Yesterday I participated in an "Mp3 Experiment" for Improv Everywhere. It was sort of like a flashmob, but a little bit different. Everyone downloaded the same recording to listen to on their ipods and other devices at a specific time (5 pm for us). Everyone gathered in downtown Oslo, pressed play at the exact same time and followed the instructions for about 45 minutes. It was really fun and really hilarious. The trains were running slow yesterday so we were actually on the train when we had to start the recording, so we were high-fiving people and stretching and such on the train. Other things we had to do: thumb war, square dancing, "nap time" which required you to lay down and pretend you were taking a nap, "steve says" (the omnipotent voice we heard was named Steve), and a giant balloon-bopping war with all of the red and yellow shirted people against the blue and green shirted people. We ended with slow motion high fives and hugs. So fun. And great to see the onlookers reactions.
The first link I've included is a Norwegian news segment about the event. It's about a minute and a half long and shows some of the things we had to do. There is a close up of my friend Micah's head at one point, but you can only see me from a distance (I have my hand on a bald guy's head--human twister). The second link is to Improv Everywhere's site that tells about their Mp3 experiments in more detail. Hopefully they will come out with a video of Oslo's experiment soon. You can watch videos from previous years. There is one from NYC that is pretty hilarious. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn6I98O1BO0
http://improveverywhere.com/missions/the-mp3-experiments/
"Here’s how it works: we put an original mp3 file online (usually around 45 minutes long) that people download and transfer to their mobile devices. Participants then synchronize their watches to an atomic clock on our website, head out to the same public location, and blend in with others. At the predetermined time, everyone presses play. Hilarity ensues as participants carry out ridiculous, coordinated instructions delivered to their headphones via narrator “Steve” and everyone else tries to figure out what the hell is going on."
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Snapfish Link
http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=8572351027/a=10224593027_10224593027/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
Here is the link to my pictures on Snapfish. Feel free to share with anyone and everyone :) For those of you following on Facebook, these are the same pictures. Hopefully they are little more accessible. (But no captions-a girl can only do so much).
Here is the link to my pictures on Snapfish. Feel free to share with anyone and everyone :) For those of you following on Facebook, these are the same pictures. Hopefully they are little more accessible. (But no captions-a girl can only do so much).
More Ulvik
Friday for dinner we had Tobba's famous cole slaw for dinner, along with some really tasty potato salad and steak (I hadn't had steak in so long). That night we went to one of the hotels in town because it had live music. We were hoping there would be some other dancers there because there was a conference that weekend, but we were basically the only ones dancing. I had a good time though. The music was "veldig bra" (very good) and dancing is always fun. I did get a couple of the guys to swing dance with me. It was a different kind of swing dancing than I was used to, much simpler. I assume that's the kind that most people know.
Saturday we had a very laid back day-got up slowly, had breakfast, went to town, and stopped at Tobba's father's place again. Tobba took me with her to feed her brother's bird. Her brother works on an oil platform-2 weeks on and 4 weeks off, so he was away at the time. In his front yard is the foundation from the barn that used to sit there in Tobba's childhood. I also got a closer look at Tobba's childhood home. It's such a neat-looking building. It's so sad that it's just sitting there rotting. I think Tobba said it's 110 years old. It has the original stove from the first bakery in town inside. Tobba's father presented me with a copy of a book with some of his poems and drawings inside. Tobba has the same book at her house and Tonegrete tried to help me translate some of it. It is written in the older style of Norwegian so even some of the words I thought I knew weren't written the same way. On the way home we stopped at a small waterfall. Everything is just so beautiful.
That night we had trout stuffed with leeks and sour cream. I had never eaten a fish like that before-it was the whole fish just laying there on the platter, and once you ate the top meat you just pulled the skeleton out and eat the meat on the bottom. Another thing I tried was a candy called Smash. It's basically just chocolate covered Bugles. So good. I don't know why we don't have them. We played some more "1000" that night and I got pretty far in a book I was reading.
