Saturday, February 27, 2010
...For Celine
After having a great time in the mountains skiing; it was time for some city outing. The main purpose of the trips was to renew Chloe’s 3 passports: French, USA and Argentina. For me it was back to civilization.
Chloe’s passport renewal was not as eventful as
Jeremy’s last year and there were no melodrama with the
passport photo either but when you don’t live in the country capital, you not only miss out on the diverse cultural exhibitions but you also need to make the trip for everything that has to do with administration (Chloe will even have to go back to Oslo to pick up her French passport in person!).
Oslo was cold and snowy… colder than Stavanger and snowier than Stavanger (What am I complaining about in Stavanger?!) but it was nice to be back in a big city (bigish… it’s about 590,000 inhabitants!).
So apart from 3 Embassies we went to the Viking Ship Museum (
Vikingskipshuset), home of 2 of the world’s best-preserved Viking vessels from the 9th century and sections of a third one. The ships are considered to be among Norway’s greatest cultural treasures
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| Gokstad ship excavated in 1880, the 24m (79ft) long ship has 16 pieces of planking on each side compared to the Oseberg’s 12 pieces |
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Oseberg ship
90 per cent of the 22m (72ft) long ship is of original wood |
Norsk Folkemuseum, an open-air museum featuring 150 reconstructed townhouses, farm buildings and churches from Norway’s past.
The National Gallery (
Nasjonalgalleriet) to see the Scream (Skirk) painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. We even made a pit stop at the
geology museum (wonder whose idea this was?!!) and stroll around the city center with a quick look of the royal palace from outside
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| Not my idea! |
the
Rodhust (City Hall)
and the
Nobel Peace Center
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| Fresh from Obama's visit |
We also managed to go see the granite sculptures at the
Vigelandsparken. It is Oslo’s largest park and has 212 sculptures depicting humanity in all its forms. The focal point is the 17-m (56-ft) tall Monolith, comprising 121 human figures, supporting and holding onto each other.
Not too bad for a 3-day trip. We’ll have to come back in the spring or summer at some point since I would like to see Oslo under nicer weather.
Little anecdote I read somewhere about the stairs leading to the Royal Palace often referred as Eli-Trappa (Eli Stairs). (well you cannot see them under the snow on this picture!)
Eli-trappa
Eli is the wife of a prominent politician in Norway. One day (in 2001) she had to drop off her husband at the royal palace in Oslo for a government dinner. She had been to the palace grounds many times before but had never driven. Not sure where to go, Eli headed straight for the main road… down the palace stairs. She had driven off the palace circle road, past the Karl Johan statue and right over the mouth of the stairs. A little embarrassed, she drove straight home. When her husband called to see if she was all right she wouldn’t answer the phone. In fact, she didn’t answer the phone the whole night even though it was ringing off the hook. The media had gotten word of her ‘little embarrassment’ and were now camped outside her house pushing for an interview, a comment, a picture – anything!
Today, the palace stairs, Eli-trappa (the Eli stairs), has become a house-hold name.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
...For Jeffrey
It’s school holidays again and we are going to Fidjeland. It sounds exotic, doesn’t it? Well dream on because it’s not where you think… it’s Fidje NOT Fiji (oh I wish).
After our
first trip to a company
hytte and surviving it
(oh how I miss my former life of 5* hotels in some far away paradise!) we found out a couple of weeks ago that the Management hytte was available (THE management hytte, how exciting!) so we once again packed everything we could think of (bed sheets, sleeping bag, salt/pepper, dish washer powder, woolly underpants, etc…!!!) and embarked on another trip to the mountains.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for Jeremy’s first time on the ski slopes. It was also Chloe’s first time on the real ski slopes; her first try at skiing was another one of
China’s experience! Jeffrey tried to remember his snowboard techniques and I was reminded that I’m not 20 years old anymore (well at least my knees let me know it!).
While I skied about twice a week in the 70s
(I’m from the French Alps, home of the best ski and I skied for free then) to about once a week in the 80s then once a month in the early 90s
(Au pair in Colorado has its advantages!), the last time I skied was in August 1999 just north of Santiago de Chile. While the technique was still there, my lack of exercise was cruelly showing!!!.
On a side note, while Jeremy can be the laziest person when I’m around; he picked up his skis and climb the slope when the baby Poma stood still for too long… there’s nothing like a girl to impress to make him do thing!
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
...The Norwegian Way
I’m not planning on going to prison any time soon (more like never) but I’m guessing that if one has to go Norway might be the place!!!
A new jail will open in Norway on the 1st of April, which is incredibly modern with Banksy-style street art everywhere, natural lighting and even a music studio. It looks nicer than some people's houses.
