Author: Velkommen

You proved my pattern wrong! Saturday for the past 2 weeks had the lowest readership (again, I don’t know who). But yesterday, I had the 2nd highest readership yet with 28 visitors! Welcome!

Sunday morning started with getting to the bus to go to the International Church of Stavanger, which meets at MHS. It is a wonderful multi-cultural worship in English. When it was time for the children’s song, the front was filled with about 20 kids from many different countries. Anya said, “Wow! It’s the opposite of Cross of Christ!” with our few kids and limited ethnic backgrounds.

Some of the worship leadership team was hit with the flu, so we were encouraged to sing loudly, and we heard a guest pastor from Norway, who just returned from Myanmar.

After worship and some fellowship, we walked from MHS to the center of Stavanger via Gamle Stavanger (Old Stavanger), which is quite picturesque. To prove it, here’s the picture.

I saw in the paper that one of these houses is for sale, but I’ll pass.

At the harbor and city center, we stopped for a Sunday treat, Dolly Dimple’s pizza. For $38, we had a “large” cheese pizza (probably medium by American standards) and 2 sodas with free refills. However, we also had window seats with a great view of the harbor at a mellow time of day. (Things don’t seem to pick up on Sundays until about 2:00 pm.) Here’s the view to my left.

We will welcome friends here on July 2, as their cruise will port in Stavanger that morning. Then, it might look more like this:

Knut says that the cruise industry likes Stavanger because of the deep water port right into the center of the city. They don’t have to bus people into the town.

As I looked out the other window, a bit to my right, here’s my view of the Stavanger Cathedral from the restaurant.

As we sat and dined (and tried to get our $5.17 worth of soda with refills), the weather changed from sunny to rainy to light hail to rainy to sunny to more hail to sunny. The joke is that if you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes. Being close to the ocean means changes in weather, a bit more milder winters, but also there is quite a bit of wind, which is biting cold in the winter.

We caught the #3 bus home–a new route for me. As we were departing from the downtown bus stand, it made sense as the bus stop is closer to our house than the #2 route. Typically, I take the #2 bus, because I get on it close to MHS. So it makes sense to stay on the same bus instead of switching buses, waiting for the bus in the cold and wet.

Since this was a new route, I wasn’t quite sure where to get off. Usually, there is a display and audio that goes through the litany of stops. (I practice my pronunciation–in my mind–against the audio listing each next stop.) So, I got out my phone to see the map. With GPS, 4G, and the bus app, I can actually watch the pointer move along the road. Unfortunately, I misread the small print and got of at Tornerosevein instead of Tronesveien. We had a 3 km (1.86 mile) walk that was a little chilly, but with a good view of the fjord.

We’re home and warm with left over pizza in our fridge. We had a good walk, in spite of the early bus stop.

Anya is back to school tomorrow. With her sickness and winter break, she’s only had 4 days of school since January 23!

Starting at the end of the day, we just finished watching A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly. (Did you realize they played husband and wife in the movie Noah too?)

So, when I opened up my blog page, the “dashboard” has a graphic showing how many visitors per day over the last 2.5 or so weeks. I pointed out that Saturdays are the low days (which will be you folks). Now this became funny as John Nash’s schizophrenia in A Beautiful Mind is represented by his obsession with finding patterns. She’s not concerned yet, but I may be loosing a bit of touch with reality on this PhD journey. Good thing that Anya is here to keep me sane, obligating me to get out and about.

So, we did today. We walked to town and had lunch at McDonalds for $28. Norway is second place on the Big Mac Index at $6.30. It was #1 until the Swiss Franc was unpegged from the Euro in January. But if you are in Ukraine, you can get a Big Mag for $1.20.

http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index?fsrc=PS/cemea/ggl/gen/big-mac-index

Our walk about led to us discovering several shopping areas that are connected by skywalks. We did a bit of grocery shopping, as I need to keep a steady supply of small groceries that can fit in my backpack on the way home. Anya won in her appeal, and I bought Kinder Eggs, which are banned in the USA.

