PRINCE2 - PRojects IN Controlled Environments.

I've been taking a new course...I have an education within the field of International relations and development, an education from a university that is known for group-and project work, so it seemed like a good idea to add a certification of a international recognized project work method to my resume.

I actually began to regret it though, because the course was nothing like they advertised it. However, I liked my instructor so I kept going. This past thursday I took the exam after having studied like a maniac all freaking night. I was SURE I would not pass. I have a serious problem with exams-for some reasons my mind just goes blank. As in entirely blank...there's nothing there.....just....blankness. Of course it happened during the exam as well....I had to answer 75 questions during the course of one hour. 15 minutes into the hour, my mind finally began work again and I could actually remember stuff from the manual...But I wasn't quick enough. When the instructor came into the room and informed us we had 2 minutes to go, I still needed to answer 15 questions! So I read and answered as many as I could and then just randomly crossed out a, b, c, or d answers without having read the questions. As I handed in my answer sheet, I asked my instructor if he could sign me up for the next exam right now...I was SURE I'd flunked it big time! You pass the exam if you have 35 (50%) of the questions right.

As it turned out....I passed! With 50% right!

Basically, PRINCE2 can be define as:

"...the de facto standard developed and used extensively by the UK government and is widely recognised and used in the private sector, both in the UK and internationally.  It embodies established and proven best practice in project management." 

Now, I have passed the foundation of PRINCE2. But Im not done. The next step is to pass the practitioner's exam which will take place December 5.  How to actually make a project successful in reality. Not just in theory.  Then...my resume will be rocking! ;)

Summer Time

Granted I've never been good at keeping my blog updated for the simple reason that my life simply is not that exciting....Somehow mundane everyday life things doesn't seem blog worthy. However I think its time to update this blog on my summer...

Aalborg:
I moved in with my dad in an attempt to save money and get a better grip on my economy ... but it has proven to be a challenge without equal. It took me almost two months to get the whole apartment packed, cleaned, painted, repaired, etc. In late August, I could finally give the apartment caretaker my keys. I said goodbye to Aalborg and thanks for a good five years and hopped on a train.
During the next three days I found a room at my dad's place which could be my room if I thought a little creatively regarding decorating. My televisions, mattresses, a small table, the most important books and DVDs, and my clothes was all I could squeezed in there ... The rest of my stuff .... went straight into storage.

Madonna:
My uncle was so privileged that he accidentally won two tickets to a Madonna concert in Parken in Copenhagen My aunt can not stand many people in one place for too long, so concerts are not something she could even enjoy my ... cousin had plans with his girlfriend and the youngest cousin is not particularly impressed with her that Madonna thing .... and then there's me. I chugged I just round the daily allowance country and struggled to finish in my apartment, so I actually had time to jump on the train to Copenhagen ... so I did! : D
Meeeen sewn only concert was so-so .... We were let in at 18th ... Queen Madonna came in at 22 .. it was therefore right practice having to stand and wait for four hours! But in the end, the music okay, stage show very entertaining and yet so should Madonna soon retire. She may go in form, but she behaved as if she was a slut 18 years old who were out partying. Absolutely no inhibitions what so ever. But my uncle and I now had a very enjoyable evening. Too, even though I had to sit in a train over all night and only arrived in Aalborg again at half past five in the morning.


Sweden:
My friend Mads got the idea that we could take advantage of the fact that the Stena Line had anniversary this year and therefore sold super cheap tickets. So we drove to Frederikshavn early one morning and took the ferry to Göteborg where we spent the day browsing and shopping.  I bought only a few books ... but it was books I have not been able to find in DK so I was happy. :) Mads had bought some clothes and shoes so that was cool. At six o clock we sailed for home. We had bought some sushi takeaway which we ate as dinner on the ferry. Ironically, there was suddenly a guy tapping me on the back. It turned out to be a guy from my old primary school class who now lives in Frederikshavn. Kinda funny that I would encounter him in the middle of the ocean. We were back in Aalborg at midnight, well worn but super excited over such a pleasant day in Sweden. I must admit that with the exception of a single rude Swedish waitress,  the Swedes are as sweet as they come ... I Really enjoyed seeing Göteborg which is a nice, old but modern city. I will def. come back one day and enjoy another shopping trip! : D

