The City and The Country

            The stunning fjords? The bright Scandinavian summer sun? The first stroll in a European city?  Nei!  What turned my son’s head, what steeled his will to overcome his jet lag and culture shock, what first tickled him was…garbage. 

I had a hint when he marveled at our toilet, outfitted with different buttons for solid and liquid waste.  He’s familiar with such toilets from public places at home – he knows when to pull up on the green handle.  Nonetheless, when I explained the two different buttons on our toilet in our apartment here, he exclaimed: “That’s a really great toilet!” 

            A couple of days later we took a ferry to a neighboring island with a fellow Fulbrighter, Sarah.

  Rain threatened, but we took our chances and headed off to explore Langøyene.

Langøyene was once two islands, but has been joined with landfill.  That might have been the source of all the, well, garbage.  Broken crockery clinked in the waves. 

In addition to his greatest find: a rusted plug (I think),

Kevin also found a broken bottle top worn smooth by the waves and a number of shells.  Sarah spotted a lovely bit of pottery that we intend to give to my mom for mosaic making.

            His appetite for the detritus of civilization satisfied, Kevin could finally give his attention to some of the more natural features of the island.  He clambered over a few rocks,

 

steered clear of a flock of geese,

and mourned the loss of a crab shell that crumbled in his pocket.

His agony was brief.  The next day Sarah presented him with a perfectly whole crab shell in a lovely jewelry box.

  

Later, as we headed toward the troll statue across from the Holmenkollen ski jump, he told me:

“It’s amazing to have all this,” he gestured at the trees and clouds, “right here in a city.”