Senor Beavis, Donde es hall pass? ... Are you threatening me?

Oh no! I recently picked up a new box of Cinnamon Apple Raisin tea. I thought this would be a pleasant soothing evening tea to have right before bedtime. After my second big mug, I noticed I was typing faster and faster and my foot was tapping in an ever faster rhythm. I was also getting more and more agitated about a string of e-mails from my work that I was reading and responding to. I was speaking aloud to the people I was e-mailing and in general feeling very un-dude and quite tweaked.

I finally put the pieces together and went and looked at the tea I'd been drinking. Ah-hah! Flavored Black Tea! I am sooooooo awake right now. I feel like I could so go climb a mountainous hill right now and the best part is that in spite of the fact that it's now 1:30 a.m., it's light enough out that I actually could. :)

The good news is that I'm powering through a very nice burst of productivity. The bad news is that I have a morning interview downtown that I am going to be, at best, bleary for.

Oh boy!

Moving on up, to the top

Bodø, Norway is a wonderful place to spend the summer. For reasons I can't identify or quite articulate it keeps reminding me of Manhattan, Kansas where I lived when I earned my undergraduate degree at Kansas State. I had guessed that Bodø was about the same size as Manhattan, perhaps a little bigger. I finally got on Wikipedia and checked it out this morning. I was surprised to find that Bodø is less than half the size of Manhattan (in population). Manhattan has 113,829 residents whereas Bodø has 47,282. Maybe it is the fact that from my dorm room window, I can look out on to an active port, hear military jets and civilian aircraft taking off from the airport, and look down on active railroad tracks that give the city a buzz that makes me feel like it is bigger than it is. Also, I could regularly walk from one end on Manhattan to the other in a perfectly cromulant amount of time. Doing so in Bodø is a more ambitious undertaking. This is because Bodø is nestled on the edge of the water and surrounded by a semi-circle of mountainous hills. The city then snakes along the coastline between the water's edge and the mountainous hills for a fair distance.

Speaking of the mountainous hills and walking, Leah and I decided to take a break yesterday and climb to the top of a nearby peak. Leah had been before, but it was my first time to wander up that way. So, it fell to Leah to serve as guide and sherpa, which she did admirably well. The view of the city below and the surrounding landscape is fantastic and puts the city in a cool perspective. Below is a photo and short video I shot from the top.

Epilogue—Leah and I were wrestling with the term to use to describe the terrain we were standing on. Mountain seemed a bit of an overstatement. It was only a 30-40 minute trek from the water level to the top. However, hill is an understatement, because it's an impressive climb to the peak. Finally, we decided that an adjective was the solution and coined the term 'mountainous hill'. Hah! Problem solved.

Trying not to get snookered

There is a billiards and bowling hall in the basement of the Radisson Hotel in the Bodø city centre. This evening my new buddy Leah and I decided to go down and play a round and quaff a beer / cider or two. This was the second trip to the ArkAden for the two of us. On our last visit we were intrigued by the giant table that is the one snooker table in the joint. Before returning, we each perused the rules of snooker until we felt like we had a basic grasp on the game and tried our hand at it tonight. And, in case you are wondering, snooker is a game that is played with 15 red balls and a few other balls of different colors. The balls are smaller than pool balls and the tips on the end of the cues are smaller as well.

As you can tell by the photos, the table is indeed big. Snooker turns out to be a game that is more challenging and less forgiving than pool. It was a good time and we are definitely going to go back for another crack at it before the summer is over.

The latest in Norwegian fashion

Hola Amigos. File this story under the category of Norwegian fashion. My dorm room has hard floors and it's been consistently chilly enough that the floor is consistently cold on my tender and delicate feet. Wearing socks around hasn't been enough, so I decided to go get some slippers. And if I'm gonna get slippers, how can I not get the warm fluffy Norwegian flag slippers that saw in a store window downtown.

What you can tell from the picture below is that I have fantastic inside pants that complete the ensemble.

What you can't tell from the picture below is that the slippers also came with Norway flag themed socks. Awesome!!!

Happy belated Fourth of July

Hola Amigos, I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya. It’s not for a lack of adventures and stories, I just haven’t caught up on the blog in a bit. So, on that note, let me share a particular story and wish a happy belated Fourth of July to you all.

Jan-Oddvar, a professor who is serving as our host while we are in Norway, offered to help the Texans celebrate the Fourth of July by bringing us out to his cabin for an overnight barbeque. I am happy to report that all had a good time.

Jan-Oddvar came up with the idea a few weeks before and occasionally mentioned it in the weeks leading up to the 4^th. Then, we got a Facebook message from him saying “4th of July at the cabin update! Pack your comforter and pillow, and I'll provide the rest. Bring your own drinks and snack! I'll provide bbq dinner and breakfast on Tuesday. Also, do bring swimming clothing and a big towel. Looking forward to it!!! At about 5 p.m. on the 4^th, Jan-Oddvar pulled up to the dorm in his red station wagon followed by Hege, one of the Norwegian students, driving her white Volvo station wagon. Hege and Jan-Oddvar both arrived wearing shirts with an American flag motif and ready to celebrate. We headed out and got to the cabin at about 5:30 p.m.

Jan-Oddvar’s cabin is a pretty awesome set up. First, there is one small building. It is a 1-room cabin that is basically a bunkhouse with a bunk bed. The bottom bunk is something close to queen-sized. The top bunk is about twin-sized. Jan-Oddvar told us that this would be the boys’ cabin. The second building was the main cabin, which I would guess was about 1,200 square feet. There was a kitchen, dining area, and a living room that were all a part of one large open space. There were 2 bedrooms. One was a Master bedroom and another bedroom with a normal bunk bed and a regular bed was to be the girls’ room for the night. If you head on out back you come out on a large porch, which has a table that seats 6, a couple outdoor couches, and a foosball table. Beyond the porch, there is a hammock in the trees, a trampoline, and a 6-person hot tub. Fantastic!!

