Halloween Party

The fates smiled upon us and costumes and cupcakes were ready in time for the Birralee School Parade and Party today.   With a painted wig, makeup, and lots of accessories, Annaliese was transformed into "Draculara" of the Monster Girls.

Melita, nearly a head taller than the other girls and looking a bit too barbie-like, was transformed in Malibu Barbie with a  poodle purse.    Pretty certain that I won't switch to become a red-head though.

Norwegians have only recently started celebrating Halloween.  They have some common misconceptions about the holiday. 

1) They think costumes must be scary.  When I explain that most young girls come as fairies and princesses and most boys are superheros, they look genuinely surprised.  They think a costume must be ghosts, skeletons, devils, vampires, and lots of blood and gore, which is all good in my opinion -- the scarier the better.

2) The candy they sell is unwrapped in bins like at a candy store with small shovels.  I've been wondering how to serve up loose candy to children. Do I use a spoon?  Do they reach in with their dirty hands?  The logistics baffle me.  I finally asked my coworkers.  Apparently some put the loose hard and soft candy in small bags for kids, but they probably only have a few kids coming around. 

3) In the U.S., Halloween is not considered a religuous event (at least by most) and is celebrated at public schools across the country.  But to the Norwegians, the name "Hallow" seems to imply something more akin to All Saints Day with religious overtones.

4) No pumpkins or scarecrows or corn husks or house decorations to be found.

5) The Norwegians seem afraid of being commercialized by the U.S. and having Halloween really be officially and widely celebrated.  I have two words for them: costumes and candy.  Who can resist?  I further explain that it is also an autumnal celebration with pumpkins, hayrides, corn maizes, and, for us Westerlians, walking our kids around the neighborhood with a wagon full of cold beer.  There's fun for young and old alike.  

Give it a few more years and they will concede.  Loose candy will be a thing of the past, pumpkins will be growing in patches with grazing reindeer, and they will have mini-wrapped bars of "Kvikk Lunsj" (my personal favorite chocolate bar here) specially designed for Halloween giving.  However, I still like the Norwegian sensibility of homemade costumes.  And, everyone can agree on homemade chocolate treats mmmmm

   

Weather, what else?

We're back in lovely Trondheim and it was nice to return "home."  I really think this city is so beautiful.  My friend Rebekah in California has Trondheim weather on her phone and says it always appears to be raining here.  Smile... It was a bit of a wet week here, but the weather can change rapidly and the sun shines bright when it's out.  A few mornings have been raining, hailing when we woke up (dark and damp....brrr...), but the girls say that it has been clear when they go out for their recess.  They have two 30 min. breaks outside rain, snow, hail or shine.  I love that outdoor mentality.   In fact, that was one of the main reasons I moved Annaliese to the Montessori preschool back in Stonington, because they bundled up and played outside all winter long. 

Of course, I love hiking and the girls have been quite indulgent hiking with me on weekends.  Yesterday we took a short walk around the lake and then went to the skistua for a waffle and kannelbolle (cinammon roll) ...mmmm...  Those are melita's new rainboots from Germany, sweet.    Speaking of sweet, I'm pretty sure the concept of treats is the main reason the girls hike with me, but I'm ok with a little bribery.   Maybe one day they will actually enjoy hiking as a recreational activity.  Moreover, we always see the  most beautiful outdoorsy athletic young women on the trails hiking, running, and roller skiing.  Inspirational role models for all of us.  We also like to see the strollers with little babies tucked in for the hike.

In the hills, we found a little snow on the ground (see white in photo to right).   The mountains surrounding Trondheim are white-capped with snow and look really beautiful as well.   This all means that we are headed into Halloween season.  Yes, even though they don't really celebrate Halloween here, they do it anyway.  The school is having costume day and the girls are invited to a party.  We are working on their costumes this weekend.  Melita will be Malibu Barbie and Annaliese is still deciding on her costume.  Suggestions?

I leave you with some photos of Trondheim city, surrounding Trondheim fjord and the ferry boats crossing.   Come spring we will go "island hopping" on ferry's and enjoy the archipelago of islands more dense than anywhere in the world (or so I''m told).

big beer, big preztels, big mountains, and surfers?

We finished our last day in Munich and are getting ready to head back north.  However, I wanted to share a few more highlights from our visit here.

While drinking beer with Laura at the Englishe Garten, a band played German polka music from high up in a chinese tower and the sun shone.  After this shot, I developed severe carpel tunnel from lifting the heavy objects.   Note to all who may enter the bier garten, make sure you stretch those forearms (and the belly) well beforehand.

On the same walk, we stumbled upon the ocean of landlocked Munich and found the spot for the young and agile.  There is a standing wave in the river that surfers are now permitted to exploit.  It look pretty intense and fun to watch.

Then, we capped off our visit with a drive to the lake district, Bad Wiesee ("bod vie-zay") and hiked up a steep mountain to a chalet with food (Leberkase, mmmm) and more bier.  That's Laura's partner Karsten in front of the hütte.

And of course, when we weren't drinking bier, the ladies were sucking down champagne and prosecco in high fashion ;-)

It was BIG FUN!!  Thanks to Laura, Karsten, Isabel, and Christina for an amazing trip. 

