News on Brian's Dad, Tom Smith

If you are family, you have probably already heard that Brian's dad Tom was in a bad car accident two weeks ago. He is now on the road to recovery, but it's going to be a long one. Long story short, you all in MN received some unseasonably cold/wintery weather at that time, which left icy roads up in Northern MN. Tom was driving home from his cabin in CA, so just north of Duluth, and his truck flipped on ice. There are no life threatening injuries at this point, but many broken bones and lots of rehabilitation to come after 4 surgeries.

Bri and I went to MN right away, and spent the time up at St Luke's Hospital in Duluth with Tom's partner Karen, Rick & Kate, and Tom's sisters, Anne and Beth. It was a scary time and Tom was incapacitated over that entire first week/weekend. I was there from Wed through Sunday. Brian stayed on until just today (the following Sunday) while Tom was weened off his breathing tube, and other drugs that kept him "out". Sounds like there has been many small drastic changes for the better for Tom, in this last week. So we are very happy and fortunate to have him with us and already the entire fam is pitching in and taking turns spending time with Tom and help keeping him company, encouraging him, serving as advocates at the hospital, etc. Within the week or so, he should be moved to another hospital that can help with rehabilitation and take him closer to home in Wisconsin. He has been talking with everyone since last weekend, and he's got a good determination and is being as positive as he can. He's doing well and making great strides.

It's sure been an eye-opening experience dealing with the insurance world for such a situation. I don't care whether people are republicans or democrats. I don't think which side of politics one is on, should have anything to do with the obvious need that something drastically needs to change the American health care/insurance system. No one needs to be worrying about costs, or who can take care of what, or where insurance will cover this versus this - when a loved one is in a serious state of health. Insurance coverage should be the last thing people should have to worry about. It really puts things into perspective when it's your own family that is experiencing the entire system. I couldn't even imagine what a family would have to do if this happened to them, and didn't have health insurance in America.

Brian turns 3-2!

Well Brian definitely celebrated in style for his B-day this year - or I should say, in Brian style! There should be no surprise to hear we were at the pub. But we did do a few more things to help him celebrate . . .

The wife got up early to bake the B-day boy fresh blueberry muffins



Went to the pub for pre-dinner pints, then all 18 of us enjoyed mezes, beer and ouzo at the Greek Taverna


Back to the pub for more post-dinner pints

The remaining few (still standing!) at our flat for late night celebrating

Summer Visitors 2: The Bjork family!

Our good friend's Elin & Magnus and their two kids, Rebecka and Lukas came back to Oxford for visit in September. We had just gotten to see then in July/August when we went on our trip to Norway. If you recall, we became great friends in 2007, the first year we lived in Oxford. We were neighbors from across the hall, and it was a fantastic year we will all never forget. Now we live in a different flat of course, but it was just big enough to add a family of 4 for a visit! Good thing kids are little!


The weather wasn't so great, but they remembered typical English summer weather and were well prepared. The great thing for us was that E&M already know Oxford very well and didn't need us to show them around. So Brian and I could carry on with work during the day, and the Bjorks could visit their favorite Oxford places. We would then all meet up for dinner at the flat - and play with the kids! Good practice . . . :)


We did take a weekend trip to the southern coast (well north part of the southern tip of the UK). We drove through the small city of Wells and visited the gorgeous cathedral. (A place is the UK isn't called a city unless it has a cathedral. Wells is the smallest city in the UK.) We then drove to Weston-super-mare and stayed in a B&B right across from the coast. There wasn't much for super warm, summery weather, but we just enjoyed visiting a new place.

On the drive back, we drove through the Cheddar Gorge. It's a beautiful natural gorge carved out of the Sommerset hills. It's also where cheddar cheese was first made. There is a lot of farmland and pastures in the area as well. And the caves within the gorge, was the perfect dark, damp place to store the cheddar cheese rounds while it matured.

We had a great time with the Bjorks visiting and we hope to see them again next year, probably in Sweden - especially with their expanding family and new house! :)

Summer Visitors: Nelson & Amanda!

I need to wrap up our summer events on the blog so I can move on to the autumn! BTW, the Brits don't use the word fall to describe a season, so I'm using consciously using autumn.


Anywho, already way back in August, our good friend Nelson from GAC and his fiance Amanda came to visit. They lucked out with great weather and great friends as tour guides of course!


Mainly, the goal was to enjoy catching up, touring around Oxford and taking it easy. Many pub stops were of course on the agenda as well.

We did get out for a day trip to to beautiful Georgian town of Bath and another trip to the must-see Windsor Castle. I think I could speak for all of us by saying the best afternoon was punting on Oxford's Cherwell river. There is always great entertainment along the river - this time - pirates!

