A day in Norwegian News

Today there were two articles in the English version of the local newspaper that were interesting.

First, I found out that as of today it is recommended that we boil all water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth. Apparently there has been a parasite found in the water supply that causes stomach illness. Oh joy! Add that to my list of things to do.

Enjoying my new hobby of boiling water.

Second was an article about a debate over "play" in the local barnehages (Kindergartens). (I did not put the type of play because I don't want Internet searches to link to my blog). Take a look at the article. I guess I am glad now that we did not find a place for Katherine in a barnehage if this is the attitude towards this kind of thing. I would say let me know your thoughts but I have a feeling I know my readers pretty well and know your thoughts on this one. Feel free to comment though.

Bogstadveien

Bogstadveien is the name of our street. It is the main shopping street in Oslo with a lot of chain stores and one of a kind boutiques. It is a fun place to live for a short time but if we were here for a long time I would want to live in a quieter area with more green space.

On Saturday afternoon the place is a madhouse. The seats at the cafes are full. The sidewalks are not navigable with a stroller for all the women loaded with shopping bags. There are cars zooming by trying to find a place to park. It is a happening place.
Sunday morning at 11 am. It is a ghost town. The stores are all closed. A few cafes are open but barely starting to have some customers. Every building and shop has at least 3 floors of apartments above them so we have not been able to figure out where all the people are. I guess either they got up really early to go hiking or they are still asleep after last night's festivities.

These photos are taken from the same street corner. One on Saturday afternoon, the other on Sunday morning. The building on the right is our apartment building. We live above the "WOW" store.

Let's talk about the weather

That is always what people think of when describing mundane or shallow conversation - talking about the weather. Seriously though, what is the weather like where you are?

Every morning when I get up I look at the Oslo weather on my computer. Today it was 30 degrees! That is Fahrenheit folk, below freezing. If I had seen 30 degrees Celsius (86 F), that would be more what I am used to for this time of year.

So, for community group that went to the lake last weekend and my friends whose blogs have pictures in tank tops and shorts, I am currently wearing a turtleneck and sweater. And that is inside my apartment. This morning I also had on my ski coat when I went to the grocery store.

What is the weather like where you are?

Hump Day

I realized that yesterday was hump day - not because it was wednesday, the middle of the week but because it was the middle of our trip to Norway. That means we are in the downhill stretch. Since I have a lot of people who keep asking when we are coming home, I have added a "ticker" on the bottom of the blog that will update with how long until we come home.

I would say that the "honeymoon" of being here is definately over. It is still fun and a great experience but the excitement has worn off. Things that were amusing and culturally different at first are challenging and annoying now. It gets lonely from time to time as we don't have the community that we do back home. But, we are doing just fine so don't worry.

Before we left, I wrote a post on the things I will miss while in Norway. Now I am updating it to be the things I do miss in Norway.

1. My car.
2. Unlimited amounts of hot water - enough to shave both legs in one shower.
3. My garbage disposal-I hate having to throw food bits in the trash-it stinks.
4. My full size washer and dryer that fit twice as many clothes and are more efficient.
5. My long comfortable couch rather than a couch you cannot stretch out on.
6. My nice queen size bed rather than a twin and a smaller than double side by side.
7. My dog Hooligan - not only do I miss the companionship but also the great job she does cleaning up Katherine's messes
8. My neighborhood.
9. My back and front yard.
10. My grocery store - there are just so many things that are hard to find here.
11. My kitchen full of all my gadgets, tools, recipes and ingredients. I feel like I am in a cooking slump. If you have an easy recipe with simple non-processed (and thus hard to find in Norway) ingredients, could you please send it my way? I know I could look on the internet but honestly, I just have not made it a priority.
12. A house with more space though I do enjoy not having as much stuff.
13. Playgroup - I sure miss time with my mommy friends and Katherine misses all of her playmates.
14. Community group-what a great fellowship we have. I sure miss our time together.
15. Mother's Day Out - I sure could use a break a few times a week and Katherine could use the time with her friends.
16. Most of all I miss my family and friends - more than I thought I would. I took for granted how many wonderful friends I have that I can call to get together any day of the week. I have not found that here. I have a few friends but it takes time to get to know people at the depth of my friends at home. Some days it can get lonely.

A lot of these things are petty and I appreciate that I am able to enjoy them at home. I still have so much to be thankful for and somuch more than most people in the world.

