Summer Vacation 2017- Lillehammer and Sogndal

July 17 and 18

On the afternoon of the 17th, after touring Oslo and getting lunch, we headed to Lillehammer. Lillehammer hosted the 1994 Olympics, and we stayed at a neat hotel at the bottom of the ski jump. We had time in the evening before dinner to explore the hotel grounds, and we had fun playing frisbee golf, checking out the sculptures in their sculpture garden, and taking a dip in the hot tub.

This was a sculpture that was more or less a colored mirror, so we took a funny photo of ourselves!

Wow, we're good at frisbee golf.

We had a lovely buffet dinner in the hotel. After dinner, Lindsay, Ben, and Dianna walked to the top of the ski jump. I was far too lazy to do that.

Feel the rhythm! Feel the rhyme! Get on up, it's bobsled time!

The morning of the 18th we got back in the coach and headed to Sogndal. Before we left Lillehammer, the bus took us up to the ski jump, and we got to play around a little bit there. Then, on the road!

Our first stop was at Lom, where we got a little tour of a stave church, which is the architectural style common in old Norway, but most have been torn down now.  The Lom church is mostly from the 1600's, but some parts are older, and some are newer. The guide told us they hold a church service there every 3 weeks, and they have 7 parishoners.

We ate lunch in Lom, and my parents and I enjoyed a Norwegian cafeteria. I loved the cafeterias there. Good food!

The Lom stave church

Back on the bus, and the next part of the trip was through mountain passes. I really enjoyed this part. I was surprised and grateful not to get car-sick (I got some motion sickness meds before I left the states), and so I was able to enjoy the beauty of the Norwegian mountains. We made several stops for us to get out, take pictures, and stretch our legs. The mountains were cold and snowy. They were were rocky, with no trees. There was clouds and mist. It was neat. Our coach driver was amazing, because those roads were narrow and full of sharp turns. Riding with Guyer was far less scary than riding on a school bus in the Honduran mountains. Doesn't come close.

At the top of the pass, it was about 40 degrees.

Lindsay dips her toe in a nearly frozen lake at the top of the pass.

Once we got down the mountains, we stopped for a break, and our guide, Birgitte, had a surprise for us. She gave us a snack of Norwegian goat cheese on crackers, with cranberry juice or a Norwegian alcohol called aquavit. The goat cheese was delicious!

Cheers!! Ben, Dianna, Lindsay, Me, Birgitte, and Guyer

We arrived in Sogndal in the evening, and Lindsay, Dianna, Ben, and I took a walk through town, which took about 10 minutes, because it is a very small town. Then I took a walk in the other direction with my mom, along the river that feeds into the fjord. We had dinner in the hotel, and went that night to buy groceries for lunch the next day.

In the morning we got back on the coach and headed to a nearby town to take our Fjord tour by boat!

Summer Vacation 2017 - Oslo

July 16-17

We arrived in Oslo, Norway in the early afternoon. The bus took us to our hotel, which felt very fancy and Scandinavian. Even my bottled water was in a fancy glass bottle.

So Scandinavian!

We met the rest of our group and our guide, Birgette, at a happy hour that evening.  Then the 6 of us headed out to find dinner. Birgette recommended the waterfront, so we headed that way. All the restaurants we found there were quite expensive, and one of them basically laughed when we asked for a table for 6 without a reservation. Finally we found a place a bit off the water and had a fine dinner there. We were all very exhausted and jet lagged.

Bread, anyone?

Though it was early, we were met by an amazing sight the next morning: the breakfast buffet.  It was incredible. Here are some of the things I remember they had: hard-boiled eggs, soft-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, cold cuts, sliced cheese, brie and soft cheese, watermelon, grapes, and other fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers and other veggies, milk, coffee, water, juice, and smoothies, 3 or 4 kinds of fish, including caviar, 5 or 6 kinds of bread (including gluten free), croissants, oatmeal, toppings for oatmeal like raisins, berries, nutella, jam, and I don't know what all, cereal, granola, musli. These are just the things I remember they had. They undoubtedly had more. It was incredible. And delicious.

Fish for breakfast

The next morning we did an Oslo city tour. Everyday we had the same bus and the same bus driver, Guyer. He drove us around for the entire trip.  Each day we had different assigned seats, so that everyone would have a chance at the front seats (excellent view), and would get to sit by new people each day.

These trees depict people at different stages of life, surrounding a fountain

Our tour of Oslo began at Vigeland park. This is a big public park full of sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. He is a famous and prolific artist, that none of us have heard of because Oslo bought his entire body of work for the city. The park has over 200 pieces by him, mostly bronze and stone sculptures. We spent a little time walking in the garden, while our local guide, Stina, told us about interpreting the art and a bit about Vigeland, for example, that he had children with his wife, then left her for a younger woman, and never saw his children again. Cool guy. All of his sculptures are nude because he wanted them to be timeless - clothing would be indicative of an era, of a time they were from, and he wanted them to be from all times.