Turkey:
My father suddenly got the idea that we should go to Turkey. He had always said that Turkey was a no-way-in-hell-am-I-going-there country and that he would never go...ever! But since the travel agency 'Primo tours' lured with fancy apartments with kick ass views and plenty of sunshine and air conditioning, he had to turn to! So off we went .... 14 days in Tosmur, Alanya in Turkey .... delicious sunshine and total relaxation .... super delicious ....! And the sea is just so nice to swim in. ... filled with so much salt that you are floating no matter what and where ever you are in the sea and the water is always warm. No matter the time, be it night or day. We lived in a wonderful three bedroom apartment on the 8th floor ... it was just a shame that I didn't find a way to get the  apartment back with me to Denmark! :)

The Green Concert

With the exception of the Beautiful Festival, festival life is not just me ... it doesn't seem likely as I am, after all, old scout I know ... But I tend to get annoyed when bathing facilities and toilets are not in order and it can quickly ruin my day. Therefore, I am super happy with the Green Concert concept ... festival in a single day. This year I was persuaded my classmate Marie, a friend from University to tag along with me to Green Concert in Odense ... My great friend Martin came and joined us. We spent some wonderful hours on the green field filled with thousand of people who appreciated good music and sunshine. Ironically, I ran into my cousin Simon .... In Odense, of all places. He lives in the other end of the country! .. it was a bit funny, but a nice surprise just to see the boy again because I do not see him as often. But it was a good day when I catched up with Martin and Marie with good music in the background.

Cooking skills
During the summer,  my desire to be the secret love child of Jamie Oliver and Julia Child returned with a passion. I've challenged Gordon Ramsay's Beef Wellington recipe and it was a huge success! I have thrown myself in various cookbooks and this is something my dad and brother enjoy. Sometimes recipes epic fails, other times huge success! :)

I Shall Prevail! The Battle Against The Ikea Bookcase!

A good friend of mine rang me the other day….

“I split from L. (his girlfriend) last week and now I’ve been offered a new apartment. I can move in on Saturday! Will you help me move? I should just have left her cheating ass weeks ago! I just need to get away!”

Why the heck he asked me to help him move I still don’t know … It seemed kinda pointless to ask me for moving help. I’m 5.2 tall and Im pretty sure that muscles is an ancient myth. So I couldn’t exactly help out with the heavy lifting…

Maybe he needed a bit of a decorating help…but I don’t really get the whole  ”Man deco” theme. So not much help there either….

Furthermore, was he insane? He knew me better than that to allow me anywhere near tools. Its like a ticking time bomb to put a hammer in my hand! Also, The combination of cardboard and styrofoam I can cause a heck of a lot of damage with … which usually involves a lot of profanities, yelling and bawling my eyes out.

But nevertheless, I like to consider myself a good friend, so I faithfully showed up in overalls, sneakers and an old T-shirt saturday morning and asked my friend who else were helping him move….

Well….with such short notice nobody but me apparently had free time on their hands to help him out….so basically it would just be me and him.

I pointed out the dangerous hazard situations I tend to create whenever Im around tools…

He laughed at me and calmly stated that it couldn’t possibly be that bad….

Boy, was he wrong …

Luckily, he only had to move 800 Meters and his friend had lent him a car. My friend quickly realized that I had been completely serious about what a hazard I can be around tools as well having admitted that I didn’t own any muscle power in my body… Luckily for him, he didn’t make fun of my claim about the lack of muscles (after I lost a heavy moving box four seconds after he had put it in my hands) …He quickly realized I wasn’t going to be that helpful when moving the furniture…so he knocked on his future neighbor’s door, and asked he could borrow some muscle power from him. Thankfully (and luckily for me!) he could.

