Moved-in

There's nothing quite like the 'in-laws' coming to visit for motivation to get the apartment in order. Even more so when they call to say their road trip is ahead of schedule and they'll be arriving a full 24 hours before expected! So, after a super initiative between Rolf and I, the boxes are unpacked and disposed of, the floors are cleaned, shelves organized, and apartment is overall quite livable. Granted, we didn't have time to wash the windows, but since it could be a while before we're this organized again, I decided to retake photos of the apartment.

entry area

view from front door

living room #1 (room naming suggestions welcome!)

living room #1 - wall we use as a projector screen

view from kitchen

kitchen, we still have to tile the backsplash

kitchen

kitchen

living #2, or "pink tile room," or "hammock room" - will be reconfigured for 'coziness' in the winter

wide hallway? this will become more desk space when the pink tile room is reconfigured :)

bedroom

window from bedroom

..and finally, where I'm sitting right now (in the wide hallway off the pink tile room), this will be updated a bit after summer!

 Happy 4th to folks back in the US, good summer to everyone! :)

Our first harvest... Jerusalem Artichokes

We haven't had our garden parcel for very long, but last night we dug up a bunch of Jerusalem Artichokes - which we've inherited from whoever abandoned the parcel over a year ago. It's a nice way to start out the gardening experience - with produce!

I think I had heard the name of this root vegetable before, but I had never tried Jerusalem Artichokes before coming to Norway. It turns out that they are native here, and considered an invasive species in much of the world, but making a bit of a comeback as a food staple. Jerusalem Artichokes were what Norwegians lived off of before the potato - which is pretty incredible to think that the potato is not native here when plays such a big role in the local diet.

I am a big fan of these guys - they're tastier and somewhat healthier than potatoes, and it turns out that they basically grow on their own. No worries about pests or watering or wintering here. We brought this small pile home with us to cook up as home-fries this morning, planted at least as many and gave another pile to a garden neighbor. And that isn't the end of them - we actually haven't gotten down much finesse with the harvesting procedure so are certain to have missed a ton of them which I'm sure will pop up erratically through the year, outside of the neat rows we attempted to lay.

When digging, they are completely covered and hidden by the soil, so our method was to 'harvest' all the ones that the shovel happened to slice through - because then you notice the bright white interior. These have survived at least one winter in the earth and didn't rot.. It will be interesting to see how many we get next year!

Our next apartment and its oddities...

Living in rental apartments has it's pluses and minuses, but at some point there comes a bit of a temptation to have a place that you can actually alter - find projects in and make the place your own. Rolf and I have found what we hope will be the best of both worlds - we're renting an apartment with a bit of (slightly eccentric) soul, but more importantly with owners who are willing to support us in bettering the place!

So, I picked up the keys today and spent a couple hours looking around at the details, photographing, thinking about how we can make the place ours. Some of the details there now are great, others less so. I don't have any answers yet -- the apartment itself has really evolved over time (the building dates to around 1850!), and I think the best we can do is to continue that evolution, slowly over time. Of course, there are a couple of things that I am itching to rebuild/replace right away, but we'll see how it works out. We move officially on Sunday and I imagine it will take a few weeks of arranging, selective shopping and installations before we feel settled in. But for now, a few 'before Rolf & Melissa' pictures of the place - (apologies in advance for soft blurriness - I didn't realize my camera was set to manual focus for half of the shooting! ..and just maybe I should be wearing my glasses more often than I do.)

The apartment is really big for us - entry, 2 living rooms, kitchen, bed, bath, and this dining room.

This half of the kitchen is not particularly Rolf-friendly.

I can't decide if this room wants to be a living room or a dance lounge.

This 'hall' space off living room 2 may as well be another room.

We're not sure what is in the space behind that door...

It's quite a feat to find an apartment in Oslo with a bathtub..

I'm not sure why the toilet gets its own room.

I dig (some) wallpaper.

Wood construction is nice! This old tongue and grooved cross member is actually just decorative though.

Allotment garden!

Thanks to a tip from a dear fellow-gardening friend, we got our own garden plot this year at an allotment garden on the edge of the city. It's spring here now, the days are getting warmer, the sun is still shining at 9pm, plants are starting to green - it's an exciting time. The garden plot is (almost unbelieveably) the same size as our current apartment - around 500 square feet. However, we, along with nature, are in transition mode - we move to a new apartment (still in Oslo) next week, nearly doubling our living space... More on that and our efforts there later, but for now - a quick picture of the gardening work ahead of us.

