Day 5-8: Quiet summer days

For the rest of the photos and captions go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/roaring.tree/Day58/photo#5224026746877958962

The last few days have been quiet as we settle into our weekly rhythm. Matt’s friend Nils left for a two week vacation and my boss is on vacation too. In fact, most of the office and the city’s residents are out of town. A few of the development team members are still here, plugging away on some computer programs. But, besides them, the office has been empty. I looked up yoga classes and Irish dancing lessons which don’t start till August. July is Norway’s vacation month.

The few guys who are left in the office are just like California dudes, wearing T-shirts and jeans. They even have American accents when they speak English and they’ve seen the same TV shows and movies. In fact, when I asked about their favorite Norwegian movies, they laughed. Norway only has a few actors who appear in all of the movies. Most of the shows and movies on TV are American.

Work has been good. I'm collaborating with coworker down in the Brussels office some basic market materials that involve interesting research and some creative writing. One of my favorite parts is reading news about food, food safety, and the fishing industry. I’m finding fascinating articles about consumer trends and the future direction of farming. The New York Times had an article about vertical farms, farms in city skyscrapers (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15farm.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin), and my friend Bronwyn Ximm posted an article about a new business idea, CSA’s based in urban backyards (http://www.walletmouth.com/).

The social lull has given us plenty of time to get situated and to explore the city. Each day we try a different route to work, weaving our through old neighborhoods, parks, and paths. After work on Tuesday we took a detour to the Botanical Garden in the east side of town, and bought vegetables at one of the immigrant produce shops and on Wednesday we strolled west to the Vigeland Sculpture Garden in Frogner Park after dinner. Other than that, learning Norwegian has been our main priority. It will open up so many more doors and opportunities when we can understand everyday casual conversations and read important legal paperwork without translation.

The weather has been warm and moody. It can’t decide if it wants to be sunny or cloudy, as though it is afraid of being boring. So, it’s bright one minute and dark the next. Sometimes it rains, light warm drops and then the sun pours down, hot and bright for hours.