Lets get a Count!

I know that trying to follow this blog via the Google thing is a pain for those that happen to be lacking a Google account. So It's hard for me to see who exactly is occasionally dropping in and reading a post over their morning cup of tea.

Alas though, here is a chance to make yourself known and to put yourself down in digital ink forever, well sort of. Why don't you go on and just drop a little comment below saying "Hey sista" (or what ever you want) with your name. It will be a good way for me to get to know who I'm writing to rather than the great void of space. It will also be a fun adventure for you guys to see who else is tuning in.

So get those fingers typing!

Ha Det

Inglorious Basterds: What a Movie

Last night I went to go see Inglorious Basterds,the new film by Quentin Tarantino. It was the first time in a theatre since last summer and so I was willing to pay the 80kr. to watch a movie. Once the crew I was with found our assigned seats (yep, assigned)I settled in for a mind boggling adventure of Norwegian cinema.

I'll start off by saying that the movie was excellent and was filled with the true Quentin Tarantino anything goes gore. There were some moments were you could feel the crowd cringe all together wondering what they were exactly watching. It was a good plot of American insiders killing off the Nazis in France during WWII.

The trouble for me with the movie is that I understood about a third of what was being said. As it took place in Nazi occupied France during WWII the main languages spoken where German and French. That of course wouldn't be to bad because of English subtitles, but alas I'm Norway and such things don't exist.



Instead the subtitles were in Norsk and I was left to try and translate German and French through Norsk subtitles. I understood a few words like med, men, jeg snakke, etc but it was only enough to make my brain over think. I'd just ask Ole-Anders to give me a brief synopsis of a scene (like the card game pictured above) when it was done.

Not being able to understand a thing seemed fitting though, because throughout the movie Quentin Tarantino played with the idea of even the characters not knowing the languages and trying to fake it themselves. It was a conversation of oh do you speak French or German or what have you. And often times when the Inglorious Basterds came around I would see in the subtitles "Du snakke engelsk?" and would be quite happy for I know something I could comprehend was about to happen. Maybe I'll find Inglorious Basterds online sometime with English subtitles and not be so confused. Nonetheless I enjoyed the movie (and being lost).

I made it!

I made it through the first week of classes today, but I'll have to catch up on sleep tomorrow!

It was a good round of classes too, kicking it off with the grand old political debate. The next day I was given a compressed history lesson ranging from the Vikings to today in about two hours. After that it was the standard how the library works speech followed up by the first day of Norsk 101.

The Norsk 101 class is quite fun and entertaining and just how much I have learned (or remembered) in three days is kind of crazy. The teacher is hilarious and is able to keep the 2 or 3 hour long lectures somewhat alive. As an added bonus my horrible job of pronouncing words may just improve a little bit now. As well as a somewhat expanded vocab.

Waking up for an 8 am class and having class til 17:00 (with a long break in between of course) drains me like no other. It'll be fun trying to adjust to this way of schooling, because I can't keep dozing off in classes. All the stuff we have talked about is quite interesting so my brain will be over thinking by the end. You better watch out for when I come back or your going to get thought vomited on.

We made the front page!

The international students have done it again. We are making our mark within with first few weeks here. Of course it's all about that debate in the last post. So far though we have made it into the local newspaper and the frontpage of the Hedmark-Hamar Uni website.

Check it out and see if you can spot it:
hihm.no

if you give up here's the direct link:
http://www.hihm.no/Hovedsiden/Student/Nyheter/God-debatt

Also, you can use nicetranslator.com to translate the article.
ha det!

Crash Course of Norwegian Politics

Today was the first day of class and it’s about time it rolled around! We hit off the lecture with none other than a description of the political system here in Norway. It was an intriguing day of trying to wrap my brain around a political system that a) does not have two parties, but rather 24 with seven in power and b) had this whole thing called socialism which would never happen in America.

We started off with a history of how the current parties came to in a quick, somewhat confusing overview. This formed that and that caused this to form...so on so on. What really made the day though is that school had a political forum on campus with the seven parties that are currently in power. It was originally going to be completely in Norsk, but due to a severe lack of presence of the Norwegian students, they only gave half the discussion in Norsk, before opening it up in English. It turned into a lively and bitter debate between the representatives of the different parties. Some of the representatives were local officials, one was a mayor, another was actually in parliament, and I believe the others were contestants for their parties. But enough jabber about that, let’s get down to politics.

