A few weekends ago I accidentally attended the beginning of an ACTA protest in Gothenburg, Sweden. Photo courtesy of John Toews.
Attended my first Nordic Skiing Competition. Wasn’t quite the snowboarding competition I went to last month, but still super fun. :)
Apartment Living
I love living in an apartment, especially since that means I get to live in the middle of a vibrant community in an awesome city. (Was true in Seattle too.) Because of this, I am fairly forgiving about sounds and smells.
However there is inevitably that time when you really wish your neighbor would just shut the fuck up. It might even be 4:45PM on a Friday which is a perfectly reasonable time for them to be playing music, but you have a headache. Therefore I think every apartment building should give every resident two STFU cards a year and if you use one everyone in the building is quiet - no questions asked. Wouldn’t that be nice?
My downstairs neighbor’s evening music will always be better than my former downstairs neighbor’s nighttime sounds though…
An approximation of what my apartment might look like. Door at the bottom is the entrance and door at the top goes to a small balcony. Not a lot of wall space and the heaters run under the windows. Built in lighting by the door makes for a good desk spot, but the window might be nicer if I can squeeze it. Then what to do with that awkward entry space?
Sunday walk - about 6km
Mobile Problems
I would post more often and more timely if Tumblr’s ‘email from your phone’ shit worked, but it doesn’t.
Centra to the rescue
After my last post I have received a lot of help and suggestions. Thank you everyone! I’m still exploring many of them but after going to Centra Colloseum yesterday most of my fears have been allayed. Soy milk, chili peppers, and spices galore! I made a delicious black bean soup with avocado today which made me happy and a little homesick for Drashti. :) Now if only they had unflavored tortilla chips…
PS yes I do other things besides grocery shop and eat. More to come.
Grocery
I already knew that eating out would be too expensive and I’d have to cook and people tried to warn me about grocery stores but it is only starting to sink in how limited the selection is and will be. I figured I just wouldn’t get some of the fancy things I’d grown accustomed to or out of season produce. On my first trip to the closest store I realized that I couldn’t even get simple dry goods like beans! Only tomater bonner which was white beans in a very mild tomato sauce.
I heard about a store that carried a better variety so I left work early to take a look. It had black beans! It also had peanut butter (which became dinner) and some other things like corn syrup which I will remember for baking purposes later and microwave popcorn (but I don’t have a microwave). It was still very tiny and didn’t have anything better in the spice department so I think my next stop will be the international area in hopes of some type of chili pepper.
Like a bad American
I’m such a stereotype. When store clerks talk to me in Norwegian I just stare until they’re just staring back and then I manage to squeak out ‘English?’ Of course, in return they begin speaking to me in perfect English.
I think I’m going to start guessing and replying in English. I’m fairly confident that I could say “I don’t need a bag” at Clas Ohlson and be correct.
When the rain let up I pulled myself out of the apartment to wander and peruse the Christmas fair on Karl Johans. A Sami tent had an open fire with coffee in cast iron and piles and piles of reindeer pelts. There were lots of interesting crafts and foods, but I wasn’t very hungry. I just had some Christmas drink (sadly alcohol free because I need to up my Norwegian) and a cinnamon cake ring while watching ice skaters. Lovely!
And then I spent 20 agonizing minutes trying to get laundry detergent with the help of google translate on my phone. I think I succeeded but I’ll only really know when I try to use it…
