Adjectives

Kaleb had another great day at school – it was double swimming day for him. For PE class every other Tuesday he gets swimming lessons, then as part of his afterschool program today they went swimming. He was so tired when he got home that he asked if he could skip soccer practice and he did homework instead (you know he must have been tired for that trade-off.) He did mention over dinner however, with a bit of a tear in his eye, that when he reads Norwegian out loud in class, the kids laugh at him. He was pretty upset by that, but then he said, with a fresh glimmer, that there is a “fix” for that. The teacher suggested he bring one of his English books to school and the next kid that laughs at him for the way he pronounces his words will have to read his book in English and then he gets to laugh at them. One kid in particular, the teacher said she would bring a book written in Chinese …. So at least she is trying to help Kaleb’s plight. He is loaded down with high level reading books for tomorrow and all set to try out the scheme. I hope he doesn’t intentionally goof up just to get them laughing though.

Tonight cousin Kari had us over for coffee and dessert so we could meet the couple on staff at their church that are responsible for small groups, Bible studies and women’s events. They have been gone most of the time we’ve been here so we finally got to meet them. We had a great time visiting with them and sharing stories from the Bible and how we live out our Christianity and they have agreed to let me teach a Bible study this fall. I guess all their new programs start up the first week of November, so I’ll be on the schedule at Filadelfia Kirke then and people can chose to come or not – knowing it will be in English. We will be studying the book of James so I will be praying for God to use that time for His glory.

Today in my Norwegian class we started learning about adjectives so our teacher started us off by telling us the names for all the colors. One woman was wearing a pink top and when the teacher said “rosa” the woman said, “It used to be red” (rød). I asked her if it turned pink since she’s been here and she nodded and we both laughed. Norwegian washing machines are notorious for ruining clothes. They have no cold water setting, and the lowest temperature you can chose is 90 degrees. You can select your temperature of water by ten degree increments, all the way up to boiling. The colors in the clothes fade quickly here, but it was still a pretty shade of pink she was wearing.

After the run-down on all the colors we went to another adjective, the names for the different kinds of stores. (See photo – that’s the cobblestone, store lined street where my school is located – on the right, one block down.) Everyone was either yelling out the names of stores they know, or their equivalent in English, wondering what you call it in Norwegian – like a butcher shop or hardware store etc. One woman in our class never participates in any of this kind of dialog as she can’t speak a word of English and perhaps only two words of Norwegian. She is from Russia, and she’s a fairly hunched over, wrinkled up little old woman who never understands a thing that is going on. When she’s called upon to give an answer, she just looks over her shoulder hoping it’s the person behind her that will answer or she looks to another Russian in the room to translate just what it is she’s supposed to say, then she shakes her head, looks down and says nothing. Well today, she spoke for the first time. As we had the names of every possible specialty store written up on the board and were about to go on to the next subject, this little old lady pipes up very loudly and says in perfect English, “sex shop.” The entire classroom burst out with hysterical laughter and our teacher couldn’t bring herself to even say a word for at least five minutes as tears were rolling down her face. It was unexpected “input” and from the least likely source. And the woman herself didn’t even laugh as she was completely clueless as to why it was so funny. I told Kory this story when he got home from work and again I was lamenting over all these women that are married to Norwegian men and it’s obvious there is no possible way for them to be communicating with their spouses as they don’t know Norwegian and their English is horrible. Kory said, “It’s the perfect relationship, I don’t know why you are so shocked by it.…”

Immigrants

We had more fresh snow in the mountains this morning… it’s like powdered sugar has been sprinkled over all the peaks around here – it’s so pretty, but it’s still September! The air has definitely gotten a bit chilly (in Norwegian it’s spelled “kjølig” but to say it properly you need to hold a pencil between your nose and upper lip and then say “chilly”). Our teacher was telling us all the ways to say hot, warm, chilly, and cold, in reference to the weather: hot, varm, kjølig and kald. They are spelled differently but it all sounds the same to me when you pronounce them. I razed our teacher a bit about the Norwegians stealing English words and changing the spelling to make it look like their own, but really, it’s all pronounced and means the same as the English. She quickly, and with no humor in her response, told me that it was the English who stole the words from the Vikings in the first place… that the Vikings had a huge influence on much of the English language. (From all that pillaging and pummeling they did down there, those Brits probably did learn how to say a few things in Norwegian, but I’m wondering why “Uff da” wasn’t one of them.) She said that it was the English who took on Norwegian words and changed their spelling, not the other way around. Ok, I stand corrected. (Geez.)

