Growing on the Dark Side

Yesterday I saw coral reefs. Not in the sweltering tropics, but in my very own backyard of Trondheim fjord.  They are cold corals that grow in the dark cold waters of the fjord.  In fact, I believe cold corals were first described here in Norway back in the 1700's by Gunnerus a Norwegian compatriot of the botanist  Linnaeus.  The ones growing in Trondheim fjord are the shallowest coral reefs in the world growing at 40 m depth.   The most common species Lophelia is mostly white, but then occasionally it has a bright orange hue.  No one really knows why or when they produce the orange pigment.  Growing amidst the corals are white sponges (lower right) that apparently have a special mechanism to clean themselves -- even when found near tar and oil.  No one know how either, but I'd like to patent it.  I could use a self-cleaning house.

We put in a remotely operated vehicle with lots of sensors, videos, and cameras and had the underwater "robots" pilot themselves dynamically along transects of the seafloor.  As part of my project, I am helping Geir and his students with techniques for optical image analysis.   We got to watch the underwater footage live on the screen in the main galley.

So, why do cold corals live here?  They thrive in the cold high flow seawater of the fjord. By the way, fjords  are created by glacier erosion and have steep sides protruding into the water and a shallow sil or threshold to the open sea.  While certainly not as delicious as the food I got onboard the ship today (salmon, apple crisp...mmmm thanks chef), corals are animals that actively feed on plankton and particles they catch with extended tentacles.   If you want to know more about cold corals, check out Sir David Attenborough and his website  http://www.lophelia.org/corals/video-introduction. 

I end with an image of my host Geir Johnsen, faculty NTNU, and myself on the deck of the ship.  Some of us are also exploring the dark side :)

Have It Norsk-style

I admit to being linguistically challenged.  I speak some Danish, but Norwegian has been very hard for me to conquer.  I understand much of it, except the jokes and when discussions turn to subjects such as filtration rigs at work.   I should probably have taken lessons on pronunciation right away, but now it seems beyond the point. When I try to speak Norwegian, it sounds kind of Danish and not nearly as melodic as it should, and I get lots of blank looks.  I end up just repeating it in English which nearly everybody understands immediately.   Most of the Norwegians I know seem to speak English pretty well -- and I mean American English and not the British kind. Ok, they still use "trapezium" for "trapezoid," but their diction and sentence structure seems to be more American in flavor (or should I say flava).

Ode to the friendship bracelet

Much of the television here is from America including the latest hits (American Idol, How I Met Your Mother), repeats of some of our favorite Gilmore Girls, and even occasionally old episodes of MacGyver and Magnum PI all complete with Norwegian subtitles.  The culture doesn't seem to like dubbing and economically it would be expensive to do for all shows in such a small country.  Only the children's programming seems to be dubbed into Norwegian.  The upside for me is that the Norwegian Disney channel is unwatchable for the girls with funny Norwegian accents coming out of their favorite "stars."  What a blessing to experience a whole year without Zack and Cody and Miley. 

There are actually two official forms of Norwegian language:  bokmål (a derivation from Danish and the Danish rule of Norway from 1396 to 1814) and nynorsk. However, it seems like everyone has some special dialect from their own region of Norway that sounds unique to me. 

Goodbye is "Ha det" throughout Norway though.  It is a version of "Have it good (Ha det bra)" shortened to just "have it."  It's nice to tell someone to "have it" when you part.  It's kind reminds me of the Latin "Carpe diem" -- seize the day.   "Have it", dude.

The girls are learning Norwegian in school and Melita, in particular, seems very fond of the language.   Here is a sound clip of Melita reading her Norwegian lesson. You can really get a flavor for the unique beauty of the language.
https://www.box.com/s/61ee8bb16e38c0002996

Annaliese is a bit more reserved about speaking the language, but she has been verbal in other ways.  She learned to type properly in school and has been coming up with lists of words that she can type all with the left or right hand.  She found over 140 words that can be typed only with the left hand -- the longest being "aggravated." 

In the same spirit (we are related after all), I came up with the following poem with some help from Anne last week.  I wish I could say we had had one too many beers when we wrote this one, but sadly no.   I recommend any underage readers close your ears tightly at this point and apologies upfront.

 

Ode to the right hand.

I'll join him upon my pink plump hill.

I'll link him in my oily lip.

I'll lull him on my yolky boil
My only milky hump

If any of you feel inspired, come up with some "handed" poems and send them my way.  We could start a revolution.  "Ha det."

