Shalala

On my run yesterday, I decided that road is boring, and after a dialog with myself, I concluded that if there were that many fields around me, they had to be there for a reason: me running there. 

And, thoughtful and caring as I am, I agreed with Julie that if the ground is frozen, no harm will be done, and no farmers will come after me with shotguns and bulldogs. 

Off I went, singing lovely Aerosmith songs, running along frozen bumps of grass and dirt, and suddenly I ran into a flock of deer. 

For some reason they thought I was scary, and ran off. 

Wonder why, I wouldn't bother troubling them. I was busy.

DOTS = DEER

I ran to the end of the fields, and when I came back, I saw another flock! (I know they were different, because they were there on the same time. And because I could distinguish them from each other on 50 meters distance, of course)

 The small dots under the windmill in the middle, running away from scary me

In case there still is some doubt about it

 Møllehuset, where I at the moment contain myself

After another extreme night of dreaming, I woke up already at eight and something, with my body aching from the training yesterday.
After breakfast, grandpa and me turned antisocial with one computer each in his office, complaining about how much time we waste on it, and completely agreeing that we wouldn't try to change or habits at all.

We went down to Ry around 2 o'clock, and I signed myself up for the folk high school, spring 2012.
I can't wait!
I'm so happy happy and excited:D 

I even met the headmaster, who was pleased to meet an Arnfred (my last name is quite famous in those circles), and wished me welcome.
And he spontaneously referred to Harry Potter during our conversation.
This is the place, I thought.

And they reserved the best room (according to grandpa and themselves) for me.
Lovely life, I love you.

I convinced grandpa (quite easily) to go to a café with me.

Sweet:)

Grandpa, hot chocolate and cookie.
Nice view.

After playing some happy tunes on the piano, I went up to take care of my www-addiction.

My fancy grandparents ordered pizza, so now I'm again heading out in the frozen fields to have a chat with the deer again.

P.S. I also saw a hare yesterday! Danish Wildlife!

Photographs

It was late before we went to bed yesterday.
We watched the whole MGP finale until we knew all the songs by heart and they after hours managed to find the finalist.
Actually the band I liked the best, won. 

Haha.

Funny how they manage to manipulate your brain with their cheap pop music.
After half an hour, all of us were completely into it and had discussions about how and what about the finalists.
Well, it was good entertainment.
But once a year is plenty enough.

Today, grandma and me spent two hours before lunch going through some old photo albums. 

Fascinating.

It is extremely funny to see these old pictures. It actually tells a lot about the people that I've never known before. 

My grandparents are about to wake up from their little nap. Time for coffee and cake now!
What a relaxed life.

Later I'm going out in the wind to run and get out some energy. 

Oh happy day

I planned getting up at 8.15 to go shopping with grandpa, who insisted on being there early, which means five minutes before the supermarket opens.
Anyhow, I managed to sleep through my alarm - God knows how - and got up 8.45.
No stress, grandpa was late too, so we were at the supermarket at half past 10.
Somehow we spent more than one hour getting the stuff and going to the bakery and everything.

Haha, I told grandpa that strong, salty liquorice helps against slow stomach, so now there are three bags of Haribo's Piratos in the kitchen.
I don't have any stomach problems, but they make me feel good anyways.
:)

Grandma gave her one of her masterpieces, and we went through around 50 photos, until the choice was between these two. I picked the one to the left:) Bella.

After the usual siesta after lunch, I made cream on the chocolate cake and we got some calories to our coffee/tea.

Newspaper, cake, tea, solitary

Suddenly I got a feeling-lazy-and-horrible attack, after two days of not doing much physical activity.

Superwoman ready for action

I took advantage of this impulse, got my training clothes and went out.

Just to prove the distance

Tadaa, mission complete

After only some minutes something very strange happened.

MY KNEES STOPPED HURTING.

I don't know how or what happened, but after more than one year of aching knees when running, they suddenly felt good.
Pleasant to use actually.
I was so delighted I could jump.

Which I did, without worrying.

Pretty landscape. No, pretty sky. But crappy mobile camera

Because some big guy up there had turned his good eye my way, I felt so inspired I really started to run.
No slow jogging, no need for running sideways or backwards.

I ran until the chocolate cake almost came back up.

I took a 6 km route, but I have to admit I didn't run all the way...
My knees didn't hurt anymore, but everything else did after a while, so I thought there was no point in exaggerating the first day without problems.
My feet, my right ancle, my hips, my abdominals.
And my breath. Hah, I know who's back out there tomorrow getting sweaty!

