Christmas in Sarpsborg

A few days ago I returned from spending the holidays in Sarpsborg with Lene's parents.  I'd met Lene's parents on a couple of occasions and they are both very warm, generous people who, despite not speaking much English, do their best to make me feel welcome.  Sarpsborg is about an hour by train from Oslo and at just over 50,000 people, manages to crack the top 10 for Norway's largest cities.  We were met at the station by Lene's parents and for the next few days I would be immersed in Norwegian holiday tradition.

Playing guitar in front of the Christmas tree.

In Norway, everything happens on Christmas eve.  A traditional dinner is followed by everyone exchanging gifts around the tree.  The homes aren't decorated quite as dramatically as they are in the States; you won't see thousands of lights draped over the houses here. The decorations are simple but warm and it is the interior of homes that reflect the season.  In Lene's home, red and white candles line mantles and windowsills and a fire warms the living room.  Stuffed Santa Claus', made by Lene's mother, recline on sofas or near the Christmas tree and there are bowls of chocolates and clementines pulling double duty as both decorations and treats.

Santa likes to jam sometimes too.

Our Christmas eve dinner was as delicious and fattening as any I've had at home.  Ribs, roast pork, potatoes, sausages, saurkraut and brussel sprouts, all covered in gravy and lingonberries.  We washed it down with some beers from the local brewery and finished everything off with a dessert called rice cream.  I'm still not clear on exactly how it's made but it tastes like a thicker version of whipped cream which we then mixed with a fruit sauce.  After dinner we exchanged gifts and watched Christmas movies until we were ready to call it a night.

On Christmas day Lene's parents let us use the car which we took across the border to Sweden.  Things in Sweden are much cheaper than in Norway, particularly cigarettes and alcohol which carry a heavy tax here.  There is actually a shopping mall just over the border which is frequented solely by Norwegians since it is closer to cities in Norway than in Sweden.  Being Christmas day, everything was closed; the only reason   I was hoping to get a stamp in my passport but I shouldn't have bothered bringing it; there was no one at the border to check people going through, let alone stamp passports.  I settled for a picture on the bridge crossing the border and we headed back to Sarpsborg soon after.

One of the bridges to Sweden.  Sweden is on the left.

We returned to Oslo on the 26th but before leaving we were able to do that most quintessential of scandinavian sports, cross-country skiing.  Norwegians joke that they are born with skis on their feet and so it was fairly remarkable that I hadn't been skiing yet during my time here.  Junior year of high-school was my most recent experience with cross-country skiing where I briefly competed for our ski team.  There have been few things in life that I've shown less aptitude for than cross-country ski racing so I can't say I was thrilled about reliving those memories.  I borrowed skis and boots from one of Lene's friends and off we went to a nearby trail system.  The skiing is much more enjoyable when you aren't killing yourself to race someone else and we had a great time.  It felt good to be outside and it was fun to see all the families with even the young kids skiing.  The trails we went to were even lined with light poles so that people can ski at any time of day (especially important with a 3:15pm sunset).

Striking a pose in my new Christmas sweater.

The holidays were great but we were definitely ready to get back to Oslo by the time the weekend was over. Lene had had enough family time and I'm sure she was tired of translating everything whenever someone wanted to ask me a question.  Many people here over 40 or 50 years old don't speak much English as it was optional when they went to school.  By contrast, the generation after them is essentially fluent in English having learned from a very young age.  English is also far more common in Oslo and you will often over-hear people speaking English in the streets.  Because of this I was definitely ready to leave Sarpsborg so I could go back to communicating normally.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday and has a fantastic New Year!

Roommates

The two bedroom apartment that I'm staying in is pretty great.  The location is convenient, the rent is cheap, and the apartment itself is nice.  Large windows cover the south facing side of the apartment and let it grab every bit of sun (especially nice during these short winter days).  The living space is comfortable and cozy and the bathroom is nice as well, with a fantastic shower. The bathroom floor, to spare bare feet on cold mornings, has heated tiles controlled by a thermostat.  It is evidently a common innovation in Norway, but coming from the much warmer D.C. it seems like a luxury.

I'm staying in the larger of the two bedrooms with Lene, and Sandra has the other room.  Sandra is also a hairdresser and works with Lene at the same salon.  Sandra is very into fitness and body-building, recently finishing her first competition.  I have trouble getting my head around the whole body-building thing.  I can understand the desire to be in shape and fit, but this takes it to another level.  Specialized diets, constantly watching your caloric intake, endless amounts of supplements and of course the constant weight-lifting and training is enough to drive someone crazy.  I was making black beans and rice for dinner the other day, something I think of as being fairly healthy, and I offered some to Sandra who declined because beans have too many calories for her diet.  This is during the off-season.  In the weeks and months leading up to a competition, the diets become more extreme as they competitors practically starve themselves in preparation.  To gain a last-minute edge, the competitors make sure they are dehydrated so that their muscles have an extra-degree of definition for the judges.  

Crazy amounts of supplements for protein shakes and things.

Sandra's boyfriend, Carl-Eric, also a body-builder, has recently moved into the apartment and this has doubled the amount of supplements here which now take up several shelves.  There is also a myriad of plastic water-bottles for protein shakes and Tupperware containers for planned meals so that portions can be measured exactly.  These meals are generally cooked at one time so that several days worth of prepared food will be stacked up in the fridge, ready to be eaten.  Both Carl-Erik and Sandra will admit that their passion is a little masochistic but they say the rewards are worth it, claiming body building to be the hardest, worst, most difficult and best thing they have ever done.