Feeling significantly helpless, I tried to direct them the best I could, but soon got orders to shut up and instead carry some of the light boxes up the six flight of stairs to the apartment ….

Great! That I could do! After the light boxes were transported up to six floor (I was very proud! I didn’t fall at all on the damn stairs!) and the heavy furniture was now put into the apartment. My friend loudly declared that now it was time to go to the local Ikea and abuse his credit card in the such a way it would make a shopoholic blush….

See generally statements like  that would usually feel almost orgasmic for me … but when it is not things that I buy for myself, abusing  a  credit cards looses its charm … but sure thing, lets take a field trip to Ikea …!

My friend manage to spend a few months wages of an amount … The little car was filled to the breaking point with various cardboard Ikea furniture, and we drove back to the apartment.

I had actually imagined that I would only be asked to unpack moving boxes and maybe organize his kitchen or something like that … Basically something simple ….. but oh no ….

I was asked to ….Well…I say asked….ordered might be a better word… to assemble a bookcase … a bookcase that was considerably larger than me ….

….

….

Me + tools+ ikea instruction manuals? …… I turned around to look at the bastard, and asked him seriously if he was suffering a brain hemorrhage or something like that since he’d suddenly thought I actually had any technical skills….

Who the Heck demands me to assemble a bookcase three times my own size and seriously does not expect me to break the furniture, myself and the room in the process ….?!

Seriously!

No, no, I could do it….for Christ sake, Im a Master graduate, all woman and a relatively intelligent human being … This was just an Ikea Bookcase … it was easily assembled, my friend pointed out.  Then he would begin to collect some of the other furniture and begin putting things in place ….

Well …. never one two steps away from a challenge ….and high on his praise of me, I threw myself head first into the challenge. I took a hobby knife as there were no scissors unpacked yet …. and opened cardboard boxes ….

‘How hard can it be’ I remember thinking just before I began cutting the tape.

In fact, I had just scratched the tape and somehow managed to cut three fingers ….

WELL! What a great start! It looked promising! * Insert sarcasm here *

I made a band aid (the home version had to do as the bandaids weren’t unpacked yet either…: moist paper on the fingers and tape) and so she tried again …

After 20 minutes, finally succeeded …. opening the box ….

Oy Ve ….

it promised to be a long day … and night ….

I found the instruction manual and then checked to see if everything was there.

That was it. Luck was on my side at last!

Okay, according to the drawings, all I had to do was just …. just …. what the devil was that? What was that suppose to imagine ….?

Eventually I had to surrender and yelled after my friend ….. he did react …. I went and searched the apartment ….

She then found a post-it on the front door

‘You looked so concentrated in that I didn’t have the heart to disturb you.  slipped out to find something for us to eat and then do some shopping … keep it up! Am sure you’ll get the case assembled in no time! ‘

Grrrr …. Dumbass!

I checked the time. Wow! I’d sat with the instruction manual for over an hour!

It really shouldn’t be this difficult!  With an aggressiveness I’ve rarely felt before for material things, I threw myself into the project again.

Things were screwed, tightened, joined, screwed up again because of incorrect screws and bolts used, screwed, tightened again,  put more together, screwed again ….

Finally there was something that could resemble a bookcase on the floor in front of me …. I managed to lift it up with difficulty, so it came up and stood on its own …. damn, it looked great! ….. and very much crooked and uneven!

How the devil had THAT happened?! How can a bookshelf from Ikea be crooked and skewed?! It was not because I had gone out in the forrest, chopped down a tree and made the bookcase from that!

No it wasn’t working….!

I got it down to ground again and began to take the whole thing apart and start over again ….

I became increasingly more and more impatient …. but stubbornness in me was stronger!

I would bloody well prevail!

How bloody difficult could it be to follow a simple manual?

Things were once again was screwed, tightened, kicked at, put together, turned, yelled loudly at when a shelf fell down and manage to hit my foot, assembled, screwed, turned, screwed, bolted, screwed and assembled and THEN! Up with it again ….

