Bathtub Race

Yesterday, Trondheim was host to a peculiar kind of entertainment: The yearly Nidelva bathtub race. Organised by the engineers, it was a contest to see who could cross the Nidelva the fastest in their boats, the main element of which had to be a bathtub. I took the race as an opportunity to spend a day around town, getting some shopping done and of course, watching the race. According to the pedometer I bought from someone on the cheap, I have done about 14 km walking yesterday.

I started my day with a nice breakfast (bread, topping, tea) then went down to Solsiden shopping center and got myself a new alarm clock (old one broke) and some stuff from the Clas Ohlsen. Then down to Elsegeter bridge to watch the race. It was hilarious! There were two seperate races: speed and fun. Speed had single-manned bathtub with sharp sterns, obviously inspired by canoes. The rules appearantly demanded some mix between rowing and paddling. Two of the four competitors were immediately swept downstream, but Emil (green) and Marin (blue) but up a good fight, with many twists. Marin ended up winning by a meter or two. This might have something to do with the fact that Emil managed to lose his oar. For the uninformed: Emil is a social union (not a person) and Marin is of course the faculty of marine technology. They are sort of predisposed to winning a boat race, ne? What did draw my attention though, were the uniformity of the different construcitons. All of them had the sharpened stern and a floater on each side for stabillity. I would have expected someone to try something different, such as a) a small keel, b) sideswords or maybe even c) a two-bathtub catamaran. Granted, the Nidelva is not deep, which might give trouble with a) and b) and rowing a catamaran sounds difficult.

Then came the fun part. Different from the speed boats, these were full raft, carrying almost a dozen people each. I do not believe for a moment that a single bathtub has the buoyancy for that, so some liberties were taken in the building. There were almost a dozen entries in this competition, and they immediately started of by flinging stuff at each other. Soon, the field split into two subgroups: Those who cared about winning, and those who didn’t. The first subgroup held three rafts, which actually seperated from the mob to cross the river and return. Most noteworthy among these was Maskin (aka mechanical engineering). Their raft was not rowed in poor coordination like the other, but instead propelled by a paddle wheel on each flank. This actually worked extremely well, and no competitor could match their speed. Actually, maybe they could have if only they had managed to get their rowing into a set rhythm. Yes, I know it was just for fun, but even in a mock sea battle, maneuverability is the key.

Which brings us back to group two, the ones who didn’t care about winning. There were seven different boats slugging away at each other. They were so focused on throwing stuff at the opposing rafts that they stopped rowing and were pulled away by the current. Some of the rafts had some nice special effects, though. One had a fog machine and another had firecracker that were harmless (they only threw them on the water, not on rafts) but made a loud cracking noise like cannon in old pirate films. Great fun to watch!

After the show was over (ooooh), I headed back into downtown to finish up my shopping for the day. I managed to get two more tea cups (finally, glass tea cups!) and a little piece of decorative glasswork to liven up my room a little. On my way back to Moholt I indulged in a nice salsaburger for lunch. Tasty!

I relaxed a little bit, chatted with some people and whiled the afternoon away, before leaving for the house of Martin Jone, one of my fellow bases in the Aks choir. He had invited all of us for an evening of fun and games. And fun we had! We played different games, among other things the werewolf game again, a pantomime version of Tabu, and some weirder games. When I finally got home again at three in the morning, I had had a great evening. Thanks everybody!

Rainbows and Wardrobe Malfunctions

Yesterday, I saw one of the most beautiful rainbows of my life (maybe even the most beautiful one). On my way back from university the perpetual rain finally declined into a pleasant spray, and through a rift between the clouds the sun shone down on us. When I arrived at Moholt, the light spray had appearantly moved on a bit, and of course this is the optimal setting for a rainbow to appear. What finally graced my eyes was a majestic arch, visible clearly in its full span. There were no hills and houses to block the view, so I could see almost a full semicircle of vibrant colour. In fact, where the background was a little darker one could even see the secondary rainbow. Terrific! That really cheered me up.

What was even better was the fact that Michael’s letter had found its way to me. Not only was it nice to hear from home, but he sent a CD along with it – Subway to Sally’s new album! Hurray! Already listened to it a number of times – truely up to their standard. A new masterpiece.

