Snoreway

Holly, our new Border Collie!

2011-11-14T22:51:00.001-05:00

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family: Holly! She's an 8 week old border collie puppy that we got from a rescue two weeks ago.

As you can see, she basically sleeps and then runs around in her park, sleeps in 'dangerous places' and then does her business and then sleeps. It's hard work growing into a big dog!

E! Engagement!

2011-10-11T20:24:00.000-04:00

Hi wonderful Snorwegians, we are very sorry that we've been unfaithful bloggers! BUT! We have some very exciting news! Adam & I are engaged! Eee!

For those of you who know us personally, this came as no surprise. After living together for many years, travelling the globe and helping each other to accomplish many things, we've decided to celebrate all that gooey stuff with the rest of the world.

We had talked about it for a while, and throughout our entire time abroad, I half-expected Adam to pop the rock here:

The Fjord, Oslo.

And here...

North Devon, UK

Or here:

London, UK

I for sure thought it would happen here:

Barceloneta Beach, Barcelona

Or even:

Parthenon, Athens

Maybe here:

Opera House, Oslo

As you can tell, I was expecting the proposal quite a few times in the past few months.... instead, it happened in just the right place, at just the right time (and I was surprised!!)

After a wonderful picnic in our favourite park, across from our apartment....

Adam had been so nice the whole night....

(our favourite feature of our park)

After our friends had all gone home, and I was doing the washing-up, he asked me if he would marry him!

Adam's Awesome Foto-Works

2011-08-03T21:21:00.000-04:00

just kidding!

Kwerty Birds keep popping up around town!

2011-08-03T20:45:00.000-04:00

The obligatory post acknowledging the recent tragedy in Norway.

2011-07-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

5 million Norwegians, and thousands more over the world are grieving because of the hatred of one man.

When my family & I first moved to Phoenix, Arizona in the late 90's, we were shocked and appalled at the level of gun violence that (still) happens on a daily basis there. It affected us in many ways, but we always felt that as Canadians, we could distance ourselves from it, say, "it's the wild west" or associate the violence and destruction with an American 'other'. Years later, we moved back to Montreal, my parents feared that my sister and I had been too exposed to the violence. In middle & high school I had been targeted, along with a few other classmates by a student's delusional threat to harm us at school. That student was expelled, and a few months later he stabbed another 16 year old kid to death over a small quarrel. We were taught how to act during a school lock-down. We watched Columbine happen live from our classroom on TV.

So when we moved back to Montreal, we always thought, "that kind of thing never happens here." But it did. A disturbed coward walked into my sister's college (where my grandfather had taught, where my mom, grandmother and I had all gone) and shot eighteen year old Anastasia de Souza, and injured many more. My sister literally ran for her life. There are no words to explain what I feel I should write here. She is the strongest woman I know. I don't want to write that she is a victim, because she isn't. She's a survivor. People say that she'll live with it the rest of her life. And while it might be true, I don't want her to believe them. I want her to feel that at one point, she has suffered enough and will step out of her old armour and lead a new life. And she will. (Like a phoenix.)

Adam & I have learned a lot about Norway, and come to understand why everyone is so surprised that such a violent act happened on July 22, 2011. Scandinavians are known for being open, progressive, peaceful. Adam even said that his Norwegian history class at school was so boring because they stayed neutral during most wars and didn't have much happen. Security is almost a non-issue in the country, as Adam & I experienced every time we went in and out of the airport: we never got a passport stamp, a customs interrogation or even a bag check coming back into Norway. We only ever saw a handful of police authorities, and they don't carry guns. The subway works on the honour system. The Norwegians we encountered were reserved, kept to themselves and generally didn't bother each other. They hold the god-darn Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies there for crying out loud!

I don't think we can rely on the belief that there are places in the world where violence is not an issue.

I hope that those affected (to every degree) get the counselling and care that they need, but what does give me comfort is that the Norwegians know how to take care of their own people.

Best darn meal we've made this summer

2011-07-24T15:06:00.001-04:00

Adam & I haven't eaten steak in about eight months. Snoreway's prices had a bit to do with that, but we also hate getting lower quality meat. So we've been saving our appetites & pennies for a good quality home-made steak meal.

After a trip to the Atwater Market, our new hook-up to local (and a few not-so-local) farmers goods, bags filled with filet mignon, a knob of ginger, a lime and a healthy-looking bok choy, we put our brains together in the kitchen (and got a little help from Jamie Oliver.)

Our own harvest: Balconville grows some seriously hot peppers!
This recipe called for one, finely chopped.

1 bundle of bok choy

The juice of one lime (in my awesome inherited 50's style "Juice King")

One thumb-sized nub of ginger, grated. Also, half a clove of garlic, grated.

Duh. The meat. The recipe called for sirloin, but we used filet mignon. Salt & pepper for seasoning, then drop into very hot pan with oil. Sear on each side & cook according to taste.