All happy I came back, took a shower, sweeped over my embarrassingly messy room, played a tune on the piano and payed my debt to my siblings.

17:19

17:20

I've been singing annoying, too high pitched songs all afternoon.
Tralala!

I announced yesterday that I would be tonight's chef, and so it was.

yum. Alho e olio! Magical ingredients

Made some Mexican inspired soup-thingy with almost no spices in because I know they aren't used to it.
Uups.
I couldn't even feel the two grams of chili I had put in, and added a lot on my own plate.
Grandma, on the other hand, thought it was terribly spicy. She almost couldn't eat it! And had to put milk in it and everything.
And she told me they would eat anything I made. Haha:)
Well, she did eat it and gave me great compliments after finishing the first portion.
Me and grandpa had at least three each.
Note to self: No spices in grandma's food, poor lady.

She took it nicely though.

Now the Danish final of Melody Grand Prix is on air.
Yihaa, let's fill our mind with embarrassing clips of 50 year old women who think they can do a sexy dance and young, untalented people desparate after attention.
YOU'LL GET MY ATTENTION, LAME PEOPLE.
I'm going to sit here and laugh at you and feel sorry for you for an hour or two now:)

Just because your 84 year old grandpa doesn't have an updated Mac and knows how to use it.

:)

Wonder what Tomas Blachmann would have said.
He's my favourite Danish TV-face -> Danish X-factor judge, pretty much like Simon Cowell in the American version.
I love him.

Baking day

Julie on holiday. Lucky me, got 200 DKK from grandma! Thank you!

One pretty lazy day today. First day of sun here in Ry. Why didn't I enjoy that more? Typical me.

Pretty morning from the living room

I sleep so heavily these days that I almost get worried.
Tonight "The Process" really got to my brain. Because of lack of witnesses, I was accused for cheating with my friends boyfriend, even though we had only left the party to get some air. Weird weird feeling. It actually made me think. Imagine being accused for something you didn't do.
Without possibility to prove your innocence.
Ah, good to wake up to a good breakfast!

Grandparent-kitchen. Lovely

Many hours spent in the kitchen today:

Hard housework really. Very hard. And not voluntary at all.

Voila!

I have to admit that I even made a chocolate cake. I am out of reach for improving.

I had some delightful, hour-long discussions with grandpa this morning. I love the fact that he is Christian, but able to talk to about it.
Julie: SKEPTICAL! versus grandpa: strong believer
I love it.
It's been a while since I had a good, religiously based discussion with someone who is not narrowminded but willing to explain and look at other solutions than Jesus.
Not that he changed his mind. Neither did I.
Anyhow we were both happier when we after 1,5 hours of doing the dishes.

For baking the chocolate cake, I realised that grandpa had forgotten to buy baking soda.
That lead to a big expidition to the super market in Låsby, some kilometers away.
With me behind the wheel.
It went fairly well, and I only got almost lost once.

Greased lightning II, I can assure you!

Living room. And MY piano.
I like that

After dinner I played the piano, with grandpa singing along. I can't promise that any of us actually did it well, but grandma didn't complain, being a good audience.

We are again watching the news.
Have to stay updated! Who knows when Gadaffi gives in. SOON I hope, that psychopathic maniac.
We also watched "Sherlock Holmes" – the old TV-series. I got a good laugh.
British humour.

Lovely evening. It was yesterday, but we can pretend.

Blowin' in the wind

I can't see anything.
I'm sitting on a kind of staircase, and the wall behind me is dripping from humidity.
I'm naked. No, I wear a pair of flip-flops which are definitely not mine.
Heavy air, hard to breathe.
The skin on my arms and thighs is pink.
I can see an old scar on my shoulder shining in a fierce, red colour as I feel the blood pulsate through the thin veins in my skin.
The burning feeling tells of the rough treatment some minutes ago.
The ice cold water, stinging like a thousand knives everywhere on my body. Scrubbing until it burns with old fashioned soap flakes and water, and then into this place.
I am sitting in a kind of tunnel. White tiles on the walls and the vaulted ceiling. There is a dimmed light on the wall, shining like a pale winter sun through the mist.
I can see about two meters in front of me, before a thick white mist takes over.
My hair sticks to my face and neck.
Hard to breathe.
Something warm and wet runs down the side of my face.
It tastes salty.
A neverending sizzling sound like oil in a frying pan fills the room.
The white mist seems to come in through my ears, mouth and nose and fills my head with cotton.
There's a strong smell of peppermint.