Sunday's drive home was really nice. It was blue skies and sunny all day long. We took a different way home-over the mountain. First we had to take a ten minute ferry across the fjord. That was beautiful, just like everything else. We stopped for gas at another cute little town on the other side of the fjord and then it was up the mountain. We stopped part way up at a plateau. It was very high up. There was a little bridge going across a river below and it looked like a log put across the water, even though it was a good-sized bridge. Supposedly there is a great waterfall there, but there was too much snow to go check it out. It probably took us another 20 min to half hour to get up to the top of the mountain. It's 1250 m above sea level at the highest point. We drove across the top part for a while. There were skiers snomobilers, and dogsleds. It was certainly still winter up there. There were even houses that you could only see the roofs because they were buried in snow. The road isn't even open during most of the winter, so this must be prime time. Supposedly there are a number of lakes up there that are blue and clear in the summer. I imagine it's awesome. At the very top we also saw a glacier (I don't believe I've ever seen one before). We stopped at a cafe near the top and stood outside for a while. It was so nice to have the sun on me. The way down the mountain was just as gorgeous. We passed a lot of cute cabins and houses, some lakes and rivers, etc, etc.. The only part that was not aesthetically pleasing was when we got close to Oslo. There just seemed to be way too many houses and people, and nothing could compare to the beauty that I had experienced the rest of the weekend.
I think this was my favorite trip so far. I wish I had more time, especially when everything gets green, in Norway. It was so nice to see something besides Oslo, and I still cannot get over how beautiful Norway is! Now that I know Tobba though, it makes it a little easier to come back to Ulvik in the summer if I ever chose to. I am so grateful to the three wonderful ladies who accepted me into their lives this weekend-Tobba for taking me into her home, and May and Tonegrete for carting me to and from Ulvik. Also, a big thank you to Steve who got me connected with Tobba in the first place. I am so very appreciative to everyone.
I've added some more pictures here. Some are from the way home, and at the end are pictures of Tobba's childhood home and her father's current home. The rest of my pictures are on facebook and will also be on snapfish in the near future. I added pictures to the first post about Ulvik on my blog, as well.
Saturday we had a very laid back day-got up slowly, had breakfast, went to town, and stopped at Tobba's father's place again. Tobba took me with her to feed her brother's bird. Her brother works on an oil platform-2 weeks on and 4 weeks off, so he was away at the time. In his front yard is the foundation from the barn that used to sit there in Tobba's childhood. I also got a closer look at Tobba's childhood home. It's such a neat-looking building. It's so sad that it's just sitting there rotting. I think Tobba said it's 110 years old. It has the original stove from the first bakery in town inside. Tobba's father presented me with a copy of a book with some of his poems and drawings inside. Tobba has the same book at her house and Tonegrete tried to help me translate some of it. It is written in the older style of Norwegian so even some of the words I thought I knew weren't written the same way. On the way home we stopped at a small waterfall. Everything is just so beautiful.
That night we had trout stuffed with leeks and sour cream. I had never eaten a fish like that before-it was the whole fish just laying there on the platter, and once you ate the top meat you just pulled the skeleton out and eat the meat on the bottom. Another thing I tried was a candy called Smash. It's basically just chocolate covered Bugles. So good. I don't know why we don't have them. We played some more "1000" that night and I got pretty far in a book I was reading.
