Snorting snowflakes

Well Mariana went skiing this weekend, or more like attempted skiing.
Since Zoyla worked the night shifts at the hospital this weekend, Stig took Sebastian and me to his hometown, Voss, a small town not too far from Bergen.

The left dot is where I live, and Voss is the upper red dot.

Stig will probably laugh that I called it a town but compared to San Diego...it's a town. But size doesn't matter, Voss was beautiful with its small center and frozen lake, the green trees on the mountains sprinkled with fresh snow. But despite its beauty, it was still cold! A beautiful but stinging -14!! This year has been the coldest year Norway has had in over 110 years. What a coincidence that it be the same year that I choose to come.
We arrived at Stig's parents house and I was greeted warmly by Steiner and Else. shortly after arriving Stig handed me snow gear and once dressed like an Eskimo we left to go skiing. I've been snowboarding before but never have I been skiing. One board is enough to handle, plus when you're on the slopes, skiing just isn't that cool. In Europe however, skiing is it, its the thing to do. So there I was bundled up and feet strapped to 2inch wide skis and my two poles. Right beside me; little 2 year old Sebastian with his own two skis. He was my inspiration! Altogether it was Grandpa Steiner, Stig, Sebastian and me! Wish I had pictures but I didn't want to bring the camera knowing that I would be falling down. Sure enough I did fall, but not until after we split up. Now let me pause to tell you that this wasn't downhill skiing, it was cross country skiing, which can best be described as hiking with skis. Sebastian got tired after a good distance, so Stig stayed with him and Grandpa Steiner took me to ski some more. Then we came to a slope...that was the least graceful I have ever looked in my entire life, and i have had some bad "far from graceful" falls and incidents. Trying to ski/walk/or whatever you want to call what I was doing, up this little hill was the easiest yet hardest thing ever. Easiest because it wasn't even that high, it was a ridiculously tiny slope. Hardest because every time I put a ski forward it would slide backwards and sure enough I went with it. After several minutes of failed attempts a family passed by, a mom, dad and two little kids. I was put to shame by those little runts, they shuffled up that slope like it was nothing. Eager to get up that mound i tried harder causing myself to fall even harder. Then the lightbulb went on and I figured heck if I cant go up the slope facing forward I will take my 6ft. or so skis and go up sideways! It worked and I finally made it up to the top. I can't fail to say that Grandpa Steiner helped me on this great success of mine. Now i know where Stig gets his patience from. But Grandpa Steiner did not even let me triumph my success for 5 seconds; as soon as I got up there he said "ok lets go back because there's more slopes that way". Believe it or not, in that freezing cold weather I managed to work up a sweat.
We went back to the house where Grandma Else was making dinner. We had this amazing stew with rice and salad. For dessert we had something called Dravle. Before they brought it out, Stig told me I didn't have to try it if i didn't want to. I'm guessing that was some sort of warning for what was about to come. Grandpa Steiner said he was eager to see my reaction. When Stig came out with what at first looked like a bucket of paint I was a bit scared, I won't lie. Then when he opened it I was...sort of hesitant, but I would never travel somewhere and not try or experience things from that country or culture. So sure enough I dug my spoon into what looked like pooped out sea sponge.

I loved it! It tasted a bit like flan, or also known as custard, only not as sweet. i'm pretty sure that had i never had flan, the consistency of Dravle would have weirded me out, but since I was used to that feeling it didn't come as a shock. The saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" stands true!
So dinner was great, and I seriously felt like I was in a Rick Steve's travel show. Simply delightful! Oh I must also add that Grandma Else gave me hand knitted socks! I'm sporting them right now as I'm typing this! She has this stash of hand knitted socks, I thought it was adorable and had to take a picture of it.



A view of Voss!


Every time a snowflake landed near my nose I would automatically sniff it in. why? I don't know, but I was snorting snowflakes!


Shoveling snow! Americans....learn to appreciate lawn mowers.


All our hard work...only its been snowing the whole day and all that work is covered up again!



She said not to post a picture up but i love this one so much! Happy Birthday Zoyla!!!

Well I'm off to bed! Until next time! Hadet!!

