Smartson - LG G4

I love trying out new things. I joined Smartson where I can apply to try items that have not come out of the market and give a review. This time I have something they have that I am really drooling to try. The new LG G4 that is supposedly better than Galaxy S6 and Iphone 6.

My last 2 phones are Galaxy note 3 and 4. It would be nice to see the difference and what makes this new phone to be the forerunner in the tight mobile competition market. I use my phone to take pictures and

to be on instagram and facebook. All the pictures that I take and put up are taken with my phone and it will be nice to see a difference and how the phone works compared to my Galaxy.It is a beauty to look at and I am sure in my hands it would be all purring.

The introvert in me - INTJ

For those who knows how it is like to me introverted knows how it is to be me. I am an INTJ. I am one who loves my hole on the fourth floor. I have a beautiful view and I have all that I need in the house I do not have to go out. People say how about human contact? Well human contact in real life tire me out and I am good with having my husband around. I also have enough contact with humans on the internet and I have gotten to know many a good friend there. If they were in the same country or town with me, I would have visited them! For now it is me in this hole. WIth a view like this who can blame me right??

The best in town

I moved to Kristiansand about 1 year ago. All this while living in Norway I seldom if ever go to the hairdresser due to the price that I have to pay and their inability to give me a proper hair cut! That all is solved when I came across H.C Frisør. Jose is in my eyes a genius. He is able to cut my hair and make it manageable and lovely. He is super friendly, knows what he is doing and does not cost an arm or a leg to get a haircut. He is also good at hair colour but I have not gotten there with my virgin hair. My son, T.I and I all use him and totally adore what he does to our hair. I cannot recommend him enough.

On Saturday we also decided to go for out for lunch and went to what I can say our favourite Indian restaurant in Kristiansand. There is 3 of them but Indian Ocean Tandoori is the best. The food is excellent and service is even better. The waiter which I have not gotten his name is attentive and remembers us as we only eat tindaloo. For those who loves spicy food and vindaloo is not hot enough, try tindaloo and see what it does to your palette. We also love the cheese naan and T.I got to taste something new. Masala tea. He is so in love with it now and I will have to learn to make it. When ever I am here, I eat the briyani which I have not gotten around to learn to make. I will one day but in the meantime, I am supporting a local business. It is not really the same as the briyani that we get back in Singapore but it is really yummy and hits my cravings when I have it.The portion is huge and I could not eat it up and had to ask for a doggy bag.

VW Gtd 2,0

I love Shaun the sheep. He is smart and humorous and a part of my travels. We found out that we have a big car that we do not need. We decided and found the car that we wanted and it was what T.I had before we changed to the Audi A6 Allroad.

The car we wanted was of course was in Bergen and that means roadtrip!! T.I wanted to drive up and then I have to drive down with one car and I was like why not we take the train?? And we did that. He said yes, that was a good idea. So I booked a ticket and since it was a night train we had a cabin that we spent the night. Shaun totally loves it as so far I have bought him twice to Oslo, once to Gothernburg and now Bergen. The train journey started in Kristiansand where we then change train in Drammen. From there we get a cabin where we spend the night and wake up refreshed in the morning in Bergen. I have never been to Bergen even though I have lived here for 18 years.

Bergen was like how it is said to be, rainy. It was a cold miserable day and we left a sunny Kristiansand behind. I got to see Bergen in the car and on the way home. It was hilly and cars around and looks like any normal Norwegian town.We then had an 8 hr drive home and I was of course lack of sleep fell asleep. We then had to take 2 ferries to get home. Norway is basically a coastal country and tons of island and a small population that is spread out. I am not fond of ferries seeing that I get easily boat sick.

On the long journey home I got to see the view og western Norway that I have never been to. For those who are used to it, it is the normal thing but for visitors, it is absolutely breath taking and beautifull. Norway is the place you go to if you want to see the harmony of nature and what it can do for you.

The choice of food is not that much nor have I had time to google as to where we would be eating. So we stopped at this non decript cafe and had rice and some sort of beef thingy. It was what Norwegian will consider yummy I guess   for us it is what we eat to keep the hunger at bay. Lots of pepper and it solves the problem. So after 8 hours, we got home with our new car and sold off our old one not long after that.

The case of the itchy backside

We love to travel, ever so often we get an itch that needs to be scratched. This week it was to Oslo. When I was given the opportunity to be a mystery shopper to try out cars, I basically jumped at it. Where and what cars shall remain a mystery as I was being a mystery shopper! We went to 3 different places in Norway and basically drove over 300 km as Oslo is about 4+ hrs away from where we live. T.I never has been a mystery shopper but I told him how it works and what it is involved and he was game for it.