Once we settled in and popped open a beer or two, Hege came around and had us draw slips of paper. Each slip had a job written in Norwegian that we would then be in charge of doing for the bbq. My slip (I just looked in my wallet to see if I still had it on me so that I could type the exact phrase, and I don’t) translated into “onion expert”. Melissa was in charge of tomato prep, Nick drew the job of grill master, Matt was in charge of plating the food, etc. We got busy and in short order, we ate our fill of burgers, hot dogs, and chips.

Once the food settled a bit, Hege and Jan-Oddvar led the charge positing that we should walk down to the dock and go swimming. I stepped up and Jan-Oddvar, Hege, and I were in the first wave to head out. The three of us walked down the road, and then the trail, to the docks. And, remember, this water is well above the Arctic Circle. Once we got out on the dock, we saw that there was a group of 8 or 9 folks (I would guess in their late 50s – early 60s) already there, hanging out, and grilling up dinner themselves. They were sitting at 2 picnic tables on the edge of the dock and having a good time. The three of us walked over to say hi. Jan-Oddvar had recognized a couple of his cabin neighbors and they all started heartily speaking Norwegian. Pretty soon, a hello turned into an invitation to sit with them. Everyone was engaged in a robust conversation punctuated by frequent smiles and laughter. I have no idea what they were saying, but I smiled, nodded, and laughed with the best of them. After awhile the fact that I am from Texas came up and one guy engaged me in a bit of conversation in English. At about this point, Jan-Oddvar and Hege broke off from the group to go swimming. I saw them go and I admit that my nerve faltered. I wasn’t at all sure about the tall jump (best guess about 15 feet) into the surely super-cold water below. So, I stayed particularly engaged in conversation and deftly avoided jumping in. Well, that conversation turned into the question of whether I wanted to have some dinner. I said sure and one of them pulled a foil-wrapped package off of the grill. It turns out that they had one more meal than they had people. I opened up the foil and found a mix of salmon and cod (that had been recently caught by one of the guys at the table), potatoes, and vegetables. That was followed by an offer of coffee, which I “Irished” up with some Aquavit, and then dessert. Hege and Jan-Oddvar came back from their swim in the midst of my second meal. Hege playfully gave me a hard time about not swimming and my second dinner. Jan-Oddvar then told a story in Norwegian at the end of which everyone laughed riotously. Hege told me later that he had told a great dirty joke. Everyone seemed to love it and I still wonder what the joke was…

Once we got back to the cabin, the party started up in earnest. The group presented Jan-Oddvar with a gift bottle of Johnny Walker black label whiskey. A few drinks flowed and we spent the next while playing a new-to-me drinking game that Nick, Matt, and Joe taught us called Tip-Cup. Eventually, the party moved to the hot tub and all had a fun relaxed time. The party eventually wound down and people started wandering off to bed. By 4 a.m. it was down to Matt and I. And after a bit, Matt decided to pack it in, which left me as the last man standing. I soaked for a bit longer and then I shut down the hot tub, got into some dry warm clothes and, rather than head over to the guy’s cabin, I crawled into the hammock with the big fluffy comforter I brought, pulled the corner of the blanket over my eyes to block out the light, and blissfully fell asleep…for a little bit. An hour or two after I fell asleep, I woke up to the strangest sounds of many herds of sheep heading up into the hills to graze. The sounds of sheep bleating and all of the “cow bells” they were wearing started up and just kept on going. I managed to doze off every now and again, but it was difficult with all of the continual sheep noise that was going on. After a while, I was able to relax and mellow into the rhythm of the sheep cacophony and I went back to sleep for another hour or so. That is, until I woke up to the sound of footsteps. I peeked out of my cocoon and saw that Hege was making her way towards me with, what I was to find out was, the idea that we should go swimming. Hege was one of the first people up and was looking for a morning swimming partner. In my half-awake always-up-for-a-challenge mental state, I answered “Heck Yeah!” and we were off. There was no escaping it this time, so I boldly followed her into the open water. I’d like to say I did it without flinching, but I gotta tell you, that water was C-O-O-O-L-L-L-L-D-D-D!!! Once I surfaced, it took me awhile to get enough control of my body to breathe again. And once I did, I taught Hege a new English word, BRISK! This is because it was the only word I could say and I kept saying it again and again. Once I finally adjusted to the temperature, it was OK and we went swimming. I even waved to the morning ferry in the distance. After a while, we headed back to shore and headed back. We ran into and chatted with a couple neighbors who were awake and chuckling about the people swimming in the cold water. Before long, we returned and got into the hot tub to warm up. That was a fantastic sensation. The rest of the morning was a blend of dozing, hanging out, and breakfast. At one point I was super-relaxed and chilling on the couch when Jan-Oddvar put the Tom Waits album The Heart of Saturday Night on softly in the background. I spent two cycles through that album in that exact spot gazing through the big picture window out onto the mountains and water in the distance.

Eventually, things wound down. Most folks left in the early afternoon in the first car. Hege and I stayed with Jan-Oddvar to help him clean up and lounge in the hot tub some more. His son (I’d guess 11-12 years old) rode his bike out to the cabin that afternoon (which is about a 20-minute car trip, by the way) and joined us. The four of us made another round of breakfast and then we all packed up, piled in the car, and headed back to town. When we got back to the dorms it was 5 p.m. on Tuesday, so the whole adventure took almost exactly 24 hours. Good times!