8 tablespoons of soy sauce. We used about 6 in the end. Once the steak is cooked, let it rest for two minutes. Then add the soy sauce, ginger, garlic, peppers and lime juice. Steam bok choy in salted water and plate up!

Dinner on the balcony!

Montréal: A St-Henri Love Story

2011-07-14T16:57:00.000-04:00

Adam & I recently got new iPhones, and while I didn't think I wanted to be so 'connected' by a phone, I love having the camera with me everywhere I go. Here are some (iPhone) shots from around our new hood.

It's Picnic Season in Montreal!

2011-07-12T23:10:00.000-04:00

photos by Alanna Whittington-Barnes

Our BBF (Blogging Best Friend)!

2011-07-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

Our good friend Alanna has started her own little blog, documenting everything she loves. We love that she documented being a tourist in St Henri, our new neighborhood! Check it out here!

St-Jean Baptiste Celebrations!

2011-06-29T18:21:00.000-04:00

After travelling, I realized that I'm a very proud Quebecer, or Quebecoise, even though it confuses people (especially the French) that I'm an anglo. "But you're English!" they say, astonished and probably a bit nervous. I explain that I was born and basically raised in Quebec and speak fluent French. And I love poutine and choose Pepsi over Coke. Being a Quebecer has less and less to do with the French or English languages as new Quebecers speak Arabic and French or Chinese and English. We just have a common 'suffering' and a promise to 'remember' written on our car's license plates. We say 'of course' at government corruption and consider potholes part of our city's topical relief. If I weren't writing for a general audience, half of these words would be in French, as I had to look up the English versions of words that only come naturally in French. We close the lights. We have traffic jams in bike lanes, and stand at least a meter into the street while waiting for cars to pass (not the light to turn green). And maybe it's the "Vive le Quebec libre" mentality, but we're pretty much free to do whatever we like. As long as it's bigger in French and smaller in English.

Anyway, we celebrated our new apartment with friends, ending in a sparkler-lighting party in St-Henri park.

Selected works of our Southwest trip, August 2009

2011-06-09T21:37:00.003-04:00

I was recently going through old photos and realized that we've got some really great ones I'd love to share. So, pretend you're slipping into a hot tub time machine, and reset the date to August 2009.
(Sorry for the few pictures that get caught up in our sidebar, I thought these ones deserved to be really BIG!)

We started our trip in Vegas, because it was actually a lot cheaper to fly into Vegas, rent a car & a hotel room for one night and drive to LA & Phoenix than it was to rent a car in either location. Our first stop: Hoover Dam.

My favourite parts of the US: the old, the abandoned, the real. (This place is apparently 'Open')

While the above photos were of facades, this was NOT. We stopped for coffee to go. And everyone in the restaurant stopped and looked at us like we were crazy. (Or future roadkill...)

After telling Adam that it never rains in the desert, rain.

Towards the Grand Canyon.

Our morning started in Vegas, at about 110 degrees. We'd driven so far north and higher in altitude that it was about 50 degrees (43 c -10 c).

The inspiration to my novella.

After a night in Flagstaff, we took the road south through Sedona & the red rocks. (Also the vortex of the universe.)

As Adam took this picture while standing in the ditch, we heard the tell-tale sound of a rattlesnake tale (tail)
rattling... we hopped into the car so fast we almost didn't even open the doors!

Phoenix: Guadalupe, Native American Reservation.

And through Phoenix towards Palm Springs.

A haunting image that will stay with me forever.

And LA! Chinese Mann's Theatre

Spiderman stretches too.

LaBrea tar pits. Pretty sad & disturbing when you see fake mammoth babies watching their fake mammoth family drowning in tar...

We saw the Inglorious Basterds in LA and we realized that we were in a theatre full of people who worked in the movie industry. It was such a good atmosphere.

Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell.

Santa Monica Pier at night.

I was still learning how to use the camera...

The Getty. The Gorgeous. The Great.

My uncle is a great photographer & we really learnt (ADAM) how to manipulate the camera's features to get just the right shot! Thanks Uncle Kelvin!

Death Valley, the road to Vegas.

Adam refused to take lots of pictures of Vegas. If we wanted to see the Eiffel tower, we'd go to Paris. If we wanted to see the canals in Venice.... well, this was pretty funny.

Waiting for Godot, or Adam= Design DIYs

2011-06-04T23:36:00.002-04:00

Since Adam is still in Snoreway, I've been at home preparing for his homecoming, and a new apartment. After a few days of being lost in the design DIY blogosphere, I decided to make my first project chairs!

We live down the street from a Salvation Army and I figured I'd pop in to see what they had. They had two great old (but still sturdy, solid wood) tavern style chairs. The stain was worn, and a bit grubby in a few places, but they matched and were quite comfortable to sit in. Plus, there was a 50% off sale, so buying both chairs cost me a whole $15. Almost as much as a cup of tea in Snoreway.