 

The allotment gardens are called 'Eterjordet', and are tucked into the edge of the forest by a large lake in Oslo (Østensjø). Nearby are lots of ducks, hiking paths, and a bird preserve. The kind lady who has been running these gardens for the last 20 years or so gave us one warning when we arrived concerning pests - translating something like: "we have brown snails, 2-leggeds, and roe deer." Since the forest paths are public and there is no fencing around the gardens, we will have to see what kind of veggie munching visitors we might receive.

We inherited a wooden platform and box for tools from the last plot owner which should prove handy. The plot is super overgrown, so there will be some work - am looking forward to a bit of physical labor, especially if the sun hangs around for it!

We had our first official work visit there today - just stopped by to put up the fencing for compost, which we'll need when we start clearing the mess. I took this pic as a 'before' shot - I don't think we'll be keeping much more than the black currant bush in the foreground, the railway tie (which may be cool after we remove all the overgrowth), and the wooden platform in the back. Lots of digging and clearing to do, then, what to plant?

(Did I mention the plot is very overgrown ?)

From the train...

My commute really is lovely.

Winter came...

About a month ago, Rolf's mom called and asked if my commute out of Oslo each day was like facing real winter. I replied that they have actually had far less snow in Ås than I had anticipated - it was a mild winter. But the very next day it snowed, then my walk to work looked like this....

Work.. and snow

View from my office window - a couple weeks ago vs yesterday.

My commute

The university that I've began a phd with is located around 20 miles south of Oslo. This means that I reverse commute out of the city in order to study the city. However counterintuitive, I cannot not mention how extraordinary the scenery is along the way. (and mind you, this isn't a beautiful part of Norway by the country's standards).

My train ride begins passing by the new Bjørvika development. Back of head belongs to unknown fellow commuter.

View back towards city heading east.

The east really has been industrial - but this too wil be condos in a few years.

There are some spectacular views of the fjord and a few small towns in this space that I never can quite capture on my phone camera...

At the other end of the train line, I have a bus ride that mostly looks like this.

I walk up a hill on the edge of campus and pass this house each day - the autumn colors suit it well.

My office is in the building just to the right of this picture.

Home Office

...Also in the kitchen. Note the potential confusion between cookbooks and paperwork. I'm still working on a method to store the workstation during "off-hours." Speaking of which - happy Memorial Day everyone back home, god pinse to those here in Norway!

My Life in Oslo - the kitchen

Since Easter is just around the corner, or has already began for many Norwegians, we have been making an attempt at spring cleaning. It is pretty good timing for this blog, since I am able to get a few birds with one stone - clean house, reasonable photos, blog entry material, and less to worry about when we get back from vacation. Last night Rolf took on cleaning the oven which I had been perpetually putting off. I have to admit, he is super handy for those tasks that I don't have the patience for!

So today, I scrubbed down the last bits of the kitchen to photograph and share. The kitchen is probably what sold us on this apartment. Granted, we are only renting, and it is probably a good thing because an Ikea kitchen may not be the best clencher for buying property.. Still, I love the clean surfaces and the fact that this simple cabinetry hides (from the right to the left in photo below) a refridgerator, freezer, dishwasher, ventillation hood and lots of cabinet and drawer space. I'll admit that most of those top cabinets are empty because I cannot reach them, but it is good to know the space is there if needed. 

The table is something we threw together on the cheap with some legs and a desktop from Ikea. I stained and sealed the wood top myself and the piece has become a huge part of our lives in this apartment. Asides from a dining table, we use the space for food prep in the evenings, Rolf irons his shirts there in the morning and it is my office desk the rest day. It is rare that the table is so empty, but it looks nice when it is. I'll admit that I tossed my reading and sketchbook over to the couch to take these photos this morning.

The windows and painted hardwood floors were other major attractions when we first saw this apartment. It is not a great view out into the courtyard, but we get a great deal of sunlight coming in during the day. Enough sun that I've managed to keep a few plants alive. It is still early in the season, but we have a chilli plant from last year (one surviving from 4 originally seeded) with a couple peppers nearly ripe on it, plus some grocery store bought rosemary and an orchid that Rolf gave me as a gift our first summer together (almost three years ago if you can believe it!). Last year we had a basil plant that grew and produced far beyond my expectations, so we may consider starting one of those again after Easter.

