Snow

Hello Comrades,

It was pointed out to me that I was waaaay premature in posting that gorgeous photo of the Oslo harbor in clear weather (which, by the way, was not some cheesy photo I snatched from the Web but one my brother took when he was visiting. Not bad for a hack). I felt like I needed to herald spring in some way, have something to look forward to. But now I have officially given up, and resorted to a picture that accurately depicts Oslo in February. Yes, we have daylight until 5 p.m. these days (hooray!) but spring is a long, long way away. In fact, in hasn't stopped snowing for weeks. We had about a foot on the ground in January, and then on a Saturday a couple of weeks ago the skies dumped a meter on us and Oslo, city that claims it never shuts down for snow, was plagued with T bane- and trikk-stoppages and delays and total chaos. They dealt with that, and since then it's just been dumping on us every few days. Yesterday the flakes were so close together it was hard to walk in them. Wasted time putting on eye makeup for my lunchdate with Stine, because it had all washed off by the time I got to my haunt Litteraturhuset. Here's the view from our balcony, yesterday:



Not sure it does the day justice, but trust me when I tell you it was a wall of snow. I took the camera to the Vigelands Park, where I captured a bunch of kids skiing:



...and the poor ducks...

and the Atlas-like guys holding up a big bowl of snow.




So I've had the week off from BVS, and during the week I was informed that Natasha, the teacher I'm covering for, is officially not coming back this year. So I am now more secure in my job, which probably means more responsibility but also more leeway. I'm pleased, of course, and maybe a little apprehensive. I like teaching there, and frankly, for a high school gig I don't think it's too taxing. Norway is sort of uber-civilized about work; a full-time work week is 35 hours, and in a book I'm reading about Norway right now called In Cod We Trust, the author relates a funny anecdote of speaking with a Norwegian about his work. The Norwegian says something to the effect of, "We used to have to work 40 hours a week, but then the government changed it. Thank God! I mean, you don't have any time to see your family when you work that much!" So, at 65% time, I am actually in the classroom only six hours a week, nine hours every fifth week or so. The planning time adds a fair amount to that, but it's doable, definitely doable. At the same time, the communication at the school is really shoddy. Stine keeps me aware of what's going on, but my supervisors never do. Important meeting Monday, apparently, and no one has told me whether or not to attend.

At the risk of incurring the wrath of my mother-in-law Ann Brode, who is worried both Ben and I are doing too much when I'm pregnant, I am actually taking another teaching job. My class at Folkeuniversitet fell through due to low enrollment (phew--I didn't feel like teaching it anyway), and as it happens a woman named Hilary who works for the State Department asked me to help her out with what I think is kind of a cool project. At the risk (lots of risks in this paragraph, hmm) of boring you to tears, here's the deal: Hilary was in conversation with the director of Youth for Understanding, a foreign exchange program. He mentioned that while lots of minority kids in Norway (typically minority kids means immigrant kids) are applying for YFU programs, most of them don't get accepted because their English isn't good enough. So Hilary wants someone to work with a small group of minority high schoolers twice a week, helping them to improve their language skills and indoctrinating them--er, teaching them--about American culture, etc., in hopes that they'll have a better acceptance rate to programs like YFU and AFS. Now, this work is close to my heart. One thing that has been fascinating and difficult about being at a Norwegian high school is looking at the phenomenon of racial mixing and how Norway is dealing with immigration. I don't kid myself that the U.S. is some bastion of racial equity, but Norway is still quite behind. My dark-skinned burka-wearing girls definitely want to work together in my class; my blonde Norwegians do too. I spend a lot of time putting them in groups together. And, as another Fulbrighter who travels around to different schools pointed out to me, she has yet to see a teacher of color in any of the Norwegian schools. The reality is that the face of Norway is really changing--Oslo is, I think, now 25% immigrant, while Norway on the whole is 10% up from 9% last year--and it will soon be the case that "Norwegians" are not all blonde tall Nordics. So. Looking forward to this work, and to developing excellent time management skills as I juggle 5 classes this spring.

What else...well, this week "off" has been packed of course, but it's been a nice week. My dear and insightful friend Katie Williams read my memoir, which is still in the draft stage, and sent it back to me with really helpful comments and suggestions. The best one of all being that she doesn't think it's too far from ready to send to an agent. So I've spent much of this week revising, reshuffling, and preparing the book to go to another reader, Simone, my friend who's living in Mexico these days. I think Simone will be a great second reader. For one thing, she travels a lot. AND she speaks Spanish. So she can correct my mistakes. And third of all she's a great writer.

This vacation week was kicked off by an excellent ski weekend up near Lillehammer. Fulbright paid for everyone and their families to go to a place called Skeikampen for a weekend of skiing, hanging out, and eating too much Norwegian buffet food (all manner of fish, as well as lots of cheese, fruit, salad, and things like ox meatballs). It was wonderful to get away, and I had two of the best cross-country ski days of my life. I am definitely improving. I'm still not very efficient or very graceful or even very fast, but for the first time in my life I can effectively snow plow down a hill without wiping out, and attack a lesser hill with gusto. This may sound like a small victory to you seasoned skiers, but trust me--to me, it's a big deal. Besides, the trails near Skeikampen were just lovely. Here are some pics.





The woman in red is LaReesa, another Fulbrighter who's great, and the woman in the foreground is the aforementioned Hilary from the State Department. Yep, skiing with the boss before she's your boss.

I assume you're all dying to know how pregnancy is going. It's going well. The morning sickness is really and truly over, and my only complaints now are bad digestion and this quasi-painful stretching sensation in the lower abdomen that comes and goes. It feels to me like some days the kid is just hanging out--and then all of a sudden he/she starts to grow like mad for a day or two. When this happens, my appetite is pretty out of control. I feel like I need to pack myself with calories, protein; yesterday I ate two eggs for breakfast with gluten-free toast and a banana and then before I went to meet Stine I had two more pieces of toast and some juice and then I ate a big plate of salmon and sour cream and pickled beets (v. Norwegian) with a big salad and then I came home and, well, this is embarrassing--I drank a big glass of coconut milk. Then I ate some chocolate. We had sushi at Thor's last night, and I must have had at least three rolls' worth, and then when we got home I decided I needed a bowl of rice and vegetables and some tahini and then before bed I had four more pieces of toast. Ben really got a kick out of this "monologue" I shared with him last night circa 11:00: "Benj, he's like really stretching in there. Stretching and demanding more toast!" Then: "But if I eat this toast I won't have anything left for breakfast!" (Last slices in the pack. I ate the toast. The kid was sated until this morning, when I made us an epic breakfast.)

I will end with the recipe for said breakfast; I love blogs that have recipes in them!

Susie and Ben's High-Cholesterol But Delicious Last-Day of Vacation Breakfast
2 cups spinach
Leftover mashed potatoes, preferably well-seasoned ones with green onions in them
Four eggs (preferably organic)
Hollandaise sauce (from a package if you have it on hand, from scratch if you're fancy)
generous oil

Make hollandaise.
Rinse spinach and steam it in its water for a couple of minutes until wilted. Set aside.
Form potatoes into four patties, season as needed, and fry them on both sides until golden-brown and crispy and perfect. Put two on each plate.
Quickly fry the eggs how you like them.
Layer steamed spinach on top of potato patties, lay a fried egg on each, and top with hollandaise. Serve with tabasco, tea, juice, and, if you want to add insult to injury, slices of avocado.

Voila! What can I say, I'm expected to gain four pounds a month in this second trimester. I'd hate to disappoint.

Love to you all, and thanks for hanging through what is kind of a long blog entry,

Susie