We had a blast with N&A visiting and we look forward to seeing them again soon!

Here is what we are facing with US Academic jobs

Stanford University endowment loses big
San Francisco Chronicle, 03/09/209, Nanette Asimov
Stanford, the nation's third-wealthiest university, is feeling poor. The school has laid off 412 employees this year, with dozens more lay-offs to come. It has also frozen salaries and shuttered its physics library as it tries to counter the largest loss to its endowment in 120 years. "The academic program has been protected," spokeswoman Lisa Lapin said, meaning that Stanford is not laying off its faculty. But there are 50 open faculty positions that will not be filled in the near future.

So, job outlook for Brian is not very healthy in the US this year. We are glad we have great (even though short-term) positions in the UK right now. Looks like we'll need more patience with returning home to the US anytime soon. . .

Bergen, Norway

Well good thing we had prepared for rain, because it rained a lot in Bergen! I believe it's the rainiest city in Norway, and probably one of the rainiest cities in Europe. But it's also very quaint and beautiful; the city was the European Capital of Culture in 2000 and it's water front, Bryggen, is an UNESCO World Heritage site.

We took the most amazing train ride from Oslo to the West coast and traveled through incredible Norwegian landscape. We stayed at a typical chain hotel, but it did the job just fine and had a nice large Norwegian breakfast buffet in the morning. The size of Bergen is just perfect. Large enough for some good exploring, but doesn't feel very large and quite easy to get your bearings quickly.

Our main plan in Bergen was to enjoy the outdoors. In a short furnicular ride or walk from Bergen's city centre, you can reach mountainous hiking trails in the Mount Floyen or Mount Ulriken areas. So we started off the first morning with a hike up through Mount Floyen. It was warm and almost sunny when we took off, but by the afternoon, it was raining fairly good. Didn't stop us - although we looked like drowned rats! But we hiked around the top of Floyen and explored. Interesting to see how there are all of these mountain cabins scattered about. Not sure how they workk - if they belong to a family, or if you can rent one. The key thing of course is getting there! Not like there is an easy road to drive your car up! So they are mainly for hikers to use. And Norwegians like to hike! And in the rain!

In our exploring we found this tiny little old hut, which has been turned into a small art gallery. It's in the middle of nowhere on the tip of ledge on the mountain. But I think the cool thing is for those of us who stumble upon it, receive quite a nice culture surprise! Whoever runs it, changes out the works every few months and runs a blog. Pretty cool!

As food is so expensive as I mentioned in the Oslo post, we took on the typical European tourist habits, and ate mainly bread and cheese (and salami for me) for our lunches and even some dinners. It was much easier to shop in a supermarket and buy picnic type stuff. Plus that is so much fun anyway in a different country.

The next day after our open face breakfast sandwiches and coffee/tea, we took one of the "Norway in a Nutshell" tours on the fjords. We traveled by train, bus, boat, bus in a circular fashion from Bergen and back to Bergen in about 12 hours. The main highlights were some amazing waterfalls and of course the boat tour on the fjords. Our photos don't do the fjords justice, even though we took hundreds. We travelled along the Hardangerfjord and past all of the steep sloping fruit farms on the banks. Another wet and cold day, but obviously we found ways to enjoy a hot cup of coffee/tea and experience the Norwegian life! Here we are in a cafe in Eidfjord (on the end of the fjord), waiting for the rain to let up so we can explore the town.

Our last day, we didn't fly out until later at night, so still had some time to hike a bit in the morning. We took the cable car this time up Mount Ulriken. The weather was also somewhat sunny, so that was nice for our last day. We hiked a bit together, and then I was pretty shot from all of our activities, so went back to the cafe on the top and enjoyed a Norwegian boller (sweet baked bun) and a latte while overlooking the city. Brian hiked over to the next mountain and of course loved having his alone manly time to be one with the outdoors. :)

We flew from Bergen to Oslo, and then Oslo home to London. Got home late in the evening, but luckily had a day at home to recoup before heading back to work.

We'd love to return again sometime and explore our families roots, since we both have such a strong Norwegian presence in our lives. Will just have to live off of more bread and cheese!

Oslo, Norway

Brian and I spent the last week in July visiting Norway. If it's not apparent, we both have strong Norwegian heritage in our families and thought this was a good opportunity to explore our roots. It especially worked out perfectly, because our good Swedish friends, Elin & Magnus, were going to drive from Sweden to Norway, to visit our Norwegian friends in Oslo. And they all kindly invited the Americans to join in! Oyvind and Kristine were also neighbors with us when we first moved to Oxford. We only lived in Oxford for about 4 months together, where we lived across from Elin & Magnus for about 11 months or so. This was such a special experience - to reconnect with our Scandinavian friends in Norway!

