Hello World

I have much news, and I realize it has been quite some time since you had a substantive update from me. To begin simply, I am doing well. I am comfortable with my job, with Norwegian, and with living in Oslo. I don't have many friends or any truly close friends, but I've accepted it. The general loneliness is not stopping me from enjoying this place, even if I end up spending too many hours in my room on my laptop. The DSE program is going very well, and I know that I am doing an excellent job as Teaching Assistant. Tim and I have also developed a very good working relationship. My Norwegian class is going fairly well, and I'm confident that if it continues in this direction I will receive marks I can be satisfied with. Spring is finally in the air, which has brought me many smiles already and lifted my general mood. I'm already spending more time exploring Oslo, and I'm looking forward to getting my skateboard under my feet and rolling around.


Major recent events:
-A student from last semester, Charloette, got married to her Norwegian boyfriend last Friday. I had the pleasure to take part in the festivities. It was great fun, and I had several excellent conversations while drinking plenty of whiskey. Charloette and I are very much enjoying a relationship based on mutual friendship, rather than a student-TA dynamic.

-I spent Valentine's Weekend in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. I absolutely loved the city! It is an architecturally fascinating city, as it is a blend of industrial/working class and university town. The city also had a fine design museum and a truly superb Museum of World Culture. The latter museum had an exhibition titled "83 Ways to Change the World" that highlighted all of the different ways to challenge domination. This included alternative methods of producing media (such as 'zines and pirate radio), the radical greening of public spaces known as guerrilla gardening, publicly demonstrating in support of Ungdomshuset (a radical youth centre which was torn down last year in Copenhagen), and more well known forms of disobedience such as the American civil rights movement and the fight against apartheid in South Africa. I traveled to Gothenburg with Jule, an acquaintance from Germany, but I don't believe our budding friendship has survived the trip. 'nough said.

-A recent post of mine commented on the somewhat absurd number of roommate I've had. Well, one of those old roommates is getting hitched. I lived with Janice for nearly two years at "The Terrace," though we had lost touch with each other and I hadn't heard news of her in about a year and half. We used to sit on our stoop, have a few smokes and beers, and complain about classes, love, and the weird smells coming from our landlord. Since those days of yore she has found a Frenchman, and they plan to marry this summer. Here is a photo from the epic summer 2006 party, the Love In. Shockingly, it is the only photo I have of the two of us. Otherwise I would have chosen one that was more flattering...


-I watched Twin Peaks in its entirety, all twenty-nine episodes. I suggest you all go out and do the same if you haven't seen them yet. I suggest a snack of black coffee and donuts.


-I've also been doing a little bit of reading lately, but not much. As I alluded to in my travel re-cap I've been reading Dostoevski: The Brothers Karamazov. I've been reading it in bits and pieces for about a month and I'm still not even half way through. It is long and dense, but interesting enough that I won't quit. I also read Teaching Community by bell hooks. It has helped me to positively reflect on and heal from the failures of last semester. Already I can tell it has influenced the methods and goals of my teaching.

Recent class highlights:
-Attending a conference with the President of the European Commission and the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The conference was specifically about cooperation between the EU and Norway on climate change, but an undercurrent was the bizarre relationship between the EU and Norway.
-Attending a seminar at the U.S. Ambassador's Residence on the legacy of Martin Luther King, including presentations from representatives of the Oslo City Council, the Organization against Public Discrimination, Pan-African Women's Alliance, and the Norwegian Center for Human Rights. It was superb and allowed students to reflect on the acceptance of diverse populations in Norway and America. It especially challenged them on some of their preconceptions of Norway being a progressive utopia and America being a global bogeyman with insurmountable racism.

Finally, I've posted a few dozen photos from the last couple months up on the flickr site. There are shots from the Gothenburg trip, the wedding celebration, and a couple trips into the woods.