I forgot to take a 'before' picture, but the chairs were the same colour and looked like this.

Before (ish): a first coat of spray paint.

After! These chairs now seem to look more feminine and the scalloped back stands out more.

The next project: PAINTING THE ENTIRE APARTMENT!

Before photos:

Living room. Huge space: 10 x 24, but the colour is a bit pukey, the black trim a bit overpowering.

The kitchen, also huge. I absolutely love the floor, but the wood paneling is a bit 70's. There's way too much going on here, and unfortunately we're renting and can't do anything about the paneling. I see what the last tenants were thinking: match the floor with the wall & trim. I don't think it worked, it just takes away from the tiles.

I've now moved almost 20 times in my 26 years, and think that I can pick apartments that have potential: good spaces with bad decor at a good price. Good spaces & good prices won't change. Bad decor does, with a bit of elbow grease.

The things that I love about this place that make the effort worthwhile:

St Henri park: gorgeous black fountain from the end of the 19th century with a statue of Jacques Cartier. The park is filled with people picnicking, dogs strolling and the soothing sound of water falling. Our front balcony looks out here.

View from our bedroom window. Quebec, and St Henri in particular has a church around every corner (or so it seems). Though I'm not religious, steepled skylines make me feel like home. Birds love the vines and trees back here. I even turned off the radio to listen to them while I was painting today.

Our small back balcony, off the kitchen. I can't wait to get some potted plants & a bbq out there! The afternoon sun bathes this spot in sunlight.

Phase Two:

First few coats of paint: puke green is gone! The room, even with the lights off and on an overcast day looks way brighter, and much cleaner. I decided to keep only the very top part of the trim black, because it does emphasize the height of the room. Painting the rest of the black trim is a nightmare. But I think it'll be worth it. You can see that the top of the frame on the window (even with its third coat drying) will need another few coats.

Keeping the original beauty intact takes quite a bit of tape!

I took the cupboard doors off to paint the frame as it was black and clashed with the dark brown doors. We're not supposed to change the colour of the doors, so the white will be much less distracting. And check out the cute 70's style wallpaper inside the cupboards!

There's still lots to do, but thanks to my mum & dad, the job is more fun & much easier! Back to my real job tomorrow, but I'll try to get back there during the week to finish up. And... ADAM'S HOME ON FRIDAY! WEEE!

Update:

After a some very gracious help from Adam's Dad et al., we scored some great furniture!

And a horrendous drive in a Uhaul bringing back furniture from Toronto (getting stuck in traffic in Toronto for 3 + hours...) we've all moved in!

Adam's Tootie is an amazing sculpture artist, these are a few she's given us over the years.

View from the front window!

Kitchen (and Adam's beloved bike)

My new office!

First dinner at home!

Easter in Greek! Πάσχα!

2011-04-25T07:55:00.001-04:00

Midnight Mass: crowds of people gather in the street by the church (this one's in Rafina, a village/suburb of Athens) and the holy flame is passed through the crowds.

Best church ever! Fireworks!

Then, Greeks bring the flame home, and have traditional lamb soup and a feast!

Uncle Dylan (the Commodore) protecting the holy flame from devilish winds...

Celyn scores more flame from a stranger on the street.

The first 1am feast! Soup, tortiere, octopus, tzatziki, cucumber, feta, olives, savoury and sweet bread, and Fix beer. Madelyn and Joan spent the day dying the hard boiled eggs. We went around the table trying to smash each other's eggs.

Commodore Harding and his sailors roasting the lamb.

We wanted to know who his dentist was.

Nick turning the giant kebab!

Whooooaaah!

Ex-vegetarian committing Vegetarian sins.

Men at work.

Gypsy Madelyn taking her pick of meat.

We've had five birthdays in the past few days... so an ample amount of cake should do!

Then, to the beach!

A crab!

Nap time...

Madelyn, the Bin Girl!

Ending this post leaving you to want more...

Acropolis Now!

2011-04-23T13:17:00.000-04:00

Le gang

Olympic Practice

Daaaddd... this is what we walked all this way for?? It's old...

Photo Bombing

Keeping the boy in check

It's no big deal. It's really very small.

Comodor Harding

Another Hiatus...

2011-04-21T05:26:00.000-04:00

Hey Snorwegians,

Adam and I will be on another bloggisphere hiatus for the next week, as we've been invited by some wonderful friends to spend Easter in Greece! We've been loured with hints of lambs on a spit, TWO feasts, beaches, really, really old buildings and midnight masses. It all sounds very mysterious....

Until then, happy interneting!

Yours,
Snorwegians on Vacation

A trip to the Viking Ship Museum!

2011-04-19T14:06:00.001-04:00

On the ferry!

Dad teaches kids about old stuff!

Viking Faces, This is actually what they looked like.

Six hour hike: Maridalen lake & Dissenbekken mountains

2011-04-14T05:00:00.000-04:00

Is this an ancient rock carving??

