There is an «I want a man like Putin» song

Okay, I know I am in my Russian bubble these days working on my master thesis (yes, about Russia).

But you should see this.

I found an article asking «Who will Putin 3.0 turn out to be?»

And here are the alternatives:

  1. CEO
  2. Silovik (officers of the former KGB)
  3. Sex symbol
  4. Patriot
  5. Godfather
  6. Workers champion
  7. Non-liberal

Off course I got most obsessed with the sex symbol alternative. This botox man …

«They don’t even care about the [alleged use of] Botox because at least it shows that he cares about how he looks».

And (!) there is a song called «I want a man like Putin» – in trance version!!

So now you know …

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Putin showing off on the ice

This is what we see from Russia in Norway – Putin showing off on the ice.

And this is what we don’t see from Russia in Norway – the great number of people protesting in the streets of Moscow.

And the way the authority say they handle this in the right way, and that they should even be tougher to the protesters …

It is strange – our neighboring country and we do not know much about it.

I was not aware of the enormous scope of it, until I meet the son of a Russian political prisoner living in exile in New York in Oslo yesterday.

People are protesting against Putin – at the same time as the world is filming the man himself playing hockey and smiling.

A mystifying country – and a strange perception of the world around.

 

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We have weird people also in Norway

Jupp, no kidding.

Just look at this, alien-gathering?

So, we were out on our premiere tour with Rickard’s motorcycle for the summer, and were just about to end with a view of the sunset from Vettakollen near Holmenkollen.

The guy in the car had a walkie talkie.

On the top of the roof there were two rather «normal» antennas, and one not «normal» at all. At least not on top of a car, built from the left front wheel and fasten it with a green belt to the roof …

Wtf?

Every time he was talking or receiving a message, assumed, the whole thing was shaking at the top.

It was shaking so much we were wondering if it was unhealthy to be next to it.

And this is not all.

After laughing for a while, wondering how long he would do his freak show on his own, or with his alien club, another random guy popped up.

A guy with a lot of curls, in dark beige clothes. In a small purple car, home-made into a cabriolet, with too huge wheels for his car.

He parked right in front of us, took out his entire camera equipment bag (!) and started photographing his car – from every possible angle – fast and confident.

We just had to leave this view point – too many freaks at one place.

So I didn’t get to take picture of this guy.

Puh.

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Norwegian prison vs. KIMEP dorm

Look at this. Norwegian prison versus KIMEP dorms.

Striking.

This is where I used to live in Almaty, Kazakhstan:

This is where we put our criminals in Norway …

This is where we used to eat at KIMEP and the kitchen in the «worlds most human prison»:

My old hair dresser versus the health care provisions in prison:

What to say? Breivik lives in more luxury than my fellow students at the highest ranked University in Central Asia…

 

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Nitting fever in Oslo

Even though the spring is here, the trees still has their nitting coat on.

This is the «new» tagging in Oslo, the trees are all full of them. Or at least it is new to me. My sister told me it’s been like that in London for a long time, people nitt, and put is around a tree or a lamppost.

I just realized it in Oslo over the last few months – it’s funny. This one from to day, walking at Huk to enjoy the sun and some Swedish company.

I guess it is an easter chicken. Or at least with easter theme.

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The strange day of joy

Driving the bus to school today, I passed a man playing bocce by himself – a number one champion.

From the library I saw a man through the window headbanging in front of his computer – sitting alone without headphones.

In the floor underneath me there is a man making all this strange noises.

Just now, my friend texted me to ask if we could go around Oslo and take pictures of things made of glass one day.

My own stomach make all this strange noises I have never heard before. Not too loud, just embarrassing long.

And it is not even twelve.

This is a day of joy <3

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Retard 1 & 2

Rickard can’t head bang and I can’t drink (no, I am not pregnant, just a week of antibiotics). So we are retard 1 & 2 on concerts.

At least we fulfill each other. I can head bang and he can drink.

Sometimes I forget he broke his neck, and I have a habit to comment on everything I see, so I do. Rickard turns, with his whole body, and of course it is not anything to see anymore – it was there a minute earlier…

Anyways, we went to Kaizers Orchestra concert yesterday. WOW, I am still in a Kaizers-bubble.

I am a big fan but have never seen them live. So I bought tickets to Rickard for his birthday (in November). If I love them – he must too!

And what a show. The scene was incredible and the show of light was too. The music is impossible to not like, and the singer is pretty handsome – it was a symbiosis of beauty.

After the final number, they came back and played four (!) more songs. They left again, but had to come back a second time. People screamed for the song «Die Polizei».

So they played it with love. And everybody was singing – forever. So the band had to leave the stage after a while. With people still singing. And even though the band was gone, the audience continued to sing.

An amazing atmosphere! (I am still partly in that bubble)

So, I was doing the headbanging, while Rickard was doing his job drinking beer.

This weekend we are going to Chamonix – the French capital of the Alps.

Rickard can’t ski, and I can’t drink wine. Retard 1 & 2 again. So the plan is to put him at the after-ski with beer and wine, while I go skiing.

A dream team!

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Wow, 200 people died?

It is crazy – the massacre in the west of Kazakhstan. It happened in December, when I was in the country (in the east, far from the city though).

It felt far away then. It feels further away now.

It happened on the National day, December 16. But the president refuses this, and puts the date to the 15th. We were told that the police did «the right thing» shooting into the masses of people, protecting the city from rivals – the striking oil workers. We heard «some» people died.

Now the number may rise to 200 people. People don’t find their relatives.

Just read this article.

It is unbelievable!

It is written that mass rallies are planned in Almaty February 25.

«Hundreds of people are ready to take to the streets in order to demand independent investigation into the massacre in Zhanaozen».

Wow. I always felt safe in Almaty. But there is A LOT going on in that country being kept away from publicity.

It is strange how the surface seems so different from the reality. Even local Almaty-people I just spoke to say they don’t talk about this. They are not informed properly.

When I was there we read the news in international papers. We were told to keep away for crowded places on the national day. But did not expect this. And even NRK had more information than locals.

Its a crazy world!

But the sun is shining in Oslo – that’s something!

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My life just sounded so «normal»

I (finally) got to Skype with both Lara and Tricia today – at the same time! 3 pm in Norway, 8 pm in Kazakhstan and 10 pm in Singapore.

And suddenly my life sounded so «normal».

Tricia was complaining how warm it is in Singapore and how she avoid walking outside to not sweat to death. And she told me how they recently celebrated Chinese New Year – for 14 days!! Food, eating, visitors, making food, eating more, celebrating. Crazy! Not only does it last for two weeks – after everything they were exhausted of housing friends of friends and feeding those friends and their family…

Lara had just been traveling to Uzbekistan to do some interviews for her research project. And after she left the place locals started to investigate what she actually had been doing. They were suspicious. She could be an American spy.

Then she told us how the dorms at KIMEP, where I used to live, had stricken their rules. They won’t let visitors in. They tried to talk the guard happy. Then bribe him with «plov», some local food. Did not work.

My life? It is good. Much is happening, and it is exciting. But how to summarize?

Studying, work, winter, skiing and boyfriend – too normal.

Luckily Skype can provide me with random stories from Kazakhstan and Singapore.

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