The New Office and Windows

Those of you who have been following the blog know that Kimber will be moving into a new office building in a few weeks. She has also mentioned that it is close to home. In the pictures below, note the "leaning tower" on the left hand side of the pictures. That is the same leaning tower we can see from one of our balconies. That is how close Kimber will be. Very nice. The shortest commute she has ever had or probably ever will have.




So now a little about the leaning tower and the area that we live and Kimber will work. It is called Jattavagen (or Jatta Bay). It is one of the many planned areas in Stavanger. Only this one is actually moving mostly according to plan. Many of the other planned areas have stalled. The central focus of the area is the "leaning tower". The area around the tower was a construction site for concrete structures, similar to the tower. The first was Ekofisk in 1971 and followed by 14 other Condeep platforms. The last platform was Troll in 1995. Stavanger decided in 1998 to make Jattavagen an urban district with houses, industry and services through a project run by Hinna Park AS. So the area has been filled in from previous construction and is being developed with:
- modern area for high tech and international businesses (5000 to 8000 work places),
- a futuristic and attractive housing areas (1500 houses),
- a pilot project for high density and ecofriendly development, and
- a recreational area by the sea.

This all started with the building of the Viking football club and Stadion and a commercial center. The commercial canter has one of the area's best grocery stores. It continued with the building of the multiple apartment blocks, including the one we live in, and the new rail station. Finally, the work on various office buildings continues. Additionally there is a new secondary school in the area. At the end of 2007 there were 600 dwellings and 1500 work places.

A thank you to Stavanger Past, Present and Future by the Stavanger Municipality Department of Culture and Urban Development 2009 for the details in this posting.

And a last note. We have 24 windows in our apartment plus the balconies are glass. I think we might have more square feet of glass than floor. We washed all of the glass this weekend. Kirk did the outsides of many and I did inside and out of the ones that open. It took over two hours. But here is the best part. You know you have been in Norway too long if it is 45F and sunny and you think it is great weather for window washing. It was cold!!

A Scottish Ceilidh

We attended a Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) Saturday evening. It was held at our church here in Stavanger. It was our first attempt at Scottish dance, and it was quite fun. Sidney enjoyed participating, though her little legs found it hard to keep up, and the parts where you weave under each others arms were obviously difficult for her. Kimber was able to do a couple of the dances without hurting her ankle. That is our pastor, Pastor Pete, on guitar.

Raising an Ex-Pat Kid

Raising a 4-year old in a foreign country is quite interesting. Whereas many 4-year olds pretend that their teddy bear is a princess or meeting Goldilocks, ours has "different" pretend scenarios for her teddy bear. This morning, she said "Bear doesn't know what she speaks, but it is English even though she needs to learn it more, and she is from the United States."

One of the main reasons we moved here was to give Sidney the exposure to another culture and lifestyle. We don't expect her to remember everything about living in Norway later in life, but hope to broaden her overall outlook with the experience. We will have the blog, complete with pictures, published as a printed book for her to keep as a scrapbook once we leave here (anybody know any resources for doing this?)


Sidney's food horizons were quite broad already. Sushi was her first solid food. I thought the other day about how she considers a reindeer sausage sandwich as a "normal" packed lunch. She is also a fan of dried cod snacks.

Kimber found a chocolate bar here that is quite good called Toppris. I'm not really sure how to describe it other than chocolate with crispies on the outside and a sort of chocolate truffle center. Like everything else here, candy bars are expensive. This bar was on sale for 10 NOK (about $2), but normally costs 16 NOK (about $3).



I have become fond of risengrot, which is a hot breakfast food common this time of year in Norway. There are a few seasonal foods they have this time of year I haven't had a lot of desire to try, though. One is pinnekjott, which appears to be some sort of dried lamb chop that has a lot of fat and crust on it. Another is famelieribbe, which looks like a slab of ribs with a huge fat layer left on. This dish is baked until the fat turns crispy and golden on the outside. Considering Kimber trims every little piece of fat off her meat before eating it, we probably won't try this one. And as for lutefisk, well, we won't even go there.

While we don't necessarily think we've been in Norway too long, a few of these things do apply to us. (Credit to the "You Know You've Been In Norway Too Long When..." group on Facebook)
You Know You've Been in Norway Too Long When...
...you start believe that if it wasn't for Norway's efforts the world would collapse.

