Haugen
Those of you following me on Twitter may have noticed that I was out in the wilderness all last week. Mum wanted me to go with her to our newly acquired family cabin, and I had to say yes (I really didn't have any choice D:). So just two days after getting back from Berlin, I was sent out to live in a crowded cabin. It has electricity (barely), but no water. Outhouse, whoooo. Having to go collect water in the nearby river, whoooo. ;_;
It is a very pretty place, but the place means a lot more to my mum and her siblings than it does to me. This cabin called Haugen (located near Hovin in Telemark) is a place that my grandparents rented for about 20 years, back when my mum was younger. It's where she spent most of her childhood vacations~ I've been there once or twice before, but I was 2 years old the last time I was there 8D. I don't really know what happened, but we stopped renting the place, and my family has been missing it ever since (arranging so called 'Haugen nights' every once in a while to get together and look at old pictures etc.). Then last year, my aunt and uncle decided to buy the place. Pretty extreme considering the condition it's in and the work required to make sure it'll still be around the next couple of years (you'll see what I mean when you see the pictures).
I had a good time I guess. It got a bit too crowded for me to really enjoy myself. We were 12 people crammed together @_@ Mum and me sleeping in the living room, my aunt and uncle in the bedroom, and everyone else packed together in what's lovingly called 'the sleeping hall'. Heh. Heh.
There were five kids, the oldest one 8, and the youngest one 2. You never had a moments rest @_@ it drove me nuts. Not to mention the fact that I don't know how to talk to kids, at all. They freak me out. I just kept to myself a lot.
Then of course, this uncle who bought this place is my very religious uncle that I've mentioned a couple of times before. That makes things awkward at times, and I of course opened up a can of worms by babbling on about everything I'd seen in Berlin. All week he kept coming up to me talking to me about "THE FORCES OF EVIL" and how "evil" is a real entity that manifests itself in our heads. There's room for that in our brains because of Lucifer's act of getting angels to follow him out of heaven. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. He just went on and on and on. Always catching me while I was by myself, and talking in this really low creepy voice ;_______;!! I never know what to do when he gets like that, so I just sit there patiently, nodding my head and try not to look too annoyed <,<;;; He told me that he signed up to be an EVIL FIGHTER back in the 70's. Uncle Jan, the evil fighter. I know he means well, but ... lol.
He also talked a lot about his recent studies. He is researching Christian comic books. They were... definitely something else, and he kept talking about them like everything written in them were facts. He'd even bought "The Manga Bible" and kept asking me what "manga" really meant. He told me he'd become interested in Japan lately because he had heard there were so many suicides there... and then he started talking about kamikaze pilots and people who killed themselves for the emperor as if it was still a common practice today .... I~ don't know. All I know is that he supports Norwegian missionaries over there so that they can "fight evil".
Oh yeah, he also gave me a lot of handouts. Always trying to convert me, I guess. Or maybe he thinks I'm really interested in this stuff since I never argue with him when he starts talking to me about things like this... If you want to get a sample of what he gave me you can read some comics here. Moving On Up! is particularly charming. It basically claims that people who believe in evolution are nazi. Nice.
But enough about that. Have some pretty pictures!
The main house. Kitchen and living room on the ground floor, bedroom and "sleeping hall" on the first floor. Plastic bags are put up to protect damaged woodwork.
Old granary and storage buildings. The granary has been converted into a playhouse for the kids.
Small barn and outhouse. Very rotten and creepy. The outhouse actually sways when you're in there. I kept getting flashbacks to the outhouse scene in Dead Snow when I was in there T_T; (falling through the seat and into the filth).
Inside of the living room. Look closely and you can see that the wall have cracked apart. Everything is crooked, and the doors don't hang right anymore (nor do they close properly).
More of the living room.
Some of my uncle's Christian comic books.
The view from inside the outhouse 8D
The outhouse floor. All cracked and... creepy. You could see right through it and there was a 3 metre drop to the ground!
