Sliding My Way to Work

I am going to warn my lovely little group of readers: there will be some light to moderate complaining in this post. I like teaching. I like teaching a lot. It is one of the few jobs, that I know of, where you do not have a boss breathing down your neck and you are not only encouraged, but expected to design your days as you see fit. Here is what I don't like about teaching in Norway - walking down the slick as all f**k hill to the school while it is still dark. I had mentioned before that in Norway they do not clear the sidewalks or streets. This means that any snow/ water/ slush that is accumulated throughout a given day freezes overnight into a solid sheet of ice. Now, I live in Grand Forks and I have previously lived in Champaign, IL. I am accustomed to walking on ice, even if I am still pretty bad at it. Those areas of the world, however, are flat. My trek to school here in Moss is short, but it also happens to be straight down a steep hill. It's also dark. So far I have fallen twice. Here is my regular morning path:

Notice how you can't see anything? Yeah, me neither

Today I managed to get down the hill unscathed. Thank god I listened to my mama and brought my snow boots instead of the cute boots I wanted to replace them with. These boots are making it possible for me get to work with at least a little bit of dignity intact:

If you are wondering, the answer is yes, my snow boots are silver leopard spotted. I am forever 12 years old

I will leave you all with something a little more pleasant, the lovely view outside my kitchen window. Although it is a certified pain in the ass to have to walk on the ski slope that is the hill to my apartment, I am very happy to look out the window and see this:

Thanks for reading and have a good week. Until next time...