Changes in Latitudes

But only temporarily, as of yet. In the beginning of the month I took the train from Oslo to Bergen. It was a beautiful trip cross-country ascending to over 1000m above sea level and back down again. My friend Knut said that I could stay at his place until an apartment was available to rent. I picked up the key from his mom, dropped off my things, and went back downtown to go to my Norwegian course. He was out of town for the week for work, and my first day of work was not until the following Monday. So I used the next five days reacquainting myself with Bergen....mainly by running around my old neighborhood. On Monday (Nov 10) I started my new (tempoary) part time job at UniResarch Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology...UniSars for short. Technically I am called a "research technician", but I'm more like a glorified dishwasher at the moment. I made sure to tell the researchers that I am more than capable to help them if they need an extra pa...

[Of course there would be a viking ship] [Norwegian flag of fruit -- haha] Friday was Norway's national day "17 Mai" / "Søttende Mai". Marius and I had breakfast before we walked to the city to see everyone in town. People were dressed in their bunads (national dress), and we met a few of Marius' old classmates to say hello. We took it easy in the afternoon, and just did some work since it was raining. Saturday, on the other hand, was great weather! Sunshine, clear skies, and about 70 degrees! I knew there was no hope that I would actually manage to get any work done on the first sunny weekend we've had in a while so we bought some lumber and a couple of plants, and we built ourselves a flower box. It turned out really nice. We bought a raspberry plant to have in it, I planted my half grown green pepper, Marius added some raddish seeds, there was a daisy that we transplanted, and a yellow flower (I forgot the name) that can hold up to winte...

This morning I woke up around 5:30 to have some eggs, toast and coffee before I headed out to enjoy a morning hike up our local mountain, Ulriken, which stands about 640 m above sea level (approx. 2099 ft). I left the house a little after 6, and it was really nice to be the first one up the mountain. There was no one around until I was on my way back down (which was around 7:30). I was fast on the way up, but I'm always quite slow going down because I'm not very sure-footed and I need to strengthen those muscles for walking down. The sun was shining and the temperature felt like it was around 50 degrees F. The rain is supposed to come in this afternoon by the bucket-loads, so I'm happy that I got out of bed for this hike.  Only 3 weeks left until my thesis is due...no rest for the weary!

[Can you see all the colorful dots along the main trail? The ants are headed up the ant hill!] [Marius, Knut and Ola on the way up Ulriken] ...EXPLODES with people who look like an army of ants climbing to the top of the ant hill! Marius, Knut, Ola and I took a walk up another side of Ulriken with a "one-time grill" and some buffalo wings, and enjoyed some sunshine on the top on Norway's Labor Day last Tuesday. [The ants are headed up the ant hill, and Bergen's population triples] [BBQ, people-watching and sunshine]