Today’s photo was taken yesterday of Kaleb and his new playground bodyguard and 3rd cousin, Tobias. Tobias is already doing a good job keeping an eye on Kaleb as he talked to him at lunch and after school today and introduced him to some of his friends. Word will get out, I’m sure. “Don’t mess with the American kid – he’s a relative of Tobias…” something like that (I hope). And I’m pretty sure I won’t have to pay any “black money” for this “inside job” at school – keeping my sweet boy safe. It’s all in who you know. So Kaleb had a great day and came home a happy camper. Kory came home cold. It was raining this morning and quite cold but the sun was out this afternoon. Kory stayed after work and collected all the scrap lumber to burn at home (are we immigrant salvagers or what?) He went to buy a load of firewood at the hardwood store (they sell it in bundles there) and refused to pay sixty cents per foot long piece, so he got creative. (He thought he could wad up dollar bills and get more heat from them than the little piece of wood they were selling at those prices.) He will now be the after-hours janitor on his job sites and bring home all the wood scraps as they burn the same as split firewood, but are free! (And they stack nicer, too.) Our little wood stove heats up the house in no time and it’s just so darn cozy to have it going when it gets a bit “kjølig” outside.

Kaleb had massive amounts of homework tonight because he will miss school Thursday and Friday. Every week the kids get sent home with a paper from the teacher showing what homework they have each night of the week in each subject – which page numbers to do in which books, etc. Kaleb’s teacher had to start making him his own homework list because he uses different books from the other kids while he’s trying to learn Norwegian. And what they are doing in math here is just far too basic for him (he was doing algebra before we came) and the teacher has yet to get him an advanced math book so she just wrote “do your own homework” for math. I’m so glad I brought the next level of algebra book with us so now he can keep up with what he was learning at home and not have to waste more time on the easy stuff they are doing here (today they learned to carry over numbers to the next column). And Poor Sabina, she must have rang our doorbell five times wondering when he would be done with everything. Finally, she just let herself in and sat on the couch waiting for him. Kaleb was anxious to show her his new Pokemon cards so she stayed for dinner and played a game with Kory and Kaleb afterwards.

I was up until nearly midnight last night, cramming for my big test today in Norwegian. Uff da. I think I did OK, but I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself over the simplest things I missed. I still struggle with sentence structure and spelling, but I think I have that same problem in English, too. As a warm up in class today we had to go around the room and talk a little about ourselves. What I found interesting was all these foreign women in the class that are married to Norsk men LOVE to cook (I’m not one of them.) It got me to thinking (sometimes a dangerous thing.) For years Norway has been considered the most feminist country in the world (according to Ms. Magazine) and they are top-notch when it comes to women’s rights and equal pay and all that. Even in our school literature we read all about how Lars stays home with the baby, prepares dinner and cleans the house while Kari goes off to work (and Lars likes it, no less). And based on the incredible amount of ready-made food that is being sold in the grocery stores around here, I was wondering if anyone even cooks a meal from scratch anymore. And then I hear today in class that all these women, new to Norway, LOVE to cook. Perhaps there is something to that (can it still be true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?) Maybe it’s the more traditional (less liberated) men that are leaving Norway to get a wife who is not quite so feminist? It does make me wonder. And based on how poorly some of these women speak English, and that is the only language they have in common with their husbands, well, I gotta figure they didn’t get married because they are sparkling conversationalists. I imagine cooking isn’t everything.

The Ergo Cup

I was up at six this morning making waffle batter and baguette sandwiches. I didn’t know I signed up for this when we signed Kaleb up for soccer. But twice a year, in the fall and spring, his soccer club hosts a “Cup” where they invite all the teams with nine year old kids from the surrounding areas to come play soccer for the day on their turf. (This year’s cup was sponsored by “Ergo” – a company owned by Morton’s father.) There were 350 kids playing all day on one big field parceled out for each game. The games were only 25 minutes long with a one minute half time, so the day moved quickly. Kaleb had four games back to back, but I missed most of them because I was in the café cooking up that waffle batter. All the parents were required to bring different food items (hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.) to be sold in the café (which is located in their clubhouse next to the soccer fields). I brought three liters of batter and I made a lot of waffles (I counted at least 50 liters of batter in the kitchen – they bring it in 1.5 liter pop bottles for easy transport.) I also brought 20 sandwiches (baguette style with cheese and ham as requested), and a skuffekake – a cake which I didn’t make properly (oh well…)

