Today I went into Fafo for my first day at “work.” The 2-minute walk there was a bit treacherous as the footpaths are covered in an icy snow following the last snowfall two weeks ago. Fafo is located in a old brick building between the central police station and a church. The building also houses a small UNDP office and a group that researches oceans.

I have a small office on the fourth floor in the attic. It belongs to a woman who is deaf and who works on issues relating to the deaf. She has a lot of interesting books. I ate lunch with the staff for free in a cafeteria on the ground floor between 12:00noon and 1:00pm. Quite a change from the American habit of eating at your desk!

After lunch Christian took me for a walk through town to orientate me. Christian is supervising my stay together with Mark Taylor. The last time I had spent any substantial time in Oslo was 1997, during the 3 weeks-long negotiations of the treaty banning antipersonnel mines and subsequent Nobel Prize ceremonies. I realized most of my bearings in Oslo from that time could be chartered from the pubs we drank in!

We picked up a Sim card for an old mobile telephone that Fafo has loaned me (Tel. +47-99-88-78-39). Back at the office I set up Skype (mis4mez), instant messangers (AOL, Yahoo), and my three email accounts (HRW, NSP, and Fafo). Finally I seem to be set up and ready to work!