Better become a Norwegian really quickly

Hmm, they must love ice cream here in Manchester, because the ice cream truck is driving by each day. In Norway it was once a week or something like that. Well, not for me… I’ve started a new and moderately healthy lifestyle. I’ve reduced my 1 liter of diet coke a day to a small glass during lunch (it is free so it would be rude to pass that up). Only 1 small cup of coffee every day and tea without sugar. I’ve replaced my diet coke at home with orange juice. I might even think about starting to exercise.

The Norwegians sure are fast eaters. I noticed it everywhere I go. In Norway, Dublin and now the UK. They just eat like crazy. I really struggle with that because I’ve always eaten quite slowly. When I was in China, people told me I ate fast. They have noticed that the Norwegians eat fast here, because we only get 30 minutes lunch, while the Dutch get 45 minutes for example. So this means I have to pick up the pace and become a Norwegian or I will go hungry. Mind you, they have free tomato soup in the vending machines, but that is for emergencies only.

I’ve noticed how similar Manchester is to Dublin. I’m not talking city centre because I haven’t been there yet, but the area where I live. It’s strikingly similar to where I lived in Ireland. They even have a “main street” here like I did in Swords with all kinds of stores. I’m surprised that the number of pubs aren’t that many though. In Ireland there were full of pubs everywhere, but here they are sparse.

I’m really tired now. I think it has to do with all the traveling I’ve done in recent month. I don’t know what day it is really. It will take a couple of weeks to get used to it. These last 2 nights, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night. I have some trouble sleeping, partly because it’s a new place, but mostly because I miss Kei. It’s hard to concentrate at work, but I can do both, thinking about her and do the job required. Luckily the training is quite easy for me coming from a call center/IT background, so not much concentrating is needed.

Kei called me again today. She has a great time in Thailand, but she also has trouble sleeping. It’s hard being so far apart. I called her hotel in Thailand later on just to say hi. It became a longer talk than expected. My phone bill will be a bit larger than usual, but it’s worth it just to hear her voice and laughter. She bought us matching watches, one black and one yellow. Can’t wait to see it :D. She has taken over 100 pictures so far, so I have much to look forward too.