Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

While Marianne was here, I was browsing the internet (I know, right?) and bumped into a Norwegian hip/clever/funny t-shirt company called Probat… and promptly fell in love. It probably had something to do with the geeky Norwegian grammar t-shirt Marianne proudly showed off*. Grammar nerds in every language, people! I love it!

The important thing to note is that one of her brothers gave her the t-shirt… I think a geeky/nerdy products are even better when received as a gift.

Another Probat design I thought you (my priceless readers) might particularly enjoy is this one:

This fine mustard-yellow pillow cover translates to “Never trust a man without a mustache” and features an image of Tom Selleck. Hot! Though I’m still trying to figure out why the topic of mustaches is so popular right now. And whether “moustache” is simply the Canadian/British spelling or whether it specifically refers to a waxed, brushed and mighty fine handlebar mustache**.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you can buy and ship any of Probat’s products from their main website to the US. There is a sister site called Norwegian Tees that has a small selection of designs that can be shipped here, but they’re fairly expensive for t-shirts—$29 plus $9.99 shipping. This one’s on my wish list, though: the Ostehøvel t-shirt. I feel that I, too, could be that sexy when wearing it. Norwegians invented the cheese slicer, you know.

*There are two words for “when” in Norwegian, you see. One is mostly past tense and means “that one time” while the other is more present/future/repeat occurrences. People mix them up all the time. This shirt clears it all up on a pleasant Kelly green background!

**My dad had a mighty fine handlebar mustache for a little while when I was a young teen—yes, because he’s just that awesome.

This is Martine (left) and Marianne walking in downtown Provo this afternoon. I think the composition is suitable for a magazine layout. Please note: Martine’s t-shirt says “I apple VAMPIRES” (a Twilight reference). These girls are goofy and gorgeous and awesome.

Also, Marianne has demonstrated an increased aptitude in sarcasm and deadpanning… I’m so proud of my little Norwegian sister!

I had to take Marianne to school with me today for logistical reasons, but it worked out well for her in terms of swag. It was “Wolverine Wednesday” at UVU, which is a one hour school spirit extravaganza involving $3 “J-Dawg” sausages and a spin-and-win wheel of fortune.

Marianne’s spin landed on a candy bar, but I asked the student running it if she could have a t-shirt instead. “She’s visiting me from Norway,” I said. It worked, and look how happy she is with her free, high-quality, totally American t-shirt!

Then I also landed on a candy bar, and the guy said “You’re not from Norway. You’re not getting a t-shirt.”

We also walked through the Hall of Flags, where we took an obligatory photo of her by the Norwegian flag.

And then a funny one by the Swedish flag (they had just beaten Norway in a cross-country Olympic ski relay, so it was warranted).

Guess what else happened? The Blu-ray player arrived! Whee! We watched some of the drool-worthy promos on the Wall-E disc, then enjoyed Gattaca. Marianne had actually watched it before in a science class when they were covering genetics, but she wanted to see it again—a girl after my own heart.

Lastly, and officially for the record, Nidar Bergene Melk chocolate is not as good as Freia Melkesjokolade. It’s a harder consistency and has a flavor that reminds me of hot chocolate rather than a smooth milk chocolate bar—and it’s feels a little waxy despite being made of all natural ingredients. You can’t test it yourself (at least not at my house) because what’s left will not be shared. Sorry!

Marianne and I picked up her three Norwegian friends yesterday and had a fun afternoon in Salt Lake. Anette is an exchange student here in Utah this year, and Martine and Berit flew out with Marianne for the week during their school break. It was nice of them to include me occasionally in their excited, giggle-filled Norwegian chatter as we flitted about the city.

The original plan was for me to drop them off at Temple Square and pick them up later, but Anette forgot her phone so I stayed with them for the most part. We took a driving tour of downtown (THAT was a big building!) and went up to Capitol Hill, which was a first for me as well. The girls (or should I say fine young ladies) were giddy and it was neat to have the near-deserted grounds to ourselves.

Aren’t they cute? There was a guy playing fetch with his little Yorkshire terrier who offered to take a photo of all of us together, but my camera was already tucked away. But about a million photos were snapped among all of our cameras, so I’ll get a copy at some point.

