Fashion..

...is just a bit different here - for some. You can pretty much find whatever you fancy, but I would say that some things are just a bit on the wrong side of things..... These are sandals (and some shoes for men. I can't think of anything less attractive than a man wearing something like this :S

The music is normal shopping centre music in Tokyo - lovely.

"Trainspotting" - eh, and spotting things on subways too :)

There are many things in Japan that are just the same as anywhere else, like people and their clothes, hair etc.. One thing that is really different here is cell phone/mobile accessories. It's big, it's glittery, it's for kids, it's for adults, it sticks out of pocket like an alarm; "I have my cell phone in THIS pocket." And you can buy the things everywhere. Here¨s what it can look like (I will try my best to get a picture of a stuffed sheep later:

Travel - #Fail

Ok, I thought I had things down when it came to moving countries and travelling. But apparently not! ......and why am I not surprised?
Excuse this time: wasn't quite ready or eager to go anywhere. Just wanted to stay at home with family and friends + my head really needed a holiday - not summer school.

So, somewhere along the (convenient) route from Langesund to Oslo via Horten, and London to Tokyo via Helsinki, I managed to somehow loose the following: 1 pair of sunglasses, 180 contact lenses (!), my sanity (?).... (ok, I admit - the sunglasses was purely my own stupid fault and shall never be spoken about again).

In this scenario - not having contact lenses is by far the worst. So, what to do but search for an optometrist in Tokyo. YEY - sounds easy doesn't it? Right..... Took about 1,5 week to locate a place in "my" local, but busy shopping district, Machida. I gave up keeping track of how many people I asked, but in my endless wandering I was handed a flyer (luck?) with pictures of contact lens boxes (at this point: slobbering). Hijacked three 16-year old school boys who ended up walking me to my rescue (7th floor in this building). At this point I had understood that this search could have been made easier had I known that contact lenses in Japanese is pronounced "contacto lenso".

Lesson 1: how to get your eyes checked in Japanese!
1) sitting and waiting while filling out form which I did not understand
2) eyes checked by woman, who after 20 minutes of having me locate opening in an almost-circle concluded with saying "you have syndlom" + pointing at following word "cylindrical".
3) me just accepting my newfound cynlindrical syndrom (ANYTHING to get contact lenses)
4) got shown into dark room with guru, aka. optometrist who first, appologies for "No, Engrish". At this point I was practising slow breathing and patience..........virtue, those who wait, etc..
5) optometrist: "What is youl ploblem?"...Me: (In very slow and clear voice...) "Sir, I have no problem. I just forgot to bring my contact lenses to Japan. " I gave him my printed prescription (aquired through emailing with my optometrist in Oslo).
6) optometrist proceeded to do a typical eye check-up through hugh machinery - I respect the ethics of the trade!
7) optometrist: "You have dly eyes with spots." Again, I felt willing to accept me being blind as long as it would lead to me getting my "contacto lenso" in the end. Me: "Yes, I know. My eyes are dry with a tad too much protein production."
8) At this point, we both realised that language failed. He called for a woman and voila - I got 1 months supply of contacto lenso :D
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (why not spend your time like this when in Tokyo I ask?)

Gozeimasu Tokyo......

...and welcome motion sickness!

Yes, I have repositioned myself to Tokyo, Japan. Here I will study the Japanese and Asian Higher Education institutions, system and internationalisation at J.F.Oberlin University.
Apparently, my former homoepathic treatment removed both allergies and motion sickness, but only for 5 years - so, now it's all back. This meant that on flight from London I could eat nothing, and at the descend to Narita airport I was of course not the one doing things into a see through blue plastic bag handed to me by kind stewardess. Nope, it wasn't me... If nothing else I felt really cleansed when entering this country :) I did feel for my fellow passenger, an elderly Japanese lady returning from her vacation overseas. Luckily, she mostly slept in neck injurious postions like this one...

I rest my case.....

.....about men needing to fix hair issues. See this article and judge for yourself. Is it too late for a world wide rescue operation or should we just leave it alone (for our own amusement)?

Second that......

Fra: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/?cartoon=5292303&cc=5251672

WARNING/ADVARSEL: adult content!/kun for voksne!

For dubious reasons Tampere has an incredible amount of porn/sex shops :o
Of course (!) I felt the need of taking a picture of the ones I have seen (jeg er overbevist om at det finnes flere) and posting them here for YOUR entertainment. Why? Dunno, maybe as proof of the madness? Or just as a bizarre example of my humour.....or maybe because I live above one (HOTGIRLS) and have 3 more just around my block :o
Jeg undres meget over denne tilsynlatende overbegeistringen for pornosjapper. Hva kan være årsaken til dette? Og ikke minst, hva ville Nina Karin Monsen sagt?
Anway, have a look:

Good ol' days

My building looks like this from the outside and the red square is the window to my bedroom :) As you can see, the building was not built yesterday. This becomes a lot clearer when you come inside my castle. The elevator makes you feel like Humphrey Bogart is just around the corner - or - running the actual elevator, as some strange post-acting retirement job. The elevator is "fra før krigen" as we say in Norwegian, "from before the war". And when we speak like this there was really only one war; WWII. This is not something out of my imagination, there is a plaque posted in the elevator with the year 1939. Enjoy the images below and envy me my Humphrey B lifestyle - I am of course Lauren Bacall........

From Norway with love......

.......to norske ting har tydelig reist til Finland. Den ene er slå-seg-på-brystet-aktig flott: tegneserien Nemi! Jeg har ikke forsøkt å lese den finske oversettelsen, men gratulerer til forfatter Lise :)
Den andre er mer av typen ehe-flau-rødming-i-butikken:



Regner med stor takknemlighet blant leserne over at jeg henger rundt frysedisker og filmer.... Og som dere kanskje ser, her er det et hav av ulike Grandiosa-pizzaer..?*!? Til opplysning koster en vanlig grandis her rundt €4, gang det med dagens Euro og man ser straks at nei, den ble ikke billigere av å reise til Finland.

Becoming a true Finn.....

There are a few things that you 'must' do just so that you can say that 'Yes, I have lived in Finland'.
One of these things is without a doubt sitting in a wooden sauna and hold on as long as you possibly can. Here is the sauna some class mates and I went to on April fools day - just to make a point :)

A typical sign of when you most likely will start running for the door any second is when yet another Finnish guy throws water on the sauna stones. The temperature gauge shows 120+ degrees celsius, your ears feels like they will fall off any second, and your skin is telling you that tiny needles are poking you everywhere.

You run out - and there, much to your relief is the ice covered lake! Aaaaw, bliss.
So, here I am - in lake Näsijärvi.