Lastly, we had Judo training again yesterday. I managed to actually arrive on time, and during warm-up and training I discovered that some of my Judo experience is coming back to me. My falling technique is getting better, my stamina is starting to become adequate and my grappling is finally improving. Towards the end of training, a little… accident… happened though. We are all training in t-shirt and shorts, since we don’t have gis yet, and during throwing practice, my shorts tore open in front from the beltline to the right leg. I was wearing a long t-shirt, so no unnecessary embarassment, but those shorts were goners. So, quick trip to the locker room to put on my jeans and dispose of the shorts, then back up to finish training. Jeans are actually okay for training. You sweat more, but they are more robust than flimsy shorts and protect your knees from scraping and matburn.

The order for our gis was taken today, though. With a bit of luck, they will be available soon and this will remain the only pair of shorts I lose to the rigours of Judo.

Choir Weekend

The last three days were spent not in Trondheim, but an hour’s drive further to the south with the Aks choir. We were the sole inhabitants of the Betel parish house in Klæbu (yes, the place with the wildlife camp). On thursday, I had arranged with Lauritz for him to pick me up in his car. Then on friday, I started packing. I took a sleeping bag, my camera, my MP3-player, choir stuff (i.e. notes, water, Ricola) and one culture bag plus towel. We had also been asked to bring one loaf of bread and one kind of topping each (I chose Nutella). Add in rain gear (coat and umbrella) it was a bit bulky to carry, but it worked out. I was picked up, and off we went.

Before driving to the parish house, we first went to the local Bunnpris to gather the last necessities. After arriving at the house, we first had dinner, then practiced for roughly two hours under the supervision of our respected secretary, Astrid, since Mona, our conductor, would not arrive before saturday morning. After work comes play, of course, and what better way to spend an evening than with group games. First we did some physical games; as the hour progressed we shifted to a quiz game that occupied our attention until 1:00, when Johannes, Hanne and I managed to snatch victory from the other teams.

Saturday was a pretty crazy day: First we had breakfast, during which Mona arrived. Then three hours rehearsal. Our current repertoire consists of some more traditional church songs (latin), some more modern ones (norwegian) and a couple of gospels (very texan english). While I somewhat miss the secular component, it has a number of nice pieces. After lunch, we took a walk, listened to some music over the PA system and generally relaxed. At 15:00 began the second three hour rehearsal. Combined with the first one this put a serious strain on our voices. We fought back with gratitious use of Ricola, interspersed with tacit deployment of Fisherman’s Friend Extra Strong. The latter was naturally reserved for severe cases.

After this came the best dinner I’ve had since I came to Norway. A mexican buffet! Fajitas, tacos, salad, sour cream, salsa, minced meat, corn, rice, cheese, cucumber slices, peppers, tomatoes… everything one could desire. We were all rather hungry by the time it was served, and pounced on it like the wolf upon the fold. Fajitas really [i]are[/i] delicious! The usual mechanical difficulties only made it more enjoyable. Since I hadn’t entered myself for any of the jobs so far, I volunteered for cleaning up. The things our conscience makes us do… Due to the much-appreciated help from the cooks, we managed to finish cleaning up in about 45 minutes; large amounts of pots and pans needed to be cleaned, dried and put away; the same applied to a mountain of dishes and cutlery, and of course we needed to do something with the leftovers. We managed to fuse most of these into a nice salad and a meat-rice-corn-something mass for breakfast next morning.

Once again, the evening was spent with games. First we had a song guessing game with two teams, which Astrid and Elizabeth had thankfully prepared for us. We would be shown various words of a phrase from a song which we had to guess. In order to get the next word revealed, we had to sing a song that contained the most recently revealed word. Naturally, much guessing and singing of weird songs. A lot of fun was had by all.
In the end, my team lost, but that may have been because the other team had Lauritz. That guy’s knowledge of songs both norwegian and international is first rate.

Now struck my hour. I had come to Klæbu with the intention of playing at least one round of “Die Werwölfe von Düsterwald,” which is a variation of the game Mafia. I had a card game and a printout of the rules from [url=http://www.killerweek.de/killerweek.php?pge=3 new=true]here[/url]. What else did we need? Appearantly, several were familiar with Mafia, so after an explaination of the rules and some discussion, we were ready to kick off the first round with eight people (plus me in the role of game master). For the sake of simplicity we omitted the roles of Amor and the Thief. In later rounds, we took these back in because they add depth to the game. I definitely need to play this game again! In fact, I am considering buying the actual game, since then I wouldn’t have to deal with people getting confused about the cards. We ended up playing six rounds, which had some truly immortal moments for all of us. Many dastardly deeds were done, deception abounded and murder was commonplace. Those who know the game will probably give a joyful sigh upon reading this and reminesce about their own exploits.