We leave tomorrow to stay at Rolf's parents' for a week. Where they live (by the arctic circle), winter has not yet ended. While we've had 50-60 degree (F) days and sunshine in Oslo, they've acquired another foot or more of fresh snow. So we'll be hoping for sun, in order to partake in the Norwegian Easter traditions of cabin visits, skiing in teeshirts and sun worshipping in the snow, eating oranges and "Kvikk Lunsj" chocolate, plus sausages and coffee made over a fire. Happy Spring to all!

My Life in Oslo - Part 1

I haven't been keeping up with my blogs.. Honestly, I have recognized a bad pattern of starting projects and then slacking on the follow up, but here I am to work on that. Granted, I should actually be writing on one of a series of articles that are due fairly soon but are a bit less interesting to me at the moment. I'm sure there are a dozen other tasks I am also procrastinating from just now, but I had the idea to begin a small virtual tour of my life here for anyone interested - but especially with those in mind who can't come and visit so easily/cheaply.

I'll start with the living room of the apartment Rolf and I share. Our apartment is technically only two rooms, the bedroom and the main room which is half a living room and half a kitchen (/everything else) in use. There is also a bathroom and small entry foyer, but those aren't especially interesting. Standing in the entry foyer you can see the whole apartment, the bathroom would be in front of you and turning your head left is the main room, right is the bedroom. It's not a huge space, but it's comfortable for two people, centrally located, and we like it plenty for the time being.

Our furniture is a bit of a hodgepodge of Ikea products and pieces of Ikea products that I've redesigned in some fashion. The coffee table is an awesome hand-me-down that Rolf's parents gave us (they had had it since the 60s or 70s) - it has a funky pattern on the top which I love. The wine bottle in the center of the table repurposed as a candlestick holder. It would be more interesting looking if the candles here were the kind that made drippy wax, but mostly here candles are dripless - somehow evaporating as they burn. I've learned to appreciate the quality of candlelight, especially during the long, dark winters here. Still though, between the two of us, Rolf is the more candle-romantic one.

The wall on the left of that photo is intentionally left blank. We have a projector which we use in lieu of a tv - mostly to stream the news from the internet or watch movies/series from time to time. The last wall in the living room I've left to Rolf's new hobby of painting (photo below). Somewhere between the size of the pieces and the old, not-completely-level walls in the room, none of the images are quite straight, but I think this will be resolved as he fills in more of the space. The central frame on the wall is his first published interview, where his company's national publication deems him "Young and Promising" as the byline.

The cornerpiece is a real wood burning stove - likely from when the building was first built in the 30s. It's quite lovely and functional though we haven't used it. Appropriately, when I took this photo there happened to be a ball of yarn in the floor - remnants of another project that I haven't quite completed just yet!

Less Things, More Experiences

This year I come back to blogging with a goal I have long esteemed - even if I cannot claim to have been working consistently towards it. I think the title wording here came from someone's facebook status over the countdown to New Year's Eve, but the thought resonates with me especially after the holiday season.

Spending the last two Christmases in Norway has really emphasized to me the full spectrum of what the holiday season is - rather than simply gifts. Of course it's nice to give and receive gifts, and they do that here as well, but the focus of the weeks before and after Christmas here are much less about the presents than in the US. A general goal of coziness and comfort is the focus, with the food, company, and atmosphere to support that. Many details of the "yuletide" celebration here remind me that 'Christmas' was celebrated this time of the year before commercialism and even Christianity. December 21 marks the shortest day of the year by the sun's natural cycles, and it feels very important when living in a place like Norway that there is some event to break up the long cold and dark winter.

Not being particularly religious, I really appreciate the concept of celebrating the start of longer days and the eventual promise of winter's end. These years over Christmas I have been very aware of this aspect and find myself most enjoying the warmth of a fire, candlelight, baked goodies and hot cocoa/coffee. Further, in opening presents I find the excitement over them to be greatest when the gift is a thing that promises future fun, comfort, or coziness - the aspect of anticipated experiences being more interesting than the immediate gift (thing) itself. My new ice skates, Rolf's new skis and our mutual new hiking/camping equipment ensures that the rest of this winter and following year will be full of fun outdoor adventures, and for these I am particularly excited as we begin 2012 together.

The kicksled, a typical Norwegian mode of transporting a found Christmas Tree

Midday (maximum daylight) near the arctic circle, 21 December

Happy New Year!