Sunday's drive home was really nice. It was blue skies and sunny all day long. We took a different way home-over the mountain. First we had to take a ten minute ferry across the fjord. That was beautiful, just like everything else. We stopped for gas at another cute little town on the other side of the fjord and then it was up the mountain. We stopped part way up at a plateau. It was very high up. There was a little bridge going across a river below and it looked like a log put across the water, even though it was a good-sized bridge. Supposedly there is a great waterfall there, but there was too much snow to go check it out. It probably took us another 20 min to half hour to get up to the top of the mountain. It's 1250 m above sea level at the highest point. We drove across the top part for a while. There were skiers snomobilers, and dogsleds. It was certainly still winter up there. There were even houses that you could only see the roofs because they were buried in snow. The road isn't even open during most of the winter, so this must be prime time. Supposedly there are a number of lakes up there that are blue and clear in the summer. I imagine it's awesome. At the very top we also saw a glacier (I don't believe I've ever seen one before). We stopped at a cafe near the top and stood outside for a while. It was so nice to have the sun on me. The way down the mountain was just as gorgeous. We passed a lot of cute cabins and houses, some lakes and rivers, etc, etc.. The only part that was not aesthetically pleasing was when we got close to Oslo. There just seemed to be way too many houses and people, and nothing could compare to the beauty that I had experienced the rest of the weekend.
I think this was my favorite trip so far. I wish I had more time, especially when everything gets green, in Norway. It was so nice to see something besides Oslo, and I still cannot get over how beautiful Norway is! Now that I know Tobba though, it makes it a little easier to come back to Ulvik in the summer if I ever chose to. I am so grateful to the three wonderful ladies who accepted me into their lives this weekend-Tobba for taking me into her home, and May and Tonegrete for carting me to and from Ulvik. Also, a big thank you to Steve who got me connected with Tobba in the first place. I am so very appreciative to everyone.
I've added some more pictures here. Some are from the way home, and at the end are pictures of Tobba's childhood home and her father's current home. The rest of my pictures are on facebook and will also be on snapfish in the near future. I added pictures to the first post about Ulvik on my blog, as well.
Tobba's Father's House
The house where Tobba grew up
Friday, April 19, 2013
Ulvik-Oh, the Adjectives!
Can you say beautiful? gorgeous? incredible? breath-taking?
Well, I have finally made it to another part of Norway. I arrived in the small town of Ulvik late last night. Ulvik is located near the west coast of Norway, right on the end of a fjord. I would recommend Googling it. Be sure to find some pictures of what it looks like in summertime!
The ride to Ulvik was beautiful, though May says that the way back is sooo much better. We had to take the longer way because the way they usually travel was supposed to be stormy. Hopefully we will be able to go over the mountain plateau on the way back. Once we were out of Oslo it was mostly windy roads through the mountains, in valleys, and around lakes. I thought the views were some of the most amazing I had ever seen. We passed a lot of cabins and cute little houses along the way. All the houses seem to be some color-yellow, red, warm brown, blue. Lots of farmsteads, too. We also passed a stave church (look it up)-one of the very old churches Norway is famous for. We drove through the longest tunnel-25 km! It took maybe 20 minutes to get through.
Photos from the way to Ulvik:
We arrived at Tobba's house late last night. I stayed awake for most of the ride in the daylight-didn't want to miss anything! But I had a nice nap after dark. Tobba lives in a cabin-like house on a mountain above the town. Everything inside is a light-colored wood paneling. She has a porch looking out onto the mountain behind her house, but that's nothing because she has a mountain on all sides of her house! It's very cozy inside the house. Last night we sat in the kitchen and played a dice game after dinner (chili-mmmmm). The women here are great-very hospitable and seem like they are lots of fun! We stayed up late and slept in this morning.
Tobba's House:
Today we had a "Norwegian" breakfast. It consisted of buttered bread with a variety of spreads and toppings. I tried shrimp salad with ham and tomato, mackerel with mayo, some sort of pepperoni type meat, kaviar mix, all with this creamy type of cheese. I liked everything that I tried.