We enjoyed some beverages at Starbucks (though we had to go to two since the first one had closed shortly before we arrived) where I shared some Marianne-and-me tales from my year in Norway (Marianne was only 4 but she remembers a few things). I also introduced the fine young ladies to the largest JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store in Utah (to my knowledge). They all liked it, but Martine L-O-V-E-D it. And Marianne seriously considered how she could take a heavy welcome mat home with her. It had ladybugs. And was 30% off. We managed to escape the store without spending too much money—always an accomplishment.

We rounded out the evening with dinner at Buca di Beppo… where Marianne enjoyed the apple/cranberry/gorgonzola/walnut salad despite earlier protests and we all sang 2 birthday songs (one in Norwegian, the other in English) to Anette when they brought out a giant cupcake in celebration of her recent birthday.

This morning I saw Marianne onto a bus to meet up with her friends before I headed to class. I experienced a strange moment of reflection as she boarded the bus… related perhaps to waxing nostalgic yesterday at Starbucks about the first time I walked Marianne home from preschool—when I spoke very little Norwegian and she was shy and silently captivated by her new big sister from a distant land—and perhaps because I was her current age when I lived in Norway and starting navigating foreign public transportation systems on my own. Either way, we all grow up so fast.

Not really a Norwegian invasion. My little Norwegian sister (who was four years old when I lived with her family as an exchange student) arrived this evening. We have all had a long week, but at least I’ve slept a little more than she has in the last 24 hours. This is what she looked like this past summer when we made and attempted to decorate cupcakes. It was hot and the frosting was melty! They tasted delicious.

Last week I got this email from the Sundance Film Festival volunteer manager that made me giddy.

Hi Yvette,

We have a need for a translator one day for two hours, to translate Norwegian, and your application indicated that this would be something you’d be willing to do.  It’s for a film screening with a group of high school students, the Director is seeking assistance for the Q & A session. If this is a skill you feel you have, I’ll send along the details, and we’ll see if it fits in your schedule, too.

My stomach flip-flopped when I read that. The application she referred to was one that I originally completed in 2007 and basically just renew every year without looking at it too closely. I’d forgotten that I put Norwegian down as a language spoken. I probably checked the box for “willing to translate” with a snicker because most Norwegians speak way better English than I speak Norwegian.

I learned Norwegian when I was an exchange student a hundred years ago and have kept it up pretty well via frequent contact with my host family over the years. (My “little sister” is coming to visit again in February, in fact.) Though I was nervous about the prospect of assisting with translation, especially in front of a theater filled with hyper-critical high school students, I said I’d do it. Even when I found out that I needed to be in Park City at 7am.

While waiting for more information, I looked up what Norwegian films were showing this year at the festival. No feature-length ones that I could find, but there are three shorts: The Fight, Little Miss Eyeflap, and Still Birds. That middle one, aka Skylappjenta, is about a Pakistani-Norwegian girl, directed by Iram Haq which is a distinctly non-Norwegian name, and its language is listed as “Norwegian/Urdu.” I guessed the director of that was a Pakistani immigrant who speaks Norwegian but wasn’t great with English.

Unfortunately, I just received the news that the director backed out of the event, so my Norwegian services are no longer needed.

Damn.

I never found out exactly which director was coming, so I’ll probably never know with which director I could have hobnobbed. On the bright side, I don’t have to leave the house at 5:30am on Wednesday.

I will be heading up to the Sundance Resort this evening to work my first box office shift. I get to pick up my volunteer coat and hope that it fits… they hadn’t received the women’s coats yet when I checked in last week. It’s mostly white, so I’m going to have to be very careful not to drink coffee, hot chocolate, or Diet Coke while I’m “in costume.” Because I will spill and/or dirty it up no matter how careful I am.

I’m going to attempt to see as much of HOWL as I can once all of my box office paperwork is done. I doubt I’ll stay late to watch Restrepo—it’s just not something I’m terribly interested in seeing.

Tomorrow morning I’m heading up to Park City with my friend Marie and who knows what we’ll end up seeing. Films, wait-list riots, celebrity nudity… I’ll be tweeting it all. And maybe trying out Twitpic to share some crappy photos. I don’t have an internet-capable phone, but I am set up to receive Twitter direct messages… so please interact away! I mean, interact toward. Me. Er, something.