Norwegian Healthcare Up Close & Personal

I went to the dentist today. I am still not sure that I filled out the health history/questionnaire correctly.

The dentist who told me to please just call him "Stig" spoke to me in English. He was really curious about why I would move to Norway especially not to a "big" city like Oslo. I told him that that JH is Norwegian and we relocated for JH's work and for the quality of life in a country repeatedly named the number one country to live and raise a family in the world. He smiled. I knew I had him wrapped around my finger as soon as I complimented his country. He is young and impressionable;-)

I have an infected apex (bottom of the root) on one of my molars. After some antibiotics I will need to have surgery at the hospital. Great. This is definitely not high on my list of cultural experiences.

I guess the hospital will schedule me in and call me and tell me when to report. Stig said I will be lucky if they can get me scheduled in September - maybe later. Right, maybe I will be dead of the infection by then. Well, here is hope that socialized medicine works. I will keep you posted.

Vigeland Park in Oslo

Last weekend we went to Oslo and spent a few hours at Vigeland Sculpture Park in Frogner Park.

The statue of the young-angry boy has been stolen multiple times. It is my favorite because it reminds me so much of NK when he was younger. We took him to the park when he was about one-year old and tried to have him imitate the art imitating life.

JH and LeeAnn strolled through the gardens with all of the beautiful statues and flowers. NK and I spent our time at the playground. NK had no interest in looking at world famous statues and art. We were at the end of two long days of going to museums and shopping in Oslo - so he just wanted to be a kid and play. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigeland_Park

As usual, the park was full of tourists, however the playground was full of local families who walked to the park with their strollers and kids to play. NK always seems to find kids about his age and his speed to play with.

In Oslo it is amazing how many languages can be heard on the streets. People from everywhere. Lots of huge tour groups but also families and students walking around with huge backpacks with sleeping bags.

Enrolling NK in School & Assorted Observations

This lucky orange moon was hanging around in the sky last night. In the photo it is possible to see the craters. Is this the same moon we saw in Kansas?

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We went to the Gjovik School's administrative center today to enroll NK in school. We found out that he will attend school at the administrative center/main Gjovik school for his first 3-6 months of school. In the next month or two he will start attending some events and/or classes at our neighborhood school, Kopperud, to integrate him into the Norwegian speaking population.

So far he is the ONLY kid registered to be in the Norwegian class. So as it stands the ratio is 1 to 2. NK and one primary teacher and as assistant teacher. The principal told us that she expects more students to enroll and possibly some will just show-up the first day. Gjovik has a big international population. I noticed that the largely rural county south/southeast of Gjovik is seeking teachers in 13 languages - they already have English, Spanish and French covered - but need teachers in 13 European and Asian languages.

The teachers in Norway are called by their first names. NK's primary teacher is a male and native Norwegian and his assistant teacher is a female and a native of Iran but she has lived many years in Norway. It sounds like he will have a great diversity of teachers and fellow students. There are 290 students at the main school where the language program is at. The students are in grades 1st-7th. The neighborhood school has a hundred more students and is grades 1st-10th.

I will drive NK three weeks a month and one week a month he will take a bus - a city bus. We are going to practice some dry-runs of him taking the city bus with all the morning commuters. Frankly I am pretty nervous, but millions of Norwegians do this and do it successfully. NK is a smart and competent kid...but of course he is my baby. I am putting on my happy confident face for him.

There is a before and after school program similar to latchkey. We might consider this option according to my class schedule. School will start at 8:30 and end at 1:30. There is a half hour lunch and recess period as well as morning and early afternoon breaks and outdoor time.

NK's 5 hour school day will include regular subject matter - reading, math and science and other classes all while learning and integrating Norwegian.

We went to the local school and met with the principal and staff there as well. They seemed excited to meet us and said they think that NK will be joining them in no time. Apparently kids pick-up Norwegian and are fully integrated within the 3-6 month period.

NK is excited and just a little bit nervous. Because this is NK's first day of school in Norway JH gets the first day of NK's school off from work. Typically, employers give staff of first graders the first day of school off. Obviously NK isn't a first grader, but it is his first day - so typically and sensibly Norwegians are still giving JH the day off.