However, at 2:00 we decided that going to bed might be a good idea after all. Quickly into my sleeping bed, and good night world! Next morning the usual again: Wake up, dress, go downstairs, have breakfast, suck on Ricola to ungoo throat. Seriously, after sleeping my throat needs and hour or so to be in good condition again. Then one hour of practice, and then the sunday service. We had promised to render musical support in exchange for being allowed to stay at the parish house, so we presented three repertoire pieces and a number of common norwegian hymns. Some of those were quite okay, and the sermons in between were actually mostly understandable to me. There were maybe 25 churchgoers, some elderly, but most middle-aged, some with children. After the service, we had lunch and and packing. We finally left at about 14:00. Upon arrival back home, I enjoyed the comfort of my room and the quiet. The weekend was incredibly fun, but I barely got a moment of peace, and I need those once in a while.

On a side note: I learned a new song during the weekend, the Banana Song (aka “banansangen”). The principle is very simple: You have to groups. One delivers the rhythm and base line:

En banan, to banan, tre banan, fir’ banan (repeat)

The other sings the verse on top of that:

Jeeeeeg er en banan
Henger i treeeeee
Faller aldri neeeeeed

Translation: “I am a banana, hang in a tree, never fall down.” Then the two groups switch roles. It’s a really infective song, although completely stupid. I am so teaching this to the JCO when I get back.

Rainy Days Are Here

The past two weeks have been filled with almost continuous rain, ranging in intensity from a light spray to a staid downpour. Fearing for the climate of my home for the next eleven months, I decided to check the statistics and look at the monthly precipitation average.

As [url=http://www.worldweather.org/008/c00907.htm new=true]World Weather[/url] tells us, it is common for the months of septembre and octobre to have a strongly increased precipitation. This is good news in so far as it gives hope that better times will eventually come. At the moment I do not leave the house without my trusty umbrella, not even for a walk to the Rema 1000, which is barely 500 m upstreet.

Just to put the results from World Weather into perspective, [url=http://www.worldweather.org/016/c00056.htm new=true]here[/url] is the corresponding data for Cologne. Notice the difference? Jepp. Fortunately it will stop raining in Trondheim somewhere between late octobre and mid-novembre. This is due to the fact that it will then be snowing. I heard that that is vastly preferable. The snow here stays mostly clean and white all winter, except in downtown and the busier suburbs (Moholt is not one of them). Now just to weather (haha) the next two months. Actually, with an umbrella it is quite enjoyable to take a walk in the rain. Just not if it’s the fifth walk in the rain in a row.

Mudfight

Yesterday contained some fairly unusual sunday entertainment: A mudfight!

Of course, this one was voluntary. The judokas of the various NTNUI judo clubs (there are three) decided to have some fun, so we met in downtown and took the bus to studenterhytta, which is, if you will recall, near the top of Gråkullen in Bymarka. We all had towels, replacement clothes and some (like me) took the risk and had cameras with them. We first walked to the hytta, got dressed in our “expendable” clothes and set off towards the swamp. On the way there we passed the lake we were going to clean off in afterwards. Since we were at 500 meters above sea level in early autumn, it was not very warm – maybe 10° C.

Then we arrived at the swampy area. The last people got out of their shoes here, because we were starting to sink in up to our ankles. Once we were in the middle of the swamp, it was obvious that other people had played here before – the field was torn up and there were two tractor tires for goal loops lying in the mud. We took a group picture while we were all stil recognizable – see my gallery. Then the fun started – we began playing, an amateur version of rugby with a small soccer ball. The goal was to dunk the ball into the opposite team’s tire. Body contact was allowed and made much use of. The main problem we were facing was lack of mobility – depending on the place you could sink into the swamp over your knees, and then moving a meter could cost more than twenty seconds.

One solution was to move on all four; the distribution of weight over the shins and the palms prevented us from sinking in to far. Nevertheless, not a fast way of moving. In the end, we mostly played a passing game, although some people used the less torn-up sides of the field to risk a walk, mayhap a jog in urgent situations. However, we were all thankful for the exertion, because it kept us warm. The swamp was somewhat wet, and quite cold to the touch. That is one of the reasons why we decided we had enough after about 45 minutes. A second group photo, then back to the lake to wash of the worst of the mud. Believe me, the lake was [i]not[/i] warm. Then back to the hytta, to shower and spend some quality time in the sauna. Regrettably, we had to leave very soon to catch the last bus down to the city. I really would like to have an extended sauna session at some point. Maybe today after the judo training…

On a side note: Today are parliamental elections in Norway. It will be interesting to see how they turn out, although I am not sure I will feel a particular effect either way. Most of the exchange students are nevertheless already affected, since no alcohol may be sold on election day. Weird.