It'll contain 252 inmates when it opens, and will be the second-largest prison in Norway—situated near the Swedish border on 300 acres of land. Over 1.3 billion kroner (about $217m) was spent constructing it, with six million kroner ($1m) spent on the artwork alone, which was daubed by the Norwegian street artist Dolk.
The brand new facilities include a gym, a training room, a sound studio, a chapel, a library, several workshops, a family visiting unit, a football pitch and a school, where inmates will get the opportunity to study and gain a range of professional qualifications aimed at facilitating their release into society.
The cells themselves are bright, and are arranged in small units of 10 and 12 cells, joined to a common living area, where inmates will prepare food and socialise in very much the same way they would in any communal building. All cells have flat screen TVs and en-suite bathrooms, and some kind of view – what’s more, the windows don’t have iron bars. Indeed if it weren’t for the 1.3km-long and 6m-high wall surrounding the compound, and the locks on the doors, you may at times forget this is a high security penal institution.
Rehabilitation is key in the Norwegian penal system, which explains most of the thinking behind the design here. Countries track recidivism rates differently, but even an imperfect comparison suggests the Norwegian model works. Within two years of their release, 20% of Norway's prisoners end up back in jail. In the U.K. and the U.S., the figure hovers between 50% and 60%. Of course, a low level of criminality gives Norway a massive advantage. Its prison roll lists a mere 3,300, or 69 per 100,000 people, compared with 2.3 million in the U.S., or 753 per 100,000 — the highest rate in the world.
However “Halden Prison” houses drug dealers, murderers and rapists, among others so I’m not sure they are the best roommates!!
By comparison, this is how the Ming Gong ("Migrant workers") who built all the building sin Beijing live...
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| Photo: Genevieve J. |
Sunday, February 21, 2010
...The Snow Globe Again?
As we are to embark on another expedition to one of the company’s
Hytte, it’s snowing again in Stavanger (just like the
last time).
The first snow fall in Stavanger was about 2 months ago and it’s snowing again today. It really feels like we are in a snow globe. But I have to say that I don’t mind the snow because frankly snowing = not raining and the words ‘not raining’ make me really happy.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
...… Grab the Headlines
As the Norwegian men’s curling team won 7-5 over China in its fifth match of the Winter Olympic Game, let’s talk about the Norwegian sense of style (once
again!)
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| Way to get everybody attention |
The team of Thomas Ulsrud, Christoffer Svae, Torger Nergaard, Thomas Loevold and Haavard Vad Petersson drew plenty of stares at a training session Sunday with their John Daly inspired pantaloons from a retailer of golf pants named Loudmouth (quite the appropriate name!), which specializes in selling extremely colorful fashion.
"There are no rules against the pants, but there may be after this," said the flashy-dressing Second Christoffer Svae.
The Canadian Curling Association (CCA) mandates the wearing of black pants at all Canadian events, but according to Warren Hansen, CCA Director of Event Operations and Media, the World Curling Federation (WCF) might overlook the rule.
"The WCF is working on a dress code, but I do not think they have implemented it yet," Hansen said.
One of the best comments I read was this:
Curling? WTF is that? Did anyone ever care about this Olympic sport before the Norwegian team showed up with these blindingly loud pants? Either these kids got lost in Johnny Weir’s wardrobe on the way to the rink, or they thought they’d stand out with something different and, uh, attention-grabbing. Grab the world’s attention they did, and now everyone’s aching to know more. (Or more like whhyyyyyyyy???)
They even have a
Facebook fan page!
Friday, February 19, 2010
...I Mean Bring-Your-Parents-To-School Day
Today was Student led Conference at School. Kids were at hands to show their parents what they indeed do during those 7 hours they spend at school. It was interesting to see how proud they were to be in charge. Jeremy followed his time schedule very seriously.
Maybe Jeremy is working too hard… here’s where I found him a couple of days ago while I got back to the car to grab something. But it’s not his first signs of
exhaustion!
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| A very tired Jeremy! |
Thursday, February 18, 2010
… She Made Jiaozi (饺子)
To keep a link to our former life I decided to make the traditional dish eaten on the fifth day of the Chinese New Year (I also made sure not to sweep my house on New Year’s Eve or had a haircut but you can read other Chinese traditions around
'Spring Festival' here).
Eating Jiaozi used to be very simple; either we would go to one of our favorite restaurants just around the corner of our apartment or just dig into the almost endless frozen supply made by Ayi.