Tomorrow NK starts his new soccer club. Tonight he is practicing at the soccer field - as he does most evenings. Although tonight he has his cleats on and his game face.

We enrolled NK is guitar school. It lasts for 15 weeks this fall. When we went to the music studio today NK asked if they spoke English and the answer was "of course". I have only noticed a few people in Norway that are not proficient - fluent in English and they are elderly and immigrants.

On a side note - I am still surprised that I live in Norway. In fact I forget. Since almost everyone here speaks English and I am becoming so comfortable in Norway I am frequently surprised when the news comes on and I have a Norwegian or Swedish channel on and the reporters are speaking Norwegian/Swedish. I keep understanding more and more so the transition is progressing even in my subconscious.

A few observations: how can this country with so much nudity and profanity (verbal) on TV, radio and print media have such a low crime rate? In the US scientists frequently link these. Is it countered because of the socially strong family culture where the government and schools and employers overtly work to preserve and encourage strong families with 4-6 weeks of vacation 12-15 months of maternity and paternity leave and short school days and work days so families can be together to hike, bike and build stability for children?

Also, Norwegians stand way too close to each other and kind of jostle and get out of line and in the way. I have noticed this every time I have been in Norway. I have heard this from lots of Americans who have traveled in Norway. Most recently my friend LeeAnn kept commenting on it. As a "Type A" person this bothers me - a lot. In my culture book on Norway it is observed that this is a cultural issue and that Norwegians are not bothered by it - in fact they enjoy the togetherness and the connectedness, and that they don't overtly notice it. I am working on relaxing and breathing deeply as people bonk into me in lines and at the supermarkets. I am trying to not be an American snob and glare at them like they are jerks - when it is just cultural and not intended as rude. The funniest instance was 5 or 6 years ago when JH and I were in line at a supermarket and a Norwegian man came along and I thought he wanted past us since we were kind of blocking the aisle. I pulled my cart back for him to walk past and he turned his cart and cut me off and got in line in front of me. No one behind me minded and in fact seemed indifferent. I tried to pick a fight with the guy by commenting on his one eyebrow. He just ignored me and I looked like the one eyed monster - not him. Oh well - I am trying. Breathe, breathe.

Coral Sea Shipping - Beware of Fraud

Okay, so the first international moving company took all of our money and then the week before picking up our stuff in Wichita they asked for more money - much more money. So we fired them and got our money back. We shopped around and we found another company Coral Sea Shipping. Sammy and David at Coral Sea assured us that we had been strong armed by the previous company and that there is fraud in "their" industry.

Well, fast forward two months. The Norwegian customs authorities have released out crate/freight but now Sammy, David and the gang of thieves at Coral Seas will not pay the Norwegian movers to deliver our crate to Gjovik from the docks at Oslo. They want more money even though they have been paid in full and we have a contract. Jerks - scumbags.

So, today we will contact an attorney to commence action against these idiots. I will also file reports with the US Better Business Bureau and the Federal Maritime Commission and the offices of the Attorney Generals in the state where Coral Seas conducts business. We will also contact the governments where Coral Seas has offices - in Europe.

Does anyone have ideas or resources that can assist us with our mounting legal action against these pirates?

A Thousand Splendid Suns and other books - Skip This Book Review If You Aren't a Book Lover

I have had time to read this summer. With all the rain in Norway I have been unable to hike as much as I would like (and as much as I need to) so I have been reading quite a bit. I completed A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini almost before I made it across the Atlantic. It is a fascinating book. This book is a must read for book lovers - especially book lovers who enjoy reading about complex and very real human relationships - in this book it is about two women married to the same man in Afghanistan. Intertwined with real life events of warfare, historical accounts and the dramas of life as a woman under oppression and poverty, this book while not as riveting as Hosseini's previous best seller Kite Runner it is still deep, thought provoking and a little consuming.

