You are Amazing
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
This weekend was the weekend of wild gatherings. So much so, that it spilled into Monday night.
On Friday, I was invited over to Lisa's kitchen to be fed fabulous Iranian food by one seriously crazy Iranian guy. In typical Norwegian fashion (and maybe also in the fashion of some other places, too), anonymous Iranian guy (AIG) had just begun cooking when I arrived at 5:15. He proceeded to cook for the next two hours: chicken, steak, some eggplanty vegetable concoction, little teeny lobsters on top of a salad ... This afforded the guests ample time to get to know one another. It also gave AIG plenty of time to regale us with stories of his long lost loves and of his ambitious plans to become as rich as Bill Gates by somehow exploiting his recent epiphany that both the Big Bang AND God Almighty created the universe. How this idea can make him money, I have no idea. Although, there are some pretty crappy books about the origins of the universe on the market; maybe he could go the NY Times Bestseller route. I don't know ...
Among the other guests was a newly wedded American couple who just happen to be members of a Christian organization which shall also remain anonymous. Since I know there are quite a number of people who read this who may themselves be members of some kind of Christian organization, I think I should preface this by saying that, unless you're some stranger I've never met, you're not part of this kind of Christian organization. Generally, I don't cuddle up to people who feel just grand about making an entire room of strangers completely uncomfortable. And, for this couple, it was clearly a favorite pastime. We had been sitting around the table for maybe 20 minutes when they hauled out their laptop to show us the video of themselves they had played at their wedding. This included some footage of their recent stint around the US to recruit young people for evangelistic tours of Europe. Apparently, they went to different churches and mimed, skitted, and hip-hop danced themselves silly. Basically my idea of a nightmare. They gave us invitations to their oh-so-hip church--you know, the kind where everyone on the platform wears a headset, Britney Spears-style--whereupon Julia, a beautiful woman from Belarus commented that, given her Orthodox background, she's uncomfortable with the idea of having a rock concert in church. The couple responded with the Reader's Digest version of the history of Pentecostalism (which apparently started when "a group of people in California started reading the Bible and actually doing what it said") and basically concluded by insulting the sincerity of Lord knows how many Orthodox believers for the past umpteen hundred years. Needless to say, between me, Lisa, and the other Fulbrighter present, there was some serious seat-shifting going on.
Let me cut through the negativity by saying that everybody there was quite nice and friendly. Julia brought wine for us heathens to drink, and AIG made sure that no one lifted a finger to help with the food or the dishes. When I told my parents about this lively gathering, they asked if we'd be meeting again next weekend. Unfortunately, about a week prior to this, AIG had mentioned his preference for blondes, and one of my supposed "friends" duly pointed out that I, myself, am blonde, whereupon my every encounter with AIG has been marked by the distinctive feeling of being looked up, down, and sideways. Despite his cooking skills, I am avoiding AIG, since perhaps the pinnacle of an evening of awkwardnesses came with AIG's sudden pronouncement: "You're amazing. Buy a mobile, so we can light candles and lay in bed talking all night long." Um, no thank you ... ?
The second fabulous gathering this weekend happened Monday night (I know, not a weekend, that's my point, we Fulbrighters know how to party ... or at least gather civilly in a room with food). A fellow Fulbrighter had been duped by some crafty butcher into buying 5 kilos of ground beef for a party she had last week. As a result, one party became two parties, just to get rid of the excess. So, in the spirit of international camaraderie, she invited about 20 people who proceeded to stuff themselves clown car-style into her kitchen, eat hamburgers, and watch Rome, an HBO show that's randomly been picked up in Norway, apparently because they really dig the sex and violence over here. And, oh man, was it ever violent. As to the sexiness of it, I have to concur with Lisa, who about halfway through the second episode bemoaned, "This show makes sex look terrible!"
My collective contribution to this gathering was a third, yes third, round of blueberry cobbler, made with the blueberries Lisa, Alison, and I so deftly gathered from the forests of Nordmarka on a short walk that quickly became a 5-hour trek back to Kringsjå. At least somewhere in the middle of those 5 hours, some old Norwegian ladies fed me warm apple cake. And apple cake tends to cloud bad memories. Since I don't have pictures of either of the little parties I attended, I'll have to put up some of us hiking PLUS an added bonus: Found art by an anonymous young devotee of Saint Exupery.