Just when we thought we didn't have to walk UP anymore... a ski hill!

That's pretty much all of Oslo

Meanwhile, New finds in Oslo!

2011-04-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

It's true. We travel to other places for the adventure...

of finding what we already have at home.

These two (good british tea) and Canada Dry Gingerale (or any gingerale for that matter) took us close to four months to find. Too bad they only come in backwards formats...

Barcelona: Food & City

2011-04-03T08:43:00.001-04:00

Loving the thousands of details on the street.

View from our hotel

Living in the most expensive city in the world has its downfalls.

Adam and I have missed eating out, as it's hard in Oslo to find any cheap eats, let alone great inexpensive food. So we decided to save our Kroners and spend more on food in Barcelona than on museum admissions or shopping for souvenirs.

Market Lunch #2

Long afternoon lunch in a square.

Steamed mussels, fried small fish, gazpacho, olives, fresh anchovies. And, Estrella cervesas.

Afternoon at the beach.

Adam pulled me into this church, and I'm glad he did!

Breakfast in front of Eglesia Sta. Maria del Mar.

Barcelona, unfortunately, is filled with tourists, all doing this.

It's a dog's life.

And back home again. Can you believe we landed in this FOG?

Last train.

Gaudi Day: Sagrada Familia y Park Guell

2011-04-03T08:20:00.000-04:00

The amazing Sagrada Familia in it's 128th year of construction, and you Montrealers thought things moved slowly in your city. The photos do not even come close to doing justice to this church. Every square inch has a triple meaning and was meticulously planned out by Guadi.

Enjoying my audio tour!

Gaudi hung little sand bags in order to get the tension of the arches correct. There is a giant mirror beside it so that you can see the church the right way up.

A quick snack across the street.

The entrance to Park Guell

Barcelona Day One: Sand, Sea and City

2011-04-03T07:36:00.000-04:00

Barceloneta Marina, 5 minute walk from our hotel.

Morning view

Outside our favourite restaurant, Cal Pep

Eglesia de Sta. Maria del Mar

One of the many small streets of the Barri Gothic & El Born neighbourhoods

Placa de Jaume, Museu Ajuntament de Barcelona

Oh, you know. A water spout for public use.

The chaos of Tourism: Las Ramblas

Mercat St Josep: La Boqueria. A bustling heaven of culinary delights.

Candy, nuts, chocolate.

One of the million fruit & veggie stands.

For 10 Snoreway dollars, who can identify the bundles of sea 'sticks'

Our favourite way to have lunch: Chorizo, Manchego cheese, fresh baguette and fresh fruit. Lunch for two: 6 Euros.

Barcelona: a city of layers upon layers of history and detail.

MACBA (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona)

Inside one of the many small courtyards.

Roman Walls, New Hotel.

BUBBLES!

Parc de Ciutadella

Can you spot Spanish Mike Florence?

Adam wanted to keep him...

This thing was awesome, and you know, just hanging out in the park.

Adam's dream come true: Public Ping Pong Tables.

Until next week...!

2011-03-28T08:59:00.000-04:00

Dear You, (the best blog follower since sliced bread)

Adam and I will take a brief hiatus from posting since WE ARE GOING TO BARCELONA(!) for a couple of days. It's high time Adam and I ate cheap street meat, had a glass of wine without feeling the wrath of that drink in our bank accounts, saw the ocean and took photos with a different colour scheme than grey, white, baby blue and silver (the colour of cold). We'll be perusing the streets, looking for Gaudi and Miro beauties, visiting back-alley tapas eateries, and maybe we'll even go to el Museo de Jambon. Maybe not.

You will be missed, that's for sure.

From,
Snorwegians

Oslo's Rock Carvings... or not.

2011-03-27T10:49:00.001-04:00

On a sunny Friday afternoon, a German (Stefan) and two Canadians decide to follow their guide book and visit some ancient rock carvings, the first evidence of life in the Oslo fjord area. They embark on a wild adventure...

View from the west side of the Oslo fjord

Looking south

The Copenhagen (København)-Oslo ferry

Port, Opera House & Radisson Hotel (tallest building in Oslo)

Old Merchant Navy Academy, now Business school (?)

Looking for the carvings. The guide said to go down this road...

Traditional Norwegian home.

The path leads us back up the hill...

Can you spot the waterfall? It's the 'most beautiful waterfall beside a highway in Oslo' according to us.

Coming back to the top of the hill, Adam re-reads the Rock Carving section of the guide book. Stefan listens intently to the directions.

Stefan, German photographer.

We found them! We think? This slab of slate, next to the highway, under all this snow.
"These etchings of humans and animals in the stones near the tram station at Ekeberg
are thought to have been carved around 6000BC. " Too bad no one can see them.

In hindsight...

