Thursday, May 06, 2010
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The reindeer Rudolf
Rudolf and his owner, Santa Claus (Julenissen), arrived from up north to become our new neighbours, this summer. Rudolf, lacking female company, is only interested in eating. And he smells a loaf of bread in my pocket long before I catch up with him. If I do not bring food, he keeps a respectful distance. If I bring food, he eats from my hand!
His fur is a bit spotted. Even the cool Norwegian summer is way to hot for a fully furred reindeer. But when the snow and the cold winter come, his fur will be perfect again.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Clear, green water
This is the crystal clear water in the fountain with Ole Bull and Fossegrimen, his music teacher, in the city square named after him in Bergen, Norway.
Batman is giving a helping hand at the breakfast table
Batman (Erik Garitaonandia Bergo) is giving grandmother a helping hand, serving breakfast. Batman is always helping people in need, according to Erik (4).
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Christian Michelsen and Erik (4)
Christian Michelsen is the greatest Bergen hero of all, leading the negociations with Sweden, when Norway broke away from the forced royal union and gained independence. Before Sweden, Norway was a colony under Denmark for 400 years, but was given to Sweden as a war prize after Waterloo in 1813, but without the Norwegian islands Greenland, Faroe islands and Iceland. The British objected, if Sweden got those, they would be too powerful!
The people of Bergen (and the rest of Norway) thought so highly of Christian Michelsens leadership in the difficult times before and after we broke out of the union with Sweden, that his statue in the hearth of town is towering so high, it is mostle used by birds. But his name and the year 1905 is carved in stone, and accessible even for the kids.
The people of Bergen (and the rest of Norway) thought so highly of Christian Michelsens leadership in the difficult times before and after we broke out of the union with Sweden, that his statue in the hearth of town is towering so high, it is mostle used by birds. But his name and the year 1905 is carved in stone, and accessible even for the kids.
Erik and I by Lillelungeren in Bergen
Erik Garitaonandia Bergo (4) and I (62) contemplating by the little lake Lillelungeren in the hearth of Bergen on Norway's constitution day, 17th May 2009. We have been looking at the two processions, admiring the climbers in the Maistang, street musicians and eating pizza at our favorite restaurant Stragiotti. This is the big icecream day for children, so we had a few of those too!Friday, May 08, 2009
Eva with a rose
Eva with a happy face, just finishing lunch in a sidewalk restaurant in Lagunen, Bergen, Norway.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Returning to my blog
After 25 years of discussion, my wife Eva and I decided to kill the recession with a complete overhaul of our kitchen! This is Eva, with a small army of carpenters, electricians, plumbers etc just out of the door, and the bills coming in! Still a lot of unfinished details! But it is almost like a new house!We really changed everything: New floors (oak), walls (with oriental wallpaper), ceiling, lights (only partly in order), heating (in the floor (but still not working), new dishwasher, new fridge and freezer, 3 new stoves, one with steam.
Next step will be to find a new, posh kitchen table, to go with the stylish new kitchen.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hooligan nation
Serbia will recall their ambassadors from Norway and all other civilised countries that have recognized the Kosovo declaration of independence. It was to be expected, considering the
importance of the emotional distress of the Serbian nation. But by mobilizing hooligans to burn foreign embassies in the capital Belgrade, was way beyond the acceptable behaviour of a civilized nation. It is the act of a hooligan nation, striving to preserve a bad reputation.
All nations are obliged by international law to protect and secure foreign embassies and diplomatic personnell. According to press reports, the Serbian security forces did not try to stop the mob from entering and vandalizing the USA and Kroatian embassies in Belgrade. A natural conclusion is that the mob had support from parts of the Serbian political establishment.
Incredibly, the Serbian government called for the mass demonstrations in Belgrade this week. They offered free transportation from all over the country to the capital, demonstrating a modus operandi the communist regimes used frequently before the Berlin wall came down with a crash in 1989. Government sponsored mass demonstrations have been out of fashion for a long time. But not in Serbia.
Serbia gambled and lost their right to rule over Kosovo a long time ago. But the Serbians have been so blinded by their hysterical nationalism, that they are unable to see the obvious realities. Well, after all many Serbians still consider the war criminal Slobodan Milosevic a national hero, confirming the pariah image earned during the Balkan wars.