The Happy Loner

Well I have managed to go into the center all by myself without getting lost! I had Tuesday off so I slept in which was simply delicious! Normally Sebastian wakes me up at 5:30 or 6 at the latest, but since Tuesday are my official days off his parents took care of him and were really nice to let me sleep! I woke up at 9am! I got up and no one was home, Sebastian was at daycare, Stig at work and Zoyla at school. Made myself breakfast and then got ready to leave! I walked for about 20 minutes to the nearest bus stop and already I knew it was going to be a cold day. In Soreide the area I live in it's a bit warmer than in the center, Bergen is literally in between and surrounded by 7 mountains so the wind chill is a lot colder. So if Soreide was cold...then Bergen would be freezing. But! I did not let that get in my way of touring and having the day off. First I had to go to the bank to try and open up a bank account. My luck wears thin on some occasions, and this was one of them. I got stuck with one of the snobbiest cashier ladies ever. The moment i walked in and asked if I could open a bank account she gave me this look like as if I were from the peasant class and she were royalty and I had summoned the ridiculous courage to come forth and ask her a question. So she said no because I would have to be in Norway longer than 4 months...Im going back with a new look and saying Im staying for a year, Ill also work up a British accent, lets see if that works.
Well after being rejected by the almighty b**** I went to the fish market and took some pictures and checked out several stores.
If you look closely you can see how the earth has shifted the buildings and that some are extremely crooked!

This is right on the harbour!
After my touring I was hungry and sure enough...I went to IKEA. I know I know, I couldnt help myself! so thanks to my tour guide Fredrik from Trondheim I took the suggested buses to Aasane and had myself an 69NOK($11)dish of Swedish meatballs!

As you can see they don't serve it with mashed potatoes like they do in the States, instead its 3 boiled potatoes! Still good!
I walked around the shopping centers in Aasane and then went back to the center!
Thanks to the Norway book my boyfriend, Tyler, gave me, I went by the recommendations that Mr. Frommers highly speaks of! First on the list was Akvariet, the Aquarium! Now I knew beforehand it wouldnt be a Sea World, and that it would be small, but I enjoy anything, and then to later be able to say "Yes I've been to the Bergen Aquarium" makes the walk and the entrance fee of 100NOK($17) worth it! Mr. Frommer's says its a 15 minute walk from the center, lies! It was about half an hour, or maybe Mr. Frommer's made this walk when it was a nice warm day and there wasn't ice on the sidewalks. you know how slippery it gets when there's soap in the bathtub? Well its like that, this is a picture of what my sidewalks look like.

I arrived just in time for the seal show and after walked around and waited for the penguin feeding to start! In between that one hour it started snowing!


The minute the penguin feeding was over I headed back to the center freezing cold and ready to go home. I hopped back on the bus and walked home. So the happy loner had a great time with her guide book and camera!
Now as far as my Norwegian goes, I can pick up on several things now when listening to Zoyla and Stig talk, and Im enrolled in Norwegian classes. I was originally going to start next week, but when Zoyla called today to confirm location they told her that they were thinking of canceling next weeks class. What notice!So we transferred me to the one that started yesterday. I hope I didnt miss out on too much. So I am off to school tomorrow morning!! Lets see how that goes! Well beloved, thank you for keeping up with me! It is now 10pm and I think I shall do some homework for my online class! Hadet!
Oh PS, I dont know what this literally translates to but to any Norwegian reading this please to not take offense I am merely translating it as any American would...
Bergen's Tennis Faggot School.
Natta!!

No matter where in the world, IKEA still rocks!

So remember when i said I would probably stick out like a sore thumb? Well good news to all. I don't, I blend in quite well thank you very much! Everyone is a walking marshmallow here! I've also gotten used to the unceasing struggle of dressing and undressing every time we walk in or out of a building. The cold is like a slap in the face and walking through the city is like walking with a cloud in your face. Every time you breathe you emit this vapor cloud and you walk right into it. They are not the small vapor clouds that us Californians get on a chilly Monday morning on our way to work or school. No I'm like the train who thinks he can, puffing and puffing and puffing!
I made enchiladas for my host family today, but to any latin readers, please forgive me, I had to use tomato puree for the sauce. They weren't bad, and Sebastian loved them since they were cheese enchiladas. He loves cheese like a fat kid loves cake. Stig, my host dad, is making an apple cake, or maybe its pie, but he called it cake.
Now I know you all are dying to hear about how IKEA went!