There were wild strawberries everywhere. Omnomnom.
An old bench put up by the river.
A temporary bridge put up by one of my other uncles.
I got to play Scrabble a lot. Never played it before, it's an awesome game!
We saw all kinds of bugs. I have no clue what this is. Anyone know?
Uncle Jan, Zander Antonio (5), and Emilie Marie (3).
Pretty green things ♥
We took all the kids and went exploring.
Stumbled across huge amounts of blueberries ♥
From left to right we've got aunt Kjersti, my cousin Miriam, my cousin Håvard, Åsne (who's injured herself here), Inger Lise, Håkon, Zander Antonio.
Navigating around was difficult. We had to wade through a lot of bushes.
A view down to Tinnsjå. Deep lake where a German ship was sunk during the war.
We got to another farm and took a rest before heading back to Haugen.
Back at Haugen having a barbecue. Not the most childproof barbecue rig, but very cozy :3
It started to rain, so we attached a parasol. Also notice the logs on the ground. NO CHILDREN ALLOWED PAST THESE LOGS. It worked. 8]
People decided they wanted to go swimming. Madness. In Tinnsjå? ghajdhgjk crazy people. *stayed on land*
Awwww.
Videos:
Carrying an Oven Through the Forest from Twissie on Vimeo.
My aunt and uncle carrying a brand new oven down to the cabin. Oh yeah, and the path they're walking down is the only way down to the cabin 8D Remote enough for you?
Getting Water at the River from Twissie on Vimeo.
This is how/where we get our water at the cabin. It's safe to drink, which is awesome.
Preparing a Barbecue from Twissie on Vimeo.
My cousin is such a spaz ♥
and yeah.. that's that. Best thing about this entire stay? Getting back home and enjoying a nice hot shower *_* I can't even begin to describe how awesome that felt. I definitely want to go visit Haugen again, but preferably without all those kids around. My anxiety kicks back in when I have to deal with kids :/ I just don't know how to behave around them.
In other news~ as some of you know I had to re-apply for university in order to officially change my Bachelor degree from IT to Languages. Got the answer a couple of days ago, and I'm in \0/ Yaaay~
It is a very pretty place, but the place means a lot more to my mum and her siblings than it does to me. This cabin called Haugen (located near Hovin in Telemark) is a place that my grandparents rented for about 20 years, back when my mum was younger. It's where she spent most of her childhood vacations~ I've been there once or twice before, but I was 2 years old the last time I was there 8D. I don't really know what happened, but we stopped renting the place, and my family has been missing it ever since (arranging so called 'Haugen nights' every once in a while to get together and look at old pictures etc.). Then last year, my aunt and uncle decided to buy the place. Pretty extreme considering the condition it's in and the work required to make sure it'll still be around the next couple of years (you'll see what I mean when you see the pictures).
I had a good time I guess. It got a bit too crowded for me to really enjoy myself. We were 12 people crammed together @_@ Mum and me sleeping in the living room, my aunt and uncle in the bedroom, and everyone else packed together in what's lovingly called 'the sleeping hall'. Heh. Heh.
There were five kids, the oldest one 8, and the youngest one 2. You never had a moments rest @_@ it drove me nuts. Not to mention the fact that I don't know how to talk to kids, at all. They freak me out. I just kept to myself a lot.
Then of course, this uncle who bought this place is my very religious uncle that I've mentioned a couple of times before. That makes things awkward at times, and I of course opened up a can of worms by babbling on about everything I'd seen in Berlin. All week he kept coming up to me talking to me about "THE FORCES OF EVIL" and how "evil" is a real entity that manifests itself in our heads. There's room for that in our brains because of Lucifer's act of getting angels to follow him out of heaven. OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. He just went on and on and on. Always catching me while I was by myself, and talking in this really low creepy voice ;_______;!! I never know what to do when he gets like that, so I just sit there patiently, nodding my head and try not to look too annoyed <,<;;; He told me that he signed up to be an EVIL FIGHTER back in the 70's. Uncle Jan, the evil fighter. I know he means well, but ... lol.
