paulandreas

Julestemning

2010-12-24T12:40:00.001+01:00

Så gjør vi så når vi henter vår busk

2010-12-23T18:07:00.010+01:00

Summer of 10

2010-07-13T19:56:00.002+02:00

Fresh
Originally uploaded by paulandreas

Summer is upon us, and I just put a small taste of my summer into my Flickr account, if you would like to see them.

Enjoy.

Ripe

2010-02-05T12:48:00.002+01:00

Twothousand and then...

2010-01-01T03:59:00.003+01:00

Inn i det ukjente

2009-12-31T12:31:00.001+01:00

Into the Unknown
Originally uploaded by paulandreas

Hva ligger der framme?
Hvor går veien?
Ett skritt av gangen,
Gjennom dyp snø,
Opp til knærne.
Et nytt år.

Ha et velsignet nytt år!

Takk for 2009!

2009-12-28T16:40:00.003+01:00

Når vi nå er på tampen av 2009 og inn i et nytt tiår, vil jeg takke for det gamle, og se fram mot det nye.
Denne bloggen har ligget litt brakk det siste året, og som alltid er det med i nyttårsforsettene å være flinkere til å oppdatere. Og med kun 13 oppdateringer i det gamle året, skal det ikke bli vanskelig å overgå dette i det nye.

Takk til dere som jeg ser ofte/sjelden/sjeldnere/aldri, og takk for at dere kikker innom denne bloggen på tross av, og ikke på grunn av. :)

God fortsatt romjul og snart godt nytt år!

En ny verden

2009-12-03T13:47:00.006+01:00

Nå har jeg endelig fått igang Flickr-kontoen min, slik at det blir lettere å få bildene mine ut til den gemene forsamling. Altså dere. Det er en ny fotoverden for meg. Det finnes utrolig mye kult der.

Ta dere en tur dit, og kos dere. Legg inn kommentarer, spørsmål og slikt. Det er gøy. Vend nesen mot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulandreas/

Fiskehygge

2009-10-16T12:46:00.004+02:00

"Du skal ikke kjøpe deg ei fiskestang, da? Fisking er en god aktivitet som hjelper til å koble litt ut," sa Jan-Erik da vi satt på toget inn til storbyen. "Jo, kanskje det," sa jeg, litt uforpliktende. En uke senere ringer jeg Jan-Erik og vi bestemmer oss for at vi denne dagen skal ta den helt ut, jeg kjøper sjøfiskestang, og etter en svensk innføring i fiskelivets gleder, bærer det sjøveien ut til en av Oslos mange ferieøyen, Hovedøen, du vet den med klosterruinene på.

Min første voksne fiskestang kommer raskt i bruk, og min første voksne sluk blir opphengt med noe som gjør at vi måtte etterlate den der. Kanskje den fant en make der nede på havbunnen, eller kanskje den rett og slett ikke var skapt for slike lange svev og dype dukk. Hvem vet?

Jeg er uansett nå den stolte far til en sjøfiskestang som fortsatt ikke har noen fiskeliv på samvittigheten, men den har på den annen side har hørt gutters hemmeligheter og funderinger over livet.

Nok snakk. Nå til bildene.

Og alle var enige om at det hadde vært en veldig fin dag...

Wiiii

2009-10-16T12:01:00.003+02:00

Pappa var på kurs i storbyen, og da måtte vi ta en slag Wii på den nyinnlånte spillkonsollen.

Sånn er det når gutta skal kose seg sammen:

Brooke Fraser

2009-10-12T15:19:00.001+02:00

If she wasn't already married, I would marry her...
Just for your information.

Ellipse

2009-08-21T13:14:00.002+02:00

Selv om jeg ikke er en stor tilhenger av electronica, liker jeg hu dama her...

Sommerbilder kommer snart.

-pølle

Kebab. Stange.

2009-08-07T22:51:00.005+02:00

Ingen sommer uten en eller flere turer på Pizza la Italia for å sjekke om rullekebaben fortsatt holder mål. Det gjør den. Fortsatt. Og tradisjonen, som ble startet i fjor, tro tok jeg og den eldre garde en tur nordover for å sjekke eksotiske retter som har immigrert til vårt regnvåte sommerland. (Må si at det idag har vært sol på hele himmelen, og det har vært digg.) Berta lurte på hvor de kom fra. Kebab er en slager hos den delen av familien som har passert 30, og hos oss under. David var på KRIK-leir og hauset opp stemninga på Sørlandet. Tjohei.

Her følger bilder fra utflukten til sydlige strøk selv om vi reiste nordover på kartet. Merkelig.

Fine mobilbilder. :)

The Fabulous Jon Foreman

2009-08-03T22:53:00.006+02:00

I just bought the four Jon Foreman EPs, and they are simply fabulous.
I thought the whole world should know, and therefore wrote this one in English.
Six songs for each of the four seasons. That's 24. 24 is another song by Jon Foreman, recorded by Switchfoot. Switchfoot got their name from an expression meaning to switch your stance and change which foot is the one in front when surfing. Surfing has given its name to the surfing of the Internet, which I am doing now. While listening to Jon Foreman. Which is fabulous.
(I didn't think this chain of thoughts would get all the way around, but thankfully it did.)

If you are the lucky owner of a Spotify-account, check this one out:
http://open.spotify.com/user/paulandreas/playlist/00rrpGqxHlo5sL7TaE5oTS

And: Tell me if you liked it. I appreciate feedback. ;)

Suksessen ble en tradisjon

2009-07-29T02:43:00.003+02:00

Familien har vært på bærtur igjen, og suksessen fra fjoråret ble gjentatt i år.
I mangel på gode bilder fra dette året, oppmuntres leserne å gå tilbake i tid og lese fjorårets rapport:

Fornøyelig lesing.

-paul andreas

sommer

2009-07-27T00:49:00.003+02:00

Kommer snart...

Hvis du har tid, prøv deg på en sånn en

2009-07-13T02:41:00.002+02:00

Det er godt med sommerferie,
hvor det skjer lite, og tiden går tilbake til et behagelig tempo.
Ferie hvor du kan blogge om uviktige ting klokka tre på natta.
Ferie der livet gir flere tenkepauser og rom til å være.
Det er godt med ferie.

Påske | Passover

2009-04-10T17:51:00.002+02:00

Påske betyr å gå forbi.
Straffen for alt det jeg har gjort som faktisk fortjener straff, den ble tatt av en annen, slik at jeg kunne bli en fri mann istedet. Straffen gikk forbi.

Noen ganger er det lett for oss å gå forbi. Vi ser ikke det vi kanskje burde sett. Det vakre som ligger i grøftekanten eller på fortauet. Vi går forbi.

La det som skal gå forbi, få gå forbi deg.
Noen ganger skal vi stå rolig og takke for det som går forbi oss.
Ikke gå forbi fordi du ikke bryr deg.
Noen ganger skal vi selv stoppe opp, bøye oss ned og beundre det vakre som er skapt.

Ake bake søte

2009-01-23T00:12:00.003+01:00

På Facebook står det at jeg har vondt på stumpen.
Hvorfor, det får du vite her:

Etter sigende, har Vestby de råeste akebakkene i verden. I så fall var det det vi trodde, vi fem som satte av gårde fra Oslo en tirsdags ettermiddag.

Etter en lapskausmiddag i bilen og et kort stopp på Rema for å kjøpe 1-2-3-boller, kom vi fram til kjøkkenet der bolledeigen ble satt og vanntette klær ble kledd på oss mindre vanntette mennesker. Bevæpnet til fingerspissene med rumpeakebrett, bar det ut døra, og hver eneste mulighet til å sette seg ned på det neongrønne våpenet ble ivaretatt. Grøftekanter, tette barskoger, elvefar og småveier ble prøvd ut før vi kom fram til det ultimate akested, en skråning.

I og med at skråningen var glasert med is under det nogen lunde tjukke laget med snø, ble oppstigningen mot toppen en prøvelse i seg selv, og da var det godt å ha noe å klamre seg til, et gjerde som raskt fikk tilnavnet "Skiheisen":

Etter noen runder ned bakken med aking, rulling og andre aktiviteter som skulle få bakken mest mulig akevennlig, bar det utfor i stor og større fart. Lagaking og singelaking ble prøvet ut, og mot slutten var det hoppaking som gjaldt. Farten ble større, motet dristigere og svevene luftigere etterhvert som tiden gikk. Da kom en av kveldens lærdommer til meg i form av et bump og stor smerte, etter et svev som for meg virket som minst fire meter, men som i ettertid har blitt korrigert til 2-3 meter. I hvertfall er det et triks å ikke prøve å lande på stumpen når det eneste som skiller den og isen er et lag på to millimeter som kalles et rumpeakebrett. Da kan ihvertfall rumpe og halebein få seg en god medfart. Tips til senere...

Her er jeg da i fullt svev, lite anende om landingens utfall og smerte.

Kveldens andre lærdom: Hvis målet er å få best mulig bilder, og å se mest mulig fotogen ut, la være å ligge i stjerneformasjon og å ta bildet ovenfra.

Etter at vi kom oss inn i varmen etter en god stund ute, var bollene klare til å bli rullet ut og stekt, og resultatet var smakfullt.

