January 19: Friday Seminar and Cake Time

Today I gave a 30-minute seminar about my work for my colleagues (ok, it was more like 45 minutes with questions). It was very well received. We have many opportunities for future collaboration!

After the Friday seminar, we have cake and coffee every week. They go up and down the hall ringing a little cow bell to call everyone together, then we shared pieces of a large pastry (which I would call a Danish, but is probably not the appropriate local term) and coffee.

During cake and coffee time, there is a lottery for a bottle of wine. It is 5 kroner to enter (about 60 cents). You get a ticket with a number on it for each entry. Then one person takes out the winning slip, but hides it. They pass the bowl with the other numbers around the tables. Each person takes 2 slips and reads them aloud–those are not the winner, so the person with that number groans and destroys that ticket. We keep going around calling numbers until they are all gone–which reveals the one person with a ticket left! The winner is then verified with the hidden winning number. I was afraid that I would miss something and be left with a ticket without winning, but I kept up.

But I was a winner today in another way: I had an entire lunch conversation in Norwegian! I’m getting better! I’m a better speaker than listener at this point, but I’m making progress. I’m good at saying “can you repeat?” I’m thankful for patient conversation partners!

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

About Christy Anderson Brekken

In no particular order... Instructor and Researcher, Department of Applied Economics, Oregon State University. Educational background: University of MN Law School, 2005. MS in Ag and Resource Economics, Oregon State University, 2011. Teaches: Agricultural Law, Environmental Law. Mother: brilliant 9 year old boy; brilliant 6 year old girl with benign myoclonic epilepsy on a modified ketogenic diet therapy. Married to: Ted Brekken, OSU Department of Electrical Engineering. Ride: Xtra-cycle Edgerunner with kid seat; 400-pound cargo capacity. Grew up: Devils Lake, ND. Lived in: Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, Pohang, South Korea, Trondheim, Norway, Corvallis, OR. Interests: Cooking, knitting, eating, yoga, laughing, hiking, traveling, staying sane.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *