

Conium is often mistaken to be cow parsley, which is NOT poisonous, and edible.

Both conium and cow parsley resemble THIS plant, the wild carrot, which is almost like a normal carrot, edible while young, albeit with a colour that differs from the carrot that we all are ever so familiar with.

It sure is a jungle out there.

(Oh, and it’s easy to tell the plants apart if you have a look at their leaves…)

And now, 2.

Imagine:

a) 15 cardboard boxes. Approximately 10 big black garbage bags with clothes and blankets and cushions and the like of it. Two big beds. One desk. Two book shelves. A glass table. Two chairs. A rocking chair. A dinner table. A TV table. A nightstand. A freezer. A towel shelf.

b) Three people (one of them being me, weak as I am).

c) Three steep stone stairs, equalling approximately… *counts*… 40 steps or so altogether.

Now, I present you with this little piece of logic:

a + b + c = One pretty heavy shedload of work.

Nuff said. BUT! It is all over now, we made it, I’m now back home in Jølster (and so is all my stuff, for the first time in two years), and I feel as if I’ve spent the day hiking in the mountains. I’ve never walked that many steps of stairs in such a short period of time before. I’d better get a great looking bum from this!

Oh, and I also finally have time to browse the internet again. And I have the latest edition of Science Illustrated. Reading about Jacques Cousteau. Very interesting! But… defo bed time soon. And looooong sleep in tomorrow. Then… unpacking…

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- In Hong Kong they have  really good air condition systems everywhere, so that when it’s 38 degrees outside, there might be 18 degrees inside! Which results in a lot of colds, obviously.

- The big fashion thing over there is to be as “white” as possible skin wise, so when the sun is shining they either cover themselves up or stay indoors (which is the complete opposite of the tan culture in Norway!).

- Getting into universities is really hard, with challenging entrance exams that you have to study for months and months in advance (I already knew this was true for Japan, but not China). Also, many students commit suicide every year because of the pressure of the entrance exams.

- Everybody there likes to take pictures of everything and everyone, all the time (yay, finally someone like me!).

- Proper authentic Chinese food is nothing like the Chinese food you can find in Chinese restaurants elsewhere in the world (already knew this, too).

- The Chinese language has no particularly set grammar apart from word order – no gender, no case, no tense (!!!), no person… And apparently, the different symbols are really easy to learn (compared to what one might think).

- Many Chinese people have a “European sounding” name in addition to their Chinese name,  and it is even included in their official papers. Also, all names mean something (parents often choose children names according to their meaning) and there are endless of combinations, because they have no “fixed” names (i.e. Thomas, Edward, Lucy… etc).

- They’re a lot better at using the nature than we are. One of them asked me if it was common to pick wild vegetables here, and I really had no idea what he meant, I don’t know of any wild vegetables growing in Norway… and then, when he started to explain and draw, it turned out that he meant ferns! Ferns! They actually pick them and prepare them (the young ones, before they “blossom”), and apparently they’re really tasty. Ferns can be found all over Norway, and still they are not represented in a single Norwegian dish that I know of.

- Also, you don’t get paid for working over time in Hong Kong. The jobs are so few and the people are so many that you do pretty much everything you can to keep a job if you have one. So even if work ends at 5, the normal is to work until 8 or 9.

And then, just before leaving, Sung gave me a wonderful little present, a Korean “luck pocket” (BokJuMeony), which is a tiny little pouch for keeping things in. It was so kind of her and it made me really happy! I love little things like that, that I can keep forever and that will always have meaning and memories attached to them. The whole little “dinner party” just made me so keen to travel and to meet and befriend people from all over the world, to learn about their cultures and be shocked and amazed and intrigued by what they have to tell me!

*sighs*

But now, I have to go and start packing all my stuff in brown cardboard boxes… Moving back home tomorrow. France was wonderful by the way, pictures are to be found on Facebook!