The soccer club at Blindheim uses the money made from the food sales today to support the club in the future when they travel to games as far away as Oslo - in their junior and high school years. (Currently all the games are played locally, but as the boys advance, the competitions go nationwide.) They made $4,000 on their “cup” day last year on food sales and they ran out of food then so this year they brought twice as much food and there wasn’t that much left over. I imagine they made quite a bit of money today too, even though the weather was a bit touch and go. At least the storm passed from yesterday, leaving the first dusting of snow in mountaintops (they said they would have played in the storm too – as nothing stops a soccer game around here). I prayed all night Kaleb wouldn’t have to play outside in rainy weather as he’s not quite acclimated to that yet, but God was good to us and it was sunny all morning and then the rain started just as he finished his last game! (That’s Kaleb in control of the ball in the photo – a rare moment, believe me.) They don’t keep score here – their only “goal” is for the kids to have fun and to give everyone a chance to play (so Norwegian). Kaleb was keeping score himself and he was only having fun because his team was winning (so American), but he didn’t make any goals himself. Kaleb’s team will now be invited to other “cups” by other soccer clubs, but it’s optional for him if he goes or not – so the pressure is off. He still practices twice a week and they play scrimmage games every week so it’s a bit different than the soccer system we have at home. All-in-all it was a fine day, but very sad for us to miss church because of it though. Ironically, Odd and Turid and Hege went to church today, so maybe that balances things out (they couldn’t remember the last time they went.) Hege is going to be confirmed this year so the state church requires all confirmants to go to church a few times during the course of the year – today being one of them. (I guess those “Holy Ole” tactics were a bit much so they scaled down their requirements for conversion a bit.)

Tobias (Kaleb’s 3rd cousin and new “bodyguard”) came by the soccer field today to watch Kaleb play. His mom and dad and four year old twin brothers came along, too. It was so nice of them to be supportive, especially since we have just recently met them all. I didn’t want to invite any family members to come watch Kaleb play for fear they would do it out of some unspoken obligation or cultural norm I wasn’t aware of – but these folks just came on their own accord, so it was all the better. Kaleb was on his last game, so after he finished up he went over to Tobias’ house for the rest of the afternoon. He came home ecstatic that Tobias had outgrown his Pokemon cards and he had given Kaleb his entire collection (at least 500 cards Kaleb says), including a Pokemon notebook for storage. Kaleb quickly did the math and realized that he’s been buying packs of Pokemon cards here in Norway for ten bucks a pop – and there are only ten cards in each pack, so he just netted $500 worth of Pokemon cards, plus some special collectable chips and the notebook. He figured that was nearly the cash equivalent to the amount he lost on Washington Mutual stock this week – so he was shouting HALLELUJAH almost as loud as Kory does. God is good.

The Body Guard

We found out shortly after moving into The Sinking Houses that Kory had a second cousin living almost within a stone’s throw from our house. We’d never met him before but we know his parents and have been to their house out on the family farm at Solevåg many times. We’d walked right by their son, Bjørn’s house a couple of times and not even known he was a relative, so tonight we had Bjorn and his three boys over for dinner. Besides taking the opportunity to get to know even more family members here, we were particularly interested in getting Kaleb and Bjørn’s son, Tobias together. Tobias is 12 years old and goes to Kaleb’s school. Tobias hadn’t officially met Kaleb before but he’s seen him on the playground and he said he’s talked to some of the kids already and told them to be nice to Kaleb. We’re hoping he’ll continue to do that and that he and Kaleb will become great friends. (Tobias’ English is incredibly good.) Kaleb didn’t know what Tobias looked like so now at least he’ll have someone he can turn to at school for backup – should the need arise. Sometimes kids may not listen to their parents, or teachers, but often an older, bigger kid on the playground might be just the ticket to keeping the bullies at bay. We’ll see. It was a great evening overall and we got to play another round of the card game Golf, and visit a bit with Bjørn and hear a little about his job as a pilot for an air ambulance company. He also told us it’s not the norm in Norway to go to dinner at someone’s house – that that is something you just do with immediate family members. Friends don’t have friends for dinner here, so I guess I’m shaking things up a bit. Imagine that. (I intended to get a picture of Kaleb and Tobias together but I forgot to do it, so today’s photo is one I took our second week here.)

Well, the storm is here – mostly just drenching rain and some hefty wind gusts this morning. All the pots holding the herbs outside my kitchen window got blown off the shelf, so I know the gusts were pretty strong in the night, but today it wasn’t too bad. It was in the 60s – inside and out – so no need for a fire in the fireplace, but it sure was nice to be in a cozy warm house when I was looking out my window at a blanket of gray for a sky and sheets of rain pouring down from heaven.

There were two “loppemarked” this morning (flea markets) at two different schools and they were wheeling and dealing because it seemed that only us lowly immigrants braved the weather enough to get out of the house and go shopping. We got more screaming deals – ski poles for $4, ski helmet for Kaleb for $2, a high quality bean bag chair for $6 and a radiant oil filled portable heater for $4 (now we can take back the one we bought for $60 on sale at the hardware store.) I had to stop at the store afterwards to get a few items for dinner also and I thought it was funny that I bought a portable heater that will last for many years and bring heat and comfort to my tired old bones this winter for less money than I paid for a head of lettuce that will be gone by tomorrow.

