January 31: Ted at Work and in our Habitat

  Ted at work: On Wednesday I tagged along with Ted to work so that we could go downtown to give yet more documents to the bank.

His building is the same as it was 12 years ago, with the greenhouse-style atrium and offices with windows that open out to the center of the building.

There was also a choir singing in the lobby!

We had a downtown date, starting with the bank. Fingers crossed that this is the last trip to deliver documents. They take a copy, mail it to the main office in Oslo, and eventually we will get a letter with account agreements to sign and mail back, and then they will finally send us cards and such in the mail. I’m starting to wonder if every bank account comes with a 10,000 kroner starter fund or something, because not just anyone can get a bank account. The security codes that come with a bank account are also used as sign-in IDs for other services, such as the app that the kids’ school uses, so it feels like something we should see through, along with the little details about Ted getting paid and paying our rent.

We took a familiar walk from campus through Bakklandet, a cute neighborhood full of cool shops and old buildings. There is also the bike lift, the only one in the world, where you can take your bike up this steep hill instead of walking it! It’s not operational in the winter, but when we tried it before it was almost impossible to use, at least for us newbies.

Going from Bakklandet to downtown you cross the Gamle Bybro, the Old Town Bridge, where a kiss brings good luck. We never miss that opportunity. Looking back toward Bakklandet, you see the Kristiansren Festning (Fortress) overlooking the city.

We had a mini-date downtown with a little shopping and lunch at Habitat, one of the hip restaurants in town. It was delicious–great pizzas and salads loaded with toppings. Ted had a beer brewed in-house and I had a kombucha. They have great games to play while you hang out, so we played a little Code Names (in Norwegian, that was a vocabulary builder) and Ticket to Ride, Scandinavia version. We figured that it cost us about 25% more than a similar meal would cost in Corvallis, but the food was much better than other places here and with the games and ability to stay, relax, and play a game, it was totally worth it. The 25% premium is coincidentally the amount of the sales tax, so we were also paying the Norwegian state for the privilege of being here.

Click on the pictures in the gallery!