Survived another birthday season

In our house, mid-March to mid-April is birthday month.  We seem to have little girls underfoot the entire month -- lots of giggling, sweets, and festivities.  This year we also had a slew of visitors to join in our celebrations.  After Colleen, my friends Rebekah and Tai came out from California for Easter and then our neighbor Anne from Rhode Island. I'm not sure which group got the more authentic experience -- the snow or the sunshine -- but I can say that having blue skies and long days has dramatically improved all moods. 

While spring is in the air, I still have to make sure the girls don't escape the house wearing flip-flops in 0 degree weather.  However, I can happily report that Annaliese and my feet are ready for flip-flop action after hundreds of small fishies nibbled on our toes in a mother-daughter pedicure for her birthday.  I was very proud of the way Annaliese bravely plunged her foot into a vat of hungry fish.  She's like a "fish whisperer".  After a long Trondheim winter in heavy boots and socks, we had lots of rough patches to keep the little fishies busy.  

Annaliese's birthday pedicure



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Speaking of dead skin, we also had a Crazy Dinner birthday bash for Annaliese and 13 of her classmates.  The reason I say "dead skin" because this was the secret code for the grated parmesan cheese at the dinner.  Anne and I drummed up many other clever ones including "savory eyeballs" for meatballs and "curdled scream" for butter...However, I think the best part was the amuse-bouche consisting of candies like fishy sweets, blood red sweets, garlic sweets, and more deliciousness.  A selection of birthday photos, mostly taken by Anne below.   It takes a village and my friend Siv helped out with the party, as well as older sister Melita.  Thanks everybody!



Anne teaches how ot make friendship bracelets

Well it is late and I may need a bit of rest now after all of the partying. I proudly note that we have gotten nearly every house guest out on skis who has come to visit!  Really, there's nothing better than some fresh snow and tracks, even if it does happen in April.   As they say, when in Rome.




With Rebkeah and Tai in our Bymarka backyard a week ago. 



Snow Falling on Bunnies

Yes it is Easter week in Norway.   All of the shops are closed Thurs (today), Friday, Sunday and Monday.  There will be a brief interlude on Sat. where we can run to the shops for some dishwashing powder and other last minute items before everything is "stengt" again.  While you can't buy any food or clothing or go to restaurants, Statoil will be open for all of our fueling needs.  And, importantly, I can refill on espresso or cocoa for free with my 2012 Statoil cup.  I will also be on hand to feed any foreigners who missed the "everything is closed" memo and are slated to starve this week or exist solely on oil and coffee.

The snow is falling and the girls, friend Natalie, and Colleen made a snow'bunny'man to celebrate.   We are also just back from a lovely trip to Åre, Sweden where we all skied cross country (even Colleen had her first try EVER!! -- see video) and did assorted resort activities including pool, sauna, mini-golf, read the Hunger Games out loud, and played lots of games of 'Oh Heck.'   Melita and I did a great day of downhill skiing too, while Annaliese shocked herself in the traditional "ice" bath in the sauna with Grandma.  

The resort town of Are is about 2.5 hour drive east into the continental highlands of Sweden and many make the drive just for the cheaper shopping at the supermarket.   However, it is very quaint and set right on a mountain slope at the base of a large lake.



View from our hotel window of the ski mountain



Also, listen carefully to the following clip where Melita and I heard lots of wolves howling in the woods (or maybe just a pack of excited dogs).  Dog sledding is pretty popular in this part of the country and Annaliese even had a school trip where she got to mush her own team of pups.  They were learning about the Sami people in northern Norway who have a language rich in words describing weather, nature, and reindeer copulation.   They also reportedly have over 100 words for snow.   I think the translators were duped and these are not really words for snow but just words for the days of the year (since it apparently snows every day of the year). 

  

Finally we end with some shots of our lovely walk through Bymarka park all the way to Lian.  Celebrating Easter with 4 feet of snow on the ground is a new experience for us.  Maybe the girls will come up with a word, like the Sami people, that could encompass their profound thoughts on the snow falling such as "this sucks" and "I would rather it rain" and "spring is for flowers."  

E) All of the Above

On my drive to work today, I encountered horizontally blowing snow up in Sverresborg where we live, then rain as I headed down the hill, and then hail as I made my way to the marine station.  This occurred all in the span of 5 min. on the road.  The weather forecasters must have a special forecast here called "E) all of the above."  Actually, today was a half sun/cloud day in the local forecast (yr.no) because at some point the sun was expected to peak out.  Mr. Sun did in fact show his lovely visage for moments between the rain/snow/hail and we had yummy cupcakes downtown. 

I've shown you lots of pictures from the hills around town, but today I wanted to share some from a particularly lovely day we had last month.  These are what I like to think of as "album cover shots" for Annaliese -- should she ever decide to become a rock musician.   This is lovely Trondheim -- Norway's third largest city (population ~180,000+3 blonde, crazy Americans) as it should be seen more often.  Yes, I offer  this to the weather gods in hopes that the future holds more album cover days. 