Kaleb has gone to seven birthday parties since the start of school. There are only 13 boys in his class so those are incredible odds that more than half of the boys in his class are born in August and September. They must have very cold, or very boring winters around here to get that kind of baby boom in the fall. When dropping and picking up Kaleb from these various affairs, we’ve had a chance to chit-chat with some of the parents and are able to tell which kids really like him and which ones – not so much. Many of the parents have offered to have Kaleb over for special play-dates with their kids so today we took one of the mom’s up on her offer and arranged for Kaleb to spend the afternoon with Henrik. Ironically Henrik used to live at The Sinking Houses and had to move, so now he’s living very close to the school. (Kaleb has Henrik’s old closet in his room as we moved some things from some of the other units into our house to make it more comfortable and to save us money.) When Kory called Henrik’s mom to ask about the playdate, she said that they are “a modern family” and that Henrik was with his father this weekend. Funny way to say it – but chances are pretty good the parents weren’t married so she couldn’t exactly say she was divorced. It really is the norm in Norway to NOT get married, but couples still have kids and carry on life as usual. Kaleb and Henrik had a good time today and from the sounds of it - spoke only in Norwegian. Kaleb will not let on just how much Norwegian he understands or can speak, but it does my heart good when he’s able to play for several hours with a kid who doesn’t speak any English. Maybe that’s the key to a lasting relationship in Norway, as it seems the bulk of the couples that actually DO get married are the ones who have wives from other countries and they can’t speak Norwegian either.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today’s photo is of our name plate by our front door – another “typisk Norsk” thing. Everyone has their names by their front doors. “Her bor” means “Here lives.” I like the concept and all its practicality. My friend Wendy (who I miss a lot), painted this for us before we left. I should go around Norway and take pictures of all the different name plates and make a poster of it like I’ve seen for “The Doors of Dublin.” There is such a huge variety with these name plates, it’s very fun to see all the creativity people have – different media (wood, slate, porcelain, etc.) and different artistic venues – wood burning, carving, painting, etc. I love my name plate the best though (and not just because Wendy made it). Everyone is so impressed when they come to visit that we have such a “Norske” thing already (I was planning ahead). You’d never know we were foreigners (especially if you walked by our house last night and got a wind of the aroma from the får i kål hovering overhead.)

The weather report says we have a doozie of a storm coming tomorrow – the fall’s first one, so we have our stack of wood for the fireplace and I bought some hot chocolate today at the store, just for the coziness of it all. An article in today’s paper said to be sure and bring in all the outside furniture, so I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope we’re ready.

Kaleb had a great day at school today – kids played with him and no one beat him up. He came home in a chipper mood. He also got his “Weakly Puppy” newspaper finished up and sent out to all his subscribers today, too. He printed off a few copies to take to school as I guess he talks about it a lot and his teachers wanted to see it. I wonder what they will think… it wasn’t just about dogs, he also wrote about getting smashed in the face by a fellow student and how he wished he could take a guard dog along with him to school. So much for the reputation of the quiet, peaceful little country of Norway – Kaleb’s painting an entirely different picture of it. But then, most things in Kaleb’s world look different….

Kory spent another piddling day at home – folding laundry, doing dishes. That man has come a long way. I’m so proud of how he’s grown up! He also crawled under all the houses for his month-end measurements and photo shoot so we can write up a report next week to give to the attorney, which justifies our living here.

I am feeling rather thankful that we’d pulled all the money we had out of the stock market earlier this year, but shouting HALLELUJAH that we didn’t lose any of it yesterday because we put it in a CD at Washington Mutual. What a mess. We’re thanking the Lord for protecting our savings! Kaleb however owned 35 shares of stock in WaMu so he shed a tear over the headline news today as that was $652 he’d invested of his own money. It’s best he learn those kinds of lessons early on so he doesn’t think the stock market is a sure bet. His two shares in Costco are holding their own but his 11 shares of Krispie Kreme Donuts are still pretty low. I told him he has plenty of time to recover from his losses, but he was still a little depressed about it until Kory popped popcorn and we played yet another exciting round of “Golf” (a card game). Sabina (the neighbor girl) won in the last round by 2 points. At least it got Kaleb’s mind off his troubles.

Well, I’ve been going to Norwegian school for a month now and while I feel like my Norwegian is “ikke så bra” (not so good), I do feel like I know much more than I did a month ago. We’ll see just how much I’ve learned on Monday, as we have a huge test then – ugh. Our teacher helped us review for the test today and also explained to us some of the laws relating to working in Norway. The law here says that no one is ever allowed to work more than ten hours a week of overtime – ever. And in one calendar year, no one is EVER allowed to work more than 200 hours of overtime total. Imagine that. But after the financial crisis that’s going on – they may need to re-think that one -- as Norway had over 33 million US dollars (168 million kroner) of their citizen’s retirement fund invested in Washington Mutual stock (it made headlines over here, too). Perhaps if some of Norway’s top financial advisors had put in a few extra hours at the office this year – they might have seen that one coming.