Her er vi i full gang med å smake på Chai-teen og nystekte boller, og de siamesiske tvillingene Jorun og Misha, som deler samme hode, snakket om togforsinkelser og branner til glede og underholdning for oss andre som verken er siamesere eller hyppige togpassasjerer.

Og alle var enige om at det hadde vært en fin tur.

PS. Rumpa er på bedringens vei, og er snart klar for nye akeeventyr, akeforslag mottas med takk.

Tidsmaskin

2008-12-14T22:57:00.005+01:00

Ja, en tidsmaskin. En gjenstand som gjør deg i stand til å reise i tid og oppleve svunne tider og se hvordan ting egentlig var.

Alle mennesker har en tidmaskin. Noe som gjør dem i stand til å dra tilbake i tid og oppleve en bit av barndommen på nytt.

Jeg har funnet min tidsmaskin. Den heter Transport Tycoon Deluxe, og ser sånn ut:

Da jeg satte meg ned ved datamaskina og spilte dette spillet for første gang på kanskje 10-15 år nå i dag, kom minnene tilbake.
Det var som om jeg våkna fra en 10årig drøm, og virkeligheten traff meg i ansiktet og etterlot et barnlig smil og en ungdommelig glede. Jeg kan virkelig anbefale det.

For noen heter kanskje tidsmaskinen Sølvsuper, for noen Apache, for andre Frøken Detektiv eller Hardyguttene, eller kanskje, som i mitt tilfelle: Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Hvis så er tilfelle, skriv en kommentar, så kan jeg kanskje skaffe deg en kopi ;)

Jula nærmer seg med store museskritt, og snart er det bare ni dager igjen. Barna gleder seg, og jeg er ett av dem.

Tiddelibom

2008-12-08T01:36:00.012+01:00

Skru den grønne spilleren nedenfor bildene på play, klikk på bildene len deg tilbake og nyt vinterens frukter.

Vel bekomme!

Lettelse

2008-12-07T00:38:00.002+01:00

Det er vel ingen større og deiligere følelse for en student som det øyeblikket han leverer eksamen. Mye jobb kulminerer i denne ene følelsen: Lettelse.

Nå er bare sjarmøretappen igjen, og så er det jul.

Litt oppmuntring i pyntinga fram til jul

2008-12-06T00:43:00.001+01:00

Slik kan det gjøres.
En klassiker, men dog:

Lyden opp, og lenestolen bakoverlent.
Snurr film. Stol på tøffe Tøflus:

Tålmodighet er en dyd

2008-11-26T23:34:00.006+01:00

Okei. Dette har ikke noe med hva jeg driver med om dagen å gjøre, bortsett fra at det i disse eksamenstider er gøy å se på noe som imponerer mer enn pensum gjør, pluss at det kanskje får oss til å se at tålmodigheten og hardt arbeid kan ha sin lønn. Jaja, det ser ihvertfall bra ut :)

Jeg, for min del, driver med eksamen, men ord og tall har byttet plass med ideer, dramaturgi og levende bilder. Jeg er i den første eksamensfilmfasen av livet. Neste uke skal jeg lage en treminutters film som skal vise hva jeg har lært fram til nå på skolen.

Det tar mer enn tre minutter å lage en treminutters film. Og her kom linken inn, på samme måte tok det mer enn tre minutter og førtiseks sekunder å stable alle disse dominobrikkene, 4 345 027 dominobrikker.

God fornøyelse!

Det er godt med noen rolige kvelder

2008-11-08T00:40:00.002+01:00

Rolige kvelder er digg.
Noen av de tingene som har overbefolket "Skal gjøres"-lista blir gjort.
En av de mange listepunktene har vært å rydde opp i denne bloggen og designet. Det kan nå krysses av som "fullført".
Håper dere liker det dere ser, og at dette får meg til å skrive og legge inn mer på dette nettstedet.
Velkommen tilbake, hyggelig å ha deg her.

Tidene skifter med dager og netter

2008-11-03T20:39:00.003+01:00

Film

2008-09-29T00:06:00.004+02:00

Jeg har sett en film. En bra film.

Jeg synes det passer seg, siden jeg ikke har skrevet på en stund, at det første jeg skriver handler om en film jeg likte. Erik Poppes nye verk, De usynlige, kan kanskje kalles et mesterverk. Store ord, sier du muligens, men dette er en av de filmene som fortjener et slikt ord hengt ved seg.

Jeg er fan av filmer med en god historie. Filmer som vil noe mer enn kun å underholde. Filmer som har mer enn én bunn. Filmer som, etter rulleteksten er ferdig, etterlater seg mer enn et vagt minne, men som blir større jo mer du tenker over dem.

De usynlige er en god historie, en det tok over tre år å skrive, en historie som rører ved flere strenger samtidig, som får deg engasjert og provosert, glad og lettet. Som noen sa etter filmen: "Det var jo en virkelig film." Der andre filmer blir platte og overfladiske, dykker denne filmen dypere og våger å røre ved de vanskelige spørsmålene uten å ta klisjéene i bruk.

I De usynlige greier Erik Poppe å balansere mellom det tunge alvorlige og det lette humoristiske på en slik måte at 500 mennesker i en kinosal i Oslo bryter ut i samstemmig latter i ett øyeblikk, og i det andre øyeblikket gisper av skrekk i det de skjønner hva som er i ferd med å skje.

Filmen har fått sekserne kastet etter seg, og jeg må si at det er vel fortjent. Å si at det er den beste norske filmen på en stund, er ikke en overdrivelse. Noen filmer får betegnelsen "bra film, til å være norsk." Av meg får denne: En bra film. Punktum. Denne filmen tåler sammenligning med andre godfilmer også utenfor vårt lille land.

Gå og se den, og gjør opp din egen mening, og er du uenig, får du lov til å være det :)

Grunnen til at jeg syns det passet å skrive om en film her nå, er min situasjon for øyeblikket. Som nysprungen filmstudent i Oslo, føles naturlig å starte høsten med å skrive om nettopp det: en film.

Livsvisdom på bærtur

2008-08-02T19:28:00.021+02:00

Her kommer noen små bilder og litt livsvisdom fra familien vår på bærtur.
Lytt til visdommen, nyt bildene, bli inspirert til å komme deg ut.

"Ta imot hvis noe blir gitt deg."

"Familien er det noe helt spesielt ved."

"Gode ting kommer ofte i par. "

"Det er viktig å kunne le av og med hverandre."

"Når bærfeberen tar deg, er det bare å legge på sprang...."

"...ut til lyngen der bæra bor."

Mens jeg sto der i skogen, med føttene godt plantet i mose og lyng, var det mye tid til å tenke.
Noe livsvisdom kom til meg da:
"Noen ganger er det du trenger rett foran nesen din, men du leter for langt borte."
"Det er lett å se seg blind på blader og lyng, og ikke få øye på bærene."
"Skaperverket er forbausende flott laget."
Og midt i fuglesang og susende luft, kom det til meg at:
"Vi greier ikke å sette pris på musikk før vi har opplevd stillhet."
Tenk litt på den.

"Frisk luft inn skaper glede i sinn."

"Plukker du jevnt og trutt, blir bøtta full til slutt."

Vi manglet én bøtte i disse olympiske dager.

"Enden er søt."

"Late mennesker skaper effektive løsninger."

"Fotografer tar kule bilder fra kule vinkler."

"Erfaring gjør gjennomføringen enklere og resultatet bedre."

Nærmere 35 liter blåbær er nå dypfryst og klare for vinteren.
Vi takker alle dere som ikke har plukket blåbær i år, da det blir mer på oss.

Tips:
Bærplukker: 99 kroner på Jernia.
Myggspray: Uunnværlig.
Støvler: Høyst nødvendig i våt mose.
Genser og bukse er å foretrekke framfor shorts og t-skjorte i skog og kratt.

Bærrensker til støvsuger er et genialt patent.
Se den her: http://www.fk.no/trade/productview/809219/901/

Ser fram til rapporter fra det ganske land om bærfangsten.
Ha en fortsatt god sommer.

Kjedelige voksne mennesker

2008-07-15T01:10:00.004+02:00

Jeg er en av dem.
Jeg kom til denne konklusjonen nå i kveld, etter en hyggelig aften med noen venner.
Nettopp det at jeg syntes det var en hyggelig opplevelse er det som gjør at jeg definerer meg selv i den ovenfornevnte kategori.

Det eneste vi gjorde var å snakke. Ja, snakke. Ingen sanger rundt leirbålet, ingen fotballkamp på tv, ingen storslått film på veggen. Ingen selskapsleker, bølleringing eller annet snacks. Bare snakking. Om hvordan livet er. Om hvordan de vi ikke har sett på et halvt år har hatt det i mellomtida, om frustrasjoner og kjærlighet.

Hvis jeg drar ti år tilbake i tid, skulle jeg aldri bli en kjedelig voksen. Slike som satt og snakka sammen fra de kom inn døra til de dro litt før elleve. De som fant en uforståelig glede i det å utveksle tanker, meninger og forståelse. Jeg ville heller ha litt action. Litt stimulering for alle sanser. Boksen går tok den jobben. De voksne satt inne og snakket.

Jeg sitter inne og snakker. Jeg har blitt en kjedelig voksen i en 15-årings øyne. Takk og pris at jeg ikke er 15 år lengre. Livet fortsetter etter tenårene, om enn i en annen form.

