catching up
sorry for the absence. i know everyone missed my writing with bad grammar, poor punctuation and lack of capital letters. but i’m back now. i’ll attempt to pick up where i left off.
my last post concerned me getting stuck in oslo, norway with a busted airplane. that was fine, we got to tour oslo a little and sample some of the 14 dollar (US) beers. it was delicious but yikes. we sampled some of the local fare which was quite delicious also. i couldn’t resist what i ordered, it was called “norwegian meat” plate or platter. the next question was, “one piece of ‘meat’ or two”? as a general rule with mystery meat in foreign lands, go big… so… two please. my colleague ordered the “whale meat” plate. we were both very curious about what was going to show up when you order whale meat but alas, they were fresh out of the whale. must be a popular item. durn. my food:
norwegian meat plate
the brown item in the foreground with the onions on it is the meat. i’m pretty sure it was hamburger with brown gravy. kind of like a salisbury steak i guess. it was good though. after the food we did a little more walking. there are a couple of actual ski-jumps in oslo, a lot of government buildings, a few palaces, a big train station and a really cool opera house. the opera house is designed so that you can walk all over it. and i mean literally over it, the sides are ramps which lead you to the top. we didn’t actually go in the opera house but we did wander on it. pretty neat.
unfortunately, our hotel was out by the airport which was a 45 minute bus ride away. so, after food and touring it was back on the bus. our plane got fixed the following day and we were tasked with taking it to barcelona to put it back in service. we did so and then were released to go home. it was a good trip.
broken in norway
i know it’s been a while since my last update. it’s not intentional, just had some things going on.
the least exciting thing that happened to me was a nice, fat european cold. it plugged up my sinuses real good. picked that thing up while finishing a trip (thankfully not in the middle of it) and it hung around for a good 10-11 days. so that interfered with a lot, including some really nice weather when i would much rather have been drinking beer in a garden somewhere. hopefully that fills my quota of colds for the next several months.
beyond that, as Allison mentioned, we got all moved in to our new place. it’s pretty awesome. a huge park right out the front door, great food and drink very close by and a nice yard in back that every once in a while makes a nice dog track. it’s so nice to be able to let our two pooches run to their heart’s content unencumbered by leashes. naturally, kaya feasts on whatever nasty thing happens to be on the ground while we’re back there. we’re not really sure what it is she eats back there but my guess is mouse poop. the area around us is kind of lousy with mice. thankfully the mice haven’t shown up inside, probably due to the german insistence on having an air-tight living space. maybe the mice are the reason for that, or at least part of it. whatever, hopefully kaya gets tired of eating whatever that stuff is cause i’m pretty sure it’s gross.
our place is great though, 1.5 baths, 2 bedrooms, sweet kitchen (with a quiet dishwasher) and a pretty massive living / dining room area that overlooks the park. it was a little more expensive than some other places but still well within our budget. i’m glad we happened upon it with a little help from a co-worker. thanks tricia and andrew.
the work side of things is going well. i’m starting to feel a little more at home with my new company and equipment. the plane is forgiving and thankfully so are the other pilots. although, we did manage to break something on our way into norway this morning. well, we didn’t really break it, it just broke on its own. it’s a valve between the engine and the wing that is pretty important and not readily available. and now we have a little time to sit and contemplate the norwegian way. first lesson in norway is: expensive. train to downtown? 32 bucks please (USD). one way. beer in the hotel bar? 15 dollars (again USD). but the folks are friendly and courteous and i get the impression they speak english better than me (i?). they probably at least use capital letters when typing. weirdos. this trip has involved some interesting body clock adjustments too. first night starts at 1am and ends at 8am. sleep the day away then turn around and end about 1am. 24 hours later, start again, end at 8am and repeat. oddly enough, sleep and fatigue haven’t been a problem. i am apparently blessed with my dad’s natural gift of sleep. thank you dad. the best part is, when we finish at 1 or 2 or 3 in the morning and i make it to the hotel bed, i feel perfectly justified in sleeping till noon or whenever. i’m recovering. that justification makes for a nice, squishy pillow. the only time that gets jacked up is when there is a delicious free breakfast in the morning. sleep is important, but that breakfast buffet has an expiration time to it. my bed will still be waiting when i get back.
hopefully we aren’t staying in norway too long, it’s nice but there are many things to do at home. like buy and install light fixtures. that’s another german apartment-ism that i can’t remember if i addressed before. the previous tenant moved in and installed their own light fixtures and when they left, they took them. perfectly normal around here. so now we have loose, live wires exposed on the ceiling in various places throughout the apartment. the ceilings are high though so not to worry.
all for now.
A European Adventure 