WEEK 18 & 19 IN OSLO - ALEX

 February 10 to February 23 - Spring?

It looks like one of the worst recorded Oslo winters is coming to a screeching halt. Plus temperatures and rain have done away with most of the snow and ice in the city. Further out in Nordmarka lakes are beginning to open up and trails melt out. Hopefully this is not the end, we have a local ski race we are participating in next week, but it is looking more and more likely that snow sports in the Oslo region will be over shortly. The last two weeks I took advantage by making another run to pick up day-old bolle from Kobberhaughytta and skied to and from my volunteering appointment, see below.

Upper left: A bag of day-old bolle and a treat, fresh berry and cream bolle with coffee from Kobberhaughytta.

Other photos: Taken from various spots around Nordmarka the previous two weeks.

Doctor Visits and Work

Since the middle of January Morgan has been struggling with contact dermatitis on her hand. It has led to her skin peeling and severe bouts of itchiness that tend to strike during the middle of the night which has made it difficult for her to sleep over the last few weeks. She visited a doctor shortly after she began exhibiting symptoms and was prescribed a steroid cream, but not given proper instructions on how to use it, both in terms of both frequency and duration. After seeing improvement she stopped applying the cream, only to have her symptoms come back stronger than ever while also spreading to her feet and face. Fearful that the cream only made things worse she didn’t reapply it for a couple weeks and fought through the discomfort and sleepless nights.

At the end of last week she returned to the same doctor to learn that she didn’t have a negative reaction to the cream, but rather wasn’t using it correctly. It was a combination between over application at the start and then not weaning herself off. After being given instructions after the second visit she is seeing an improvement and is sleeping much better.

Morgan is also working on revisions to her publication and computer model that she started the publication process for in November. This has led to a lot of stress and put all her other work, both UW and NGI, on hold. Both of us are hoping she can quickly work through the bugs in her code and so can resume her current work.

Cabin Weekend - Hemsedal

Over the weekend of 2/14 – 2/17 we visited and stayed with Marianne, a family connection of our Seattle friend Kristiann in the rural mountain community of Lykkja. We stayed in a dry cabin on her horse farm and spent the weekend skiing, going on a horse drawn sled ride, and did our best to stay warm in subzero Fahrenheit temperatures. It was nice getting the opportunity to spend time in a rural setting and see what farming life is like in Norway, which seems very similar. Marianne was a gracious host, picked us up, and went out of her way to make sure we had a good time. The community we were in is just outside Hemsedal which is a popular mountain destination and ski resort for the city folk in Oslo. Owning a second home in the mountains is common and Hemsedal is especially popular.

Photos taken from around the farm in Lykkja including Morgan getting warm by the fire, horses, and us bundled up during our sled ride.

Photos from our ski weekend outside Hemsedal.

Leaving by bus during rush hour on a Friday afternoon gave us the opportunity to experience the cabin traffic we have heard about from our native Norwegian friends. It may not be able to compete with a good old fashioned American traffic jam, but it still took an extra hour or so to reach our destination than it should have.

On our return journey we were also delayed an hour when our train hit the back of a semi-truck that got stuck at an icy track crossing. Fortunately no one was hurt and there was minimal damage to the truck and the train. Prior to the collision it was evident something was amiss, because the conductor was laying on the train horn and I have never experienced a train brake that hard. We were almost completely stopped when it felt like we had hit something, and the final damage made it look like maybe the truck only came to a rest on the train after everyone had stopped their forward momentum.

There was no good vantage point to show the truck resting on the side of the truck, but a couple of photos from the aftermath of our collision. Fortunately everyone was okay.

Cabin Weekend - Sjusjoen

This most recent weekend we went to the family cabin of Sjur, one of Morgan’s coworkers from NGI. Initially, it was supposed to be a larger group of either 8 or 9 of us, but most everyone backed out at the last minute, meaning we spent a lot more quality time with each other than anyone anticipated. The cabin is near Sjusjoen and on Saturday we went alpine skiing at Hafjell, a mountain resort that was made for the 1994 Winter Olympics in nearby Lillehammer. Another one of Morgan and Sjur’s colleagues joined us for the skiing, which was reminiscent of some of our PNW ski weekends due to heavy fog, rain, and above freezing temperatures. All in all it was still very fun and likely thanks to the weather not being very busy. Hafjell is the second largest ski area in Norway and would be comparable to a mid-size ski area in the US. The biggest difference was the price, where our day tickets came out to less than $60 apiece.

Upper right: Sjur taking a break on the hill.

Left: Morgan getting ready to start the race course.

Winter Break

The week of 2/17 to 2/21 was winter break for the Oslo area schools. The city was noticeably quieter as many people were vacationing in the mountain cabins. Morgan’s office was especially quiet and she took advantage by working from our apartment for most of the week. A comparison to the winter holiday in the US would be spring break, but as a working adult I have never been able to tell when local schools are on break or not. It was so obvious in Oslo that I realized something was amiss immediately when we got back to the city on Monday afternoon.

Morgan at our apartment with her self-repaired headphones.

DNT Volunteering

Over the last couple of weeks I have begun volunteering with DNT. I started this process shortly after we moved, when I was both looking for something to do during the day and for the opportunity to have social connections. Three months, multiple back and forths over email, and a few phone calls later I was told about the opportunity to work with firewood production and furniture building for the DNT cabins. This location is responsible for supplying firewood, the only heat source in many cases, for 30 cabins in the greater Oslo area. They also make indoor furniture: bed frames, tables, desks, etc. for all the cabins throughout the country. The volunteers, anywhere from 10-20 depending on the day, meet during the day on Wednesdays and Thursdays at a compound easily accessible by city bus and were willing to accept someone with little proficiency in Norwegian, everything that I was looking for.

The thing about volunteering during business hours in the middle of the week is that you probably can’t also work, which is why the next youngest volunteer after me is 63 years old. Most of the volunteers are around 80 and I am very impressed by how well everyone still gets around. I hope that 50 years from now I am able to climb over stacks of fallen trees and cut them up in smaller bits with a chainsaw. Despite their impressive physical abilities they are still thrilled to have some younger blood around and are more than willing to put up with my lack of Norwegian skills in exchange for my labor. I plan on going once to twice a week for the foreseeable future. It’s a fun environment, I am able to socialize and practice my language skills, and feel good about giving back.

The DNT woodworking and firwood production facility. Upper photo is of the staining room and the bottom photo shows the automated wood splitting operation. About 3,000 50-lb bags of firewood are produced here each year. In addition to splitting the wood, volunteers also cut down the trees in Nordmarka.