Cooking in Norway: An experience in functional illiteracy

As I have been cooking in Norway, I have come to realize that I consistently need to build a couple extra steps into the process.

The first step is taking the time to type what look like the key instructions on packages into Google Translate in order to decode my next steps. For example, I bought a packaged pancake mix and thought I'd whip up some hotcakes one morning. The package I bought was boldly labeled, "Pannekaker", but once I ran the instructions through the translation program and I took a closer look at what I thought were pancakes in the picture on the package, I realized that I have a mix for something that is closer to crepes. On my next trip to the store, I picked up a package of "Lapper Sveler" and I am happy to report I had a big ol' stack of pancakes for breakfast yesterday. Of course, I needed to run the instructions through translation. After all, I wasn't sure if I needed to add anything (eggs? milk?) to the mix. Turns out I only needed to add 2.5 dl of water to the mix and I was good to go. The only thing is... I have no idea what unit of measurement a dl is. Decaliter?? So, I dug through the box of cooking supplies that they provided us with our dorm rooms and, sure enough, I found a measuring cup with marks for "dl" running down the side. I still don't know what a dl is, but I sure know how to measure 2.5 of them.

The second added step is a conversion phase. Last week, I went to the equivalent of a hypermarket, called Coop Obs! to buy a few things to augment my cooking kit. One item I picked up was a big ol' casserole dish. A quick thanks to my friend Keely for sending me the recipe. Yesterday, I followed her recipe whipped up a tasty tuna and rice casserole big enough to feed a crew. Once I dove into this project, however, I realized I needed to pause and do some conversions. It turns out that the celsius oven needed not to be set at the 350 degrees in the recipe (the oven dial doesn't go that high), but once converted to celsius (or is it centigrade??) I saw that I needed to set the oven to 176.6667 degrees. Next, I realized I needed to measure things in cups. I'm still not sure what the cup to dl conversion ratio is and I was stumped by how to convert cups of dry materials. So, I found a Norwegian coffee cup, decided that it was, by definition, a cup and pressed on. One of the lessons I take from this is when dealing with recipes from the U.S., is to stick to casseroles. That is a very forgiving class of recipes when it comes to guesstimating quantities of ingredients.

Going to the grocery is always an interesting experience as well. I am making my shopping selections, in part, based on the pictures on the packages and whether the cooking instructions come with pictures accompanying each step. And even then, I make mistakes—like getting a crepe mix instead of a pancake mix because when I sounded out the big word on the package it sounded like something else in my head. Another student here, bought sticks of butter that turned out to be sticks of something like Crisco. Whoops. :) I recently bought a box of Uncle Ben's boil-in-a-bag wild rice. It has instructional pictures and everything!! I boiled the water, put the bag in the water (just like in the diagram), and then I realized I didn't know if I was supposed to leave the water boiling or turn down the heat? Ummm.... Uh oh. So, I quickly fired up Google Translate and... nothing happened. It turns out, the instructions weren't in Norwegian. Crap!! So, I started clicking on language buttons. German, Danish, Swedish... Ah-ha! The instructions were in Swedish! I then realized I was supposed to turn down the heat, quickly did, and the rice turned out just fine.

So, not to go all ABC After-School Special on you, but every time I go to the grocery store in Norway and when I am dealing with the instructions on packages, I think I am getting a very small slice of what it must be like to be functionally illiterate. And that's a tough existence. I looked up functional illiteracy rates and statistics for the U.S. this morning. I won't go into the bulleted details of what I found here, but it was an interesting moment of raised awareness.

And now, I'm off to heat up a plate of tuna casserole!

T--

A little taste of home (kind of)

Four out of four. Every grocery store I have been in features a Tex Mex section. The bigger the store, the bigger the section. Compared to other sections, it is consistently one of the largest sections. Old El Paso brand everything is apparently big in Norway. So, buy stock in that company—That's a tip, kids—because it looks like that brand is going places.

For its size, it looks like Tex Mex is taco shells, tortillas, spice packets and taco sauce (I mean Tacosaus). I will say, I have a jar of the hot sauce and it's comparable to mild back home. So, when you come to Norway, pack your own ghost peppers. The one thing that's notably missing for me is the refried beans. Hard to make a Grade-A breakfast taco without 'em. But, I am trying. And I am happy to report that the Tom McVey Laboratories are perpetually coming up with outcomes that are closer and closer to the mark. Perhaps, my most lucrative future lies in perfecting the process, building a taco truck, and introducing Norwegians to the brilliance we have already found in Austin.

Seriously, breakfast tacos would be HUGE here. We'll just have to get used to hearing someone order an egg, potato, and tørrfisk breakfast taco. ;)

Beware the Red Menace

The first, and most important thing to know is that I dislike beets. I mean, I really dislike them. I will on occasion sullenly eat my beets in a social situation that calls for them. Or, I will occasionally try them to see if my palate has changed—it has yet to.

Last night, I was enjoying a beer and a whiskey at one of the local bars seeing off one of our Norwegian friends who will be off on vacation for the rest of the summer. The conversation drifted to life in Russia and his experiences there. He explained that, at times, meat was difficult to come by and people had to stand in long lines to get bread. However, it was fairly common for people to have their own vegetable gardens and a russian diet, traditionally, has been primarily vegetable dishes. Furthermore, this means that Russians have mastered many vegetarian dishes and they are to be enjoyed if at all possible.