It's not Divine Cosign or JBF

One thing I love is a good bargain. Every September and February I plan my Fridays and Saturdays around the seasonal kids consignment sales. I love them. I have a group of friends that meets there for a day of bargain hunting. Almost all of Katherine's clothes and toys have been bought at consignment sales for a fraction of the original cost.

I was sad that I would be missing the sales, especially the JBF and Divine Consign sales. Where would I get Katherine's winter wardrobe? Luckily my friends came through early and we have a ton of winter clothes. Still, I was aching to go to some sales.

My friend Jennifer in Oslo told me about the Loppemarkeds. Last weekend almost every school had their Loppemarked, most to raise money for the band. I met my friend Hilde and we went to 2 sales. i could have gone to more but with walking and carrying purchases and using public transportation it was just more difficult. I had was looking for things for Katherine mainly-some hats, gloves, dress coat, rain suit and any winter items I thought we would need here. I was a bit disappointed. It was more of a garage or rummage sale and so the quality was not as high. Also there were not many kids things.

You can see in this photo what I came away with. The clothing items are a dress that will be next summer or at our rate of growth the following one, a shirt and pants outfit for Katherine and a nice wool scarf for Sam. The other items are a suitcase for getting more of our junk home, a toaster, a hand mixer and a phone. I spent a total of about $30 for all of these items so I did pretty well.

Today I found a kids second hand store and I bought Katherine a rain suit. Kids here go outside regardless of the weather and we get a bit of cabin fever so I thought it was worth it.

I am so through with public transportation

Katherine and Daddy enjoying a ride on the bus.

Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that Oslo has a well organized, thorough and efficient public transportation system since we are without a car. We ride buses and subways daily and the tram and trains at least weekly. If we were in a city like our home town with a less complete and more difficult to navigate public transportation system, I would really be going crazy. I am however, sick of having to rely solely on public transportation.

I realize how much I love my car. Here is why.

1. I am able to strap Katherine into her carseat. Though she has been known to wiggle her arms out of the strap, she has yet to get herself out of her car seat. In Oslo, we wheel her stroller onto the bus, tram or subway and within seconds she is standing in her stroller, getting all arms and legs out of the straps. She then wants to sit in your lap or even worse, crawl all over the floor which was last cleaned before I was born!
2. If I am rushed and leave the house three minutes late, I might get lucky and make all the lights and get there on time or at the worst, I arrive at my destination three minutes late. In Oslo, if I leave our apartment three minutes late, it sets a chain of events in motion that can result in missing the first leg of a complicated transportation matrix that results in me being an entire 30 minutes late. This is especially bad on Sunday when most buses, including the one that takes us to church only run twice an hour.
3. Actual travel time. For me to get to church in Norway it takes 45 minutes. I walk, take a bus, walk to a different bus and wait, take another bus and walk to the building. A few times we have been able to ride with someone else to church and it took only 15 minutes. Somehow it has been rainy the last two Sundays which adds to the fun.
4. If it is raining, I am able to load Katherine and all baby accoutrements into the car in the comfort of my garage thus remaining dry. If I am lucky the rain stops before I reach my destination or I park in a covered parking garage. At worst, I have to walk, oh maybe 100 feet if I get a far parking space. In Oslo, I have to load Katherine and all of her accoutrements into the stroller. Then I try to fasten a rain cover that was designed for out small stroller onto our borrowed jogging stroller. Even when on as good as possible, it still allows Katherine's feet to get wet and that is if she does not play with it and lift it up over her head getting all of her wet! Then I walk 1/3 of a mile to the subway to get wherever I want to go. Arriving there, I will usually have to walk more in the rain. Most rainy days I just try to stay home. I can't wait until it gets cold and that brings more adventure.
5. Running errands on the way home from something is an advantage of a car. For example, if I go visit my friend Amy, I usually stop at the 75% off bookstore by her house on the way home. Or, when I go to my dad's office, I will stop at a lot of places since it is in a retail area. In Oslo, usually where I am headed is no where near the places I would want to run errands.
6. A car is a great storage area. In my trunk I have things that allow me to be prepared for many situations. I have a stroller, sling, picnic blanket, pool floaties, Katherine's nap mat, extra diapers, beach bag with both of our swimsuits, towels and sunscreen, toys, and who knows what else. It allows me to be spontaneous. Also, when running the above mentioned errands, I have a lot of space to put purchases. I am in and out of shops all day and I don't have to think about how large the packages are or how I will get them home. In Oslo, I have the basket of my stroller and whatever I can carry for storage. By the time I put Katherine's diapers, lunch, sippy cup, our coats and the rain cover, most of the basket is full. Think what a challenge going to the grocery store would be if you could not wheel the shopping cart right up to your SUV or the trunk of your car. Thus, I go to the grocery store almost every day! I hate that.
7. My car is private. I can talk on the phone, sing with the radio, pray or talk to Katherine with no one else paying attention to what I am doing. If Katherine is in a bad mood and crying, it bothers no one but me. On public transportation, well, it is public. If Katherine is in a mood (which public transportation puts her in) then I feel like I annoy a bus full of strangers.

