Observation 1: It saddens Anders to know that baseball is only represented by the Yankees (with a dash of Red Sox) in Europe. He noticed that there were only Yankees fans around town (with an occasional Red Sox fan), now we know why.
Observation 2: Ted and I went to the Fretex today (Salvation Army), the thrift store. They have little kiosks everywhere–schools, grocery stores–for donating used items. The downtown store is small but I have had good luck getting a traditional outfit for Anders before, and they often have sweaters that are in good shape.
And they have so many comic books! Comics are huge here, the latest Donald Duck is always on the newstands. Ted thought the kids might like the norsk version of Calvin and Hobbes, known as Tommy og Tigern here. The kids have read all of them at home, so they should be able to apply that knowledge to understanding the Norwegian.
When I took them to the counter, the sales lady asked how many (in Norwegian). I didn’t know because Ted picked them out, so she counted and told me that they were 7 kroner each, or 10 for 40 kroner. If I got a few more it would be cheaper (in Norwegian). I picked out a few more and replied “my husband didn’t think about that when he picked them out,” not to diss Ted but because it’s what I could think to say in Norwegian. She was quick to reply, “ikke sant! damer er alltid mer økonomisk!” (isn’t that true! women are always more economical!). It was satisfying to have a regular back and forth with someone easily. My Norwegian is getting better!
Observation 3: We bought this butter among many when we first arrived, it says it has a “unique Norwegian taste.” Indeed, this is the tastiest butter I have ever experienced. I have to stop myself from eating it like a dip with crackers, and make myself thin out the layer that I put on said cracker. I have a container at work for lunches. Norwegian lunch is typically crisp bread (like Wasa) or regular bread with cheese, canned fish, liverpaste, caviar from a tube…yeah. If I bring a salad, I will eat crisp bread with butter on the side. And crisp bread with butter has been the only snack around when I’m hungry, because there isn’t anywhere to go nearby to buy anything when the national culture is to pack your own food. So I butter my crackers and just think to myself that people who walk across a frozen tundra need their calories to make it back home. I’m putting in 8,000 to 9,000 steps a day (3.5 miles) when I go to work, and up to 12,000 steps (5 miles) if I do extra trips to the store or to kid activities. Those aren’t always easy steps in the ice and snow. I earn my butter.
Observation 4: Our apartment is bordered on one side by courtyards with playgrounds, and a walk/bike multi-use path that runs north-south on the other. Just north of us is the kids’ school and a middle school, and it continues on across the street through another neighborhood. Going south, there are more types of apartments/townhouses along the path, it goes past a barnehage (daycare), past a sho
pping center with a grocery store, yarn store, health offices, and eventually we get to the sports facility where Anders plays handball, about a 20 minute walk. People are always out on the path. They have these gate arms, lit up at night, to keep cars from coming on. The path is exactly the right width for 1 car at a time, and occasionally you see people open the gate to take their car up to their apartment door for some reason, but not often and they don’t park there. People park in communal parking lots nearby and there are parking garages. It’s so sane.
Today Ted and I took a trip downtown, which is becoming our Wednesday errands-and-lunch-date ritual. Good news! We didn’t have to go to the bank today! I got an email saying that we are approved for an account, but now we have to wait for customer agreements to arrive in the mail, then we sign and mail them back, then we will get cards and some kind of secure code generator for logging in online. So…eventually we will have all of those numbers. But so far we haven’t had a bill for the rent, and Ted hasn’t been paid, and those two things pretty much cancel each other out, so we are all even for now.
Today was a gorgeous snowy day 
to be out on our Wednesday date. We decided that this is the perfect way to enjoy the new food culture in Trondheim. Without kids.
This time, we went to Bror (“brother”). Burgers (beef, chicken or veggie), sweet potato fries, BBQ, on-site brews. It has a Block 15 vibe (Corvallis place), but you order at the bar and pick up your own food at the kitchen window, taking the Corvallis self-serve culture to the next level. It was fun but the food was meh. Ted’s beer was great though, and it’s nice that they serve a small size option for lunch. But we don’t need to go back for a meal, not worth the price.
Observation 5: Waiting for the bus on the way home, we saw 3 groups of daycare kids, all decked out in their reflective vests. They have 4 adults, 2 men and 2 women, for about 12-15 kids (they were moving too much, I didn’t count). They got on the bus with us, along with what looked like a middle school class of kids too–it was crowded! You often see daycares taking kids out for a walk near their facility, on a walking path and especially into the woods, so it was interesting to see them downtown. These were kindergarten age kids, so it must be an educational opportunity to learn how to get around out in the world safely. There definitely is an attitude that you should let kids have opportunities and take reasonable risks to mature and learn. The adults were 
so patient with them, lots of smiles and gentle corrections to stay with the group and stop chasing pigeons.
Observation 6: Anders experienced a more relaxed attitude about where kids can go last week at school too. He forgot his gym clothes at home, so his teacher just let him leave school to run home to get them! Ted and I were both at work, and we live so close that it just takes a few minutes, and he has keys, but they would never let him do that in Corvallis even though we live just as close! He said it was weird walking out of the school because some playground staff was out with some other kids and they didn’t say anything to him, he could just walk off of the school grounds. We were fine with it, just so different.