Oslo's Creative Edge

2011-03-24T15:11:00.000-04:00

Oslo's Opera House

2011-03-21T11:36:00.001-04:00

St-Patrick's Parade in Oslo

2011-03-19T13:18:00.001-04:00

Coming from a city that hosts the oldest St Patrick's Day Parade (and the oldest parade) in North America, I wasn't expecting much from Oslo's parade. This is what the parade consisted of:

Seven Irish Wolfhounds
Two marching bands
One guy dressed like Gandalf
and a bagpiper.

The Palace, and a cup of tea

2011-03-15T09:43:00.000-04:00

Looking down from the Palace towards the city.

We were going to ask if we could use his phone. He was standing in a Royal Phone Booth, after all.

This is it. Pretty symmetrical, very square.

Moi.

Statue, Palace.

Northwest of the Palace, Cafe on the Park.

Self-Explanatory. Coconut and lemon custard.

Sunshine!

Tea for Two.

Farmer's Market: Grunerlokka on a sunny Saturday.

2011-03-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

Adam at Bondens Market, Grunerlokka. This was the first farmer's market of the season.

As it's still pretty much winter, cured meats, baked goods, jams and honey were the only products available.

Baked goods: boller buns!

This may or may not be reindeer meat. We're not sure.

If only you could have smelled these. They wrap them into a cone and put jam or brown 'ost' or cheese inside.

Storefront

Outdoor cafe season seems to have started today. It was +1 degree and sunny.

Young Norwegians.

Second hand store window.

I would have paid for an extra seat on the plane to bring this baby back with me.

This one too. Sitting in the back of a second hand furniture store, along with so many more. Typewriter graveyards.

Street Graffiti on a door.

Shop Shutters

The Hunt is Over!

2011-03-01T12:22:00.000-05:00

I know this may not sound to exciting to our readers but Celyn and I found something that Celyn has be searching for for months now. All hope was lost, according to Norwegians the instant muffin mix does not exist. Muffins here are generally chocolate or vanilla and what we (North Americans) consider to be cupcakes.

The search is over... it was a minor miracle. Sitting on the shelf in the grocery store today was the only box of blueberry muffin mix. Also it's Betty Crocker and all in English. I have no idea where this box came from and I'm not about to ask.

Thank you stock boy!!

Ski Jumping!!

2011-02-25T10:04:00.000-05:00

Celyn scored some free tickets to the nordic ski championships for the men's and ladies events this morning. A nice little treat considering the tickets normally cost about $70 each!

Our friend Yemi

Celyn, Alex, Matt, and Yemi

More cow bell Celyn!

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Opening Show

2011-02-24T18:46:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: thanks to my good friend Lindsay, who is a religious Perez Hilton blog-viewer, it turns out that Perez Hilton is following Norwegian fashion. Apparently Whitney Port (for those who don't know, like me, she starred on MTV's the Hills) was at the show too. See the "article" here.

Oslo Fashion: Edited!

2011-02-22T12:02:00.004-05:00

What do Norwegians look like?

Most are blonde. When I see a brunette, I often say to myself "Wow, look at her hair!"But the blonde here is different to other blondes. Whereas many women highlight their hair in North America, blondes here are brightly bleached, one tone platinum.

The mainstream fashion trends are less hipster, and more rich. Luxury is in, looking like a poor, starving student is out. Maybe there are no poor starving students here. Except Adam and I.

This is a great blog featuring more alternative Oslo fashion:
http://oslonights.no/

My favourite shop in Oslo so far: Monki! Just a fun store concept to shop in.

http://hk.monki.com/2010/05/monki-opening-in-oslo/

This store is connected to Weekday, a store our good fashionista-NYC-resident-girl-in-the-know friend turned us on to. Love the slouching, the feeling that lines are bordering upon extreme (or 80s), the studs and metal embellishments. While these stores, along with my beloved Acne store, are more 'alternative', showcasing slim lines, attention to detail and more rocker or hardcore designs, I honestly don't see many people on the streets wearing this style.

Women love three things here: fur, lace and diamonds. (And levi's jean shorts and animal prints and high, high heels).

Most girls wear these:

And my personal favourite to laugh at: They're from H&M and come in all different colours, all different animal patterns.

The men mostly dress like this:

Moods of Norway, local brand.

Mostly men wear these types of shirts with straight jeans/chinos, underneath large knitted sweaters with snowflakes on them:

Timberland Boots for women:

Most girls seem to be wearing these in beige, sky high with skinny jeans:

And traditional Norwegian shoes. Love the idea of these shoes with tight black leggings (the kind with leather riding patches) and a black leather jacket, and a plaid scarf--perhaps a touch of rouge on the lips.

Local Designers shown at Oslo Fashion week (February 15-19th).