Lastly, we figured out how to recycle “pante” plastic bottles. It is estimated that Norway recycles 93% of all plastic bottles. A 1.5 litre bottle has a $.33 deposit on it, which is paid and then either refunded or donated to the Red Cross (and entered into a lottery). We donated to the Red Cross this time, but we didn’t win the lottery. (Is it really a lottery if you didn’t by a ticket, but were given a ticket as an incentive to donate to the Red Cross?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFxy1TgXMz8

More writing and less reading today for me, which focused on the Maasai worldview and hierarchical power structures, wrapping up with Kimaasai words and concepts for curse.  Eng’oki is where sin and curse are basically synonyms. That’s different from my worldview, where if I sin, I don’t expect some malevolent curse to strike my health and well-being, much less that of my family.

Anya finished an essay on sacrifice for her online English course. I couldn’t talk her in to do it on a Maasai sacrificial ritual to remove curses. Go figure.

At the end of the day, when there is additional bus fare (after 1700) and my mind is mush, we took off for Ikea. It is about 3 Km away, but not too far of my normal bus route. We had dinner and dessert. The menu is quite different from USA Ikea, as there is no chicken strips! We shared a chicken fillet cob-type salad and Oreo cake with sodas for about $15.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped as we walked about 1 Km to the big mall where Anya wanted to get some tapioca at the Asian grocery. Happy New Year, and welcome the year of the goat! We also picked up a few grocery items. I spent about five minutes contemplating all the options of honey, trying to figure out what everything means. I went for what I know and supported the Norwegian honey business.

Anya is being a good sport putting up with some very boring days on school holiday doing her online English course and some Netflix shows while I work. So, a trip to Ikea was a way to give her something to look forward to. Is it kind of sad when Ikea is the highlight of the day?

We were home all day. I only walked outside to get the mail. I now have my bank debit card. The PIN came separately, but it was in the same mail box, so I’m not sure how secure it really is coming “separately.”

I finished Once Intrepid Warriors by anthropologist Dorothy Hodgson. There were finally some glimmers of hope: 1) education in general, but especially for the women due to limited gender roles in a traditional society, narrowed even further by “development,” and 2) the opportunities for women to have community through the Christian church. These are over simplifications, but my brain is too tired to do more with them.

Then I read a paper by Fr. Gene Hillman on Maasai Religion, broadening my sources and some details. He had some more Kimaasai names for the Maasai creator, Engai, and specifics on blessings and curses. The examples written were in the blessings category, which is probably good that I’m not learning Maasai curse words!

I did a bit more writing, broadening my sources, and then started on Naomi Kipury’s Oral Literature of the Maasai. These are the stories that relay myths related to cosmogony and cultural roles of men and women, i.e., why women no longer have cows, relaying that they were too focused on their children and the cows wandered away. That’s why men own the cows. Hmm.

Anya was able to Skype with her friends, Annaliese and JaLynn, tonight. It is wonderful to have the ability to easily keep in touch and have a highlight to a long day of not much else exciting. She did finish her essay on a poem that she had to analyse for her online English class, and she is doing a bit of typing up quotes for me. She gets a bit of income, and I save time typing up quotes from books.

Anya’a classmate, with whom she went to the movie last night, is off in Bergen to discuss her upcoming confirmation with her grandparents. Confirmation is a rite of passage here, where youth get their bunad (traditional dress). They are quite expensive, often reaching $4,000! Here’s an example.

However, the traditional colors and designs are geographic specific. Here’s the bunad for our area, Rogaland.

And the young men get male versions:

Curiously, because confirmation is a rite of passage, even the atheists have a confirmation. I wonder what they confirm? (Atheists are called humanists here, which is an incongruity with too narrow parameters of this word.)

