Perhaps many things can be paired successfully with a cafe -- gift shop, art gallery, hotel, museum -- but today I found my first cafe laundromat. It's ingenious really. You can sip a cappuccino or enjoy a cold beer, have some lunch (I recommend the laundromat special), chat with friends, surf the net or (in my case) update your blog in a comfy cafe. All the while your laundry is whirling away in the back room.
This morning when I set off with a backpack full of dirty clothes, Karl was feeling bad that I was the one to have to do the laundry. I insisted (and this is true) that it wasn't a problem at all since I had to review a paper and I could do that anywhere -- my office or a laundromat. I should note that there is a severe lack of self-service laundry facilities in Oslo. The nearest one involved a 10 minute bus ride followed by a 10 minute walk. But when I arrived at the supposed location of a laundromat, there was instead an antique store! Drats! The barrista at the neighboring coffee shop directed me to the laundromat cafe about 5 minutes walk away.
Laundry heaven! I am sure Karl and I will be vying for laundry duty now. I sit here on a soft leather sofa, sipping my cappuccino, with the sound of the spin cycle in the background. Ahh, another reason to love Norway.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Regatta
Karl and I are crewing on Serenity, Leif and Hanne's sailboat, for the weekly sailing club regatta. The purpose of the regattas are to get people out on their boats and have some fun. But we've also learned that, while very good-natured, there is quite a bit of competitiveness. We did quite well the first week, taking 1st, and were in the lead for most of the race during the 2nd week, but then we sailed out of the wind and the rest of the fleet caught up. The finish was really tight with boats mere inches away from each other. The regattas will continue through the end of September, finishing up just before the snow begins to fall.
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| Rachel, Leif, and Karl in the weekly regatta |
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Discovering Oslo
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| Sophia at the dock with downtown Oslo in background |
We also have said goodbye to Phil and Jeffrey, who have each returned to Seattle. We're empty nesters now. It seems so quiet on Sophia. We also noticed she's sitting higher on her waterline than we've seen in months :-) They were eager to get back home (see the photos of them running to get away from the boat...) and enjoy the lovely late summer in Washington.
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| Phil dashing off Sophia |
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| And then Jeffrey too The last few days have been filled with settling into life in Oslo. Practical things -- like getting my resident permit, getting a personnumber (like a SSN), setting up a bank account, a post office box, internet service, and mobile phones -- are all slightly different such that each seems to involve several hours scratching our heads at google translated websites. Suffice to say that of the above 'to do' items, only two are now done. Sometimes the processes are maddeningly circular -- I can't get my personnumber without an address; I can't get an address (at least a P.O. Box) without a personnumber. Oye! |
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| View from my UiO office |
We then walked to Frogner Park and Vigeland's sculpture park. The sculptures were evocative, depicting the range of human emotions. The design of the sculpture park itself (also the work of Vigeland) was stunning. The symmetry was striking, and the pairings of sculptures offered additional insight into the works. The sculptures also inspired re-enactments by the public, which were often comedic and brought additional delight that these creative works inspired people to physically engage with the pieces.
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| Vigeland's column of intertwined people |
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| Spontaneous Re-enactments |
We've also been trying Norwegian foods. Apparently tube food is all the rage (or so we've been told). It is unbelievable what you can buy in a tube (like a toothpaste tube): makeral, caviar paste, bacon-flavored cheese, shrimp-flavored cheese, lobster-flavored cheese (are you seeing a pattern here?), all-of-the-above-flavored mayonnaise. And the tube food sometimes has nifty patterned holes so one can squeeze the contents out in various designs. We opted for tube makeral and tube peppered mayonnaise to make Norwegian-style open faced sandwiches. They were quite delicious! And after a 5-month self-enforced banana-free boat (sailors are after all highly superstitious), we could delight in eating bananas.
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| Mackerel in a Tube |
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| You can just imagine Karl's delight!! |
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| First bite of the long-awaited banana |
I have been mostly surprised by the proximity of locales. Oslo is a very walkable city. At least now while the sun is still shining. All too soon it will be a skiable city! We look forward to that as well. For now we are enjoying the lovely late summer. We went sailing with our new friends, Hanne (Hannah) and Leif, for their weekly sailing club regatta. It was fun racing, and we got first place even though Leif and Hanne modestly claimed that they don't win often. (We met Hanne and Leif as we were sailing up the southwest coast of Norway, and they kindly showed us to a lovely anchorage which we shared with them for the night.)
