My life: Hawaii - San Francisco. Stop. Portland. Stop. Norway. Full stop.

I'm home again. In Norway. After a long year of traveling. It feels amazing. No matter how much I love Hawaii and Korea, Norway is still home, the safest place on Earth for me. It's like I can rest in a totally different way!

For those of you who don't know what I'm doing, I'm currently a student, doing a master program in Norway with field research in South Korea, and on the side being a volunteer slash missionary with Youth with a mission, based in Kona, Hawaii. I live in 3 countries, and am planning on doing that for a while, with one apartment in Hawaii, another one in Norway + lots of friends and family I can crash at, and an organization and a few friends I can stay with in South Korea. It's a life where I'm living out of a suitcase, in and out of jet lag, and my mother tongue more and more mixed with English phrases. It's a daily life in constant culture shock, uprooting before I get to settle down and a struggle to find a daily rhythm before I move on to the next country. Normal sleep, eating routines and regular exercise are the first things to 'go out the door' when I come to a new place. I just spent six weeks in Hawaii to get into Crossfit, and was about to leave when I finally settled into a good work-out routine.

The other day someone asked me how I can do this, how it is even possible. And honestly I'm still wondering if it is. I answered that though I have horrible jet lag and am no longer 18 I at least have one good thing working for me. Well, maybe two. I don't really miss people that much, and I'm pretty good at living here and now. Today. I seldom think about the past, and though I worry about the future, it's still easy for me to concentrate on today. When I have 12 days in Norway, I don't even think about where I'm going next until a couple of days before, I don't pack until hours before I leave, and I try to be fully present those 12 days I'm there (though only half my brain is working!) This natural 'talent' (haha) is the only thing I can cling to when I am sure this lifestyle is not going to work out, when it's just too hard. Well, that and a deep - call it conviction - that this is what I'm meant to do, this is my purpose in life, this is my calling - and that I'll just have to make it work somehow.

I guess knowing I have so much support and the best family and friends in the world helps too, and a blog where I can `get it all out´ isn't so bad either!

This year, after Hawaii - Korea - Hawaii - Norway - Korea - Norway - Hawaii I left Kona and spent a week in the famous, only-before-heard-of Bethel, Redding and then in Portland before coming home to the coldest summer in Norway in (I bet) decades!

I think I got hooked on Crossfit for those two weeks before I left and felt like I could do it for ever... Or maybe that´s just something I´m telling myself now...

This beach in Whiskey town was just incredible! I tried paddle boarding and I highly recommend it!! It was great to see Anett again and meet her cool friends too! I could definitely go to Bethel again.

With my good friend Scott, who I have known since my first time in Kona in 1997 and his 4 adorable boys. Hey, Portland is not just rainy and in between Washington and California, it seemed to be a really fun place too!

The only people I really miss are.... the kids!! I think it´s because they grow and change so much and missing their birthday is just such a big thing (for me at least)! I don´t know, but for the first time in maybe 15 years I just wanted to wear the Korean National dress on our National day May 17th, while my sister Christina had the Norwegian one.

Drawing pictures of my Dad and visiting the grave on his birthday. Still thinking about him.

Meeting friends and hanging out with family. So many exciting events I´ve missed out on this year... Friends having kids. Soccer games. New homes. So many big and little things. So much I forget to photograph. I don´t know if missing out will ever get any easier.