Most of my day has been reading the history of development projects in Tanzanian Maasailand in the 20th century (Once Intrepid Warriors by anthropologist Dorothy Hodgeson). It isn’t encouraging, but it is informative. Unfortunately, “development” goals seem to have been almost exclusively determined by the colonial powers, or after independence, by non-Maasai tribes with little regard for the pastoralist way of life. The few Western advocates for the Maasai were often belittled or disregarded. Thus, development has left the Maasai with great mistrust of the government who tax heavily and produce little benefit. All along, they were losing land to European settlers and non-Maasai agriculturalist tribes and cut off from permanent water holes for their cattle. A mostly sad story with just a few glimmers of hope.

I shift my work day based on the weather, so that Anya can get out. We knew we had morning sun from the weather forecast, so we found the thrift store and a few other stores. Anya now has a soccer ball (on sale for $8) to practice her juggling. We walked home as the dark clouds were rolling in.

This evening, Anya was invited to a movie, The Theory of Everything, about Steven Hawking. So she is glad to have a friend to do something with and go to a movie that she was hoping to see. I sent her off with 200 Kroner for the 150 Kroner movie (just under $20, but a good investment in making friends).

In case you’re curious, 26 people viewed yesterday’s blog. I don’t know who or where, but I do know that there seems to be a developing pattern that Sunday is the lowest viewing days with only about 6 readers. I know that this includes the grandparents, so they can keep in touch with Anya’s life.

Back to more Maasai “development” history.

Sunday evening ended with a FaceTime connection with the Tanzanian mission team leaders for our church, Cross of Christ Lutheran, as we continue in preparations for our July return. It is amazing to have the capacity to converse in real time over 9 hours of time zone.

Anya woke with a sore throat, but it seems to have subsided. Her cough is lingering, but is greatly reduced.

I took a walk in the middle of the day to stretch my legs and restock the fridge. My groceries are limited to what I can carry. It was beautiful and sunny, but it has been very windy all day, as the creaks and pops of this old house remind us.

So, most of our day was computer time. Anya with some of her online English class, me with the Maasai chapter. I’m a little concerned that I’m depending too heavily on Spencer’s ethnography, but he is the one who is specifically dealing with powers and Providence in the Maasai worldview. I’m laying things out with an eye to broaden my sources with further readings. I know I can draw upon my Maasai informants once I review the transcripts.

I learned this past summer when Anya was at Norwegian camp and I was laboriously writing on my dissertation that this PhD journey is less proof that I have any significant intelligence, however it does demonstrate that I can withstand the barrage of a thousand self-doubts every day and keep on keeping on. One more day of keeping on!

Anya wasn’t feeling well enough to walk to the bus and travel for 40 minutes to the Stavanger International Church, so we had a bit of a reflection on the names of God for our Sabbath.

I added a nice walk on a beautiful day. There is a cliff nearby, which I see out our southern window. I figured out on Google maps how to get there and explored it. The picture is evidence of my journey and the view  and the beauty of the day. Norway has such a love of the outdoors that any unfenced and untended land is open to the public, even for camping for one day! Beyond one day, you need the permission of the land owner.

On my walk, I moved on and explored the park close by with a frozen pond. There is a gym, swimming pool, several football (soccer) pitches (fields), and the Sandnes Stadium, where the professional football club, the Sandnes Ulf, play (http://www.sandnesulf.no/).

We live across the street from three tall apartment buildings which are part of a senior center. So, I ended my walk on the trail around these buildings, going up over a hill on the west side with another great view from the top.

It sounds like half the town left for winter break to go skiing. This is great skiing time, and people are serious about skiing here. After all, they say that Norwegian mothers give birth to babies with skis on! One of my PhD colleagues was mentioning–incredulously–that his nephew’s friend didn’t have skis. It would be like me being incredulous that one of Anya’s teenage friends doesn’t have a cell phone! No wonder this tiny country of 5.1 million has the most Winter Olympic medals than any other nation! (FYI: The population of Washington State is 7 million and the whole USA is over 320 million.)

