En route to the house, we decided to stop at the Rosenborg Stadium to get soccer tickets. Sitting inside watching the big screen was Steffen Iversen, the famous forwarder for Rosenborg. He played for Tottenham Hotspurs previously. Alexander has a Match Attax card of him. Of course I seized the opportunity, grabbed a t-shirt (cost SIN$120), a marker and have him signed for Alexander. Even took a picture of them. It’s like meeting Messi in Barcelona! Alexander was ecstatic!

Who says nothing happens in this sleepy town of Trondheim on a raining day???

Alexander caught his first trout at my inlaw’s lake cottage. See picture. He nearly lost it because he kept asking Andre if there was a fish at the end of the line and Andre told him “No”. But there was a fish trailing behind the boat around the entire lake before Andre finally realized Alexander did catch a fish! Guess Daddy lost his touch in fishing. Alexander was very happy; he even helped to gut the fish but complained about the smell on his hands the rest of the day. His grandfather gave him a set of fishing gears, a hiking back pack with all the essential tools to survive in a jungle. I am not so sure about that knife although I was assured all boy scouts uses the same knife.

It’s still felt strange that the sun stays up ALL day. We go to sleep with bright sun and woke up with bright sun. I am getting a tan here!

Alexander finally met up with the friends he played soccer with when he visited 4 years ago. They have grown. One boy is 6 ft tall! He is captain of his soccer team and even went to the Liverpool soccer camp in England! They will be moving to England for a year because of his father’s job but it also means he has a chance in playing in one of the England Youth Clubs. There is some kind of European league competition going on for kids (12 to 15 years?) here. We went to see his friends played against Barcelona (youth team) and the Barcelona kids were VERY impressive.

Norway makes London look super cheap! We arrived at Stavanger last night. Walked around the town looking for food. Found the good old recognizable golden arch. Guess how much a Big Mac meal cost in oil rich town? Singapore $20!!! Or US$15. We finally picked a pub looking restaurant. I ate a traditional Norwegian meal. I will not order it again. Taste like the food they prepared for the Vikings thousand years ago with salted lamb meat soaked in brine that tasted like a thousand year old. It’s served with some kind of root vegetables and of course the staple potato! Time to go on diet when in Norway.

Andre was busy with his office in Stavanger so Alexander and I roamed around Stavanger town. We went to an oil museum and learned all about off shore oil drilling. Now we could relate to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the clean up challenges.

It’s cold and foggy! 11 degree in the middle of summer! No wonder they call it “no where”.

Leaving for Trondheim tonight.

Today, Alexander and I went to Buckingham palace, Big Ben and Westminster abbey while Andre visited his London office. We even killed some time at the Aquarium. Alexander wrote in his travel journal, Westminster is where “they crowned all the kings and queens, and buried famous people like Isaac Newton”.

We saw Lion King at Lyseum Theatre near Covent Garden. I was surprised Alexander stayed awake for the 2 hour and 45 mins show. It was a beautiful production with story line exactly like the Disney cartoon. Today was also the day England played against Solvania so the pubs district at Covent Garden was packed. London shut down for the rest of the afternoon watching World Cup 2010. Soccer or Football as they called it in Europe is the biggest sport. Unfortunately the European teams are being killed this year.

After London, we leave for Stavanger, the oil rich town in Norway!

Economic growth comes with a high price to pay.  Singapore is plagued with rising population and overcrowding (over 6 millions, only 2.5 are native-born Singaporeans while the rest are foreigners); rising housing cost (averaging SIN$1,500 per sq ft and they count the parking space and air space!); and rising cost of living.  It is such an irony because the Government has been focusing on attracting foreign talents in the past few years to curb decreasing population due to low birth rates, but have they overlooked the other problems that result from this measure and ultimately forcing their own citizens to move to other countries to pursue a better quality of living?  Some day, the local born Singaporeans will end up being a minority in their own country.

Just take a look at these disgruntled reader comments on rising housing cost http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_499697.html

This is the first time I’ve spent Christmas outside of U.S. in 25 years.  Alexander has been complaining that Christmas is not quite the same in Singapore.  Is it because of the heat?  We were so used to putting on the fireplace during the December month instead of turning on the fans and air condition.  The lights on the Christmas tree are turned on sparingly this year to reduce the heat.  I should have bought LED lights!  Luckily it is raining today, on the Eve of Christmas.  Although it is not snow, the temperature is a little more tolerable.

As always, we will have a family get together on Christmas Eve, a long standing Norwegian tradition for Andre where we will eat “Ribbe” and drink aquavit.  A 12 lb turkey and 10 lb rib are roasting in our tiny oven now.  This year, Santa will have to climb 13 floor and make it through the balcony door instead of a chimney tonight. 

We will not be going to Disneyland after X’mas like we have done in the last 8 years.  Instead, we are leaving for Bali for a relaxing getaway.  Although it does take a while to adjust to a different way of celebrating X’mas this year, I must say we have an enjoyable time.  It’s great to be among friends and family for the festive season. With non-stop dinner parties of eating, drinking and laughing.  People in Singapore celebrate like there is no recession.  Singapore is officially out of the recession.  Malls are packed and restaurants are busting with customers.  I hope our friends across the world are experiencing the same festive mood as well.

