New Year / Old Year

Right!

I hope my wonderful friends and foreign family haven´t completely stopped checking my blog. Although you´ve had good reasons to, as I have been taking a break from updating.

And I looked at the pictures from the summer, and I think woah, had it not been just for the fact that I was born here, it seems so surreal.

Mariel, I just saw a film called Utvandrerna / Nybyggerna, based on a trilogy by Vilhelm Moberg. It is about Swedish immigrants to the US, in about 1850. It is a very very good film, two, in fact, and lasts for a total of 6 hours 18 minutes. Obviously, I thought of you. My own great-grandfather didn´t leave Norway until 1914 appr. For some reason, I am very interested in these things. Perhaps we should have a trip in the US where we visit the ScandinUS? (a made up term by self, I can imagine there are better ones).

Now, shortly summed up why I haven´t been updating:
My NGO where I work, had only a broken laptop for me to use when I started, so I have been using my own three-letter-brand-name machine. This latter item has a relatively small screen. When sitting in front of a computer at least 8 hours per day, I started getting pains in my arms. I then got a portable keyboard, which helped. But then I got these pains in the neck, upper shoulder and out through the arms. And then I got a headache. I just thought I was catching a cold, like, all the time (which, if you knew me a long time ago, would not be untypical). November particularly, I was just tired and goofy all the time. Until one Monday when I didn´t go to work, pain pain pain. I called a physiotherapist (Thank you UWC, it did get me to the physiotherapist sooner rather than later. That, or nepotism), got an appointment, made an appointment with an optician (you never know with headaches).

Two weeks later, I had bought glasses, where 1000 kroner poorer (pluss over 3000 for the glasses on monthly payments), but the head ache and intense pains were gone.

A Christmas holiday where I written an absolute minimum of emails or postcards for that matter (forgive me!) I feel better. The sorry thing is - back at the office after the week long Annual Meeting, one day of 8 hours in front of the computer - I felt a sneaking pain in my left elbow.

Despite my own pain, I do indeed hope everyone´s health is better than mine, and I wish you the very very best for the New Year.

My love goes out to all of you.