Hello Arizona

I have returned from my few days in Phoenix Arizona and I have to say that I am most glad to be back in Bergen Norway. While spending a few days in the desert temps made for an enjoyable change, since I had to spend almost the entire time in an airconditioned meeting room, I unfortunately could not make the most of the change. I did however get one afternoon off and was able to stroll in the surrounds. I took these pics to give you all a sense of what it was like.

Phoenix is America's 5th largest city, apparently, and exactly how (and perhaps why) a city of this size supports itself in the desert remains a mystery to me...although the contrast was certainly interesting to see.

The contrast was made all the more fabulous by having some of the desert plants in bloom. Seeing a place that so many people consider barren and lifeless actually bursting with colour was just wonderful.

I have lots more to show and tell from my trip to Arizona but at the moment am still feeling rather jetlagged (nightmare flight details yet to come...) so I will save those stories for another day. Kisses til then....

King's weekender

The other day while exploring the neighbourhood with the dogs I found a castle...as you do.

Turns out it is the king's "weekender" in Bergen. Apparently he only visits once or twice a year and the rest of the time the grounds are open to the public. This means you are free to stroll around the manicured garden, picnic on the lawn and peer in the windows!

It is set on the banks of a huge lake and at the end of the garden is a truly amazing water view. I love how the water mirrors the sky in this shot.

One of the best things though was that beside this amazingly fabulous and glamorous castle built for royalty is the totally tiny and terrribly hobbit like house for the groundsman. Too cute.

It is a really lovely place to walk and enjoy a thermas of tea so I can't wait until some of you come and visit and can share it with me!

White Easter

This year J and I experienced our first white easter. Perhaps not as sought after as a white christmas,...but for Australians it was a wonderful nonetheless.
The sight of pine trees heavy with white frosting always warms my heart, and I love that here I can enjoy it right from my own backyard.

The dogs also appeared unfazed by the flurries of falling snow - showing no signs of anywhere else they'd rather go. They sat, they sniffed, they ran around. They played, they laid, but made no sound.

Back at work the next day the people complained. "What terrible weather " I heard them all say. "I liked it" I said, "and I wish it had stayed". "It helped me to see the world a new way. A world in which the colours seem brighter. A world in which the people seem nicer. A world in which I smile for no reason, and a world in which I experience real seasons".

PhD Norwegian Style

Before Easter I was invited to discover how a PhD is examined in Norway. A guy from the centre was due to defend his PhD and I went along for the cultural experience. Of course in Australia you submit the document, wait for examiners reports and adjust the PhD according to the comments received. In most parts of the world, however, you are actually required to 'defend' your thesis. In Norway, this means first giving a one hour lecture on a topic given to you by your examiners, which is then followed by an open public meeting the next day. At the public meeting, you first summarise your thesis in 15 minutes. Then each of your two examiners has about an hour each to question you publicly about your ideas and arguments, while you stand there and try and defend yourself.


The defense I saw was brutal! The first examiner (from the US) held no punches and spent an hour and a half firing totally penetrating questions at the poor student, questions which were both rudely and aggresively posed. It was truly frightening, and especially daunting given that the student was required to understand and answer these questions in his non-native tongue! What I found out during the break between examiner questions though was that by making it to the defense stage, the thesis had actually already been passed. This meant that being granted your PhD did not depend on whether you could answer questions like "what constitutes second modernity" within a split second of thinking time, and that the process was mostly just ritual. The second examiner was much more polite and made me start liking the idea of being able to discuss your ideas with your examiners in person.


After the defense there was of course the usual champagne and cake back at the centre. I then had the glorious responsibility of taking one of the examiners walking in the mountains around Bergen for the afternoon before the 'formal' celebration dinner. The dinner was in a building that was I was told had hosted kings, queens and presidents and was indeed formal. Some of the men were in tuxedos kind of formal! There were endless speeches, some in english thank goodness, and lots of schmoozing of course. Over coffee, cognac and cigars, for example, I had the head of bioethics at UNESCO (who also happened to be on both my selection committee for the job and the examination committee) telling me that I "simply must come to Paris" to meet with colleagues at UNESCO. Of course I replied that yes indeed, I simply must. Anyway, it was a fascinating event and the pic is from the lovely faculty of Arts building where the defence occured.

