: 2012 - Looking Back | 2013 - Looking Forward

Looking Back

2012 was a weird year for me. It started off with something I had hoped I never had to do, which was breaking up with someone I was still very much in love with. It's actually one year ago tomorrow. I still wish it hadn't happened, but there's not much I can do about it now. And, as I've said before, it was probably for the best. At least now we're still friends, something we might not have been if we had kept on trying.

A couple of months later I started talking seriously with another girl, and spent the next 6+ months trying to make something happen there. 6+ months of disappointment and bad choices. No matter what I tried, something always came in the way, and a couple of months ago she decided that it wasn't really worth it. Or, as she said, it would be better for me to find someone who had time for me. Which I guess is true. 

I'm still looking.

In February we went down to the Netherlands to celebrate Ronald's birthday and Aldert's marriage anniversary. And in September, a bunch of them came to Norway to visit us in Hemsedal. Fun times, both times. I feel like every time I spend time with them I get a slightly better grasp of the Dutch language, at least I understand it a bit better. I'm still far off from being able to speak it, and I just can't learn it on my own. There has been some talk about me going down there for a while, to stay there for a few weeks and learn the language that way, but it's not really a top priority for anyone at the moment, unfortunately.

In April, I think it was, I had a big "falling out" (the problem was mostly on my part, really) with someone I'd had a very close relationship with for a long time, someone that I think knows me better than most people do, and I had to do something else that I never really wanted to do; Remove someone completely from my life. However, when someone has been such a big part of your life (without actually being a part of my life), it's hard to really forget about them. And I've often caught myself thinking about her. I've recently started talking to her a bit again, but due to our complicated past, I feel like I can't let her back into my life in the same way as before.

I've lost quite a lot of weight this year. Although, considering it's been an entire year, it's not really that much. And I still have a long way to go. But whatever. My weight has for the most part slowly but steadily gone down. And particularly after I got the elliptical trainer. I'm not really sure what my weight was a year ago, 'cause I didn't have a scale back then, but I think it was about 135kg. I'm now down to about 122kg. So about 13kg in a year, that's not too bad. Unfortunately, the last couple of months have been absolutely horrible for my motivation and energy, so I haven't really worked out at all. I probably could've been below 120 by now. Oh well.

After I broke up with my ex I decided I wasn't gonna go back to my old self, I wasn't gonna become a shut-in again like I was before. I don't really remember anymore what my plan actually was, but the point of it was to get out more and spend more time with friends. I'm sorry to say that I haven't really followed up on that. I don't really know why. It just never happened. I guess part of it is because I don't have any way of getting around on my own. And I've never really been the kind of guy that goes anywhere without there being a special occasion anyway... So, yeah. I want to change that, I just don't know how.

On major thing that has changed since this time last year, is my apartment  A year ago it was filled with all kinds of stuff and trash, it was a complete chaos. In a way there's still a bit to do, but compared to back then it's infinitely better. Unfortunately it seems I won't get that help cleaning my apartment properly that I was promised for most of 2012. For some reason it was impossible for social services to dig up someone who could do it for me, which I find really odd. And I don't really know what has happened to the whole deal now. It would've been so nice to get this fixed, to have my apartment cleaned properly by someone who knows what they're doing, but... It seems it's not gonna happen.

And that's all the significant things I can remember about 2012 right now.

Looking Forward

I don't really have any plans for 2013. Well, except for one. I was lucky enough to get enough money to start working on my driver's license, so I'm gonna do that soon. Not sure when, but I'm gonna go down and talk to someone some day soon. I just want to get some other stuff sorted out first, if I can. Other than that, I don't really know what I want to do this year. I can't even think of anything significant that's relevant to me that'll happen this year. So... Yeah. But I guess having one plan is better than none. Everything else is just "business as usual"; Keeping up with the changed lifestyle and getting back to working out. Hopefully lose another 12kg, or more.

Right now, though, I'm not gonna do anything. Yesterday I had my last wisdom tooth pulled, and area around was seriously infected, so it still hurts quite a bit. It was also really stuck in there, so the dentist had to really use his might to get it out, which means it's also really sore. Painkillers work, fortunately, and it's a lot more manageable than before it was pulled, but it still wears me out pretty fast. Eating and drinking is a bit awkward too, as I want to disturb the healing as little as possible. So for now I'm gonna care about nothing, and probably go sleep a bit. 

