Remembrance and odds-and-ends

As a way to get to know the city (and kill time and calories), I am prone to wander aimlessly through the streets and alleys (not so much the latter since I've discovered scooping up dog poop is met with a very meh approach here in Oslo).  During my sojourners, I have discovered various little "gold markers" on the ground.  At first, I didn't really pay attention to it because, well, there's a lot of random signs and markers in Norway (That tends to happen in places with thousands of years of history).

However, one afternoon, I passed a series of them and, since I really wasn't in that big of a hurry, I decided to actually read what it said.  The first word that jumped out at me was "Auschwitz", which needs no hyperlink as everyone knows the name as that of the largest, concentration camp run during World War II.  

The rest of the marker gave the name of the individual and listed that they had, indeed, died at the aforementioned internment camp.

As this was unusual, I went home to research this phenomenon to see if it was an isolated plaque or whether it was part of a larger network.

The formal name is Stolperstein (German for "Stumbling block", it is spelled Snublesteiner in Norwegian) and they're monuments created by Gunter Demnig, a German artist, to commemorate individual victims of Nazism all over the European continent.  

Naturally, Oslo, the largest city and initial target of German invasion in April 1940, has the most Stoplerstein/Snublesteiner of any Norwegian city.  I've come across ten so far in my travels, including the first one which sparked my follow-up on the subject

  

Her name was Ruth Maier, an Austrian Jewish woman, who sought refuge in Oslo in April 1939 and, as the memorial denotes, she was deported for Auschwitz in 1942, where she died later that same year.

Maier is known as "Norway's Anne Frank" as she, too, kept an extensive diary detailing the horrors and atrocities that befell her in her homeland and the harrowing escape to a believed safe harbor only for it to not be so.  Her lesser acclaim can be attributed to the fact that it took 65 years for her writing to reach publication (in German and Norwegian), 67 for it to be in English.

But now I know of her and her life that happened a short walk from my apartment.  It's good to know of history and not to forget it.

OTHER WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS:

- As a follow-up to my remark about the civic pride and holidays, two weeks ago, comes even more.  A Norwegian associate of mine told me that a Norwegians favorite month of the year is May because there's hardly any working days.  While this was said in jest, it's easy to see where the joke is derived.  The following are holidays where a vast majority of the country is shut down:  Labor Day (May 1), Ascension Day (May 9), Constitution Day (May 17), and Pentecost (May 20)

- So, it seems like Michael Moore loves Norway

- It's comforting to know that no matter how obnoxious you may think this blog seems at times, it will never compare to this guy

- While we're on the point of exploitation, I love how many Norwegians think of Americans in terms of this video... When, based on my "limited exposure", an extremely small number of Norwegians could place my home state on the map or articulate much about it even though it has a larger population than Norway (and it's a pretty notable state with an infamous TV series based on it's largest city... it's not like South Dakota or Wyoming)

So, as I wrap this up, I want to give a shout out to all the youngsters in Russ.  Step. Up. Your. Game!   Not once have I been awakened by drunken hooliganism, not once have I had to step over a passed out teenager, and not once have I felt a twinge of jealousy for not having as cool of a senior tradition... Class of 2013, you better bring the noise tomorrow on Constitution Day

ALT FOR NORGE RussByen!!

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An Autumn Walkabout

I'm back to full health which means I'm back to doing "Norwegian-ly" things.  Or at least trying to...

And so it goes...

Last thursday, in celebration of the beginning of Fall (Summer hath all too short a lease...), I went out to a traditional, Norwegian celebration for the Autumn Equinox (you know, when it starts getting dark earlier).  While, Mabon is more of a Celtic celebration, there are many similar traditions held throughout Scandinavia.  And that is how I found myself on the Akerselva Walk (elva means river so it literally means Aker's river in English... thanks for playing along).  What exactly happens on the Akerselva walk (ok... it's actually called "Fakkelvandring langs Akerselva", Flame walk along Akers River)?  

Fire.  A lot of Fire.

And children kicking hats off of sticks

I realize, out of context, these poorly taken pictures may seem bizarre.  Please, keep up.  We all know that the harnessing of electricity is a fairly, short lived phenomenon and, as such, before its advent, fire was of great importance.  Even so in the frigid north here(I've been making "Game of Thrones" jokes about being "North of the wall" for some time now).  I imagine all the fire (there was also a fire eater I failed to capture) is just a way to pay homage to the giver (and taker) of life.

As for the kids kicking hats off of sticks, I imagine it must've been pretty boring before the advent of TV and Draw Something.  I'm kidding, here's the real reason.  So yeah, it was a lot of fun, there were also a lot of different musical groups and some really awesome torch, lights, and candle set-ups in and along the river.  

So yeah... it was fun, but I prefer my American, Autumn traditions, instead... Go O's! Go Ravens!

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Alt for Norge

tilbakken

So yeah... you're probably like "wait... didn't there use to be awesome blog entries on this page like twice a month?" (well, a boy can dream...).  You're right.  I took a break.  Like from Norway.  I was in exile in America (details aren't really all that interesting or uncommon), but now I'm back.

Were they happy to see me?

You could say so...

In any case, I thought I'd shape my first return entry with what I did in America.  However, I figured that would be antithetical of what this blog should be about (really, it wasn't that much fun), I started writing this to detail about how I found the moods of Norway.  So, I returned earlier this week and, like the two times before, I immediately became sick.

