WEEK 14 & 15 IN OSLO - ALEX

 

Life from January 13 to January 26

Over the last two weeks not a lot has changed in terms of our day to day. I am still doing the shopping, cooking, and cleaning while Morgan works and I round out my days skiing for a couple hours through Nordmarka. Over time our evening routine has shifted to being primarily spent relaxing inside our apartment. A lot of this has to do with the weather and daylight. We have lost some of the puppy dog energy we had when we first moved, but are looking to be more active on weeknights.

Photos taken throughout the week in Nordmarka. The trails are very peaceful during the week.

To start we went ice skating at one of the many public and free skating rinks around the city. Neither of us are very good, but it was a good excuse to get out. Also, Morgan needs some practice before she goes out with her coworkers to Sognsvann sometime in the next couple of weeks. The city of Oslo plows and preps a big skating loop on Sognsvann throughout the winter, which feels authentically Nordic. In other big social news, Morgan met up for dinner with a Norwegian friend that she met a couple months ago on our overnight trip to Fjellvang, a fact that only reinforces stereotypes about Norwegian social practices. This was the first time either one of us had been invited to a purely social interaction by a Norwegian, which felt like a big cultural win.

Morgan working on her ice skating technique in central Oslo.

Almost 5 weeks since the solstice it’s fair to say that we are both ready to have more daylight in our life. Currently we get direct sunlight from 8:45 to 4:15, a marked improvement over the 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM daylight we received at the end of December. The darkness was fun at first, mostly because of the novelty, but we are ready for a change. By the time March 1 rolls around we’ll have more daily sunlight than we had when we moved, which is an exciting proposition.

Norwegian Bank Account Conclusion

In the last two weeks my dream of opening a proper Norwegian bank account and obtaining BankID died. A combination of our visa type and employment status, depending on the bank, won’t allow us to open a proper account. I have been a little dramatic as it pertains to this matter and in reality this will continue to be only a minor inconvenience. I am more frustrated that it took 2.5 months for me to come to this realization than anything else.

Visitors from Seattle

Over the weekend of January 17 we had another set of visitors. This time it was our friends from Seattle, Connor and Isabel, who came over following a week in Amsterdam where Connor was working. Just like when we had Hannah stay with us a month ago, we had so much fun hosting friends and having the opportunity to show off our life here. I maximized my opportunity to socialize with people by picking them up from the airport while Morgan finished up her work day. Isabel had to work remotely in the afternoon as well so we stayed close to our apartment and went for a walk to Sognsvann. I also made sure to show off the grocery store's bulk candy selection since they are some of the biggest candy people I know.

Isabel and Connor on the ice at Sognsvann.

That evening while Morgan and Isabel worked, Connor and I went to the Handball World Championships. Norway is one of three host countries and on Friday evening was hosting a pool play match between the United States and Norway. Initially, I thought I would have a sense of patriotic pride for the American squad, but between the home crowd energy of 10,000+ Norwegians and the underwhelming US performance we abstained from outwardly cheering for our home country. It was a fun game to watch, particularly because of the home crowd energy, but we left still not sure of all the rules.

The most exciting part of the evening for the American squad was the playing of the National Anthem. The final score ended up being 33 to 17.

Overnight at Kobberhaughytta

Of course no trip to Norway in the winter, much less to the two of us, would be complete without some kind of snow related activity. Conditions haven’t been the best, but we made the most of it and headed out for an overnight trip to our favorite hut, Kobberhaughytta. We have been here multiple times to get dinner, sweet treats, and just to hang out, but staying overnight was definitely the best experience to date. We were able to relax in the large dining room next to the largest indoor fireplace in Oslo without any of the usual crowds. Our sleeping arrangements were in a private room in a brand new building complete with indoor plumbing, making it the least rustic DNT experience to date. Meals were included in our rate and the food was fantastic and probably my favorite part. Dinner was a multi-course meal complete with moose steaks that were locally sourced from Nordmarka sometime during the fall hunting season. Breakfast was traditional European/Nordic, not necessarily our favorite, but we were treated to unlimited pastries. Considering that Kobberhaughytta has our favorite pastries of any Nordmarka café this was a great bonus.

Photos taken out on trails with Isabel and Connor.

Clockwise from Upper Left: Alex and Connor taking in the sunset from the back steps, said sunset and valley view, our personal favorite bolle (pastries) in Nordmarka, Alex and Connor waiting for dinner to be served, Inside the main hall at Kobberhaughytta, the communal space in our building at Kobberhaughytta.

On our ski back to Oslo on Sunday we stopped by Frognerseteren to eat our lunch and get some cake. One of our Seattle friends, Kristiann, has spent a lot of time in Norway and has put us in touch with a number of her Norwegian connections. She also happens to be very close to Connor and Isabel and loves the apple cake from Frognerseteren. As a kind gesture Isabel and Connor took an extra couple slices of apple cake back from Oslo to Kristiann in Seattle. As I understand, the apple cake successfully made it and was edible upon return, although I guess it didn’t taste as good as it did when it came out of the oven.

Left: Outside Frognerseteren

Right: Alex and Morgan showing off the sweets, including the decorative chocolate elk, to Connor.

Sauna in the Fjord

Rounding out our friend’s weekend in Oslo we spent the evening at the saunas in the fjord. This is fast becoming one of our favorite things to do and share with other people. Despite water temperatures in the high 30s we all braved the cold water and did some “swimming” before going back into the saunas.

Morgan swimming in the fjord waters that were measuring 38-39 degrees fahrenheit. Time spent in the water is much shorter than time spent in the saunas.

Hosting people is something we are enjoying and looking forward to doing more of as the spring and summer approach. This is good because between friends, family, and parents we have 6 different sets of visitors currently scheduled from mid-April to mid-June.

Quick Visit to the US

Last Friday, the 24th, I had an in person interview with the Seattle Fire Department. I took this as an opportunity to stop in Milwaukee for two nights before heading to Seattle on Thursday. I flew out immediately after my interview on Friday which made for quite the whirlwind of a trip. My body never adjusted and I didn’t get back into a good sleeping routine until I made it back to Norway on Saturday afternoon. I was anxious to get back to Norway and Morgan, but I left the US thinking I could have spent another couple of days with friends and family before returning.

Morgan of course got on just fine without me. She made the most of some fresh snow before we had another weeklong warm spell, met up with her Norwegian friend, and made good progress on her knitting project.

Meeting Norwegian Friends

Coming back to Norway for the weekend did have its benefits, and that was getting the opportunity to ski with a local Norwegian couple our age that Kristiann put us in touch with. If it wasn’t for an outdoor activity to meet over I’m never sure we would have ever gotten together. Norwegian social stereotypes aside we had a great time and hopefully made some friends. If not, I will still look back on our outing fondly because we were both complimented on our skiing technique and were told that we looked Norwegian. More importantly we didn’t look Danish, which would have been a proper insult.

On the trail after climbing a big hill with our Norwegian ski buddies. Hopefully we did well enough to earn ourselves an invitation back.