We drove down to town afterwards. Basically from Tobba's you drive down in circles for about 5-10 minutes until you reach the town.Where Tobba lives there is a lot of snow still, but in town there is hardly any. Tobba says there is not supposed to be this much snow in April. The town is small, but touristy so there are about five hotels, a number of cafes and cruise ships coming in and out during the summer. We walked around a bit this morning. We stopped at a beautifully simple white church. Many of the gravestones were very old-1800's. The town is right on the fjord so it has mountains all around it. It's nice to look up and see the cute houses dotting the mountain, and you can't look away from the fjord for long. I will have pictures up soon, but they will never do it justice. The fjord nestled into the mountains is something everyone should see. I feel as though I am raving a bit, but it's that breath-taking. I wish I could be here during the summer. I have seen pictures and it sounds amazing. On our way back to Tobba's we stopped at her father's house. He is 90 and lives by himself part-way up the mountain. He has an incredible view. He actually lives right next to the house where Tobba grew up. No one could afford to maintain it so it's falling apart now but it's an awesome looking house. Her brother lives right next to it too. Her father seems to be doing great for his age. He seemed very kind and happy. When we were there he brought out photo albums from when Tobba was a child and some with pictures of him and his wife when they were young. Tobba's father is a well-known artist. He has many of his works around his house and so does Tobba.
The ladies speak mostly Norwegian to each other. They of course speak English to me, and they do explain things on occasion, but I do an okay job following. Some people might think it is rude of them to speak Norwegian when they all know English pretty well, but they only get to see each other so often and it only makes sense for them to speak in a way that is easiest for them. Plus I am already picking up more words and phrases. I thoroughly enjoy listening to Norwegian, even if at the moment I am not straining to understand what is being said.
Tonight we are supposed to be going to a hotel in town that has live music and dancing! Can't wait!
More to come. Stay tuned...
Well, I have finally made it to another part of Norway. I arrived in the small town of Ulvik late last night. Ulvik is located near the west coast of Norway, right on the end of a fjord. I would recommend Googling it. Be sure to find some pictures of what it looks like in summertime!
The ride to Ulvik was beautiful, though May says that the way back is sooo much better. We had to take the longer way because the way they usually travel was supposed to be stormy. Hopefully we will be able to go over the mountain plateau on the way back. Once we were out of Oslo it was mostly windy roads through the mountains, in valleys, and around lakes. I thought the views were some of the most amazing I had ever seen. We passed a lot of cabins and cute little houses along the way. All the houses seem to be some color-yellow, red, warm brown, blue. Lots of farmsteads, too. We also passed a stave church (look it up)-one of the very old churches Norway is famous for. We drove through the longest tunnel-25 km! It took maybe 20 minutes to get through.
Photos from the way to Ulvik:
We arrived at Tobba's house late last night. I stayed awake for most of the ride in the daylight-didn't want to miss anything! But I had a nice nap after dark. Tobba lives in a cabin-like house on a mountain above the town. Everything inside is a light-colored wood paneling. She has a porch looking out onto the mountain behind her house, but that's nothing because she has a mountain on all sides of her house! It's very cozy inside the house. Last night we sat in the kitchen and played a dice game after dinner (chili-mmmmm). The women here are great-very hospitable and seem like they are lots of fun! We stayed up late and slept in this morning.
Tobba's House:
Today we had a "Norwegian" breakfast. It consisted of buttered bread with a variety of spreads and toppings. I tried shrimp salad with ham and tomato, mackerel with mayo, some sort of pepperoni type meat, kaviar mix, all with this creamy type of cheese. I liked everything that I tried.
