Day 2

We are getting to know this city. Its large but user friendly!

Where to find coffee(unfortunatly there is NO caffeine free for Kathy!) but you do get to play with espresso/kaffe/latte/chocolate machine so you can make it different each and every day!!! And we are coming up with some happy concoctions that are decent and always cost the same based on the size of cup you grab (around $4.47 for the large but we just figured out the punch card system for a free one after buying 5!)


Coffee!


The Mela festivalen was going to be a 4 day music and dancing festival but because of the events of last week, it was reduced to just one night. Sad face, but....


After the attacks in Oslo I was told that there were over 200,000 people that each brought in 1 rose to the center to commemorate the lives that were lost.There are even more types of flowers throughout the city. It is for sure a difficult time to be here. The energy is heavy yet completely solid.





These people are so compassionate and definately know how to stand united.

More soon!


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Location:Oslo

Day 1 Oslo

I still don't know if I've beaten jet leg......again, I did not sleep even a wink on our +10 hour total flight. I fell asleep last night at around let's say: 19:30 Norway time and was awake by the time Aunt Kat was up getting ready for the day and going down to breakfast which is served from 7:30-9:30. I tell her I will go too (I don't wanna miss breakfast!!!!) but have to take my insulin etc. Only I stumble downstairs of the hostel and she is stumbling back upstairs to tell me its only 5am and breakfast is not ready! WHAT?! Time to change our clocks to the current local time.......


So I guess my first day in a foreign country and I've managed to take my medication early, better than taking it late I suppose. And I've managed to wake up early, this people, is probably a first for me as I love to sleep in! I feel good though! So maybe those crazy few days of getting up at midnight are actually paying off.


Too much walking already, 7 miles yesterday, and my pedometer that I am wearing for a work exercise will not roll over for another 4 hours because it is(and will stay) on Alaska time. It'll average out...



Was HOT (well 70 degrees) when we deplaned, and clear and sunny. Within 5 hours of getting here and we were picking up a few groceries in a busy little oriental feeling market and it began raining! Not just raining, I swear it was like October in Alaska, pouring buckets!!!! I am reading a book called the art of racing in the rain, well we can surely relate today. And our coats were, of course at the hostel.

Statues everywhere..... Off on another day to go take more photos!!!!

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Staying awake about jet lag

Hello!

Its that time again for me to warm up my writing pencil and get into a good habit to blog about my and Aunt Kats upcoming trip to.....(if you dont already know since I have been talking of nothing else)....NORWAY!!!!

Once again I will not be sending out individual emails. (Of course I will respond if you just want to say hello!) But if you want to keep track of where we are and how we are doing I recommend checking out: http://sitkakoala.blogspot.com/ every couple of days, as I will be blogging regularly and posting when I can find internet connection and using my fabulous new ipad! Or at least posting some pictures as we go....

This year I have come to the conclusion that I need need NEED to beat jet lag!!!! Last year when I flew to Greece I had jet lag baaaaadddd.....I swear the locals thought I was a zombie from the last frontier! Does anyone know why jet lag is worse when you fly West to East vs the return trip? And what are some things that you have tried to beat your own jet lag?!

The time adjustment from Alaska to Norway is +10 hours. Today it is tomorrow in Norway(or at least dinner time if you are reading this in the morning ;)

4pm Alaska= 2am in Norway
7am Alaska= 5pm in Norway
7am Norway= 9pm in Alaska

So I will be taking my insulin at 12am beginning Friday the 22, and none that morning. This will be easier to control and fix on my home turf versus in a foreign country where there too many distractions! So that when arrive at my +10 hour destination I can set my alarm and take my insulin at 8am "Norway time" for the remainder of the trip.

Dont worry folks, I will be testing my blood glucose and taking fast acting insulin humalog on Friday to compensate as needed throughout the day. I will also be sleeping a bit during normal waking hours and not eating so much so I can confuse my sleep/food schedule before hand, maybe it will then be less of a shock to my system once we arrive in Norway. (nothing is to be missed on this adventure!!!!!)