Nothing Like Feeling Dead For Feeling Alive

Today was the first training session for the Judo beginners at NTNUI. While I do have an orange belt, I am three years out of practice and definitely not in shape. So I thought I’d start off slow.

I got off to a bad start when I underestimated the distance to Dragvoll Idrettssenter (it’s far) and arrived five minutes late and sweating. Managed to change into t-shirt and shorts and then the training began. The instructor spoke mostly Norwegian, since I was the only international student, out of twenty-five present. That surprised me a little bit.

Training was as expected: first some warm-ups, then falling practice, some stretches and some games. Then ground randori, turtle practice (one guy clams up like a turtle, the other tries to break the defense) and some throwing practice at the end. Since almost nobody had a gi, we were seriously limited in our choice of techiques. Not many things work against t-shirt & shorts if the person sweats so much that their skin is slippery.

After the training some organisatorial announcements, and then the cooldown phase. Quick shower, getting dressed and then chatting with the others at the busstop. I don’t feel guilty for not walking home. I am currently enjoying the afterglow; the knowledge that you had a true workout, the feeling of lethargy and well-deserved rest. Actually, I took some bruises and some mat burn, and some of my muscles are sore. The latter is going to be treated with a certain kind of ointment called “Tiger Balsam” that increases the blood flow in the muscles and spreads a burning warmth through the treated spots. Veeery nice. At the same time I sit relaxed in my chair and drink apple juice to replenish my water content.

I have also decided to take a whack at optimising my sleeping habits. Since I am always very unawake in the mornings, I will give the strategy outlined in [url=http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/05/how-to-become-an-early-riser/ new=true]How to Become an Early Riser[/url] a try. It can’t hurt.

Oh, yes: No balance trouble at all today. Whoopee!

Test Results

Today I visited Dr.Mohn again and got the results of my blood tests and my CT scan. The CT did not show any anormalies at all. No unusual sceletal structure, no swelling, no hemorrhageing, no tissue mutations, no growths, no nothing. My head is officially completely textbook. The blood values were beyond normal, they were in fact very good. Most people show some deviation from the optimum in at least one of the values, just from statistics. In my case, all the tested values (over a dozen) were well inside the optimum window. Well, good to know I’m in good health, generally speaking.

With this, all plausible diagnoses except the infection of the balance nerve have been excluded – that would not show up on either the CT or the blood tests. The good news is that these infections always pass. So right now the motto is “Be patient and bear with it”. I plan to, and have as good a time as possible while doing so. Sunday and yesterday were very good, in fact; today I didn’t sleep very well and was tired all day as a result. Add in a three hour lecture on quantum optics, and by the time I was home I was really glad to relax into my cozy chair. Chatted with some people, then called Roswitha to tell her about the good results, only to be treated to stories of 26°C and sunshine. Grmbl…

I went jogging afterwards, and I did have some balance issues again late in the afternoon. I’m not in danger of falling over, there is just this tedious feeling that I am somehow moving and that I am not stable. Really annoying, that. I have the sneaking suspicion that being tired (tired, not just worn out) affects it a lot. I plan on getting a good night’s sleep today, so tomorrow will hopefully be full of energy (today wasn’t). I mean, leading the quiet life is all nice and well, but sometimes you just want to feel energetic, focused and ready for the day. Okay, I was never a morning person, so I guess that is not my natural state of being even in full health.

BTW: I have been walking long distances in the past weeks, and I am seriously curious how far it actually was. I am toying with the thought of getting myself a step counter if they are not too expensive.

Pancakes and Milestones

Yesterday, I caught my first glimse of [url=http://www.ntnui.no/hytta/ new=true]studenterhytta[/url], the largest cabin operating by NTNU, and the only one that has a kitchen and a cooking staff. As a special offer, the hytta was offering their well-spoken-of pancake dinner yesterday, for free! Of course, a lot of students didn’t let that chance go to waste and preparations were made to reach studenterhytta by various means. A lot of people took their bikes and cycled the 10 km, some took the bus, others the tram, and some lazy and bike-less people like me took the car. Of course, I don’t own a car, but one of my co-buddies, Christian Stotzka, picked me and some other Erasmus students up.