I waited for the satisfaction of a job well done to flow through my body …. instead…. annoyance and  irritation came roaring back into me ….

The damn thing was still crooked!

….and it threatened to fall down on me!

A door slammed in. … my friend had returned! He entered the living room with take-out food in his arms.

“Whoa, this looks nice …..overall! But what do you say we take it down and assemble it together just for the heck of it?”

We my ass ….

It was obviously some sort of code for ‘me Tarzan therefore I am über macho with tools’  … My friend took over the project entirely! But! He did allow me to put the small white gadgets that hides the screws on the end …. and now  of course the bookcase didn’t look crooked anymore.

It was a very strange moment for me…. I felt both pride and hurt at the same time … “I think I’m going home now.”

My friend sensed that the I was fast approaching my ‘extremely insulted and chick pissed’ stage and simply said … “yeah, okay, I’ll drive you home.”

When I came home to my own apartment, I looked at all the furniture I had assembled myself during the years …

….

….

….

They were all crooked …!

The Tree Of Your Life; Leaves, Branches and Roots…

A couple of years ago, I split from ex-boyfriend. It was his decision, and it had been a very passionate and intense relationship filled with passion, an overload of hormones and love to each other. An extremely intense relationship that when it fell apart, smashed my heart into microscopic pieces. I thought I would spend the rest of my life with this guy…he on the other hand thought he would spend his nights with a blond colleague. Terrible cliche I know…

Shortly after it ended, I had to go the US for awhile…heartbroken I walked along the streets of Atlanta with a girlfriend of mine, Lisa, who tried to console me the best she could with all the Oprah psychology she knew of. But sadly nothing worked on me.

Lisa had tickets to a play she had wanted to see with me for a while, but I had to admit I did not really feel like going. Lisa  offered that we just return to her apartment, and watch crappy movies and drink loads of wine and diss the opposite gender.

But I could tell she really wanted to see the play…so I sucked it up and off we were. The play was titled  ’Mades goes to Jail’ with Tyler Perry and Crew.

To this day I am still thankful for Lisa dragging me there.

The play was absolutely fantastic and the crappy mood I had been in, transformed to laughter, smiling and non-stop laughter attacks. My abs got a serious workout. But most importantly of all was the morale in the story-the fact that life moves even though your heart is broken for a little while. You’ll be okay in the long run.

Life is like a tree. The people in your life are either three things. Some people are in your life for a short period….others there for a few years…. and others are there for a lifetime….They are either a leaf, a branch or a root on your life tree.

Certain people are like leaves on a tree….when the wind blows, these people become very unstable and you don’t know where you have them. They switch side all the time depending on which way the wind blows. When the season change, the leaves (people) wither and disappear out of your life. It is not necessarily a bad thing to spend time with those people, as long as you are aware that the leaves people are only there to take something from your tree, so they themselves can grow and give shade to you and for you to learn something from them. Its just the way they are  and thats okay. You were only meant to learn that lesson and give wisdom about life from them.

There are certain people that you will always have trouble with…and when you clearly pointed out the problem to those people and they do nothing to fix the problem, then they’re leaves that are there for only a season and then out of your life as quick as possible.

It can hurt, but its for your own good not to have them in your life that long. But there are also leave people who actually try to fix the problem.  Those kind of people are good to have around you because those people are leaves trying to be something else…and those people are worth fighting for!

There are people in your life who can be a branch on your tree. Branches are good. Branches can be solid and lasting… But these people you also need to be very aware of, because they act like they’re real strong but they can trick you! They make you believe that they’re superman but the minute you lean on them, they break and leave you hanging there high and dry….

But if you have 3-4 people in your life that are like roots on your tree, then you’re so lucky and blessed because these people are the ones that will never leave. They are strong and can handle it when you lean on them. They  ain’t going no where! They’re not worried about being seen with you, they’ll gladly tell the world that they know you and without these people, your tree couldn’t live.