Jeg sier ikke at jeg ikke liker en god film på veggen, men jeg supplerer med å si at jeg også liker en god samtale.

Det kjedelige blir først spennende når du forstår meningen med det.

Keith Green

2008-05-27T12:41:00.007+02:00

If you know who Keith Green was, you'd might like this.

If you don't, find out more here:

You could also read this if you got interested. Really good story. A passionate life. A fixed focus. A challenge.

Frustrasjon i mente

2008-04-26T23:25:00.005+02:00

Sorry English speakers. This is not in your language.

Frustrasjon.
I følge ordboka er dette: "frustrasjo'n m1 (gj eng. fra lat. frustratio 'skuffelse', av frustra 'forgjeves') skuffelse, oppgitthet, følelse av å komme til kort, særlig fordi en ikke får tilfredsstilt et behov" .
La meg spole litt tilbake til der det hele startet.

Paul Andreas, en glad gutt forøvrig, bestemmer seg for å dra til Hamar for å kjøpe sko. Det er lørdag, sola titter frem og musikken får kjøreturen til å virke kortere enn den egentlig er.
Det er flere som er ute og kjører, og noen av de som ligger bak Paul Andreas' stasjonsvogn kunne ønske at hastigheten var større. Hamar sentrum kommer til syne, og Strandgata, skokjøpeturens endemål entres i en fart av 50 kilometer per time. Alt er lovlydig og godt.

Med en rekke biler bak seg, og med øynene på stilker etter egnet parkering, finner gutten i stasjonsvognen en ledig plass og smetter inn, 2-3 meter foran et gangfelt. Bilen rygges, med hjelp fra et stort shoppingvindu, så tett opptil bilen bak som mulig, for å få størst mulig avstand til gangfeltet foran.

Paul Andreas, fortsatt en munter gutt, går ut av bilen og drar kortet i parkeringsautomaten. 10 kr. for én time er ikke verst, og billetten legges på dashboardet på bilen. Lett synlig. Klokkeslettet parkeringstiden utgår blir notert på mobiltelefonen, og ferden går til fots inn i skobutikken.

Sko er ikke det billigste man får kjøpt, og etter mye prøving og feiling, ender vår tilsynelatende lovlydige hovedperson opp med å utsette skokjøpet inntil han har sett mer på saldoen og skoalternativene. Skoprøvingen blir avbrutt av at han ser på klokken, og ser at parkeringsavgiften snart er brukt opp, og går i rask gange tilbake mot bilen. Han slenger på tre kroner til på parkeringspengeslukemaskinen, og ser at klokken på denne går tre minutter raskere enn hans egen, som fra før, på grunn av sikkerhetsgrunner, går ett minutt raskere enn nødvendig. Altså går P-automaten 4 (fire) minutter raskere enn resten av verden. Smart. Og lønnsomt.

Etter parkeringsvaktenes egne lille tidssone er avslørt, økes farten bort til bilen, for å forhindre at en bot blir satt opp, siden Paul Andreas nå ikke var tre minutter for tidlig ute, men heller ett minutt for sent. Den glade gutten har blitt lettere stresset.

I det bilens frontrute kommer innenfor godkjent synsavstand, observeres noe festet til frontruten under vindusviskeren, noe blafrende og gult, omtrent som en giro, og frustrasjonen entrer scenen. Vår helts første tanke er å klage, siden han kjøpte ny parkeringsbillett da boten ble gitt, og griper giroen og setter seg inn i bilen. Frustrasjonsnivå: Middels.

Ved nærmere ettersyn kommer det fram at boten ikke er en 300 kroners "du stod for lenge parkert på ett sted"-bot. Det er en "du har parkert for nærme en fotgjengerovergang, slik at hvis en elefant skulle krysse veien, ville han hatt problemer med å sno seg unna de to tomatene som krysset i motsatt retning"-bot. Det koster 500 kroner å ikke ta hensyn til 10 meter brede elefanter.

Frustrasjonsnivået har nå nådd "Varmt", og røde lamper lyser på innsiden av øyelokkene. Noen dype magedrag og noen "dette går bra"-tanker senere, er bilen på vei ut fra "parkerings"plassen som ikke var egnet for parkering, på jakt etter en ny plass å sette fra seg kjøretøyet. 5 kroner blir brukt på den nye plassen, og nærmeste gangfelt ansees å være 30 meter unna.

På grunn av en kredittvurdering av egen saldo unngikk jeg å kjøpe sko, og på grunn av dårlig trafikkvurdering kostet den mislykkede handleturen meg 500 kr. Takk og pris trenger ikke du, kjære leser, å gjøre den samme feilen som meg. Hvis det lar seg gjøre, skal botens påtrykte trafikkregler legges ut her på bloggen, slik at dere kan se og lære hvilke regler som gjelder for parkering i Hamar. Forhåpentligvis gjelder disse også i andre deler av landet også, slik at vi alle kan unngå disse dyrkjøpte erfaringene.

Moralen er: Ikke parker nærmere en fotgjengerovergang enn 5 (fem) meter. En huskeregel er at elefantene må kunne passere hverandre uten å knuse tomatene.
Les reglene.

Frustrasjon, skuffelse og sinne. Gode følelser på en lørdags formiddag.

Det var godt jeg ikke kjøpte nye sko.

The box

2008-02-06T16:09:00.000+01:00

I just read about myself, and it described me, my personality and why I do things.
It was a personality test.
It was spot on at times. It was way off at times.
They say that's how it usually is.

4,4% of all of you are in my category/box. That means every 23rd person is in my box. That means we are 261 million people in this box. That's a big box.

Shaking it

2008-02-03T00:09:00.000+01:00

A year and two days ago, I was shaking it for world peace, or at least for
the suffering among Perth's population. Check it out here.

A year ago I got the worst sunburn I had in Australia. It was hot, very hot.

If you think that I am still living on last year's memories, you're wrong.
Today, for instance, we watched the first seven episodes of Prison Break 2. Good series.
Fair dinkum.
You see? I have totally moved on from being in Australia.

On a snowier note, yesterday it was snowing sheets of cotton from the clouds, covering everything in white. Biggest snowflakes I have seen.

I also wanted to congratulate anyone who had a baby the last seven or so hours. Whoever you may be... :)

Have a great relaxing Sunday.

It's a new year

2008-01-12T01:09:00.000+01:00

It's a new year, and it shows.
By this time last year, my blog was bubbling over with life and activity.
This far this year, my blog has been lying in bed, coughing, but now the feet are touching the cold floor, taking the first steps into 2008.

Some may say that 2007 had a more exciting January that this year's.
I agree. I don't travel across the world with bacteria in my body and antibiotics in my pocket this month, and I am not enjoying the temperatures of the Indian Ocean as of now.

How do we rank experiences?
Why do we?

Enjoy what is given to you.
Live.
Love.
Give.

-paulie, on a deep note

Half way there so quickly

2007-12-11T21:15:00.000+01:00

Where did the days go?
Why does the time that we have been looking forward to so long,
pass so quickly when it eventually arrives?

(Sitting here humming the tune from the "Nut Cracker", the one made hollywoodly famous from Home Alone.)

Counting the days

2007-11-29T19:14:00.000+01:00

It's almost that time of year again. Less than two days left. Excitement rising.
I am in that occasion posting the Norwegian baking song: Pepperkakebakesangen.

Endelig. Julebrusen har lyst mot oss i snart to måneder, marsipanen har også spredt sine dufter og farger i butikkene, men for oss som har ventet, får vi endelig uttelling, og den som venter på noe godt får det enda bedre når det først kommer. Snart lyder julemusikken fra høyttalere og hodetelefoner, Skomaker Andersen ler på skjermen og en luke åpnes hver dag i påvente av den store åpne-dagen.

Som en liten forberedelse til lørdag (siden deigen bør stå over natta) slenger jeg opp Bakemester Harepus sin berømte sang:

Pepperkakebakesangen
Når en pepperkakebaker
baker pepperbakekaker
tar han først en stekegryte
og et kilo margarin.
Oppi gryta smelter smøret,
og det neste han må gjøre
er å røre sammen smøret
med en kilo med farin.
(Farin, det er det samme som sukker.)

Og mens smør og sukker skummer
tar man åtte eggeplommer
som man rører ut i gryta
med en kilo hvetemel.
Og til slutt i gryta slepper man
en liten teskje pepper,
og så rører man omkring
og tømmer deigen på en fjel.

(Så kjevler man deigen så flat som en pannekake,
og tar mann- og kone-former og lager mann- og kone-kaker.)

Torbjørn Egner

Ha en forventningsfull og koselig adventstid!

-paul andreas

Thankful

2007-11-22T12:27:00.000+01:00

We really don't need one special day to be thankful, but still it's nice that these days exist. Days where the whole purpose of the day is to express thankfulness and gratitude to the giver and sustainer of Life.

With risk of being considered a sappy cliché writer, I still want to ask you to think of three things that you are thankful for, and say your thank-yous.

Have a great thanksgiving day everyone, with or without turkey and stuffing.

Breathing

2007-10-18T12:39:00.000+02:00

Lately I have had all these blogging ideas running in my head, but they seem to have run away as I sit down and write.
There is so much to comment on, especially living in a new place, having new surroundings, old and new friends mixed together.

