bakingsong

these are my crazy housemates...

a day of my life

wake up 06.45.

snooze.

get up five to 7.

have to go to the loo but have learnt to wait till the bathroom's free;

half 7, my turn.

by then I've packed a lunch and finished breakfast,

allbran flakes

or bread with jam and banana or marmite.

and tea.

(with milk).

shower, hurry up get out of the shower.

get dressed.

spend time with the king of the universe (wow, I know..)

go

round to the back, into the shed

take out 5 bikes, pretty big job cause they're packed tightly

then we're off, 5 girls in a row

on the oxford roads

(left side, don't forget)

concentrated; balancing on the 50cm wide space

between

the sidewalk and the great big

bus, almost getting run over but not quite.

singing

laughter

whizzing past the ques of cars which can't use the buslane, haha!

get to school early

drink of water

devotions at 9.

first lecture at half 9

tea break at half 10

next lecture, break, last lecture (yawning, head spinning, tummy rumbling)

lunch at last.

chatting with my fellow lads and ladies.

do anything else that needs doing.

cycle home, survive the trip.

sleep for a half hour, work on assignment or entertain visitors, resist or give in to the temptation of a snack (saltnvinegar-chips, cadbury chocolate, mmm), do chores, chat, sing, pray together, dance in the kitchen, eat dinner, maybe desert, wash up.

more homework or visitors or maybe read the web-news.

tired. laugh at everything and anything.

see a spider, scream (wolf) - rachael doesn't come. face my fears. feel proud.

miss friends, miss family.

think about them. remember. smile.

write a letter or blog.

yawn, good night-- I just need to write in my diary

then I'll go to bed.

love

love is a light your laughter shines - not knowing when or how or who - love is the heart that always entwines - wanting so hard to hug just you - and you and you and you and you - nobody left out, nobody cries - love is a light which never lies - making it through and through and through - love is the morning meant for you - the God who died to make things new

life as a kbc student

ok here's me and rachael at work setting up the diningroom table.. actually I'm kind of cheating; Beth and her did most of the work, about 2 hours, and then I joined in the last half hour. But anyway, the point is, we're proper mechanics. Oh yeah. No messin with us.


























this is at the barbeque we had last sunday, out the back at the guys house on pinnocks. From the left: james, katherine, steve, jack, rebecca, jazz, rachael and jo.






just have to say that this lovely lady and her husband; Rebecca and Earl (Earl I don't have on camera yet I'm afraid, but he basically looks like your stereotype American.) are the new håkon & irene for me! Well, not the new (no one can replace you in my heart!!) but they remind me a lot of u :) hehe when i told them they just started laughing at your names-- do u get that response in australia too I wonder..?


ok now these r some of the music freaks in the group. By the way, the past 2 weeks we've been singing this greek alphabet song which I can't get out of my head- you'll definately hear me singing it some time this christmas, and you'll wish I never came to kbc when u do. (Thanks to Mat, who's the one standing.. put it this way, he's a good song writer, his songs stick.) And the guy on the drums, Mike, actually has a digeridoo!! hehe how cool is that.. On our retreat weekend 2 weeks ago he played and I taught everyone the dance I "learnt at aboriginal dance classes".. it was so funny.

the grand tour

Tash (18 from Canada), Beth (18 from Middlesbrough), me (20 from Norway), Anna (also 18 from Middlesbrough) and Rachael (21 from Oxford or hereabouts) ...

Welcome to our wonderful house!

So, this is Tash in the livingroom. It looked much worse before. A bit like a waiting room in some old medical clinic. We've made it look a bit more acceptable now and hung Rachael's art up on the walls.
This is my room seen from 2 angles... (Had to include the dresser, with the antique mirror Elisabeth Peters lent me!) and just so u know, I've hung Karin's paintings on the walls. They were in desperate need of colour! Now it feels a bit more homely there. But if anyone has any pictures to send me, please do! That would make me extremely happy :)
Last but not least: our lovely kitchen&laundry-in-one.
The frustrating thing about our house is the clothes dry sooo slooow...

Oh, just have to say: today I almost stepped on a hedgehog! It was in the middle of the path (the catwalk between the hedges) to the door... immagine if I had. Owch.

Okai, I better go now, the time is late, I just came home from a rock concert (the darts) in a small, humid club (ehe..) Basically they should think about getting airconditioning .. or windows..

Anyway, I'm tired, tomorrow's the sabbath, I can sleep in for the first time since I got here (!yay) so good night, and sleep tight. <3

important informationn

+44 1865459586

is our house number! Feel free to call :)

(Calling from England of course, u take out the 44 and start with a zero (0). Just so u know. Good.)

og til alle dere norske som har lest eller kommer til å lese posten nedenfor; det de hadde å fortelle var at Tash ble døpt i den Hellige Ånd idag! Det var det Gud hadde vist henne gjennom 1.Kor-meditasjonen at ho trengte! -Så det var derfor ho var så cheerful når de kom inn døra...hehe.. morsomt :)

en post for de norske

Okey.. litt oppdateringer.. where to start?? Jeg har det hvertfall utrolig bra. De jeg bor sammen med er kjempe koselige, jeg har vært så heldig! Vi har d utrolig gøy sammen, vi snakker og ber sammen om ting og tang.. de er så nydelige mennesker, håper virkelig dere får møtt de en eller annen gang! Gjerne kom på besøk er du grei, og bli gjerne noen netter etter du har sagt hei - seng og mat ordner vi i en fei, og med ryanair ordner det alltid seg! ;)

Må bare si at alle mine skumle frykter for bibelskole har fordampet totalt... Er SÅ glad for å være her, og vet at Gud kommer til å riste meg våken og at jeg vil bli bedre kjent med Ham.. (it's already started!) Folk (både lærere og elever) er så åpne for Guds Ånd; det er en god balanse mellom hjerne og hjerte her merker jeg. Altså; samtidig som at jeg lærer viktigheten i å studere bibelen og finne ut hva de inspirerte forfatterne prøver å si (som innebærer gresk og gramatikk og kan være ganske teoretisk komplisert før det fører til en aha-opplevelse), så er lærerne keen på at vi ikke glemmer å være sammen med Gud, lytte, meditere på vers osv.