lol. Well they do have some really cool designs that we don't have back in the states. They're menu is a bit different too. Back home the menu is the meatballs dish, the spaghetti dish and I think there is a fish and chips one or chicken nuggets, not sure. Here they have this sausage dish with beans and eggs and salad, they have a shrimp salad dish, This bright green cake that looks like it came straight out of the movie Monsters Inc...I'm going to take a second to appreciate my position right now. Im laying down on my bed with a marvelous view outside of the fjords and the snow filled city, smoke coming from the chimneys, the family I live with downstairs laughing and the smell of cake filling up the house! I look outside to see kids running up hills with their sleds and a Norway flag swaying on its post. I can't help but smile....ok back to the story. Well we did go to Ikea after picking up Stig's cousin Ranveig (told you I murdered her name before)where she bought a bookshelf, and then we went to buy my phone, a new vacuum, some groceries, and Stig bought himself a nice Nokia digital camera. Then we went to a science museum called Vilvite, where I turned 3 years old the moment I walked in!It has a lot of cool things, oh and i forgot to mention that before you walked in, as you paid your entrance, they gave all the females one color wristband and the males another color wristband. The wristbands were for exhibitions inside where you would scan the bar code on the wristband and play little games or take tests. It was a male vs. female exhibition. they also had a lot of things for kids too, like a dedicated room for making big bubbles, playing with sand, motion detected floors and walls!A big bicycle ride where you can ride around upside down, which Stig got on.


We went to have lunch at this nice restaurant called BIEN, and it used to be an old pharmacy, thought that was kind of cool! The waiter was from England and kind of creepy, or maybe he was just staring because I was talking to Sebastian in spanish...who knows!
Well to be honest, this blog has taken me all day! Ive been coming back and forth to it. I started at noon and it is now near 8pm.
Not that long ago I went for a driving lesson with Stig, well not really driving but how to drive a manual car. God seriously gave that man patience! I stalled about a total of 10 times. I keep forgetting to put it back in 1st after I brake, and the clutch does not like me. I was able to drive the car back home but only because there was only one stop, and I would have stalled had Stig not told me to put it back in 1st. I don't think manual cars were made for people with ADHD....I'm just saying!
But to finish this off. I have to say that I am with the best family ever. I could not have been luckier. They are so kind and loving to their son and make me feel like Im part of the family. I will truly miss Stig, Zoyla and Sebastian when I leave

Please and Thank You are the magic words.

"Please", 'thank you", "your welcome", "sorry" and "excuse me" do not exist in the Norwegian vocabulary.

Sure there is vaer sa snill, takk, inge arsak, beklager, and unnskyld meg, but do they use them? NO! Everyone just cuts one another off like they dont exist. Its like the world revolves around them and it does not matter where anyone else has to go. Yet Norwegians are the nicest people I have ever met. How does that work out?
I went downtown today to get my bus pass for the month, my Norwegian student i.d., and a copy of the house key. I feel so official with it! But as we were walking through the mall to get to the public transportation kiosk, this woman just gets in my way, causing me to, metaphorically speaking, slam on my brakes, so as to not run into her. She didn't even say sorry or anything, and I know she saw me because she looked at me before she crossed in front of me and sped up so as to make it before I did. Had I not been in Norway, I would have said something. But being the foreigner that I am I kept my mouth shut, saved a mental image of her and planned my revenge for the next time I saw her, its a small town, ill get her!
Well I met my host dad, finally, he was away on business. With my host mom I speak spanish...which is funny because I have spoken mostly spanish since I got here, but with Stig, I speak English...hold on be right back, gotta go to the bathroom....ok I'm back, all that damn fiber in the bread...which by the way reminds me that my best friend would love it here! Shes a total hippie. Full of nature and the food is nutritious, no additives or instantaneous things. Anyways, host dad, he's nice, and he loves his country. He keeps teaching me things about Norway or skiing, what Zoyla calls his mistress, and just a few minutes ago we had a taste fest in the kitchen. He was having me taste a bit of everything Norwegian; cheeses, mayonnaise, sausage, jam, salmon, this not so good (to put it kindly) mackerel&tomato paste on ultra fibrous bread, and even brown cheese!! Yes brown cheese! A wonderful invention. I savored every second of that cheese chewing process and was confused as to how brown cheese was made. Stig, knowing lots about food, told me that is made from a mixture of cow and goat’s milk. Its sweetness is due to the way in which it is processed. The milk is cooked until the sugars in it have caramelized, giving the cheese its distinctive brown color and sweet flavor. The milk is then curdled and pressed. That way all the milk retrieved from the cow and goat is used and it is not wasted.
Brown cheese is one of the many new items in my diet. Luckily, embracing Norwegian cuisine won’t be too difficult. Only 4 days living in Norway and my American palate is a distant memory, happily replaced with cheese and bacon spread.
Well my lovelies, I shall part for the day. Tomorrow I meet Stig's cousin, who is 20 years old. We are going to IKEA, opening a bank account, getting a cell phone that will not work in the US and touring the city some more! I'm going to give it a shot at what I think I remember her name is, Rynsvine....nope I murdered it! Ill let you know later. She will also be going with us to Austria, so lets hope we get along or that she's not too shy! God Natt! (im sure you can translate that one!)

