Sara's visit, New apartment, and Various Discoveries

Hello! Did I wait too long to write this? Answer: maybe. Now no one is interested in what I am doing. Well, fine: it's been busy here in Oslo, and I am going to tell the anonymous internet anyway.

Sara's visit: My wonderful friend Sara K. just came out to the Oslo for a week. We had some good times. Among them were the couple of times she helped me schlep large, unwieldly suitcases across town to my new, sparkling apartment. More on that later.

It started to snow here. It kept snowing. It snowed again last night. Every time I am not paying attention, there is more snow. I almost fall down all the time. Few other people that are not tottering old people seem to have this problem, but I bet my snow legs will come in.

Anyway, Sara and I wandered around this snowy city. At one point, we noticed that we sitting at a table in bar that had us and also a bunch of Rutger Hauers of various ages and stages of drunkenness. Also, we went to the best park in the world that doesn't sound that great: Frognerparken. Sara made Obama Sunrise cookies for the inauguration and I helped her decorate them - they were cute and tasty, and eaten up rapidly by all of my coworkers (like most humans, residents of Norway will come to any event where you say they will get something ingestible for free). We went to a great restaurant, apparently named after my cat (http://www.restaurantvictor.no/), and then had tapas her last night here. The bar was populated by real imported Spaniards who, of course, were charming in the loud and slightly intrusive way that so becomes that beautiful people.

As I mentioned previously, I have a new apartment on the 4th floor of a building (1940), which came with stuff in it, including plants. It is located proximally to other buildings, transport, people, and 3 different 7-11s, which are prolific here. There is some sort of bronze statue of a lady with a guitar visible from my window, and I can hear street noises enough to make me comfortable but not enough to wake me up in the middle of the night.

I received one request to discuss the food available in grocery stores. Sausages - an incredible variety of sausages. Many look like, but do not taste like, hot dogs. Some are dried and sliced. Also, small containers of mayonaissey salads designed for putting on little baguettes with other stuff, like salmon and hard-boiled eggs. Normal fruits and vegetables that cost a lot more than I am used to. Interesting yogurt and culture milk products. Very yellow, tasty butter and cheese. Granola with dried fruits in it. Fish cakes and dumplings. Also, however, lots of items related to tacos, pizza, and pasta. Lots of hot beverages available for consumption, as could be expected, resulting in a highly caffeinated, alert populace.

It is Friday afternoon: about 4:30pm. Almost everyone is gone, but there a few people holding on writing papers or theses or blogs or playing pool. I am going home now to transport Victor to the new apartment and lay around in piles of stuff I need to put away again and watch snow fall.

This is the first post of what can only be described as a shameless attempt to avoid writing emails to everyone. I love you all, but I would rather nap. So this frees up some time for you to tell me about your life when I talk to you: listening is easier, and I talk plenty. Hurrah!

In any case, I am here in Oslo, Norway, with an excellent, robust feline (Victor). Besides the travel, which irritates him, he does not seem to care where he is as long as there are birds, cat food, pets, and comfortable sleeping surfaces. Replace the cat food with snacks and I'm not so different.

I am currently staying in Lilleaker, a close suburb to Oslo, that is pretty close to Simula, whose offices are at a converted airport, IT Fornebu. For this reason, I feel like I got a job in space. Space is great: there is complimentary coffee and fruit, and a pool table, to be used only from 12-1 and after 4pm. Despite the niceness and closeness to work of my current living situation, I will probably try to move to some sort of expensive hovel in the city center, because I like to be close to stuff and other people. Where I am now would be a great location if I were forcibly isolating myself from humanity in order to write a brilliant first novel, or if I were on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and needed some quiet time. Since neither is true, I think I will move.

I think I'll probably write this every Sunday or if something especially amazing happens, just so you know when to eagerly hunch over your computer, anxiously waiting for my post. Is there anything you are curious about that I can tell you? About my experience in Oslo, I mean - if you are bi-curious, or want to learn to make kimchee, there are probably better people to ask. Anyway, send me an email or post a comment, and I'll get back atcha.