6:33

Okay, Jetlag, it's 6:34 in the morning. Now what? Got any great ideas? Huh? Not like any stores are open now, are they? Guess you're not as smart as you think you are.  

Best Places To Live

Better brush up on my German. All the occupants of the best places in the world to live (making them the best occupants in the world?) speak Deutsch. 

Norwegianism #3

Norwegians number their weeks. As in the week of January 1st is the first week and so on and so forth. So, for example, you might be asked to come in for an interview in week 14. Not the first week of April, but week 14. This gets quite confusing late into the year, for both foreigners and Norwegians alike. You might think that with all this confusion, Norwegians would maybe be keen on updating their system. Too bad they're too stubborn for that.

In other breaking news, while Nintendo's new wannabe apple device was subject to ridicule and doomed to fade into obscurity, the Japanese game designing company 冗談 came out with a funky, bollywood version of Guitar Hero. This delightful game, known as Sitar Hero, hits stores worldwide on Friday. Game creator Irujaki Minonoki is quoted as saying 私のゲームは驚きで市場、雌犬〔あばずれ〕の上のどんな他のゲームからのソックスも揺り動かすことができます！ はい、それは正しくて、私がたとえ年を取っていて、醜悪であるとしても、ゲームデザインの王で、漁師のようなにおいがします about his new game. Don't just listen to him though, go test it out for yourself. 

So Long, Norway, I'm Moving to Delaware!

You Should Live in Delaware

If you're concerned about me being a little hasty, you needn't worry. I already found a spacious apartment, a sexy boyfriend, and a promising career. Delaware will be good for me. I mean, Wayne and Garth loved it.

My Third Penned Dream About Barack Obama and Norwegianism #2 and An Unrelated Note

Another Barack Obama dream came to me in a restless state of slumber last night. I dreamt that B.O. was my father and I was at this store with him and he was buying me all this stuff, then he had to dash off to some political meeting. After he'd gone, I casually mentioned to a nearby Secret Service agent that sometimes it was nearly unbelievable to me that Barack Obama was my father. Especially noting the fact that we are of different races. Later in my dream we shared a father-daughter bonding activity: snowboarding. 

Norwegianism #2: Norwegians have this really weird way of convincing themselves they are being healthy and exercising. They will go on hikes, which actually just consist of spending most of the day driving to their planned hiking location. Once they have gotten there, they get out of the car, and begin their hike. After they've hiked, oh, say, a grueling 2 kilometers, they take a cigarette break. They continue on. After another 1-2 kilometers, they decide it's high time for a kvikk lunsj, or quick lunch- a type of Norwegian candy bar that they like to take on hikes. It resembles a kit kat bar. Now you probably think Norwegian is just English with a silly accent. You're right.

On and unrelated note, I really enjoy the new Man Man album, and if anyone felt compelled to buy it for me, I would make no objection. 

Norwegianism #1

A certain peculiar Norwegianism I've picked up on throughout my many moons of being here is the inclination to, and almost obsessive tendency for, airing out rooms. I have experienced this fascinating ritual performed many a time by many a Norwegian in their natural habitat, not least of all one of my closest acquaintances, whom we'll call specimen 003. I have been staying in the dwelling place of specimen 003 since precisely 7:00 pm on the eve of Monday, April , 2009 during Easter break (the veneration of religious holidays being another particular Norwegianism) and have noticed that every evening before it is time to rest our heads, she will open the window above the bed, letting the more than brisk and rather bitingly chilly nightime air roll over our weary heads. While my body remains at quite a pleasant temperature all wrapped up in its down comforter, my nose, perhaps owing to its longness (due to its Italian and German nature and heritage) and distance from the rest of my body thus making it an outermost extremity, becomes quite disagreeably chilled. After vain attempts to revive the blood circulation, I reluctantly cede and retire, assuaged only by the thought that if it becomes cold enough, it could fall off, in which case making me a ripe candidate for nasal plastic surgery, finally allotting me the petite, up-turned Norwegian nose I've always desired.

Valentine's Day

We had Valentine’s Day celebrations at Agder this weekend, and Nancy and I did not fall short of the holiday’s spirit this year. We lucked out at Kiwi with the post-Christmas sales and scored a 10 Kroner gingerbread house, so we decided to deck it out in Valentine’s Day colors. This idea was great in theory, but ended up in confusion of which kind of sugar to melt, and many burns on our bodies. However, it did look pretty cute.  Here are pictures of that, and some other random Agder in February pictures.

Our finished house.

