Story # 2

I skip the 'sick in Vienna' part because there is not really much to tell but it is added to the April joke.
So the story:
There will be a conference in Vancouver in July and since my abstract got accepted recently, I decided to book a flight as soon as possible so that it will not get too expensive. Of course I do not have to pay for it myself since it is connected to my work but I don't want to waste the money in my fund so I was looking for a flight with a reasonable price and not too many stops - I found a nice offer of a quite known online travel agency. So, I book the flight and even during the booking procedure I have to verfy my credit card with a bank-ID (that is something they do here in Norway quite often - which also means that I need a security code and this works only in combination with my card). Anyway, the booking was done and I think that the Bank-ID was enough verification. The next day, I get an e-mail that I have to send a copy of both sides of my credit card via fax in order to get the flight otherwise the it will be cancelled. Ye right - they want to prevent the misuse of creadit cards and then they are asking me to send a copy of my card - they must be joking. I wrote them an e-mail that I will definitely not send any copy of my credit card and that I think that a bank-ID verification should be enough. The answer was something like - it is written in their general information (ye they right - sometime we might ask you for a verification - should I really think that is valid for me?). At least I don't have to pay for the cancellation. But I have to book another flight.

It's not alright...

... to take the title of a song of Widscreen Mode (I am kind of addicted to their music at the moment).
Anyway it is really not alright - it is not even funny.
It's nothing bad in general but the whole of April was April's fools day or something like that. Luckily April is over soon ;)
You wanna know why?
Story # 1:
The city of Oslo has this 'special' service of cleaning the roads from all the rocks and dirt of winter. Since most people have their cars parked on the road and the cars are in the way, they have to be removed. If you are luckiy you see the signs which are supposed to be on the road 24h before - if you are not so lucky you are on vacation during that time or don't even know that they are cleaning the road. And by the way they remove the cars at your costs - something over 2000 NOK.
Anyway until this moment I was lucky - I saw the signs and I made a note to myself: park the car somewhere else (which is a difficult task in itself). So it's quite late in the evening I start the car and 'klick' - nothing. Luck left - first idea: battery. What to do - it is half past 10 pm ... going back into the appartment and luckily I am not alone living here so I am talking to two of my flatmates and we decide that we will try to push the car and start it then. So we try that - by that time we are 4 - we push and push but the car does not start. We decide that we don't want to go further since we have to push the car back anyway so we are looking for a spot to park the car - no spot. People with cars passing - looking stupidly but not even asking if they might be able to help. At last, we decide to push the car into the backyard of the building where we live - there are several parking spots but obviously reserved for some people. I leave a note asking for mercy since the car is not working and cannot stay on the road. The next day I asked a Norwegian friend if he could help me to get the car started - so he was very nice to stop by in the evening (rain pouring down like hell). There is this special screw which is supposed to serve as a device for pulling the car with another one - so we attach the screw and after the first curve, the screw pops out. Second try - same result but this time the car is on the road and people cannot pass by so they have to turn around. The only comment of my friend: this is such a nice construction, why does it not work (suggestion: because it's French (?)). So we decide that pulling the car is not an option and we put it back into the backyard and take out the battery and charge it. It was the battery - I put it in the next day and the car was running.

Places you always wanted to visit

Sick in Vienna

Fantastic conference (careful irony) - flying to Vienna on Sunday. Had a nice dinner on Sunday, a few talks to visit and my own to give on Monday and another nice dinner in the evening. Afterwards something like two beers to celebrate that the week is free - started a fever and a cough during the night. Rest of the week was basically spent in the bed of the hotel room - dragged myself to the airport on Saturday (flight didn't make things better but I really needed to go home).
I really wanted to see Vienna because I hadn't been there but the only thing I managed was to take a picture of Stephansdom.

Forgotten

Pro Norway:
- you can watch movies in the original version (since most movies are English that is really fantastic for me)

- shopping until 23.00 is really handy with my working hours and some shops are also open on Sundays

Pro Germany:

- BEER

Anniversaries

First of all - I missed the 1st anniversary of this blog - it was in March but that is not so important.
Second: I am one year in Oslo now. Exactly on the 10th of April, I moved into my room in the student dorm. On the 9th in the evening, I arrived in Oslo - the day before I stayed in Tanumshede in Sweden and it was snowing like crazy - what a climate warming - ;). One year ago I was so full of expectations and then there was this time of a lot of disappointment because at the beginning many things just didn't work out . BUT that is usually the case and even with a lot of planning, there are some factors you cannot control. So it was absolutely worth it, not to give up and to get over that phase. Now everything is going well and it was a good decision to come here. The 1st anniversary is a good time to compare countries and here is a list of personal likes/dislikes of Norway (naturally what I like in Norway is mostly not available in Germany and vice versa for dislikes):

positive:
- fresh air - yes the air is completey different than in Germany and you can feel it even in the city (although they say that they have a problem with dust in the air)

- landscape and nature - although I live in the city, I can be out in the woods within a very short time and doing lots of biking, hiking and (if there is snow) skiing without using a car (especially nice during the week after work)

- non-smoking inside - just everywhere and there is not a huge discussion if there should be special rooms or not - smoking inside is just out of the question and it is so nice to go to a pub and coming home without that nasty smell on your clothes

- more hiking and biking trails and ski slopes with light (perfect if you want to go skiing after work)

- the right to camp and hike everywhere (if is it not private property)

negative:

- the alcohol policy - first of all it is too expensive (however, it doesn't really seem to keep people from drinking), second: it is so studid that even for a bottle of wine you have to go to the vinmonopolet, third: no beer sold in the supermarket after 8 p.m.(6 p.m. on a Saturday). I still don't understand why - all people know that and buy more beer before. Fourth: after 10 p.m. you are not allowed to drink beer in the outside area of a pub (what is that good for?).

- the taxes - having to pay around 5000 - 6000€ for your 8 year old car which is not even worth half the price in Germany is just idiotic (taxing new cars - ok debatable but old cars?). And you even have to tax presents - just happened recently when I got my birthday present sent - payed about half of the price of the present as tax. A PRESENT come on guys - I didn't order anything from any company because I know that I would have to pay so much more.

- the lack of biological/organic food - well some people might think that this is stupid anyway but personally I think that it tastes much better and I would at least like to have the choice to buy some

- the lack of choice for many other products - I agree that one should support the regional production but sometimes things from the original country are just better

- this fødselsnummer (something like a social security number): you cannot do anything without that - sometimes it is quite practical but I just feel too much controlled

Of course there are many small things I don't want to mention right now but these are the major ones.

Night

Talkative

In order not to forget it: there is one time when Norwegians become really talkative - that is when they see you walking around with skis. Then they are interested where you are going, how much snow there is and how the conditions are. But of course that won't really work in summer ;)

Night skiing

One really cool thing here are the lighted slopes so skiing is possible even after work when it is getting dark. There was just some new snow again when we did the night tour - and partly we even skied in the falling snow. This time we were more restricted because there are not that many slopes with light - so we chose Frognerseteren - Ullevålseter and back. It was fantastic! The pics are not so good due to the lack of a tripod but then they are just to get an impression ;)





Now it is definitely spring - so we are glad that we used the opportunity to ski over Easter.