See ya.

: Netherlands, February 2-6, 2012

My mom, her boyfriend Hans, and me, went to the Netherlands for a few days.

Thursday, February 2nd

There isn't too much to say about Thursday, really. We arrived at Schiphol sometime around 21:30, I think, got our stuff, and met up with Aldert, one of mom's cousins. He had to go get the car and told us to wait inside, and that he'd come back inside to get us when he was at the pick-up point, or whatever it's called. Instead, we went outside, walked over to where he might park, and waited. Which in itself wasn't such a bad idea, as he did show up there. But... Damn, it was cold. Or, the actual temperature wasn't so bad, but the wind was just... Freezing.

Well, anyway. Aldert showed up with the car, we drove to Alkmaar, and he dropped us off at his brother, Ronald's, place. It was already rather late, but we still stayed up a bit, talking to Ronald and Yvonne, and their son Myron. Aldert also stayed for a bit. 

We eventually went to bed. All three of us had to share a room, me in a single bed, mom and Hans in a huge blow-up bed. I have to admit, when I first heard that we had to share a room, I wasn't too happy about it. But, it was all right.

Friday, February 3rd

When we arrived on Thursday, it was cold, but no snow anywhere. At least not that I could see. When I woke up on Friday it was snowing heavily. More than what they're used to in the Netherlands, according to everyone I've talked to. Compared to what we get in Norway, it wasn't much, but this wasn't Norway.

Ronald had planned a walk in the dunes today. I wasn't looking too much forward to that, as we had gone for a walk in the dunes when we were there in September as well, and walking in the sand was a bit too much for me. But because of the snow, the walk was pretty nice this time. We also walked in a completely different part of the dunes, so it's hard to say what it would've been like with no snow, but still. I wasn't half dead when we were finished.

Snow-covered sand-dunes.

When we finished our walk, we went to a small restaurant nearby to eat some pea soup. It was good.

Pea-soup; Very good. Whatever that meat is; Not so good

Didn't do much for the rest of that day. I went up to bed shortly after we returned, as I was extremely tired, for some reason. I hadn't really planned to either, I was just going up to our room to check something on my laptop, and just sort of fell halfway asleep. Mom wasn't too happy about that, tried making a big deal of it, saying it was impolite not to come back down and tell everyone that I was going to bed for a bit. Maybe it was, but... Eh.

Came back down to dinner. Had some kind of traditional Dutch meal called hutspot. It's not that different from what we in Norway know as lapskaus, to be honest. Either way, it was very good. After dinner Myron, Hans and I went to the store to buy some stroopwafel-icecream for dessert. Stroopwafels are delicious, icecream is delicious, and stroopwafel-icecream... Is double-delicious!

I went back to bed not too long after that. Was still dead tired, even though I had a Monster. Made sure I told everyone this time. =P

Saturday, February 4th

Was woken up very early by an SMS from Chess, saying I had used 80% of my monthly quota of data-traffic when outside Norway. When we landed, I got an SMS saying that I could use no more than 80NOK a day, which was equal to 50MB, and that I'd get an SMS when that quota was used. As far as I had calculated, I was nowhere near that amount, and particularly not that early in the morning.

So I started checking things out, and it turns out the SMS I got when we landed wasn't even from Chess. Why the hell I got that SMS I have no idea. The actual price was 19NOK per MB, with a monthly limit of just under 500NOK, which is way too expensive. If I had known that was the actual price, I wouldn't have used my mobile net. Oh well. At least I didn't use it anymore after that.

Spent Saturday with Aldert, mostly at his place, but also went out to buy some typical dutch food to bring home, like stroopwafels and hagelslag. Unfortunately, we didn't plan ahead, and forgot to take out enough money before we went to the store. For some reason, Dutch stores doesn't take VISA. Who knows why, but it's damn inconvenient. Fortunately, Aldert's wife, Josée, came to the rescue and paid for us.

After we were finished in the store, we went to eat some herring. Apparently also typical Dutch? I don't know, tasted very similar to Norwegian herring, except for the pickles on the side. Either way, it's not something I'd pay to eat. Wasn't bad, but just... Not my thing.

Later we ate dinner at Aldert's. Something called nasi, which was basically some sort of rice and chicken thing with peanut putter sauce. I remember being very skeptical to the peanut butter sauce when we visited back in September, but it's actually very good. Weird, but very good.

