Of Easter eggs and other silly things.

Two blog updates in one day! An unprecedented event, to be sure, but one that is absolutely necessary if I want to avoid falling behind on my blogging--again, not that I expect many people aside from my dear father and a few other loyal readers might notice. You all get cookies when I get home, but only if you start commenting. :P ...seriously, I will distribute cookies. I might even bake them myself.

Saturday morning after our return to Oslo started off with a bang, since the fire alarm went off and woke us up far too early, but aside from that momentary hiccup, it was a very pleasing day. Tim and I walked down to Sogn again to paint easter eggs with Damon and a few of his friends and classmates, and we even improvised on making a very delicious chocolate cake essentially out of nothing. We also watched a very odd Norwegian film called "Budbringeren," a story about a very bizarre (and unhygienic) postman infatuated with a woman involved in some sort of illicit dealings in Oslo's darker side. Actually, that was a detail that we all spent most of our time chuckling over and scratching our heads, because really, I hardly recognized the Oslo in this film at all. I always feel safe in this city almost without exception, and yet the Oslo of "Budbringeren" made me wonder if I shouldn't be more careful when waiting at the T-bane stations late at night.

Sunday morning was Easter, of course, and I finally made the venture down to St. Edmund's Anglican Church, which is actually close to Grunnerløkka and thus very near to Blå. Mike accompanied me, and I have to say, the Easter service was very upbeat and exciting, incorporating a lot of African musical elements right alongside the more traditional, subdued English standard. I introduced myself to Rev. Janet after the service and have officially become a St. Edmund's volunteer, something I'm quite excited about since I was starting to feel a bit guilty about not going to church on Sundays; and really, I don't do anything on Sunday mornings except sleep in. I'll be distributing tea and coffee to thirsty patrons after Sunday service from now on, and hopefully will do a bit of networking within the English speaking community of Oslo. If I decide to stay here after my program ends, it will be nice to have some friends outside of UiO since I am already a bit depressed by the thought of being here by myself without Tim and Mike to keep me company. Anyway, that evening we (myself, Tim and Mike) had a lovely dinner at our friend Patricia's flat, then spent the rest of the night chatting away and blaring our own music in Velferden. A grand way to end Easter if I don't say so myself!

I passed Monday in a rather lethargic fashion that doesn't bear much remarking; Tim and I went over to Mike's with every intention of watching the Vålerenga match, only to discover that it wasn't televised! ): It's for the best, since they lost, so we ended up going back early to cook dinner and watch a hilarious boy band parody film leant to me by Damon called "Boyzvoiced." I was actually impressed by how catchy some of the songs actually were! But most of it was a spoof documentary, and this was one of the funnier exchanges:

I didn't realize comprehension of English was a desirable quality in Norwegian men. The more you know~

Probably my favorite song from the whole documentary, and it is, delightfully enough, the first one you hear!

Today was an unexpected adventure, actually. I met up with Tim and Damon at Forskningsparken and took the tram into Grunnarløkka again, where I found Le Palais des Thés, a tea shop recommended to me some time ago that I've only just now got round to visiting. I ended up buying a lovely package of chai tea, along with some peach tea... and then, apparently, we decided to head over to IKEA again, mainly for the Swedish meatballs you can buy in the cafeteria there. Second silly purchase of the day: a plant I have affectionately named Halliburton 2, successor to Halliburton 1, a plant that may or may not be dying in Ray's flat, I'm not sure. Anyway, H2 is currently sunning herself (yes, it is a she I have decided) beneath my lamp, and I just hope I won't kill her before it's time to fly home. ): I suppose at that point I'll donate her to someone else who plans on sticking around for a while.

Whew! That was a lot of writing. Hopefully that brings me up to speed on all of my adventures since leaving for Copenhagen. Hadet!

We're nearly there!

It's packing time! And boy, am I doing a lot of it.

I've sorted out the essentials: warm clothes (which will NOT be warm enough, I'll have to buy warmer stuff when I get there), snow appropriate boots, some bed linens and a pillow (since that isn't provided by the university housing), hats, scarves, my faithful gloves, plenty of warm, fluffy pajamas. The non-essentials (at least, not essential to my survival) have all been taken care of, too: the macbook, complete with adapters for any country I might find myself in, a Europe-compatible cell phone that I didn't ask for but my father thought would be necessary anyway, my sketch and drawing notebooks, my inking pens and my pencils. I'm still going through which few books I plan to take with me, and this is proving to be the hardest part of the process. There is so much I want to take with me, but so much of it would just be superfluous and provide extra clutter. Oh yes--the camera. Food tends to be something I don't pack to take with me, but I think taking some of my preferred teas along with me might stave off the inevitable homesickness that is bound to creep up on me when I'm least expecting it. So I'm including two of my favorite (and most sturdy) mugs, an equally sturdy teapot, and the chai I bought at India Festival this summer.

My carry-on luggage will consist of: the macbook, the sketchbook and pencils/pens, Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, the blackberry, the passport, the wallet with necessary picture I.D., dollars, pounds and kroner. I thought about packing my DS Lite but have since decided that it might be better to just scrap bringing it altogether. I rarely if ever play it here, so what makes me think I'm going to play it in Norway, especially when I'll have a foreign country to explore? Then again, I did buy that frigging thing to use it, grumble grumble grumble whatever I don't need more video games. *grump*

Still left to do: contact my bank to remind them that I'll be in England for most of this week, then Norway by the weekend. I expect I won't ask them to recognize any other Scandinavian or mainland European countries just yet, since I don't know when/if I'll be in Sweden or Denmark. That entirely depends on how comfortable I feel traveling, and how soon.

Additionally, some of you know I am a (somewhat irregular) patron of the Church of the Nativity, Episcopal here in Huntsville. I'm relieved to say that I've found myself a new Anglican/Episcopal home for the duration of my stay in Oslo in St. Edmund's Anglican Church. I really like the sound of this place, not only because services are conducted in English, but also because the youth organization seems geared towards addressing the needs of international students. I think getting involved in St. Edmund's will be a good way for me to established a non-school community for myself while I'm in Oslo--and going to church always makes me feel better, so! :)

I've said most of my goodbyes to friends and family alike; Mum, her fiancee and I went to see Sherlock Holmes tonight and then dropped by Barnes & Noble afterwards for coffee/tea. I visited my grandmother, who has been in hospital since October, and was relieved to see that she is not only doing much better, but is going to be moved to a physical therapy center in Madison come Tuesday after she receives dialysis. So, the long and the short of it is, the new year is getting off to a grand start, and I feel confident about my departure.

I don't intend to update this journal any more while I'm here in the states. The next time you'll hear from me will be from South England as I kill some time with my relatives. As of January 9th, however, my adventure really begins.