Får i Kål Day

Kaleb had a good day at school but got harassed a bit at soccer practice again. I talked with his coach and he talked with Kaleb and will make some announcements to the boys and see if it gets any better. Kaleb’s nearly ready to quit at this point. If he wouldn’t have made a goal today in a practice game, this might have been his last day, but he got a bit energized by the whole thing so he wants to keep going for now. It’s tough to get socialized in a socialist country.

Kory had a good day relaxing at home. He was out in the garage for most of the day piddling. Oh how thankful I am for that garage! Even though the ground is about a foot lower than the floor of the garage in some places and we can’t put our vehicle in there, it really does serve as Kory’s “shelter from the storm” as it were – and he takes great refuge in being out there when things get a bit too noisy in the house (Sabina comes over a lot). Every man needs his cave.

We were informed in class today that it’s the National “Får i Kål” Day today. Får i kål is considered the number one “national dish” of Norway – the most popular, the most common, the longest history, the most readily available… I’m not sure what all – food (certainly not the most attractive looking dish, that’s for sure – see photo). It’s not like it’s Thanksgiving or anything today, but apparently a lot of people will be eating får i kål tonight, and always on Sunday, and maybe every time they have company. The Norskies like that stuff. It’s as Norsk as Norsk gets, so the Norwegian government felt like they needed to set aside a special day every year to acknowledge this incredibly popular dish. All the stores have the two ingredients used to make it on sale, and if you already didn’t own a big enough pot to cook it in, they are on sale now, too. The newspapers wrote stories about it, reminding people of this day, and included a recipe just in case you’d lost yours. I’m so thankful I had a recipe for it because if someone would have just TOLD me how to make it, I’m not sure I could have remembered (just kidding).

I caved under the pressure of the day, and made it for dinner tonight and Kory said it was almost as good as his Mama used to make (how could it taste any different with only two ingredients?). It's just cabbage and the meat of a dead baby lamb – hence the name “får i kål” (“lamb in cabbage”). To make it, you put water in the bottom of the pot, layering cabbage leaves with chunks of the poor little creature (…that gave it’s very life for sustaining the people of Norway and their traditional dish), and you keep layering more cabbage leaves and more lamb until you have run out. Then you pour in enough water to cover the ingredients, add some salt and pepper, put a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil. When it boils, you simmer it for a few hours and you’re done. It’s served with potatoes and carrots on the side (and a little rutabaga if you have them on hand). Kory and Kaleb loved it (they are WAY more Norwegian than I am). I felt like I had done my part in making it, so I opted out of eating it. (My legal/birth name is “Mary” so it is just too heartbreaking for me to actually eat “a little lamb”.) Instead I ate what is now considered to be the latest “National Dish of Norway” (voted #1 recently by call-in voters to a radio station) – frozen PIZZA! They had the little single serving sizes on sale for $2 today, so I couldn’t resist trying Norway’s version of America’s version of an Italian favorite. (But I’m still mystified by the list of ingredients as one of them just said “pizza meat”.) The only problem during dinner was that I still had to smell what Kory and Kaleb were eating. My teacher recommended I set a bowl of vinegar next to the pan of får i kål while it was cooking so it wouldn’t stink up the house so much – but I dumped it out when the cooking was over, not thinking I’d need it to get through the meal, too. Uff da. The things I do for love.

It's a Small World Afterall

The people you see in the photo today are friends we had over for dinner tonight. A few years ago we had cousins from Norway visiting us in Mt. Vernon so we took them on a little tour around Washington State. We’d stopped at a rest stop near Leavenworth, and when I thought we’d been there long enough I yelled out (in Norwegian), it was time to go. There was a man standing near me that turned around and asked me “Er du Norsk?” (Are you Norwegian?) and I told him I wasn’t, but they all were – pointing to the cousins. Kory’s cousin Linda is married to Lief-Eric Bondevik, who is the nephew to the then Prime Minister of Norway. I was trying to impress the guy so I introduced Lief-Eric to this total stranger. The stranger (Ole-Petter) said that he listens to Lief-Eric on the radio. Right away we knew Ole-Petter (on the left in the photo) was from Kory’s part of Norway because the radio station Lief-Eric works for is only broadcast around Ålesund. So, it was a small world thing… but then it got smaller.

