Ice on the Run

I was at the school today when, just after 1PM, they came to tell the kids to put on their boots. The river was getting so high with snow and ice, we might have to evacuate.

An hour later the principal came and said they were closing the school early. Some kids were supposed to stay till 4.30, but two hours before that everyone was out.

The seven year olds said they were "all tingly" and had "butterflies in my tummy" - quite understandably. But then the teachers started getting worried, bringing their coats, fetching their car keys - just in case. Maybe not too strange, considering what the river looked like at the moment.

It might be wrong to say so, but I find the whole situation rather... entertaining. As long as no one gets hurt and nothing gets damaged there's absolutely nothing wrong with a little action. Finally something's happening!

And I definitely think it's better for the kids to think of this as "exciting", rather than "scary" - nothing good is going to come of that. As the seven year olds and I agreed - nothing truly bad really happens in Norway; no floods, no hurricanes, no earthquakes.

And nothing at all ever happens here!

(...as if just to prove that last point; as soon as I'd written it the danger was announced to be over, and it's business as usual tomorrow)

More water

We can drink our water!

Yesterday I was looking around the net for info on where we get our water from. After using a new search function the city started up yesterday, in the online map of the city, I found that our water doesn't come from Svartediket, where the Giardia Lambli is, but from a smaller place called Espeland. This morning I called the number we're told to call if we're wondering...

"I live at ... and I'm wondering if we can drink our water?"
"What's your address?"
"..."
"Yes, you can drink your water."

How great is that?
Not gonna go crazy drinking the water though, better take it easy, get used to it, too much water in your system can be dangerous. Might turn into a cucumber. Or a melon.

Won't be drinking water at the gym though, they're dropping like flies on the other side of the bridge (no, they're not dying dropping, they're just glued to the toilet...)

Water update

• At the gym today we were told that many classes or groups will be canceled the coming week. Many instructors are ill, they've caught the stomach bug, and they haven't been able to replace all of them.
• I haven't heard of anyone being sick in this building I live in, it's brand new so we might get our water from somewhere else.
• Could this mean that those who drink the water on the other side of the bridge, where the gym is, are more likely to catch it than those of us on this side?

• There is a list on the net with the names of the streets that get their water from Svartediket, where the Giardia Lamblia parasite is coming from. We're not on that list.
  
• On the map showing which areas get water from Svartediket, we're just on the line between purple and white, impossible to see which side we are on on this map.
  
• Could the reason we're not on the list and on the map be the fact that this building isn't on many new maps yet? But wouldn't this street still be on the list if that was the reason?

• The official pages of the city of Bergen write that about 30,000 people/businesses have been told to boil the water before they drink it, or even before using it when brushing their teeth. We have not recieved any notice like that. Could that be because SiB (the student organization which owns this building) has recieved the message but not told us yet, or could it be because we get our water from somewhere else? Hopefully it is the one or the other, someone has to know where we all get our water from.

What I am doing...

• Not going to drink the water at the gym because they definitely have the little friend (Giardia Lamblia - my new friend inside of me) in their water.
• Not drinking water here, at least not much, might boil some later.
• Boil water to brush my teeth? What, are you crazy?? Not gonna do that one...
• Trying to find out where we get our water from
• Thinking how lucky we are to actually have clean water most of the time, wondering what it would be like to live somewhere where this wouldn't be a small crisis, somewhere that water comes from a dirty river or a stream.
• Realizing I shouldn't be taking things for granted.
  

Don't drink the water!

Have you heard of Giardia Lamblia?
We certainly have.

• Six weeks ago, our water was getting kinda yellow. No reason to worry. It's a new building, all kinds of things have to be adjusted, and I don't think anyone thought much about it.
• Four weeks ago, I had stomach cramps like crazy one night. I blamed the egg I had earlier that day, fried egg, but it was a little... running...
• Three weeks ago, I heard on the radio that some kind of sewer pipe had leaked into the drinking water. But there was no reason to worry, it was just a little bit...
• One week ago, the water started getting even more yellow. The last few days, it looks like we've washed the dishes before we've even put them in the water. One girl had put some water in the fridge, and when she was taking the bottle out a few days later, there were yucky things at the bottom.

Giardia Lamblia is a parasite that causes diahorrea. It's in our water, and it's not supposed to be there. According to public officials, it's coming from the water source in the center of the city. We're recommended not to drink tap water until they know for sure where it's coming from, and they know what to do about it. We should drink other things, like bottled water, or boil the water first.

A lot of people have been going to the doctors with diahorrea and stomach aches, and the first came in four weeks ago. Which, naturally, makes me wonder if that's what I had that night; unlikely because it's natural for humans to link their symptoms to more serious things, I rarely have symptoms of any kind, which is why I don't worry much about it. But, if that was from the water, since eggs can be mixed in like drinks and things raw, then maybe I've had the reaction, and it won't come again?

One of my roomies put up a "Don't drink the water!" post-it above the tap on the kitchen, and I think I'm going to be smart and not experiment and see what can and will happen, like I usually would. Exams are coming up in three weeks, and I don't want to have to run to the toilet every five minutes. Wouldn't be able to anyway. We're like right next to the source for the water with the..what's it called... the parasite, and people around here have been getting sick more than other places. Not gonna completely stop drinking water though, if you cut all kind of contact with anything that isn't completely 'clean', then you'll never be able to manage out in the world.


Oh, and it's raining. Football practice (or soccer as some call it) for the city's team was stopped because of the 'ufyselige regnværet'. Funny word... ufyselig... means something like horrible or yucky, 'regnvær' being 'rain weather', rainy weather. - Beware if someone calls you 'ufyselig'. It's a funny word, but doesn't have a funny meaning.

Rain rain rain... They say today we're having
"The kind of rain you only get in the city between the seven mountains"