I was with him, nodding vigorously (perhaps part of the vigor was fueled by the drinks) thinking of delicious vegetables. That is, up until he drops the bombshell that one of the vegetables that is easiest to grow in the Russian climate and is the most prolific is beets. Big, red, beets. Yuck!!! I know I made a face at hearing this. My next thought was that the stories of the Red Menace from the days of the Cold War must have been referring to beets. This gave me a whole new perspective on the cold war.

All of this passed through my mind in a micro-second and my spit-take and barking laugh at his beet comment left him, and others at the table, momentarily confused. But, the drinking and storytelling continued on.

Beets—the true red menace. I understand now...

Silly Americans and the chicken confusion

This actually happened a couple weeks ago, but the experience stuck with me. One evening about dinner time, I wandered down to find my fellow dorm-living Texans were in one of the communal kitchens making dinner and experiencing setbacks. They had opened a package of chicken that they were going to cook up for dinner. Once they smelled the meat, they all agreed that the meat smelled bad. They opened up a second package of chicken one of them had bought earlier, only to find that it too smelled funky. So, a couple of them took the meat back to the store to exchange it. The store did, and one of the students asked if they could open the meat there and check it. The store manager said sure. They did. The third pack of meat also smelled. The two students expressed their surprise and unhappiness. The manager caught on to the problem and realized what was going on. She explained that in Norway, they do not use all of these chemical preservatives in their meat the way America does. Rather it is packaged air tight and sealed with a gas that keeps the meat fresh. What they were smelling was the gas. Sure enough, they realized that once they let the gas dissipate for a few seconds, the meat was fine. Needless to say, there was an abundance of chicken that needed to be cooked up for dinner that night. ...silly Americans.

Skal! -- Drinking in Norway

Exclaiming "Skal", the Norwegian equivalent of "Cheers", is a hearty way to kick off a round of drinking in Norway. There are some interesting differences between drinking in Norway and in the U.S. Here are some of the key variations:

• In Norway, the times are more restrictive about when you can buy alcohol at the store. Specifically, you can buy your "hooch" Monday - Friday: Before 8 p.m. / Saturday: Before 3 p.m. / Sunday: not at all.
• Norway has a zero-tolerance policy about drinking and driving. In the states, the legal limit varies, say from 0.08% to 0.10% or so, but in Norway it's practically zip, zero, nada. If you are out at dinner, for example, and you have a glass of wine with your meal — it is clearly understood that you are not driving at all for the rest of that night. And, the police do not need probable cause to check drivers as they do in some places in the states. So, they can set up a checkpoint and run a breathalizer on every driver. One Norwegian told me that if you "test positive" for alcohol, you can expect to lose your license for at least two years and to spend 30 days in jail. And the culture seems to agree with this. It would be a social taboo of the first order to say, "I only had one glass of wine with dinner, I'm OK to drive."
• To my best understanding, there aren't open container laws in Norway. The designated driver can have nary a drop anyway and the penalties are severe if they do. So, the designated passengers are free to pop open a cold one while they enjoy the scenery.
• The only alcohol you can buy in grocery and convenience stores is beer that has no more than 4.5% alcohol. If you want stronger beer, liquor, or wine, you must go to one of the state-owned and sanctioned liquor stores. There are two of these stores in Bodø, each about a 20-25 minute walk from my dorms.

That said, it is safe to say that Norwegians, in general, are fans of—and not shy about—drinking socially. In my experience so far, knocking back a few, cutting loose, and challenging the Americans to try and keep up is not unusual. The drinking here is simply more planned for than spontaneous.. That is, buy the liquor you will need, make sure you buy enough, know how you're getting home (or be at peace with knowing that this is where you will be for the night), and have fun.

Skal everyone,

T--

Touring the City Center

Friday was a day for rolling up my sleeves and going to work. The people with the good stories weren’t going to find themselves, so it was time to go on the hunt. I didn’t go to campus on Friday and instead walked into the city center in search of leads and contacts. One of the best parts is that I had a partner in crime. My new buddy, Leah LeFebvre, and I have research topics that are complimentary and we teamed up to hit the big city together. Here is a breakdown of the highlights of our adventure:

Tourist Information Center

This seems like the most logical starting point. I had been here previously when I was first getting oriented to my summer home. I had met a young woman, Kristina, working behind the counter. I told her about my research interests and she said that she thought I might be interested in talking to her father (See The Research Fellowship entry for more details). As soon as Leah and I started chatting with the young man behind the counter, Kristina popped out from the back room, having heard my voice. After a round of smiles, waves and “heys”, she told me that her father had said that he would love to talk to me and that she would send me an e-mail with details soon. After we peppered the guy behind the counter with a multitude of questions, we headed out to see the city.

Bodø Cathedral

Leah and I had talked about going to church services on Sundays in Bodø as a way to get to know the community, meet locals, and find possible interviewees. One of the most notable churches in the City Center is the Bodø Cathedral. The internet tells me that, “The Bodø cathedral was completed in 1956. A 12 metre stained glass window, 10 tapestries from Nordland, and a rose window decorate the beautiful interior. The cathedral is built as a basilica in the Gothic style. It was one of the first churches in Norway to have a detached steeple”. We arrived a few minutes before it was officially open, so we sat for a few minutes next to a memorial for the Norwegian military members lost in World War II.

Once it was time, we wandered inside hoping to find a church office with folks we could talk to. The sanctuary, in particular, was beautiful to walk through and see, but ultimately unstaffed. We were able to confirm that Sunday services started at 11 a.m and we decided that we would come back on the weekend.

