To Kiev I will come

Yesterday I bought the tickets, in March I will return to Kiev for the forth time in four years. In Norway “to fell in love” is a very strong expression, but I can certainly say I have developed a very true and heartfelt friendship with the city I first visited in the summer of 2007. I stayed there for a week to study Russian at ELC, after a month in Minsk with the same purpose. After the somewhat non-real, weird, strange and strict time at Minsk, it was a relief to come to the chaos and mess and beauty and staggering pulse of the Ukrainian capitol. I lived on the westbank of The Dniepr, and went to the city center from the station Livoberezyna on the red line on the metro. My landlandy gave me more food than even I could eat, something I have never experienced, never before, never after, and my teacher at ELC, made herself my favourite Kievian of all time. She was an excellent teacher, and very friendly and helpful with all kinds of questions and problems. The world needs more of such people!

The last weekend of my stay that time, some of my fellow students and teachers from Minsk - that is, a fellow student, and the one responsible for the cultural program – came to Kiev to visit the city with us. I was there with another Norwegian, no secret his name, Svein, it was, and Odny came, both from Norway, and the girl from Minsk was Natasha. After a nice weekend in the wonderful capitol, we headed to the west in Odny’s car. And I could see that all of the Ukraine was just as beautiful and facinating as her capitol. I certainly should return.

And I did the very same autumn, and made the trip from Odessa to Yalta to Sevastopol to Kiev. Except for Sevastpol, all cities was excellent, and I have some prolems to pull out which city is the best (well – it is Kiev). Sevastopol was also good, with Xerxones right outside the city center, but the beauty of Yalta, and the always fast forward tempo of Kiev, with it’s history and it’s present, it’s chaos and it’s street life, it’s park life, restaurant life, pure life.

So I returned another time the winter to follow, and for the first time I saw a city from the former Russian empire in Winter. The winter was far from severe, the first night it was below 6, I think, but the rest of my stay it was not freezing at all. There was some snow, but not much, it was just beautiful.

Therefore, I decided to go there again. And yesterday I bought the ticket. From 27′th of Februay to 9′th of March, it will be. I hope I get to talk to a lot of people, this time, and that I will improve my Russian, and just have a great stay as I always have there.

Happy new year, world!

The biggest difference in the new year and the last, is that this year the blog will be actually written. There will be regular updates in various updates, and the blog will generally be better. It will be written.

For this reason, I have also changed the theme, from the default one, to a new one. Some other changes are also to come, most probably.

So happy new year! May it be a bright year for all of you who read this blog, and all of you who don’t!

Which song did Steven Gerrard ask for at the disco?

There are not all songs worth fighting for, but I bet Mr. Gerrard knew what he was doing. It was a great day for him, Liverpool had beaten Newcastle 5 – 1 on away ground, they were on top of the standings, and everything was set for a great party. How sad of the disc jocky to spoil it.

Here are my suggestions for the song:

1. Does your mother know, Abba.

2. Oops, I did it again, Britney Spears

3. Spice up your life, Spice girls

4. Yes sir, I can boogie, Baccara.

5. One moment in time, Whiney Houston

6. We need a hero, Bonnie Taylor

7. Hero, Maria Carey

8. Heaven is a place on Earh, Belinda Carlisle

9. Think, Areatha Franklin

10. Jingle bells, the christmas carol.

I hope Steven will drop me a note wich one it is.

Hello world!

This post started it life actually the 17′th of August, but is set back in time, to start of this blog ahead of my splendid tour with the trans sibirian railway. I will write about it extendedly, as I already have in Norwegian on my main blog. You can find it here: www.esalen.wordpress.com, teach yourself Norwegian and have fun.

I decided to start another blog while I travelled, because I just couldn’t write everything I wanted on my Norwegian blog, it would be just too much. Also, I thought an English blog could come in handy to stay in some kind of touch with the happy and lovely people I meet on my travels, and who are so very poor in Norwegian. And a lot of the restaurants where I eat, the hotels and hostels and appartments where I stay, things that I do, experiences I make, could be intersting for fellow travelers all over the world, not only Norwegians. Besides, many Norwegians just search the English net anyway, I could be counted as one of them.

So dear readers, in this blog I will blog mostly about travelling, in Norway and elsewhere. I will use it when my main blog cannot absorb my experiences, and when I want to share it with the world, not only the tiny, but lovely, Norwegian speaking world.

The writer of this blog is born in 1974, leaves in Bergen, Hordaland, but is rooted in Sandnes, Rogaland, both located in the southwest of Norway. I am educated at the university of Bergen, History, Literature, Norwegian, matematics and pedagocial studies. I also have spent some summers to learn some more languages, Italian and Russian, in which I am able to hold a conversation, but am far from fluent.

I think that is the information needed, feel free to write at eisalen@gmail.com, or to comment on this blog.