And now we begin...

The airplane is a place for forgiveness. You must forgive the fact that the man next to you unbuttoned his pants all the way to be more comfortable or when the old lady in front of you reclines her seat into your face. You must even forgive the flight attendant that rammed their beverage cart into your foot while sleeping. Yes, forgiveness, a beautiful thing that will guarantee a much more pleasant trip. If you don’t forgive such occurrences, you will find yourself staring at the man’s stomach in utter disgust, you will want to recline the seat back into the old woman’s head and you would very much like to punch the flight attendant in the face. But all of this is unnecessary as it would lead to a not so very pleasant flight.
So I slept on the plane. Pretty pathetic but I found myself to be a lot more tired than I thought. Must have been the margarita I had before.


I met these two lovely girls at the Chicago airport. One was a professor from Memphis who for the last semester has been teaching at the University in Copenhagen and will teach for one more year, and the other is a “live in the moment” type of girl living in Trondheim. The professor and I met on the train heading towards our terminal and LITM(live in the moment), at the bar. Yes mom I went to the bar. We were all pretty devastated at the fact that our flight would not be leaving at 10:05pm but at 2:30am. Fortunately the Scandinavian Airlines gave everyone a $10.00 voucher to use at the food court. I ordered a chicken Caesar wrap and a chardonnay. We chatted it up at the bar and that is where the professor and I met LITM. We ordered margaritas and continued to sip on them as the hours dragged on.
When the bar finally closed at 11pm we moved out to sit in the food court where we noticed that the guy at McDonalds kept staring at us. LITM kept blowing kisses and he would wave back, so being the good Americans that we are we asked for free apple pie. It took a bit to fully convince him that it would be the good Samaritan thing to do to give these parting young ladies a last chance at American pie before departing. So as you can only imagine, we scored free apple pie from McDonalds at the international terminal in Chicago! God bless easy men!
when I finally got to Copenhagen, Denmark I said goodbye to the two young ladies and waited to board the plane to Norway. It took an hour and a half to get to Norway from Denmark but it went by pretty fast. After landing and getting my luggage at baggage claim I walked through customs to finally meet my host mom and her dad. They had a sign that said “Bienvenidos Mariana a Noruega, wilkommen!” and a noise maker! We went out to their car where we struggled with my two suitcases and then hit the road towards her house. Her house is beautiful and has the best view I have ever seen. The house is mostly made out of wood and is decorated with IKEA stuff!!! I love this family already!! Only difference is that they don’t say IKEA like we do, they say it “ee-keh-ya”. I don’t care how they pronounce it, Im going to the universal four lettered store as soon as I can!!
Since both of Zoyla’s parents are visiting from Venezuela and don’t leave until Thursday I have to stay in Sebastian’s room. Sebastian is the 2 year old that I will help take care of. Zoyla explained that here in Norway they don’t sleep with blankets like we’re used to in the states, instead they sleep with what looks like a comforter, and is called a “dina”. It was the most comfortable thing ever and kept me nice and toasty warm!
Unfortunately Sebastian is sick and woke up several times during the night crying for his mom. I had to get up and comfort him. First thing he said to me was “mocos”, boogers. How charming. Then around 4 or 5 am he woke up and snuck out of his room. I woke up and went to find him in the living room trying to turn the tv on! He is two and knows how to work the control! His grandparents came out wondering what the noise was and took him into their room, leaving me alone in his room! I slept peacefully the rest of the night without any worry that he would sneak out again.
Since he is sick he did not go to preschool and I stayed watching Thomas the train and Barney with my new best friend. Breakfast was bread and lunch was bread with cheese and ham, and I don’t know what dinner will be, but I assure you it will contain bread! Bread to Norwegians is like tortillas to Mexicans. They have it alllll the time. Snack is also bread and cheese. So I don’t know how we’ll do with the weight loss plan ;)

Until next time!!!

