Café Gravdahl

"A life without books is like a life without adventure, a childhood without love, old age without peace."
Carl Petter Frøhling
(my translation)

What do you do in Norway when you have a day off? Or a lunch break? Or if you are unemployed? Some people sleep and some people ski but still others find themselves some coffee. The plan: walk to your nearest cozy coffee shop and order up your favorite drink, maybe read a paper/book, do some people watching, and/or catch up with a friend. It's a good time.

I used to be quite the regular at Poesi Kaffe og Vinbar, commonly known as Poesi (po-eh-see) which had, in my and many others' opinions, the best coffee in town. Poesi recently closed (*sniffle*sniffle*) and I have been left to try and find a replacement. It's not easy. Nothing can measure up! But luckily Hamar does have it's share of fun coffee shops.

One of them being Café Gravdahl. Gravdahl is also a chain of bookstores, and I think most of us can agree that bookshop + coffee-shop = good. Coffee wise, I had also heard that it was the only place able to compete with Poesi when it was still alive and kicking. And because they were right across from each other over arguably the coolest plaza in town, it is safe to say they were viewed by many as rivals. I was a die hard Poesi supporter. Now, I have turned to the dark side.

(Emma, Ilmi)

I spent a large portion of my Monday hanging around Gravdahl and admittedly had a great time. I met Ilmi (who is, in addition to sweet and funny, the biggest Twilight fan imaginable) and we chatted up a storm on all topics possible--from religious extremists to sparkling vampires to future aspirations. Later her good friend Emma (who I like more and more the better I get to know her) joined us, we chatted some more, drooled over our respective cameras and camera wishes and Ilmi bought a new vampire book.

Emma was planning on helping Ilmi take some sweet pictures and we were losing daylight. So out into the crisp winter air we went!

Once Emma thew on her leather jacket and shades and lit up a cigarette, I thought she looked a bit like a walking Grease reenactment. Rizzo anyone?

In fact, when you put the two of them together, you do get a Rizzo/Sandy feeling. I'll have to let them know... ;)

It was a great Monday. :D

*NOTE* I do believe that Gravdahl got that Frøhling quote on their wall a bit off. According to the internets, it should read: Et liv uten bøker er som en barndom uten eventyr, en ungdom uten kjærlighet, en alderdom uten fred. Again my translation: A life without books is like a childhood without adventure, youth without love, old age without peace. Basically the same though. They probably had some space constraints and did it on purpose. But even better if it was a typo!

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A bag worth 5,133 kr

As many of you know, I teach English online. I have on average two lessons a day, although it is quite difficult to throw out an average since business goes up and down like a roller coaster. Sometimes I have four, sometimes I have none. Some weeks are busy, some weeks are slow.

Today I had four lessons scheduled. I woke up on time and even ate breakfast before my first lesson at 9am but it was no use. Lars' poor little laptop is reaching the end of its time (probably doesn't help that I dropped it from head height and basically have it on all day long). Teaching has therefore become a bit of a juggling act; because of problems with the microphone, I have had to continuously click the mikrofonforsterkning box to be heard, and of late I have to hold the charger at exactly the right and most awkward possible angle. Meanwhile, of course, I am trying to concentrate and explain difficult English concepts and am toggling between windows, online articles, a virtual textbook or whatever source we are engaging. Have I mentioned that I'm not a fantastic juggler?

Today, the computer had had enough and no matter how I massaged or tickled that little charger, he wouldn't work for me. I watched helplessly as the battery died while I was chatting with my first student explaining my dilemma. I am no stranger to technical difficulties and normally I just huff it to the library, borrow a computer and notify my students of the situation and reschedule. But four lessons was a lot to cancel and I just wasn't having it!

So out I went, into the little winter world to solve my problem. I made it to an electronics store, somehow managed to explain what the heck I needed in Norwegian and bought a new charger cable! Sure I was out a ridiculous $135.41 (OUCH!) but it's a necessary investment since I do depend on that computer to make money.

BUT, to get to the fun part of my story! I had some time before my other lessons were going to start so I headed next store to Maxi, the biggest shopping center in Hamar. I wandered around and was lured into Voice of Europe because of numerous signs that told me that I could take as much as I could fit into a bag for only 300 kr ($50)! For those of you that aren't familiar with the shopping scene in Norway, let me explain: normally 300 kr wouldn't get you very far; it's maybe half the price of a decent pair of jeans or a party dress. 300 kr is maybe a cheap pair of shoes. But 300 kr is still 300 kr and I wouldn't be tossing that around unless there was something I really wanted/needed. A pair of jeans caught my eye, I tried them on and they fit! So basically it would have been worth it to leave with only that pair of pants in my bag...but of course I filled that baby to the brim. Here is the little bag:

I meticulously packed in 5, 133kr ($866.15) worth of merchandise into that plastic sack! I must say that I am pretty darn pleased with myself. The sales lady was absolutely flabbergasted with my packing skills! I told her, of course, that I had moved here from the U.S. so I had had plenty of practice.

It was fairly liberating taking anything that could fit in my bag. I almost felt like I was stealing, to be honest.

Too bad the store was so picked over! But I still managed to find some stuff that was wearable (or gift-able). I grabbed three scarves, numerous tops and dresses, a necklace, a ridiculous sequined green vest and of course the jeans that got the ball rolling. Lars got 5 shirts and a tie. I even threw in a fancy pair of pants for Stine and some tights for Iselin.

(So the new jeans are a bit too long, but that's an easy fix!)

And then, on the way home I ran into Linda on her way home from work!

And we enjoyed our first cup of coffee outside! Well, I opted for hot chocolate but still--GLORY!