I have also, sometimes been thinking what this blog is for. What is the purpose? To show off my life? To inspire and encourage? To inform or impress? To entertain and be funny? Can it serve more than one purpose? That's a thought.

One of the things I have been observing when living in a city is the status that busyness and stress has. You're someone only if your agenda is full, if you keep running from one appointment to the other, if you have to leave early because you have to be somewhere else.

Even I, with my, up until now, almost empty agenda have been involuntarily feeling sucked into this tornado of insecurity and chase after a busy life. Why do we do it? Why do I let myself be defined by other people? When I say that I trust in God and my security is in him, do I then lie?

I am pushed by this into seeing who I allow to define me. Whoever you follow define you. And the other way around: Whoever you are defined by, that is the one you follow. Who am I?

Less deep and less challenging blogging will follow. This is what spilled out this time.

Be sure to breathe. Breathe deep.

Don Rosa

2007-09-26T18:38:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I brought out my 10 year old self again, and traveled back in time. Back to the time when the greatest thing in the world was to get the newest edition of a Don Rosa story, carefully opening the magazine and reading the story, as carefully closing the cartoon magazine and storing it somewhere safe.
Also back in time to the Christmas eve when the book under the tree was the last to be opened, before I disappeared into the world of ducks and world travels.

Yesterday I left home with the goal of a signature on that book.
I started standing in line, and two hours and alot of talking, standing and expecting later, I was first in line.
Thirty seconds later, I was no longer in line, and walking out, I was amazed by the amount of people still standing in line outside.
Inside there were about 60-70 people, and outside, I don't know. At least a lot.

I met with the childhood hero who still is a hero, the cartoon artist who doesn't like to draw, and neither considers himself an artist...

I present to you: My Visual Don Rosa Experience

The starting point.

I met some relatives, they also took the picture with me on it.

So close, but yet so far.

Thank you, Espen

Almost there.

Closer...

...and I'm there.

Close up of the long line.

Long, longer, longest.

Paint it up!

2007-09-16T20:44:00.000+02:00

Watch the whole thing, it's definately worth seeing.

Lille Petter Edderkopp

2007-09-09T15:53:00.001+02:00

As my window is open during the night to provide me with fresh air and much needed oxygen, the opportunity for friends to drop by is evidently present.

When pulling up the curtains and looking out, I found this little friend waiting for me.

Thank you all you other friends for reading what I write, I will now continue, as I know there is some interest in what I write.

Who's reading this?

2007-09-01T13:26:00.000+02:00

Do you ever get the urge to see who reads what you write?
Be it in a newspaper article, a school essay or in something as simple and plain as a blog.
Sometimes you just need to know if what you write is worth writing.

If you reads this, it's not hard to show me who my audience is.
Just click the comment button just a few lines below, write write a small hello and send it off. You can even be anonymous, if you'd like...

OK?

It only takes a few seconds.
Please?

Where is home?

2007-08-28T12:54:00.000+02:00

We were home this weekend, the occasion was the 10 year birthday of Freak, our beloved youth group, the green house for many of the good men and women infiltrating the world.
We got to celebrate faithfulness, look forward with anticipation, look upwards with gratitude.
It was good, fun and for some even funner.

Jon-Arne is now no longer youth pastor, but pastor.

This girl is now youth leader.

The ones of us that won the night's quiz won a ride with the 16 meter high lift that lifted us 16 meters up. From there the view was a good one even if the pictures weren't.

The Laughing Song Series

Some were having a really fun time singing about African animals.

Yes, this is the infamous bart.

And, yes. We won.
I was really on a winning strike this evening, winning all of the three competitions I competed in, The Freak Quiz, The Word Song Game and The Random Question True or False Game.
And the next night our table won the Scrambled Letters Food Game.
I feel like a winner.

The summer of 07

2007-08-19T13:23:00.000+02:00

And then there was an update.
I have received several complaints from all over because of my lack of updating this summer, so finally I give in to peer pressure and give it all to you:

The summer of 07
It started coming back from the land of the outback to the land of the vikings, instantly missing the outbackers, but really happy to be around vikings. Mixed feelings.

About a week after the return, on the fun date of 777, two good friends tied the knot and said yes to knotting, and then they were man and wife.

Soon after that, we started painting. And it seems that we never stopped. It started with painting red. One of our uncle&aunts had a house that needed painting, the color was red and there was a few days of sun. And David got a little bit abstract in his arting, dropping white paint onto the porch from great heights. He is an art fart.

Coming home safely therefrom, planning started for one of the most important days of the year, the 27th of July. For the last 22 years, this has exclusively been Davids day, but this year he had to share it with someone else. Lovely.

Moving straight into the oh so familiar job of applying paint to wood, we had some fun long days in the new residence of Honningdal Jr. They took the pictures, not me, so that's why I have no pictorial proof at the moment.

The night before the amazing Go-fest we went to a barbeque with old and new friends in Vestby, both knot-tiers and not-tiers.

Then Go-fest came. I worked alot with making small daily reports from the youth camp, making my time with others than my co-worker and the camera very short. My time with God, however, was amazing. Worship took me higher than where I have been this summer, and God did stuff with me that I am very thankful for. He is good.

The latest approach in attempting to make this summer more interesting and fun has been the recent shift in location, which means I am now located in the big town of Oslo.

That is where I am at, and this is where I will be for some time now.
Come visit.

a week two weeks ago

2007-07-14T21:56:00.000+02:00

Lachie and his silhouetted coffee

We can fly!

My three excellent lovely staff people

The Cold Rock. Mint flavoured.

These were some of the pictures from the last week in Perth, it seems so long ago,
and still it's only been two weeks...

the deepest of ponderings

2007-07-08T22:10:00.001+02:00

Since the last mysterious post, I have celebrated my 24th birthday, been watching the rain from behind glass, received an overjoyed jumping brother into my arms, watched two friends walk down the aisle of the church as man and wife and longed for summer as well as new good friends.

Life at home is good. It is the complete change of pace, coming from a busy schedule to no schedule. Is it good? At times. Is it bad? At times, too. I am enjoying it, knowing I have longed to be home, I dare do nothing else. I also miss the friends from my time in Perth, they have really impacted my life.

This was an update and semi-deep thinking, next time, maybe pictures will come as well, if Internet continues liking me.

24

2007-07-03T17:53:00.000+02:00

yes, 24.
Today.
Hey, hey.

Home again

2007-06-30T02:04:00.000+02:00

After 47 hours of traveling by air and road, I am home.
My bed awaits me, I'll sleep well.
Good night.

Here I come | Here I go

2007-06-27T17:25:00.001+02:00

I am flying home.
The next two days will be spent traveling,
starting Thursday at 3:00 in the morning Norwegian time, 9AM Perth time,
and arriving in my own bed at 23:50 Friday, after being picked up at the airport.

Please pray for a safe and fun trip, and I will see alot of you soon, and some of you I leave.
Hello and goodbye. All at once.

-paul andreas

The longest update

2007-06-14T13:09:00.000+02:00

I sit here again, trying to update you all with everything that has happened lately, but without using too many words.
I will try.
We have now been back in Perth for more than a month, and I have exactly two weeks left here.
We have been working in the office, learning much about the post-production of a video, that is all the editing, the effects, the logging and transcribing. If you don't understand, I might be able to explain later. :)

This was Timothy's birthday cake. Nice?

We have had a lot of fun, the latest addition to having fun was making a movie this last weekend. On outreach we came up with a story, a plot and some characters, and our school leader wrote a script and directed the best short movie you'll ever see. Start looking forward to it already!

Jason in the process of putting together the movie

People are asking me to see the stuff that I have made during this school, but that has to be done in person. Which gives me excuses to see more people this summer. As for the projects we are working on from outreach, they will most likely not be done in time for me leaving, so that has to be shown later. But just as spreading out the gifts over a few days, the joy sustains itself more that way :) "Må spare litt, vet du..."

Some of the missable people

I have been doing this school with some great people, and it will be hard leaving them here.

If you want a newsletter and haven't got one, please tell me and that can be arranged :)

Dance Dance Revolution...

It is hard to update everyone about everything, but this it for now. I won't promise too much, lately I have been bad at keeping what I wished for on posting on my blog.

See you later
-paul andreas

Hope you read the text and not just looked at the pictures.

The last days in Turkey

2007-05-26T18:44:00.000+02:00

I know that you all are longing for the updates on the further adventures of the Turkey. Here comes a few pictures to stir up your appetite, and you will soon see more.
I am still doing good. Resting on the day of rest will be good, though.

Have a great day of Pentecost, and be a part of the global prayermeeting taking place today!
www.globaldayofprayer.com

Hvorhen du går i li og fjell

2007-05-17T17:09:00.000+02:00

Tenk at nå er dagen her,
som jeg har lengtet etter.

Jeg får gå i toget
og jeg er så glad.

Du kan tro
jeg skal nok rope ut
av alle krefter,

svinge flagget mitt
og rope høyt HURRA!

Ser du flagget mitt
rødt og blått og hvitt?
Det skal vaie fritt
og vise seg.

Friskt og vakkert er det som
vårt kjære, gamle Norge
Ja, det landet er vi glad i,
du og jeg!