A door opens, and a voice from behind the whiteness talks.
"Are you okay, honey?"

I sigh, stop the sweatpearls that are on their way into my eyes and answer honestly:
"I've never been better"


I have been to the old bathhouse in Silkeborg this morning - Silkeborg Badeanstalt.

Entrance in the baths.

Making some well deserved advertising

One hour in the steam bath, and you feel like you have been reborn.
Wonderful.

Happy, hot, scrubbed and clean as never before

The lazy numb feeling in your body lasts the whole day.


Back to reality.

Denmark is WINDY.
And with -5 degrees celsius in still air, that means pretty cold weather.
My grandparents live on top of a hill, which makes it even windyer.

Yesterday and the day before I defied the rough conditions and went out to get fresh air. I found a way to get some exercise even with my crippled and useless knees that keep me from running.
I put on this funny radio channel on my phone, that mainly sends old music and hits, and I dance, jump and run sideways and backwards on the curved roads.

Denmark

Pretending to be sporty and pretending not to notice that I was actually taking a picture of myself. Clever.

Road through a little wood near Laven

I actually walked a lot these days. 6 km on Tuesday, and yesterday I first walked for 30 min, and then 3 km to the train station in Laven (even though my grandma is worried I get exhausted from all that activity...
...and they feed me THIS as appetizer for dinner! Avocado with mayonnaise. But yum!)
, and when I arrived Silkeborg and my uncle Karsten (after some complications), we walked for another 1,5 hours!

My legs hurt!
In a nice way:)

A beech surrendered to the forces of mother Nature

Popular boat place

View from Amalienhøj (??) over the woods and lakes of Silkeborg

The steepest place in Denmark?

Nightmare. SCARY PICTURE

Beech in twilight

After this long walk in the woods, and some interesting discussions, I realised how many fascinating people I actually have in my family, that I just don't know. It's different coming on my own as a grown up person than as the little kid of the family, like I always have been before.

Uncle Karsten is a wise man. He knows a lot. And he is strong. He has seen how life can be.

And he wears Norwegian sweaters!

And orders Mexican pizza Extra strong, so I got fever

After walking around in the dusk and cold for so long, it was a blessing to come home to a warm house.
Because of laziness, the dinner we ended up with was pizza from a pizzeria nearby and some beer to kill the hot jalapeno taste.

Maybe it was from walking, maybe from watching a Japanese/Russian movie called "Dersu Uzala", or maybe it was from reading "The Process" of Franz Kafka and challenging my intellect after going to bed. Anyways, I slept like a baby. I haven't had so strange and yet so realistic dreams for a long long time.
I was back at Hogwarts as the fourth member of the group of friends there, like I used to be in my dreams when I was younger.
I like that!


After the baths in Silkeborg, we went back and had some good, traditional lunch.

Denmark on a plate. Rye bread with herring, egg, capers, an some olives (to represent the multicultural society? haha), accompanied by Danish beer and Linie Aquavit.

Waiting for summer. View from living room

Competition. Karsten hides his keys in one of these rocks. Which one is holow and made of plastic?
I'm impressed.

The artsy picture of the day.
Solveig's violin.
May she rest in peace, that lovely woman.

Uncle Karsten took a nap, and I continued my work through Kafka's psychological mazes, until it was time to head back to Silkeborg, him to some kind of lecture about the brain and religious faith, and me to walk around until I the train went.

Sneak photo with mobile phone, pretending not to be a tourist in Silkeborg

Stupid phone.. Weird effect on Silkeborg Museum which happens to be a charming building

During a little hour of waiting in the center, I went into Frellsens Chokolade (YUMMI) and got some confectionery for my grandparents, and a lovely (the best in the world, I would say) cream puff, or FLØDEBOLLE as it's called here.
I also got some books!
Three books for 60 DKK. I love cheap deals!
The cheapest book I ever bought was "The Clan of the Cave Bear" of Jean M. Auel. Almost 500 pages for 10 DKK.
I'm still shocked.

I found my way to the train station just in time.
The ticket machine was out of order.
The train arrived, and I had to enter without ticket.
A sign screams against me from the train door:
"Travelling without ticket is expensive. 750 DKK if you don't have a valid ticket or travel card"

My trip took 11 minutes, and I sat sweating and stressed planning on excuses and fairytales if they would come to check my ticket.
Luckily there was another girl who hadn't had time to stamp her card, so we got into a chat about that, and then we laughed. Funny when you share those situations instead of worrying by yourself.
Happy moment:)

Grandpa came and picked me up, and we went back to this windy little top with a nice view.