We drove down to town afterwards. Basically from Tobba's you drive down in circles for about 5-10 minutes until you reach the town.Where Tobba lives there is a lot of snow still, but in town there is hardly any. Tobba says there is not supposed to be this much snow in April. The town is small, but touristy so there are about five hotels, a number of cafes and cruise ships coming in and out during the summer. We walked around a bit this morning. We stopped at a beautifully simple white church. Many of the gravestones were very old-1800's. The town is right on the fjord so it has mountains all around it. It's nice to look up and see the cute houses dotting the mountain, and you can't look away from the fjord for long. I will have pictures up soon, but they will never do it justice. The fjord nestled into the mountains is something everyone should see. I feel as though I am raving a bit, but it's that breath-taking. I wish I could be here during the summer. I have seen pictures and it sounds amazing. On our way back to Tobba's we stopped at her father's house. He is 90 and lives by himself part-way up the mountain. He has an incredible view. He actually lives right next to the house where Tobba grew up. No one could afford to maintain it so it's falling apart now but it's an awesome looking house. Her brother lives right next to it too. Her father seems to be doing great for his age. He seemed very kind and happy. When we were there he brought out photo albums from when Tobba was a child and some with pictures of him and his wife when they were young. Tobba's father is a well-known artist. He has many of his works around his house and so does Tobba.
Tobba's father's house above and the view from his house below
The ladies speak mostly Norwegian to each other. They of course speak English to me, and they do explain things on occasion, but I do an okay job following. Some people might think it is rude of them to speak Norwegian when they all know English pretty well, but they only get to see each other so often and it only makes sense for them to speak in a way that is easiest for them. Plus I am already picking up more words and phrases. I thoroughly enjoy listening to Norwegian, even if at the moment I am not straining to understand what is being said.
Tonight we are supposed to be going to a hotel in town that has live music and dancing! Can't wait!
More to come. Stay tuned...
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Cruise to Copenhagen
I have never been on a "real" cruise before. I'm not sure if this counted, but it's the realest cruise I've been on so I'm counting it. I am blaming my real cruise for how unbalanced I feel today, as well. I just feel like I have no real sense of balance when I am sitting, standing or walking around. Everything is moving just a little bit. It's pretty distracting honestly.
Copenhagen seems to be a beautiful city from what I saw of it. I say that because, the way the cruise worked out, we only got about 5-6 hours on shore. That may seem like quite a bit of time, but if you have ever traveled anywhere you know it is most certainly not. It was a cloudy day when we were there. No rain though, thank goodness. Once off the boat, we visited a town called Christiania. It is a self-proclaimed autonomous "commune" of sorts in Copenhagen. I enjoyed walking through it. It was the only quiet place in Copenhagen, and in all honesty, the only quiet place we have been in a while. It looks like a very small, run-down village. At night, I would say it's probably pretty sketchy. There is lots of graffiti and wooden houses that are certainly not in tip-top shape. There are some restaurants, a few shops, and a concert stage. Christiania is set right next to lake, as well. There are certain rules that you must follow when you enter: no running, no photographs, etc... Sarah described it as something from an apocalyptic movie scene. When we were there, there were not many people walking around, so it looked like a slightly deserted rebel village. There is more of a story to it's findings. I would suggest Google-ing it.
Next we visited the Church of our Savior. It has an awesome-looking spire at the top that you can climb. Micah went up it and took some pretty cool pictures from the top. He said when you got to the very top the steps were so narrow you could just fit one foot on each stair.
After that we walked across the canal to Nyhavn (New Harbor). This is one of the oldest parts in Copenhagen and had beautiful colorful, narrow houses to show for it. Hans Christian Andersen lived there for a period of time. Nyhavn is on either side of a canal. There we took a boat tour through the canals. That was nice because we got to see the palaces, the Little Mermaid Statue and some different parts of Copenhagen that we would have never been able to walk to in the time we were there.
Copenhagen, according to our tour guide, is the biggest bicycle capital in Europe. I believe it. There were all kinds of bicycles, all over the place. I saw a wheelchair bicycle, a bike with a cart in front specifically for your dog, one in front for children, many with baskets. Basically all areas of the city have a pretty wide bike lane, along with the regular sidewalk. Even the stairs had ramps for bikes.
At this point, I think I liked Stockholm better, but I think if had the opportunity to spend more time in Copenhagen, I might come to like that better. I felt like I barely got to see the city at all.