Public Library

When looking for information, it only makes sense to go to the public library, or in this case the Bodø Bibliotek as it is more formally known. Located just down the street from the Cathedral, the library is a small 2-story building. The first thing we noticed as we walked in was a large blueprint of the planned new library, which will be built in 2014. Inside, the first floor was the children’s section. I was amused to see a sign next to the computers in this area that they are only for use by people who are 15 years old or younger. I like that the adults just need to keep on moving upstairs if they want to use a computer. After hovering for a bit and taking it in, we introduced ourselves and explained our interests to a woman who struck me as having a head-librarian-ish stature. She gave Leah a couple good leads, but my topic seemed to stump her. The one thing she did suggest was that I check out the local newspaper office. And so we were off…

http://www.bodo.folkebibl.no/

Newspaper Office

Half a block down on the other side of street in the green building is the offices of the local newspaper. We showed up, but the offices were dark and no one appeared to be there. D’oh! We decided that the newspaper offices will need to wait until another day and, in the meantime, perhaps we can do a little poking around and find specific folks at the paper who would be a particularly relevant contact, given our specific interests.

The Nordland Museum

The next stop was The Nordland Museum. This is a fantastic museum on the history of Bodø that provided a rich context and background for the city where we are living this summer. We saw the Sami Exhibit, which shows the early way of life of the indigenous population. Also, exhibits about the overnight “explosion” of the herring industry—which seemed to me to be the fish equivalent of the California gold rush—that put Bodø on the map. One of the most compelling exhibits was about Bodø during World War II. In turning point of the Norwegian invasion by the Nazis, Bodø was bombed from the air. The majority of the town was leveled and people had to live in cellars and the remains of bombed-out buildings. It was not much longer before that when the German occupation force arrived and took control of the city. The residents of Bodø lived under Nazi occupation for a few years after that. One of our professors was explaining to us that his father was a young boy at this time and remembers the Nazis talking about not understanding why they were there and not wanting to be there. Although southern Norway was taken by surprise by the German invasion an fell rather quickly, by the time they reached the North, the residents had time to rally. For a time the radio station in Bodø was the source for Radio Free Norway. One Norwegian told me earlier that fighters lived in the hills and mountains and fought the Nazi occupation whenever and wherever they could and that it took eight Nazis for every Norwegian to hold the northern part of the country. One highlight of the tour was a 20-minute film covering the history of Bodø that was conveniently sub-titled in English.

When we first arrived at the Museum, be bought our tickets from Torunn Flaesen Oppegard. She is an extremely nice woman who got excited about our research work and gave us an impromptu / informal interview on the spot. For me, she also told me about her two grown children who have moved from the north to the south and who know other students who have moved as well. She gave me their contact information and before we left the museum, she e-mailed both of them telling them to expect to be contacted about doing an interview. At the end of our museum tour, Torunn also got us in to meet Helge Seim, the main curator (or Konservator) for the museum. We were able to engage him in a 30-minute interview.

www.nordlandsmuseet.no

Culture Center

Fortified by a great trip to the museum, a granola bar, and an apple—we decided to head to the Culture Center (a.k.a. the Bodø Kulturhaus) next. We weren’t sure of the function or purpose of the Culture Center, so we struck out in search of an answer. Turns out, it is a site for larger concerts and orchestral performances. We showed up around 4 p.m. and they closed at 3 p.m. Undeterred, we ventured deeper into the building until we found a set of administrative offices with one person, named Vidor, still working. We introduced ourselves and chatted for a bit. When I mentioned my topic of people who have moved from the north, Vidor lit up and said, “You’re describing me.” We exchanged contact information and made plans to set up an interview.

Apple Store / Glass House

The day was winding down. Offices were closing up. We began making our way back to the dorms. I had heard about, but hadn’t seen, a shopping mall called the Glass House. We walked through the mall and checked it out. A largely glass structure, the mall let in a tremendous amount of natural light and I was struck by the fact that there is a full-scale grocery store on the first floor, not something one would see in an American Mall. We also spotted and popped into an Apple store. Well, a certified reseller—so not a true apple store, but the store layout and décor made it clear that they were trying to emulate a true Apple store as much as possible.

It was a big day and a fresh set of follow-ups and to-dos. We spent more than 6 hours walking around and getting to know the city center. A very good Friday indeed.

Party in a Norwegian Tipi

Picture this… It’s a Thursday evening. I am in Norway...in the woods...in a tipi...sitting on reindeer pelts...at a Norwegian beer tasting and feast.

This was the evening that the business school held their annual end-of-the-year faculty party and we got an invitation. A chartered bus picked everyone up at the University and the dorms where we are living this summer and then took the crew on out into the woods. Once we arrived, I drifted over to a group of Norwegians I had not yet met and settled in for the evening’s event. For starters, we had presentation followed by a beer tasting. The beers came at a steady clip and the alcohol content of each beer was more impressive than the last. When I made a comment to this effect to the person next to me, he smiled and told me that drinking in Norway comes with both an expectation and a responsibility. I am happy to report that I lived up to both. Next, we were divided into groups, led outside, and given our assignments. One group was in charge of cooking the meat, another preparing and cooking the potatoes, another (my group) the vegetables, another serving the tables, and so on. In short order, all of the elements were prepared and assembled into what became our (very delicious and bountiful) feast for the evening. The wine flowed during dinner and after a time of laughing and socializing we were led back onto the bus and taken downtown for the post-party party, where a good time continued to be had by all.

The Research Fellowship

I have mentioned in general terms that I am in Norway on a research fellowship this summer. So, I thought I’d dedicate a few paragraphs to peeling a few more layers off of that particular onion.