We went up in the tower on the right today, great view, and felt a little seasick as it slowly rotated

Please God Make it Stop

I started to snap last thursday at work.  Normally, the glass half full gal, the one who always finds a silver lining, the one who "likes" winter snow, actually sunk into despair.  My colleagues were alarmed.  The optimist has cracked.  No, no, no...  no more rain, please. 

For those of you who don't tune into Trondheim weather regularly, we have had so much rain that the girls and I are starting to mildew.  Yes, it is true.  Everything is damp.  Everything is gray.  When it isn't directly raining, the air is a constant mist of rain.   The statistics for March are not in yet, but the average precipitation in Feb. is normally 50 mm and we got 130 mm!  March is going to be way higher.  The unseasonably warm temperature, and combined rain and snow melt has increased water levels in rivers and stream to levels flood levels.  They project that this could be the worst flooding in 50 years.   At least the words in Norwegian sound better than English, "Flomtoppen" means flood peak and it sounds like a yummy dessert icing.

Record flooding is a serious deja vous of Rhode Island a few years back, but fortunately the power stations don't seem to be built on the banks of major rivers here and I'm hoping to get through this one without resorting to a camping stove.   You would think I am a magnet for floods or something.  What next locust?  But, climate change models suggest that wet areas will get wetter and dry areas drier.  So, people of Trondheim do not blame me personally for your troubles.  However, I'm fine with you blaming the american populace, their gas guzzling SUVs and carbon intensive lifestyle.

But seriously, this drizzle lifestyle sucks.  To make matters worse, the forecast continues for the next foreseeable future.  Here is the next week in my piece of paradise:

 The girls grandmother Colleen is visiting now (yeah!) and I sincerely hope we get to show her some of the beauty here without drizzle.  I hope the gray turns to blue.  I hope my drains start draining again.  I hope the heavens stop weeping on us.  I promise to be nicer, kinder, better in every way, just make it stop already.

Equality and Air Brushing

If Americans defend the concept of "Freedom" above all, then Norwegians defend the concept of "Equality."   I suppose it is difficult to define what "equality" means exactly, but the idea is to minimize the difference between the 'haves' and 'have nots', to make sure that everyone has a good education, decent working wages, healthcare, and in american suburban terms "a wife, dog and 2.2 blonde children."    

This idea permeates in the schools where all children have the same education system regardless of the neighborhood (unlike the U.S. where more income means more money for schools).  It translates to teaching where the culture strives to empower all children and does not single out students for special awards based on academic achievement. 

Children do start to get graded until Year 9, which is the point when schooling apparently starts to get hard and every grade counts for admission to the higher academics.  There is no grading "warm up" or trial run, although I'm told you can translate the smile on the happy face drawn on your assignments prior to Year 9 into a loose grading system.  The Norwegian emoticon grading system where ;-) means an A, :-) means a B, etc...

All children must also take the same Norwegian curriculum through Year 11 which includes courses in religion, music, and gym.   Your performance in music and gym are judged equally with other subjects like math and science.  "I'm sorry you can't get into Harvard, because you sing off pitch and your skiing is too slow."

I'm told the idea of equality permeates to the college level where students try not to really stand out in any one thing or to outperform the others.  My daughter Melita is a natural for this type of society, since she doesn't like to be singled out for anything and never wants anyone to feel bad if she passes them on swim team or whatever.  Maybe equality is hard-wired in the Scandinavian brain, but I think not.  Damn it, I like to win.  I like the feel of blue ribbons and trophies...oooohhhh... (although not as much as my oldest sister who is pathological about winning games :-)

The Norwegian idea of equality is so high here that they have an official Director of Equality, actually to be specific, the Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion.  Ironically, he looks like a Norwegian version of my young nephew Max (see below) and isn't exactly the emblem of social inclusion that I would naturally pick for this position (the 'pale male syndrome' is pretty prevalent here).

The Equality Minister's latest campaign is to put warning labels on images of airbrushed supermodels. “This advertisement has been altered and presents an inaccurate image of how this model really looks.”  I'm sure my nephew would also present such important legislation for equality and do all the necessary research involved in putting forth this bill.  We can all agree that our children must be protected at all costs and supermodels should be fleshy.

But on to serious matters, Norway is also in the news for introducing laws to break the glass ceiling for females in the boardroom and even in academic institutions-- although good things but hard to legislate with quotas.   This has led to such headlines as "In Norway, a woman's place is in the boardroom."  Right on sisters!   Sign me up, if I get to serve with the Equality Minister.  I promise I won't air brush.