There is a world of wonders inside a cow's head...as we say in Iceland

All along the walls in the KEF Reyjkavik airport, there are Iceland promotional posters of Icelandic sayings, "A man with no brother is naked on the back... As we say in Iceland."

My favorite by far, was, however, "There is a world of wonders inside a cow's head... As we say in Iceland." Maybe it was the picture of the cow sticking it's tongue up it's nose, but I found the ad to be endearing and thought provoking. And it made me feel less stupid. Which is always a plus.

Anyway, back to the point, if I had a point, which at this point I hardly need point out, it is rather pointless to get back to a point that one has forgotten about.
Moving on.
I am very tired. Of course. It's international travel. The nice thing is, while I am tired, I am not exhausted or addalpated with a headache, or confused, or anything. That year abroad in England has definitely made it easier, although it is still tiring. The most tiring part was I crocheted an enormous hat on the flight over, and only slept about three hours. So, it's lack of sleep, tired, not stressed out, unable to breathe because I'm too tense tired. Which, a year a go, had I decided to make such a quantam leap into the world of fate and destiny, would have left me crippled with the God-awful overwhelming changingness of it all.
But it is not so. I feel top-billing, to be perfectly honest, and my only wish is that I were starting work in two days instead of five, but... I can wait. I'm sure there's plenty to do in Oslo before I depart.
So, today I found out a couple of things about Norway.
#1. People are super nice. There's no way around it. They are charming and gracious across the board. Even the beggars are polite.
#2. The "anker" is the national symbol. One need not dig very far into Norwegian history to discover their amazing lineage of sailors and seamen. Norwegian seamen are famous all over the world for their grit, stamina, and skills. When I was in Cardiff last April, they had a Norwegian seamen monuments all over the city. A) they are awesome, and B) Roald Dahl's father was a Norwegian Seaman, and Roald Dahl is most beloved in Cardiff, Wales.
Anyway, so, the anker. Hence, "The Anker Blog", since it's a blog about Norway, might as well incorporate a little cultural reference.
#3. Although this little happenstance is common throughout Europe, I discovered it here, too. Roads are not clearly marked.
#4. I haven't tried them yet, but I have seen the pastries here, and I know I want to try them.
#5. They love their Nordic sports. The Nordic sports championships were going on today, and while I was waitint to check into the room, I watched some of the events with the locals. The one that looks the toughest is the uphill Nordic ski sprint. They sprint up a mountain on Nordic skis. Interestingly, although not surprisingly, the man with the lowest heart rate, and highest lung capacity is a Norwegian skier. I can't remember his name right now, though. Heavens to Bettsy!

That's all my brain can process about Norway for the moment. I had fun walking around the mall and admiring the shops (my love for clothes will never cease). I bought only practical things today, however. A Swatch watch, which is beautiful and was reasonably priced and I love it (I thought I should be able to tell the time), an outlet adapter, a hot dog, Coke, a Lebara SIM card (Lebara has got to be one of the best international pay-as-you-go SIM card suppliers), and a train ticket from the airport to the Oslo Sentralstasion (I think that's how it's spelled in Norwegian). Of course.

In other news, I didn't know this before, but Lybia used to be part of the Italian conglomerate pre-WWII. It wasn't until 1969 that Gadafi took over. For some reason, in my mind, he had been in power much longer. And also, the bombing of his palace the US did was news to me, too. It's amazing what one learns when one reads.

Oh, and also, I had a candy bar from Iceland called "Eitt Sett", which is a strip of liquorice upon a bar of sweet milk chocolate. Salty, interesting, and a little weird. Hopefully tomorrow I will learn the bus system and go somewhere fun to eat. I want to find something unusual and Nordsk and get off the beaten track a little. Although the beaten track is rather nice, here. It's not at all "touristy". I mean, a little, but they keep it under control, which is nice. The locals don't all avoid city centre like the plague, as they do in other European cities where the tacky "I was HERE" shirts flow in the wind like warning flags of grumpy people, on jet lag, with the constant confliction of wanting to buy things, but never wanting to spend any money.
So, yeah, Oslo is not like that. It's crisp, and clean (if it weren't for the slush in the streets, although it is COMPLETELY understandable, just traveling from that myself), and seems to be very well organized. I haven't met an impatient person yet, although many people are in a hurry, since it's a city.

That reminds me:
On the ride from Reyjkavik to Oslo, I watched "Eat. Pray. Love." with Julia Roberts. And yes, while it's not the most cohesive or interesting movie in the world, I very much enjoyed it. Maybe it's because of my recent fascination (okay, 8 year fascination) with Buddhism and meditation, and enlightenment, which interested me about the movie. Besides Julia Roberts, of course, whom, I don't care who disagrees with me or not, I think is wonderfully beautiful and a terrific actress. I know some people don't think she has the chops, but she is compelling and enjoyable to watch. And that, to me, is a great actress.
Anyway, you've probably seen it. But if you haven't, it's about a woman who goes on a journey to find herself. Her whole life is changing, and instead of caving into her pressure, she escapes. This is seen, by some of her acquaintances and friends, as being selfish...
Maybe it's my own personal journey (one that I tend not to reflect upon too heavily), or maybe it's the way the movie was made (purposefully reaching out to women who don't know what to do: which is practically all of us... men and women alike), but I found the movie comforting. Which I think is what it was supposed to be. Anyway, I really liked it.
It had many, many correlations to my own life. But like I said, it was made to be widely relatable. That doesn't diminish it's effectiveness, or it's message though, in any way. Sometimes predictability isn't all bad, however much I do loathe it some times.
Anyway, with coming to Norway and all, I feel as if I have changed in the past year. For the better, hopefully, but I have changed. And, I'm leaving everything I am close to, again, in search of a mysterious unknown. Sometimes I wonder what it is I'm actually searching for.
Eat. Pray. Love. was of the opinion that no matter where you go, or what you do, you are always searching for love. And you search until you find it. I guess they have a point. It seems that everyone wants, or has, an epic love story to tell, or to be discovered.
We all want to be loved, right?
Right.
The main character "Liz" and her fatal attraction to food was nothing shy of the mark with another personal correlation. But I find, when one is in another country, one doesn't get a seriously real experience until they've tried the food. Food is probably the MOST important element to a culture for three reasons, which are addressed in questions: A) WHERE does the food come from? B) WHAT foods are popular? and C) HOW is it prepared?
If you can trace the answers for these questions, as they pertain to their traditional or culturally influenced roots, you will discover more about a country than any other way. And also, WHY do the locals like that flavor, that texture, that taste? The answer to this is more nebulous, which, is like culture itself. Undefinable, in language, it is only seen, heard, and felt, not really linguistically explained. It's very difficult to conclude anything about a culture using just words alone. You need examples. Which is why, I think, while museums are great and everything, it's just not a cultural experience until you've eaten their food, and done something they take for granted.
After thinking a little bit though, I know what I'm in search of. An anker. Be that a person, a place, a home, a face, a laugh, a word, a whatever. I'm searching for an anker. Like that Supertramp song, "Will I be dreaming forever? Oh, I need find and anchor for my soul." I guess he was talking about love, too. Whether I find it in Norway, or elsewhere, or nowhere, or everywhere, ten years from now, whenever, I'm still discovering where it might be. Although every day I feel like I'm getting closer. Like that Buddy Holly song, "Everyday". Hell, I'm just in search of love, okay?!

That was the only way I could get out of that extremely sentimental thought. Swearing.

I have rambled on long enough, I think.
Tomorrow I am sleeping until I wake up. And then, in search of something delicious and lovely. It's been a fabulous journey so far. I hope it continues.

Over and out.

Hannah