WINTER MEDALS			GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
1	Norway		118	111	100	329
2	United States of America		96	102	83	281
3	USSR		78	57	59	194
4	Germany		76	78	53	207
5	Canada		62	55	53	170

Source: http://www.olympic.it/english/medal/id_winter.htm

The evening ended with an invitation to walk with Tina’s family over to her mother’s home for sweet buns. Her mother, Randi, is the administrator at the Stavanger Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Norway, completed in 1150!  See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger_Cathedral. Randi is also a gracious host, and the sweet buns were wonderful! This is a tradition on the Sunday before Lent starts, enjoying decadent sweetness before the fasting of lent.

It was a cold walk home with a wicked wind, but I had prepared well, remembering my reflective vest for the dark of night.

It’s great that Anya is well enough to be out. Her last fever was on Thursday, and the cough is subsiding. However, Anya had a bought of “cabin fever” and was eager to get out.

On weekdays after 5 (1700, as they use “military time”) and on weekends, up to two adults and three children can travel for free on the bus with a Flexi Pass. So, we were able to travel today at no additional cost.

We took the bus to Kvadrat, the 2nd largest mall in Norway, when a factory was re-purposed. It is large, but not as big as Bellevue Square, and only one rather large store, which was H&M. Here was her favorite find at H&M. She wanted to buy it, but $30 was a bit much for this fake American team.

The mall did have real American Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (at least the brand is American), which Anya was eager to have. With a 2 for 1 Valentine’s Day special, Anya had 2 scoops of ice cream in a waffle cone for $4.60. (That means that typically 1 scoop is that price!)

We checked out several stores and lots of mental notes about where to find things. There was a nice Asian grocery, where we splurged on a lychee juice for Anya and soybean milk for me (like my early days in Hong Kong), at $3 per 12 oz. can! It was a nice time to explore and get out.

In the evening, one of Anya’s friends from school (from her 4 days of attendance last week), invited her to participate in a Fastelavn ritual. We were clueless about what was going on, but Anya came home with birch branches with colorful feathers tied on.

Here’s an explanation from http://mylittlenorway.com/2010/04/norwegian-easter-traditions/

Carnival – Karneval

• In Norway there is a slow run up to the Easter celebrations.  Carnival is the first event and is the Sunday to Tuesday before the fast season.  It is called fastelaven, ‘eve of the fast’.  It is now a children’s celebration with parties and fancy dress costumes in schools and kindergartens.  However, in old Catholic tradition in Norway, before the reformation, carnival was the last feast before Lent.  Carne- vale, meaning ‘meat good-bye’, was a time to indulge before the fast.  People wore masks and costumes and paraded in the street before stuffing themselves silly with rich foods.  However, after Norway became Protestant, the holiday lost its religious meaning.
• Fastelavensboller, (bread buns) are popular to make at this time.  They are traditionally boller with butter and sugar but today it is usual in some places in Norway to have sugar-coated donuts.  In pagan times the Norse put up birch trees inside the house to invite the smell of Spring.  The Norske sanitetsforening, a Norwegian women’s humanitarian organisation founded in 1896, renewed the tradition by selling birch twigs with feathers attached to raise money for their charity.  Nowadays feathered birch twigs are a decorative feature in the Norwegian home.

It was a beautiful day with a warm sun, but especially because Anya was well enough to get out and enjoy it.

Anya was feeling almost well enough to go to school, but I thought she was still coughing too much. This is her school’s last day before their winter break, so it would be a bit out of step, perhaps, to show up for one day after being gone a week, and then school is out for a week. Fortunately, there is no academic pressure for her. We don’t even need to transfer any transcript from her Norwegian semester if it isn’t strategic, as Anya is ahead in earning her high school graduation requirements in Bellevue.

My job today was to get a bank account. So, this was third trip to Danske Bank. On my first attempt, I was told that my residency permit number was not my D-number, and I need a D-number with my passport to open a bank account. So, when the D-number arrived in the post (mail), I went to Danske Bank again with my laptop, as I was told I would need proof of employment. I gave my D-number and showed my laptop with the PDF of my research fellowship stipend. They said they needed a hard copy or I could email it to them, but they didn’t have wifi for customers so I couldn’t email it to them there. I asked if I needed anything else, and they said no. So, I collected my hardcopy from my office at MHS and returned this morning, having filled out the account application form that they provided. When I arrived, they were training a trainee, and so I was the person who helped provide the trainee the opportunity to go through every step and learn the process, including how to make photocopies. Then they returned and asked for a copy of my rental contract. I had it at home but not with me, so I explained that this was my third time here, and last time I asked what else I needed, and she replied that didn’t need anything else. I was just explanatory, but inside frustrated that I would have to walk up the hill and aback in the rain. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to ask for my D-number form back, as they were holding my original copy.

