Had our first day of orientation, which ended with meeting the
American Ambassador to Norway and a photo op at the Nobel prize
ceremonial rooms. Kinda intimidating, but everyone was gracious and
friendly. Norway is flush with oil wealth and they very much want to
encourage more American students and scholars to study there. Most of
the other Fulbrighters are studying environmental issues and the
Arctic Chair is examining the extent to which toxic chemicals are
found in core ice samples in Longyearbyen Norway, where I hope we can
travel to see the northern lights.

Another Fulbrighter sailed from Mexico to Norway and is living aboard
her boat. She is studying the extent to which each generation becomes
habituated to environmental degradation. She and her husband will be
docking in Kristiansand on Monday, and we'll have them over for
dinner.

Apparently the Norwegian philosophy of parenting is considerably
different, and children are given much more leeway to explore what
they want to in the classroom, act out within limits, and roam more freely
outdoors...The boys will love it, but I wonder if they will have some difficulty in transitioning back to American school.

Oh, I also learned that when you write to us you need to put an S for
South. Apparently, the post office routinely has trouble
distinguishing between mail meant for Kristiansund (which is further
north) and Kristiansand, where we are in the far south.

Hmm...The Norwegians love their coffee, often quit work around 3:30
p.m., have distinct regional dialects, and, have a saying that I will
tell the boys.

"It's not the weather, it's the clothes." In other words, regardless
of weather, the Norwegians embrace the elements.

So all was relatively going well, until I made my faux pas. I was
chatting with a woman who recruited students for the University of
Oslo's summer program. Her friend joined her who was a graduate of
St. Olaf. Our discussion turned to literature and I said that I
thought that the papers of Knut Hamsun were held at St. Olaf. No, she
said, she didn't think so. Then I said, "I know that the papers of a
major American immigrant writer reside there." She said "Do you mean
Ole Rolvaag?" (Ole Rolvaag is probably the most important Norwegian
American writer, and I have not read his most famous book, Giants in
the Earth.) Then, I said, "Oh, yes." Then the other lady said, "Did
you know that I am the granddaughter of Ole Rolvaag and live in his
house?" at which point I stepped back and said "Wow!" and she said
"Have you read him?" and I said, "No" (which is embarrassing).

Oh, and a couple of other interesting anecdotes. If we're in Oslo we
can have lunch with the embassy staff, but we're asked to give them
notice because there are a number of protests against the war in
Afghanistan and they don't wish us to come on a protest day.

We weren't able to get our residence permit yet, so no banking
account. Ugh...I'm not looking forward to seeing our credit card
bill.

There are currently six Americans in prison in Norway...each of us was
enjoined not to become the seventh:)

Cheers,

Martha