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Grilling with Greta

Everyone has some long lost relatives somewhere in the world, but not all of us are lucky enough to know about them, much less visit them! An old high school acquaintance, Greta Stickney, has been in Norway for the last couple days or so visiting some relatives she has never met--her great aunt's son's mother's cousin's goat's BFF, if you get my drift.

Thanks to the social networking site that is Facebook we saw we were both in the area at the same time and we met up for some catching up this past Saturday. We had a coffee @Poesi (single latte with Irish Cream syrup for me, a iced soy milk latte for Greta and coffee of the day for Lars) and enjoyed the nice weather and the high tempo atmosphere that has been Hamar recently. There was a music festival in our little city which meant the streets were even more packed than they are on a normal Saturday, with lots of choirs from all over the country being tourists in their own country.

Lars took off for his soccer game and Greta and I made our way to the lake to do some more grilling that I have become so fond of. It was strange and memory-unlocking to reminisce about our mutual employment at Mitzel's, high school and our shared hometown.

While we were sitting enjoying our hot dogs, we watched one of the proud choirs march by and heard one of them yell out that they would trade a song for a hot dog! I am not sure they expected me to accept their offer...but I did, and spontaneous lake-side singing is what resulted.

Lars has another away game today which means he will be gone for almost 9 hours! What to do with all that alone time...girls lunch? Sounds good to me! Which leaves me with just one question...if you don't have a pitcher big enough for some home made sangria, are you allowed to make it in a bowl, punch-style?

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Valentine's Day

Even though Valentine's Day is no where near as big of a deal in Norway as it is in the States, Lars and I took some time on the 14th to celebrate anyway. Sleeping in was the first wonderful step of the day and we continued with a lazy morning watching skiing on TV and reading the news. Then we ventured out into the streets of Hamar; the weather was incredible. Neither of us had to wear our winter jackets, and the sun was shining!



We walked around town, stopping into whichever shops struck our fancy. On our way back home we stopped by Poesi and got some delicious (and reduced price!) coffee, waffles and cakes. We relaxed there for quite awhile. Lars humored me as I read every single set of trivia questions we could find in the Norwegian magazines and newspapers that were lying around. As we said goodbye to my coworkers, we realized it was almost three o'clock and that we really had to get a move on if we wanted to make it to the Vinmonopolet (aka liquor store) before it closed! Lars wanted to get some red wine for the dinner he had planned to make me (grocery stores can't sell wine in Norway).

Luckily we just made it, and we had the wine for the delicious dinner that Lars thought up! He made an awesome elk steak which would have made my Dad so jealous, accompanied by some steamed broccoli, grilled onions and mushrooms and some delicious sauce to top it all off. I made some scalloped potatoes which were also pretty tasty if I do say so myself! It was really fun to see the way Lars displayed his meal--I have never seen him so conscious of the way dinner looked! He really made it special for me!

I thought the dinner, and the thought behind it, was a wonderful Valentine's Day present. Sure beats what I lightheartedly gave him: a Donald Duck comic book, some sweethearts and a cactus. I told Lars he had to name him since I named our other plant (ridiculous, I know) but I don't think he was that into it. He jokingly said he chose My Valentine as a name for the prickly little fella. I really meant that he had to choose, so I guess that's his official name. We'll call him Val for short.

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SMAK

Last Thursday, I ventured down to Lillestrøm with my German friend Linda to, well to put it bluntly, eat our hearts out. Her boss had received free invites to this huge food, wine and restaurant event in the Oslo suburb. Linda and I spent the hour and change discussing work, creative inspirations, our excitement for the upcoming feast, random people we saw on the train etc. etc. She is so pleasant to be around, and we both can use the time to practice Norwegian!

When we arrived we made our way to the hotel that was hosting the event without wasting too much time googling at the snow covered town. The event was huge. Linda and I were first attracted to a huge room of appliances...and these were not just your ordinary blenders, toasters and coffeemakers... the first thing we walked in on was a ginormous sausage making machine! (Norwegians love their hot dogs). And right next to that was a device that was popping out different sizes of plastic bags. The idea would have been to have foods inside them, but they were just demo-ing. This section was super cool, but we definitely didn't need any of the industrial machines in our small cafe. We were there to investigate some food (and we were hungry!), so on we went!

We made our way around the room dedicated to food, sampling and sampling and sampling. We spoke English, Norwegian, German and I even attempted to communicate using Spanish with an Italian chef. It was mind-blowing, stomach-filling and absolutely exhausting. We ate everything from gelatto to chicken wings to sushi to Mexican tortillas to Spanish tapas to fine cheeses to cheesecake to Belgian chocolates. It was insane, and Linda and I were painfully full. By the time we got around to the incredible fish section, Linda and I were incapable of eating one more bite of food...and maybe that was for our stomachs considering the nature of the fish displays. :)

I have to say, it was a nice way to spend the day...eating a bunch of great food for free. I'd do it again, it's safe to say.

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Poesi

Saturday was such a nice day in Hamar--the sun was out it was actually quite warm. Lars and I walked around and I will say it was quite nice to be walking with someone rather than alone like normal. Not to mention, I have never seen the place so lively! There were so many people everywhere, enjoying down town Hamar: young kids, grandmas, young couples, loud young men and pregnant ladies galore. We stopped at what is known as the best place to get coffee in Hamar for just that--some coffee in the sun. Poesi is the name of the cafe which is also a bar and a restaurant of sorts. It is one of many shops and stores that share space with this large concrete plaza. I think that is must really serve the best coffee in Hamar because while we were there I saw Thomas, the owner of Cafe Colonialen (the other cafe where I was trying to get a job) having coffee with his wife! Haha!

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