David had driven the suitcases down to school and then returned with the car. I was madly trying to get the dishes done, so we didn't have to come back to them. We washed and hung up our sheets and blankets, we turned down the heat, we gave our landlords the poinsettia and the car key, we locked the door and hurried to the school.
We arrived at school in plenty of time (at least 10 minutes before the bus) and dragged all of our stuff out to the side of the road where the bus comes. Everything went smoothly from there. We piled into the first bus, transferred to the second in Åmot, and arrived with everything in the Oslo bus station five hours later. After a quick meal at a rather good (especially for mall food) Italian restaurant, we trudged down to the subway and headed out toward Alix Cordray's.
Alix met us at the subway station and we filled her car with what we considered to be packing light. She showed us around her cool old house and whipped up a little apple cobbler. We helped her finish off one of those pesky boxes of ice cream that seem to keep cropping up. After dessert, we tried playing some tunes together. Whether it was due to exhaustion or unfamiliarity, we didn't manage to come up with a very large common repertoire. By then it was late enough for us to go to sleep and Alix to get back to work. In the morning, she very kindly drove us to the bus stop where we boarded the airport bus and successfully arrived at Gardermoen with plenty of time to spare.
We checked in our luggage and went through security. David bought a few books for the trip. We found our gate and set up camp (fiddles, backpacks, and coats). As it was lunchtime, we treated ourselves to hot dogs and soda. I also purchased a couple of sandwiches for the flight. Finally, we got to board the plane.
Flying IcelandAir was a very pleasant experience. The seats were hard and we had to buy our own meals, but the in-flight entertainment included plenty of watchable movies and I had packed some serious snack food (the aforementioned sandwiches were supplemented with bread and roastbeef, boiled eggs, plus chips and a small meal we purchased in the air). The layover in Iceland was pleasant and short. There was some drama when the guy boarding the plane right before us fell on the escalator, but fortunately that was the most drama we had on the whole flight.
I have to say, I highly recommend IcelandAir. They fly direct to Seattle from Iceland. They cost less than pretty much any other carrier, at least the single stop carriers. Best of all, the total travel time is the shortest! Of course, they offer the possibility to spend a few days in Iceland at no extra ticket cost, which seems like an excellent deal and something to do in the future.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Destination: Seattle! Pre-Departure
In mid-December, David and I packed our suitcases, cleaned as much of the apartment as we could, and raced to the bus stop. We were on our way to Seattle and I was really excited. Life is great in Rauland, but nothing beats Seattle!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Concert Reviews
In Rauland we are home to one of the most active Folkemusikkscener (Folk Music Stages). This fall we have been more active than ever before and we have managed to have a concert almost every other week.
The school year started off with a concert by Ragnhild Furholt and Leiv Solberg. Their stage presence is highly entertaining, especially when joined by Ånon Egeland with a poly-rhythmic percussion solo played on the back of a ukulele. All three are instructors at the school and excellent musicians.
The following concert was the Fliflet/Hamre Kraftforening (Energy Association). These two play wild music on accordion and percussion with inspiration from modern and popular music to Norwegian and Hungarian folk. After the concert they explained to us some of their philosophies about playing music. Their goal is to be the host at a party with the audience as their guests; they hope to get us to laugh, relax, and have a good time while listening to them tell stories and play music.
Following Fliflet/Hamre was the moving music of Nils Økland. I wrote about his concert earlier, but I am still impressed by the music he created. It was soft and gentle and permeated the room; when it's empty, I think the walls probably play back his concert.
Moving right along, we were next treated to Kim Andre Rysstad, Lajla Renate Buer Storli, and Jon Ole Morken. They played from all three of their traditions (Setesdal, Hardanger, and Røros). They played solos, duets, and as a trio giving a varied texture to an excellent concert.
In the eyes of the traditionalists, nothing beats a concert of solo hardingfele. The house was packed two weeks ago when Valdres native Jan Beitohaugen Granli sailed in from a seminar in Oslo to share tunes and stories with us. The five time Landskappleiken winner kept us on the edge of our seats for nearly and hour. He entertained us with funny anecdotes about the music, instruments, and history and commanded our attention with his technical and musical expertise. Anyone who enjoys Valdres tunes or solo hardingfele should get a copy of his CD. To those on the fence about the potential for beauty in solo hardingfele, I also recommend giving his CD a listen.
Last night we took a tour to the land of springleik (or sprenglek). Going by the name Duo, Erlend Viken from Oppdal and Aslak Brimi from Lom are a powerful pair. The blend simple but elegant harmonies with phenomenal melodies (both well known and new) and impeccable dance pulse. Rivaling Jan Beitohaugen, their stories were personal and got us to laugh. As I listen to their CD now, I hope that everyone gets a chance to hear these two.
The school year started off with a concert by Ragnhild Furholt and Leiv Solberg. Their stage presence is highly entertaining, especially when joined by Ånon Egeland with a poly-rhythmic percussion solo played on the back of a ukulele. All three are instructors at the school and excellent musicians.
