This week in class we were discussing adjectives. As an exercise the teacher went around the room asking random people what they were wearing. In Norwegian nouns are gendered (feminine/masculine/neuter) and the adjectives follow the form (gender/plural) of the noun they are describing. I was wearing brun [brown] from head to toe but that changed depending on the item of clothing I was talking about. For example I was wearing:
en brun genser [a brown sweater]
et brunt skaut [a brown headscarf]
et par brune støvler [a pair of brown boots]
I was also wearing two pairs of leggings under my skirt, two shirts under my sweater, a shawl around my neck, and two pairs of socks inside my boots, everyone got a laugh out of the fact that my list of clothing was approximately twice as long as everyone else's, but I'm still getting over my cold and I was perfectly comfortable.
During the break I passed a young man with beautiful, beautiful locs spilling out of a very big hat. I used to have locs down to my waist and since cutting them off I am often jealous of people with hair I admire and miss my own. This guy was on the phone so I just smiled as I passed. He interrupted his own conversation to call to me in a West African accent:
"Sista, sista? Where are you from?
I was kind of sad that I wasn't his sista anymore once I self-identified as a Westerner. I wonder what would've happened if I had gone into more detail. Did identifying with the colonizers make me sound like a self-hating sycophant?
At the beginning of the week it snowed. So using the excuse of my continuing cold I stayed inside for a couple days. When I finally went outside the wind slapped me in the face. It felt like the wind had angled itself in such a way that it was blowing directly up my nose and freezing my nostril hairs/sinuses. I thought this was because I had been blowing my nose so much and my nasal passages were extra vulnerable. When I described it to my flatmates they looked at me blankly and it dawned on me that this is normal.
They also said that all immigrants get a really bad cold their first winter and this led me to conclude that it is because Norwegian children are acclimatised to the weather from infanthood. Remember when I mentioned that Norwegian parents will put their babies outside to nap? My hypothesis is that this is the reason why I'm the only one in the flat with a cold and the reason why no one else has caught my cold. I Skyped with my parents at the weekend and blamed them for my illness and shared that I had now been converted to the idea. My mum was horrified and intends to come over here and rescue any hypothetical/potential grandchildren.
On this first day that I went out in the snow I also wore all of my warm clothes at the same time and figured out that checking the temperature is still important.
I was sharing with one of my classmates how I had seen cyclists (in the snow!) on the way to class and I didn't understand it. She shared with me her struggle to push a double barnevogn [pushchair/stroller/buggy/pram] when she picked up her children from barnehagen [kindergarten/nursery school]. It never occurred to me how difficult that would be (as far as I know snow tyres/tires for babies are not a thing). Since then I keep seeing obviously pregnant women and over-thinking the repercussions of being in your second or third trimester and trying to walk on snow/ice. {Note to self: If you do try to get pregnant, try to get pregnant in the winter/spring so it's warm again by the time you're full term.}
A few days ago I was picking up our mail and I could hear whistling. I looked around for the person it might be coming from and then I realised it was the wind at the door behind the mailboxes. It literally sounded like someone was whistling the Imperial March from Star Wars (very badly).
At the weekend we had dinner at the in-laws again and everyone tried to convince me of the beauty of nature in winter. I was shown some very beautiful photographs and told about the scenery on some epic hikes. The most awesome story was about the time they discovered that the lake by the holiday house in Sweden had frozen over, but the water had dropped underneath it. So there was a pocket of air between the ice and the water which essentially turned the entire lake into a massive drum. There is no way they could describe the sound it made when they threw rocks onto the surface and there is no telling I'll ever be around if this happens again. I still don't know how I feel about walks in subzero temperatures, but I will admit that did sound amazing.
We watched Yentl and it was my first time. I really loved it. The music is amazing and the storyline is sad and poignant. Halfway into the movie we realised that we recognised the male lead (Mandy Patinkin) from his role as Inigo Montaya ("Hello, my name is Inigo Montaya. You killed my father. Prepare to Die.") in The Princess Bride which is a favourite of mine.
I finally got to see Elf for the first time during the festive season. It is one of my favourite Christmas movies. (Don't tell anyone, but I'm fine with watching it any time of year.) My sister-in-law and I watched it together and it was her first time seeing it, so I really enjoyed watching her watch it and I think I only talked about something I had learned on the special features once.
Since December has started I have tried julebrunost [Christmas brown cheese] which was very good. (If you're ever in Norway you have to try brown cheese. I have half my family addicted to it already. The Christmas variety has a hint of cardamon and it's just delicious.) I've also had juleøl [Christmas beer] which was okay, but I'm not much of a beer drinker, so what do I know? Today I tried julebrus [Christmas soda/pop] it too was okay, I'm not sure what was supposed to taste Christmassy about it, kinda tasted like Irn Bru to me. My favourite of all the Jul packaging has to be the eggs the fiance' bought last week which were labelled "En Juleklassiker" ["A Christmas Classic"]
A correction from last week: December 25th is the first day of Christmas here.
My stupid, stupid, stupid phone is still not working, but I did find a mobile repair shop today to seek advice. I’m going to have a play with it tomorrow and see if I can get it to do what I want. If I can get it to work I will be posting a #backlog of images to Instagram… In the meantime the following is a list of images I would’ve Instagrammed if I wasn't such a procrastinator:
A book I found in a store.
1 or 2 headwrap shots. I've lost track of what day I'm on.
Probably some pictures of my hair.