Not like, sick sick, but sick enough that my stomach felt like Prince Harry was throwing a party inside it.  Before, I had chalked it up to excitement (my first time!!) or stopping over in Iceland, but this time there was no direct cause (of course I was excited, stay with me here).  I decided to start looking in to a red thread... a similarity between each of the trips.  Finally, after ruling out the insane (global conspiracy to force me to stay in America where I will become a manchurian candidate and bring about world war 3) and the plausible (air pollution withdrawal), I figured it either came down to my girlfriend making me sick (I'm allergic to adorableness!) or the one thing I'd had each time. Water.  That's right, in an ironic twist, the most essential thing I needed was making me sick.

A short search confirmed my fears.  Over 22 percent of the water pipes were made between 1941 and 1970s?!?  Imagine how far technology has come sense then!  Would you trust your life to a car made between 1941 and 1970s everyday on your commute to and from work?  This is awful!!  I'm going to need a Brita and to boil the water I bathe myself in.  Or maybe a britta filter to tape to the shower head.

What's this?  A detailed study and it says that the "22% water pipe" thing refers to an estimate done in 2010, and, of those pipes, the majority are secondary piping in rural regions and, subsequently, there have been over 10,000 projects a year to fix the problem.

Oh.

Maybe I am allergic to adorableness after all.

Alt for Norge

Westward, young man... westward

From sea to shin... I mean, Alt for NORGE!!

Well, I survived the mountains and football (read about that experience on my other blog.) and I'm here to tell the tales.

Easter was swell...

Things I've learned about the west coast of Norway:

• It is perpetually cold... even when the sun is shining and the skies are clear (not mutually inclusive items, mind you), it still feels pretty frigid.  The North Sea is unkind, my friend... Though, I hear Vancouver is the same way.
• Before the oil, there were a ton of smith-working there.  In fact, the copper used in the statue of liberty came from mines in this region.
• Winter tires are no joke.  They're heavy and are necessary... 

Blinding snow is no match for winterized tires!

It was great to eat some of the traditional, Norwegian Easter food (Lamb!) and see some of the nice statues along the beautiful harbors here.

I'm trying to help him lift the fish... I know, it looks weird

And, here are some of the other pictures of the beautiful, Norwegian landscape from the 7-hour cross country driving extravaganza!

Over the mountains and through the tundra...

My favorite picture of the whole trip... You can literally see where the tree line ends and where Winter is winning the war with Spring

Lonely cabin... I'm going to wager that there isn't indoor plumbing there

The car's thermometer read -2 C... which is "quite cold" in Fahrenheit.   Check out the frozen, natural spring to the left

Up in the clouds like Darwin Deez (obscure musical reference alert!)

your humble host...

While I got the point right, I wasn't able to erase the goofy expression on my face.  Oh well...

And that's that... Otherwise, its nothing that hasn't been told before.  Awkward reunions of friends with new (or added) significant others where everyone makes small talk or plays "remember when..." or gossips.  I find these times are vital for drinking beer and practicing my understanding Norwegian skills... one of those went really well and one of those went not as well.  I'll let you guess on that one...

Alt for Norge

the early morning hustle

So... I thought I'd write about once a week, sharing all the witty things in my head analyzing the world I now live in.

Though, the one thing I've come to realize is that, like life anywhere, once you get in a routine, its hard to recognize what is noteworthy from just happenstance.  Plus, how interesting would it be to read about me waking up, eating breakfast, and trying to get to class through all the snow?

That being said, I was just going to write about not watching the Super Bowl.  Until a girl passed out on my morning tram ride.

While I don't know what happened to her (she seriously just fell) and would never make light of the situation (while she seemed to be ok when the EMTs took her away, people have died from less), it was interesting to note the radical differences in "reactions" from the passer-bys.

(You would not believe how easy it is to get distracted, I was trying to find a picture of people responding crazy to someone falling down and I ended up here... good song *NSFW*, but weird way to find it)

When the girl first fell/fainted/lost consciousness, there was a visible response of at least a few people issuing "hey, she's not moving and she should be moving and not standing and that would be a very advisable thing to do at this juncture of time and place" concern, followed by a quick response of kneeling to help the person in distress.

This is in complete contrast, generally speaking, to how it would've been perceived back home (we have more of a "laugh and point and film" approach to people in distress... no, seriously *NSFW*).  I probably shouldn't judge because I laugh at silly things.

Though, it was nice to see that the Norwegian spirit of helping their fellow man isn't just reserved to paying a lot in taxes, but actually doing something on a personal level... (I know, right?!?).  Though, on the flip side, two several stops from the fainting location, was a scheduled stop at a hospital (like, the hospital was about 70 40 meters, 225 135 feet, from the tram doors).  It doesn't take a master detective to figure out what might've been a better solution to the situation.  Sure, that may not have been a viable solution (who would stabilize the prone person for the herky jerky ride?  who would prevent passengers from accidentally stepping on the person? etc.), but all I know is that my morning was delayed for forty twenty minutes (did I mention the close proximity of the hospital?  It was roughly a mile, 1.3 km, away... slightly more reassuring than this) due to the whole incident.

Just saying, Oslo... let's try to be problem solvers here...

Rap lyric I'd incorporate into a song if I were a rapper:
Never tested, competition softer than Jergen/We in the clubs makin' it rain like Stavanger or Bergen