Fans of my blog will have to wait until the new year before hearing from me again.  Here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Joyous 2010! 

P.S. Yes, I care that it is “Merry Christmas” and we call it  a Christmas Tree,  not some B.S. Holiday Tree as some called it in the Bay Area in order to be politically correct.   Cheers!

Speaking of pollution, we are almost half way thru the 12 day Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen.   Not sure how much news coverage there is over in the U.S. but here in Asia, there is daily coverage on TV and newspaper.  The difference in following the news from here is reading the diverse viewpoints.  When I lived in the U.S., I felt that the news was skewed to how U.S. sees the world or wants the people to believe in, especially news on TV.   For example, during the election, there was more coverage on the Democrats in Northern California versus Southern California which is predominantly Republicans.

So the debate in Cop15 is around “Who is to blame and who is to foot the bill?”  It is obvious that U.S. and China are the biggest polluters in the world but the short term intrinsic cost of reducing carbon emission for long term gains is too high to bear for both countries.  China is still developing and experiencing high growth in the near future.  Will promising drastic carbon reductions slow down its growth?

U.S. on the other hand might not be able to promise a high commitment either.  It has wars to fight, financial and unemployment crisis to battle, and the tightening of lending by banks will slow down the ability for energy companies to borrow money for new innovations and growth.

I sure hope something useful will result at the end of the 12 day summit, and not be just another incentive trip for the  politicians.

Here’s an interesting carbon factoid I read today.   Food for thought:

“Carbon Footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that is produced by an organization, an activity, or in creating a product.  You can calculate the carbon footprint of a country, a car, or even a cheeseburger.

Your burger adds to emissions from producing/transporting the feed for cows; processing/transporting the bun, meat, cheese and lettuce; cooking; producing/recycling the wrapping paper.  Estimates put total emissions at 3-6 kg of carbon dioxide – as much as driving an SUV around for two hours.”

I BELIEVE the climate is changing and it’s impacting EVERYONE.  While we are waiting for the top people to get their act together, US, little people can start by doing little things in our daily lives to make a difference.  Confucius Says “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Afterall, I am married to a man who has devoted his work and research in Energy studies.

 So here are some news bits I read recently that I want to share with you so as to challenge your thoughts about climate change.

 “A Pew survey released in October found a dramatic drop in the number of Americans who believe global warming is a serious problem or exists at all. Climate change skepticism is also on the rise in Europe. At the recent Asia-Pacific economic summit in Singapore, leaders grappling with recessionary pressures backed off a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.

And then two weeks ago came the bombshell leak of purloined e-mails from a British university’s authoritative Climate Research Unit. The so-called Climategate scandal unmasked some of the world’s leading climate change scientists engaged in intellectual chicanery and McCarthyite tactics to press the case for man-made climate change. The political impact of Climategate is hard to overestimate.

Leaders gathering in Copenhagen are ultimately answerable to voters, not scientists. The costs of limiting greenhouse gas emissions will be massive – hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the U.S. alone. Amid hard times, no leader can risk stifling growth as a precaution against something that might not exist.”

True or False, vote your thoughts about climate change.

 View This Poll         View This Poll             View This Poll

Since I now live in Singapore, I found a nicely written article about “Debunking Singapore’s government claims on climate change action – is a target of 16 percent reduction good enough?” for those who are interested in the recent announcement that Singapore’s government is setting a target of 16 percent reduction in carbon emmission. 

http://aussgworldpolitics.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/debunking-singapores-government-claims-on-climate-change-action-is-a-target-of-16-percent-reduction-good-enough/

Ever since I moved here, I’ve probably been to Orchard 4-5 times at most.  Even my husband got worried that I don’t shop when we live in Singapore compare to when we lived in U.S.    I can’t really blame it on the heat because the air conditioning in the malls is on full blast.  So what is it that reduces my urge to shop here?  I came to the conclusion that Singapore has become too much of a global city.  The country has been encroached by the western and American cultures, and starting to lose it’s identity.   Whether you visit to this shopping mall or the ones across the street, you see the same stores everywhere: Gap, Bananarepublic, Zara, British India, Crocs, Giordana, Charles and Keith…Everything looks the same.  I don’t know why they bother to build any more shopping centers and just fill them with the same branded stores? 

What happened to the mom-and-pop stores where the merchandises are selected based on the owner’s unique tastes and preferences?  One might argue that globalization brings economy of scale and will ultimately pass along savings to the consumers.  Right, when the big companies start to monopolize the market, let’s debate then if things are really less expensive.

I miss the ability to walk into a small store, chat with the store keepers and occasionally enjoy some small discounts from them.  I like to find unique gifts and clothing so I don’t’ walk down the street looking like everyone else.  I did some research on retail rental costs in Singapore and it’s absolutely cost prohibitive.  A small place around 400 sq ft in a high traffic area could range up to $20,000 per month in rent.  How can a small mom-and-pop store possibly survive if 60-70% of their revenue goes to paying rent?

Is globalization killing cultures, or is it augmenting and enhancing them?