So, I walked back home up the hill thinking that I couldn’t get the Norwegian residency permit without the rental contract, and the residency permit was required for the D-number, which required the proof of employment. Why don’t they trust the capable Norwegian government to have verified these contracts? Fortunately, the rain had stopped as I was grumbling on the walk up the hill, realizing that this banking ordeal is taking away from my work day today.

At the house, I got my rental contract, but then I thought, I’ll just call Sparebank, which is just down the street from Danske Bank. I called, and while their website does not have an English interface option (Danske Bank does, which is why I originally chose them), their phone tree has a “Press 9 for English.” I was helped on the phone and was told that indeed, I could also get an account for Anya (so she has a debit card). Danske Bank told me that I couldn’t get an account for Anya. Thus, I walked down the hill with all my documentation and went into the Sparebank. I was greeted and within a few minutes walked out of there showing only my passport and D-number!

So, I “voted” with my feet. Now the question is, should I notify Danske Bank that I’m not going to open an account, because it was so easy at Sparebank? I don’t ask this to rub it in their face, but there is that form that I filled out with all my personal data (they even wanted my USA social security number) and was asked to sign it, but then later they asked to see the rental contract. So, do I go back on Monday and get that form back or call to have them destroy it? Or wait and see if they call me and ask why I didn’t return. Or just perhaps, someone will see this form filled out and signed and figure it is OK to go, and I will end up with two bank accounts, which I will realize when a Danske Bank ATM card appears in the post!?!

I stopped at the grocery store and picked up food for a “real” meal and made Persian chicken soup tonight (minus the fresh mint leaves, as I didn’t buy a mint plant). Anya made cupcakes for dessert.

Anya’s Thursday was centered around getting well, which means resting (watching Netflix, braiding hair, a perhaps a little math but no online English course yet).

My Thursday was centered around Knut’s Maasai research project, the prestigious grant from the state of Norway. I took the bus to MHS and joined in the Hebrew reading session, which wasn’t expected of me, but I figured it was good to keep in the Hebrew text. Knut added quite a bit of commentary on textual criticism, which was very informative and filling a gap for me, so I really am glad I participated. We worked through three verses!

The next two hours were discussing Vincent Donovan’s book, Christianity Rediscovered, which is his autobiographical reflections on first-contact evangelism with the Maasai in the Loliondo area in the mid-1960s. The discussion included integration into our PhD projects and other research projects. It was good conversation and gracious challenging to stretch our thinking.

At the end, I asked Knut for his reflections on the PhD defense from yesterday, and if he were her coach, how would he have coached her. There was quite a bit of discussion about the challenges of multi-disciplinary disputations, as you need opponents who can speak to the multiple aspects of the dissertation as there are probably not individuals who are equipped to address them. He gave examples of a dissertation from Oslo that compared the “science of theatre” with liturgical practices, so you needed experts in liturgy and experts in theatre.

The wake up call for me was that Knut suggested that a committee for me and the other Maasai projects could include an anthropologist who has studied the Maasai. This would be interesting, as the typical anthropologist (or at least the stereotype) is pretty antagonistic to religious practitioners who aren’t indigenous. However, I did clarify that there is a report that the committee of opponents writes, which gives a sense of where some or most of the questioning will go in the defense. So, at least I won’t be going in “blind.”

Sidenote: In traditional Norwegian houses, there is a threshold between each room. Not only would this be limiting for a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, it would be difficult for those with walkers or wheelchairs. However, none of these are in our life currently. I am glad that I can and I enjoy walking, as I walk to the bus, to the bank, to the store, to the school.