A tree can have hundreds of branches and thousands of leaves, but only have a few roots.

I realized how my ex had been a leave on my tree. He had been in my life for a period of time, but it had been to teach me about myself….he had not been there as Mr. Right….but rather as Mr. Right Now.

After the play Lisa asked me how I felt. It was like going to sleep on a cold winter’s night and waking up on a warm summer morning.  I felt so much better.  Because I realized  that even though the seasons might change and the leaves will flourish and wither in my life…the roots of my tree…will always be there to carry me through.

Do you have strong roots on your tree??? And have you also confused a seasonal person with a lifetime expectations like me?

Its Huge!

She’d known it had to be done…but she sure as hell was not looking forward to it….because it was not going to be easy….as it was HUGE!

Most likely it was going to hurt and be extremely uncomfortable..

She’d postponed it again and again…until he’d insisted that she couldn’t postpone it any longer with all of her excuses….He’d heard them all now…

Sigh…

I was not happy about it…but I had promised him I would do it…and he’d been begging for it for so long now that I really could not postpone it any longer…I'd used every excuse in the book to avoid having to do it.

I had to psych herself up for this….

How the Heck was I suppose to handle one that big?! One as big as that…I'd hurt myself if I was not careful…

…and it didn’t help at all that I had my own size against me!

I took a few deep breathes…

Well….there were no option then to get busy…….*sigh*

I lifted my arms up in the air and stretched her 5.2 feet long body out….

…and grabbed the chainsaw and hedge clipper out in the garden and began trimming her side of the 7 feet tall Hedge separating mine and my neighbor’s garden…

Manners Be Gone!

Recently I have thought a lot about manners and decent behavior. A couple of days ago I ran into an old neighbor in the local supermarked…A nice man though I’ve always considered him a bit odd, but he was always relatively nice towards me when I was a child. Now, I have not seen this man since I was around 15-16 of age and had to move to New York, so its been around a decade. Naturally I said ‘Hi! Long time, no see’ with a smile on my face as soon as I recognized him. I was quite shocked, when he turned around and said;

‘Hi…well You’ve gained quite a few, haven’t you?’

Now this is true. I have indeed gained weight, since my reconstruction phase also known as my teenage years. During my High School years and University days  I gained more weight since I was 16 years old. I went from having a toothpick boyish body to a curvy female body with… I’ll admit it….a little too much meat on the stomach, breasts, ass and thighs at times….depending on whether or not I have time to exercise….

Basically….I grew up.

Now I could stand to loose a few but in general Im actually pretty happy with myself and my body. So the content of his statement didn’t really bother me….

What strikes me as odd with his comment is….who the Hell says that to another person they have not seen for years and barely know??? Its offensive, rude and just bad manners!

I wanted to say ‘yeah, well time hasn’t been kind to you either Mr. Three chins!’…but I just could not get myself to sink down to his level….even though I am sure it would have felt great at the moment, Im sure I would have felt awful stooping down to his level…

…and I know there are many people on and off the grid thinking ‘whats the problem? If you gained weight, you gained weight. Nothing wrong with the truth?’ …and Im with you on that one….

But….

Who the Hell says that kind of thing to a person whose almost a stranger?

Thats just weird….and bloody rude! Where have common decency and manners gone????

People just don’t care about their fellow man anymore….

Why does everybody has to be so bloody rude? I just don’t get it…

I grew up with my single father and my grandmother raising me….now my grandmother is from the old school….You don’t follow her rules, she’d slap you on the back of the head and preach you at least thirty lessons. A very effective way of parenting….To this day I still get up from my seat whenever I see a senior citizen, a person with an obvious disability or pregnant women…If I don’t get up, I can hear my grandmother shouting in my head:

‘CHILD GET UP! You got two perfectly good working legs. You’re in good health. You wont break from standing up in a bus or in the metro. Now GET OFF YOUR BUM and give your seat to that nice pregnant woman there who obviously need a seat…or you’re grounded ! *smack on the back of the head*’

It doesn’t matter that Im a grown woman and can’t really be grounded anymore. Everytime I hear her voice in reality or in my head I react.