There are a group of students working on the research project this summer. We are a mix of students from the University of Texas at Austin and the Business School art the Univeritetet I Nordland in Bodø. Our general focus is on a region called the High North that encompasses the northern part of Norway. Norway has 19 regions that we, in the U.S., might call counties. The three northernmost counties are Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark. These three counties are included in the High North, which I’ve heard one person describe as the area of Norway that is above the Arctic Circle. This summer, I am living in Bodø, which is the most southern of the three counties, but still north of the Arctic Circle. Each student has a particular focus that falls under the umbrella of topics related to the High North. Another common theme that ties us together is that we are taking a narrative approach. That is, we are collecting data with a focus on finding an interesting character whose story captures an aspect of the larger topic in an interesting and informative way.

My focus is on rural migration. The rising trend in Norway is that many people, when they reach adulthood, are moving away from small communities in the north in favor of more urban and metropolitan communities in the south. Places like Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim are where more folks are moving these days. Many (but not all) northern Norwegian communities are shrinking in size and are trending towards an older demographic. Addressing the shrinking population and northern infrastructure is a priority for the government. I am working on making contacts and scheduling interviews with people who have moved from the north and have been affected by the population shifts. For example, I was talking to a church pastor on Sunday after services and he told me about two other pastors he knows who stopped delivering services on Sundays because the number of attendees have dropped so much in recent years. Tomorrow I am interviewing the father of a young woman who works in the local Tourist Information Center. I was telling her about my interests and she beamed. She explained that I was describing her father’s experience. When he was old enough, he had to leave his home to find work. He misses his childhood home and experiences and loves to talk about these things. I am going to their home tomorrow evening for coffee and to interview the two of them.

By the end of the summer, my goal is to have a narrative that will become a chapter in a book that will be a collection of all of our works.

The Night of the Midnight Sun

This summer, I will be here for the night of the midnight sun. This is 24-hour period when the sun never sets. I have attached a picture of a post card of time-lapsed images that does a good job of capturing this event.

This is something I was expecting and am looking forward to, however the part that is taking me by surprise, but makes sense in retrospect, is that there is a gradual build up to this day/night. It has not been truly dark out in all of my time here so far in Norway. While we were in Kjerringoy last week, I made it a point to take 3 pictures between midnight and 1 a.m. I am posting the 3 images below in chronological order to share how dark it did/didn’t get last week.

The photos below, in order, are:

1. A post card of the Midnight Sun
2. It's nearly "dark" out
3. The sun is behind the mountain. It's "dark" out now.
4. A little past 1 a.m. and it's getting light out again

Qualitative Camp—Our weeklong conference

Greetings! For those following along closely, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted a new entry in awhile. I am happy to report that I am back online and still alive and well. This last week, I was up in Kjerringoy at the pre-research conference. This was the event where we covered some of the basics on how to conduct qualitative research, discovered similarities and differences between the American and European systems of higher education and presented on our intended research focus for the summer. In some ways, the presentations were the most intimidating portion of the event. We each had an hour. In that time we each spent about 20 minutes providing background and describing the research concept we wanted to focus on for the summer, and our plan for how we are going to go about doing that. For the remaining 40 minutes, the floor was open for questions, comments, suggestions, and critiques. I have an audio recording of my hour if anyone really wants to “nerd out”, I’ll be happy to share this recording. J

When we weren’t in sessions, we were soaking up Norway and having fun. We definitely played as hard as we worked and I, for one, was exhausted by the end of the week. During our time there, we lived in shared cabins.

Now, when I heard ‘shared cabins’ I pictured something out of boy scouts. One big common room with bunk beds set up barracks style with a common group shower, etc. It turns out, this was more like a condo or townhouse on the coast. There were 4 guys and 3 bedrooms. I managed to look intimidating enough that I was one of two guys who scored his own bedroom.

My daily routine that week was pretty much the following:

• - Spend the day in the conference working and thinking hard until we got out of our conference sessions around 5 p.m.
• Skype in to work and help handle the Dana Center issues of the day. I would typically do work-stuff until about 7 p.m.
• Cruise over to the hotel bar and drink a pre-dinner cocktail with the group.
• 8:30 – Dinner is served. We sampled a cross-section of Norwegian fare. We had Moose on a couple occasions and a variety of fish dishes for most of the rest of the time. And potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes. In a variety of forms and styles to be sure. Certainly enough that several people noted, “Wow, that’s a lot of potatoes.” So, it turns out potatoes are a big deal here. In fact, while doing some background reading, I was looking on the website of the Norwegian Agricultural Extension Office and I saw that one of their senior positions is “Potato Coordinator”. I can think of fewer more fantastic business cards to collect than the one for the Norwegian National Potato Coordinator. Dinner typically included a beer, a glass or two of red wine, and a glass of Aquavit.—Several have asked what aquavit is, and I’ll be happy to share a bottle with those who would like to give it a try when I get back. Aquavit is a hard liquor that is not to be underestimated. Think of a cross between Irish whiskey and Bacardi 151 with a hint of some sort of spice. It will definitely cure one of his or her sobriety. I asked the bartender what the base of the liquor was (Is it wheat based? berry based?). It turns out…of course…it’s a potato based liquor.
• - Dinner usually lasted until about 11 p.m. and then the group slowly moved out on to the deck overlooking the water. This is where we continued to drink and socialize until the bar stopped serving at 1 a.m. At that point the party moved back to either the guys’ or gals’ cabin.
• Socializing and whatnots continued for a while after that until things slowly wound down for the night.
• I then slept for a few hours, got up, showered, wolfed down some breakfast, and wandered into the morning sessions.