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So, today I’m pleased to inform you that I have nothing but good news to share with you all! First of all, I had my last exam today. I woke up at seven, and stayed in bed until half past (wide awake, mind). Just to be sure to wake up I had put alarms on for 7, 7:10, 7:20 and 7:30. I know I never really need more than one alarm on the day of an exam, I’m always wide awake as soon as it goes off anyway. So, I got out of bed at half past seven, and realised that I still had an hour and a half until I had to leave for the bus… so, I had a shower, and failed miserably at eating breakfast (nerves, you know).

Then I talked to my lovely one on Skype for a little bit (haha, he never went to bed last night), before getting dressed and leaving for the bus. Being dead nervous, I didn’t even manage to listen to any music, just in case it might divert my thoughts away from the exam… Haha, yeah, I’m like that.

Arriving at the university I went to the cafeteria to buy some food, tried to eat it while waiting for Ingeborg, didn’t succeed. Then, when Ingeborg arrived, we were nervous together for a little while, and then it was time for her to enter the examination room… She stayed in there for approximately half an hour. In the meantime, I sat outside on a sofa, impatient as ever, when a completely random middle aged man approached me and started talking. He kept me company for a good 15 minutes, talking about prior subject he’d taken and lecturers he’d had. I think he’s one of those “student for life” types, but it was nice talking to him, it made me relax.

Then it was my turn. And I was SO nervous. But once I got inside, everything just seemed to calm down, and I felt right at ease, and everything went splendid! First, I talked about my BA paper (“try not to use the word ‘framing’ when explaining what framing is”), then I was asked about accommodation in discourse, aesthetic, referential and phatic discourse, and the prototype theory of the concept. Then, changing subjects, I was asked to define the three periods of the English language that we’ve been through, and then talk a bit about the characteristics of each period. I didn’t have any trouble at all! It all just came out of my mouth, I had so much to say, it was brilliant. I only got a bit stuck when starting to talk about Early Modern English, but then time was up (saved by the bell, huh?), and I was asked to leave the room so that they could decide on which grade to give me.

So… I got an A on my BA paper, and an A on my oral exam! The best grade you can possibly get! I’m so happy about that! It hasn’t quite sunken in yet, but… YAY! And also, for the second time this year, I’ve been recommended by a lecturer to carry on doing a Master in linguistics… “And we’ll see you at Master level, right?” … “Yes, of course, in a year or so!”. I think they really believe I have some sort of potential. Awesome. :3

Then I spent a wonderful afternoon with Ingeborg, Hilde og Hanne, playing boardgames, eating cookies, ice cream, drinking tea, shopping, and then we ended up at Peppe’s for a pizza in the end, celebrating the fact that finally we all have holidays!

And I’m feeling better than I did yesterday, so that’s great. Oh, and Ben officially has his bi-licence in law and English now! Youpee for him! <3 And Stian downloaded all the episodes of Fruits Basket for me and put them onto my external hard drive… I’m going to bring them to France, and introduce one of my favourite anime series to Ben!

Now, time to do the laundry, pack my suitcase for France and pack all the rest of my clothes in black bin bags. Less for me to do when I return!

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And yes. I ended up in the ER again. AND the hospital. Why? Because I’m cool like that. They couldn’t find anything wrong with me though. The EKG was fine, my blood tests all turned out splendid, and they couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary whatsoever. So that’s good! But… I sort of still don’t like it when I have chest pains and perspiration issues when there’s nothing wrong with me. Let’s just hope it passes!

Way to spend the last day before the exam!

Wish me good luck for tomorrow yeah?

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After having watched three episodes of Dr. Who (yes, I’ve fallen in love with David Tennant) in order to make time pass, I’ve decided I should start packing my suitcase for France. And probably do some laundry too… Ack, dirty pile of cloth, why art thou so dirty! And yes. If Hamlet can “thou” a ghost, then I sure as anything can “thou” and pile of dirty clothes!

Wish me good luck yeah?

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