Woman with children sculpture in front of the monolith

Our city tour included a tour inside the city hall. Sounds boring, but it was gorgeous! The main hall was like a huge ballroom, with enormous murals about the history of Oslo on all the walls. Upstairs were rooms with many more murals, tapestries, and art. It was just a crazy amount of murals. Their modern history is really interesting. One thing I loved is how, in 1905, Norway broke ties with Sweden, whom they had been 'in union' with for some hundreds of years. It nearly came to a war. The Norwegians wanted a monarchy, but they had no royalty left from their pre-union days. So they asked a Danish prince if he would come up and become Norway's king. He agreed, but only if the Norwegian people wanted him. So they held a vote, and he was elected king! His grandson Harald is now the king, and married a commoner, a 'sporty' woman named Sonja, and they are extremely popular with the Norwegian people. Harald even competed in the Olympics.

I mean, what is a giant empty room FOR, if not pretend ice-skating??

Our group inside city hall, learning about the many details on the murals

We also visited the Viking Ship museum and the Kon-Tiki museum. The viking ship museum held several ships that were discovered in Viking burial sites, along with other artifacts from the time. It's incredible to think the Vikings sailed to Greenland and even Canada in these tiny, exposed ships!

Damn, Vikings.

The Kon-Tiki museum told about Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian explorer who, among other things,  was trying to prove that ancient people could have sailed from South America to Polynesia. His expeditions were pretty amazing, and he did several big sailing expeditions from the 1930's-1970's.

After the museums, we head to Lillehammer for the night!

Summer Vacation 2017 - New York City

July 14 and 15

My big adventure this summer started off in New York City.  I flew from Minneapolis on July 14th, and met friends Ben Schilaty, his sister Lindsay, and our friend Dianna in Brooklyn.  My parents flew in later and met us in the evening in Manhattan.

Mmmmm Pizza!

For dinner, we found a little basement pizzeria and got some tasty slices.  Then we took the subway to Times Square and ogled at everything there.  Then we met my parents and went to a Broadway show!

Me, Dianna, Lindsay, and Ben

My friends had picked up tickets for all of us to see Anastasia that night. I enjoyed the show, especially the costumes and the set.  The music I found to be a little dull, but the actors had great singing voices.

Dad and I at Anastasia

After the show, we took the subway back to our air bnb and went to bed.

Breakfast in Brooklyn with Ben

 On the 15th, Ben and I got up and went out for bagels with my dad. We ate breakfast by the East River, looking out at Manhattan.  By 10:30, all six of us were up and ready to go, and we headed to Manhattan. We met a friend of Lindsay's for lunch, and got to check out her apartment a block from Central Park!
 

WOW.

 Afterwards, we walked through Central Park, exploring the castle, the boating pond, the fountain, and other parts.

Ben and I in our traditional bridge pose

Central Park with the skyline of Manhattan

Ben, Lindsay, Dianna and my dad left to go walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (which they did!), and my mom and I met up with my friend Clare, who now lives in New Jersey. We got a little snack at an Italian bistro, then walked along Madison Ave, and visited St. Patrick's Cathedral and 30 Rockefeller Center. It was so great to see her!

Me and Clare!

In the late afternoon, we all got packed up, got an Uber, and headed to JFK for our flight Paris!

I'm a big fan of subway art. This was just one of the fun sculptures in the subway!

Can you find the little man?

Diary of a cat

This school year I've hosted several foster cats at my apartment.  When cats get surrendered to the Tri-County Humane society, they can't be with all the other cats if they are sick, because illness will spread through the shelter. And they aren't ready to be adopted if they're sick. So I take cats that have a cold, bring them home, give them medicine, and a few weeks later, when they are healthy, I take them back to the shelter.

Titon

I have learned that cats can have very different behaviors and personalities. I'm on my 4th foster cat right now, Titon. He is unlike any of the other previous cats. To say he is low maintenance would be an understatement. He is the introvert's introvert. I almost never see him, he just picks a hidey hole for the day and stays there.

The between-the-couch-and-the-end-table spot

But guess what!!  He left his diary open one day when he came out to use the litterbox, and I found it! Here is a day in Titon's life:

The back-of-the-linen-closet spot

 July 2, 2017

6:30am - The human finally opened her door and came out to use her litterbox. I went in and took a bath. She got back in bed, and I think she was expecting me to come up and let her pet me, like I did that one time, but I didn't feel like it today. Instead, I sat on the chair and looked at birds out the window.