Like a sore thumb

This one is a bit outdated and I wrote it a few days before I left for Norway, so please forgive:

"you will stick out like sore thumb" was what the Norwegian foreign exchange student told me a few months ago. i hope he was joking.
But then again I just might, and not because Im Mexican...going to Norway....but because I do not possess the ability to adapt to the cold. Never have, and I dont think I ever will. Just imagine it: A quaint little European citt, cobblestone streets with snow, the people going about their business, and then...a big over sized stuffed pillow walking amongst them. The pillow would obviously be me, with a minimum of 2 jackets on, a beanie, 3 scarves, gloves, and not to mention the sexy thermal underwear I will pridefully be wearing. And lets not forget the obvious: shirt, sweater, pants, 2 pairs of wool socks and snow boots. Do I really want to spend 4 months in -20 degree weather? Call me crazy but YES!! The realization of temperature difference makes my body scream...that's almost 100 degree difference, but gosh darn it I will have a blast even if it means sticking out like a sore thumb and looking like wrapped marshmallows.
It was pretty amusing shopping for this trip. Especially in the dressing room, where other women were trying on pencil skirts and cocktail dresses, while I was trying on wool sweaters and turtlenecks. One lady even laughed at me when i tried on a brown, knee length, down and feather filled jacket. I cant blame her for laughing at what I assume looked like a walking turd with hair. What could I do? Nothing, but try on another huge gray jacket and transform from turd to dust bunny.

Nervousness and Fear have been pestering me for some time now. I fight them off and ignore them from time to time, but they’re just like that friend, (the one you only have as a friend, because it’s somewhat convenient, and you act like they’re your best friend, but you never really hang out with them, let alone talk with them) who keep calling and calling and calling. After so many ignored calls, it comes to the point where you have to answer. Well it finally came to that point with Nervousness and Fear.
I don’t like these guys, they’re not really my type. I rarely hang out with them and when I do I always end up feeling sick. I never make plans to hang out, we just do. And right now we’re hanging out, leaning over my shoulder as my ten fingers play around with these 26 letters.
I told my boyfriend it feels like I have pterodactyls in my stomach…I think they’re hatching a new generation.
My mom says to just breathe and relax and to think about how much I want this…It’s not helping.

When going to live or study abroad, one usually picks countries such as Italy, France, United Kingdom, and Australia…right? I ended up in Norway! Now I don’t mean this in a bad way at all, it’s different yes, but different is always good.
Now Im the kind of person who, when told at a young age that I need to travel the world and see everything there is, thinks you should make every effort to do that. Thanks to my mother and her love for travel, even though she doesn’t do it often, is how I became in love with the thought of having to see the world. Thanks to her, I am now a journalism major with the dream to one day be a travel journalist and work for the travel channel. Watch out Anthony Bourdain and Samantha Brown!
So here I am, a 21 year old, taking a semester off to go live and work in Norway. My name is Mariana, and for the next four months I shall be keeping a blog about my experience as an au pair and student in Norway. What is an au pair you ask? An au pair is when a young adult, mainly between the ages of 17-25, goes abroad to live with a host family and works as a nanny. You get paid, and get free room and board. Pretty sweet deal! How did I get this job? Let’s go back a few years so you understand everything.
In 2007, the year I graduated from high school, I had been accepted to several good universities, but ended up going to a junior college for several reasons. Those reasons are irrelevant. Now due to economy, there have been several changes to the schooling system, one of them being that no university will accept students for spring semesters. I just finished my fall semester with 71 units, and cannot transfer to any other university until fall 2010. So I had two choices, take another semester and only take extracurricular courses or travel.
So I chose travel! I looked for many different ways of traveling at a low cost, and thankfully found the au pair website that led me to my host family. I applied, set up a profile page and waited for a host family to choose me. It was sort of like a dating website, where one can view others profiles, others can view yours and then you take it from there. Well my host family found me, and called me one day at work.
They offered to pay full trip, any vacation trips that the family goes on (which we will, we will be going to Austria), tuition fees, transportation expenses plus my monthly pay.
Stig, my host dad, is a CEO of an electrical engineering company, and is full Norwegian. Zoyla, my host mom is a nurse and is from Venezuela, so she speaks Spanish. And their two-year-old son is Sebastian, who speaks Norwegian and Spanish. My job is to be his nanny and help him learn English! Piece of cake….I hope!
I will be going from 80 degree weather to minus20 degree weather! Big change! How will I survive? I have no idea. This Mexican is not used to cold weather! But Ill have to find some inner warmth and unleash it to save my butt! My boyfriend makes fun of me, because he knows I’m always cold. But ill show him!
So welcome to all my readers. Together we shall travel and experience Norway! So buckle up because we leave in 6 days!!