...you only buy your own drink at the bar even when you are with a group of people.

...you can't remember when to say "please" and "excuse me".

...you always prepare to catch the closing door if following closely behind somebody.

...a stranger on the street smiles at you, you assume that:
a) he is drunk
b) insane
c) American
d) all of the above

...silence is fun.

...you use "Mmmm" as conversation filler.

...you actually believe that there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.

...you know Norway's results in the last three years in the "Melodi Grand Prix" song contest (Eurovision Song Contest).

...it seems nice to spend a week in a small wooden cottage up in the mountains, with no running water and no electricity.

...you know at least five different words for describing different kinds of snow.

...an outside temperature of 9 degrees Celsius ( 45F ) is mild in mid June.

...you know the difference between Blue and Red ski wax.

...you don't fall over when walking on ice.

...you associate Friday afternoon with a trip to the Government liquor store.

...you think nothing of paying $50 for a bottle of 'cheap' spirits at Vinmonopolet ("the wine monopoly").

...it's acceptable to eat lunch at 11.00 and dinner at 15.00.

...it no longer seems excessive to spend $100 on drinks one night.

...you know that "religious holiday" means "let's get pissed".

...you find yourself more interested in the alcohol content than in the name of the wine.

...you enjoy the taste of lutefisk (jelly-like, bad-smelling fish) and cod prepared in any way, including fried cod tongues.

...you like to wrap your hotdog in a cold pancake.

...you associate warm rice porridge with Saturday and Xmas-eve.

...you can prepare fish in five different ways without cooking it.

...you wear sandals with socks.

...your wardrobe no longer has suits, but blue shirts and mustard coloured sportjackets.

...you don't look twice at business men in dark suits wearing sport socks.

...it feels natural to wear sport clothes and backpack everywhere, including the cinema, bowling alley, and to church.

...you find yourself speaking halfway Swedish with Swedes.

...you can't understand why foreigners haven't heard about Bjorn Daehlie.

…you don’t question the habit of always making “matpakke” (sandwich in paper – some sort of lunch packet)

…you know the meaning of life has something to do with the word “koselig” (cosy)

…you get scared when a stranger randomly starts up a conversation with you.

…you can’t stand leaving the country because people everywhere else are so nice, it’s annoying.

…you look away when you walk by people on the street.

…you vigorously defend whaling and enjoy consuming whale meat.

…you have two cars, a cabin and a boat, if not more.

…you think it's weird if a house isn't wooden.

…you earn more than you spend.

…you associate Easter with cross-country skiing with friends and family in the familys mountain cabin.

…you are shocked if it's not 2 months of snow every year, at least!

…you can see mountains and the ocean, no matter where you are.

…you expect all dinner parties and meetings to start precisely on time, if not before.

…you fall 3 meters, and don't get hurt. If you do, you're not worried at all.

…you get your hands on Norwegian chocolate and guard it with your life

…you are more afraid of the Customs than terrorists.

…you would rather miss your flight than not have enough time to buy the duty free alcohol quota.

…you order drinks at Gardemonen (Oslo Intl Airport) at 6 am

……you say ”oh well, down it goes” when served bad wine.

…you actually think that fishballs have taste.

…you barbecue when it’s raining.

…you have bad conscience if you’re not outside when it’s sunny

…you get dozy after only two days of sun

…you go for a swim when it’s only 12 degrees Celsius (53F) in the water and claims that it’s “fresh”

...in winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark - while only working eight-hour days.

...if there's a terrorist attack on the other side of the world, your first reaction is "oh my god, did any Norwegians get hurt?

Rubber

So my guess is at least the title might have gotten your attention. First this is the rare posting by Kimber. Second, some things in the British English language don't quite have the same meaning as the American English language. Case in point. Sidney comes home from school and says "Hannah broke Ethan's rubber". After we fell out of the chair laughing, we ascertained that what got broken was an eraser (rubbing away a mistake). So hopefully you have gotten a good laugh.



