People don't walk outside during the winter in Oslo. They waddle. While the city does an excellent job cleaning the streets, the sidewalks are an icy mess. Slipping and sliding is to be expected. Maybe it's only this part of the city, but it's really interesting walking to work. It's been around freezing so far this week, which I can deal with. We're expecting snow just about every day this week and temperatures are going to gradually drop. I'm glad I'm getting some time to get used to the temperature change.
My step-mother let me borrow her laptop and my step-sister let me borrow her external hard drive, so I'm currently sitting at a company flat borrowing someone's Internet to post to here via the laptop while listening to MP3s from the external hard drive. It's nice.
I'm remembering a lot of the lessons about living in Norway I learned last time I was here. It's nice being in an apartment again with two other Opera geeks where we can talk about computers all the time. It's really just nice to be in an apartment again. I feel all cluttered in my room at home and this apartment has high ceilings and minimalist furniture. It's a refreshing contrast to what I came from.
I do miss my family (however much I may complain about them), friends, and home. And Rebekah, of course. I like driving and I won't be behind the wheel for another two months. I'm going to try harder to find a church this time around, otherwise I'll be churchless for the next two months, too. Despite the drawbacks, two months seems to the optimal amount of time to be here. It's not too long to cause massive amounts of havoc in my life at home, but long enough to get some real work done and rekindle friendships with co-workers.
As with my last trip, this visit comes at an optimal time in my relationship with Rebekah. To be honest, I was looking forward to this time apart. We have a lot to think about. It's hard to really step back from things going on in a relationship without some time apart. This gives us that time without having to say, I need some space to think about things.
Mind you, these are all positive thoughts I'm thinking here, but they're thoughts that need some distance to develop the way they need to.
I've already gotten some invites to go skiing and I'm having a great time with my co-workers and roommates. I have a feeling this two months is going to go by real fast. But hopefully not too fast.
PS: Helen, you gotta stop calling Norway, Norwegia.
I've almost said it a handful of times recently. I'm so going to say it and offend someone and it's going to be all your fault.
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haha! helen's got you saying Norwegia? that's awesome! (well, maybe not for you...but it's still awesomely funny) It's like me and saying Canadia. Solution to your walking to work issue: buy skis and ski to work ::grins:: anyway, good luck with the not falling down on your way to and from work.
Yeah, see, skis wouldn't solve the falling down problem. They'd probably make it worse.
Hi Tim,
In my native language it's also "Norwegia", and I had to have installed a server rewrite in my head to dynamically switch to "Norway" :)
Your (and Ian's) descriptions of Oslo sound like home to me. And I'm here, in a place you'd probably call home, stranded inmidst of corn fields, and to tell the truth, I would have myself feathered and tarred to once again wad through sloshy snow of nonuniform consistency on the streets!
Hang in there, the love of snow comes gradually to a man :] I recommend Peter Høeg's "Smilla's Sense of Snow", even if on a DVD...
best regards from the North Pole,
M.
Moose,
Greetings! I actually said "Norwegia" (accidentally, mind you) while I was talking to my sister on the phone this afternoon. I'm sure if it slipped out the people here would be quite understanding. They've always been very good-natured about the way I slaughter their names.
Corn fields remind me of my previous home in Champaign, Illinois. After leaving the city limits, it seemed the only thing you'd see for forty miles in any direction were rows of corn stalks.
I do rather enjoy the snow. It's just the cold that usually bothers me. I'm quite disappointed that we haven't had any noteworthy accumulation thus far, but I'm hoping the weather this week will remedy that.
Once nature adds a touch of beauty to the city, I'll add some pictures to my photo gallery so everyone can get a better idea of the landscape.
technically it's my father's fault... but that's just the human nature in me with the finger pointin' and stuff... plus it's fun to blame your dad for stuff. :) and how does one say norway in norweigan, anyway?
"Norge." When an "e" ends a word in Norwegian, it gets an "a" sound, like in "gun." So, it sounds like "Nor-ga." It makes pronouncing names you've only seen writing before very interesting.
Or "Noreg", if you speak the other form of Norwegian. They can't even agree on what to call their country :-) And then there's the name in sámi as well. I don't know what that is.
It's fun to read about the problems non-Scandinavians have when encountering our climate. I mean, I went by bike to work here in Oslo this week when it was -15°C :-) (Okay, so that's not really a good idea, I don't really recommend it, but it's a lot cheaper (and faster) than taking the bus)
I probably would be taking the bus, but the closest stop to my flat is also the closest stop to the office.