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Showing posts from June, 2012

My opinion of Obamacare

Oooo my turn, my turn to be a "Constitutional Scholar!" Let me just say that living in Norway and paying relatively high taxes on nearly everything has made me feel so safe over here. Firstly, crime is very low -- awesome. Second, my doctor bills next to nothing when I was out with pneumonia. In hospitals here, you don't get turned down treatment for not having insurance; the worst cases are treated first, no matter who you are. This summer, when I make over (+/-) 40,000 kr, 36% of my income over that amount will go to the government...and it doesn't bother me at all. Equality.

Viking Ship Museum

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[Gokstad ship] Rigmor and Tron took Marius and I to the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo (Adults 60kr, Students 35kr). We learned a bit about the Viking age, and how proud the Norwegians are of their ships. These ships were excavated from the late 1800s - 1904, and they were all from around 850-900AD. People of high rank were buried in the ships with their valuables, servants and horses (or cows). One of the ships contained a man in his 60s, his horse, a game board, a suit of chain mail, a sled, and pieces of a broken ski! [Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't let me rotate the photos even though they were already saved rotated before uploading..technical difficulties] [Amazing detail preserved!!] [Viking shoes - looks a bit like what is "in fashion" today] [Photo from an excavation in the late 1800s]

St. Petersburg in a weekend

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From Friday to Monday I joined Marius and his colleagues (and their wives/significants) to St. Petersburg (Russia). We had a tour guide the whole weekend who was a cute, little Russian woman in her early 70's. She had never been to Norway, nor had any connections to Norway, but she learned the language to give tours. FRIDAY : I was a little anxious to see how it would be as an American going through customs, but surprisingly it didn't take any longer for me to get through than the Norwegians. We stayed at the Park Inn in central St. Petersburg, near the central station, and very close to the main shopping street. Evidence of the communist history was on countless buildings and there were several monuments dedicated to WWII. [Liquid nitrogen introducing our cranberry sorbet at Palkin] We got changed into dress clothes before a 4-course meal at Restaurant Palkin - specializing in outrageous prices for a plate of raspberries and sturgeon caviar (which I did NOT have)...a

Visitors from New Zealand

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Our friends Sunny and Øystein are visiting Norway, and spared a day to visit us! We had a nice BBQ in our garden and played cards. Also "all systems are go" for the trip with Marius' work (REN) to St. Petersburg, Russia for 3 days later this month. This should be interesting.... [grilling some kebabs - can't wait til we get the new fence!] [mowing the lawn]