Santa Claus

Drobak, Norway has the great honor of officially being recognized by the national government as the hometown of Santa Claus. With the holiday spirit all around, I had to pay a visit to Old Saint Nic myself. So I hopped on the 541 bus from downtown central station, paid 63 NKroner for my one-way ticket and I was on my way. I was pretty excited about going and had images of many gifts, food and good cheer everywhere. I was particularly excited and interested in visiting the Santa Claus Post Office, which handles as many as 300,000 letters from chidren all around the world, all addressed to Santa Claus.

When I got there, I walked down Main Street (a few blocks long) and noticed the Julhus-the Christmas store open all year long. After purchasing a couple of things for some good little girls and boys, I crossed the street to find the post office and the home of Santa Claus. I was a little disappointed when I entered and found a replica of Santa behind the post office teller window, but was pleased to see many families in line with children scribing their "Dear Santa" letters. I was tempted to write a letter of my own, but then I thought the other kids might think I was weird and selfish and too old, so decided not to. I did take some pictures of my excursion that I hope you will enjoy. Happy Holidays!!

The Silo

I forgot to mention that I live in a converted silo building. It was renovated in 2000, I think, for student housing. You might wonder if the rooms are actually round and the answer is 'Yes' (see Humble Abode entry below). Apparently they had a designer come in and specifically create furniture and cupboards for the round-shaped rooms. I was worried when I moved in that I would get dizzy from all the roundness, but really, it doesn't bother me any more. I walk in and think, 'Hey, here's my round room. Now where did I leave my slippers?'.

My humble abode

Attached are a couple of pictures of my place. Though I live in student housing, I have my own apartment which includes a kitchen, bathroom and one room. The room has two desks, a table with a chair and a lovely futon. The brochure says the size of the entire place is anywhere between 22-31 square meters; I would say it's slightly bigger than my living room at home. I don't want to give the wrong impression, so I must confess that the futon was upright only for the sake of these pictures. Typically it is down with my twin-sized white sheet over the mattress (barely tucked in on the ends) and my twin-sized down comforter with pillow in some amorphic shape in the middle. It's kind of nice to live this other life. For those who have visited my home in Minneapolis, you will know that 99% of the time, my bed is made right after I get out in the morning, much to Mike's disliking. I think he would more approve of my 'other life' here. For some reason, order is not as important when I am living on my own...or maybe it's that I am in another city!

Evening things out

I acquired a bike last Friday night. Actually it's a loaner for while I am here. A mountain bike that was actually purchased in Minnesota, it's sturdy, sits upright, has a 'wide-seat' and most-importantly--mud flaps, but bad brake pads. It's a little short for my frame, but since it cuts my commute in half, I am not complaining. Until this morning. A clear morning and near freezing, I wasn't too concerned about the conditions of the road as I rode slowly up the long hills to work. Today was a special day, though, as I planned to take a detour and visit my now-favorite bakery in Oslo--Apent Bakery (meaning Open Bakery) to pick up the close rival to the currant-cream scone sold at the May Day Cafe in Minneapolis. As I was happily biking, er coasting, down the hill from the bakery I made a right turn onto Sognsveien (street) and skidded right onto the right side of my body, now realizing just how slippery the roads were. A kind man on his bike, helped me pick up my backpack and bike and bring it to the sidewalk...and told me I should get spikes on my bike. Still stunned I had fallen and not sure I really wanted to move, I shyly agreed and proceeded to walk my bike the rest of the way to work. The only positive thing to this fall was that it was on my right hip and elbow (not my left, which usually feels all the pains of my falls). Now only if my white shirt felt the same way, as it now has a little blood stained elbow!

Tacos

Hmm, I'm not sure how this works yet. I haven't been given the tutorial from Mike and you all know how technically savvy I am (...not). That reminds me, I just saw the movie "Borat" the other night. What a hoot. If you haven't seen it yet, I would recommend, but just be prepared to sink into your seat a little when he, a Kazakh, encounters various people along his way through America. Okay, so take into consideration that I am terrible about remembering movies, let alone lines in movies, but I am going to make a stab at this. So one of the scenes Borat is meeting with somebody who is teaching him how to give a speech. The guy tells him that it's a good idea to open up with a joke. One of the jokes he recommends is to say something wrong, and then follow it up with a "not". Just like I did at the beginning of this entry. Okay, stupid story. Just go see the movie. My real entry...

Ja, I am in Norway, actually in the hubbub of Oslo--Grunerlokka to be exact, well, that's where my apartment is. I am told it's a trendy little area, an "up and coming" neighborhood. I can't comment on the trendy part, but I do know that within 5 minutes of my apartment I have a 7 Eleven, a Deli de luca (convenience store/bakery), two veggie stands, two cheap grocery stores (Kiwi mini pris and RIMI) and a nicer grocery store (ICA). Can you tell my existence is all about food? Last night I made tacos for dinner. Yummy! But being a vegetarian, you might ask what I put in the middle of my tacos. Good question. Given that I am in a new country with new grocery aisles and choices, it was difficult to decide, because my traditional "Morningstar" meatless crumblers were no where to be found here (yet!). So I first went to Kiwi (the cheaper of the grocery stores), but couldn't find any to serve as a filler...so I went to ICA (the more expensive grocery store) and located the aisle with canned vegetables; I figured pinto or black beans would suffice. Well not knowing any Norwegian, I spent a considerable amount of time distinguishing between kidney beans (rodo bonner) and baked beans. Then it took me a little bit longer to decide on the brunne bonner, thinking they were black or brown beans (no picture was provided on the can). Much to my satisfaction, when I got home and opened the can, I was happy to find out that indeed, I had picked pinto beans. The tacos were a yummy and a delectable success. I'll have to make those again.

Turkey?

Getting ready to pack myself full of turkey. I will run an 8k beforehand so I don 't feel as guilty eating 4 lbs of turkey and 3 lbs of pie. I did go bowling with my brother and kids last night. I bowled well 185, 174, 114. Ok I chocked when the competition got to tight. In 2 games I started with 2 strikes(guess which of the 2 that was) but just couldn't get the turkey. Does that mean anything except that i am not a good enough bowler to get a Turkey? No idea.

No Lost tonight but there is Day Break which seems to be somewhat entertaining. I don't know why I care because I probably wont watch any TV anyway.

No 1

Ok this is the first post. I am really just posting this to see if I have any idea what im doing. Anyway if anyone feels the need to correct my spelling or grammar. Go for it. I'll just warn you that I could spiral into writting blog posts in text message format. That would be fun to read right? Really though its not worth your time. My mom is an English teacher and she failed after like 23 years. Hopefully this will give people a chance to keep in touch with Koogs while she is away and give me somewhere to ramble on excessivley about nothing...