I am alive and in Perth

2007-05-06T14:15:00.000+02:00

I just wanted to tell you all that I am alive and that I am back in Perth.
This first part of the outreach has been really good, we got done what we wanted to get done. Almost, at least. Some problems in the end of our stay there made it hard to get the last bit, but it works without it.
Soon there will be pictures and all that jazz, right now I am tired from travelling, so good night.

-paulandreas

Fly away

2007-04-09T15:30:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we are flying away to our outreach.
I will check my email every now and then, but most likely, I won't update this blog until we are back here in Perth after the 10th of May, in one month.

Have a good month, feel free to send me emails.

Just some small pictures from when we went bowling on Thursday:

-paulandreas

The International Food Feast

2007-04-05T09:15:00.000+02:00

The International Food Feast was a success.
We had food from a whole lot of different countries, and I think I have pictures from most of them:

The boy in the kitchen

Claudia making caramel

Sameh's Egyptian chicken dish.

Claudia made a French Pizza.

Steve-0 killed and cooked a chicken, sold it to KFC and bought it back from them, I think.

Jason's New York Salad

Heather's "White Trash Dinner" Chicken and biscuits.

Timothy's fruit salad

The ever famous rømmegrøt

Sarah's excellent bread buns, with a sweet sauce/gravy-thing

The Australian contribution. Guess what it is...

Nathan's plate. Yes, Nathan likes ketchup.

Then, when we were too full, the dessert came.

Nathan cutting Katie's caramelized apples into pieces.

Claudia made a French apple dessert with caramel.

Katie also made Eskimo Ice Cream which normally is made of moose or reindeer fat, along with seal or whale oil, honey and berries.

Along with all this, Liesbeth, our school leader's wife made a dessert which I don't remember the name of at the moment.
Katie and I also made our contribution against global warming: Arctic Ice Worms. Worms in ice.
Hannah brought British chocolate and chocolate eggs to celebrate Easter.

It was a fun evening, very much a stomach-filling evening. We ate some really good food.

A long short week

2007-03-30T17:41:00.000+02:00

Life is moving and moving, and I am moving along.
Today we had our last day of lectures, last day of teaching, and we are preparing for the great month of April where we will be experiencing great things and have much fun, going where God wants us.

This week has been all about web-design, pretty basic stuff, so if I am to be honest, I didn't learn much new things, but this has been the first week when I have felt like that. It has now been 12 weeks, and every week has been inspiring and I have learned new things every week, and many of the speakers have given me stuff that I want to continue working on, showing me some of the opportunities out there.

This week we also had the sending out of the outreach teams, The Commissioning, and every team does now have all their money, a huge miracle in itself, considering the amount that was needed a week before the date we had to pay our fees. More than 2,5 million kroner was paid the last week!

We have also has Impact World Tour on our doorstep this last week. For the last month, they have had shows all over the city, and have seen a lot of people respond to the Gospel and getting saved. This week has been in the Perth soccer stadium, the Perth Oval, that is just 200 meters down the street from the base, and tonight was the Island Breeze night, and people got saved tonight as well.

Please pray for a breakthrough these last two days, Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is GX International and Sunday night is a combined night with Team Extreme, Island Breeze and GX International. This is the biggest and last arena we are having on this Perth tour, so pray for these last nights, that people will get saved and we'll see this city transformed into God's plans.

I got to link up a ten-year-old with a discipleship group yesterday. Since we are leaving on outreach soon, I couldn't follow him up personally, but I linked him up with another local person who goes to a large city here with a god kids-program. It was a real God-thing, I can tell you more if you ask. This post is getting long, and I don't know if you read it or just look at pictures...

I will try getting more pictures up, I just need to get them off the camera.

Have a great Easter, remembering what Jesus did for you.
He really DIED. And ROSE again. Have you ever realized that he actually died? I need to see more what he did.

Love.
-paulandreas

Mute Math - Typical

2007-03-23T18:55:00.001+01:00

Amazing video.
No, I didn't make this one...

Hva er typisk norsk?

2007-03-17T11:45:00.000+01:00

Sorry, Norwegian secrets being revealed...

Hva er typisk norsk? Hva gjør oss til nordmenn og andre til ikkenordmenn?
Hva spiser vi som ingen andre gjør?
Hva spiser vi som lett kan lages
i en australsk gryte på et australsk kjøkken med råvarer fra australske butikker?

Jepp. Vi skal ha "internasjonal kveld" på skolen, og oppdraget mitt er da å lage noe som er norsk.
Smalahove har vært foreslått, men det falt bums i bakken. Brunost har jeg hørt er komplisert å lage, og jeg tror ikke kengurumelk egner seg til den slags.

Spørsmålet og utfordringen blir da som følger:
Hva kan jeg lage som er norsk, godt og enkelt, og som også kan lages istand på andre siden av kloden?
Enten en forrett, hovedrett eller en dessert.

Utfordringen er gitt, svar ønskes.

Tusen takk. Jeg skal vise bilder når festen er blitt holdt.

Vil gjerne høre fra dere, har email, myspace og skype. Ta kontakt.

-pølle

Revealing of secret ended.

Sisten?

2007-03-17T03:37:00.000+01:00

There is this thing they call "sisten" in Norway, "tag" in the English language and as I tried to find out what it's called in other languages, i found this.

It has made its way into the realm of the blogs, how that happened, I don't know, but at least this is what happened. Karin first tagged me, and then Sven Erik, and then I waited for more people to tag me, but as that didn't happen, I started to think of the peculiar things that I have experienced, but not much came to mind. I found out that I don't have as many stories as many of the other people here, but I do have some.

The rules are:
"Hver spiller starter med å skrive seks rare ting om seg selv. Bloggere som blir "tatt" må skrive seks ting om seg selv i sin egen blogg, i tillegg til å angi reglene for spillet. Til slutt velger spilleren seks nye bloggere som "har den", og lister navnene deres. Etter det er gjort, skriver han eller hun en kommentar på bloggene til hver av dem, for å la dem vite at de har blitt "tatt", og at de må lese bloggen til den som tok dem for mer informasjon."

in English: (thanks to David)
In case you're one of my English readers this is a game of blog-tag, I'm supposed to write 6 peculiar things about myself, and then tag some other peeps, who have to do the same, and then tag 6 other bloggers...

My list is as follows:

1. I usually have a song for most occasions, if you say a word, my brain may automatically start singing a song, and sometimes it also comes out past my tongue as well.

2. I get more random as the night gets later, and dry jokes or big laughs may increase in numbers as the clock strikes midnight.

3. I consider myself deep and simple, and don't consider it a contradiction.

4. I have said no to cucumbers and techno music.

5. I like Norwegian words. Underfundig.

6. I hate pet peeves.

Now that you all know me better, feel privileged if you're on this list of upcoming "taggers":
Jan-Erik, Thomas, Salome, Kristin, Lyndee and Ingvar Olsen

Have it good.
-paulandreas

Swedish

2007-03-11T13:38:00.000+01:00

We visited a building with the Swedish colors.
It was great. It was weird. Mostly great.

Boy meets Kangaroo

2007-03-11T13:32:00.000+01:00

I guess no explanation is needed.

Watto's Boys

2007-03-11T13:17:00.000+01:00

I wanted to find a more boybandish name, but couldn't think of anything. If you have suggestions, feel free to express them.
These are the boys in my small group. We've got two girls as well, Claudia and Heather, but for some reason Watto wanted the boys in this picture.

Who done it?

2007-03-10T06:22:00.001+01:00

This is from a project we had here at the school. We each wrote a script, and then another person in the class directed our script.
This is the film that Timothy wrote and I myself directed.

The cartoon shows up on our whitebaord almost every day, and the cartoon is of our school leader, Ben.

Enjoy it.

Carwash

2007-03-06T11:27:00.000+01:00

We did a carwash this Saturday, trying to get some of the money we still need for outreach.
Heather did some filming on her mobile phone.
Enjoy!

-paulandreas

Drive Thru

2007-03-03T16:54:00.000+01:00

This night, one of my big dreams came true.

On the way back from the Impact Tour, we drove by a McDonald's, and wanted to stop for ice cream.

So we did.
As we walked over to the door, a big note said that we had to go in the drive thru in order to order food. So we did.

We assembled ourselves as a car, crouching down, Heather as the driver, me in the passenger seat and Jason and Steve in the "back seat". We made car noises, and moved in crouching position around the McDonald's, ordering our food, slowly moving on to paying for our food. (Try moving fast forward with bended knees...) Then, we arrived at the last sliding glass window where our ice cold food was handed to us, still in the car position, saying our thanks and moving on.

Some of you may have heard me suggesting doing this before, but tonight was the first time I did it, and it was fun! I recommend it to everyone. If need-be, make some doors out of card board (bølgepapp) and then you really look like a real car.
Have a great day! Find a McDonald's Drive-Thru and try it out. It's a thrill.

Nyhetsbrev

2007-03-02T15:55:00.000+01:00

Mitt nye nyhetsbrev er nå ute. Det er nytt.

Send meg en mail hvis du vil ha det. Jeg deler gladelig.

Sorry, no English here.

Video Scavenger Hunt

2007-02-24T15:08:00.000+01:00

As the pictures finally wanted to be posted, I have to tell you about last week.
The base put on a Saturday night game, called the Video Scavenger Hunt (videoskattejakten).