Next, an update on my ankle. I have posted a two week after injury and three week after injury picture. Still looks pretty cool but I am tired of being gimpy. I can bear full weight if I am careful but am a long way from running or doing anything I consider normal. I will start taking the bus again tomorrow but am cautious of my route to avoid cobbles or rocks. It is still very tender and rather bothersome. Still some swelling around the ankle. We did manage to ride bikes for a while this weekend and it felt nice to do something normal. I have also included a picture coming down from Preikestolen this summer. I came down this part on my butt this time around. Looking back now I think I should have gotten help. Yes I just admitted that. Amazing.



And now for the safety moment. We were recently looking through pictures from Germany and found this one of Sidney. As you may recall, we spent Easter there. Mark and Jas put together a great little Easter Egg hunt for the kids. One great egg hiding place is in the woodpile. One disadvantage to the woodpile is the proximity to an ax. That's one way to crack an egg.

How much does it cost to live in Norway?

I assume there are some that read this blog that are considering a move to Norway. I thought I might share some very important facts of living here with you. The facts are: a) it is expensive to live here, b) everything is expensive, and c) some things are even more expensive than they should be.

We knew when we came here that it would be more expensive than the U.S. We understood that because many things have to be imported, they would naturally cost more. We knew the tax rate was very high (as this is essentially a social democracy and taxes pay for all those social support programs – government-run health care included.)

We have been quite surprised at how some things seem to be disproportionately expensive. All prices I mention here will be in U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate of about 5.4 Norwegian kroner to the dollar. Beer and other alcohol have a heavy “sin tax”, so a single beer is between $2 and $6 in the grocery store (plus deposit on the bottle.) Cars also have several taxes on them, making the typical small car about $45,000 (new) and more luxury models over $100,000.

Several services seem more expensive, and this is because the wages for these service providers must be “fair” and provide them with a living. A men’s haircut can be from $40 (the cheapest) to over $120. A car wash at one of the automatic car washes (express wash – the least expensive) is $30, compared to about $7 in the U.S. Vacuums are free, though!

Clothing can be quite high, such as the cheapest off-brand blue jeans that are “on sale” for about $30 a pair. Shirts are about the same, and one pair of underwear will be about $10.

The people in California tend to pay a lot for gas, but it is even more expensive here. We pay about $8 a gallon for diesel and about $9 for gas. This is pretty typical of most of Europe, though, so I don’t really think too much of that.

Some foods are very expensive. A two-item large pizza from a pizza restaurant will be about $40. Even “essentials” are high, with milk running about $10 a gallon. I have splurged a couple of times on an apple cider from the Telemark region that is really quite good, but is about $22 for three liters.

Finally, if there are things from home that you really miss and want to buy here, beware the import tax. Unless it is an item produced in Norway, or it is an item produced for the Norwegian market that doesn’t compete with a Norwegian-produced item, it will be heavily taxed to encourage consumers to by the “Norwegian” product. An example is Nutella, that wonderful hazelnut/chocolate spread popular all over Europe. It competes with a Norwegian product, so Nutella will cost about $15 a jar instead of the $5 a jar for the Norwegian version. Other “import” prices – Dr. Pepper - $5 a can, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup - $10 a bottle, a small can of Crisco - $7.

Some things just can’t be found at all. We have looked in every store in town and not found unsweetened chocolate for baking. You also cannot find vanilla extract here, though they do have a vanilla flavoring and whole vanilla beans. So if you are moving over, make sure to arrange for care packages of the occasional Kraft Mac and Cheese and other comforts and necessities from home before coming!

One last thing is a little information about the coinage. The Norwegian Krone has denominations that start at 50 ore (1/2 a krone – about 10 cents), then go to one krone, five kroner, 10 kroner, and 20 kroner. The paper money starts at 50 kroner (about $10) and goes up from there. It is a bit difficult to comprehend how expensive things are when the smallest coin in your pocket is essentially equivalent to a dime, and absolutely nothing costs less than a few kroner. In fact, we have begun to think of things that cost 10 kroner, no matter what they are, as being “cheap.”

The British Side of Norway

As Kimber works with lots of Brits, and Sidney and I are at the British School, we decided to take part in a truly British celebration on Saturday night. It was the British contingent's celebration of Guy Fawkes Night. This is a night when the British commemorate the attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I by Catholic traitors in what was known as the "Gunpowder Rebellion." Guy Fawkes was one of the traitors captured, tried for treason and beheaded (after a little stay in the Tower of London.)