Mom and Aldert, at Aldert's place.

After dinner we went back to Ronald's place for his birthday party. I have to say, Dutch customs for birthdays (and other similar occasions) is a bit weird to a Norwegian. Basically, everyone congratulate each other. Whenever someone new arrived at the party, they went around shaking everyone's hand (and did the kisses-on-the-cheeks thing), and congratulated them. Here in Norway, we really just congratulate the one actually having the birthday. The only time where people congratulate everyone, is when someone has been born, I think? Only thing I can think of.

I once again went to bed rather early. No wonder, as I was woken up so early by that damn SMS. 

Sunday, February 5th 

Got to sleep in a bit on Sunday. After breakfast, we didn't really do much other than sit around and talk, and get ready for Aldert and Josée's 25-year anniversary party.

At about 4pm, I think, we went into Alkmaar and arrived at the party. It was quite nice, despite the fact that I couldn't really understand much. Fortunately, Myron and Imara, Aldert's oldest daughter, sat down and spoke English with me for a while. It was rather nice. The only problem was that it was slightly cramped where we were, which made the noise-level a bit much for me. It's not that I can't handle the volume, it's just that with that much talking going on around me, I'm almost unable to focus on what the person I'm talking to is saying. Even if everyone else is speaking a language I can't really understand yet.

After a while we went into the dining room and sat down for dinner. I sat at the end of the table.

Left to right: Hans, Mom, Hans (oldest brother of moms cousins), Yvonne (Hans' wife).

Right to left: Ronald, Yvonne, Imara, Mirgina (the daughter of the oldest sister of moms cousins), Wesley (Hans' son), and Michelle (Wesley's girlfriend).

These are the best pictures I got of the people at the table. =P

In front of us, as we sat down, were a menu, with three appetizers and three main courses. I went with tomato soup for appetizer and chicken sate for the main course. The tomato soup was really good and spicy, probably the best tomato soup I've had. The chicken sate was also very good, although I think we ate almost the same thing at Aldert's place when we visited in September. It was basically chicken-pieces on sticks, with a "vinegar-marinated" salad and peanut butter sauce. Sounds weird, but it was really delicious.

I went more or less straight to bed after we got back from the party. Or rather, I went straight up to our room and changed back to regular clothes, and stayed there, in the silence, until I went to sleep. My head, and my ears, were really tired from all the background noise at the party. 

Monday, February 6th 

Once again got to sleep in for a while. Then had to pack after breakfast. Left Ronald's place at around 3pm, I think? Ronald drove us to Abcoude, to moms brother, Lex. He had invited us to dinner before we went back home. 

Ronald on the left, Lex on the right.

Had something called boerenkool-stamppot, which is some sort of fancy version of sausages and mashed potatoes. The mash consisted of potatoes, boerenkool and bacon, and was very nice. The sausage was delicious, very different from what we're used to here in Norway.

Also got to say hello to Saskai, Lex' wife, and their children, my cousins, Daan, Floor and Jeroen, before we had to leave for the airport. The oldest child, Charlotte, is on some kind of trip around the world or something? I think she's in Australia atm.

Got very disappointed when we got to the airport. Checking in and going through security went rather fast, despite the guy in front of us who had lost his luggage or something like that. But when we got past security, we ended up in some kind of really small area with no real stores, just a tiny tax-free kiosk consisting of just a couple of shelves, and some sort of cafe. Not the same place we were at in June and September. Huge disappointment, as I had planned to buy a couple of things there. Oh well. 

Future plans 

Mom and I have been talking about sending me to my great aunt's place for three-four weeks, hopefully later this year, so she can teach me the Dutch language properly. She lives alone in a place called Exloo, and she used to teach immigrants Dutch, so it will hopefully be a lot more effective than any of the trips down there so far.

We haven't talked to her about it yet, though. I'm first gonna speak with Nav and such, see if they have any objections to it, for any reason. I don't want to risk losing my money by going to the Netherlands for so long. I don't think it will be a big problem, though, as long as I keep working on my health while I'm there. But we'll see.


I'm pretty sure I have forgotten to mention quite a lot. But I forgot to write stuff down every day, as I had planned to, so... Yeah. =P

Also; Yay, a post with pictures. =P