Now we are watching a debate program about the situation in the Arab world, and whether they are ready for democracy or not.
I love when politicans fight on air.

Grandpa is listening with his eyes closed.
Because then he doesn't get distracted by the eyes.

He's unique.
Haha:)

There and here

Location: My grandpa's office, Møllehuset, Ry, Denmark.

Carming window from the computer room

Yesterday Rasmus woke up from his beauty sleep around 10.30, and we went downstairs to make some delicious breakfast - this time omelets.

My foot in focus, and Jazzper, Rasmus' cute 7-year-old puppy.

Sleeping Beauty showing cooking skills for breakfast. Fascinating how much mess he managed to make from some omelets!

Egg + milk + salt + pepper = bubbly omelet

They say it's bad to eat too many eggs, and when Rasmus managed to consume two omelets with three eggs in each one, one should start worrying. Also from the amount of food and sweets he can eat, but he is slim as h*** and seems to be in good health.
Life's not fair.

Busted with Galle&Jessen's chocolate on the toast

... but come on, it's been ages since I had it last, and it is GOOD.

Rasmus' second omelet.

Being a good guest, doing the dishes. Artsy photo by Rasmus.

After relaxing, getting dressed and relaxing again, I finished packing my suitcase and we went to catch the bus to Aalborg at 14.00.

Elvis lives! In Pandrup in Northern Jutland, and he wears blue shoes.

Because of a technical failure, we forgot to check which bus we were counting on, and it turned out that this one didn't stop where we stood, and we had to wait another 30 minutes in the freezing wind.

"My town". Rasmus is proud of his village Pandrup.

Half an hour later, the bus came, and we got a seat and had a nice, long discussion about politics, habits and everything on our way to the city.
Because of our little bus mistake, I moved my train journey to Skanderborg an hour forth, and went with Rasmus to a lovely retro café near his high school, where we had coffee, nachos and tested our knowledge on Bezzerwizzer questions.

Looks like someone would prefer my columbine/caffe mocca instead of his own cappuccino.
Hehe, too bad

One of many moments of happiness this weekend.
Charming café, nachos, BIG cup of coffee, knowledge testing and great company.

We also had time to pass Aalborg Katedralskole - a high school - where Rasmus' tries to get smarter.
The funny thing is that my mother went there too, so now I'm following the footsteps of my family, wawawa.

The name Bojesen is back in Aalborg Cathedral School!
The sixth Bojesen who has been there, as far as I know. (Sorry, mum, my mistake. Forgot my cousins. The tenth or something)

Lovely buildings, almost like som castle.

Rasmus discussing with himself in the place where he belongs normally.

Aalborg Katedralskole

Then it was time to say goodbye at the station.
Worst moment.

And then I had some hours where I could read "Senor Peregrino", which completely captured me, and I was in Skanderborg before I knew it.

Pink cellphone version of the view from my train window.

Because I took a later train than I first had planned, the next train from Skanderborg to Ry was much later, so my grandpa came to pick me up.
Great to see him again, and grandma, when we came home to the "mill house".
Funny how you can be away for so long, and still everything is exactly how it always have been. We had late dinner, and then cake and tea and long discussions before we went to bed.
Nice.

Because we went to bed early, I decided that I wanted to read a bit before I went to sleep. Bad idea.
I couldn't put down the book until I finished, around 01.00 in the morning.
Addictive litterature from Cecilia Samartin. I think I read it in only two days.

I got up at nine, and after a good breakfast with my grandparents, I played some piano - which I just inherited! Tralala, piano for me!:D Just tricky to bring it to Norway and store it.. But I'll figure it out.

Then grandpa and me went to Ry to see Ry folk high school, where both my grandparents worked, my dad spent half his youth and my mum went, and where they met for the first time.
I have long been thinking about doing a semester in a Danish folk high school, and because this one is one of the better in the country right now, and because of my family's history, and I would say that without it, I wouldn't even sit here today, I can't see any reason for choosing another.
It looks amazing, at least!

The gardens in snow.

And during spring 2012 it will be even better when the weather improves:)

Favourite grandpa right where he belongs - telling stories about Ry Folkehøjskole

Terrible photo of the school, but the only one I took of the buildings.

I feel I eat all the time. Now we just had some cake and tea/coffee, after grandma and grandpa had their usual nap after lunch.
I think I'm taking a walk/run soon to get some fresh air and circulation in my body.

View from second floor in "Møllehuset". The garage.