Omvising på Søgne Gamle Prestegård

Nancy and Søgne after our first big snowfall!

Hovden

This past week I went on a short trip with the International class to Hovden, Norway. Hovden is sort of situated in the middle of Southern Norway, and its Narnia-worthy waist-high snowfall and multitude of peaks makes it a haven for skiers and snowboarders. We drove up on Monday morning, saw a reindeer on the way there, then got there and trekked through the aforementioned waist-high snow up a hill  (both ways) to get to our hytte (cabin). Once we got there and peeled the socks and boots off of our pruned, clammy feet, we sat down at the fire and didn’t move until it was time to eat. This would prove to be a common theme for the rest of our trip.

            The second day, Nancy and I made breakfast. Breakfast was at 9:00, because the night before, when Morten suggested we should have it at 9:30, which might get us to the slopes half an hour after they opened, Kyril threatened to kill him with a bucket of water: “Hvis ikke han står opp tidlig nok, jeg skal drep ham. Jeg skal kaste vann på ham.” After letting the rolls rise for what seemed like hours, we finally were ready to hit the slopes. I gave Nancy a quick ski lesson (I guess all those ski lessons I took in 6^th grade actually paid off, mom!), and then left her to maneuver her way around all the 3-year-olds and their parents on the barnebakken.  Then I made my way up to the big kid runs, and glided down like it hadn’t been 2 years since the last time I touched my snowboard.

            Later that night, we went ice skating, where, as shown by by stunning ability to skate backwards, my skating lessons of yore paid off. The next day, the other kids went swimming at badeland while I wrote in my journal and listened to the banter of Norwegian adolescents.

            

shredding the gnar.

trekking to the hytte.

Sorry, but...

There will be no post this Sunday, as today's been stressful trying to wash clothes and pack and stuff whilst getting ready to go to the mountains tomorrow. I'll try to post a brief update on Wednesday so I can make you all jealous with my descriptions of how wonderful it was snowboarding and skiing in the snowy, narnia-esque mountains of Norway.

Agderlørdag

Once every few moons, a class at Agder will be in charge of something known as Agderlørdag, or, Agder Saturday. This usually includes a themed sort of get-together with a dinner and some form of entertainment. Past Agderlørdags have included: 1950s, Bad Taste Party, Halloween at Hogwarts, etc. Yesterday evening the Art and Photo class held our Agderlørdag. The theme was "M Party", and we ate moussaka, mandlerkake (almond cake), meringues, and chocolate mousse. Afterwards we held a spoof of the Emmy Awards, the "M" awards, in which I was the "M"cee. We had a magic show, watched a short mystery film, and then showed Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Costumes got pretty creative. Pictures below. And, as an added bonus, I am including pictures of my roommate's gigantic box of shoes. From 2 angles.

Mummy.

Mahatma Ghandi.

Mexicans.

Munch and his Madonna.

Maler (painter), marihøne (ladybug), unidentified something that starts with M.

Happy New Year.

“So this is the new year, and I have no resolutions.”- Death Cab For Cutie

 

     Well, Death Cab For Cutie, you sloths, while you were producing bad album after bad album for Barsuk Records, I was writing productive resolution upon resolution. One of them being to update my blog…not bi-annually, not semi-annually, not monthly, not bi-weekly, not whenever the heck I feel like it, BUT EVERY FRIGGIN’ WEEK. The apocalypse must be upon us, you say! But neigh, I am indeed a changed blogger.

     Now I only have one problem. What do I blog about? As you have probably noticed, I’ve not blogged since October 7^th, 1785. Instead of long ramblings about each day since 334 years ago, I’ll just give you a brief bulletin’d update.

·          George Washington dies on December 14^th, 1799.

·          Coca-Cola is invented in 1886.

·          William Taft gets stuck in White House bathtub somewhere between 1909 and 1913.

·          Olivia goes to Thailand on November 12^th, 2008.

·          Olivia is supposed to come back from Thailand on December 2^nd, 2008, but cannot due to week-long protests in the Bangkok airport.

·          Olivia departs Thailand on December 6^th, 2008.

·          Olivia is supposed to go to America on December 21^st, 2008, but her flight from Kristiansand is delayed, causing her to miss her connecting flight to Minneapolis.

·          Olivia lands in Minneapolis on December 22^nd, 2008, and realizes that they’ve lost her luggage.

·          Olivia obtains said luggage, after wearing the same outfit for 5 days, on December 25^th, 2008.

·          It is no longer 2008 on January 1^st, 2009.

·          Olivia comes back to Norway on January 8^th, 2009.