The seven main parties that were presented at the forum were (from left liberal to right conservative):

Socialist Left Party (far left)
-Norwegian Labour Party
-Centre Party
-Liberal Party of Norway
-Christian Democratic Party (who didn't show up)
-Conservative Party
-Progress Party (far right)

Essentially, anything of left of the Liberal Party would never occur in the US due to our lack of a good government that would be able to earn the trust of the people for a socialist welfare state. The conservative and Progress parties have the conservative ideas of less taxation, stricter immigration rules, and trying to foster a small business growth via less regulation. The socialist parties are about taxation in order to fund a welfare state for the good of the people.

The parties were not concerned in the current squabbles that the US has, like abortion, death penalty, and gay marriage that tend to be the wedge issues. They appear to view those issues as things of the past and even the Progress party said that McCain is farther right than them. That may have been a coy to appease us though. The lack of acknowledgement of these issues is a step in the right direction because the issues are out of date and we just need to recognize abortion, life sentence (they don't even have that- it's 21 years), and gay marriage; which just passed here. They are a way of life here and there isn’t much doubt about it in the politics. I could be completely wrong and be building a faulty argument. It’s just how this has come across.

The newest thing was the tri-coalition of the three farthest left parties (look above). The coalition is of the socialist kind, which actually hearing it being talked about as an active part of the government was awesome. The fact that they accept high taxes in order for (relatively) free college and health care among many other things was great. It makes us liberals of the US look pitiful and puts the conservatives to shame. I think that even my green party status is nothing. I was thinking if I were in Norway what party would I be and I decided on the Norwegian Labour Party, with the good dose of socialism. Maybe its first rush excitement, but it sounds like something I could deal with.
It was an intense discussion between the parties that got kind of brutal between the left and right ideals. Afterwards, we had a few Norwegians who were also there come up and thank us for the questions we had asked because it made the people think about their parties and really push their ideological platform rather than the typical nitpick droning.

That night we went over to professor Inger’s house for dinner. It was a delicious meal of curry and rice in a sweet little Norwegian house. We spent the evening chatting away and swatting the mosquitoes. The discussion of politics continued into the night among the topics of immigration, diversity issues, and the prison system, which all were lively. The prisons here I guess are more about reforming the individual rather than just straight up punishment and prolonging a devolving cycle of life. They don't even have a life sentence, but rather a 21 maximum year sentence, which they can renew if they feel necessary. I have heard some people talk about how the number of years you get can be unjust, but not even having a life sentence is interesting. It makes our discussion over a death sentence look pitiful.

Over all today made me wonder and question our government even more. Where exactly was the Bush administration taking us, other than back to the Stone Age? And this health care issue? Let’s suck it up and pay some taxes for once. I want universal health care! I look forward to even more in depth discussions on the politics of Norway and hope to not bore anyone to death with this quite extensive blog entry.

Summer Sun

And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly
From the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see

-Aeroplane over the Sea, Neutral Milk Hotel

The Kebab

There is an odd craving that arises for Kebabs amongst the people here after a night at the pub. It becomes a mad dash and journey to find the kebab place that is open in the wee hours of the morning. My first night I was part of a crew to go find the elusive and much talked about kebab, but alas the places were closed. Last night though, I finally was successful in trying the much talked about kebab.

So what is a kebab? That would be a good place to start:

Its a piece of bread which looks a little like nan. Its sliced open, stuffed with shredded lettuce and some corn. After that a ridiculous amount of meat is piled on and then more lettuce and corn. TO top it off there is a white sauce poured on top with a smaller sauce on top of that. Its the sauces that give it the Kebab flavour, but not quite sure how to describe it. Besides if I did say it would ruin the elusive joy that surrounds such a treat.