So our first few days have been full and fun.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Velkommen til Norge!
Our journey to Norway began several months ago.
Or perhaps it really began a year ago.
Strike that.
This journey to norway began generations ago. My great great grandparents each left Norway for America in search of a better life. Once in America, they met, had a family, and for two more generations they remained solely of Norwegian descent. This is my paternal heritage and as a result the Norwegian surname has continued on to me. Names have real power. And because of my name I have strongly identified as being Norwegian. I suppose that is not the only reason. My Norwegian heritages comprises the largest portion of my ancestry, and is quite evident in my appearance. I have always carried a soft-spot in my heart for all things Norwegian, even if only mere trinkets of the culture: lefse, krum kakke, sayings like, "Uffda." I knew that one day I would travel to Norway, the first generation in my family to do so (to my knowledge) after more than a century away.
Yet it is also true that this journey to Norway began a year ago. I was nearing the end of my doctoral studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of Washington. I was what they considered "ABD" -- that is, All But Dissertation. My data were collected, analyses begun, and I was on track to finish writing my dissertation in another two quarters. I decided to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship to spend a year conducting research in another country. To be honest, I did not initially consider Norway. I wasn't aware of anyone doing research in my area in Norway and, as a result, thought it would be a long shot. It wasn't until Joan (my husband's mom) suggested that I look into it anyway. To my utter surprise and delight I discovered a group (The Center for Study of Mind in Nature) at the University of Oslo that was interested in similar issues. I contacted them immediately, sending them my CV and a description of my research interests. Initially I received the standard reply, "Thank you for your interest in being a Visiting Scholar at CSMN. We will circulate your CV and Research Statement to the faculty for consideration. You can expect a reply in two weeks." Okay, I could wait two weeks. An hour and half later I received a second email from CSMN, "We have reviewed your materials and are delighted to invite you to be a Visiting Scholar to CSMN for the 2010-2011 academic year." YES! I could hardly believe it. This was the first major step to my receiving the Fulbright.
Karl (my husband for those of you who don't know us personally) quipped that it would be fun to sail to Norway. I agreed. And this became another start to our journey to Norway.
At that time we had my grandparents' sailboat, Eagle, a 29 foot Ericson sloop. They had given us Eagle 5 years before when they retired from sailing. I had grown up learning to sail on Eagle and had had many adventures with my grandparents aboard her. In fact, it was on a trip as a young girl with my grandparents to Catalina Island that I learned the meaning of "panic." We had encountered rough seas as we approached the Isthmus. After we made it into the safety of the harbor, my grandma said that I had done so well in the rough water, that I hadn't even panicked. I asked what panic meant? When she explained I replied, "Oh yes, I panicked!" But I also had complete faith in their ability as sailors. So while I was scared, I knew I was in capable hands. When my grandparents offered Karl and I to take Eagle to Seattle, I knew it was a gift of their most treasured possession. For me, it was a gift of the spirit of sailing that we could share with our nephews and niece. It was also a gift of the memories that I had with my grandparents. She was more than just a sailboat. But Eagle could not take us to Norway. She was light and agile, but not built to cross oceans. Sailing to Norway meant finding a new home for Eagle and finding a new boat that could safely take us on our journey. We were very fortunate to find a family that fell in love with Eagle. Like my grandparents, they had young grandchildren they were eager to share sailing with. And they would love Eagle as she deserved to be loved. Around this same time, we found Sophia, a Hans Christian 38 cutter, a boat built for crossing oceans. It was in Sophia that my grandparents gift of sailing would continue. In April, 2010 we set off from the west coast of Mexico and arrived in Norway in early August of that same year. The chronicles of that trip can be seen here:
http://www.sophiagoestonorway.blogspot.com
Now we begin our life in Norway. And what an interesting life I think it will be! We'll be living aboard Sophia in Oslo. I'm certain that will provide much fodder for future posts. We'll also be exploring Norway and Norwegian culture. I'm also certain there'll be no shortage of humorous (at least in hindsight, I hope) experiences in our journey in the ways of Norge.