7:00am - I took another bath.

7:30am - The human got up and went to get breakfast, so I did, too. I ate most of my food during the night, but I saved enough of that delicious weight-control dry kibble for breakfast. 

7:35am - I took a bath.

7:45am- The human got back in bed. I chose my spot for the day. Today I picked her clothes closet, not the laundry hamper side, but the pile-of-shoes side. Time for a nap.

8:30am - The human opened the closet door and took something out. She looked at me and said, "hi, buddy!" I'm sorry, but does she honestly think we're friends?! Returned to my nap.

9:30am - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. Woke me up briefly. 

11:00am - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. I went back to sleep immediately.

1:00pm - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. What is her problem??

3:00pm - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. I think she said something, like, "are you doing okay?" but who knows.

5:00pm - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. She pet my head for a second, but since I was ignoring her, and trying to sleep, she didn't do that for long.

8:00pm - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. 

9:00pm - The human opened the closet door and looked at me. She looked so pathetic, I decided to come out and let her pet me. I guess naptime is over. 

9:02pm - That's enough interaction. I went and got a drink of water. The human has this toy she always wants to play with, so she was waving it in front of my face, but I didn't feel like playing. I took a bath, then sharpened my claws on the carpeting. 

9:15pm- The human got in bed, so I came up and let her pet me for a bit. Then I took a bath.

9:30pm- My food bowl got refilled somehow, so I had a snack, then took a bath. While I was eating, the human came in and turned out all the lights, then went in her room and shut the door. All she does all night is sleep! Should I be worried about her?

Trailblazers

Exploring Eagle Park in fall

Carlos shows me his favorite leaf

One of the great successes of this school year has been my after-school program, Trailblazers.  With Nicole, Patricia, and Sandy, three of my colleagues, we have a twice-a-week after school program for EL students in elementary and middle school.  Mostly only my own students in grades 3-5 came, but we had some younger and older students, too.

Climbing a tree in winter

We had goals that included broadening their bi-lingual literacy skills, and offering homework help, but my own personal passion for the program was outdoor exploration. I wanted my students to have unstructured time out in nature.  Sometimes we'd do nature walks, or scavenger hunts, and sometimes I'd just take them into the woods to play.  It went really well.  The kids really got into our outdoor adventures.

Playing in the woods in winter

Agustin, Santiago and Freddy show off the geocache we found in the woods

At least once a week all school year we would take them either to the small woods next to the school, or a nearby nature park (yes, even in the winter).  For the end of the year, I set up a special field trip to St. John's University, where they have a huge nature preserve/arboretum/nature park area, and a program called OutdoorU where guides took our kids through a nature walk with some activities. It was great!

SuperVolunteer Mr. Zed helping Mirella catch bugs at St. John's OutdoorU

The kids try to catch some bugs

I will really miss doing this program with my kids, and I think lots of them will miss it, too.  It's been a really great experience all around.

Checking out the wetlands at St. John's

Hiking through the St. John's forest

Back: Daniel, Nicole, Adriana, Mirella, Rosa, Sandy, Santiago, Freddy, Jesus. Front: Marcos, Agustin, Me, Carlos, Moises

Sleep Study

So. The Sleep Study!

I get really sleepy in the afternoons. I think lots of people do. But I asked my doctor about it and she recommended I meet with the sleep doctor, and he met with me and recommended a sleep study. So I did one! And yes, before this, we did all kinds of blood work and tests, and no, I don't have low iron, or a thyroid problem, or a blood sugar problem. In fact, my sleep doctor, when he met with me after all those tests, said, "wow! You're perfect!" So hey, can't argue with a doctor! I am perfect. And apparently I am a medical mystery, since I don't appear to have sleep apnea, narcolepsy, or restless leg syndrome. So a sleep study was recommended.

Here's what happened.

At 7pm Wednesday night I checked in at the sleep clinic. I was already wearing pajamas, and had brought lots to entertain me, and one of my own pillows.

Arriving for the study with my pillow and my backpack full of entertainment

The technician, Brandy, took me to my room, which felt like a hospital or hotel room. It had its own bathroom attached, a TV, etc.

My view from, where else, the bed

She started hooking me up to all this equipment!  I got 2 electrode things on my legs (one on each), and one on each clavicle. She put three 'belts' around my torso; two monitored my movement (I think) and one was like a control box for all this other stuff. Three things strapped to my chest/waist while I slept. Then she did my head stuff. First she measured my head in all these different ways and marked my face and skull with a red grease pencil. I'm not sure how many electrodes she put in my hair, probably around 6. These were kind of glued in with this weird gel glue stuff. She put one my forehead, one by each eye, one on each side of my jaw, one behind each ear, and one under my chin. Then I got in bed and relaxed and read my book for a couple hours. Around 10pm she came back in and put a monitoring thing on my finger, and a tube in my nostrils (like an oxygen tube) that measures my breathe out. Then she told me to 'get comfortable' and she turned off the light.