Even more supplements in pill form to take with their meals.

It is a radically different lifestyle and takes incredible amounts of dedication.  You won't see me heading down that path (I've hardly ever set foot in a gym), but it is hard not to respect what they do.  

Cold and Dark

The weather here in Oslo has improved over the last few days and has been hovering around the freezing point.  It feels almost warm out after the last few weeks where the temperature was usually between negative 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (about 0 - 10 degrees Fahrenheit).  It has been so cold here that it broke several weather records and this past November was the coldest since 1919.

On top of the cold, there is the dark.  With the winter solstice right around the corner, days are about as short as they get.  Sunrise is sometime around 9:15am and sunset is just after 3pm.  The sun doesn't get too far above the horizon anymore and most of the city is bathed in shadow regardless of the time.  If this all sounds sort of miserable, well, it kind of is. However, only through the act of describing the weather am I realizing how awful it must sound.  You get used to it.

 It is amazing what a body can adjust to and how the mind readjusts your baseline for what's normal.  As mentioned earlier, now that the temperature is close to freezing it actually feels nice out.  You don't even need long underwear!  During the few hours of sun in the afternoon it feels good to go for a walk and, covered in a light coating of fresh snow, the city is beautiful.  The pedestrian mall is particularly pretty since many of the buildings have been strewn with decorations for the holidays.  At night the Christmas lights from the buildings reflect off the snow and the city feels a little like a winter wonderland.    

However if all else fails and trying to look on the bright side of things doesn't work you can always look North and feel sorry for the poor saps up where it's even colder and darker.

The Bachata Weekender

I've been in Oslo about 7 weeks now and am definitely learning my way around the city. Since I don't have a job here I've had to get a little creative to find things to do during the days while Lene is working. Usually I occupy myself by reading, playing the guitar and going for walks around the city. Sometimes the parents of the 10month old boy I nanny need some help, but since the mother hasn't had to go back to work yet they don't need me that often. I've also been working at a dance studio in exchange for salsa, merengue and bachata lessons. You can check out their website here.

Lene and I were walking around Oslo one night when we saw a sign outside a dance studio saying they were having free lessons that week; we went to a salsa lesson and a cha-cha lesson and I ended up speaking with the owners about working at the studio in exchange for classes. They are very nice and flexible people and were happy to make a deal. Usually I go a couple hours before classes and open up the studio, making sure everything is clean before people arrive. During the parties I help serve drinks and generally man the reception. In exchange I've been taking around 10-12 hours of lessons a week, focusing mostly on salsa but also a taking a little merengue and bachata as well. As each of these dances has a Latin-American origin, learning one helps you build on the others. The footwork is a little different but the body movements and turns are very similar.

Dancing at one of the parties. This was the Salsa room, since it was a Bachata weekend the other room was much more crowded:

I've mentioned all of this to get to the main topic of the post, The Bachata Weekender that we just had at the studio. Guest artists from Spain were flown in to teach intensive workshops for the weekend. The workshops were held during the day and parties were held at night so people could socialize a little more and practice what they'd learned during the classes.

Before this weekend course I had only taken three one hour classes of Bachata whereas some of the other students had been dancing it for years. Needless to say I was in a little over my head but it was still had a great time. Since all the moves and routines were new to everyone I was able to keep up to some extent, but the people with more experience picked things up much faster. In all, we had over 12 hours of classes the first of which started on Friday. Each day became a more difficult to the point where we were doing advanced acrobatic Bachata on Sunday. This involved doing various kinds of lifts and dips which were surprisingly easy if you used the correct technique and nearly impossible if you didn't. I'm hoping muscle memory will help out some with the learning since I can hardly remember the dozens of steps and routines we practiced.

Reiza, the owner, talking to us before the show on Saturday:

There were always breaks between the workshops and the parties later that night so people could go home, grab some dinner and dress up a little. Even with these breaks though, we we rushing around trying to get the studio cleaned up again for the night. It's amazing how much dust and dirt a group of people can bring in with them in such a short time. We also had to make sure all the dishes were clean, candles were lit, the furniture rearranged properly and the lights and music were ready to go.

The instructors, Gabryél and Begoña were great even if they seemed a little over the top sometimes (I suppose that's pretty common in the dance profession). Their instruction was very clear, they made things fun and they gave you plenty of help if you were struggling. One of my favorite steps that we did was called the rueda. In it, all of the couples collected in a loose circle around the room. Gabryél taught us various steps and their names which he would shout for us to perform. This would have dancing in unison (as long as we could remember the names to the steps) and moving around in a big circle. Changing partners generally caused the most chaos as you scrambled to get to someone else and stay in time with the music. Since there was one more guy than there were girls it ended up being a little like musical chairs. By the end of the weekend I was exhausted but had a fantastic time. These dances take years to learn properly and I have much more respect after trying my hand (feet?) at them.

Reiza introducing Gabryél and Begoña for their

dance show on Saturday night:

I've included a couple videos, the first is of Gabryél and Begoña demonstrating one of the steps we learned and allowing us to video tape it so we might remember it better. The second is some of the students doing another step that we learned. Fortunately, I managed to avoid having any videos taken of me dancing so you won't have to witness that.