On Friday, I was invited over to Lisa's kitchen to be fed fabulous Iranian food by one seriously crazy Iranian guy. In typical Norwegian fashion (and maybe also in the fashion of some other places, too), anonymous Iranian guy (AIG) had just begun cooking when I arrived at 5:15. He proceeded to cook for the next two hours: chicken, steak, some eggplanty vegetable concoction, little teeny lobsters on top of a salad ... This afforded the guests ample time to get to know one another. It also gave AIG plenty of time to regale us with stories of his long lost loves and of his ambitious plans to become as rich as Bill Gates by somehow exploiting his recent epiphany that both the Big Bang AND God Almighty created the universe. How this idea can make him money, I have no idea. Although, there are some pretty crappy books about the origins of the universe on the market; maybe he could go the NY Times Bestseller route. I don't know ...
Among the other guests was a newly wedded American couple who just happen to be members of a Christian organization which shall also remain anonymous. Since I know there are quite a number of people who read this who may themselves be members of some kind of Christian organization, I think I should preface this by saying that, unless you're some stranger I've never met, you're not part of this kind of Christian organization. Generally, I don't cuddle up to people who feel just grand about making an entire room of strangers completely uncomfortable. And, for this couple, it was clearly a favorite pastime. We had been sitting around the table for maybe 20 minutes when they hauled out their laptop to show us the video of themselves they had played at their wedding. This included some footage of their recent stint around the US to recruit young people for evangelistic tours of Europe. Apparently, they went to different churches and mimed, skitted, and hip-hop danced themselves silly. Basically my idea of a nightmare. They gave us invitations to their oh-so-hip church--you know, the kind where everyone on the platform wears a headset, Britney Spears-style--whereupon Julia, a beautiful woman from Belarus commented that, given her Orthodox background, she's uncomfortable with the idea of having a rock concert in church. The couple responded with the Reader's Digest version of the history of Pentecostalism (which apparently started when "a group of people in California started reading the Bible and actually doing what it said") and basically concluded by insulting the sincerity of Lord knows how many Orthodox believers for the past umpteen hundred years. Needless to say, between me, Lisa, and the other Fulbrighter present, there was some serious seat-shifting going on.
Let me cut through the negativity by saying that everybody there was quite nice and friendly. Julia brought wine for us heathens to drink, and AIG made sure that no one lifted a finger to help with the food or the dishes. When I told my parents about this lively gathering, they asked if we'd be meeting again next weekend. Unfortunately, about a week prior to this, AIG had mentioned his preference for blondes, and one of my supposed "friends" duly pointed out that I, myself, am blonde, whereupon my every encounter with AIG has been marked by the distinctive feeling of being looked up, down, and sideways. Despite his cooking skills, I am avoiding AIG, since perhaps the pinnacle of an evening of awkwardnesses came with AIG's sudden pronouncement: "You're amazing. Buy a mobile, so we can light candles and lay in bed talking all night long." Um, no thank you ... ?
The second fabulous gathering this weekend happened Monday night (I know, not a weekend, that's my point, we Fulbrighters know how to party ... or at least gather civilly in a room with food). A fellow Fulbrighter had been duped by some crafty butcher into buying 5 kilos of ground beef for a party she had last week. As a result, one party became two parties, just to get rid of the excess. So, in the spirit of international camaraderie, she invited about 20 people who proceeded to stuff themselves clown car-style into her kitchen, eat hamburgers, and watch Rome, an HBO show that's randomly been picked up in Norway, apparently because they really dig the sex and violence over here. And, oh man, was it ever violent. As to the sexiness of it, I have to concur with Lisa, who about halfway through the second episode bemoaned, "This show makes sex look terrible!"
My collective contribution to this gathering was a third, yes third, round of blueberry cobbler, made with the blueberries Lisa, Alison, and I so deftly gathered from the forests of Nordmarka on a short walk that quickly became a 5-hour trek back to Kringsjå. At least somewhere in the middle of those 5 hours, some old Norwegian ladies fed me warm apple cake. And apple cake tends to cloud bad memories. Since I don't have pictures of either of the little parties I attended, I'll have to put up some of us hiking PLUS an added bonus: Found art by an anonymous young devotee of Saint Exupery.
(pssst. it says "snake" in Norwegian.)
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on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 4:47 AM.
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10:59 AM
FINALLY. I can post comments! (The switch from Blogger to Blogger Beta is not so smooth.)
Yes, I concur with the thoughts on Rome. Some unfortunate soul and friend of mine rented it out of sheer curiosity and "wow, that's so ... violent, and that definitely does not look enjoyable," were the comments of the evening.
Ah, overzealous Christians. And newlyweds. That makes it worse! I'm definitely not a Christian because of other Christians. It's more like, "in spite of."
Your life is so much more fascinating than mine.