The cruise itself was pretty fun. The ship was a cross between a ferry and a cruise ship. It seemed pretty big, but I know it wasn't compared to most cruise ships. There were only about 4 restaurants, a few cafes, a casino, a pool/hot tub (yes, I did spend a good chunk of time Saturday in the hot tub), conference center, etc.. They had live music in two night clubs on the same level each night, one had more of a selection of current popular music and the other was older and laid back played (and sang) by Jerry on the piano. Sarah and I hung out there a bit, and even got to swing a little. We were gravely disappointed by the number of people we met who did not know how to swing dance, though we did teach a couple people some beginning steps.
Thursday I am traveling across the mountains to a town called Ulvik with May and her friend whose name I cannot remember (Sorry). We are going to stay with Tobba who lives there. Tobba is a friend of one of the people I work with at the credit union, and I got acquainted with May through her. I am excited. I think the trip is going to be really beautiful.
Copenhagen seems to be a beautiful city from what I saw of it. I say that because, the way the cruise worked out, we only got about 5-6 hours on shore. That may seem like quite a bit of time, but if you have ever traveled anywhere you know it is most certainly not. It was a cloudy day when we were there. No rain though, thank goodness. Once off the boat, we visited a town called Christiania. It is a self-proclaimed autonomous "commune" of sorts in Copenhagen. I enjoyed walking through it. It was the only quiet place in Copenhagen, and in all honesty, the only quiet place we have been in a while. It looks like a very small, run-down village. At night, I would say it's probably pretty sketchy. There is lots of graffiti and wooden houses that are certainly not in tip-top shape. There are some restaurants, a few shops, and a concert stage. Christiania is set right next to lake, as well. There are certain rules that you must follow when you enter: no running, no photographs, etc... Sarah described it as something from an apocalyptic movie scene. When we were there, there were not many people walking around, so it looked like a slightly deserted rebel village. There is more of a story to it's findings. I would suggest Google-ing it.
Next we visited the Church of our Savior. It has an awesome-looking spire at the top that you can climb. Micah went up it and took some pretty cool pictures from the top. He said when you got to the very top the steps were so narrow you could just fit one foot on each stair.
After that we walked across the canal to Nyhavn (New Harbor). This is one of the oldest parts in Copenhagen and had beautiful colorful, narrow houses to show for it. Hans Christian Andersen lived there for a period of time. Nyhavn is on either side of a canal. There we took a boat tour through the canals. That was nice because we got to see the palaces, the Little Mermaid Statue and some different parts of Copenhagen that we would have never been able to walk to in the time we were there.
Copenhagen, according to our tour guide, is the biggest bicycle capital in Europe. I believe it. There were all kinds of bicycles, all over the place. I saw a wheelchair bicycle, a bike with a cart in front specifically for your dog, one in front for children, many with baskets. Basically all areas of the city have a pretty wide bike lane, along with the regular sidewalk. Even the stairs had ramps for bikes.
At this point, I think I liked Stockholm better, but I think if had the opportunity to spend more time in Copenhagen, I might come to like that better. I felt like I barely got to see the city at all.
The cruise itself was pretty fun. The ship was a cross between a ferry and a cruise ship. It seemed pretty big, but I know it wasn't compared to most cruise ships. There were only about 4 restaurants, a few cafes, a casino, a pool/hot tub (yes, I did spend a good chunk of time Saturday in the hot tub), conference center, etc.. They had live music in two night clubs on the same level each night, one had more of a selection of current popular music and the other was older and laid back played (and sang) by Jerry on the piano. Sarah and I hung out there a bit, and even got to swing a little. We were gravely disappointed by the number of people we met who did not know how to swing dance, though we did teach a couple people some beginning steps.
Thursday I am traveling across the mountains to a town called Ulvik with May and her friend whose name I cannot remember (Sorry). We are going to stay with Tobba who lives there. Tobba is a friend of one of the people I work with at the credit union, and I got acquainted with May through her. I am excited. I think the trip is going to be really beautiful.
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