The rhetoric of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica about Kosovo belonging to the Serbian people is strikingly similar to the rhetoric used by Milosevic, when he mobilized the violent nationalism that led to the bloody tragedy of Balkans during the 1990-ies, taking a whole region back to the Middle Ages.
The people of Serbia started on a narrow and dangerous road, that might lead them back to our time and Europe, when Slobodan Milosevic and his mafia regime lost the elections in 1999. Norway and some other countries did what they could at the time, to prevent the regime from subduing the opposition.
The declaration of independence of Kosovo, is the logical, and tragic consequence of the terror campaign and the civil war Serbia started in 1988. When Slobodan Milosevic mobilized the Serbian army, to drive the majority of the population out of Kosovo in 1999, the world just would not accept it. After the mass murder of muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, the Serbians had burned all their bridges.
For eight years, the UN have ruled Kosovo, trying to negotiate a peaceful deal with Serbia. When all other options failed, the only option left was independence.
Norway and the other countries recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, stresses that Kosovo is a unique case. Do not believe a word of it. Several regions will claim to be in a siminar situation. The Serbs in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia, have their hearts in Serbia, not in muslim Sarajevo. The union of Serbs, Muslims and Kroats in Bosnia is a forced marriage. Now, Srpska want to leave Bosnia, to join Serbia. Balkan certainly have a long way to go, before they will have peace, reconciliation and understanding.
Serbians have to get rid of the hooligan label they have burned on their nation. But when will they start the long way back to a place among civilized nations?
importance of the emotional distress of the Serbian nation. But by mobilizing hooligans to burn foreign embassies in the capital Belgrade, was way beyond the acceptable behaviour of a civilized nation. It is the act of a hooligan nation, striving to preserve a bad reputation.
All nations are obliged by international law to protect and secure foreign embassies and diplomatic personnell. According to press reports, the Serbian security forces did not try to stop the mob from entering and vandalizing the USA and Kroatian embassies in Belgrade. A natural conclusion is that the mob had support from parts of the Serbian political establishment.
Incredibly, the Serbian government called for the mass demonstrations in Belgrade this week. They offered free transportation from all over the country to the capital, demonstrating a modus operandi the communist regimes used frequently before the Berlin wall came down with a crash in 1989. Government sponsored mass demonstrations have been out of fashion for a long time. But not in Serbia.
Serbia gambled and lost their right to rule over Kosovo a long time ago. But the Serbians have been so blinded by their hysterical nationalism, that they are unable to see the obvious realities. Well, after all many Serbians still consider the war criminal Slobodan Milosevic a national hero, confirming the pariah image earned during the Balkan wars.
The rhetoric of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica about Kosovo belonging to the Serbian people is strikingly similar to the rhetoric used by Milosevic, when he mobilized the violent nationalism that led to the bloody tragedy of Balkans during the 1990-ies, taking a whole region back to the Middle Ages.
The people of Serbia started on a narrow and dangerous road, that might lead them back to our time and Europe, when Slobodan Milosevic and his mafia regime lost the elections in 1999. Norway and some other countries did what they could at the time, to prevent the regime from subduing the opposition.
The declaration of independence of Kosovo, is the logical, and tragic consequence of the terror campaign and the civil war Serbia started in 1988. When Slobodan Milosevic mobilized the Serbian army, to drive the majority of the population out of Kosovo in 1999, the world just would not accept it. After the mass murder of muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, the Serbians had burned all their bridges.
For eight years, the UN have ruled Kosovo, trying to negotiate a peaceful deal with Serbia. When all other options failed, the only option left was independence.
Norway and the other countries recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, stresses that Kosovo is a unique case. Do not believe a word of it. Several regions will claim to be in a siminar situation. The Serbs in the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia, have their hearts in Serbia, not in muslim Sarajevo. The union of Serbs, Muslims and Kroats in Bosnia is a forced marriage. Now, Srpska want to leave Bosnia, to join Serbia. Balkan certainly have a long way to go, before they will have peace, reconciliation and understanding.
Serbians have to get rid of the hooligan label they have burned on their nation. But when will they start the long way back to a place among civilized nations?
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