Back in Norway for Christmas!

It has been a long time since my last update, must be because we have been so busy......or just lazy....eh...?
At the moment Ida and I are back in Norway for the holiday-season, and Rune will be joining us this coming saturday as well. It was good to see our two older children again and just being back home. Leaving Sg with 30C and arriving in Norway holding -20C was certainly a challenge, but keeping my 3 fire-places going I managed..... Arriving Norway by Des.1st one should believe that everything was ready for Christmas as usual in the Tveitan house by now. Especially since Ida has been at school joining her old class. But it is not. It is ready ENOUGH. And I think we will have a great time together even though the windows are still dirty, the laundry is not ironed, the walls have not been either painted or washed this year, the kitchen-floor not oiled or ..... But we have made ginger-bread-men with Idas class, Lucia-cakes 5 days late, playing in the snow, gone swimming, catching up with lots of friends, organizing presents, you name it! Why worry,  as on our Christmas-dinner my mother-in-law will support us with cakes and home-made beer and my mother will give us dessert with cloud-berry cream, and I believe I will manage the pork-ribb.... Updates will follow! Enjoy the pictures....

 Winter in Bø....

Making ginger-bread men with friends from school

Christmas-marked at the Norwegian Seamans-church

Christmas-decorations at Orchard Road; THE shopping-street of Singapore...

Just off Orchard is a rather more exotic, colonial street; Emerald Hill road. Not much reminding of Christmas here...

The Norwegian ladies in Singapore had their annual Christmas-dinner at Raffles Hotel. We were almost 100, having ribbe and lutefisk, and cloudberry-cream for desert. Almost like home....Even the Ambassador, Tormod C. Endresen, paid us a visit:-) I finally got my Singapore Sling at the well-known Raffles Long bar!

Deepavali is a big Hindu-celebration, november 13th. This year we were able to celebrate with one of Runes working-mates. Ida was properly decorated with henna-tatoo!

As for you who reckons that all I (Mona) do all day is making my nails and doing my hair, YOU ARE WRONG! One day we actually climbed the highest point in Singapore at Bukit Timah. All 163,63 m asl!

More updates....

Gosh, I have been slack..... Too busy with everything and nothing I suppose.....I`ll try to come up with some text along with the following pictures:-)

Very busy as you can see.... getting my nails and feet done.... along with Vicky (DK), Åsa (SWE) and Kristen (CA).























Where will this end????? First I started to use a handbag, fair dinkum! As I have no car or jackets with pockets, where else could I put my stuff? And now the pedicure! I definitely have to watch out so I won`t start wearing high-heeld shoes and a glass of champagne in my hand!!!!

New signs on the road.....

This guy lives apparently in the area, but doesn`t seem to worry to much if he is not being fed. Apparently, some time ago he visited a balcony downstairs. The tenant HAD 2 birds in a cage there, and this guy just opened the cage and took their food. Self-serving...

Ida has been on a field-trip with school to Sungei Buloh, a mangrove-and swamp area in the NW corner of Singapore, just across the river from Malaysia. I was lucky to be able to join, as a volunteer with the kids! Here we saw hornbill,  huge monitor lizards, and lots of other animals and plants.

Watch out! Lizards crossing.

During autumn-holidays in Norway, our daughter Johanne and friend (Endre), came to see us for a good week. We enjoyed that immensely! I pushed them around, as I usually do, so they actually did some more rather than swim, shop and sun-baking! 

Fountain of Wealth - worlds largest fountain at Suntec shoppingmall.

We also went to Mount Faber park, a nature reserve whereas we could take the cable car

over to Sentosa Island.  

One day we went to the last kampong here in Singapore, the Kampong Buang kok. Singapore is continuously being developed, and all the kampongs have been replaced by condos or some such except from this. Even though it is not new, fancy or modern, it is a gem that should be preserved for the future! 

We also had to try some of the local sweets.... Different.....

Visit from Kuala Lumpur was very nice, too.


Finally Ida had 14 days of holidays, and we went to........

and found a

and a few

and fed a

 We were fossicking black opals in Lightning Ridge, main black-opal field in the world and

gold panning in Turon River not far from Bathurst. 

Catching up with "family" again, and meeting new members was great! Six yrs since "mum & dad" were in Norway, and 15yrs since I last saw Karen, Yvette and Brodie..... Great to see them again! For those of you who don`t know, I had one year with this family back in 1987 as an exchange student, doing yr.12 at Kelso high school....

Tom & Sylvia (dad & mum). To the left you can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
RUNE CLIMBED IT!!!!

Brodie, Yvette, Martin, Ida and Miranda

Karen and Pat

We sure experienced a lot, and had quite some scenery-variations along the road. 

Law of New South Wales does not allow the public to actually hold a koala anymore...

Cotton along the side of the road; the huge cotton fields had already been harvested..

Good idea to establish if my child care center doesn`t work out anymore!

A dunny along the road! There is a mirror on the top of the pole... Smart invention, indeed!

Remains of the great floods from Queensland feb. 12 - Lightning Ridge

In Lightning Ridge they use car doors as roadsigns...

Opal-mines

Bathurst court house

This was my home and scenery for a year at Georges Plains just outside Bathurst. Almost like Øvre Bø!

Georges Plaines

SYDNEY

I reckon we have become adjusted to Singapore-temperature, as we find 18,9C too cold! Here at Shelly beach, in the background you can see Manly.