Crossing Greenland

As many of you know, my dear mother who is turning 50 today is going to cross Greenland in April/May. On skis, pulling one of those heavy sleighs. In the freezing cold.  And there's probably going to be vicious polar bears, snow storms and all kinds of unpleasant things. I certainly think she's crazy.

The interesting part, however, is that she is not the only crazy person in the family. It might be hard to believe, but there is actually a family member who has successfully crossed Greenland before her...

Stig Gabrielsen Førsvoll posing after the dangerous crossing of Greenland: "It was a tough trip and I am happy everyone made it back without any serious injuries". Photos are taken by an unnamed member of the expedition.

I♥New York

I miss New York. Terribly.  

I miss my life there - its crazy busyness and never ending array of shopping sprees, dinners and social events. I miss the dizzying cultural scene with its constant flow of free, or almost free, concerts, movies by starlight, and theatre performances. 

I even miss the less likeable parts, such as the indefinable fumes, the overwhelming humidity and the crowded, decaying subways. Hell, I even miss the oversized rats. Well, almost.

I have however been comforting myself with the general knowledge that New York is supposed to be an incredibly unpleasant place to be in winter. But my mood dropped today when I discovered that the temperature is still in the lovely mid-20s (80 Fahrenheit). 

As much as I miss the place I cannot really go back right now though. There is this master degree of mine that is taking up a bit of time, and there is the slight issue of money. And I honestly do not know if  the US immigration  officers would welcome me  back. They seemed slightly suspicious I would refuse to leave the last time I entered. 

So, instead of boarding the first plane to New York I am making due with boring everyone about how much I miss/love the city,  shouting excitedly every time time I see a scene from New York in a movie/TV show, and loudly sobbing my way through Empire State of Mind – whatever version is playing. 

As they say:  “You can take the girl out of the city, but you cannot take the city out of the girl”.

Free James Bond screening at Bryant Park.

Intern Newsletter Issue 2

The second issue of our intern newsletter is out. I should probably clarify that the newsletter is not a part of my work at the UN, it is just something extra we are doing on the side. Ah, the fun I have.

An Afternoon at the Iranian Mission

Photo with the Iranian diplomats, stolen from the UN intern newsletter.

I went to visit the Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations the other day with a group of interns. A UN mission is sort of like an embassy, just to the UN instead of a country. The visit was pleasant enough, with refreshments and free promotional material, and the Iranians had set aside a lot of time to answer our questions.

The tone of the meeting was set when the opening question from a member of our group was about Iran’s nuclear technology. I loosely quote a part of the answer one of the diplomats gave:

“We all agree that a knife is dangerous, but what is a kitchen without a knife? It is the same with nuclear power. We need it to generate electricity for farming, hospitals and so on… And we need to make our neighbours think we’re dangerous – look where we are positioned on the map”.

And equally uncomfortable questions followed with themes such as divorce, women’s rights, the Iran-United States relationship, and stoning:

“There is no stoning in Iran. And if there is, the stones are a lot smaller than described in western media. Besides, a person should feel harm when he or she betrays his significant other, no?"

I have to give them credit for answering everything though. We asked some pretty sensitive questions that I know were not received as openly at some of the other missions.

Moment of the day: One of the diplomats was solemnly explaining how they were not allowed to go further than 20 miles (or something like that) from the Iranian Mission or they would get in trouble with US immigration, to which one girl blurts “but what if you want to go shopping!?”

UN Intern Newsletter

I somehow decided it was a good idea to join the intern newsletter committee. And after two weeks of threatening people to write stuff and finding volunteers to pose for pictures, the first issue is now out. Hopefully there will be a second. But then again, there's just so many things to do in New York that no one seems to have time to write about them. Happy read (there's three pages, just click on the arrows at the top).