Kristian Aadnevik: (this is from his winter collection)

Check out Helji Hamre, Norwegian designer back from NY: cool video, features the infamous fjord.

http://heljehamre.com/

Though I really love the styles here, it does seem that women (and men) take a long time to get ready--and spend a LOT of money on their clothes. Malls usually are full of people toting shopping bags (a rare sight in Montreal), and most women look put-together all the time. I asked Adam his opinion on the way people dress, and his words captured my entire rambling post in one sentence. Girls in Montreal dress as if they picked their clothes up off the floor. But they make it look really good, and really easy. Girls in Norway dress very well. But they look like they've spent a lot of time doing it.

Some links for further research:

http://shop.bymalenebirger.com/DK/?partner=5363

http://velouriavintage.no/index.html

http://shop.acnestudios.com/shop/women.html

I found her! The typical Norwegian Girl! Sighted at the Nordic World Skiing Championship Opening show in the crowd:

Grünerløkka

2011-02-19T14:02:00.001-05:00

Today, Celyn and I walked around the Grunerlokka borough of Oslo. This was a nice little area that we had our eye on before we moved here. It has a lot of little shops, cafes, and restaurants. Originally we were trying to find an apartment in this area but that proved to be nearly impossible with our budget and and time frame.

So finally after living here for nearly two months Celyn finally decided to parade me around. To get there we had to take the T-Bane (subway) and nearly got stuck paying a huge fine. The entire public transit system here works on the honour system. You can walk onto any bus, tram, or subway and not pay a thing. Now if you get caught you have to pay a fine of 700 Kroners, which works out to roughly $120. My pass had expired two days ago and Celyn forgot to stamp her pass on the way in (whoops). Well heading downtown today (to renew my monthly pass) we got stopped on the T-Bane by the Kontrol agents. Thankfully they let us proceed to the central station to renew without issuing us a ticket. I guess that is the last time we test the system.

We stopped into a really cool American style diner for lunch called The Nighthawk Diner. Celyn had an excellent feta, avocado, sun-dried tomato sandwich with chipotle mayo, and I scarfed down a huge clubhouse sandwich!

This neighbourhood is a fantastic place to walk around. I can't wait to sit out on a patio and drink a coffee there in the spring.

A Poetry Reading, in Gibberish

2011-02-19T05:27:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, Adam and I went to a poetry reading open mic night at the Literature House. The building is a gorgeous, white stone mansion, right across from the palace grounds. I was dumbfounded when I found out about it-- what?? a house for literature?? a place where like minded people can gather and discuss literature that isn't a university or a shitty bar? what?? It's Europe's largest literary center and hosts several events daily. On the large main floor is a cafe, serving tea, coffee, bollers (!), wine, beer and what look like delicious main dishes: salads, soups, etc. all served with a huge hunk of bread. My first visit, I had taken a book, notebook and a pencil with the intention of sitting in the cafe with a tea and perhaps meeting some other writers or literary enthusiasts. I got there, and was surprised at how packed the cafe was. And that no one had a book in hand. It seems that the cafe is so nice that it attracts 'normal' people. (People whose lives revolve around things other than ink and letters and paper). The small Norwegian bookstore across from the cafe was basically empty.

Sorry for the small, crappy photos, these are from their website.

Once a quarter, they host an open mic night. Before signing myself up and jumping into the deep end, I decided not to read myself, but to get the feel for what a Norwegian poetry reading might be like. We were guided down into the basement, (I was thinking, HA! see? Poetry gets no money in this country too) and walked into a beautiful room set up just for readings. Books lined the walls, tables and chairs with candles and centerpieces packed the room, a small bar sold beer and wine and peanuts, and there was a dj playing mellow tunes. The chairs were comfy, the atmosphere was welcoming, and the room filled up quite quickly. Adam and I are both terrible at guess-timating, but we guessed there were about 50-60 people, and they all showed up on time! There were people of all ages, but the twenty-something crowd tended to dominate. Men wearing slacks and lumberjack shirts, tweed blazers with leather patches on their elbows, and of course, the very popular wool pull-over sweater with a few buttons at the top. Women with fur vests and heeled boots, oversized wool sweaters (think rich hipster). These kids looked like students, but they were all dressed well. It seems the "I just picked my clothes up off the floor" look hasn't reached this far north.

Adam and I sat with a beer, amazed at the atmosphere. But we quickly realized as the dj/emcee began talking, that all of the reading would happen in Norwegian. ALL of it. Which really makes sense, right? Being such a small country--no, erase that, being such a small population-- with a unique language, promoting local writers is the most important thing to do. I know, in a way, being an English writer in a French province. There is a level of exile to experience which creates a very tight-knit community for writers. I speak French, just like Norwegians speak English, but often poetry only comes out in mother tongues.

So, this post has become a post about everything except the poetry of the poetry reading, and will speak nothing to words, meanings, symbols, etc. It's strange listening to a language (that actually sounds like a mix between Chinese, German and Italian) without having a dictionary, Google chrome translate or any physical hints or clues. Without the ability to even begin to understand, your attention focuses on the things you may not notice if you understood the content.

