BEDRE LEVEVILKÅR

photo lifted from this site(http://www.morgenutgaven.com/269) for dramatic purposes

In an effort to draw attention to and increase awareness of the injustice of global warming, the plight of the winter dwellers, the evilness of things like oil and air pollution, and God turning his back on those who have a basic right to winter, the snowman marched on parliament yesterday. (see story here and here and pictures here). The snowman stage their protest calling for “Better Living Conditions” in the face of Norway’s warmest winter in 60 years. The snowmen and women were quickly rounded up and, most likely, shipped off to some rent a tan salon where they are currently undergoing the most humiliating of tortures under the closed lids of scorching tanning beds at the hands of the Global Cartel of Evilness and Stuff.
In response God sent an insulting threadbare dusting of snow as if to say, “There, it snowed.” He could not be reach for comment at the time this story was published.


In other news the Holiday season has come and gone and it was all very relaxing. I spent Christmas watching movies and reading. A friend of mine said it sounded like a “mildly depressing” Christmas, but really it was not. True I like the conversation and the togetherness the holidays bring, but I am just as content being on my own. It’s been difficult to meet people with the traveling all summer and not being in classes or having a group of people in the same program hanging around. If I’d have gotten into a class or two it would have been different, and I’ll try to get into on for a while this quarter. There is a great one about construction in Norway I’d like to take. I have found it listed as being taught in Norwegian in one place and English in another. Classes start on the 15th and I’ll check it out then. The truth is, though, that it worked out perfect. I am zeroing in on a draft of my thesis complete. Hopefully next week, at the latest by the 15th. This is due to the time I had to travel and research and not have to worry about classes. And also, as will I will talk about in a moment, friends would have been a source of cash vacuum. In that friends would want to do things like, get drinks or have coffee or dinner. And I am not opposed to these things in principle, but here, in Norway, I am opposed to them in practice.
This is another description of the economics here (which I’ve talked about a lot the last 7 months and it continues to boggle me.) For instance, today I went to a café. I have not gone to a café or bar or restaurant really because to cost is ridiculous. But I miss sitting in a café, sipping tea, looking out a window, writing, reading. And so I thought these last two months could be a time for that sort of relaxation. A cup of tea. Ease in life. But the cup of tea was $5. And not an American super immense tall, but an actual single cup of tea in a teacup on a saucer. $5. And I was sitting there, drinking it and it occurred to me that I would like to do that everyday. I mean I could, I have the time. And a quick decent into the math found that if I went and had one cup of tea every day until I left it would cost me $280. For tea. This makes my stomach hurt. So I am undecided, because other them that the place was great. Cozy, a sitting bar that faced the street and a park the other side. People in and out. Pretty waitress types serving. Everything you could ask for. Except a reasonably priced cup of tea. Which is key, really.
And so that is to say, if I had made a bunch of friends and they all wanted to go have tea and beers and diner and stuff, I’d be busted flatter then I am already. But if I meet some people now it’ll cost me a little bit as opposed to a lot to hang out with them. Having just written this I wonder about the morality of choosing your friends based on economics. Regardless, the holiday was not “mildly depressing” it was perfect. I got some packages from friends. 3 actually. A package from Matt, full of a bunch of treats. A packages from Christina Haslip, with home baked cookies and an umbrella and some books from Justin and a robot drawing from Coffield. And a package from Tim Mace and his family. Also with treats and a wooden puzzle (which I already beat a bunch of times) and a package from Liz Maly, a small wooden Christmas scene including a fireplace, a tree and Santa. Liz’s gift arrived before Christmas and so I saved it and opened it Christmas morning. The others arrived after the holiday and so it was like four separate Christmases.




For New Year I was going to go check out some festivities. But I started feeling bad and got really tired and fell asleep at 10pm. At midnight I was awakened by the battle like roar of fireworks and the beginning of the New Year. These are not the week ass fireworks we see in America, but heavy artillery type things from china with fire in their guts and screaming exploding glory. And loud. And everyone had them. Crates with names like “Hell” and “Missile Base” and “Hell’s Missile Base.” The first day of Ought Seven I took a walk. All the parks were littered with spent revelry, discarded bottles and charred remains of firework.

My friend in Sweden Carl Baker, mentioned this housing to me as a place he wanted to see. I had stumbled through it one day and new what he was talking about. I finally got back to take some photos:








This is a student housing, the brick on this building was pretty cool:



Here are some photos of Oslo from a couple of walks:
























And finally the “snow” and how desperate people are here for it to come: