Oh I try! I recently won a game against my brother too. With his guidance and a few pointers, and a few mistakes of his own. He is a much better chess player than me. But I hope to surprise my tutors soon! ^^
Travels to Oslo were indeed a lot of fun. Very expensive, I don't remember everything being this expensive 11ish years ago which is when I was there before. Also the city was so different since the last time I saw it too.