After the athletics meet Saturday, Brian and I stayed in a hotel by the Heathrow airport, and flew to Oslo on Sunday. On the airplane we sat next to this attractive older blonde Norwegian woman. Brian offered put her bag up for her and asked in English of course. She first answered in excellent English and then immediately continued talking to him in Norwegian. I ended up saying to her, "I'm sorry but we don't understand". And she said, "Oh I though you were both Norwegian, you look like you are. Then she said, "Especially him, but not you as much." (!) Well at least I don't obviously look British - yikes!

Kristine and her 4-year-old daughter, Stella, collected us from the Oslo train station. The Swedes were not arriving until Monday, so we had a chance to catch up with Kristine, Oyvind, Stella (hiding in the pic) and meet their new little boy Jostein. We had indicated how we were looking forward to trying local Norwegian foods - and right away we were treated to some fun and typical Norwegian treats! Not sure that I'm going to remember their Norwegian names, but after our veggie tarts for dinner, we tried some yummy baked sweet rolls, this brown and carmel-tasting goat cheese slices (was yummy!) and their Xmas spirit - aquavit.

Monday started off with a great breakfast. I would say it's a bit different than our sweet breakfast (cereal, baked goods) or heavy greasy breakfast (English breakfast, bacon, scrambled eggs). I know this is similar in Sweden too, when we visit E&M last summer. But basically the main part is proper baked bread, sliced, buttered (so that is where we get buttering our sandwiches!) served open faced with a selection on cheese slices, cold meat slices, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and boiled egg. You could also add a kaviar paste or smoked mackerel if that is your thing! There was also more goats cheese (spreadable or the brown caramel kind again) and some berry jam from berries they had just picked. And lots of coffee! My travel guide said that the most coffee consumed in the world is in Norway! Found that a bit surprising - thinking of the Italians and espresso and French and lattes. But Norwegians like it filtered and black in a mug and pretty much just drink it throughout the day. So it all adds up!

After breakfast we headed for a walk in the nearby countryside. It was so beautiful to see the farmland amongst rocky hills and small cliffs. And we discovered the Norwegian troll eggs! (Bales of hay with the white plastic coverings.) Here is Bri and I in front of a barn - red with white trim, looks familiar!!

The Bjork family arrived for lunch - so we had lunch at the house and then loaded up everyone for a trip to the Vigeland Sculpture Park just outside of Oslo. We hadn't seen Rebecka (3) or Lukas (now 1+) since last August and so fun to see how much they had grown! By now, the weather decided to be really wet and rainy, but good thing everyone was prepared with rain gear!

Dinner back at the house was this concoction called Bacalao (think I spelled it correctly). It's made from klippfisk (dried salted cod), potatoes and veggies, all cooked together in a big pot. Now the fish gets soaked in water overnight, so it's not dried nor at all as salty as when it's purchased. But it's the old school way to preserve fish for long periods of time. Funny enough, that the dish is a combination of Norwegian and Brazilian influences. Norway used to import loads of klippfisk to Brazil - who in turned made their own South American twist to the dish.

Tuesday we traveled into Oslo again (and the sun was shining!) to visit the Norwegian Folk Museum. Kristine was a good sport since she's been there like a million times! It was an outdoor museum divided into the various regions of the country and showing the different styles of homes/farms from various time periods. Of course we saw some traditional folk dancing and then Brian got his requisite photo with the local girls!


I would say Tuesday night was probably Brians' fave meal of all times - an absolutely enormous baked whole trout! Served with steamed potatoes, hollandaise sauce and cucumber salad (with vinegar and sugar just like at home). He had died and gone to heaven!

First impressions of Norway - friendly, worldly, expensive and family oriented. Also extremely tall, blonde and gorgeous women. The stereotype is totally true! But not everyone is blonde really - gorgeous and tall though! They all speak English very well and it's taught for many years in school. They also learn more American English than British English and there is heavy American pop culture influence in TV/movies/music. Fashion however isn't influenced too much by Americans, but more the British and continental Europe (so they do care about what they wear versus flip flops and sweatpants!). Insanely expensive. I had heard this, but assumed it was Americans saying this (with a weaker dollar) and since I live practically in London, how could anywhere be more expensive? OMG! A pint of standard lager was 8 GBP, which is currently like $15! We ate a lot of bread and cheese . . .

More to report on our second half of our trip to Bergen and traveling through the Norwegian Fjords on the next post!