I read The Wonder Spot by Melissa Bank. I would never have purchased Bank's book, but it was a present and I at first felt obligated to read it. Well, I am glad I felt the obligation. It wasn't until 1/3 of the way into the book that I realized I really liked the book - in fact I don't think I did like the book I loved the character in the book. I identified with the character. It felt like I knew her. I anticipated her observations and her sarcastic humor. A young Jewish woman growing and learning about her relationships with her family and friends and even acquaintances. Strange book but a great read. I will read it again. Thanks Alice.

I am currently reading three books. Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures, A True Story From Hell by Cain, Postlewait and Thomson is a book I should have waited to start but I couldn't. It is a true story written in the first person by three United Nations workers living in the developing nations of our planet. I am also reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. I started this book a few times and I got side tracked. I am back and loving it. The third book I am reading is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Thank you to JH, LeeAnn and Priscilla for keeping me in touch with good literature.

My next read will be Runaway by Alice Munro. I am a few weeks out from Runaway.

Trip to the West Coast & Back Again - FINAL UPDATE made on August 5th!

JH, NK, my friend from Minnesota (my best buddy from my old days at the College of Saint Catherine) and I traveled from Gjovik to a cabin in Bismo. Cabins are called "hytte" in Norwegian and I think the original translation is hut. We left Gjovik and traveled west/north-west. The trip took us past a lot of places and sites which I will mention near the photos listed below.

I drove most of the way - my preference. It was a little spooky for me sometimes since I am afraid of heights. The switchbacks on narrow roads hanging over thousand foot drop-offs with wandering goats in the road all the while meeting double-decker buses...okay it was pretty spooky indeed. A good link to the Norwegian fylke (county - but more like a state) we live in, Oppland can be viewed on this link. It will start with Norway and you can zoom in to Oppland. We drove through Fagernes through Jotunheimen and through Lom to the Kommune (county) of Skjak. Oppland was a petty kingdom in the Iron Age and located in south central Norway http://kart.gulesider.no/kart/map.c?ps=5&companies=&imgt=MAP&id=a_10000155133&n=68.7326645592647&s=52.8212092407353&e=35.4771535384147&w=-13.9965155384147&zoom=3&tool=zoom&scrollX=0&scrollY=0.

The photos above and below are of stave churches in Norway which were mostly built between in the years between 1000 and 1200. This church is in Ringebu. A good link to the stave churches is here, http://www.stavechurch.org/. We went into one of the stave churches. From the inside they look like upside down viking ships - I asked and they were designed and built in the same manner as the ships - even the windows were/are small round openings. In the church we went in there is a lot of viking iconography, like dragons which were to help good fight off the evil forces.

Above is a dragon guarding a stave church. to the right is octagon church built a few hundred years ago.

These two characters are our good friends, LeeAnn from Minnesota and Jann who mostly hails from Alesund and sometimes from Myklebust and also SE Asia.

NK at the indoor water park at Finnoy. Finnoy is a little island in the North Sea. It has this water park - an excellent restaurant sitting on the rocks and dock above the sea, a few marinas, a hotel and more. It amazes me how progressive this little community is. The citizens value their community and are committed to the infrastructure and to developing a high quality of life.

The building below is in Alesund. It is supposed to be the most photographed building in the area.

Alesund is spread across islands on the west coast of Norway. The city once burned down because most buildings were built of wood. The city was rebuilt in stone.

Jann in East German and Russian garb. Always the jokester.

A couple in traditional Norwegian dress, bunad. I was fascinated with the fish in the aquarium which included fish found in the region around Alesund.

Sea anemones.

Flounders and rays. NK and I "petted" the rays and the sharks, but the flounders were speedy and had no interest in being loved by us.

We enjoyed watching this shrimp do the dog, er uh, shrimp paddle all around the aquarium.

A few weeks ago we saw baby star fish at the beach near Myklebust. This much bigger star fish was fun to watch as it slid around the window.

This cloud formation hanging above Alesund was amazing to look at. We were on top of a small mountain in Alesund photographing the city and looking out at sea to Myklebust in the distance when we saw this cloud and other white poofy cloud formations kind of streaming into view.