I then introduced Kory with his birth/Norwegian name as “Kåre” and Ole-Petter said, “Kåre Slaatthaug?” three times very slowly and thoughtfully, until finally he said, “Didn’t you used to live in Langevåg and you moved to America when you were a kid?” Kory couldn’t believe it – how could he know! So then he told Ole-Petter that yes, that was the case, and Ole-Petter told him that they used to be neighbors and they played together a lot. In fact, Kory had spent the night at his house before he moved away and their older brothers kept in touch via letters for a few years after they moved. So then I had to ask why he was now in America and he said his friend’s son married a woman from Portland, Oregon and they were here for the wedding and now just touring around before going home the next week. The Bondeviks were leaving us that week so I invited Ole-Petter and his wife Unni to come the next week to stay with us so we could have time to visit. They said they were meeting up with their friends and they would have them along and they hated to impose. Then Lief-Eric told them we had a big enough house and it would be OK, so they took our number and said they would call. I prayed they would as it was so exciting to meet someone from Kory’s childhood.

So the next week, they called. They came for dinner and of course, I wouldn’t let them leave, as we have two guest rooms, and we got to meet their friends, Kolbjørn and Anne-Grete Rørstad as well (on the right). Over the nights’ conversation they mentioned that in Norway no one would just pick up people off the street and invite them home for dinner. I said, “Well, Norway is a small country and we’re probably all related anyway,” and we had a good laugh. Then when they went upstairs to go to bed, I showed them the family tree that I had taped on some closet doors up there and I pointed out Kory’s mom’s side of the family – thinking they would see a few farm names they recognized. Kolbjørn pointed to Kory’s great-grandmother’s name and said, “Rørstad -- that’s MY last name.” So I immediately went to my genealogy files and pulled out the census from 1900 for the Rørstad farm and asked if he knew anyone listed there. “That’s my grandmother,” he said, pointing to a name, which happened to be the sister to Kory’s great grandmother – so Kolbjørn and Kory’s are 3rd cousins and I was right – we were related! And that’s how these two couples ended up as our friends… one an old neighbor to Kory, and the other a distant cousin. In past visits they have both had us over to their houses for a meal, so it was our pleasure tonight to finally have them back into our home. We had another great evening visiting about all kinds of things but mostly laughing about how it is I’m adjusting to Norwegian life and learning the language. Good times.

It was a gorgeous day today – in the 70s and still feeling like summer -- so unusual for Aalesund. ( I’m thinking that global warming will work well in Norway.) Kaleb had an uneventful, but fun day – so that’s the best news of all. Kory worked again today because he’s taking some days off in October for our little vacation up north and his day was just fine, until he had to use the bathroom. It was then he realized they don’t have sani-cans on the job sites in Norway – so he had to drive all the way home to use the toilet. He came home laughing about that, not able to understand the logic in it. He said his co-workers just head for the nearest bushes, which is OK under certain circumstances, but it wasn’t going to work too well for him today. Uff da.

For the last hour of my Norsk class today we got to attend a concert by Ålesund’s finest string quartet. They were great musicians, but the problem was they were playing a composition by some local guy that was about as easy to listen to as a cat in heat. They redeemed themselves afterwards by playing a piece by Beethoven. (I think the Germans beat the Norwegians in more than World War II… I think they get the blue ribbon for musical composition as well.) But Norwegians are very much into ambiance and we do start every school day off with a little music, which I like. There are also blooming flowers in the room and little doilies with candles on the tables in our break room which people light during break. In America we often associate candles, flowers and music with romance, but here in Norway, it’s an everyday thing- especially in the workplace, well, at least in office jobs anyway. My bus passes by several office building and I always see employees eating in their lunch room – complete with flowers, table clothes, candles burning, and I imagine, music softly playing in the background. At his job, I don’t know that Kory would care so much about the ambiance of candles, flowers or music as much as he’d just like a toilet every now and then to sit on.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven!

We got an internet connection in our house today! Woo hoo!! This is an exciting moment. I may not sleep tonight as there is so much catching up to do. We got a land line phone too, so now we can call America much cheaper than using our cell phones. Double woo hoo. (Anyone can now call us at home at: 011 47 701 4 5255.) Today’s photo was taken a few weeks ago on the island of Vigra and it just feels symbolic, for some reason. It isn’t exactly the information super highway, but it’s a road that will get you there, nonetheless.