To Do List 1 week before trip:

1. Adjust insulin so body is not going through blood sugar changes AND city disorientation!
2. Stay up ALL night 5 nights in a row before flight (sleep right after work 4pm-12am-sorry social life I will be back in September) this will also help me sleep ON the plane (at least I hope)
3. Eat ALL meals during the night: breakfast @12am, lunch @7am and dinner @around 12pm.
4. Eat less (or nothing) during the day to trick my body into changing its meal time pattern.
5. Pack light!

Except this packing light technique is unavoidable when you have to pack water resistant items + a jacket!! Why did I pick a place so similar to where I live year round?!

And oh boy, Monday and Tuesday at work should be tricky...... when you read the next post it will be coming from Oslo!

Skoal!!

Aerophobia..... or is it?

Aerophobia: a fear of flying.

But research is proving that there are many "phobias" that fit into this category and I am learning about myself that I am totally a combo! (For those of you who dont know me really well I tend to get some anxiety before *and embarrassingly at times* during flights) There is such a thing as aeronausiphobia: fear of embarrassing onself via vomiting/panic attacks. Sigh. So many phobias, so little time......

Im not entirely scared of flying/planes. It surely has something to do with being a bit claustrophobic; but only where other people are involved!

For example: I am not claustrophobic in elevators, tiny rooms, confined boat cabins....unless these places happen to be occupied by many people...and I mean a lot of other people. 3 other people in an elevator is not going to stress me out, well, actually I take the stairs ALL the time so maybe this is not a very good example(maybe I better test that out)!!!! Long story short I suppose I sort of have a small side of anthrophobia in social situations too, which does not help flying anxieties any.

*acrophobia- fear of heights
*agoraphobia- fear of open spaces
*anthropophobia- fear of people
*claustrophobia - fear of enclosed spaces

Good thing I do not have enetophobia: fear of needles!

As for the update for the high school reunion, which ALSO fits into the social phobia category, I chose not to attend. For many reasons. And I do not regret that I didnt go. The end. (haha still analyzing this one....)

As for Norway....16 more days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did I mention to Aunt Kat about my flying anxiety?!

Window wash for the soul

The Window Through Which We Look

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.

The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean", she said. "She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments. About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:

"Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband said, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

We all do it. Even I get judgmental at times. My window is not always squeaky clean...

But I hate to see people when they take it out on others. Example: Being critical behind someones back or try to get others in a group social situation to take a side even if just for a laugh.

I was at a get together recently, where one guy in particular was "picking" on another. I understand that guys have to do this for whatever reason, but can they not tell when it leaves the boundary of slightly funny and creeps into the really uncomfortable stage? Perhaps its just me that feels uncomfortable.... but somehow I doubt that.

I was not a bully in school, and I dont take to them well now either. But when do you reach the point where you cannot just sit and watch it any longer, where you just just JUST have to say something, anything, without putting that negative attention onto yourself?!

Sadly I now have been avoiding this circle of acquaintances, call me anti social, but I prefer to surround myself with people I enjoy. Who can take my minor judgments and in return I can take theirs.

On another note, my high school reunion is coming up.... over the 4th of July weekend. Im not so sure how I feel about attending, remember how I said I was not a bully in school? Well truth be told I really wasnt much of anything in school. Period. I did what I could to squeak by, not develop any extra unwanted attentions so I could slink home at the end of the excruciating day and wander to the beach or the woods and let my imagination out of its tight little box.

I have definatley gotten out of my "box" since school, but its bringing up some strange emotions. Sigh, I will let you know how it goes.

Signing off (to continue my trip planning to Norway YAY 34 days, the count down is ON!!!!!!!!!)

The Petersburg club

Last weekend was the much heard about, much anticipated little Norway festival! This festival is held on or nearest to the closest weekend of May 17th, which is Norway's national constitution day when they became independent from Sweden in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to become an independent nation, a time for much celebration, dancing and plenty of traditional food!!

This was my first trip ever to the little town of Petersburg, and the name of the post comes mostly from things I had heard about the town before visiting, for example "the town can be a little clickesh," "the town can be very snobby," "the town gets tons of RAIN!"

All of the above we experienced on our 3 day visit, all except the rain that is.....the weather was more than wonderful, I even got a slight sunburn on the first day.

