33

No, the title does not refer to the age of Jesus when he died, but to the number of students in my English Year 11 class this academic year. Yes, there are 33 students in the class. Tonight I have marked their essays (each student has written about 1-2 pages in Word) and gosh it has taken time. A lot of time!! My biggest English class on this level in Spain had 5 students. (Yes, I'm sure you can work out the difference, and the increase in time spent marking this number of essays ...) Some of the students have produced really good texts, whereas others were of average quality. What I had forgotten, though, is how wonderful Norwenglish may sound (I probably won't get Spanglish in my essays anymore). It is tempting to share a phrase here on the blog, but it won't really make sense to you non-Norwegians. 

(The illustration is taken from this web page.)

Anyway, I guess what I'm about to say now, my dear friends at Aloha, will surprise you: I have actually started using the EAT marking strategy here in Oslo as well. And it seems to go down well with the students. Interesting! Happy Wednesday! 

Cold

This morning it was +1 degree here in Oslo. I need to locate my winter jacket. It is cold.

Tapas

A moment of mixed emotions and anxiety! How would my first proper tapas meal taste here in Norway? Would the bravas sauce taste like the one at La Venencia? Would the gambas come with just the right amount of garlic? Or would it be a huge disappointment?

My friends and I decided to try the tapas at Escalón at Tjuvholmen tonight. We hadn't met since we were in Spain together in July, so it was definitely time to catch up and share some very good news! We ordered lots of tapas, and it's safe to say that we were not disappointed. The food was excellent, except for the bravas sauce, which tasted like peanut butter (!). The eye was (como siempre) hungrier than the stomach, but we managed to eat most of it, accompanied by a few bottles of nice red wine: Coto de Imáz. We had a lovely evening and shared lots of interesting thoughts about life... :) What strikes me as odd, though, is that in Norway we go out for dinner at 6pm. I love it, but I can't get used to it. And the prize? NOK2200 for four people ...

Gesundheit

In Norway, people rarely say “bless you”, “Jesus” or “gesundheit” to you when you sneeze. I wish they did.