The following concert was the Fliflet/Hamre Kraftforening (Energy Association). These two play wild music on accordion and percussion with inspiration from modern and popular music to Norwegian and Hungarian folk. After the concert they explained to us some of their philosophies about playing music. Their goal is to be the host at a party with the audience as their guests; they hope to get us to laugh, relax, and have a good time while listening to them tell stories and play music.
Following Fliflet/Hamre was the moving music of Nils Økland. I wrote about his concert earlier, but I am still impressed by the music he created. It was soft and gentle and permeated the room; when it's empty, I think the walls probably play back his concert.
Moving right along, we were next treated to Kim Andre Rysstad, Lajla Renate Buer Storli, and Jon Ole Morken. They played from all three of their traditions (Setesdal, Hardanger, and Røros). They played solos, duets, and as a trio giving a varied texture to an excellent concert.
In the eyes of the traditionalists, nothing beats a concert of solo hardingfele. The house was packed two weeks ago when Valdres native Jan Beitohaugen Granli sailed in from a seminar in Oslo to share tunes and stories with us. The five time Landskappleiken winner kept us on the edge of our seats for nearly and hour. He entertained us with funny anecdotes about the music, instruments, and history and commanded our attention with his technical and musical expertise. Anyone who enjoys Valdres tunes or solo hardingfele should get a copy of his CD. To those on the fence about the potential for beauty in solo hardingfele, I also recommend giving his CD a listen.
Last night we took a tour to the land of springleik (or sprenglek). Going by the name Duo, Erlend Viken from Oppdal and Aslak Brimi from Lom are a powerful pair. The blend simple but elegant harmonies with phenomenal melodies (both well known and new) and impeccable dance pulse. Rivaling Jan Beitohaugen, their stories were personal and got us to laugh. As I listen to their CD now, I hope that everyone gets a chance to hear these two.
Kitchen activities
David is an excellent baker. Mostly he bakes bread, but sometimes we get carried away and make cakes and muffins. I have contributed (thanks to a shipment from Mom) to the baking of corn bread and corn bread muffins. Tonight I'm planning to try out chocoloate creamcheese muffins. Yum!
We have also experimented with sour dough. After a few false starts (involving a fair amount of mold) we got our culture in high gear. We made several loaves of rye sour dough bread and rye sour dough rolls before we moved on to wheat sour dough bread. That was good! It was an excellent compliment to either turkey or cream cheese with tomato slices and (home-grown) alfalfa sprouts.
I have made a large number of dinners that stretch to lunch for several days. After about a month of various combinations of canned corn, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and ground beef, I moved on to more interesting food. We've have been eating pan-fried salmon, totally awesome orange chicken, various stir fry dishes, quiche, and last night was avgolimono soup.
Since we are both coffee connoisseurs, we made the decision at the beginning of the year (really over the summer) to grind our own beans. This takes time, but our coffee is definitely worth drinking, compared to pretty much everything else. Recently we received an order of loose-leaf tea and have been happily enjoying having options that suit all our warm beverage needs.
These culinary delights have led to a huge pile of dishes. Both of us are generally uninterested in washing them, so they stack up until we can't avoid them any longer. Our plan is to acquire a used dishwasher after the holidays to save us time and stress. I can't wait!
We have also experimented with sour dough. After a few false starts (involving a fair amount of mold) we got our culture in high gear. We made several loaves of rye sour dough bread and rye sour dough rolls before we moved on to wheat sour dough bread. That was good! It was an excellent compliment to either turkey or cream cheese with tomato slices and (home-grown) alfalfa sprouts.
I have made a large number of dinners that stretch to lunch for several days. After about a month of various combinations of canned corn, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and ground beef, I moved on to more interesting food. We've have been eating pan-fried salmon, totally awesome orange chicken, various stir fry dishes, quiche, and last night was avgolimono soup.
Since we are both coffee connoisseurs, we made the decision at the beginning of the year (really over the summer) to grind our own beans. This takes time, but our coffee is definitely worth drinking, compared to pretty much everything else. Recently we received an order of loose-leaf tea and have been happily enjoying having options that suit all our warm beverage needs.
These culinary delights have led to a huge pile of dishes. Both of us are generally uninterested in washing them, so they stack up until we can't avoid them any longer. Our plan is to acquire a used dishwasher after the holidays to save us time and stress. I can't wait!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Work
I continue with my daily assignment at the Dentists' office. I wash the counters and floors, while David (my chauffeur) sits in the lobby and reads Science Illustrated. Occasionally I work a few hours at the Academy.
Things have started to pick up again at the hotel. I am one of two employees from last year that have stayed on in the restaurant. This makes for lots of training of new people and hoping that they stay more than one shift. This past Saturday, I working in the restaurant for three hours and then went downstairs and was the bartender for the next five hours. It was the first time I have been a bartender for a whole night and it went reasonable well. That is except for being completely exhausted on Sunday.
I'm off to the dentists' office now, future updates will include health, weather, and school!
