Wanted: a Potato - The best job announcement ever

Hello World,

I keep promising more regular updates, and the whirlwind that is my life keeps destroying my good blogging intentions, one by one. My semester has started, and between English teaching, copy editing, and an internship, I have 12 hour days. We are in early autumn now, and I am trying to catch as many of the crisp, clear days as I can ahead of the inevitable days of endless rain.

And then there is Norwegian, the language I am struggling to learn. One of the ways I practice Norwegian is by reading Norwegian news, which is why I know about this gem of a job announcement:

Potato Festival seeks Potato

The article is in Norwegian, but the gist is that the annual Potato Festival (going down this weekend in Bryne, a town in southwestern Norway) is in search of a friendly, child-loving individual to serve as Pottwald, the smiling potato mascot shown in the link above. I first learned of the Potato Festival a year ago, when I stumbled into the middle of it while in the area for a wedding. I was bemused, but upon reflection, not entirely surprised that the Norwegians have a festival dedicated to the potato. The potato is the vegetable of choice in Norwegian cooking, and serves as a blank canvas on which Norwegian cooks paint their dreams. Of course, these dreams mostly consist of boiling or frying the vegetable, adding salt and perhaps some pepper, and serving it with some form of meat, but who am I to mock the dreams of a nation?

But I digress. Back to the article, which contains everything a good job announcement should have: a job description, physical requirements, qualities desired, and a description of the hiring authorities. It also includes a disclaimer for any small children who may have stumbled across the article, reminding everyone that Pottwald is not merely some friendly costumed human in a suit, but a REAL walking, talking, potato-loving potato. Alas, the question of whether Pottwald would be allowed to eat his or her smaller, non-anthromorphic brethren was not addressed. One hopes that interested candidates would have raised this question in a job interview. Recently, another article came out, explaining that the post of Pottwald had been filled, thus dashing my dreams of being a walking, talking potato with cannibalistic tendencies. Can't win them all, I guess!

That's all the news that isn't!

Peace!