Alesund. With only a few hours of darkness at this time of year we have been able to enjoy Alesund for at least 20 hours a day;-)

This is a view back to the Geiranger Fjord. The fjord is supposedly the most beautiful in the world. I agree. It was breathtaking. The fjords were carved into the land by the receding glaciers. http://www.geiranger.no/english.html

Family photo at Gerianger. Not exactly a sunny day, but we did see some sun.

NK and LeeAnn aboard the ferry on our one-hour trip through the fjord.

One of the many wonderful vistas from the fjord. The waterfalls are numerous in this area.

This is one of the abandoned farms hanging high on the rocks above Geiranger. It appeared that some day hikers were hanging out enjoying the view from this farm.

My little photographer was snapping away during our trip through Geiranger.

This is a famous waterfall called "The Suitor". It is across the fjord from the waterfalls called the "Seven Sisters" which are in the photo below.

The Seven Sisters.

LeeAnn enjoying the trip.

Me hugging my little photographer. We were somewhat giddy because the trip was so amazing through the fjord.

Family photo above Geiranger. One of the cruise ships in the fjord behind us is the Queen Elizabeth II. It is a big boat. A lot of the tourists were being ferried to shore for the bus trip up the mountain for the view from the lookout spot we occupied!

Snow Troll...oh wait this is NK enjoying snow and some of the nearby glaciers.

A photo of our hytte. There were six-eight hytte and some camping area. The other tourists appeared to be Norwegian, Icelandic and from the Netherlands.

The hytte was at the base of thousand foot rock cliffs and near a river. Snow and waterfalls surrounded the area.

The entrance to a stave church. Notice the intricate carvings around the door. The window was added in the 1600's. Originally the church was supposed to be dark and depressing for the peasants and farmers to look forward to the well lit and beautifully decorated pulpit which represented God, Heaven and the better life in the "beyond".

This stave church is in Lom. I definitely want to return to Lom to spend some time. It is high in the mountains and with ski areas surrounding the area.

The dragons on the church guarding against evil and also from the iconic viking age.

Family photo at the site of where a Norwegian fairytale about a love story arose called Ridderspranget (the Knight's Leap). There is a rushing stream coming down the mountain and sometimes falling down into a river called Sjoa. In the 1200's a knight found out the the woman he loved (she apparently loved him back) was married off to another man - his adversary. The knight abducted the bride and they rode away on horseback. While being pursued, they jumped to the other side of the rushing water. The story goes on but somehow ends happily ever after.

The hike down to the site of the fairytale leap across the falls was steep. I figured I would die on the hike back up. I almost did. I finally decided that jogging was somehow easier than hiking so I ended-up jogging back up the hill/mountain to the car.

NK loved this site. The rocks, the rushing water and the forest made for an exciting combination for a little guy.

At this time of year there is a whiteish moss that is starting to blanket the forests in Norway. The reindeer eat the moss to ready for winter. Along with the moss are an assortment of mushrooms - many of them red in color.

Since Norway is in the midst of the rainiest summer in 124 years you can imagine we have seen a lot of rainbows. They are everywhere. They come in groups. The other evening we saw three rainbows out over the lake. Not a double rainbow, but three separate bows of bright prisms.

This is the highest mountain area in Oppland. It is about three hours from our house. The mountain range is amazing. We stopped above the tree line and we had ice crystals blowing down on us from the clouds. We plan to return sometime to camp and hike in this area which is filled with reindeer and fox. Because of the glaciers that scrapped across the top of this region there are lakes and boulders scattered across the tops of these mountains.

NK and I had to go to the bathroom and without a bathroom in site - we went commando.

Hikers place groups of these rocks in formations to mark their trails.

The Sami, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_people the indigenous people in northern Europe are also the largest idigneous group of people in Europe. In this photo we are above the tree line at a goat farm. NK was petting and playing with the goats while we bought cheese from the farmer/shopkeeper. NK was curious about the goat's "gutter". We gave him a crash course in "udders" and where dairy products come from.

This little tree looked lonely on the bank of this river where we stopped to see ancient stone carvings.

NK badly wanted to joing other European tourists who were skinny dipping in the cold waters.

This photo of the carvings shows the carving as they are outlined to show the ancient figures.