In all my excitement to get home by 2:00 today when the installer was coming, I got on the wrong bus! I had stopped off at the shopping mall at Moa to buy some things. One of the stores was having a killer sale on many non-perishable items so I couldn’t resist buying Kleenex for 10 kroner a box ($2) when I have been paying $5 a box for it, stuff like that. I was quite loaded down with my huge canvas bags full of heavy items and barely able to walk (I spent $200 in total and most everything I bought only cost $2 if that paints a picture here). I only had to make it out the door of the supermarket to the bus stop across the sidewalk, which I did, rather laboriously, and then off the bus and down my driveway and I was home free. I was so excited to catch the 2:00 bus for my seven minute ride home that the second I saw Bus 618 pull up, I headed straight for it. The only problem was, when the bus pulled out of the station, it turned the wrong way! It headed back into town, and I wanted to head out of town to Myrland, where we live. I was in such a rush I hadn’t noted the final destination of the bus – so here I was, with more groceries than any native Norwegian would ever get on a bus, taking up the entire aisle and a seat and a half, going the wrong way. I pressed the stop button and rather clumsily got off at the next stop and just stood there like an idiot. The worst thing was I was so worried I’d miss my internet guy, who was coming just after 2:00, as scheduled. Fortunately, Kory was working on a jobsite today that is about five minutes drive from our home, and fortunately I had my cell phone, and fortunately he heard his phone ring. I called him up and told him the error of my ways and he quickly ran home and let the guy in – probably scared to death to have to live with me one more day if I didn’t get internet access in the house. So then I waddled across the street with all my bags and waited 30 minutes for the next bus to come by that was headed in the right direction. “Stakkars, Mickey,” is all I can say. (“Stakkars” is an expression that means “poor thing” – it’s like “Uff da”.) And that bus I took was crowded with high school kids coming home for the day so I had to stand in the aisle and move my stuff every time a kid got off. I’m sure they knew I was an American, because no self respecting Norwegian would buy that much stuff in one fell swoop. Norwegians are used to going to the store everyday and just taking care of their most immediate needs, but I like to stock up and have a bit of inventory. Today that didn’t seem like such a wise idea, so there is lesson number two in “benefits of thinking like a Norwegian.”

My mood quickly changed however when I got home and there sat a young man at my kitchen table configuring my laptop. I was downright giddy and I nearly kissed him. (Kory thought he deserved the kiss for letting the guy in.) But enough about my elation… because the rest, they say, is history. I’m finally connected! Kaleb had a fine day of school – gym day – one of his favorites as they have a rock climbing wall in the gym. He had no encounters of the worst kind so that was a plus, but then he had soccer practice tonight, and he got initiated into the ultimate childhood humiliation – a kid pulled down his shorts while he was in the middle of the soccer field. And then another did the same… so he was crying and pretty upset when he got home. Stakkars Kaleb. Who would have thought he’d get so many opportunities to forgive? I let him use the internet once his homework was done to help ease the pain. (I now have my favorite discipline tool back. If he gives me grief, he can’t get on-line.)

My school was good today, but I can tell we are turning a corner and it’s going to get even harder. I got my homework back and again my teacher said I’m trying to write things that are too advanced for my level, but she appreciates that I’m stretching myself and that’s probably how I’ll learn the language. But Vestina sat next to me beaming that she had no red marks on her paper and she got a bigger smiley face than me. That girl makes me laugh. I had completely forgotten about doing the assignment over the weekend so I just wrote a few pages while on the bus into town yesterday morning. Considering I didn’t have any help and no one to proof read it for me (like Vestina did!), I thought I did OK. But the sentence structure is still a killer for me, and now we are starting to learn different rules about sentences that have more than one verb in them. Lord help me.

Kaleb and I have off school the week of October 6th for Fall vacation so I bought tickets last week to go on the Hurtigruten (the Coastal Ferry) leaving October 1st. We’re going to ride the ferry for two days north to the Lofoten Islands (which are supposed to be spectacular), and then drive our van back down over the next seven days. I want to stop off and see the farm where Halton Molvik came from as I wrote a book about him growing up there. The ferry was full every day except October 1, so both Kaleb and I will have to skip school for a few days. My Norsk teacher told me I could miss the two days if I write a report about our adventure and read it to the class – in Norwegian of course. Stakkars, Mickey.

Zero Tolerance

Well, Kaleb got nailed in school again today, ironically on the day he brought home an “anti-bullying” contract from the principal that was sent home for all children and parents to sign. They have ZERO tolerance for such things, they say. I’m sure having Morton and his pals sign a piece of paper is exactly what is needed to change their behavior (ha). But actually, it wasn’t Morton today, it was his friend, Markus. I guess Morton has passed the torch. Kaleb’s side of things goes something like this: as they were lining up this morning to file into the classroom, Kaleb got a few steps out of his line. When he went to reposition himself, the kid behind him shoved him forward into Markus. Markus didn’t like the body slam, so he grabbed Kaleb’s chin with one hand and then put the death squeeze on his throat with the other (mostly pinching his windpipe closed so that he couldn’t breathe.) He said he was unable to yell but when he tried to say “Help,” the kid let go. Yes, it was reported and I’m sure Markus got a talkin’ to (the worst punishment possible). When Markus punched him in the stomach a few times after school though, Kaleb failed to report it, so he got away with that one. Tough times for Kaleb, but it has yet to diminish his love for school (even though he was crying as he relived the day). We keep telling him that his whole life he’ll have to deal with difficult people so it’s best he learn how to do it now. (Hopefully he won’t consider me one of the difficult ones.)