We were divided into teams, each team got a list of shots they needed to get on video, for instance, two warring tribes. Every group also got a video camera, 90 minutes to do it, and off we went.
I got the best team, I have to say, we were South African, English, Canadian, Australian, Norwegian (not just me), American and Egyptian. The best. We went off, taking the best shots we could find, I was mostly behind the camera, except for one time, when I HAD to show off my break-dancing skills. Richard, the other Norwegian is very skilled at the invisible skate board.
Here are the pictures:

Me breaking the dance floor and Richard doing an ollie.

Melanie proposing to a statue.

Rachel eating what we thought would be an ice cream.

Yes, that's me, and yes that is the famous Nathan, yes, THE Nathan.

The two warring tribes of Chinatown.

The actual showing of the videos.

Which team won?
We did.

Parking

2007-02-24T15:00:00.000+01:00

This car was parked outside the base. How did he get in between there?

Finally an update!

2007-02-21T11:12:00.000+01:00

Hi everybody. I am sorry for the long time I haven't written, but this last week, the internet at base has been as slow as ants in honey, and trying the internet at a nearby cafe didn't help either, so my blogging possibility has been near to none for a while, and right now, the images don't want to load, so you should imagine the pictures in your heads now, writing me the pictures you see.

These last two weeks we have had/still have scriptwriting. (Å skrive manus). Last week was amazing, Diane Vermooten from South Africa taught us about writing scripts for documentaries, as with that as one of the things I really want to get out of this school, I was particularly interested. I learned alot, and also got the joy of writing back, breaking out of the box that most of us are put in at school or other places, teaching us to write within a certain limited time and space, destroying many people's joy of writing.

We had alot of creative exercises, and every morning was spent "free writing", writing straight for 5-10 minutes, depending on what she told us, writing either about a subject she chose for us or any subject we wanted.
The thing about free writing is that it frees up your thoughts, letting them flow down on paper, and you're not allowed to stop writing, even if you don't know what to write. If you can't come up with something to write, you have to write the same word over and over again until you come up with the continuation. So I wrote the same three-four times once, before I got on writing the rest. If you're serious about writing, she said, you're making this a habit every day, 5 or 10 minutes of free writing. Oh, yeah, the last thing about the free writing is that you need to know when the time you set is up, for instance, if you're writing 5 minutes, when your alarm says stop, you stop. Even if you're in the middle of a word. The mind keeps thinking of it if you don't end the sentence or the thought, even when you stop writing.
I don't know if all this made sense, but ask me if you're interested, I can feed you more.

It's 3 minutes until smallgroup, where we are going to watch short films that we made two weeks ago, I think me and Nathan's horror movies are going to be the best you've ever seen.

Have a great day.
Be blessed!

-paulandreas

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T13:43:00.000+01:00

Party on the beach

2007-02-09T08:31:00.000+01:00

I am still alive, still doing good.
I have gotten so much positive response to my pictures that I, when I don't have any pictures to show, don't know what to post on my blog, but here goes:

We went to the beach last weekend, and the sun screen (solkrem) was strong, but the sun was stronger... :)

Here are some pictures from that day, celebrating Watto, my mentor-staff, one-on-one person, whatever you wanna call him. He turned older that week.

Enjoy them. I enjoyed that day.

ARMS - Shaking it...

2007-02-09T08:10:00.001+01:00

We were out collecting money in the streets of Perth last Friday, and it was about 38 degrees, nice hot sun, an on the street corner where I was standing, the Shadow grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind the wall of the store. I collected a heavy can of money in the 3 hours I was standing there, making songs and rythms with my can and smiling to people passing by. The smile in the picture is a posed one.

This was the organization we collected money for, the relief ministry of YWAM Australia. It's a great job they're doing.

Australia Day, part Flag

2007-01-30T14:04:00.000+01:00

Friday was Australia Day, the national day here in Australia. It's the day of the year where you can see the most Australian flags in one place, people wear their flags as hats, capes, sunglasses, fake tattoos and so forth.
Nathan and I went around trying to find different expressions of the Australian flag. We found this:

We also found this guy:

People play cards with the flag

We also found what has to be the biggest grass-flag, at least here in Perth.

Then the fireworks started. Perth actually has the biggest fireworks display in all of Australia, even bigger than Sydney's.

Have a great day!
I am doing good, this week is a bit busy.
Emails and comments are really welcome, the same is postcards and packages :)
-paulandreas

Smallgroup in a big park

2007-01-25T14:04:00.000+01:00

We went as a smallgroup (our whole school is one smallgroup, by the way) to one of the worlds largest urban parks (that is parks connected to a city). It's for instance bigger than Central Park in New York.
It's King's Park in Perth.

There we kicked and threw some Australian footie, took some pictures and played a good game of some European football, where the last goal took about 15minutes to score. I played. And, yes, that means my foot is incredibly much better, as I also scored some goals...

Concerning the foot, the last pill of antibiotics was taken ten minutes ago, so from tomorrow on, I am not taking pills anymore. (I've been taking these brightly colored pills for almost three weeks now, and before that the Norwegian ones...)
Thank you God! And thank you very much for those of you who were praying, it really helped!

The last picture is a flattering picture of me overlooking the city of Perth with it's sunset and skyscrapers.

We've had the hottest day since I have been here today, with 37°C, and tomorrow is going to be hotter they say...

Have a great day, and be sure to tell all the Australians you know "Happy Australia Day!".
Happy Australia Day!

My Australian address

2007-01-16T13:23:00.000+01:00

I have an address down here as well, not bad?

It is:
Paul Andreas
PO Box 8501,
Perth Business Centre,
Western Australia 6849,
AUSTRALIA

Don't consider this hinting unless you really want to... :)

Nathan is a good cartoonist

2007-01-16T13:07:00.000+01:00

Perth Glory vs. Newcastle Jets

2007-01-14T13:31:00.000+01:00

Ari, Jimmy, Timothy and me went to see a soccer game, the last one for this season, Perth Glory played Newcastle Jets. It was not such a great game the first half, but the goals came in the second half. Australians are pretty crazy when it comes to soccer. Some at least.
Perth could have won 3-1 if it wasn't for the last four minutes when they let in 2 goals, and the game ended 3-3.

Go Glory... :)

It's been a REALLY hot day, 35+

-paulandreas in Aussieland

Pictures of taking pictures

2007-01-13T12:35:00.000+01:00

Here are the pictures accompanying the previous post.

My school leader Ben in front, with Watto, Kelly and Susi Childers, our speaker in the back.

Lachie, the birthday kid.

Andrew "Watto" Watson, one of my staff, Australian dude

Stevo showing off his photography skills.

Jason shooting a picture of Katie, the professional photographer

Some more details, finally

2007-01-13T12:19:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry for not writing more the last few days, but the Internet at the base has not been treating me nicely. It keeps shutting down on me, so I didn't even get to post the pictures I wanted.

As you may see in the pictures, there are some known faces to some of you... We are three YWAM kids in the school, which is quite fun...
We are a total ten students at the school, one Australian, one French girl, a South African girl, one Egyptian, two Canadians, two Americans, one Norwegian and one who is generally confused about where he's from, but he's been to 111 countries, so who can blame him for being confused?

This week we're gonna be having Susi Childers teaching about photography, a week I am really looking forward to having. Today, Saturday, we've been out in Perth taking pictures of people after a photography seminar at the base. Going up to someone asking: "Excuse me sir/ma'am, do you mind me taking your picture?" Most said I could take their picture, some didn't and some took some pleading and persuasion before they eventually said yes. It was really a stretch in my boldness, and I believe that next time I will be taking even better pictures as well.

We are six guys in the same room, a room that is sometimes cold, sometimes really hot and sometimes stinky, but we are a good group of people, getting to know each other more and more each day.

Today is the Australian Lachie's birthday, he's 26 today! Happy birthday!

The disappearing pictures from the beach

2007-01-13T11:13:00.000+01:00

Body Surfing and Aussie Barbeque

2007-01-11T08:10:00.000+01:00

For starters:
My foot is doing SO much better, soon back to normal, thank you all so much for praying!

Today I went body surfing for the first time, the salt stung my eyes, the waves slapped me in the face before dragging me under and giving me exciting somersault (salto) ride before spitting me out again. But I really loved it, being by the beach, in the water, playing beach volleyball and eating herb and garlic seasoned sausages.

We did all this because we had a get-to-know-each-other trip to the beach today, and I am starting to love Australia more and more, as well as the YWAM base here, there's so many things that they do that are just so right, good and fun at the same time. I'll try to write more later. I have to go out and buy a book for my weekly journal, or the C.I.R. as they call it here.

The pictures show some of the people on my school as well as a blue tongue lizard.

Be blessed!

I am alive

2007-01-09T15:19:00.000+01:00

I am alive.
I am in Australia. Perth.
I have great room/class mates.
I have a foot that is doing better than two days ago.

Updates will come.
Good night.

Thank you all for praying!

-paulandreas

An update from Asia

2007-01-06T13:10:00.000+01:00

I am currently in Hong Kong, in the airport, on my 6 hour layover waiting time, just 4 hours until the last plane heading for Perth is taking off.