For me the kebab was quite hyped, and when I tried it wasn't all that bad. I have tasted better and many people claim that we choose a bad kebab shop and so not to base it completely off this one kebab. It was also a lot of meat for a wanna be veggie head, but hey it was a kebab. Yum

*picture credits go to wiki:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Kebab_as_served_in_Norway.jpg

Riffs

Riffs exist everywhere and slowly but surely I'm starting to understand a lot of the ones that seem to be roaming the streets over here. People at the uni are a collection of folk from all around Norway and so in a conversation with a few of them there always tend to be some sort of joke thrown out about a region.




To start off, the north is by far the easiest to make fun of. They have a different accent and are perceived as hill-billies by the rest of the country. Ironically enough, the north views everyone else as a little too pompous. When I was talking with a couple of people, one of which was from the north, they were trying to help me out with my not so good accent. It was a joke between the two in "this is how you say it in the north, but this is how you should really say it."

Other than the north it’s just small "I'm better than you" between coasts and regions. For instance some in the middle area view the southern part as the rich folk with a little bit of snob. Soccer also seems to be quite good at creating tension between regions. I was introduced last night to the fact of just how important soccer really is to Norway. Of course the people I was talking with supported different teams, one from Bergen and one from somewhere further north. It was a fun jousting session of “bahh Bergen” and “don't be jealous about the best team.” That, of course, quickly evolved from just the teams to which region is better and no one cares for this coast because you should like this area.

Riffs are always quite entertaining to listen to especially since they really want you to understand where they are coming from. They are always in good fun too and help give context to how people perceive each other. *If I have misunderstood any of the riffs and if you want to add any, please just leave an comment correcting me.

It official

Norway officially knows I'm here. The American crew went down to the police station the other day and we declared our presence. The process wasn't hard, just involved a lot of waiting. Mostly an hour of sitting in the lobby and then five minutes of getting the little visa sticker stuck in my passport.

It's kind of funny because the lady I was sitting next to in the lobby turned to Paul and said "you sound American." Turns out she's from Seattle originally, but while doing peace core work in Africa she met a Norwegian man and has been living in Norway ever since. Pretty small world to be randomly sitting next to another Seattlite in Hamar.

Most other people at school have by now started their classes, but I have to do anything remotely school oriented since the first day. I just get to sleep in and be lazy for the day. Maybe go for a walk, cook a meal, but nothing to hard. It's a pretty relaxed week and I'm excited for classes to start on Monday so that my day may have a little more structure.

well thats all for now folks
ha det

Contact Info

As a quick addendum here's my contact info:

My address is:
Fr. Monsen's Gate 23B 110 B
Hamar, NO 2315

My phone number is:
9052 9434

I'm not sure what the cost is for calling me or what the international code is though.

The easiest way of contacting me will probably be through email at donotreply89@yahoo.com or through skype which my name is eric.buhr

We can make this a somewhat interactive blog if you people want. Leave comments and suggestions on what you want to know more of or have questions about and I may just reply with a special post. who knows!

Also as a side note I am 7 hrs ahead of MN and 9 hrs ahead of WA.

Ha det

Honey, I'm home!

I feel at home in Norway I must say. It quite hasn't hit yet for how long I'll really be here, but for the time being I’m in the right place. It’s hard to imagine that just a week ago I was up at Widji, and that too felt like I was there forever. It was a swift change and maybe somehow that helped with the quick switch over. Time is truly irrelevant…that is until someone tells you have to be at the canteen at 8:45 for the international get together breakfast.

Today was the opening ceremony of Hedmark-Hamar University College. We kicked off the morning with a breakfast for the international students and the professors that will prove (and have proved) quite helpful to us. The group of international students numbers about 50 strong and ranges from all over the place including: US, Spain, Latvia, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Pakistan, and Nambia. It is a diverse and collective mix of students and it looks like it should be a great year!