I know that I am very lucky to have a car - heck our family has three cars and only two drivers. Most people in the world do not have a car and have to face challenges to get where they need to go. I am very lucky. Still, I am ready to have my car back.

Bikes, Bikes and more Bikes

In Copenhagen you see bikes everywhere you turn. Our tour guide told us that over 50% of the people who live in Copenhagen depend on a bike for their main form of transportation. They were parked everywhere. Literally I don't know that there was a single moment that I was outside that I could not see large numbers of bikes parked and being ridden.

In order to use a bike as a main form of transportation, bikes have to be adapted a bit from what we are used to for riding around town. They must have baskets for your purse or groceries. If you have kids, you have to have a place to put them. Why not on front. And of course, if it is raining, keep those kids covered. And of course, if it is raining, keep those kids covered.
If you have a wife, put her in front with the kids. Why not, it is a great family bonding time don't you think?And if you want to drive a taxi, why not a tuk-tuk?
There were many other great biking pictures that did not get taken because the camera was not out or it was raining. It rained while we were there so we saw people with all kinds of rain gear. There were a lot of ladies that were biking in heels or dresses.

The cool thing is that EVERY street in Copenhagen has a bike lane. There are even bike traffic lights and special bike turn lanes. It took a little adjusting to get used to looking for both bike and car traffic.

35 and I'm so alive

Yes, my birthday was this past weekend and I turned 35. That sounds so old to me. I am now in my mid-thirties and half way to 70. It was kind of a weird birthday really. We are in Norway so really not many people here know it was my birthday. My love language is gifts (and celebrations) so I usually like to have a big celebration - getting together with friends, cake, ice cream, cards, presents - all that stuff. This year it was just me, Sam and Katherine so very low key.

As mentioned in a previous post, Sam had a work retreat and was going to miss my birthday so Katherine and I rented a car and a cabin so we could be with him and then he took Labor Day (not a Norwegian holiday) off work to celebrate. You can see that we had a great view from our cabin of Lake Nisser.

The day started off bad because Sam was sick all night. So, I let him sleep in. That meant I had to keep Katherine entertained and quiet in a small cabin with not many toys. We ate breakfast on the porch and walked around the facility finding the playground and the "bouncing pillow".

Our plan was to go into town to eat lunch and then go on a hike. Here is another cultural difference. Everything was closed because it was Sunday. I mean everything. I knew the grocery store would be closed so we bought some groceries on Saturday. There was not a single restaurant open. So we decided to drive to the next town which is larger. We were lucky and there was one restaurant open. You can see that it was a gorgeous day with perfect weather but no one was enjoying the restaurant. There was one other group there. I guess if you are used to everything being closed on Sunday you plan for it and enjoy the day of rest with family. Really in a way I am jealous of the mentality because so often we are way too busy on Sunday. But, when you are used to everything being open, it kind of throws you off. I digress.

After lunch we went back to Vradal where notmuch was going on. We went on what was supposed to be a short hike but we misunderstood so it was kind of a long hike. It was pretty though and we had great scenery.

This was an interesting community we saw on our hike. It was literally in the middle of no where. I have not idea what these people are doing there. It was probably a complex of vacation homes. I thought it was cool thought that a newer community still had the grass roofs.

For dinner we went to one of the hotels in town for a buffet. It was good. It will be one of our only chances to have traditional Norwegian food since we are cooking most of our meals.

This post is sponsored by...

Emily, Kate and Penelope. Katherine has a very cute wardrobe here in Norway, assembled from all of her friends who let us have or borrow their outgrown winter clothes since buying winter clothes in July, in Texas is not easy. So, today she wore Kate's adorable brown velvet pants, Penelope's pink cashmere sweater and Emily's brown shoes. It was quite a nice ensemble.




