Returning to everyday life

Hello!

I am now back again in Trondheim, Norway. Shortly after the previous post I departed from Tokyo to meet my mother and sister in Hong Kong. (ANA is amongst the best airlines I have ever flown with, btw.) We checked out HK for a couple of days before we flew to Beijing. Spent som time in smoggy-B before returning to Norway.

I had two complete days in Norway, during which I had time for a fitting of my bunad and just barely had time to get a tourist card for Cuba, before traveling to, indeed, Cuba via one night in Amsterdam.

Cuba was an intense experience. A country like none other I have visited. Censorship, ration cards, stuck in 1959, dual economies, over-empowered police, crazy times. Notable moments include a pimpin' doorman at our hotel in Habana, giggling like a crazy new-born maniac while galopping across Valle de los Ignesios, Viñales and dodging Paloma.

Three weeks later I returned to Amsterdam and met up with my girlfriend at last. We spent nigh on a week in Amsterdam shopping for christmas and having a good time. We also visited Den Haag, and learned some dutch. Graag!

Coming back to Norway, I learned from my little brother in high school that more and more kids at school had gotten the new iPhone 3G. Not for christmas, and probably not for birthdays either. I heard that the price of the iPhone for one year (hardware+usage plan) varies between 6-14kNOK (depending on usage plan). In the lower range, this translates to around €800 or $1000. Guess for how long the average cuban has to work in order to afford such a thing.

Go on, guess!

Ready?

10 years!

I know! Things that cost ten years of pay in Cuba are given quite freely to kids in Norway. <- The f**k.

Now, please go do something useful.

Travelling Knut

I am currently in Japan.
I have been here for almost three weeks now, and it is great!

The whatchamacallit "original" purpose of the trip was aikido no keiko, so the first week we (a bunch of aikidoka from all around Norway) stayed in Tokyo and practiced two-three (some even four-five) times a day at Aikikan Hombu Dojo. Very cool, but extremely intense! Btw, I love the tatami at hombu! Tai-sabaki is very smooth.

Amazingly enough, I got to see a whole lot of Tokyo when I was not training. One day, we started at Tsukiji fish market at around 04:15 and walked up to Ginza and through the Imperial gardens and down to Tokyo Tower and to Roppongi in the evening. Crazy long trip very briefly described. OK, I`ll admit, we didn`t have time for practice this day ..

We spent the week-end in Nagoya (after a late friday singing karaoke with Miyamoto sensei, who can really sing) in an excecutive business capsule hotel. Got to see a bit of the city and Nagoya-jo.

(Pardon me for running through this, but it`s late and I am really tired.)

Next week was spent relaxing in Tanabe. Compared to the twelve million of Tokyo, Tanabe`s population of a mere 80 000 is nothing. And only three of them speak some english! Very interesting ... Through my limited knowledge of japanese, I managed OK (even got a standing offer to stay with a family there the next time I was in town), though pointing and body language gets you miles.

OK, I will go to bed now, so just to "update": From Tanabe to Osaka. From there to Himeji and back again. Again to Himeji and Shirahamanomiya, back to Himeji and down to Hiroshima. Hiroshima-Miyajinga-Hiroshima-Kyoto and that`s where I am now!

Poof!