The newest symptom to my cold: projectile sneezing. I knew I was starting to get sick a few days ago, but until yesterday it had not really affected me. I was sneezing all day long (using a ton of valuable tissues!) and my head was getting more and more congested by the hour. I don't feel too bad this morning but I have already sneezed all over myself twice. Not a great start to the morning.
Today I have a two hour bus tour of the city scheduled for 1pm. Later coffee hour, some kind of comedian (where they are giving away free food!) and a party the student organization has arranged for us. Should be a fun day.
Yesterday morning I had a meeting with my faculty (faculty basically just refers to department in Norway). The head of the department of social sciences talked to us for a few minutes. She had put together a slideshow of funny cartoons about Norwegians, such as how they always eat brown cheese, and are really shy until you drink with them, etc.. Then another professor talked to us about more relevant matters like registration and when IT help is available.
Sarah (Canada) and I met in the city later to buy "long johns" because we heard it will be -20 C this weekend (that's about -4 for all you Fahrenheiters out there). We did a little shopping around and found some cool sports stores. We settled on buying from the kids section, a pair that was a step above the cheapest kind for about 26 U.S. dollars. I am thinking I will be using them quite a bit.
For those of you who keep up with me on Facebook, you know I had a little bit of trouble with dinner last night. I had gone to a vegetable market a couple days ago and bought potatoes, so I had the brilliant idea to make hash browns and eat them with ketchup. Well..it took me about twenty minutes to realize the reason they weren't cooking was because they were sitting on the wrong burner! Silly me. By that time I was so impatient that I didn't even let them cook all the way and settled for a few that were undercooked. It was pretty tasty all the same.
Last night my buddy group met up at one of the buddy leader's houses in Sogn which is a short bus ride or train ride (and a short walk) from my village. He lives in one of the apartments that was just recently built. Everything still smells new! He lives by himself in a decent sized room with a kitchen area and his own bathroom. Later we walked over to a place that I would just describe as a student hang out facility. There were lots of chairs and tables, a bar, and a couple pool tables. They have things like board game night. I guess we have some place like this in Kringsja but I am just not sure where. I learned a lot about South Korea last night from talking with Tae Young. He talked quite a bit about how hard it is for older generations to see eye to eye with younger generations. For example, a young man and woman may decide to live together but they would never tell their parents and their parents would never imagine that such a thing could happen. He said that when parents come to visit, the girlfriend or boyfriend's stuff is hidden or taken to a friend's room. I learned that the ages for marrying in South Korea (and the Czech Republic from talking with Dominca) are a lot older than I thought they would be. Both Dominica and Tae Young said it is typical for people to wait til their late twenties or until age thirty to marry. But Tae Young made the observation that if you are not married by then you are put under a lot of stress to find a partner.
Last night was probably the coldest I have ever felt here. I have no idea how cold it was or if it was actually the coldest temperature but when I got back to my room I was so thankful for heat!!
Time to be productive :)
Today I have a two hour bus tour of the city scheduled for 1pm. Later coffee hour, some kind of comedian (where they are giving away free food!) and a party the student organization has arranged for us. Should be a fun day.
Yesterday morning I had a meeting with my faculty (faculty basically just refers to department in Norway). The head of the department of social sciences talked to us for a few minutes. She had put together a slideshow of funny cartoons about Norwegians, such as how they always eat brown cheese, and are really shy until you drink with them, etc.. Then another professor talked to us about more relevant matters like registration and when IT help is available.
Sarah (Canada) and I met in the city later to buy "long johns" because we heard it will be -20 C this weekend (that's about -4 for all you Fahrenheiters out there). We did a little shopping around and found some cool sports stores. We settled on buying from the kids section, a pair that was a step above the cheapest kind for about 26 U.S. dollars. I am thinking I will be using them quite a bit.
For those of you who keep up with me on Facebook, you know I had a little bit of trouble with dinner last night. I had gone to a vegetable market a couple days ago and bought potatoes, so I had the brilliant idea to make hash browns and eat them with ketchup. Well..it took me about twenty minutes to realize the reason they weren't cooking was because they were sitting on the wrong burner! Silly me. By that time I was so impatient that I didn't even let them cook all the way and settled for a few that were undercooked. It was pretty tasty all the same.
Last night my buddy group met up at one of the buddy leader's houses in Sogn which is a short bus ride or train ride (and a short walk) from my village. He lives in one of the apartments that was just recently built. Everything still smells new! He lives by himself in a decent sized room with a kitchen area and his own bathroom. Later we walked over to a place that I would just describe as a student hang out facility. There were lots of chairs and tables, a bar, and a couple pool tables. They have things like board game night. I guess we have some place like this in Kringsja but I am just not sure where. I learned a lot about South Korea last night from talking with Tae Young. He talked quite a bit about how hard it is for older generations to see eye to eye with younger generations. For example, a young man and woman may decide to live together but they would never tell their parents and their parents would never imagine that such a thing could happen. He said that when parents come to visit, the girlfriend or boyfriend's stuff is hidden or taken to a friend's room. I learned that the ages for marrying in South Korea (and the Czech Republic from talking with Dominca) are a lot older than I thought they would be. Both Dominica and Tae Young said it is typical for people to wait til their late twenties or until age thirty to marry. But Tae Young made the observation that if you are not married by then you are put under a lot of stress to find a partner.
Last night was probably the coldest I have ever felt here. I have no idea how cold it was or if it was actually the coldest temperature but when I got back to my room I was so thankful for heat!!
Time to be productive :)
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