Guy Fawkes Night is marked with a bonfire in which "Guy" effigies are burned, fireworks are set off, and sparklers and other kids things are available. The fireworks were actually pretty good. We also enjoyed the toffee apples, and Sidney had lots of fun with one of her classmates playing with sparklers and glow sticks. We went to the house of one of Kimber's coworkers (he is actually married to one of my coworkers!) and had a nice time socializing. (That is something we have missed somewhat here.)


We took it easy today, as it was a late night last night. We went over to the new office building where Kimber will be working as of January and played in the new playground there. Sidney had a nice time, and stayed nice and warm in her one-piece winter rainsuit. These rainsuits are a must for kids here in Norway, as they go outside and play at least an hour a day at school, no matter what the weather is like.


Finally, here is a new panorama featuring Kimber's new office building. The Marathon symbol is already in place.

Magic Jack

Just to let everyone know - we have a Magic Jack for phone calls. Most people do not have the number, but if you are a friend or family member, feel free to email us and we would be happy to send it to you.

Here is a little information on exactly what a Magic Jack is - it is a device that plugs into a USB port on our computer and a regular phone plugs into the device. It gives us the ability to make and receive phone calls and gives us a U.S.-based phone number. At one point, I was under the impression that we could call the U.S. for free, but anyone calling us (except from another Magic Jack) would be charged for calling Norway. I was able to get info on this and have now found out that the only charge would be any normal long distance call charges for calling Houston (if you are charged long distance charges for U.S. calls by your phone company.)

For those that may be looking at this site to get information about moving overseas from the U.S., I can highly recommend this device. It is pretty cheap (only about $55 for the device and two years of service) and the call quality is pretty good. We have a high-speed internet connection in our apartment, and have had only a couple of dropped calls. Sound quality is fine, and there is little if any delay.

One issue is that the computer needs to be on to receive or make a call. We do have voicemail, but there seems to be a bit of a delay in being notified we have voicemail when one comes in when the computer is not on. Considering the time difference between here and the U.S., there are a lot of times when we have the computer off (while sleeping) when someone from the U.S. may call. When the computer is on, the phone rings as normal. If we are here, we will generally answer.

One other thing to be aware of - our phone number is a Houston number, but the Caller I.D. does not show our name. It shows the previous owner of the number.

Anyway, just a little post about our phone setup, and hope to hear from some of you soon!

Halloween

Halloween was different for us this year. While the Norwegians seen to be into the costumes and such (the "typical" cheap costumes can be found in several places), they don't seem to have the whole "trick-or-treating" thing down. My theory is that it is not culturally proper to have kids knocking on doors of people they don't know asking for candy. We also live in an apartment building with controlled entry, and there aren't a lot of kids in the building, so that may also explain some of it.


We did dress Sidney up for the Friday before Halloween dress-up day at school. It is one of the few times the kids are not required to wear their uniforms, so it is special for that reason as well. Sidney, as you can see, was a fairy princess (thanks to Mrs. Mary Kay!) I cannot begin to count the number of princesses, fairies, Spidermen and Lightning McQueen costumes there were. It was a lot of fun, though.

One other difference here - one little boy dressed up as a cowboy sheriff, complete with cap-gun. With the extremes we have gone to in many places in the U.S., I imagine he would have been expelled from kindergarten under a zero-tolerance for guns policy.



We got a nice taste of Halloween on our recent trip to Denmark. Tivoli, the famous amusement park, was decked out for the occasion, and there was also a display in one of the stores that was a scale model of the entrance. Here you see the real entrance and Sidney posing by the model.







A new ship is in the harbor beside our apartment. It is the Havila Venus, and is a brand new ship, having just been delivered last month. It is listed as the most environmentally-friendly AHTS (Anchor Handling, Tug and Supply) ship in the world. Here is a view of it taken this evening.



Finally, here are a couple more panoramas I made using our new program. These are for my parents and Papa, since they visited Tromso during their recent trip. One is a view of the entire island Tromso is located on from the top of the facing mountain, and the other is of the Tromso waterfront. These pictures were taken when we visited in July.