David's Journal

It's been a week now since I arrived in Oslo, Norway, and high time for an update. I landed last Saturday on a beautiful spring day after the obligatory thirty six hours of travel. The travel itself was fairly uneventful except for LAX of all places where I had a brain freeze for the security check. Normally I'm totally organised going into the security screening - I've got liquids in bags, water bottle empty, and everything remotely metal unceremoniously shoved into my backpack. Perhaps it was the warm, laid back atmosphere of California or the lack of sleep but this time I did none of it, calmly waltzing up and chucking my backpack on the conveyor. When they pulled my bag away for a security check I was slightly nervous about big brother America, mostly because I'd just been listening to Thom Yorke. But it all ended well, except for my half full pump bottle which totally got tasered. They obviously believed my apologetic, bewildered tourist story though and let me through. Most interestingly they missed my bladed Tandberg multitool which caused me grief going through Frankfurt.

So arriving in Oslo after the long journey was great, it was warm, sunny, and my Kiwi friends Pete and Kane were there to meet me at the airport. They also took me shopping which was a huge help to get started. As I was lying on the couch chilling later on, I took this pic of the view out my window:

And this is the couch:



The next day Pete took me for a drive to get me acquainted with my surroundings which was really helpful. We also went to the beach (pretty good effort for the northern hemisphere I have to say):



There's not many people because despite how nice it looks it's still a bit chilly, especially the water. I didn't swim but thats only cause I didn't have a towel.

So then it was Monday, and my first day of work. It was fairly uneventful, just getting setup, meeting people and so on. Then off to a party with some guys who were over from the U.S./Hong Kong/Japan. The theme was being some weird snack from your point of origin and we had some good ones. I was pretty sure the guys from Hong Kong had it sewn up with some typically weird tasting stuff, but then Andreas, one of the Norwegians (an R&D manager at work) came in with an entire vacuum sealed dried sheep leg. A knife was found, pieces were hacked off, and I have to say that he totally won. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely the most visceral treat on offer.

As I was walking home that night, about eleven thirty, dark and still as anything, a young wild deer crossed my path. It was a small buck with little antlers, obviously very lost. In case you're now imagining I live in some kind of Hans Christian Andersen forest in a log cabin, connected to civilisation by dirt paths, let me explain where I live. The nearest forest is miles away, and on the other side of a large highway, which it must have gotten under somehow, as I have to do every day on the way to work. It's not unheard of, but pretty rare and was a cool experience. I tried to take a photo on my work cellphone camera, but night vision isn't it's strong point.



Tuesday night was soccer, as I've joined up with the Tandberg Leisure Football team. Don't be fooled, there's nothing leisurely about it, it's serious stuff. Particularly as it's played on gravel. That's right, gravel. It seems to be the social soccer pitch covering of choice over here, and it's every bit as dusty and abrasive as it sounds. It's not as gravelly as, say, a country road, it's more like a fine grit. Still, falling over on it isn't advised as my knee can testify. Fun game though, probably more so once I can understand the Norwegian for...well, anything.

So after the game I'm wandering through Oslo to the bus with blood dripping down my leg, still in my soccer gear, hoping desperately that I can find an open Apotek. During thing time two different people approached me asking for directions. This is my fourth day being in the country, and I'm sure I didn't look that decisive so I can only conclude that people think soccer players generally know where things are. I let the side down unfortunately. My gory bleeding injury also served as a conversation starter with a random Swedish guy at the bus stop who wanted to join the team. For the record the Apotek had just closed and and I had to make do with scrubbing the grit out as hard as I could and slapping on some disinfectant cream I brought with me. I'll spare you from a photo for this one.

The best news of the week for me probably comes on Saturday, on which I ventured into town in search of a guitar. I'm lucky enough to be working in a team with some musos, and one of them pointed me to the right area of town. The first shop I went to was Norway's version of the rock shop, there were some nice guitars, but pricey for what they were and the one I liked had a weird action. So the guy there pointed me down the road and I went to this great instrument shop. It was crowded, cluttered, and smelled like wood. In addition to guitars they had mandolins, lutes, harps and all sorts of weird and wonderful instruments. There were many guitars there of differing qualities but one stood out straight away. It was a cutaway classical guitar, the exact sort I was looking for. I picked it up and it was beautiful to play, great action, great tone. I found out it was a handmade spanish guitar, solid top cedar, the same as my Maton CW80 back home which gives it a really sweet characteristic which will keep opening up the more I play it. Long story short, it is now mine. It's a beautiful instrument, solid but delicate, tonally gorgeous and just such a sweet thing to play. Lest my other guitars get jealous let me say I love you all, there's room in my heart for everyone. The pic doesn't really do it justice but here you go:



Another cool weekend find was a long walk that took me out onto the peninsula where I live. There is miles of track along the coast with great views of the Oslo fjord. A few fishermen were out braving the wet weather (oh yeah, after a few gorgeous days the weather packed in a bit).



So that was my week, it was a good one.