And really it reminded me of home, a fishing village filled with some extremely nice people, some partiers, and some people who like to dress up (This weekend just so happened to be the time to dress up as vikings!!!) and the only catch; you can only dress up as a Viking If you happen to live there. If you are outside of this little exclusion be prepared to get threats to get your ass kicked!!
Sadly, we were considered tourists, even though our genealogy (and the fact that we also reside in this great state of Alaska) IS Norwegian...... But alas we were not inducted into the Petersburg club on this particular trip.

We did however consume our fair share of fish and chips, pasta salad, crab cakes, meatballs, coleslaw, beets, lefse(flat bread), grog(beer), and finally at an all you can eat feed: SHRIMP!!!! (this trip I did not encounter lutefisk, but I assure you that adventure is on its way.....) A few of us experienced the fengsel (jail) and some broke out sooner than others (who happened to be waiting for her husband to finish his beer down the street and realize his damsel was definitely in distress ;)

All and all I have been giving some mixed reviews on how the festival went, on one hand there were some stubborn Vikings, but on the other with our own family dynamic, fun in the sun and many great activities happening all weekend on, it was a very fun trip! Don't forget to click on the photo link below- happy Syttende Mai!!!!

Photo album link: (click ON the vikings, I promise they wont hurt you!)

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Assassination attempt by sugar:

Yes, you read correctly, this weekend there was an attempt on my life via a flying flaming marshmallow. Strange, you think? Yes, but only if you have never been to an Alaskan bonfire where s'mores are part of our 7 course Alaskan style BBQ menu (eat your heart out stereotypical etiquette buffs) well, I was not eating the s'mores as they don't go so well with the whole- "I don't eat sugar thing....."

So there I sit soaking of up the rays of our proverbial sea of flame when another of the party goer decides he is going to reenact a play from, I dunno like somewhere in Babe Ruth's history, heck I don't know anything about baseball, what am I trying to get at is that he then decides he is going to pretend to hit a home run, only he happens to have a ember-like marshmallow on the end of his "bat" This hot marshmallow somehow grows some wings and hones in on me, about 10 feet away, and splats onto the side of my purple zip up. Where it then proceeds to combust into sugary luminosity. Yes, it then caught on fire. On me. I was not too happy a camper, especially as my purple zip up IS one of my absolute favorites!

It just so happens I recently purchased a Norse amulet on eBay. I'm not so sure this pendant is supposed to bring "luck," but, luckily someone else jumped up at the same time I did......and swatted it out.

This "amulet" is supposed to protect me from evil; but I suppose if my evil comes through the form of a flying sugary ball of fire, I can find a way to deal with it. I know there could be worse. Be safe and please think twice before throwing a flaming marshmallow at a diabetic ;)



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Problemer med passord

Does anyone else have an issue with their passwords for online sites?

It just irks me when I attempt to log into a site and it says the password does not match the login name....... Then you ask for password help, enter in your secret question and it will then "allow" you to create a "new" password. Only, the usual password you enter in is not allowed because it must be between 6 and 12 characters with at least 1 letter and 1 number. And they also tell you when it's not "strong" enough. UM, HELLO!? Why is it so difficult for a site to realize that because they have these rules in place is specifically why I cannot remember my last password???! Then they lock you out of your own account for too many attempts trying to access your username/password. Sigh.

Then I have numerous sites I log onto on a semi regular basis that all have separate rules for what is appropriate for each and every password. Can I not just pick one password and make it easy? Nope. Not a chance, and they want you to change said password every 6 months so there is less chance for hackers to access your stuff.

I think I will start to use Norwegian words as my passwords, then only Norwegian hackers can access my stuff. Language learning is going okay, need some conversation to practice what I'm learning and I've memorized a few sentences to which I have no clue to what they mean (hope they are not offensive) the really exciting thing I learned this week is how to say "jeg er diabetiker" which of course means I am diabetic in Norsk! (tho this is pronounced a bit differently than it is spelled....) so in my opinion I seem to be making some kind of progress!

Ha det bra!!
(goodbye or have a good time)

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