Greetings sans photos

Greetings! Sorry it’s been so long since our last post, but we are having issues with Mike’s computer, which is the one we use for downloading pictures. So until we either have that repaired, or set up mine for downloading, we’ll be picture-free—hopefully not for too long.

Two weeks ago we went through a period of “really serious snow”—it was just “serious snow” before. We got about another foot, or a foot and a half. Mike just took the bus more often, but didn’t miss any days. We’re expecting a bit more snow mid-week, but the forecast is always changeable (like everywhere), so we will see. What is certain is that we will see a white Easter (it’s been “white” here since Halloween), and who knows what April will bring. The largest snowfall in the last 15 years occurred in April, so there may be a lot more to look forward to. Or not. I took some pictures of Mike using this huge snow-mover thing to clear the snow in front of our outer door—no lifting or anything strenuous—it’s genius piece of engineering! It is simplicity itself; you just push the “shovel” part into the snow and then pull it away. It works great. We aren’t supposed to have to do this, but it wasn’t getting done, and the snow-mover was available, so he just did it. It’s a great tool—don’t recall ever seeing one in the States. I looked for a picture of something like it online, but couldn’t find one, so you will just have to wait until we get our pictures downloaded.

Both this last weekend and the weekend before were beautiful and sunny. People were out in force enjoying the sledding, skiing, skating and just being outdoors. This really is a paradise for kids and dogs: Children are out in all kinds of weather—the little ones who look just old enough to walk are incredible on their little skis and ice skates. And it seems like there must be more dogs per capita in Tromsø than any place I’ve ever been. I don’t think we’ve ever been out and about, and not seen several people out walking their dogs.

Of course this is the Lenten season, and there are many special services. We haven’t been down to Domkirke for many weeks—the roads are slick-ish, and since it is practically all downhill, I haven’t been willing to make that walk (the buses don’t run early on Sunday), though, I think Mike would’ve gone for it. So, we have been going to Elverhoy, which is a pretty flat walk, and a very nice church. Last week was “Maria budskapsdag”—Mary’s message day—and there was special music. There is a music conservatory in Tromsø, so there are many fine musicians. There was a choir of about 12 people accompanied by two violins and a cello. They performed from Haydn’s “Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo” in B-major: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnes Dei.

There were also four baptisms that morning. Often people wear a traditional-style of clothing called a “bunad” to the “dåp” (baptism). The styles vary, depending on the area that the family comes from. Most of the clothing seems to be made of a fine-weave wool, often in colors of dark blue, green and red. The ladies wear white cotton blouses with white-embroidered stand-up collars and cuffs (with puffy sleeves!), and wool vests or jackets, and pleated skirts. The wool clothing is usually embroidered with many-colored flowers on the front and back of the vests and jackets, and along the hem of the skirts. Some ladies wear multicolored plaid shawls with fringe over the shoulders and matching aprons. The men are usually in black wool (vests or jackets, with long or just-below-the-knee pants) and white cotton shirts with stand-up collars.


This last Sunday there were a couple more baptisms (with 70 percent belonging to the Church of Norway, there are many!). Also, “speiderne” were present—boy and girl scouts in uniforms who helped with the service and even performed a skit of “The Good Samaritan.”

So, besides snow and going to church … Mike is busy in the lab Monday through Friday—his research project involves the investigation of Pauson-Khand reactions in the formation of cyclopentenones and the boron-facilitated Suzuki couplings of the compounds (did everyone get that?)—and with two other classes (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Organometallic Compounds in Organic Synthesis), and he has his Norwegian classes late afternoons on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I am still doing some work for DRG and just last week proofed a master’s thesis for a student from Kurdistan; he is a “peace and international studies” student writing on the problem of violence against women in his culture. Our friend Sarah, from Germany, asked me to look over her thesis—she is a biology student writing about biofilm development cycles and the problem of the increasing number of hospital-acquired infections (see … that general studies bachelor’s/liberal arts master’s is worth more than just being able to say with authority “do you want fries with that?”). There are many programs here that are meant for students from different countries and require English as the common language. Most have really excellent speaking skills, but I think it is a concern to get the thesis in proper written English. Mamoun’s (the Kurd) thesis will be placed in the library at the university where he works in Iraq, and he wanted to make sure it was correct, since it might be quoted from in other papers. He said that the universities’ libraries resources were very limited (especially compared with Tromsø’s excellent humanities library), so it is especially important to get it right.

We are settling into our new apartment pretty well. There are still a couple of things that we would like to see fixed (the heater in the bathroom foremost, but they have to bring in an electrician for that), but we are patient. I brought some material with me from home, so I made curtains for our small window (the large windows already have blinds and curtains), and a tablecloth for the kitchen table when it is extended—you know, in case we decide to have a candlelight supper in our old-world bijou flat at this desirable postal code ... Anyway, it is very nice to have a larger kitchen; we got along in the other kitchen, but it’s really nice to have a bigger fridge/freezer and stove, not to mention the counter space. We appreciate it much more now, I think, than if we had not had the experience of the smaller kitchen. So there you have it!

We wish all of our friends and family well, and we miss all of you. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Mary and Mike

New Digs

Old kitchen above (after we cleared out our stuff).

Our new kitchen!

The kitchen is open to the living room--sorry

about the mess, these are taken during moving.

These are our new views from our windows.

Last weekend we moved across the street to a new apartment. It's very similar to our previous apartment, except for the kitchen. You can see above what an improvement it is. I will miss the view we had of the previous apartment, and the greater privacy, but we have some pretty great views from this one too. Our address is pretty much the same--just change 17/004 t0 19/003.

Sunday Walk

Mugging for the camera.

Greetings!

On Sunday after church the sun was so bright, and it was so pleasant, that we took a different route home through one of the cemeteries. Shown above is a chapel that is located in the middle. It is very usual to see a lot of people strolling through the cemeteries. People come with shovels to remove snow from loved-ones graves so they can leave candles and ribbons and such. In the bottom photo you can see in the distance the spire of Elverhøy church.

Serious Snow

Look up!

Well, if you're tired of seeing and hearing about snow ... sorry ... this is our life! This last week we had what I would call a "serious snow"--we received at least a couple of feet from Tuesday to Thursday morning. It's hard to say definitely, because the weather reports give amounts, not according to snow, but moisture. So instead of stating the snowfall in terms of centimeters, the moisture is given in millimeters. Back home "they" used to say that an inch of rainfall equals a foot of snow. Anyway, this was the heaviest snowfall since we've been here. It is beautiful as always, and it doesn't seem to really slow anyone down too much. Mike went to class as usual.