Day at the Museum

With some time off for easter, J and I decided to do some tourist activities around Bergen. We began by checking out both the natural and cultural history museums. The entrance to the natural history museum was so huge that we just had to take a photo of it to share with you. This museum was mostly filled with various geological samples and lots of stuffed animals. The staircase up to the stuffed animal section was particularly spooky. We both felt a little uncertain ascending these steps...

Upstairs there were endless cabinets of stuffed animals and birds from all over the world. We found plenty to remind us of home - devils, quolls, wallabies, koalas, cockies etc. but they all lacked the vibrancy we are accustomed to seeing them with! Somehow though, there was still some perverted sense of joy in seeing examples of familiar Australian wildlife, even if they were lifeless and a little shabby around the edges!

The most interesting thing in the natural history musuem for us though was a mammoth tusk encased in glass. It was absolutely massive. Because all of the photos could not really portray its immense size, I ended up being the cheesy idiot in the shot trying to lend it some size comparison. Still doesn't do it justice though.

The cultural history museum was by far the more interesting of the two for us, with lots of artifacts from the Viking era, including jewellery, weaponry and furniture. We both loved this gorgeous giant wooden door.


I also loved this little wooden chair and the way it looked so well worn. Pondering on all the bums that had graced it, I decided to give it a try for myself. J was horrified and made me get out, but it was very comfortable for those few fleeting moments!




J loved this massive old table, calling it his meat eating table. I think he could really see himself back in the day perched up at this puppy, tearing flesh from the bone and skulling ale from a two handled wooden mug. Right up his alley I think!



We had a lovely day at the museums and it was amazing to see how quiet the city is over easter. Of course all of the shops and things are closed but it is tradition here that over easter all of the Norwegians head to their cabins in the mountains to ski and eat oranges and kitkat like chocolate - don't ask me why it just is. To prove how quiet it is we took this pic.



Kisses from two of Bergen's museums...xxx

Climbing mountains

To counter all of the pics of the office in the last post, this time I thought I would post a bunch of pics from the mountains. Bergen is sometimes referred to as the city surrounded by seven mountains, so of course J and I see it as our duty to climb all seven of them. After our first month here, we conquered number one.


Of course we took the dogs with us and wow, didn't they just love being mountain dogs for a day!

Mina gave us a few heart starting moments though. She just loves the snow and has to roll in it everytime she comes across it. About half way up the mountain she found a good patch and started rolling in it and burying her head in it etc. Of course being on a mountain, there was a fair bit of a slope to the patch and at one stage she was sliding head first, on her back, down the mountain. Luckily she managed to stop herself from totally cascading down the snow slide but it was certainly a heart starter. On the way back down we took a slightly different route and Mina went charging across a large puddle of frozen water. As the ice did not look that thick and Mina does look rather thick, I was very concerned that she was going to fall straight through, but once again she managed to survive. We tried to take a nice 'family' shot on the top of Lovstakken but of course Moj ruined it somewhat by doing what dogs do...

The view from the top was of course totally amazing. This is a shot taken from just one perspective of the 360 degree spectacular that was on offer. It is taken back over the area where we live. The lake in the middle is one near our house that we regularly walk the dogs around.

Next is a zoomed shot of our neighbourhood. See if you can find our house - it is near the centre of the shot, is brown and has a little red car out the front. We of course live on the bottom storey and if you look closely, you can see that the bottom half of the house at the back is white, that it our part!

So this should give you another perspective on where we live. We had such a lovely day climbing our first mountain in Norway that hopefully you can read more blogs in the not too distant future describing our adventures climbing the other seven mountains surrounding Bergen. Sending love and signing off as your intrepid mountain adventurer... fernicle xxx