Katherine helped me to do laundry today. It seems that even more than back home there is always laundry to be done. This is due to the fact that our washer is about 1/2 the size as back home and it takes twice as long. Katherine thinks it is fun to help me take the clothes out of the washer and then hand each item to me to put in the dryer. I hope that she continues to think chores are fun.

Today we went to the International Mom's and Toddler's playgroup. There were about 15-20 mom's and toddlers. Most were from the US or the UK. It was a lot of fun and meets every week so I look forward to adding it to our schedule. I met one mom, Wendy, who is from Houston. She is a Christian and really nice. She has 4 kids, three of whom are in school and the youngest is 10 months. Denise was also really nice. She has a daughter who is about to turn 2. I also met a British mom who happens to live in the building right across the street. In a city of 500,000, what are the odds that I would randomly meet someone who lives that close at a small meeting?

I was very glad to meet her and hope to ride with her in future weeks. Getting to the playgroup (and anywhere for that matter) was not that easy. It was at a church that is 6 km from the city center (about 3.5 miles). In Texas that is practically next door! In Norway, it takes 35 minutes to get there. I had to walk 5 minutes to the subway, go one stop, walk 2 minutes to the bus stop, wait 10 minutes, take a 13 minute bus ride, and walk up the hill to the church. It was a nice sunny, cool day so it was no big deal but if it is cold and/or rainy (which it will be) then it is not so fun. That is pretty much how it is to get anywhere.

You also have to plan ahead. There is a website where you type in the name of your stop and where you are going and it tells you the best connections and the times. It can change depending on when you are leaving. If you are even one minute late it can throw off your entire itinerary and set you back 15 to 30 minutes depending on how often the buses run.

Katherine waiting for the bus to arrive.

Cooking

We are trying to eat at home as much as posible. The main reasons are because it is not easy to eat out with Katherine and we are all three trying to live off of Sam's per diem budget.

Cooking has been somewhat of a challenge in Norway. The first week I did not have my shipment which included my recipes so I was just improvising things. You can see that the directions for curry chicken are not in English. Luckily I bought a Norwegian-English dictionary. It has most words in it and there are pictures.

This first meal, curry chicken, was probably not made totally according to the directions, but you can see, it turned out pretty good.

Even after receiving my recipes there has still been frustration in cooking. It seems that every recipe has at least one item that is a challenge to find. Even at the large grocery store with more American items there were things I coudl not find. Some of the more difficult items have been poppy seeds, cream of chicken soup, and dry onion soup mix. I finally found poppy seeds but had to make substitutions for the others. I have found cream of mushroom soup and cream of celery soup.

Here are some of the exciting items that I found in the larger grocery store. It feels like home.

We wanted to have blueberry pancakes for breakfast because we had some blueberries that were going to go bad. The pancake mix had a picture of crepes so we bought the waffle mix instead. This was before we realized how popular really thin waffles were here.

I was ablet to decipher the entire set of directions but when we had the bowl of liquid and the bowl of dry we knew that it was going to be way too runny to make pancakes. Sam mixed until he thought it was the right consistency.

They turned out like pancakes but they were pretty dense and a lot sweeter than regular pancakes.

Another challenge in cooking I have had was an ill equiped kitchen. We are renting a furnished apartment but the kitchen is lacking. There was no casserole dish, muffin tins, loaf or cake pans or good utensils. There was also nothing in the way of spices so I am starting from scratch. The oven also seems to be a little off. Of course the temperature settings are in Celsius but I can figure out the conversions thanks to google. When I cooked salmon though it took over an hour for it to be fully cooked. I am thinking that the oven is not working properly. We are hoping to get an oven thermometer soon so we know the true temperature of the oven.

It is a challenge, but we are eating well and I am thankful that we have the option to cook. I could not imagine living in a hotel room without a kitchen, especially with Katherine.

Rubber Ducky You're the One

You make bathtime so much fun. Or should I say, you make bathtime. . . possible!

Our tiny bathroom has a sink, toilet, washer, dryer and shower - no tub. Luckily we knew this before we arrived. Katherine is not very fond of showers so we borrowed an inflatable rubber ducky bathtub from JG to use while here. It barely fits in the shower, but it does the trick.