In my room they have video and sound on me all the time. So they can hear and see anything I'm doing. They also have a speaker so they can talk to me from the control room.

Before going to bed for the night. No nostril tube or finger monitor on yet.

She came on the speaker and had me do a bunch of things to calibrate the equipment. I had to 'lie still with eyes open'; close my eyes; look up and down 3 times; look left and right 3 times; blink 5 times; grind my teeth; make a snoring noise; flex and wiggle my feet; hold my breath for 10 seconds; hold my breath while flexing my stomach in and out...and I think that was it.

Then they told me to try to go to sleep.  I had no trouble falling asleep. I never do. I slept pretty well, really, but the box on my chest sometimes disturbed me. The thing that hurt the most was the electrodes behind my ears, and the wires going along my legs. I sleep on my side and after lying on those things, my legs and ears started to hurt and I would have to switch sides. But overall I slept pretty well. I woke up around 4:30 and decided I had to use the bathroom, which means I have to ask Brandy to come unhook me a bit. So I just said out loud, "Brandy, I need to use the bathroom" and she came on the speaker and said, "I'll be right in!" and she came in and unhooked me, and I used the bathroom, then she came back in, hooked me back up, and I went back to sleep. I wasn't sure I would be able to go back to sleep, 4:30 is almost when I wake up on a normal weekday, but I did, and then I didn't wake up until 7! What a treat!

They know instantly when you're awake, so when I woke up at 7, they came on the speaker and said, "Laura, let's calibrate again." So I had to do all those same exercises again. Then a new technician, Sam, came in to unhook me. She took off my nostril tube and finger monitor, and all my belts and the leg monitors, but everything else stayed on. She also brought me breakfast!

Some of the stuff attached to my head

For breakfast I had decided to treat myself to Lucky Charms, because hey, how often do I eat Lucky Charms!? Never. I ate my breakfast and read my book, and at 8:30 or so, Sam came back in and told me it was time for my first nap.

Yum, sugar for breakfast!!

So they hooked me up again, blocked the window with this huge foam pad, and then calibrated again, although I didn't have to do the chest or leg things this time.

I took a nap. You probably think, wow, I couldn't just fall asleep on command, especially that soon after waking up. But I was there because I'm too sleepy. I'm pretty good at falling asleep. When my nap was over, Sam came in to wake me up. She asked me, "do you think you slept?" and I said yes, and "do you remember dreaming?" and I said, not really, but I remember dreaming.

Got to choose my lunch and snacks.

Then I had an hour and a half until my next nap, so I did some embroidery, played some games on my phone, read my book, and wow, time flies.

I did five naps throughout the day, each about an hour and a half after the previous one ended. This might sound like an awesome day, just lying around and taking naps, and it was fine, but it did start to get a little tedious. And all I could see out my window, when it wasn't blocked by the foam pad, was a gray day and the parking lot.

I know I slept for 3 of the 5 naps, and the other 2 I might have. It seems weird not to know if I slept or not, but I know wasn't just lying there with my eyes open thinking, 'when is this over??' I had my eyes closed and was thinking about other things, so I might have slept, or dozed, or I might have just been in dozy imagination land. But judging by the times Sam came in to wake me up, I suspect I slept each time. She always asked if I thought I had slept and if I remembered dreaming.

On one of the breaks I strolled down to the lounge. This was the only other place to go than my room, and it wasn't really much of an improvement. Bigger window onto the parking lot. Different chair. And many, many snacks. The snacks were cool. They also brought me lunch between two of the naps, a sandwich, banana, chips, cookie. Pretty standard.

The lounge

My last nap ended at about 5pm. Sam took all the monitors off me. The ones in my hair was weird, she gathered up the wires in like a ponytail and tugged straight up, and they just slid right off. Then I could go home! There was a shower in my room if I wanted to use it, but I live super close to the clinic so I just pulled my hood up over my weird hair and drove home.

This was like, 18 hours in. I was feeling pretty gross.

My hair had all this gunky gel glue in it, and lots of gauze. It was sticking up in all directions. My face had red grease pencil marks on it. My body just felt gross from lying in bed ALL DAY and not showering all day. I took a shower right when I got home, and then I took a walk, even though it was cold and gray and rainy out, because I just desperately needed some fresh air and exercise.

So my doctor will look at my test results and let me know what he thinks in the next week or so. I'm not really expecting that he'll be able to say, "oh, look! You have this thing, and here's how you cure it!" but maybe he'll have some insight into what I can do differently to be less sleepy in the afternoons.