♥ lots of free wireless networks in the city center ♥ THE COFFEE! ♥ I can totally listen in on other people’s conversations and actually get what they are talking about ♥ it is blueberry season! (technically, bilberry season, since Norwegian blueberries are bilberries, not blueberries, but I have already covered this in a previous post) ♥ I bought a whole block of Norvegia cheese just because I could ♥ the internet connection in this apartment is fast and smooth ♥ I can throw out my trash any day of the week, I don’t have to keep it inside my apartment until trash day ♥ LOTS of birds in the park ♥ my iPhone has internet and I can do Japanese quizzes on the bus, not a wasted moment ♥ I could read every single field on the form I filled out when I went to change my address (I was so excited I actually went around the office there and started reading random other forms as well, just because I could!) ♥

Everything was beautiful and nice and sparkly and bright, and then all of a sudden…

These guys showed up…

And the ground started looking like this…

:/ I am still trying to soak in the last remains of summer. I actually do not mind fall in Japan, but this fall I am in Norway, and fall is Norway is not my thing. I started my week with getting soaked in the rain (thank you Bergen for a very wet welcome), and now I am trying to find my way around the university website. More about that later, I have a whole house to clean up and five books to read. Have a wonderful day!

P.S. if you know who is responsible for the so-called four seasons in Norway, kick that somebody in the ass and tell him/her that mid-August really should NOT be the time to wear a down jacket every evening.

Some great things I have found on the internet lately. Yes, I still read, I have just been a bit preoccupied and busy, but I am trying to get into a good rhythm of blogging again. We’ll see how it goes. These past weeks I have been really passive, reading and reading, but not posting that much myself. Here are some of the things I have read:

1. The Skill of Trying Your Best by Scott H. Young. Are you really trying your best, or are just making excuses for yourself?
2. The Learning Secrets of Polyglots and Savants – basically how smart people think and learn.
3. Don’t fear the internet! A great collection of videos explaining web design to designers who know nothing about webdesign.
4. Not sure how to describe this one with one line – but basically – it is average faces from countries around the world. If you add up a lot of full frontal pictures of say, a Japanese, in a stack, and you make one pictures from all the pictures, you will end up with a very “typical” face for that country or region, and basically, that is what this webpage is about. Make sure to click “read the rest of this entry” to see all the faces.
5. I never ever get tired of Hubble Wallpapers.
   

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Ok ok ok. I know probably everyone living in Oslo already know about this place, but just in case – I found a great cheese shop! One of the great things about Norway is all the quality cheese, so I will be eating a lot of cheese while I am in Norway. This shop is at Birkelunden, and if you pass by, you have to try the cheese platter. Really great quality, big portion of cheese, and reasonably priced. I understood that they also sold different crepes and such, but I came for the cheese, which you should do as well. The staff was also really nice and had a lot of knowledge about the different cheeses they served, so go go go! (& here is the website. )

I drew this little guy for a magazine, dealing with misunderstandings when it comes to language in Japan. Probably not very funny unless you know the Japanese word for octopus 😉

The last pictures of the country house for this summer. I wonder if it will look the same when I return. They keep on continuously building to the display, so it is always fun to go back and spot new little creations. I have been trying to spy a little bit on the people living there, but I have never seen anyone, despite it being cars parked in the driveway.

I completely forgot to post all of these pictures from Nakano a couple of weeks back, so here they are. I am so behind with posting pictures it is not even funny, but hopefully I can put them all out there in the next couple of days.

I love little shabby karaoke-places with even whackier little figurines in the windows.

Haha, ok, really silly joke, since chinko means something entirely different in Japanese than pachinko 😉 (Yes, this is a joke about male private parts.)

And lo and behold – entering this mall in Nakano, I felt like I was in China, and not Japan. Japan is known for having beautiful displays and fancy shops, and this mall seemed like some kind of Chinese outlet mall. They sold Converse for 3000 yen, so if it wasn’t for the fact that I don’t even like Converse, I would have been happy.

And a gazillion paper birds to show support for Tohoku.

And the regular wish-tree which was filled with mostly good wishes for Tohoku as well.

Right next to a whacky store which I think sold mostly animal products. Fancy a polyester steak?

I wish it would be allowed to take pictures inside of shops, but since it isn’t, here is a lot of pictures I shot from the hip, hence the awful composition. The mall was a gem, whacky stores, everything from stone stores to stoner stores.

And then I found the food section, which always makes me happy. This was a true treasure when it came to sashimi!

And you can buy individually wrapped sushi pieces from 50 – 100 yen (3.50 NOK – 7.00 NOK).

In any case – most of the mall looked like this. Lots of retro, antique and special interest shops.

And of course a pretty otaku art gallery as well. The pictures were actually really nice, and I regret not finding the name of the artist.

And look at what we found a bit later on, a real old building? Or a fake one? I can never tell, but there were lots of nice details.

Finally we reached where we were suppose to go for the day, this little tram! It is really cheap, the tram ride takes about 1 hour, and it takes you through all of the whacky little shitamachi neighborhoods a bit north in Tokyo.

And then we had some sushi.

And the oyster was so good I ate it before I remembered I should take a picture.

Finally, we got back home, and this is the view from the side porch.

あのインコの日本語は完璧だよ！私もインコを勝ってほしいものの、旅行はちょっと難しくなるかな。。。インコのパスポートはまだできないかもしれない。