Rinse and repeat. That was the formula for the week. I’ll admit that I haven’t pushed the envelope that hard in awhile. Now take the mental picture you have after reading all of the details above. Get that image firmly in your mind. Now insert this detail—it never got dark. The sun got close to the horizon. By about 1 a.m. it was as dark as it was going to get – think of the early stages of sunset. So, by 3-4 a.m. when the last vestiges of the hardcore party was winding down, consider that it was light out like it would be at 10 a.m. in the U.S It’s fair to say that the ever-present light was why the party often went as late as it did. Everyone’s biological signals were screaming that the night was young and that there was still “a long row to hoe” before bedtime. At the end of the week, we piled into two cars and made our way back to our dorms in Bodø, which is where we are staying this summer. As soon as I got back to the dorms on Friday afternoon, I dragged myself up to my room and slept for, something like, 10 hours straight. It was Sunday afternoon when I started really getting back up to speed.

Hopefully, this helps paint a picture of why I went a solid week without posting to the blog. I am back now, settling into the summer routine and ready to dive into the heart of my summer research.

The Challenge Coin

Hola Amigos, I know it’s been a while since I rapped at ya, but things have been busy. Before I share more updates from Norway, I want to take a step back in time and share the details of an event that occurred during a layover in the Baltimore Airport while I was making my way to Norway.

I had a 4-1/2 hour layover in Baltimore. I had time to kill and work to do. Fortunately, I travel through that airport a fair amount and knew the exact table in the exact restaurant/bar to set up base camp. It’s a table that’s close to an outlet, close to the bar, and has a good view for people watching—the airport is always a great place for people watching. I set up my computer and external hard drive. I got online and had been working for awhile when I saw this guy who clearly needed to make a phone call. I could tell because he plugged his iPhone into his fairly short charging cord and that was plugged in to an outlet on the wall under a table. The short cord meant that he had to crouch halfway under the table to reach the phone to his ear and used his free hand to cover his other ear in an attempt to block out the crowd noise and loud music.

On a side note: In preparation for the trip, I had recently purchased a groovy device. It is a charger that plugs into the wall and recharges a small battery pack that’s about the size of a pack of gum and plugs into an iPhone. The device carries a full iPhone charge and I can plug it into an iPhone and use it as if it were plugged in. I can use the phone and charge it at the same time.

As soon as I realized this guy was struggling, I went over and caught his attention. I showed him the device I had, explained how it worked, encouraged him to get one if he traveled much, and told him to borrow my fully charged battery so that he could step outside the bar and make his phone calls. He came back after awhile, returned my battery, and said thanks.

Later, as he was leaving to catch his flight, he came over to me to say thanks again. He explained that he was active duty military and had been trying to call his family from the airport. Being able to talk to them was very important to him and he wanted to find a way to express his thanks. So, he gave me his challenge coin, which is a very cool-looking thick coin about the size of a half-dollar. I’ve included pictures of the coin below next to a quarter, so that you can get a sense of scale. He asked if I’d ever heard of a challenge coin before. When I said that I hadn’t he explained (hurriedly, since he was on his way to catch a flight) that people in the military receive these coins and they are all to have them on their person at all times. It’s called a challenge coin because a person can, particularly when out drinking, pullout their coin and issue the challenge. Then, everyone else is compelled to pull out their coin. If someone cannot produce their coin they are on the hook to buy the next round of drinks. If, however, everyone has their coin, then the person issuing the challenge is on the hook for the next round of drinks. He explained that giving someone his or her coin is also a way to show that someone did something important, honorable, and meaningful for you. I was touched and gave him a heartfelt thank you.

After he left, I went online and looked up challenge coins on Wikipedia. There is a cool background and history to these coins that is worth checking out. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin.

I then pinged a very good friend of mine in iChat who used to be in the military back in the day. I often refer to this guy as the living embodiment of the imaginary friend I had as a child. Why that is, is for another story. I told him the story. Some of the highlights of his response are as follows:

That is way cool that he gave you one of those man. They are received for a specific combat tour and handed out like you experienced very selectively. That is indeed a big deal for a service member, so you did indeed do something that meant a lot to him. I have chills thinking about it - good man Sir

Veterans can always tell active duty - so I carry a coin with me most of the time just in case

And I have never lost. I saw a dude on a motorcycle the other day. We were stopped next to one another at a light. He was in civilian clothes, but I can always tell. I flashed mine at him and he smiled big.

It's the simple things...

So, I decided to take a few minutes to run a load of laundry. It was surprisingly challenging to figure out. I was baffled by the machine. Fortunately, about halfway through trying to sort out the controls, a nice guy living in the dorms who knows a bit of english came in. He seemed confused about why I was watching him so intently until I explained that I was watching him in order to figure out how to do laundry. He talked me through the controls and process and the laundry is underway. Although, I think I realized too late that I may have used WAAAY to much soap. So that particular load might be run again. I'm attaching a photo of the machine. If you're idly curious I encourage you to zoom in on the controls and see if you can sort out how the machine works. Heh, perhaps even more challenging than a round of sudoku.

Dinner & Academics

Last night we had a fabulous dinner of salmon steaks, pasta, and bread & cheese. Nick, one of the students here has a flair for cooking, offered to make a communal dinner for everyone. He went to the local grocery store (a few of us tagged along) bought everything for dinner and we divided up the bill later.

