Here’s a blast from the past (September 13 2008). I love the play of shadows and the blue reflecting in the water. Somewhere-north-of-here fjord I actually did not recognize where the above was until I looked at some of the other photos from the same day: This was from an overnight trip with my then-department. […]
The final day of being lyrically challenged (in more ways than one), thanks to one of my inspirations for blogging, Paula at Light Motifs. If you’re feeling inspired, please do your own challenge and let me know about it! And now for the third song with lyrics I not only paid attention to, but also […]
I have been challenged by Paula at Light Motifs to do three days of song lyrics. I thank Paula for making me update my blog (no, really, I needed this) but I have no one else who is actively blogging to pass the challenge on to. That doesn’t matter. I don’t do anything that reminds […]
The great national holiday in Norway, on May 17th, is a far more involved and formal event than the equivalent celebration in the US, on July 4th. There are also a lot of traditions and traditional food associated with the day. This year, I’m going to partake in a 17th of May breakfast in town. […]
Explore:1. travel through an (unfamiliar) area in order to learn about it. 2. inquire into or discuss (a subject) in detail. I tend to “explore” according to definition 2. You’d think I’d be quite the globetrotter, since I live abroad and have always had a passport. However… I am not a bold or unconventional traveler. […]
As a native Californian, I still feel a bit of worry when I let the water run, like I see so many Norwegians do. It’s standard: They let it run to get it nice and cold. They well afford to: The one place that never seems to run out of fresh water is Norway. The […]
As the man said, as he took my signed papers, when I finally get notification that the Department of State has approved my renunciation in a couple of months’ time, the date on all the paperwork will say January 30, 2018. My renunciation day. All the having to be my own travel agent, map reader, […]
Wordless Wednesday MS Bruvik On Saturday, I took a tour with the MS Bruvik, the same boat that once ferried me to summer camp when I was about 10 years old. Back then it was just a boat ride. Now it was a historical adventure in several ways. I live close to the city center […]
I’ve never eaten at McDonald’s as much I have in Norway. Ironically. You’d think I’d be a regular when I lived in California, but no. Meanwhile, in Norway, McDonald’s has been vote Best Employer for 2016. If Burger King had moved into my local mall some 20 years ago, I’d be eating Whoppers. But it […]
Living in Norway means living with all kinds of traditions, some ancient, like bonfires on Midsummer’s Eve, and some much newer, like Valentine’s Day. Here in Bergen, the joke is that if you do something twice, you’ve created a tradition. Celebrating Halloween is becoming a tradition, one for the 21st century, and has been supplanting […]
My own egg cups The thing about growing up with a Norwegian grandfather is that you assume everybody has a cheese slicer and egg cups. Turns out that one of the things American immigrants left behind in Europe were egg cups. I was reading an article on Lifehacker about how Americans eat soft-boiled eggs, seeing […]
Ole Bull, violinist and considered Norway’s first “rock star”, had quite the flare for the dramatic and the mysterious. This last was why he was drawn to the island of Lysøen, where he built his last home. Portrait of a more mature Ole Bull next to flag gift from USA How famous was Ole Bull […]
I can now compare the opera “Madama Butterfly” to the movie “Pulp Fiction”: Both were to take about 3 hours to get through, and in both cases I gave up after the first hour. I’ve told people I’m not into opera or musicals. I don’t like my concerts interrrupted by story telling, and I don’t like my stories […]
The funny thing about being foreign is that I don’t talk about being foreign. Norwegian TV came to my place of work and interviewed some of our non-Norwegian employees during lunch. They managed to find one of the noisier places in our cafeteria to do so, but also a pretty visible one. (We assume it’s […]
He gingerly makes his way slowly down the footpath on two crutches. He is on his way to the mall, the center that is the hub of my part of town, where we shop and socialize. He looks to be around 70, and seems spry in spite of the slow two-crutched walk. He is tall […]
10 days in a bus can still teach one a thing or two. Like how asphalt will tent in extreme heat, blocking the whole autobahn. Or how upsetting Norwegians find dealing with older German tourists who speak fondly of their time in Norway back in the 40’s (I’m sure some US GI’s have made the […]
I think the most frustrating experience with the internet is TL;DR—too long, didn’t read. I have a long list of longer articles that I know interest me and that I want to read but the energy just isn’t there. Or the focus isn’t. Or the time. How annoying! All this knowledge literally in my lap […]
Wordless Wednesday
Damen hos politiet ba meg bruke jungeltelegrafen. Om hva? Jo, at nå skal det bli slutt på “stempel” i passet, dette innlimte arket med dårlig bilde og gyldighetsdato. I juni begynner ny ordning med et plastkort (sikkert med like dårlig bilde) og to års gyldighet. Kortet ordnes med personlig fremmøte (som nå), men sendes i […]
Wordless Wednesday Later, that same night:
A Roll in the Universe 