Ragnchild

I was reading this book about healthy food today, and was pleased to discover that chocolate was on the list of very healthy foods. Although I’ve known for a while that dark chocolate can be healthy, it was interesting to read about all the different substances it contains, many of which do great things for your body. Among other things, it contains the molecule that is often referred to as the “love molecule” (Phenylethylamine). It also contains magnesium, a substance which many women have a lack of during those special days when we get more irritated and have other mysterious complaints. It’s nice to know that there is a scientific explanation for a cure that I know many women rely on (bananas also contain magnesium, how about a banana split with melted chocolate?).

Of course, there are some downsides as well, as with everything that is good in life. Firstly, the mentioned health benefits come from the cocoa, not the sugar, so you need to make sure that you eat dark chocolate, at least 70% is recommended. Also, there is a risk of putting on weight if you eat too much chocolate, 40-50 grams a day is the recommended dose. However, the only situation where chocolate is really bad for you is when you have a migraine. Other than that, try taking a trip to your nearest chocolate store, get some real chocolate (not those bars which are mostly sugar anyway), and eat with good conscience!

And by that I don’t mean the fans yelling and throwing things, or the judges trying to make a fair decision facing someone bigger, stronger and more popular than themselves. No, it’s now a proven fact that football is quite dependent on chaos. Recently, a German mathematician did a statistical analysis of matches which showed that 40% of goals in football are based on luck (read more if your German is up to it).

Actually, this is something I’ve been wanting to prove for a long time, it’s also one of the reasons why I don’t like football. I dislike like the way one team can be on top of a league one season and then suddenly have to fight to keep the 10th place. Continue reading Football is chaotic

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently attending a “Folkehøyskole“, which among other things involves living at the school. This is a rather special situation which can be both very rewarding and sometimes a bit frustrating. First of all, it’s really nice to not have to travel by bus each morning to get to the school, and worry about being stuck in traffic. It also comes in handy when you have free periods during the day, and you feel the need to go “home”, you can be there in an instant. However, you do often get the feeling that you’re living in a kind of bubble, because everything you do, school, musical activities, socializing, meals, sleeping etc. happens at the school.

No matter how you see it though, there is really nothing that can be compared to living so close to so many persons your own age and with similar interests. It creates a feeling of fellowship that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s also fun to see what can happen when so many young people live together in terms of creative efforts. For example, our dorm woke up one day to discover that our kitchenette had been covered in newspaper, and I mean really covered, each single object in the room had been wrapped in paper, the sofas and the walls, even the TV-antenna had been carefully wrapped, part by part, so that you could still see its shape. We found out later that a group of students had spent two hours on this project in the middle of the night. Continue reading Life at a boarding school

I must admit that for me, the time between Christmas and new year is often the best part of the holiday. Usually, I spend the beginning of December trying to deny that Christmas is imminent and preaching about how people ruin it by starting too soon. Then I start making a long list of the things I have to do, which includes buying presents for my German relatives early enough so the post can them there in time. I was so proud when I managed to finish early enough with the presents this year, or so I thought, it turned out that they didn’t get my presents before leaving home after all, hopefully they’ll get there soon.

Then, when Christmas finally arrives, it’s time for family reunions and church and presents and lots of food, and before you know it the magical moment that you’ve been waiting for has passed. Continue reading And soon another year has passed

I moved to my new school about a week ago, and the internet access here is limited, hence the lack of updates. However, I’m working on some new things, including a new look for the site, so stay tuned.  And if anyone is interested, I’m having a great time here, more about that later.

As explained in my previous post, I got a job that requires me to live where I work.  I don’t have internet access there more than once a week, so I won’t be very active with blogging for the next month. As they say; “I’ll be back”.

The tourist season has really started over here in Norway, and I am just as surprised each year by how interesting the tourists find this country. Sometimes it’s quite incredible what they are fascinated by, they buy t-shirts with stupid drawings of elks on them and woolen sweaters in the middle of summer, I even saw one tourist taking a photo of a manhole cover. Still, when you are new to a country, it is perhaps logical that it seems more interesting than if you have lived there your whole life. Now, since most of the people reading this post are not from Norway, I thought that it would be interesting to present some (random) facts about Norway. Here we go:

Cheese slicer, the Norwegian specialty
Yes, this interesting little artifact was actually invented in Norway, and is still used frequently today, it also fits very well with the famous Norwegian brown cheese. My theory is that it was invented because food is expensive in Norway and so people wanted to make thin slices, but that’s a another matter. Continue reading Norway in a nutshell

Now, why is it that holidays and weekends always seem to be designed in a way that does not fit your needs? On weekends, I always plan to do this and this on Saturday, and then have a nice rest on Sunday. It always turns out that I’m too tired from the week to get much done on Saturday, and I end up stressing on Sunday because soon it will be Monday again. And lo and behold, the Easter holiday seems to present the same problem. I was pretty tired at the start of the holidays, but by now I’m feeling somewhat rested and ready to start working. Then I realize, this is exactly the time when the real holiday starts, this is the time where I should be with my family, not do homework. The world just doesn’t seem to fit my schedule. Continue reading Holidays upside down