Things like audience response (you have to know when to laugh), applause (after individual poems, or at the end?), audience participation, mic volume, poem length, what poets look like, how they dress and how they hold themselves. How they are received when they sit back down at their seats, and how they interact during the intermission. If the younger women swoon over older male poets, and how the younger men have delicately soft reading voices.

Sitting in a room filled with foreign sounds, feeling so far removed from the thing I love, not being able to understand what comforts me, I realized that poets are all the same. They may look different, speak different languages, but sharing in a public exposure of private thoughts is an experience every poet (loves/hates).

Skiing, or Ski in Norwegian!

2011-02-14T15:24:00.000-05:00

For Adam's *ahem*th birthday, we got him a lift ticket and snowboard rental to Oslo's local ski hill, Tryvann. Incredibly, the mountain (?) is accessible by metro (tbane). We headed off early in the morning, via tbane, and after one switch, we got off at the second-to-last stop, Voksenkollen. The tbane ride there is about twenty minutes, but worth every second. Can you imagine sightseeing or taking in 'a view' on the metro?? Since the tbane is both underground and above ground, when it reaches the outer limits, you can sit in the wonderfully quiet trains and watch as picturesque Norwegian landscapes unfold; red and white-paneled slope-roofed houses covered in snow, tall pines silhouetted with snow, (heated soccer fields not covered in snow), and as we reached higher altitudes (still on the tbane!) the views opened out over the valley into the fjord. At the tbane stop, we got off and bought tickets to the bus that got us to the hill. A ten minute drive in the most comfortable mini bus (think private taxi bus) I've ever sat in and we're at the "Vinterpark".

Adam and I, of course, didn't bring any of our skiing or snowboarding gear, so we rented pants, skis, a snowboard, poles, a helmet (for accident-prone moi) and off we went! The interesting part about the Vinterpark is that when you get to the hill, you're at the top already. Me, at the top, below... :)

We stuck to the Green route, as we're both pretty much beginners, but both had tons of fun. We stayed out for six hours (!) and easily did twenty-plus runs. Being on skis, I even got some runs on a side slope with rolling moguls. Weeeee!

We'd love to go again, alas, 200+ dollars for a day of skiing is slightly out of our budget. Happy Birthday Adam!

School?

2011-02-08T10:55:00.000-05:00

So far so good. School here is quite a bit more relaxed than back home. With no assignments or midterm exams it's tough to gauge how you are doing throughout the year. In all of my classes the final exam is worth 100% of the final grade. I have heard that the exams are pretty easy, but with no assignments to judge the type of questions that will appear who knows. I never thought I would think Concordia would be harder than another school, I guess I was wrong.

P.S. Celyn gets her stitches out in two days (then she can do the dishes again!!)

Cooking in a foreign language (and the Norwegian health system)

2011-02-01T18:07:00.000-05:00

Adam and I are fully settled in; by that I mean we've started to run out of things like peanut butter, olive oil, things that settled people must buy more of. We're also starting to become more adventurous at the grocery store. The first few weeks was a challenge to recognize products that we already know what to do with. Finding substitutes: taco sauce instead of salsa, red berry jam, unknown cheese instead of known cheese. Today I came across the dreaded 'brown cheese' in a spreadable package--which I thought was butter. Prim-- the spreadable version that comes in a tube. To be fair, the package was not a tube, it was a small individual butter package for spreading on bread. It's very sweet--the milk sugars caramelize, and tough to like if you were expecting butter.

I've been meaning to try Norwegian or Scandinavian foods, and so before I venture into the land of fish, I tried a traditional 'boller' bun. YUM! It's a baked bun that is slightly sweet, and sometimes has raisins in it. Like a cinnamon bun minus 90% of the sugar. One will set you back 10 kroners (1.75$).

Adam and I bought a muffin tin last week. To save money on buying breakfast or dessert food, we thought we'd make muffins (like we do at home). Except that we can't find muffin mix. Anywhere. So I've decided to make the Boller buns in a muffin tin.

I bought the mix and brought it home. The most important kitchen tool in this kitchen is google translate. Using this tool, I found out that the 1-2-3 easy! method requires gjær.... yeast. So, back to the grocery store I go. Except that of course, there's nothing on the shelves is called gjaer. Luckily, I do know what yeast is usually packaged in and scurry home to make my bollers!

Now, I'm not a baker. I like to cook savory foods that need less measurements and more 'inspiration' or 'love'. And we're here for a few months, no need to buy measuring cups, cooking utensils. I can usually eyeball things like tablespoons and cups. Except that of course, things are measured in deciliters.....crap.

Yeast

As you can see from the photos below, I 'improvised'.

My bowl

Things get messy...

Gotta add russins to the mix!

The stuff starts to get unruly.... it's rising at incredible rates and holds this spoon tightly!