I "chapel" idag hadde Gaina satt opp noen trinn vi skulle følge som innebar å reflektere over 1.Kor 2 v.11-16. Basically: Vi var i grupper på 3 og leste gjennom noen ganger. Så skulle vi spørre Gud om å "highlight" et ord, så dele det med gruppa, så spørre hva Han ville si til oss, så dele. Jeg følte at at 2 ord ble highlighta: "received" og "truths" - men syntes det var litt merkelig, så hadde en ganske stor mistanke at det bare var mine tanker.. helt til siste trinnet når jeg skulle spørre Gud hva Han ville si til meg gjennom de orda. Plutselig skjønte jeg at det ikke bare var meg, for det her hadde jeg ikke klart å tenke meg til, hvertfall ikke når de orda virka så "random" og fjerne fra sammenhengen. Jeg følte Gud utfordra meg til å speak out sammen med folk som ikke kjenner Han; ikke holde igjen. Jeg er kanskje ikke flau over Gud, men er så vant med å tenke sånn at det alltid er en "wider picture" at jeg er redd for å være for sikker på noe selv i tilfelle det er trangsynt. Og jeg er så vant med å lytte til folk og ville forstå andres synspunkter og vil ikke at de skal tro at jeg tror at "jeg har rett" eller at jeg setter Gud i en boks for dem, at jeg ofte holder igjen det jeg har å si selv. Ikke at jeg har tenkt å slutte å lytte, og ikke at Gud / bibelen / livet noen gang kan forståes fullt ut av menneskehjernen (er det noe jeg har forstått jeg vil lære her på KBC så er det det!) Men jeg har skjønt at det er like viktig at jeg snakker ut, jeg må ikke skjule hvem jeg er, hva jeg har opplevd og hva jeg forstår av Gud (selv om det alltid vil være begrenset). For jeg har fått den Hellige Ånd, og det er sannheter Gud har vist meg som jeg burde dele. Det er egoistisk å holde det for seg selv. Som om jeg har mer rett på Han en andre.

Ok, nå har de andre kommet hjem her så jeg får gå- de har visst noe å fortelle meg, spennende ;)

Vi blogges!

pictures at last!

welcome to Oxford! Here we are at O'Neills watching football with some of the KBC group...
here is our between-the-hedges-catwalk..
and here is our house! my window's the big one down the bottom...

Haven't taken any pictures inside yet - we just got the internet set up today, so I thought I'd post what I have for now, but now I REALLY need to go to bed! So I'll catch up with u all later. Hope ur all good... Happy in school and jobs and life generally.. I am now going to go learn the Greek alphabet, read 1. Peter for the fourth time and then finally go to bed. Lovin' it ;)

Tired. Good night. Missing u all!

MWA <3

English Mobile!

ok, my new number is actually quite easy to learn by heart:

(0047) 7726 453 853

calling me is probably a lot expensive -- but do send an sms sometime, and u might just get one back ;)

arrived in England!

finally here! I've seen my house, tried to make my room "cozy" (but I must say the walls are so white it's quite depressing - so if anyone wants to send any pictures I'd be more than thankful!) I don't want to post my address on the internet really, so if you do want my address then send an email to me> ellenmiles@gmail.com ..I don't have a mobile yet either, but am hoping to fix that today.

Right now I'm at Karin's place, I slept the night here..they've been so generous in helping me out and Karin wants to come with me to town to help fix getting a bank account and the stocking up on essentials. I must say I find it hard not to be a teeny bit worried about finances, so if you'd like to send up a little prayer for me to just trust God I'm sure I'll learn to along the way :)
I feel a bit weird about everything. It's really strange - I don't think it's sunk in yet - that the house I was in yesterday is my own house which I'll be living in for 10 months with 4 other girls, cutting the lawn, cleaning windows, cleaning out cobwebs (owch! There's a fireplace in my room filled with cobwebs- I haven't dared do anything about them yet! But I'll have to before I sleep there....) Basically I keep feeling like I'll be coming back to Norway soon. Guess the truth will hit me soon - I'm gonna miss u all so much!!!

Enough of that. I'll tell you some good news : I do feel very at home here in many ways. Taking the bus to Oxford I looked out at brick houses, high grey wooden fences dividing properties, brick fences along the pavement (the kind I used to balance on when I was a kid), salt and vinegar chips (mm!!) - and just hearing English all the time --- I feel like I've come home :)

Ok, well that's all for now.. When we get the internet working at home I'll be able to write with my laptop, which means I'll be writing more NORSK (aa oe ae -can't be bothered trying to write Norwegian with an English keyboard).

And I'll stick in some pictures soon too! For now all u get is this smiley =)