Mineralparken near Evje

Hi All,

We took the bus to Mineralparken today, which featured a display of the world's semi-precious rocks and a climbing forest or Klatreskogen.




We watched a video about how the Vita company makes false teeth by gathering, grinding, purifying, firing, molding and painting feldspar. Fascinating actually.


The manager told us that these Klatreskogens were almost impossible to build in the U.S. because of liability laws. Since you're wearing a harness at all times, it didn't seem dangerous to us. Bill and the boys loved it. I did not, but I liked taking photos.











Taking the zipline down.

Horseback Riding--Mark and Sunbeam

Hi All,

This is Mark's last day of horseback riding lessons.

What didn't make it through airport security in Kristiansand

http://reise.fvn.no/reise/article4142577.ece

Nowegian Children's Literature

Here are some major voices in Norwegian children's literature--

Einar Økland
Erlend Loe
Henrik Wergeland (1808-45)--wrote for outsider groups like farmers and workers, in addition to children
Jørgen Moe (1813-82) Wrote first stories from a children's perspective
Tor Åge Bringsværd--story about the "blue people" and the sweet factory--pollution theme
Tormod Haugen--In The Cry from the Jungle (Skriket fra jungelen, 1989), an "American psychologist captures unhappy children in order to reuse their dreams and imaginations in a machine that will make him able to control people's thoughts. The children escape into a jungle materializing from the children's fantasies."
Ragnar Hovland--cat sonette. Dedicated to Nana, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Jenny.
Fam Ekman
Af Prøyson--Mrs. Pepperpot (Teskjekjerringa)
Jostein Gaarder--novel Sophie's World. In 1995, it was the world's best selling novel.
Torbjørn Egner --Kardmomme by, takes place in Kristiansand's zoo



Troll Illustration by Erik Werenskiold.
Troll illustration by Theodor Kittelsel.

Source: Eva Maagerø and Birte Simonsen, eds., Norway: Society and Culture, Kristiansand: Portal, 2005.

"Equality, Moderation and Nearness to Nature"

King Olav V on the underground in Oslo during the oil crisis in 1973. On his way to a skiing area, he is traveling with the public and trying to pay for his own ticket.

""Norway is a country of houses and cottages, but no castles"--Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910)

In 1814 Norway left the union with Denmark and entered the union with Sweden, which lasted until 1905.

Women got the right to vote in 1913. In 1978, Norway passed the Gender Equality Act, which barred all discrimination on the basis of gender.


Source: Eva Maagerø and Birte Simonsen, eds., Norway: Society and Culture, Kristiansand: Portal, 2005.

Mark's Story --Bootlegging in Norway on the High Seas

This is Mark’s story that he wrote for school. (He also handed in a Google translate version)

It Happened in Town.

It was nice day, and there were few clouds. I was walking down by the fortress in Kristiansand when I went out and brought an ice cream cone and some Mozell [Mozell, a carbonated apple juice, is a favorite soft drink in Norway.] When I had my first sip of Mozell it tasted disgusting. I couldn’t guess what that taste was until I thought “white wine”! I went back inside to the shop where I got it and the person showed me the bottle. It was labeled Mozell.

I walked around after that when I saw some men working in a boat. They were bringing bottles in to the shop. The woman working at the shop took out a bottle of Mozell and drank it. She spluttered and said “This is wine.” Some of the men ran and started the boat motor and hoisted its sails, while the man who seemed to be the group’s leader jumped onto a motor scooter and sped off. Actually, the real leader was in the boat. The cashier let me use her motor scooter and I soon sped off. As the man was fleeing north, suddenly something came flying out of his exhaust pipe. It hit my front wheel and popped it. I went flying and ran into the man. A second later, we went flying into a postcard stand! He yanked out a pistol and shot two shots, which cracked a window. He fired one last shot which went into the same window. When I, using all my strength, threw the stand at him, he fell over.

The police arrested the man. Using information from him, they found the smugglers in the boat. The man in the boat led a smuggling organization and the town called me a hero!
The end

Morten Viskum--Contemporary Norwegian Art

So I was intrigued by a poster at the Sørlandets Kunstmuseum of this installation for a 2010 exhibit, and, without knowing anything about the artist, I bought the poster. It turns out that the Norwegian artist, Morten Viskum, has made a name for himself using a severed hand in abstract painting (claiming that he wants his audience to reflect on death and the role of the artist's hand, he refuses to disclose how he came by this hand or whom it is from) and for displaying a crucified rat (looked more like a hamster to me). [I'm sparing you images from his severed hand series, but a simple Google search will lend plenty of examples] So, now I'm not sure if I want to have hanging in my office this poster of a reindeer with tires (which I liked in its playful reminder of the juxtaposition of Norwegian wildlife and fossil fuels) because I will always associate the artist with his gruesome severed hand on a keyboard, which, and, maybe I'm missing something here, seems like a mid-life crisis, horror-show gimmick, but, hey, what do I know? I still like the reindeer.