A new adventure story begins...
Or perhaps it really began a year ago.
Strike that.
This journey to norway began generations ago. My great great grandparents each left Norway for America in search of a better life. Once in America, they met, had a family, and for two more generations they remained solely of Norwegian descent. This is my paternal heritage and as a result the Norwegian surname has continued on to me. Names have real power. And because of my name I have strongly identified as being Norwegian. I suppose that is not the only reason. My Norwegian heritages comprises the largest portion of my ancestry, and is quite evident in my appearance. I have always carried a soft-spot in my heart for all things Norwegian, even if only mere trinkets of the culture: lefse, krum kakke, sayings like, "Uffda." I knew that one day I would travel to Norway, the first generation in my family to do so (to my knowledge) after more than a century away.
Yet it is also true that this journey to Norway began a year ago. I was nearing the end of my doctoral studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of Washington. I was what they considered "ABD" -- that is, All But Dissertation. My data were collected, analyses begun, and I was on track to finish writing my dissertation in another two quarters. I decided to apply for a Fulbright Fellowship to spend a year conducting research in another country. To be honest, I did not initially consider Norway. I wasn't aware of anyone doing research in my area in Norway and, as a result, thought it would be a long shot. It wasn't until Joan (my husband's mom) suggested that I look into it anyway. To my utter surprise and delight I discovered a group (The Center for Study of Mind in Nature) at the University of Oslo that was interested in similar issues. I contacted them immediately, sending them my CV and a description of my research interests. Initially I received the standard reply, "Thank you for your interest in being a Visiting Scholar at CSMN. We will circulate your CV and Research Statement to the faculty for consideration. You can expect a reply in two weeks." Okay, I could wait two weeks. An hour and half later I received a second email from CSMN, "We have reviewed your materials and are delighted to invite you to be a Visiting Scholar to CSMN for the 2010-2011 academic year." YES! I could hardly believe it. This was the first major step to my receiving the Fulbright.
Karl (my husband for those of you who don't know us personally) quipped that it would be fun to sail to Norway. I agreed. And this became another start to our journey to Norway.
At that time we had my grandparents' sailboat, Eagle, a 29 foot Ericson sloop. They had given us Eagle 5 years before when they retired from sailing. I had grown up learning to sail on Eagle and had had many adventures with my grandparents aboard her. In fact, it was on a trip as a young girl with my grandparents to Catalina Island that I learned the meaning of "panic." We had encountered rough seas as we approached the Isthmus. After we made it into the safety of the harbor, my grandma said that I had done so well in the rough water, that I hadn't even panicked. I asked what panic meant? When she explained I replied, "Oh yes, I panicked!" But I also had complete faith in their ability as sailors. So while I was scared, I knew I was in capable hands. When my grandparents offered Karl and I to take Eagle to Seattle, I knew it was a gift of their most treasured possession. For me, it was a gift of the spirit of sailing that we could share with our nephews and niece. It was also a gift of the memories that I had with my grandparents. She was more than just a sailboat. But Eagle could not take us to Norway. She was light and agile, but not built to cross oceans. Sailing to Norway meant finding a new home for Eagle and finding a new boat that could safely take us on our journey. We were very fortunate to find a family that fell in love with Eagle. Like my grandparents, they had young grandchildren they were eager to share sailing with. And they would love Eagle as she deserved to be loved. Around this same time, we found Sophia, a Hans Christian 38 cutter, a boat built for crossing oceans. It was in Sophia that my grandparents gift of sailing would continue. In April, 2010 we set off from the west coast of Mexico and arrived in Norway in early August of that same year. The chronicles of that trip can be seen here:
http://www.sophiagoestonorway.blogspot.com
Now we begin our life in Norway. And what an interesting life I think it will be! We'll be living aboard Sophia in Oslo. I'm certain that will provide much fodder for future posts. We'll also be exploring Norway and Norwegian culture. I'm also certain there'll be no shortage of humorous (at least in hindsight, I hope) experiences in our journey in the ways of Norge.
A new adventure story begins...
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