Or such a thing as saying thank you after someone did you a service. It doesn’t matter that many people paid to do it, a thank you can make a tedious job less tedious and make another person feel better. Its such a small word but it holds so much power…

or even helping another person carry a too big a piece of luggage down some tricky steps….

A soldier helped me with my suitcase down some stairs the other day and I was in awe of him for doing such an act for a stranger…It has never happened to me in my adult life as of yet that someone would offer to help me out with heavy luggage

Its quite sad that an act of decency  should shock and astound people….

Where have our manners and the decency for our fellow man gone???

The Beginning of a new Chapter

I like to think of my life as a book. Hopefully it will be a looong book if Im lucky. Every now and then a new Chapter will begin and end and another one begins again.

Right now Im at the beginning of a new chapter…and of course Im actually having writers block!

I just finished my degree- yay! But this resulted in the fact that I had to move back home with my dad in the small village where I was born, since I can’t live in my apartment if Im not a student anymore. I have not lived with my dad for close to 8 years now. I had to pack all of my stuff and put 90% of it in storage, since my dad’s house is, although decent enough, rather on the small side. Its a roof over my head, so I really should not complain.

But its hard…It really is and I can feel the frustration growing more and more every single day.

I feel kinda ….well….stuck!

I cannot move out since Im broke and dont know where my new job will be…

I’m unemployed because I simply do not know what I can actually do with my degree. I dont know what Im able to do since my degree is rather specific and at the same time, its really broad as well. What kind of jobs am I actually qualified for with a social science degree? I really dont know… The world is changing and Im not keeping up.
I’ve given up dating since I dont have one ouch of privacy anymore. Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now will have to wait until I get my own place.

I dont know what I am going to name the title for this chapter because I dont know what its going to be about.

I just…dont know.

Flowers, laughter and yoghurt

Yesterday, my phone rang…which shocked me. When Im abroad, I inform people of my departure and my return date so they know not to call me. Texting is better money wise …

But it was my grandmother’s number, so out of habit I picked up the phone and answered like good little girls does…

She merely wanted to remind me that sun creme really is a must in Turkey. Its supposedly darn hot there….uh, and don’t forget to drink plenty of water and each your vitamins everyday. Those vitamins wont work unless you eat them everyday. …oh yeah how was my weeks in Turkey going so far?

We had a quick talk and I hung up…I looked onto the balcony table where the cleaning lady had placed two large and bright sunflower in an empty wine bottle. My dinner, a empty bowl of yoghurt, stood in front of me…I couldn’t help but smile.

I really am privileged to have that woman and her husband as my grandparents…They have sun flowers in their garden too…

At the age of 30 after a particularly nasty and cruel divorce, my father suddenly found himself as a single parent with custody of a little girl as well as still being hopelessly in love with his ex-wife. My mother had custody of my little brother since he was the youngest and still needed my mother. My dad was stuck with me….who at the age of 3 year old, HATED being dirty and the company of men like the plague! With the exception of my dad, my grandfather and when he behaved as I wanted him to….my little brother. I was the ultimate ‘stranger danger’ siren! If any another man approached me, the sirens started on volume extremely high! In other words, I was the most parents call … a serious daily challenge. But I was the apple of my father's eye. 

But it was a difficult time …. my dad being newly educated and had to begin from scratch in his workplace…No place to live…a lot of debt thanks to the divorce….so when my grandparents stepped up and offered to help my dad, he nearly wept. The relief that came from knowing he was not entirely alone, my dad described to me as utterly astounding. My father relied heavily on his parents for a little extra help …we lived with them for 6 months until our new house was ready. My grandmother babysat me when my dad had to work nights, which happened 2-3 times a week. Basically, my amazing dad raised me … with my grandparents. Our ned house was just a few blocks away from my grandparents. That way I could alway walk from school and home to my grandparents, if my dad had to work.