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| Ding Tang Fung |
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| The real deal |
Well this year the ayi is called Celine and this Ayi doesn’t have the dough readily available so she had to make it from scratch (something the real Ayi didn’t even do!). So here you are:
Making the dough:
Making the filling:
Making the Jiaozi:
Cooking the Jiaozi:
The Best part… Eating the Jiaozi:
You can either boiled them (水餃 - shuǐjiǎo), steamed them (蒸餃 - zhēngjiǎo) or shallow-fried them (鍋貼 - guōtiē or 煎餃 - jiānjiǎo) which is known as potstickers in the US.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
...… You Live in Norway
...When you see 5 years old kids walking home by themselves after school. Well I should say skiing home in this weather.
Norway is a very safe country and you often see very young kids walking by themselves, going to or coming from school and it’s not a rare sight seeing kids playing in the neighborhood without adult supervision.
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| it's not a little snow that can prevent us from going to school! |
Monday, February 15, 2010
...in Stavanger
To celebrate our 6 months in Stavanger:
You Know You’re Norwegian When...
1. You can see mountains and the ocean, no matter where you are.
2. You have only two facial expressions, smiling or blank.
3. Your front door step is beginning to resemble a shoe shop.
4. You assume that a stranger on the street who smiles at or greets you is:
a. drunk.
b. insane.
c. an American.
d. All of the above.
5. Your native language has seriously deteriorated; you "eat medicine" and "go and lay yourself".
6. You enjoy the taste of lutefisk (jelly-like, bad-smelling fish) and cod prepared in any way, including fried cod tongues.
7. You can prepare fish in five different ways without cooking it.
8. You don’t question the habit of always preparing a “matpakke” (packed lunch).
9. You eat salt liquorish without wincing.
10. You vigorously defend whale hunting but do not eat whale meat.
11. You are not shocked to see babies left outside in their pram when it is -10°C.
12. You accept that you will have to queue to take a queue number.
13. You earn more than you spend.
14. You have two cars, a cabin and a boat, if not more.
15. You associate Friday afternoon with a trip to Vinmonopolet (State wine monopoly).
16. You think nothing of paying 50NOK for a bottle of 'cheap' spirits at Vinmonopolet. (US$1,- = NOK 7.50)
17. The reason you take the ferry to Denmark is:
a. duty free vodka
b. duty free beer
c. to party
18. The only reason for getting of the boat in Copenhagen is to eat pizza.
19. It no longer seems excessive to spend 500NOK on alcohol in a single night.
20. You care who wins the "Hvem fanger sommerens stoerste fisk" contest.
21. You rummage through your plastic bottles collection to see which ones you should keep to take to the store and which can be sacrificed to the recycle center.
22. You think there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.
23. It feels natural to wear sport clothes and backpack everywhere, including the cinema, bowling alley, and to church.
24. You wear socks and sandals
25. You think it’s weird if a house isn’t wooden.
26. You think cross-country skiing is the only *real* skiing.
27. You know at least five different words for describing different textures of snow.
28. You don’t fall when walking on ice.
29. You fall 3 metres, and don’t get hurt. If you do, you’re not worried at all.
30. You associate Easter with cross-country skiing with friends and family in the family mountain cabin.
31. You are shocked if there are not 2 months of snow every year, at least!
32. You think riding a racing bike in the snow is a perfectly sensible thing to do (with or without snowtires).
33. You get a bad conscience because you are inside when it is sunshine.
34. You go swimming when the water is 12°C (53.6°F) and claim it's "refreshing."
35. An outside temperature of 9 degrees Celsius is mild (in mid June)
36. You have a barbeque party during rainy weather.
37. It's acceptable to eat lunch at 11.00 and dinner at 15.00.
38. Your old habit of being "fashionably late" is no longer acceptable
39. You expect all dinner parties and meetings to start precisely on time, if not before.
40. You can’t understand why foreigners haven’t heard about Bjørn Dæhlie.
41. You’re more afraid of customs officers than terrorists.
42. You miss your flight to shop at the tax-free shop.
43. You buy drinks at the airport at 6 am.
44. You buy tobacco just to get your tax-free quota, even if you don't smoke.
45. You’re proud to be Norwegian.
I had to post that. I already have the one for
Asia,
China and
Beijing so one about Norway had to appear sooner or later!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Mother’s Day to my Friends in Norway
Happy Chinese New Year to my Friends in China
And Happy Valentine’s Day to my Friends all over the World
And for those of you who were following my blog in China you might recall that I had a traditional Valentine Post for my male reader(s) so here’s the post for this year…oh those Frenchies!!! If you want to have a look at the previous ones:
2007,
2008
Btw we used to live a couple of street near where this was filmed (Rue Montorgueil)
Apparently the fact that New Year and Valentine happened on the same day this year in China created some ‘tension’ among the young since they typically all go back home for the Chinese New Year but felt the pressure to spend Valentine’s Day with their girlfriend/boyfriend. Well I hope they found the best solution for their personal situation and they won’t have to worry about it for a while since it won’t happen again before 2030!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
…In Rainy Weather”
It’s already my 6th post on “Fashionable in Rainy Weather” and I’m posting it a day early just in case you need some inspiration for Valentine’s Day tomorrow!