The next step is to shape it in a snake-like roll and wrap it in saran-wrap. Leave for an hour. Then bake.

All good in this hood. Adam comes home from class, we start making dinner-- salmon on leeks, roasted potatoes and salad. Then chaos ensues.

I slice my left thumb. 3/4 of the way through the tip, slicing the nail too. Crap.

Suddenly this post (started earlier today) becomes a post about boller buns AND the Norwegian health care system.

Adam is a hero. He's grabbing bags and health insurance documents and making me a peanut butter and jam sandwich, (the salmon's only half way cooked) and we're off down the road to hail a taxi, the 2 kroner Ikea towel wrapped around my thumb with an elastic band from broccoli to keep the blood from spewing everywhere (ok, ok, it wasn't that bad).

We're glad that we learned the word 'sickhus' in Norwegian before we got here because the taxi driver doesn't speak English. The fact that we actually use it means I'm accident prone--officially.

We get to triage, we're seen right away. I ask the nurse how long she expects the wait (expecting an answer that ends in 'hours') and she says in an apologetic tone "twenty minutes, there's two people ahead of you". Adam and I laugh.

The total wait time was about 40 minutes. The waiting room is almost empty. Oslo's small. The hospital's not big. Maybe no one gets sick here.

We are summoned to a room and I swear I saw more doctors and nurses than patients. Both the doctor and nurse were incredibly nice and personable, and the stitches were in in no time at all. (Must explore my fascination with watching 1/3 of my thumb flap while blood congeals at a later time...perhaps while I'm paying someone to listen). The doctor apologized again for the wait time, and I told her that if I were in Canada, this kind of thing would take 12 hours (or more). She was shocked. She said that Norwegians complain if they wait more than an hour. She seemed happy--said she was going to bring that up in their next meeting.

Total time from slice to home again: 2 1/2 hours. Incredible.

EXCEPT: at home, waiting for us.....bolle!

It's TAKEN OVER AHHHH!

Adam saved the day again, and we baked the bolle buns---they're delectable!

The English Countryside

2011-01-27T16:31:00.002-05:00

You're on the wrong side of the road. Sitting in the wrong side of the car.

The driver's speeding along faster than your heart rate.

The hedges on the side of the road have been pruned over hundreds of years to tower above the drivers.

Oh yeah. And the roads are barely wide enough to fit one car, so cars whiz by each other, or have to pull over at certain points to let the oncoming car squeeze by. Plus, the road slips and curves around like a curly-q french-fry.

These roads are reminiscent of childhood carsickness and so many other magic memories. I spent many nights replaying gibberish plays performed oceanside, making and parading Chinese lanterns down a river with candles and other children, and hobbling over rocks with a dad, an uncle and a scruffy dog finding shell-shaped treasures in sand dunes. This was an adult version of the magic.

The apple does not fall far from this tree.

Ploughman's lunch, and an opportunity to make my dad blush!

Boats at Lynmouth

Tiny roads in Appledore.

The Joneses at Westward Ho! beach.

Wild ponies and sheep keep the grass at this seaside golf course in top shape!

Pony nudges dad.

And off to Bath, to Sally Lunn's for her world-famous buns!

Looking forward to going back, and one day bringing my children......

London Street Art Tour

2011-01-26T10:58:00.002-05:00

Last night Celyn and I went on free tour of the street art in the east end of London. The tour was given by Alternative London (http://alternativelondon.wordpress.com/) and they accept tips as payment. They gave us a nice history of not only the art but of the development of the east end. Below are a few of the photos we took of some of the art. If you find yourself in London this tour is definitely worth checking out.

We've been busy!

2011-01-25T05:31:00.001-05:00

Dear Wonderful all,

I regret to inform you that we have not made a post on our beloved site, Snoreway for almost a week. Blasphemy! In the meantime, we have been exploring England: the Devon countryside, and the bustling metropolis of London, stockpiling photos for your pleasure. We'll be back in Norway at the end of the week, and I promise, your frustration, disappointment and loss will be repaid in many, many, snoreway dollars.

To keep your excitement baited, here are a selection of random photos from our travels so far:

Vigeland Park with a friend!

2011-01-19T14:22:00.000-05:00

Traveling is more fun with a friend!

for giggles:

A day in the life of...

2011-01-17T13:43:00.001-05:00

Taken at 8:30am before the sun's up. Looking out onto the fjord. They're building a few bridges across either side, and a tunnel below it. The cranes are the tallest structures in Oslo at the moment.

These photos were taken around 2:30 pm-- the sun doesn't rise much higher in the sky this time of year. It does a sleepy movement in the sky.

And as always, one for giggles (or queasy feelings):

Keeping Trees Warm: A Knitted Sweater

2011-01-16T13:00:00.000-05:00

Does it make you want to be a tree-hugger? If they're cuddly? Who could resist?

Screwing around with my new bike lights

2011-01-15T18:49:00.000-05:00