Sidebar: I've mentioned before the high cost of service-related activities like eating out, which is a by-product of people in the service industry earning a real living wage, so it's hard to complain about too terribly much. By contrast the fabulous meal cost $10 and change per person. This even included much of the beer we drank, multiple spice bottles, etc. So, activities like cooking are much more affordable, especially by comparison.

Six of us ate dinner together and 3 other students came by later in the evening. The evening was spent laughing, playing, and having a good time. I eventually left the scene around 2 a.m. and things were still in full gear when I slipped out. But, I needed to focus on the academic side of things on Sunday.

Next week we have a wwek-long conference with a methodology focus that is designed to prepare us for the research we will be conducting this summer. I need to prepare and deliver a presentation on my particular research interests and the work I want to do this summer. The presentation should take about 20 minutes with another 40 focused on intensive Q&A designed to challenge my thinking and hone my work plan for the summer ahead. Today is about organizing that presentation and putting some "spit and polish" on the whole affair. Presentations are spread across the week and I will be among the group that presents on Wednesday. So, wish me luck. I'm now off to the communal study area to get some work done.

It's a journey, not a destination

I have arrived in Norway, but let's take a moment to reflect back on the trip getting here.

Rhode Island

I started out traveling to Rhode Island where I spent time supporting Dana Center work there with the Rhode Island Department of Ed. from there a quick trip to New York.

New York

I had about 19 hours in NY to visit my nephew Adrian and his domestic partner Emily. It turns out NY is one of the few states that will let you be different sexes and domestic partners. I was also there in the apartment when Adrian officially got his job offer. He accepted a position with MeetUp, one of 3 offers he received. Glad to see the boy is doing well. Also had a star sighting in New Yor. While we were at the Five Leaves in Brooklyn, Deborah Ann Woll was sitting with a group a couple tables over. She is the actress who plays Jessica, the newly transformed vampire in True Blood. I pulled up her picture from IMDB and asked Emily to confirm the sighting. She did. So, with a first and a second the motion carries -- officially a star sighting. For those who are more wordly, I imagine a star sighting may be a bit ho-hum, but to put in context my 3 previous sightings have been (in chronological order):

- Gordon Jump (Arthur Carlson on WKRP) speaking at a Future Farmers of America thing in Manhattan, KS

- Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls fame) on the sidewalk on 6th Street in Austin, Texas

- Robert Picardo (Holographic doctor from Star Trek Voyager) looking very jet-lagged at a cafe in Las Vegas

So, the count goes up to 4 and I fly on to Dublin.

Dublin

I cleared customs and had a 4 hour layover in Dublin. I was browsing the Guinness branded clothing in the duty free shop when I heard several roaming tourists comment that these clothes are cheaper than they cost at the brewery itself. That was enough motivation for me and picked up a sporty rugby-style shirt. It was also nice to have a clean shirt to change into after the long flight. And then my layover was done and I was on to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

Ahhh.... Amsterdam. I love that city. I've gotten to the point that I know my way around passably well. I only had 21 hours in Amsterdam so, I made the most of it. My main reason for pausing here was to make the time adjustment. I wanted a quiet comfortable place where I could force myself to stay awake until I passed out and get adjusted to the time difference. I splurged and stayed in a very nice hotel in the City Centre directly across from Central Station. I got a room at canal level with windows that opened onto the canal across from Molly's Tavern. It was fun waving hello or giving a friendly nod to boaters as they passed along the canal. The quickly taken photo below gives a sense of the view:

I had time to adjust and hit a few highlights. One notable one was a 2-hour candlelit canal tour with wine and cheese. I laughed to myself when the tour took us by my hotel window and I could look into my own room. Later that night, I was back in my room—sitting in the window and dangling my feet over the canal—drinking a Heineken from the minibar and talking with the drunk partying group at Molly's. Turns out their next big stop was San Francisco. We ended up singing a drunken half-verse of "I left my heart in San Francisco." They invited me over for a pint and I obliged. Later that night, I came back, had a nightcap, and went to bed. But, not before shooting a quick video of the now quiet scene:

And then, I was off and away the next morning to catch a flight to Norway.

Norway

I had a 4 hour layover in Oslo, so plenty of time. One of the interesting things about flying through Oslo is that, even if you've checked your baggage through to your final destination, you still need to collect your baggage before clearing customs, wheel it through to the check-in stations and re-check your luggage. It's an Oslo thing. After doing this I converted some extra dollars into Kroner and hung out. I did realize that the Norwegian Kroner is quite strong compared to the dollar. This means that a soda or bottled water costs about $5, a small sandwich about $10 and, thanks to the conversion app on my iPhone, I figured out that the hamburger I was thinking about getting would have cost me $32. This is also due to the fact that people working in the food and service industry make a real living wage doing this work—moreso than in the U.S. This translates into the cost of service items. After the layover, I continued on to Bodø, which is where I'll be spending the bulk of my summer. One of the Norwegian professors, Jan Oddvar Sørnes, met me at the airport and took me to the university dorms where I'll be living. My room is, in a way, nostalgic. It's been a long time since I've lived in the dorms. I;ve attached a quick photo of the private bathroom in my dorm room (Awesome—I didn't have one of those in my dorm!!). Notice that the shower is simply a fixture on the wall next to the sink. There is a drain in the floor and the room came equipped with a squeegee. I simply squeegee the floor after taking a shower.

Soon, I am off to join my fellow Texans for dinner. Nick—one of the students—went shopping and is making dinner for the group. We will then divide up the grocery bill when it's all said and done.

Cheers,

T--

Testing Testing Is this thing on?

The title says it all. Getting this blog up and operational. Made more challenging because the log in interface comes up in Norwegian. Hadn't anticipated that one.