The breakfast was the only true thing that was delivered to us in English, for the rest of the opening ceremony was given in Norsk. During the opening ceremony we thankfully had our society and culture professor, Inger, whispering a translation to us. The ceremony was a pretty typical welcome address, except that they had songs played by the professors and one opened it up with a traditional drumming. The songs where an interesting mix of more traditional songs and songs like We Shall Overcome and I Get by with a Little Help from my Friends. They also had the mayor of Hamar as well as a person from the parliament (I believe) speak on top of the school heads. After the ceremony we did a little 10 minute parade-march from the hotel where the ceremony was held to the campus. Once at the campus we met up with Inger and got to learn about the society and culture class I'll be in for the semester. It is a group of four Norwegians, five of us from PLU, one from Hungary, as well as four that will be joining us from Namibia once their visas get sorted out. Inger is a great professor and she is very friendly. I'm excited for a great semester and I think the classes shouldn't bore me to sleep for once.

After the talk we got a short tour of school and then Inger gave us all yellow bikes to use while we are in the program. After a sort debacle of pumping up the flat tires we were on our way back to the Fredrick Monson student apartments. It turns out that we really didn't get the typical student apartment, but rather a family apartment. I like it though because we have a sleeping quarters and then a living room with a kitchenette annexed on. I'll get a picture up of it one of these days.

We decided it was time for round two of shopping so we wondered about the mall for a bit and then went to the grocery store to get yet another round of groceries. After wondering around and picking up this and that we finally, I think, have most of what we need. If not, we at least have enough food to feed an army. It was great because I asked another lady in the store if she could point out the difference between wheat and white flour as well as the yeast and baking powder. With everything in Norsk, it was hard to tell which was which. Once we were done she ended up giving us a ride back to the apartments which was amazing because that walk would have been tough. Kindness pays off.

For the nightly activities we went to the student barbeque on campus for a little bit and talked to some people. It was a good little barby of bringing your own food and drink. We sat with a few other exchange students from Belgium and Spain as well as a few Norwegians. After that we headed over to the student run pub to hang out with Christine’s roommate Marla and her friend Marthe. Turned out to be a pretty fun time where we got to meet quite a few Norwegians. I went to the bathroom and when I was going to wash my hands somebody had said something to me in Norsk which I promptly replied that I don’t speak that much. Within a minute or so I was surrounded by six people who were like oh you’re American, that’s awesome! We talked for a couple minutes and then I brought the mass unit up to the rest of the American crew. We talked all night and had a blast trying to learn Norsk. I had always pictured the Norwegians as pretty closed off and reserved so it was good to be able to go to the pub and meet a lot of people. They are hilarious and friendly people. I’m excited for the days to come.

Im in Norway. Yah sure you betcha

Well its official. I'm in Norway.
It is starting to sink in that I am here finally, although I think the idea of a whole 3 months hasn't quite sunk in.

The plane ride over was uneventful, just long with 3 transfers all in all. The main SAS flight on over was nice because I had a filling warm dinner, a solid sleep, and then woke up with breakfast. Also the timing of the flight has left me with very little jet lag thankfully.

The land of the Norsk doesn't seem all that different to me so far. It is just subtle differences, like the airports are so much prettier and the houses we passed on the train seemed to have a little village charm thrown in. The biggest differnece is that for once I am not one with the native tounge. I can't understand hardly anything people say. It isn't all that bad though becuase everyone speaks great English and if you need help you can ask and get an answer easily. It's kinda funny though becuase I no longer know the language my brain has decided to compensate by remebering Spanish words so I catch my self saying si and lo siento a lot.

So far in Hamar I have shopped and thats about it. We (there is four others from PLU with me) had to make sure to do the shopping yesterday becuase everything is closed on the weekends. Thankfully Christine's roomate is from Norway and could help us hunt down things we needed in the stores as well as be a translator. The grocery store is a fun adventure with everything labeled in Norsk and trying to figure out what you need without freaking out about prices. The trouble is that everything is in Kroner, (NOK) which is roughly about 6 NOK to 1 USD. It ends up with me spending 466.56 NOK, which seems like a lot but is really only $76.

Well thats all for now. It's time to make some breakfast. Cheers

Packing

I am starting this blog to let the world know the down-low of my Norway travels in a mass form. I wish I could send emails to all, but time is limited so a blog is the best way to go. I'm quite excited to hop on a plane tomorrow, but for now I must focus on packing. I have piles upon piles of crap and two uppacked packs waiting. Will I be ready for that plane tomorrow is the question.
Cheers