Not bad weather, just bad clothing

I quoted this before. Apparently it is a common saying in Norway referring to the winter. They like to get out no matter the weather. You just have to have the right clothing for the weather. It seems though that Norwegians are not quite sure what to do with warm weather. And by warm, I mean 77 degrees which is quite cool to all of you in Texas right now.

The past few days the weather has been sunny and in the 70's. To me that is perfect weather for shorts and short sleeves. I see people wearing tank tops and I see people wearing scarves. Today I actually saw someone wearing both a spaghetti strap tank AND a wool scarf. I am amazed at how many I see with jeans and a jacket. Granted we always pack a jacket in case it gets cold, but we usually don't need to wear them. At the park I saw people laying out in a string bikini and someone walking past the sunbathers in a coat and jeans. You would think that being the one from Texas and use to 100 degree weather I would be the one bundled up for the chilly weather but I was one of the few women over the age of 20 that I have seen wearing shorts. I see capri pants and skirts, but not really shorts.

I think I have mentioned before that the kids are often bundled up as well. They have these heavy lambswool pads in their strollers, are often covered in blankets and wear sweatsuits or tights. I am sure that the Norwegians see me with Katherine in her short sleeves and shorts and think I am being neglectful.

There are some other interesting fashion trends that I have noticed here as well. The oddest is that often (and on purpose I might add) young girls underwear and outerwear do not line up right so that about 1-2 inches of their underwear or bra show. What is up with that? Yesterday I saw a women in her 40's with a very sheer white dress on. The slit went to about 3 inches below her crotch on both sides. I was walking behind her across the street and you could see straight through her dress. The funny thing was that her lacey underwear was kind of granny underwear in style. Because of the length of the slit, you could not wear a slip so I guess the dress was designed to show of the underwear.

Just some interesting cultural observations.

Expensive Shopping

I was told that Norway was expensive before we got here but I have traveled a lot and did not think that much of it. The first two days that we were here we did not even know what the exchange rate was so we felt as though we were spending with reckless abandon. Since our luggage had not arrived, we were having to get some essentials. We just bought what we needed without looking at prices because we did not know the rate anyway. Now that we know the rates we are shocked at what we paid. It is a little weird too because we are here for work and getting reimbursed for expenses. So, between not knowing the exchange rate, being reimbursed from work and living on one of the most expensive streets in town, we blew through over $1000 in 4 hours.

Here are some example outrageous expenses. When we arrived at 5:55 on Friday, I ran to the Body Shop that was a few doors down from our apartment to get shampoo and conditioner. Later I looked at the tag and realized that those two bottles cost just over $50! The night I went to the internet café I ordered dinner. I had a chicken Caesar salad that was very good. It cost $25. When Sam went to the same cafe to use the internet he got a beer that cost $11. With the multi purchase subway card each ride costs 20Kr which is $3.50. The cabride from the airport to the hotel was almost $200! Yikes.

Shopping is a different experience in Norway than back home. To start out, we do not have a car here so you typically are limited by shops that are in walking distance and you are limited in what you can buy by what you can carry. Monday when I went shopping with Christa to try to get things that our apartment lacked I broke both of these rules. I rode the subway to the end of the line and she met me there. It was close to her house and there was a shopping center at the train station. I took Katherine in the stroller and took the Patapum with me. Katherine fell asleep on the way so it was great shopping. I got a fair amount of stuff. Christa carried it while I pushed the stroller. We put it in her trunk and drove to the next stop.

Side note. I could not figure out how to carry our huge Britax car seat through town to the subway station so I chose not to take it with me. Christa had her carseat for her son but it was quite a bit larger than what Katherine is used to. I don’t like doing that because I plan to keep her rear facing as long as possible but it was better than the alternative of carrying her on my lap.

After we made our third stop at IKEA, Crista took me to the train station to get back in. I put Katherine in the patapum and put all of my purchases in the stroller. They barely all fit and I have even passed up on some items because I knew space was an issue.

We have learned that you typically go to the grocery store every day or two because you cannot carry more than that. You also should bring your own bags because they charge you for each grocery bag. We are using the bags that Shannon and George put in our stocking when we remember to take them with us.

We live in a part of town that is known for shopping and boutiques. There are a lot of shops that are very specific and we wonder how they can get enough business to stay in business. For example, across the street from us is a store that sells olive oil. That’s it – gourmet olive oil. There is a tea store and a cheese store on our street as well.