Some Like the Mother, Others Like the..

When studying Japanese, the importance of practising pronounciation was next to insignificant compared to how important it is now, when studying Chinese.

Every Wednesday we have classes at the language lab on campus.

It can be pretty nerve wracking.

Each and every one sit in their own lil' stall with a pair of headphones on, that has a mouthpiece attached to it. Step 1 is when the teacher, sitting with his own pair of headphones on in front of a computer, records a couple of fairly long dialogues, having us repeat it line by line after him. When he's finished recording we all start practising individually, being able to listen to the same recording, by pushing buttons on this machine thing everyone have on their desks.

Are you still with me? I know this is very exciting.

Cause it doesn't end there!


So you're sitting there, right, repeating the second dialogue for the fifth time - you're getting pretty tired, probably even jawning a bit. Do you have any idea how tiring it is to speak Chinese??

Lotte

Since I have the attention spand of a four-year-old and I'm sitting in front of the window facing the outside world, I soon start to pay more attention to that, than the textbook infront of me.

Mind you, I still have an awe-inspiring (if I might say so myself, after all, I love honking my own horn) ability to continue to repeat the lines of the dialogue with over-exaggerated gusto, usually cut-off by a occational heavy sigh, or a giggle, caused by the sound of a faraway airplane caught on the recording, being audible in the background every time Xiao Gao is asking Xiao Bai "what day the September 12th is", just so that he can declare that that day, as a matter of fact, is his birthday.

Whoa, long sentence.


But THEN, right when you think you're safe in your own little world, ehr, stall, practising with your headphones on and everything, suddenly the familiar sound of the teacher's voice saying the lines that you've been repeating for the past 15 minutes it cut-off by the teacher addressing you personally, asking you to repeat a word or a line until he's satisfied with the pronounciation.

The sudden shock, makes you of course take off your headphones, somehow expecting to find the teacher looking over your shoulder - but in fact he is sitting in front of his computer at the other side of the class room, being able to listen in on each and every one individually while we are practising.

It might not sound so horrible. But the fact that the teacher might be listening to what I'm saying into the mouthpiece, and that I don't know when, makes me pretty paranoid, I tell ya.

So now, every Wednesday, I sit there with my headphones on, gripping them so tightly my knuckles turn white, sweating, while saying the lines, anticipating the voice of the teacher suddenly correcting me any minute.


Luckily I love my teacher.

He is so cute!

He's from Beijing and lives in Norway together with his Japanese wife and two kids. He's only studied Norwegian for a very short time, but the first time I heard him speak, I thought he was Norwegian.

During class sometimes there's funny misunderstandings. The other day he was showing us a video on youtube from the celebration of the national day in China, and he was comparing a length of a certain street in Beijing with the distance from Oslo to Drammen, and I, being the master of off-tracking, asked him if he had ever been to Drammen before. He enthusiastically answered that he'd only been to the military for one month. Aww, he's so cute, and even though all the Norwegian students heard my question and his unmatching reply, no one had the heart to say anything.

So then we started a conversation about the military in China.


Anyway,

I present to you, a couple of random Asian chicks:



Moving on.


So..

The hoodie on my new sweater is pretty handy!


Instead of signalizing that I consider a conversation to be over by plugging my ears with my index fingers, like I usually do, I now...


Tada!

Now, if that doesn't give you a clue that our conversation is over, something is severly wrong with your EQ.


Unedited photo:


Turn & Crop:


Make me look even more intimidating:


Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Speaking of intimidating.

I got to intimidate Vidar's dad the other day:



Poor thing.

He's so adorable!

Lars

Fancy Indian food

Vidar

Father and offspring

And now, something totally random!

Today I tasted the cherry tomatoes abandoned right outside work.

It was like eating candy!

And my mom fed me:

(*freeloading*)


It's pretty mean to take pictures of people while they are eating.



...



Mwaha.


(Does anyone even read this shit?)

My heart belongs to..

Yesterday I dragged one piece of boyfriend to see one certain mister whose birthday was a few days back

When dad has pulled out his fancy-pants
acid-washed jeans shirt
You know there's a party!

I haven't seen my dad in three months, since we went to my sister's graduation.


Meanwhile he's moved to a new place, with a fancy patio with a fancy view, and everything

Gawd, I'm a spitting image

Goodbye, Karoline

Makes you think someone's died, huh?

There's been a lot of goodbyes lately. Yesterday we gathered to say goodbye to Karoline who's also leaving for a year in Japan.

But first things first, the other day I had dinner with Vidar's momma.





Luckily she's much more normal than my own momma.


Moving on!

So yesterday we gathered at my house for a small preparty before heading out

Karoline

I tried to trick Asaki into believing that
all Norwegians are able
to lick
their own elbows

She didn't believe me

Then we got occupied by the neighbours across the road - two guys cooking in their underpants

Entertained guests

Then we went out to shake our tailfeathers.