The 8 hours in London went amazingly well, and I know it's because of all you who were praying. I looked around, did some drawing, eating, looking at people, listened to music, washed my hands, ate some more and looked at more people, and then looked more around. Then the plane left. Yes, I was on the plane... :)

I got to sleep for about 7 hours on the ride over here to Hong Kong, and that is truly an answer to prayer, as the longest I have been sleeping on a plane before is maybe 2 hours. Thank you again! And thank You Jesus!

I am now waiting for some more hours, then it's 8 hours flight to Perth, and ten hours later, the school starts.

A foot-update:
My foot is doing better, i know that. But there is one thing, the swollenness is moving itself around a bit. So where it was swollen before is less swollen, and one area has become more swollen.
But, also feet get swollen from flying as well, at least that's what I'm telling myself. Please pray more, I need to get well from this, and I don't want to go to a hospital in Australia because of this... But I have seen now that praying really works, so please continue praying!

Thank you,
a Hong Kong greeting from the travelling Paul Andreas

Leaving soon

2007-01-05T00:44:00.000+01:00

I just said many goodbyes and got many prayers for my foot at Grimerud, and if you didn't get a good bye from me, here comes: Good bye!
See you in half a year or so.

Please continue to pray for my foot and that the infection will disappear from my body, and that I will have a great travel tomorrow and the day after.
I leave from Oslo at 1200 Friday and arrive in Perth at 0800 Sunday (That's 00:00 Norwegian time, see the Perth-time at the top of the blog.) 36 hours!

Thank you so much for all the support and prayers, may God bless you richly back!

I have to get to bed, getting up in 5 1/2 hours.

Be blessed!

-paulandreas

PLEASE PRAY!

2007-01-02T16:57:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to the doctor because of a infection in my right foot, and it had started to become swollen (hevelse i foten).
The doctor told me I had streptococcus (Norsk: streptokokker)and gave me penicillin to fight it with.
The challenge in this whole thing is that I am leaving for Australia this coming Friday, the 5th of January, and I'd love not having to travel with a swollen foot and with agressive bacteria in my body.

I know God hears our prayers, and He loves to answer them, so please join me in praying that I will get COMPLETELY healed of everything that's trying to hinder me from going where God wants me.
Thank you! I'll try to update you on how it is going.

-paul andreas

God jul | Merry CHRISTmas!

2006-12-25T19:08:00.000+01:00

Julemannbaking

2006-12-23T16:47:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow it is Christ-mas!

2006-12-23T01:22:00.000+01:00

Finito

2006-12-21T12:22:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I had my last day as a teacher, ending this three month long time I have had being a substitute teacher.

It feels good being done, and as I am writing this, I am realizing it more and more that I am really done, and that Christmas is just days away! The same is true about a long plane ride and a new chapter in this book I am writing called "My Life". But before that, I'm going to celebrate Christmas at home, all four of us, for the first time in three years.

Just to explain to you that yes, I am relaxing, I am sitting in my bed writing this :)

The class I had the whole fall, almost, the 5th graders, (10yearolds) said goodbye to me Monday, gave me hugs, drawings and their phone numbers in case anything big would come up :)

Happy 21st of December to You All, and especially to Brittern. Happy 22!

The newest addition to the family

2006-12-11T18:27:00.000+01:00

I just adopted this fellow, he was not able to make it out in the wild, because of a bad choice of camouflage color...

And then, this lady was so kind to make a drawing of him, check it out:

Aksjon Håp idag, søndag

2006-12-10T00:07:00.000+01:00

Hvis du ikke har meldt deg som bøssebærer, kom deg til nærmeste innsamlingssted, finn ei bøsse og gå rundt til folk med den. Det trengs virkelig.

Kom deg ut av stolen og vær med og bær!

Bor du i Tangen, kom til Tangen skole, der sitter jeg.
Bor du i Stange, kom til Vollbo menighetssenter, ovenfor veien ved rådhuset.
Bor du i Bekkelaget i Ottestad, kom til Kjonerud.
Bor du i Romedal, kom deg til Romedal kapell ved kirka, alle steder kl. 14:00.

Bor du i Hamar, kom deg til Misjonshuset v/Domkirken kl 12:30

Bor du i Skien er det mange steder du kan møte opp:
Kirkestua på Borgestad kl 14,
Skien Baptistkirke kl 13-15,
Menighetshuset på Gjerpen kl 13-14,
Skolen på Skotfoss kl 14,
Kirken på Gulset kl 14-15,
Åfoss Skole kl 13-14
eller Moflata misjonskirke kl 13-14

Bor du i Oslo, finn ut hvor du skal møte opp på: http://www.aksjonhap.no/index.php?kat_id=64

Bor du andre steder i landet, finn ut hvor du skal møte opp, også det på:
http://www.aksjonhap.no/index.php?kat_id=64

The first picture

2006-12-09T22:22:00.000+01:00

Here is the first picture of my little baby, a tough little fellow, with lots of strength and a bright head.

The next thing on my list is an orange polar bear.

I have become a father!

2006-12-06T00:07:00.000+01:00

I know this may come as a shock to many of you, but Tuesday evening, at 14:55 I became the proud father to a boy.
He weighed 2850 grams and was 36 cm long. He has dark hair, but doesn't look much like me, his father...

He doesn't have a name yet, but we'll get there.

I'll post more details and pictures later, just wanted to let you know.

Aksjon Håp: Kristendom med føtter og hender som hjelper

2006-12-02T18:21:00.000+01:00

Jeg er med i kommune-komiteen for Aksjon Håp her i Stange, og vi trenger bøssebærere.
I Stange, men også i Oslo, Skien og resten av landet.
Se denne videoen og send en sms til nummeret under, og bli med å gå med bøsse neste søndag, 10. desember!

Det er så lite vi trenger å gjøre, vi snakker ofte fine ord, men nå har vi sjansen til å gjøre noe praktisk for mennesker som VIRKELIG trenger det.

Bli med som bøssebærer søndag den 10. desember og hjelp blant annet de du så i videoen:

Alle bloggere:

Hvis du trenger hjelp til å legge inn denne videoen på bloggen din, send meg en mail eller kommentar, og så kan jeg hjelpe deg.

disippel

2006-12-02T01:01:00.001+01:00

Dette er den talen jeg hadde på Freak for omtrent en måned siden.
Jeg legger ut manuset for dere som var der, og også for dere som ikke var der, så fremt dere forstår norsk :)

disippel

Det går an å se på det å være disippel fra flere vinkler.

Først, hva den norske ordboka sier:

disip'pel -en, -ipler (fra lat. discipulus 'elev', av discere 'lære')

1 om e forh: elev, lærling, læregutt

2 tilhenger av en som forkynner en ny religiøs lære Jesus og de tolv disiplene / en Jesu d-

3 person som er sterkt påvirket av en annen en d- av Rembrandt

Så kan vi se på hva bibelordboka sier:

Kommer fra det latinske ordet discipulus, som betyr lærling, læresvenn.

Det hebraiske ordet for disippel er todelt, ben som betyr sønn og limmud som betyr lære og bli undervist.

Det greske ordet som bruker i Det nye testamente er mathetes som betyr elev.

Det er enda en måte å se hva en disippel er, og det er å se hvordan Jesus definerte det å være en disippel. Det er det sikreste å se på, og det er en slik disippel vi skal være, ikke først høre på hva andre folk sier at en disippel er, men først og fremst se hva Jesus sier det er.

Da starter vi.

Matt 28,19-20 Gå derfor ut og gjør alle folkeslag til disipler, idet dere døper dem til Faderens og Sønnens og Den Hellige Ånds navn, 20 og lærer dem å holde alt det jeg har befalt dere. Og se, jeg er med dere alle dager inntil verdens ende!

Vi skal gjøre alle folkeslag til disipler. Disipler? Er du sikker på det? Skal vi ikke bare fortelle dem om Jesus?

Vi skal gjøre alle folkeslag til disipler. Det er det Jesus sa. En disippel er så mye mer og så mye dypere enn det vi har gjort ordet ”kristen” til. En kristen har blitt gjort til et generelt begrep som nesten hele Norges befolkning, nesten hele USAs befolkning, ja, mange andre land, som alle sier de er. Alle er liksom kristne. Men er de alle disipler? Følger de alle det Jesus befalte oss?

Luk 14,27 Den som ikke bærer sitt kors og følger etter meg, kan ikke være min disippel.

”Å bære korset vil si at man uttømmer sitt liv for alt som er selvisk.”

Det vi selv vil og har lyst til, er ikke det som teller. Det er hva Guds vilje er, ja, det er det han vil vi skal gjøre som gjelder.

”Der din vilje krysses av Guds vilje, der ser du et kors.”

Å være en disippel er å ha Jesus som Herre, og en tjener forteller ikke sin herre hva han skal gjøre, han adlyder det herren sier.

Matt 10,24 En disippel står ikke over sin mester, en tjener ikke over sin herre.

Hvis dette hadde vært i en annen sammenheng, hadde det vært forferdelig for oss: å ta opp vårt kors, å dø fra oss selv, følge noen og ha han som herre.

Hadde det ikke vært for at vi tjener den eneste Gud, Herren over himmel og jord, så hadde dette vært en vanskelig oppgave, men når vi følger Jesus, får vi vite og hvile i at Han har det beste for oss, at han leder oss på riktig vei, og at vi ikke kan ha noe bedre liv, verken her eller i evigheten.