My parents had declared a cold war against each other until I was a teen… So my grandparents have been a major influence on my upbringing because of the lack of interest from my mother. My grandmother has never been afraid to take over the leading role of motherhood in my life. I had really still in contact with my mother and my brother, but I’ve just never had a super close relationship with my mother compared to my relationship with my father … My brother and I have always been close. At times it was us against the world…Many times it was us against our mother who gave us two younger siblings and then forgot for a while that she actually had children before those two came along. Life with my mother could be very….difficult at times.

So I learned almost everything I know about life from my old school grandmother. The most basic female things and behavior were things my grandmother taught me… and it was also her who made sure that I had a relatively decent clothes that suited a girl. Not that my father did not do a great job …. but there are just some things that men just do not understand and probably never will, when it comes to the female gender with all their mysteries. It also turned out to be a challenge for my grandmother at times since I had a 6 year long tomboy phase and refused to be near anything girly. My grandmother was strict at times, but I have never laughed as much as I did in their company. Life was one big adventure when I was with them. My grandfather….

Well my grandfather and I share a funny kind of bond. We are so much alike, it is scary at times. When my grandmother wanted to braid my hair, I would run and hide with my grandfather who didn’t ‘know where that wretched granddaughter of ours is. Maybe she ran out in the woods to play?’ whenever my grandmother would hound him for information.

One thing I remember very clearly from those days was my lack of growth. I was an extremely small child. Our family physician informed my dad that I ate and drank too little dairy, and that was the reason why I was so small. I had to eat way more dairy or my health would deteriorate within months. (Later on we discovered it was in fact cancer that messed with my growth as a child) Those news terrified my grandfather. From then on, every time I was at their house, my grandfather created a tradition. Before any fun could begin, I had to eat a bowl full of yoghurt and drink one big glass of milk and he would of course eat and drink as well. Often he would coerce my grandmother to join us as well. I hated anything dairy. But he made it a unique experience to eat and drink.

I remember a round table with a beautiful antique vase of flowers from their garden standing in the middle of the table, three bowls of yoghurt and three big glasses of milk standing ready for us whenever I came through the door. My grandfather would make fun and tell jokes, making time go faster and suddenly there was no more dairy left and the fun could begin!

A month ago my grandparents celebrated their, respectively, 75 – and 80-year birthday … which I do not understand … in my head they are still in their late fifties.

I am without doubt the person I am today because of my father and my grandparents. Most of my values ​​come from them anyway …. I have my grandmother’s curiosity …. I have to  know everything and preferably yesterday … just like her. I have my manner from her and she was certainly not afraid to remind me I had to behave myself as the little lady I should be …. Despite my Tomboy trends in childhood, some of those basic Manners managed to seep through my brain and to this day I am so thankful for the fact that she more or less forced those manners upon me.

My father and I resemble each other very much. This means that there will be friction .. but my grandmother often take on the role of a buffer zone, when we started third World War and would often function as my psychologist, so I can get all my rage out … This happened particularly often in the teenage years.

I can even remember an example from childhood where my father had pissed me off …. I couldn’t live under those conditions! It was torture! (conditions being rules)’ Well, then you can just move out. Im sure the local orphanage would love to have you!’ came the reply (said with irony) from my father.

Fine! It sounded like a great idea! I packed a bag and was headed out the door when my father asked me where I was going …. “I’m moving in with grandma and grandpa! I can sleep on their couch!” It all ended now well again, but I have always known that their door was open for me … and still is for that matter.

I have my grandfather’s sweet tooth and his stubbornness … I remember a time when I was ready to quite gymnastics because I could not do handstands like the others on the team. All my strength is in my legs after many years as a football player …. not my arms. My grandfather pointed out  that once you have started something, you finish it! There is no such thing as quitting in this family! Just because I couldn’t do one measly thing, didn’t mean I had to stop on the team …
It’s actually a saying I live by today … I do not start something if I’m going to finish it.