After twenty minutes drive we arrived at the hytta, were we met the over sixty people who had arrived before us. The hytta looks nice and well taken care of, and the view to the south is great, although trees block the view on the city.
Then I was reminded of a very important fact: You had to register for the pancake dinner at the latest at 13:00, so the kitchen could make preparations. At this point it was 14:50 and I had completely forgotten about the registration! I spoke to the people in the kitchen, but there was little to be done. Entrance to the dining room was checked with a name list, so there was little choice but wait outside with some of the other forgetful people. We soon were told that there would be pancakes for us at well, but they would take at least an hour to get ready. Hearing this, a group of us decided to put that hour to some use and take a walk to the summit of Gråkullen. You see, the hytta is about seventy meters lower than the summit on the flank of a secondary hill.From the summit, we hoped to have a nice view around.

Said, done. We had some problems at the top, since part of it is a military zone (remember the antenna buildings you can see on the pictures of Gråkullen?) and parts of the ground are a little bit boggy. We did manage to get to a nice place eventually, and were able to see Moholt in the east, the peninsula Fosen in the north, Heimdal in the south and a very nice panorama of the Nidelva valley. Something we could not see was Midtbyen and Munkeholmen, since there was a small outcrop of Bymarka in the line of sight. Ah well.

When we returned, it was in fact closer to 17:00, so we were all rather hungry. Then, the promised pancakes came. They were large, golden, and numerous. Wonderful! Offered toppings included jam, sugar, maple syrup and later on something vaguely Nutella-like. I mostly stuck to jam and maple syrup. The problem with the later is that one can no longer roll the pancake up and eat it with the fingers, cutlery is needed. I ate six pancakes in total (maybe four would have been enough as well) and talked with the people sitting around me. After the dinner was finished, we drove home to have a relaxing evening.

——-

Over the last couple days, I have reached some physical milestones.

First, I managed to reach a reasonable sitting position for meditation. As you may know, sitting cross-legged is not a stable position, and it’s impossible to sit completely still for more than five minutes. What I can do at the moment is to put my left leg on the ground, lay my right foot in the crook of my left knee and rest the right knee on my left foot. That’s quite far from the lotus position, but it is a start.

Second, my attempts at weight loss have born fruit. For three days in a row, I weighed in under 100 kilos, which coincidentally also means that my BMI is now below 30. Yay! I eventually plan on reaching 85 kilos, which is a BMI of 25,4, but that will take until next year. It is very nice to see some results, though. My means of getting there have been
* reduced eating in general (though a lot of fruit)
* much fewer sweets (none at all was no fun)
* jogging every day, and a lot of movement in general
I’m actually noticing that some of my pants now seem too loose. Have to start wearing a belt more often.

Houston, We Have a Choir

Yes! Finally, I am whole again. As of today I have a choir, with all that entails: Beautiful music, the joy of coaxing clear sounds out of your own body, interesting company. The AKS is a ecumenical choir that practices at Strindheim Kirke less than 15 minutes walk from Moholt. Coincidentally, they practice at the exact same time as the JCO. The choir is quite a bit smaller though and not as ambitious. AKS currently has a little under twenty active members, most of which were present today. It is pretty much a student choir, and focuses on sacral music, both classical and modern.

After meeting up and exchanging introduction with those present, we got down to business and started warming up. This was a little bit less extended than in the JCO, but the character of the exercises was very much the same. Then it was practice time, and while we worked our way through a modern song, an Ave Verum, a gospel and a hymn we had a lot of fun. There were three bases present, two tenors and about ten girls, so the sound balance was actually pretty good. None of us were exquisite singers, but the general level is still fine. It’s a step down from the JCO concerning the difficulty of the repertoire, but I think that is quite acceptable. There’s nothing wrong with picking some easier songs and being a bit more relaxed. The JCO has never been “relaxed” the last two months before a concert, and rarely before that, even.

The AKS places a lot of emphasis on the social side. It’s common for the members to have dinner together after the rehearsal is over (so-called “kveldsmat”, meaning bread and cold-cuts), there will be a choir weekend in september at Klæbu, and one of the tenors, Lavitz, has a cabin at Selbu that will be the destination of several trips. Some of the members are refreshingly strange, so it’s not as stuffy and traditional as the TSS (which didn’t want me, anyway). I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with these guys.