Things have started to pick up again at the hotel. I am one of two employees from last year that have stayed on in the restaurant. This makes for lots of training of new people and hoping that they stay more than one shift. This past Saturday, I working in the restaurant for three hours and then went downstairs and was the bartender for the next five hours. It was the first time I have been a bartender for a whole night and it went reasonable well. That is except for being completely exhausted on Sunday.
I'm off to the dentists' office now, future updates will include health, weather, and school!
Sweden in the fall
For our fall vacation, we headed to Sweden. This started and ended with late night bus/train trips. On the way to Sweden, we got a ride to Åmot at 2:30am, took the bus to Oslo and the train to Uppsala. On the way back, we took the afternoon train (filled with drunk Korean businessmen) to Oslo, the night bus to Åmot, and shared a taxi home with 5 other tired students.
We spent most of our week off hanging out in Uppsala. David's brother is spending a year in Australia, so this was our last chance to see him for a while. We also got haircuts; mine is shorter, but not short and David's is definitely short. We visited the yarn store and coffee shops and an electronics store. We made a brief appearance at IKEA. We watched TV and movies. I got a new backpack (at a really good price) and David found new boots to replace the pair that disappeared from school last spring.
While in Uppsala, I got confirmation from the UW that we could take our December exam at the Scandinavian Dept. This lead to me purchasing our tickets back to Seattle for a rockin' good price on IcelandAir. We will be in Seattle from December 12th to January 10th, playing at both the third and first Friday dances while we are there! Whoohoo! I'm really looking forward to this trip home!
After a week relaxing with David's family, we packed our things and headed to the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. This year's highlights included a workshop in Polsdans fra Finnskogen and a partner to take it with (yay David!), meeting up with Irene, and lots of good concerts, notably Ralf Novak-Rosengren who is really worth checking out on YouTube.
David and I had decided to stay in a hotel after our less than pleasant experience sleeping on the floor in Geilo. The hotel was as nice as I remembered it being - nothing beats a hotel breakfast while you're at a festival. The only downside was that the room we got was only sort-of a double room. There was one single bed and a hide-a-bed. We opted for sharing the (very comfortable) single bed. It was not exactly spacious, but we could have been on a classroom floor.
We spent most of our week off hanging out in Uppsala. David's brother is spending a year in Australia, so this was our last chance to see him for a while. We also got haircuts; mine is shorter, but not short and David's is definitely short. We visited the yarn store and coffee shops and an electronics store. We made a brief appearance at IKEA. We watched TV and movies. I got a new backpack (at a really good price) and David found new boots to replace the pair that disappeared from school last spring.
While in Uppsala, I got confirmation from the UW that we could take our December exam at the Scandinavian Dept. This lead to me purchasing our tickets back to Seattle for a rockin' good price on IcelandAir. We will be in Seattle from December 12th to January 10th, playing at both the third and first Friday dances while we are there! Whoohoo! I'm really looking forward to this trip home!
After a week relaxing with David's family, we packed our things and headed to the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. This year's highlights included a workshop in Polsdans fra Finnskogen and a partner to take it with (yay David!), meeting up with Irene, and lots of good concerts, notably Ralf Novak-Rosengren who is really worth checking out on YouTube.
David and I had decided to stay in a hotel after our less than pleasant experience sleeping on the floor in Geilo. The hotel was as nice as I remembered it being - nothing beats a hotel breakfast while you're at a festival. The only downside was that the room we got was only sort-of a double room. There was one single bed and a hide-a-bed. We opted for sharing the (very comfortable) single bed. It was not exactly spacious, but we could have been on a classroom floor.
What happened to October?
Lots happened in October! Hopefully I will have time to write about it before too much of November slips away. I'm going to try to go with a thematic approach, rather than chronological, to see if that speeds up my output.
Starting with our last theme - the car. We waited with baited breath for the first three weeks of October to get a call from the guy in Rjukan saying he'd fixed the breaks and we could come pick it up. Eventually we gave in and David called him. Sadly, he reported the news to me that the guy was not going to fix the brakes. We opted out of buying it cheaply and fixing the brakes ourselves.
We continue to share a car with Sarah. This is working out much better than it did in the beginning, although it has some drawbacks. Mostly the car is too small to cram in four people plus instruments, so we will need to find another solution in February when our class goes on tour. As of the beginning of this month, Sarah does not have a valid driver's license in Norway; while she's working on that we get the car. We (that is David) also get to drive her places when she needs a ride. While not convenient, it's not nearly as inconvenient as it sounds.
Starting with our last theme - the car. We waited with baited breath for the first three weeks of October to get a call from the guy in Rjukan saying he'd fixed the breaks and we could come pick it up. Eventually we gave in and David called him. Sadly, he reported the news to me that the guy was not going to fix the brakes. We opted out of buying it cheaply and fixing the brakes ourselves.
We continue to share a car with Sarah. This is working out much better than it did in the beginning, although it has some drawbacks. Mostly the car is too small to cram in four people plus instruments, so we will need to find another solution in February when our class goes on tour. As of the beginning of this month, Sarah does not have a valid driver's license in Norway; while she's working on that we get the car. We (that is David) also get to drive her places when she needs a ride. While not convenient, it's not nearly as inconvenient as it sounds.
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