He also talked a lot about his recent studies. He is researching Christian comic books. They were... definitely something else, and he kept talking about them like everything written in them were facts. He'd even bought "The Manga Bible" and kept asking me what "manga" really meant. He told me he'd become interested in Japan lately because he had heard there were so many suicides there... and then he started talking about kamikaze pilots and people who killed themselves for the emperor as if it was still a common practice today .... I~ don't know. All I know is that he supports Norwegian missionaries over there so that they can "fight evil".
Oh yeah, he also gave me a lot of handouts. Always trying to convert me, I guess. Or maybe he thinks I'm really interested in this stuff since I never argue with him when he starts talking to me about things like this... If you want to get a sample of what he gave me you can read some comics here. Moving On Up! is particularly charming. It basically claims that people who believe in evolution are nazi. Nice.
But enough about that. Have some pretty pictures!
The main house. Kitchen and living room on the ground floor, bedroom and "sleeping hall" on the first floor. Plastic bags are put up to protect damaged woodwork.
Old granary and storage buildings. The granary has been converted into a playhouse for the kids.
Small barn and outhouse. Very rotten and creepy. The outhouse actually sways when you're in there. I kept getting flashbacks to the outhouse scene in Dead Snow when I was in there T_T; (falling through the seat and into the filth).
Inside of the living room. Look closely and you can see that the wall have cracked apart. Everything is crooked, and the doors don't hang right anymore (nor do they close properly).
More of the living room.
Some of my uncle's Christian comic books.
The view from inside the outhouse 8D
The outhouse floor. All cracked and... creepy. You could see right through it and there was a 3 metre drop to the ground!
There were wild strawberries everywhere. Omnomnom.
An old bench put up by the river.
A temporary bridge put up by one of my other uncles.
I got to play Scrabble a lot. Never played it before, it's an awesome game!
We saw all kinds of bugs. I have no clue what this is. Anyone know?
Uncle Jan, Zander Antonio (5), and Emilie Marie (3).
Pretty green things ♥
We took all the kids and went exploring.
Stumbled across huge amounts of blueberries ♥
From left to right we've got aunt Kjersti, my cousin Miriam, my cousin Håvard, Åsne (who's injured herself here), Inger Lise, Håkon, Zander Antonio.
Navigating around was difficult. We had to wade through a lot of bushes.
A view down to Tinnsjå. Deep lake where a German ship was sunk during the war.
We got to another farm and took a rest before heading back to Haugen.
Back at Haugen having a barbecue. Not the most childproof barbecue rig, but very cozy :3
It started to rain, so we attached a parasol. Also notice the logs on the ground. NO CHILDREN ALLOWED PAST THESE LOGS. It worked. 8]
People decided they wanted to go swimming. Madness. In Tinnsjå? ghajdhgjk crazy people. *stayed on land*
Awwww.
Videos:
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
Carrying an Oven Through the Forest from Twissie on Vimeo.
My aunt and uncle carrying a brand new oven down to the cabin. Oh yeah, and the path they're walking down is the only way down to the cabin 8D Remote enough for you?
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
Getting Water at the River from Twissie on Vimeo.
This is how/where we get our water at the cabin. It's safe to drink, which is awesome.
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
Preparing a Barbecue from Twissie on Vimeo.
My cousin is such a spaz ♥
and yeah.. that's that. Best thing about this entire stay? Getting back home and enjoying a nice hot shower *_* I can't even begin to describe how awesome that felt. I definitely want to go visit Haugen again, but preferably without all those kids around. My anxiety kicks back in when I have to deal with kids :/ I just don't know how to behave around them.
In other news~ as some of you know I had to re-apply for university in order to officially change my Bachelor degree from IT to Languages. Got the answer a couple of days ago, and I'm in \0/ Yaaay~