First hike of the year

Weather was still nice today, no sun, but no rain or snow either, so I went on a small hike.

I went up on one of the hilltops near our house today. I don't want to call it a mountain, because it's not high enough. Even though the hill's not very high, and it's not a very long walk to the top, it's very exhausting, because it's steep. Steep + snow = slipping, sliding and falling over, a lot. You would think that because it's steep I could just sit down on my bum and slide down when going home, but there's too many rocks, roots and trees in the way for that, so instead I just fall over a lot.

I found out I need to whip my body back into shape! I started panting after only a couple of minutes, and it took me twice as long to get up than it did last summer. I could of course just say it took me longer because of the snow, and because I was talking it slow since it's been about 6 months since last time I hiked, but TWICE as long!? The last time I hiked up there and time myself last summer it only took me 20 minutes, so I was up and down in about an hour (5-10 minute rest at the top). Today it took me about 40 minutes just to get up there!

To top it off I met some (not too bad looking..) guys walking back down again as I was close to the top. Of course I had a lobster red-"I'm exhausted"-face... very attractive.

At the top

The hilltop is very popular all year round, so they've built a shelter at the top.

 If any axe-murderers ask you to go on a hike with them, don't.

Axe-murder heaven?

 A lot of people hike up here in groups, and some at night, so I guess it can be nice to have a small oven/stove. It would probably be fun to spend the night up here, especially with a few friends. And if the sky's clear you could see lots of stars.

The view

The only green spot is the football field.

I'm glad I only wore a t-shirt under my jacket, I was boiling when I reached the top!

We've got this local competition called Fjellgeita (the Mountain Goat), where you collect points by hiking up mountains. The one I hiked today has the lowest score along with a few other hills. They're scored according to difficulty. Last year I managed to collect quite a few points, I even hiked up a mountain that had one of the highest points, and my knees were shaking all the way back down again, it was terrifying (and exhausting)! I didn't enter the competition though. To keep track of who's been to which mountain, the people entering the competition has to write down what date they climbed up what mountain, and also there's a book at the top of every mountain where you write the date and sign. The books are kept in plastic bags inside metal boxes so they're safe.

I'll probably feel the hike tomorrow, good thing I've only got a short shift.

Career choice

So I finally found out what I can be. I realized last night after tweeting Kevin (52 characters in search of a script), I said I wanted a job where I don't have to leave my bed, and then it hit me, I could be a mattress tester! I would have to leave my bed for different beds though.

I could start when I go to Australia, I travel all around Australia testing mattresses, that way I can travel while I work. I could become the worlds best mattress-tester so that when I'm finished in Australia I can travel all over the world testing mattresses!

And I just realized this post has the possibility of sounding a bit... wrong. Which wasn't my intention!

Reply

Lilly,

Don't kill the rooster, we're vegetarian.

Here's some sunshine, don't get too excited, we probably won't let it last too long. You Norwegians tend to go into shock if you have sunshine for longer that a few days consecutively.

Anyway, you're going to the land of (almost) eternal sunshine in a few months, so stop your complaining! 

Although, seeing as we don't really like you, we might hold back on the Australian sunshine for the duration of your stay there. Mwahahahaha!

The Weather-Gods.

Dear Weather-Gods,

I know you guys don't like me.

I know I live in Noway and should therefore not expect spring to come until the end of May.

But if would be nice if we didn't get so much snow. It's starting to look like it did in December!

If you do have to give us this much snow, can't you at least make it pretty like it was in December? At least back then it was a nice whitey-blue colour, not this constant boring grey.

If you have to give us snow, let it stay cold until you've decided to start spring. Stop teasing us with snow one day, then rain that makes the snow slushy the next day. Then when the snow has finally gone away you make it snow again!

I'm sorry us humans have treated Mother Nature bad, but many of us are trying to fix it now. You should at least give us credit for trying, right?

I'll sacrifice this chicken to you... Well actually it's a rooster, but never mind.

At least I'm getting some exercise shoveling all the snow... See? I can make it into something positive! Does that mean you'll stop sending us snow now?

I'm out,

Lilly

Dancing on the ceiling!

I've been granted a working holiday visa to Australia!!! And I've booked my plane ticket!

So, yeah, I'm not going to study after all. I don't know what I want to do with my life, so paying loads of money for an education I'm not even sure I'm going to use seems a bit wasted. But on my WH visa I can study for 3 months, so I guess if I find a short course I want to do I can do that. Anyway, I'm going to Australia! It's actually happening!

I'm not sure if I should just bring a backpack, or a smallish suitcase. A backpack would probably be easier in a way I guess. I just need to find out what to pack (dreading that). Maybe I'll have to buy a new backpack, as the one I've got isn't very big... I'll have to think about that and see. I don't pack much compared to many girls, but it's still going to be hard to decide what I'm going to "need" and not.

I'm thinking about finding a job before I go there, like as an au pair or something, because then at least I have a job to start with, and then I guess it will be easier to find the next place to go and the next job when I'm there.

I'm getting 4 nights free at a hostel in Sydney when I arrive in Australia, and I also get a trip to Blue Mountains. It's all booked through Kilroy travels. I'm also thinking about getting a bus pass, so that I can just jump on a bus and go wherever I want to go. I almost wish I had a licence so that I could just rent a car and drive myself, but I guess this way is better for the environment and also I might meet some cool people, and it's probably cheaper as well, since I don't have to pay for the rent of a car and gas money and stuff, and I don't have to get a ridiculously expensive licence.

I'm really excited right now, and I'm looking forward to July which is when I go.

Anyone got any suggestions to where I should go and what I should do while I'm in Australia, or what I should pack?

Obviously I've already decided I'm going to see Uluru and dive into the Great Barrier Reef.

Earth Hour 2011

So earth hour 2011 is over in Norway. I didn't light a candle and read a book as I planned, I went for a walk instead. So as well as saving energy I got some exercise as an added bonus!

I'm kind of disappointed at how few people had turned their lights off though. Even the lights that lights up the church on the outside was still on! What's the point in that? All the street lights were on as well. I also think that the shops that were open could have turned off the lights they could have managed without. Most of the houses I walked past still had all their lights on. Some of them only had lights on in what I guess was their living room, and some only had their TV's on (as I could tell by the flickering blue/green light)... at least they saved some electricity. The few houses I walked past that was completely dark made me happy.

I can kind of understand people that are into football watching TV, as there was a big game on (Norway vs. Denmark), as for other people I think earth hour could be a great excuse to have some quality family time instead of just sitting in front of the telly on a Saturday night. Why not go out for a walk, or sledding? The only people I met on my walk was a group of three teenage girls that were sledding, seeing them made me smile. Or maybe light some candles and play board games or have story-time? There are so many things you can do instead of watching telly.

I looked across the fjord to Molde. I'll have to try and remember to do that another night to compare, but I think it looked slightly darker there than usual ,and they did turn their street lights and any lights outside public buildings that doesn't have residents or patients off according to their webpage. I can't remember if I can usually see the stadium at night, but at least I couldn't tonight, so maybe they had turned their lights off, since it would fall under public buildings, right?

Our earth hour house. The neighbor right across the road had all their lights on (as usual) and their lights kind of lit our house up. So the light you can see in the windows is the reflection of the neighbor's lights.

How did you spend earth hour 2011?

Earth Hour

Don't forget about Earth Hour tonight! 8:30pm wherever you are in the world

What are you doing for Earth Hour? I'm going to do the same thing I did last year: light a few candles and read a book.