With Laura, exploring Munich's Bigness

 Everything seems big here.  Large beers, big portions, yum...Had my first burger in three months, mmmm.. weisswurst for breakfat, mmmm....

Went to the Residenz Museum yesterday and wandered through the rebuilt halls that were destroyed during the war.  Beautiful nonetheless and nice to know that we still have the means to make it "look" real, even if some of it is gold paint and plastic. Swear you could get lost for days in there.

Thanks for the tips everybody.  I will try to make it to the Deutsches Museum and Starnberg.

Sun is shining and I'm off.






 

Munich and red flowers

The girls and I arrived safely in Munich and are staying with my dear friend Laura, a roommate in college and in our early working days in San Francisco.   She lives in a beautiful apartment in city center of Munich, Rosenheimer Platz, just steps from bier gardens, symphonies, and the "S" Bahn (subway).  Her daughters (13 and 10) and my daughters (11 and 9) quickly bonded sharing ex-pat stories of international schooling and  funny YouTube videos.

With no holiday in Germany right now, our hosts have to go to work and school.  We spent our first day in glorious sunshine literally warming our cockles out at Europe's biggest thermal water world -- Therme Erding. What a treat!  We basked in the large mineral pools, rushed down water slides, and enjoyed a day of holiday merrymaking.  My favorite part was the massaging water falls and the hot tin mineral baths. Bravely, Melita even went down the longest water slide.

The girls have been surprised at how many words are similar between German and Norwegian -- like Ananas (pineapple) and schnitzel (ok, that's a stretch). We had ice cream with the flavor "Schmeckerfatz" for kids (it was too funny of a word not to order it and say over and over again ;-).  My favorite Norwegian word in "Havre fras" (oat squares).  But, truth be told, my German is much better than my Norwegian.  The girls were surprised that I could speak German at all.  I can actually understand what people are saying most of the time and the vocabulary is coming back to me.  Norwegian requires my total concentration and it still often baffles me-- the words flow together like a song.

Today we did a little shopping and siteseeing downtown.  The city is beautiful with long avenues for walking only and bustling with pedestrians.  The buildings are gorgeous with red flowers in planters and both gothic and romanesque in architecture.  The prices are also RIGHT!  For the price of one hamburger in Norway, I can get a dinner for four in Germany.  And, of course, a large frothy Munich Weissbier is only a few Euros.  We bought rainboots to bring back home to Norge and Annaliese and I also got our Haarschnitt.

Tomorrow the girls spend time with their Dad in Bavaria and Laura and I will hit the town running -- facials, saunas, cosmos, and catching up with some "girl talk."   I am sporting my new sassy haircut and am ready to relax.

Rain pants and the Arctic Ocean

And so it begins...waking up to darkness and weather that changes on a dime.  "Mom, did you know they have something called "rain pants" here?  My teacher wants us to have them at school."  People in Trondheim look incredulous when I mention that rain pants are in fact NOT part of our normal wardrobe requirements in the states.   When it rains, Americans get a coat and umbrella, maybe some rain boots (or wellies as my British friends call them), and then we run from our cars to our buildings really fast to avoid too much dampness.  We spend the rainy day indoors like any sane human being.   Not Norwegians.  They have a saying "There is no bad weather, just bad clothing." 

I brought three pairs of snow boots and snowpants along with us, feeling highly prepared, with no thought towards rain pants.  My logical brain thought we could just sneak through the rainy "month" as best as we could and then winter will come fast with a quick transition to snow pants.   Alas, I have discovered that my "Minnesota" weather paradigm is all wrong.  Here, you can get rain, hail, snow all mixed in the same day, even in the winter months.  Why?  Well, this is all the result of the Gulf Stream that sweeps up the coast of North America and brings a modicum of warmth to the sun-loving Norwegians -- that is, those who haven't fled to Spain or Florida this month.   Here, we even experience  the residual effects from the recent tropical storms/hurricanes that start their long journey across the equator, up the Eastern seaboard, across the Atlantic and end their journey as rain upon the fjords of Norway.  Your water molecules are my water molecules.  We are all connected.

Part of my sabbatical research has involved redefining the world's ocean basins based on currents and bathymetry -- someone's got to do it -- and I love making maps.  Show of hands, how many of you think living near the Arctic Circle, we experience the Arctic or Atlantic Ocean?  If you lived in Canada or Greenland at 63 deg N, you would  be in icy cold Arctic Ocean waters.  However, in Norway at 63 deg N, we are still in North Atlantic waters.  This figure shows that I could have just hopped in a barrel from Westerly and been transported by the Gulf Stream all the way northeast to the coast of Norway.  Apparently, I follow currents and sea surface temperature.

As I look outside right now, it is snowing rain or raining snow (not sure which).  Certainly our vocabulary needs to be expanded (snain or raisnow).    I can't explain it except that it looks like snow and yet it hits like rain.  All I know is that "I GIVE IN."   When we get back from holiday week in Munich, I will go out and buy us some rain pants.  Helly Hansen and rubber here we come...