Luk 14,33 Slik kan ingen av dere være min disippel uten at han oppgir alt han eier.

Hvordan kan det lønne seg å følge Jesus og oppgi alt vi eier? Er livet med Jesus bedre enn det jeg har nå?

Hvis målet ditt for lykke er hvor mye stæsj du har, hvor mange venner du har, om alle snakker fint om deg og du ikke har noen som ikke liker deg, så kanskje du har det bedre uten Jesus. – I dine egne øyne.

Jesus lover oss ikke en dans på roser. Eller, kanskje det er nettopp det han gjør, bare at vi har misforstått hve en dans på roser er. En rose har torner. En dans på torner kan bli smertefullt, og Jesus har lovet oss at det kan bli vanskelig. Folk vil komme til å forfølge oss, og folk vil prate dritt om oss. Men Livet med Jesus er verdt det. Livet som en disippel dreier seg ikke om meg og mitt, det dreier seg om Jesus, det dreier seg om å vise kjærlighet til hverandre og til Gud.

Joh 8,31-32 Jesus sa da til de jøder som var kommet til tro på ham: Dersom dere blir i mitt ord, da er dere i sannhet mine disipler. 32 Og dere skal kjenne sannheten, og sannheten skal frigjøre dere.

Joh 13,34-35 Et nytt bud gir jeg dere: Dere skal elske hverandre! Som jeg har elsket dere, skal også dere elske hverandre. 35 Av dette skal alle kjenne at dere er mine disipler, om dere har kjærlighet til hverandre.

Men da er vel disipler bare noen som fulgte Jesus mens han var her på jorda? Ikke sånne som ble frelst etter at Jesus hadde dratt tilbake til himmelen?

Apg 6,1 På denne tid, da tallet på disipler stadig økte, begynte de gresktalende jøder å knurre mot de hebraisktalende over at deres enker ble tilsidesatt ved den daglige utdeling.

Apg 6,7 Og Guds ord hadde framgang. Tallet på disipler i Jerusalem økte sterkt, og en stor flokk av prestene ble lydige mot troen.

Apg 9,26 Da han kom til Jerusalem, prøvde han å slutte seg til disiplene. Men alle var redd ham, for de trodde ikke at han var en disippel.

Kvinnelige disipler: Apg 9,36 I Jaffa bodde en kvinnelig disippel som hette Tabita, på gresk Dorkas. Hun gjorde mye godt og tok seg av de fattige.

Mark 10,17-27 Da Jesus skulle dra videre, kom en mann løpende, falt på kne for ham og spurte: "Gode mester, hva skal jeg gjøre for å få det evige liv?" 18 Men Jesus sa til ham: "Hvorfor kaller du meg god? Bare én er god - det er Gud. 19 Du kjenner budene: Du skal ikke slå i hjel, du skal ikke bryte ekteskapet, du skal ikke stjele, du skal ikke vitne falskt, du skal ikke bedra noen, du skal hedre din far og din mor." 20 Men han svarte: "Mester, alt dette har jeg holdt fra jeg var ung." 21 Jesus så på ham og fikk ham kjær, og sa: "Én ting mangler deg: Gå bort og selg det du eier, og gi alt til de fattige. Da skal du få en skatt i himmelen. Kom så og følg meg!" 22 Men han ble nedslått over dette svaret og gikk bedrøvet bort, for han var svært rik. 23 Da så Jesus seg rundt i kretsen av disiplene og sa: "Hvor vanskelig det vil være for dem som eier mye, å komme inn i Guds rike." 24 Disiplene ble forferdet over Jesu ord. Men han sa igjen: "Barn, hvor vanskelig det er for dem som stoler på sin rikdom, å komme inn i Guds rike. 25 Det er lettere for en kamel å gå gjennom et nåløye enn for en rik å komme inn i Guds rike." 26 Da ble de enda mer forskrekket og sa til hverandre: "Hvem kan da bli frelst?" 27 Jesus så på dem og sa: "For mennesker er det umulig, men ikke for Gud. Alt er mulig for Gud."

La oss leve som Jesu disipler. La livet med Jesus trenge gjennom hver eneste del av livene våre, og la Jesus være Herre over hver eneste lille avgjørelse vi tar og tanke vi tenker.

La oss alle være med på å gjøre alle folkeslag til disipler i det vi lærer dem å holde alt det Jesus har befalt oss.

Amen.

Coming soon...

2006-11-30T17:09:00.000+01:00

Oslo2. The Saturday-experience.

2006-11-26T15:51:00.000+01:00

I have now been to Oslo two times in 10 days, and on Tuesday I am going there again, this time to help my uncle move some stuff.

But, yesterday, being as spontanous as I can be, I decided Thursday that I was gonna join going to the house-fellowship-YWAM-meeting at Joakim Magnus' place, at Holmenkollen, Oslo.

So yesterday we went, Jan-Erik, Nils-Andreas, Kobus from South Africa (The Grimerud DTS' speaker this week) and me.

First, we met as a former-YWAMers-now-students-group, me feeling in between somewhere, being half-YWAMer now, becoming a student soon, being a teacher now, but becoming a YWAM-student when I do become a student...

The first thing coming into Joakim's place, I met Brittern, and then later on, Lyndee and Kjersti came, plus Anette, Tuva, Karianne, Joakim (of course) as well as people I met at Slingshot this summer, for instance Gunnhild.
(If I left someone out, or someone's blog-adresses, let me know. What I write here can easily be edited.)

We had a good time of worshipping Jesus, and then hearing from Kobus tell stories from his life in Africa serving God. (I know Africa is generalizing, but for a man travelling all over Africa, almost all the time, you need to use a general term). He urged us to not go away from the calling God has on each of our lives, and to remember that the blessing we have been given, is not ours to keep. (Psalm 67)

As I sat there on the floor in a big living room, I felt like this was how church was meant to be, worshipping together, hearing from God together, looking each other in the eyes while listening, eating together, praying for and blessing each other, asking for God to lead us in our daily walk, focusing on the lost. Not just trying to make up all kinds of good ways to waste time while staring into the back of someones heads.
I really lived yesterday.

Oslo. The mid-week weekend experience.

2006-11-18T00:12:00.000+01:00

Konsert. Ekstase. Hjem til Erlend. Bytur. Jegergryte. Mye kjøtt. Tyggis. Anette og Tuva. Tegnspråk, bamsemums, brownies, rare ord og kirkehistorie. Amerikansk frokost. Bislett Kebab. Omvisning på Staffelds. Litt rar i magen. Togtur hjem.

I had a really good time in Oslo, and it all started with the highlight of the fall, The Sufjan Stevens concert. I had been looking forward to it ever since I bought the tickets in August.

That man did not disappoint me, rather the opposite. Delivering a fun loaded show with beautiful sounds and chaotic mess, all in the theme of flying, all with wings and inflatable supermen.

I continued on my road to the week's perfectness by going to Erlend's place to stay a few days. Hospitality and late nights, lots of meat and care.

I also went to visit Tuva and Anette, who gave me a memorable fun night, playing mime-games all night, with the musical sound coming out of the speakers being a mix of Sufjan, Armenian bossanova, High pitched falsetto singing and back to Sufjan again. A cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream as well as brownies with iced cream topped the night off. Thank you, both of you. (Sign-language for thank you: Hold both palms towards each other, all fingers pointing upwards, in front of your solar plexus, and bow your upper body forward in a slight bow.)

Back at Erlend's place, we slept, woke up, one before the other. The other being myself, the one being American-breakfast-maker Erlend. He made us a real American breakfast with American pancakes, Aunt Jemima's original syrup, bacon and scrambled eggs. A good start on a relaxing day.

After some hours in the antique apartment, we went out to eat at the world famous Bislett Kebab. Good food that makes your stomach come alive. After some minutes at the mother of kebab-places, we went over to Staffelds, where Erlend gave me a tour of the building, stating that it's not the building that makes the school so good, it' s the people in it. True, true.

It was time for heading home to Stange, and after packing my bags and heading out the door, my stomach tried giving me a fun time, especially on the train, when the guy next to me fell asleep and I had to pick up my book and read to keep my thoughts on other things than the growling within me.

I came home with a satisfied feeling, knowing that I had been given a gift, a much needed break with some great friends, good food and lots of laughing.

I know the post got long, but I think it's almost free of boring stuff, and if it got too boring, read the top few lines again, and you'll get the short version, if you know Norwegian, that is.

-paulandreas

American breakfast

2006-11-18T00:07:00.000+01:00

Surprised by the cameraman.

Laughing and eating simultaneously.

Sufjan Stevens!

2006-11-15T01:38:00.000+01:00

I have just been to the most amazing concert, with the most amazing multi-talented-musical genius:
Sufjan Stevens.

He played a long set, with both old and brand new songs, all with some kind of thematic reference to flying of some sort... everything was done with a big set of kite-wings attached to his back. He was himself the Grand Master Chieftain of the Eagles, and he had a group of butterflies that made up his band of friends.

It's hard to describe the experience with words at this time, except that the man must be a genius, playing all the instruments that he does, and writing the complex lyrics that he is also known for.

I'll try posting more later, perhaps a picture or so, but for now, know that I had a REALLY great time this Tuesday night in the city of Oslo.

Right now, I am visiting Erlend, my friend and former bossity-boss.