Red boots for Valentine… for the cowgirl in you!
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| Yeeha |
And the cutest umbrella
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| Doesn't it scream Valentine |
Friday, February 12, 2010
...The Holy Grail!!
In a country so close to nature (people bike, run, walk, or even ski… to work?!) I am amazed for example at the number of plastic bags still handed out at the grocery stores (either free of charge…bad, bad
'Holga' or for a small fee… a little better
'Coop') and people at the checkout line must think I’m some kind of crazy hippie chick when they see me bag my weekly grocery in my canvas bag. I have to say that I had to learn the hard way when in France during the summer months since they don’t give any plastic bags and China also banned for a while (around the Olympics!)
plastic bags.
But back to the Holy Grail, I have been looking all over town for a simple mop and bucket and all I could find to clean my floor were those disposable cloth. Well I finally found what I was looking for in the past several months (several of my friends were on the look out… it was definitely a team effort!). Of course a few days later I found it at Ikea! I did ask if they always had them (thus confirming I must be blind when I shop) but they reassured me that they have been out for quite some time… all those crazy Expat must have had a raid when they arrived in September!!
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| I can finally do my job... |
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
...Some Cultural Outings
After visiting a
cloisonné factory, a
silk comforter factory and many others in China, I got the chance to go visit the Figgjo Porcelain factory just outside Stavanger with the PWC
(formerly known as ‘Petroleum Women Club’ and now by the more politically correct ‘People Who Connect’ –basically a club for us, Trailing Spouse (woman or man!) to meet). The visit was pleasant and a welcome break of daily routines (every little help!)
It all starts with a little bit of clay (Kaolin) and ends up a plate, cup or vase. I n between you need molding, polishing, manual labor, glazing, firing, screen printing or hand painting.
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Click on the picture to enlarge Click on the "Back" button of your browser to come back to this page |
Monday, February 8, 2010
...At The Superbowl!
Yesterday was the Super Bowl XLIV. The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints played in Miami Gardens, Florida. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of 31–17, earning their first Super Bowl win.
Ok so the Saints won but what we really like watching is the ads.
And I just wanted to correct a small error in the Google ads. The beginning is wrong. It goes more like this: French girl goes to Colorado; American boy smitten; French girl goes back to France; American boy follow French girl...Then it's pretty much right, although first crib was assembled in Buenos Aires, Argentina!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
… While Keeping Dry!
Google has just announced that Stavanger streets are now on Google map. So if you want to tour Stavanger in the comfort of your own home go to
maps.google.no
Apparently both Google and Finn.no were filming ,with their 360° panoramic camera car, the streets of Stavanger on the same day last summer and they met at a roundabout in Stavanger!
Here is Google's Image of Finn’s car while driving around in Stavanger:
And here is the Finn's image of the Google’s car on the other side of the roundabout:
Friday, February 5, 2010
...Dangerous Life
As I'm walking back to my front door a stalactite falls from the roof right in front of my face.
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| I stepped on it... that'll teach him! |
Thursday, February 4, 2010
...Snow, Snow
Will it ever end?
Apparently Stavanger experienced the coldest January in 102 year and the most consecutive days with snow since they started recording it in 1952. What happened to global warning?
But actually it might be our fault. When we moved to Aberdeen in January 2001, they also had the worst winter, with snow on the ground for weeks (again not usual since Aberdeen like Stavanger is on the sea) and the first winter in China Beijing had a lot of snow; very cold winter they were used to but snow not so much. Maybe we should have moved to Vancouver… I’ve heard they are having a lack of snow for the Olympics!!!
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| Downtown Stavanger |
But let’s stay optimistic; there is a Norwegian saying that goes like this: Hvis skaran bærer en voksen mann på sankthansdagen, da blir det sen vår. "If the snow's crust can carry a grown man on June 24, then spring will be late.”
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| Tough Winter?! |
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
…This is how you shovel a driveway. Love, C!
Jeff is in France, hence the workout:
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| Let's hope it doesn't snow for a couple of day... yeah right! |
Monday, February 1, 2010
...Photo Update!
Ok it’s time for the Facebook
Profile Picture update for all my friends who haven’t been converted yet!
And A Little Bit Of Culture..