They have set a good example of how far you can get in life if you only have his best friend by side and treat his fellow man as you yourself would want to be treated …

Its kinda funny how other people can affect you…I always have fresh flowers of some kind on my table no matter where I am in the world and at least of my meals consists of yoghurt and milk. That way…my grandparents are always with me. 

Reunited with Turkey; a love/loathe kinda thing.

Right now….Im sitting on a balcony on the 8th floor with a view of the sun setting over Alanya, a Turkish tourist/seaside city. I’ve returned for the third time to Turkey….

I have a bit of love/loathe relationship with Turkey…

I love the weather during the summer months. But I loathe it when the temperature raises about 40 degrees celcius. I love the warm ocean here, but I loathe how bad a swimmer I have become and how strong the current can be at times.

I love the beautiful nature that varies from mountains to huge rivers, but loathe alI the steep hills because Im in such a bad shape that I feel like I’ve just completed a marathon each time I conquer those hills. I really do need to get back in shape….

….but Im just too darn lazy….mmmh….cheeesecake!

I love that I can find Pepsi in almost every restaurant, cafe and store here. A major plus in my book! But loathe how tips are expected even in stores.

I love that many Turks speak relatively okay English and those who can’t, usually know german so I can always get by with a combination of English, German and a lot of smiling or frowning depending on the situation. People are generally nice…But I loathe when I just heard a Turk loudly speak flawless english or german to someone, then pretend they do not understand anything but Turkish when I ask a question…thats just rude!

I love the history I found in Istanbul, Ankara, Alanya and many of the villages I have visited during my previous visits. But I loathe how its neccesary for the local population to rewrite history everytime you mention a sensitive topic…Just suck it up. You fucked up in the past, but you’re not a fuck up anymore…own it.

I love the fact that they sell cheap knock offs and designer stuff with minor flaws in them for next to nothing here. But loathe it when store owners think I can’t tell the difference between the real deal and a fake. I know my shoes and bags!

I love the Turkish cuisine…especially the menemen, all the many yoghurts and soups and of course! The apple tea… But I loathe how many restaurants now follow the international cuisine instead of the local cuisine using local produce. Support the area you live in and the tourists will too…

I love the many different cultures you can find in a Turkish neighbourhood be it Muslim, Christian, foreigner or even the occasional Kurds and Zazas…One big cultural pot! It seems like Turkey has become this pitstop station before you continue to the East or the West. I know Turkey is very important for Europe as good relations with Turkey is a foot in the door to gaining access to Asia and the Middle East.  I loathe the hate there exists between the Kurds and the Turks…why that is still an important thing for people, I have not quite understood…but I suspect its the whole cultural pot thing…a cultural boiling pot at times I suspect…..

I loathe how sales(wo)men, promotors, managers and vendors will grab your arm in the middle on the sidewalk and literally drag you into store you merely cast a random glance at while looking around you, then demand that you buy something from their store since ‘you came into the store ON YOUR OWN’…Its illegal now, but they still do it.

I love how attentive Turks can be to your needs, but I loathe how many of the Turkish men view female tourists as bait and continue to hound them for their money in some way or another…their marital status does not matter at all. I loathe the fact that many of the Turkish men see me as a rich American woman simply due to fact that I speak English with an American accent and have a curvy body when I am in fact a Dane. A friend of mine who now lives here in Alanya as a travel guide, explained it to me that if you have a curvy body, you must have money for food every day and therefore be rich… I know this is not true in the metropolitans of Turkey, but in the smaller cities like Antalya, Side and Alanya they hound female tourists  because of it. I especially loathe how touristy many turkish cities has become.

But in general, I love the Turkish culture.

I loathe to stand in the piking hot sand, but love to feel the wonderful ocean around my feet, teasing my toes with small waves.

Its a love/loathe kind of thing. Its a Balance thing I have going on…You have to take the good with the bad….

But I know myself…I am by no means done with Turkey. I will return one day and continue to explore this cultural boiling pot!