The night before I read what I needed to do, plan the trip and was looking up for a new place in Oslo to eat. Did I meantion we love to eat. I found this place, Palmyra Cafe. A Tamil eating place. They had one of my favourite food that I have not learnt how to make thosai! The food for a place in Norway is just lovely. For a Singaporean I would not have eaten there again as there are better places to eat thosai. T.I had a thali with chicken curry. He loves the food as usual. He loves anything spicy or food with taste as he calls it. The cafe is not far from Grønnland and I was wondering how did I not know of such a gem of a place. I am sure I will go back again if we are in Oslo.

We spent the night at Anker apartments. It was just for the night and resonable as Oslo is rather expensive if you wanted to just spend the night. I have read many negative reviews but I was not looking for a great place for the price that we are paying and it was ok. I read before hand that they charge for bedsheets and towels so I bought my own and was not surprised about it. It is all about reading what is written on the site when you are looking around.

We could have just drove home after my mission but we decided to take a detour and drop by Sweden to stock up on grocery. Our car as usal was filled to the brim as we bought dry goods that we use a lot and stocking up making it cheaper. Seeing that the trip was paid until Oslo, it is just the detour that we paid out of pocket.

When we got home T.I said that he loved what we did and can we do it again. I said slowly we can only do it when there is work available for me and he is not working so that he can drive. I am sure that if more turns up, we are up to is. In the end, we found out that we loved our  new old car and will not be upgrading to a bigger car anytime soon.

Gothenburg

Easter holiday or should I say Monday to Wednesday was a trip that was suppose to involve an appointment but I got the date all wrong. So I will have to visit it again in 2 months time.

This trip I brought along my son and his best friend. We made sure that they had their own room this time or we wont get any sleep. It was a relaxing trip to which the kids enjoyed very much. We stayed at scandic next to the mall. It was an ok hotel that has a pool. For the price we paid the room was decent but they did not clean our room eventhough I put up the sign.

We tried several new places this time. We did mother India, they had briyani which I had. When we ordered I asked for our food to be tindaloo and she said are you sure and I said yes, as people usually look at T.I and I usually say yes he can handle hot stuff!! This is not the normal briyani that I get back home in Singapore but it will do until I learn how to cook it. This restaurant was next to the hotel and we love trying new places.

Gothenburg is known for their vegetarian places to choose from. Since we wanted to up our intake of vegetables we tried a new place. Andrum vegetarian restaurant. We had the buffet and I must say it was so yummy that I will try to make more vegetarian food. Now that is a challange as it is not easy as I am not sure how and what they use. It is something that I will take one. I have so far made vegetarian soup that we really enjoy and I will try to make other things and try to search the internet for it as it is a great place to find stuff.

This is a smallish town that you can walk and enjoy. It has all the necessity that a city has and yet small enough for you to walk everywhere. When you drive you dont really get confused or lost unless you are me and is useless with a gps when driving. Though it does not help when 'Magda' keeps getting us lost or was it T.I that does not listen to her. We have been there several times now that we say we are on sight seeing trip. Even when we brought mum along, she was like, we get to see the other side of Sweden.

This is a city where you get to see people from all walks of life, the Swedish are friendly and are open to strangers. As someone who has lived in Norway for a long time, I cant help but see the Swedes are a good looking bunch of people but I am sure others already know that.

We have tried several hotels and basically its just a waste of money to pay a lot unless you want to have a pool as its so close to drive or walk and if you dont want to stay in the hotel room all the time. Use the money saved on the food!

Drowning

We humans makes mistakes and I have made my share of stupid. I accept responsibility of mine and I have no one to blame but me. The years of trying to keep my head over water does takes its toll on me. I am not even 40 but I feel at least 10 years older than that. You know you struggled so much you just want to give up but you cant.

So what can you do? You have to try to carry on and not drown in the process. Some days it is easy while others you may need some mouth to mouth. I try to be open as to who I am and you get what you see. It is easy to not see me as I prefer to stay home. The introvert me just does not have the energy to go seek people who wants to be friends. Living down south means no one does. So I am all alone. Does it hurt me? Not anymore as I accept that I can be too needy and I do not have the same interest as others.

I am still on medication and had thought that I can wean it off. Maybe its best that I dont as I dont want to go downhill. I try not to think or worry too much about the future as if I didit will really overwhelm me. Do I go try to find help as I did before or do I try to work on me, dig deep and see the good in me that my husband points out ever so often. Why do I see myself as not good enpugh not kind enough? When will that ever come?

All I can do is pray and pray. I can only have faith in god and know that it will be ok as I have survived this long so far.