Kory went to work today and didn’t come home complaining about his aches and pains, so by all accounts, it was a good day for him. He was able to pick up the new part for our van and he spent the evening replacing it (see photo – and note the high tech ramp he made). And he FINALLY got a call today from the internet provider! They are coming tomorrow to install our home telephone and high speed internet!!! YAHOO! I’ve actually discovered a weak internet signal from an unsecured network in the middle of our driveway that seems to be there only if we have overcast skies for some reason. I’ve been able to send and receive e-mails and post my blog on a fairly timely basis these last few days – thanks to the weather? I can’t tell you how odd I look standing there holding my laptop in one hand and typing with one finger on the other hand, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I’m just glad I don’t gotta do it much longer….

My teacher today asked me to tell the whole class what I did on Saturday – in Norwegian, of course. It was a humbling experience. I know many verbs. I know a lot of nouns. I even know all the pronouns in objective and subjective form. I know how to say nouns as singular or plural. I know how to say verbs past tense or present tense, but I have yet to figure out how to form a proper sentence. Go figure. When I was learning Spanish in college, the big thing to remember was the adjective comes after the noun – they don’t say “green tree” – they say “tree green.” If only Norwegian could be that simple. They have all kinds of things mixed up. Their “the”s come after the noun (“tree the”) the negative comes after the verb (they say “married NOT” – as opposed to “not married”), and the second word in the sentence has to be a verb. Their word order (sentence structure) is completely different than English and as of yet – I’m clueless. Whenever I write something and read it to Kory he says I can’t just take an English sentence word for word and translate it to Norwegian – I have to translate the entire sentence and “think like a Norwegian.” OK, “I have it out figured NOT.” And Lord help me the day I start thinking like the Norwegians! But I will admit that when I make a shopping list, I do write some of the items in Norsk because “agurk” is easier to write than “cucumber” and “paprika” is quicker than “red peppers.” And I get a kick out of some of the words Norwegians use to name things. Literally translated a pencil sharpener is a “pencil eater,” and an eraser is a “learning wash.” And when we sing songs in church, they will have an entire song on the overhead with words that all have just one to three letters in them – jeg, vil, liv, får, håp, alt, meg, er, gud, så, med, du, i, å, det, om, en… words like that – so many small words that mean so much. But when I go to school, I see words that should be an entire sentence in themselves – like “voksenopplæringssenter,” which translated means “the grown-up people’s higher learning center.” I guess their solution to the dilemma I face, is to make it all just one word rather than to try and figure out where all those words go in the sentence. Maybe I should start thinking like a Norwegian after all.

The Last Day of Summer

Kaleb woke up this morning and grabbed a “how to draw” book out of the bookshelf and started to follow the step-by-step instructions on how to draw 3-D items with shadows. He worked at it for a few hours until we left for church and he showed a marked improvement. We attended Filadelfia Kirke today and just by chance it was a special service for kids. They acted out key stories in the Bible in a childish way – puppets, children’s theater, Bible reading by children. They had a very impressive stage and props and it was all quite fun. Afterwards they had games for the children and a free lunch for them. We stuck around a while and visited with relatives and folks we know. Charlie, a deaf artist from England that goes to that church, was there. Kaleb had brought along his art work and was looking forward to showing him his latest accomplishments. Charlie had drawn a cartoonish portrait of Kaleb one time we were there and Kaleb was quite impressed with him. Charlie now was impressed with Kaleb and he asked him on the spot if he could commission a piece of art from him – so Kaleb sat after church looking out the window and drawing the mountains and houses below – complete with shading and dimension. Charlie paid him 50 kroner for it ($10) and told him to use the money to go buy a “good” paint brush and then come to his studio for an art lesson. He lives not far from my school, so we’ll have to arrange a time for that to happen. Charlie loves to encourage the artist in everyone and he sure lit Kaleb’s fire. He’s filled several sketch pads just in the last month. Most of what he’s drawn is of his “inventions” (machines and strange alien creatures.) It would be nice if he could draw things that don’t need an explanation -- but Kory says he thinks even Picasso needs explaining.

After church we went back to the “loppemarket” (flea market) to see if they were being more reasonable in their pricing, since they were in the final hours. Yesterday, Kory wanted to buy an old metal lunch box (just a flat tin with a removable lid), and they wanted $25 each for them. Today, they gave us a big plastic grocery bag for $10 and said whatever we could fit in the bag, we could take home – so Kory got three of those metal lunch boxes (“matpakken” they call them), an antique tea kettle, 16 wine glasses, 6 drinking glasses, 5 dinner plates, 4 coffee cups, 3 candle holders, 2 mixing bowls, 1 vase (this is starting to sound like the 12 days of Christmas!) 3 small planters and a variety of other small things. We filled two bags and finally got the bargains we were hoping for. We even bought two nice throw rugs for a dollar (5 kroner). I hate filling our house with “stuff” now but after hosting my birthday party I realized we didn’t have enough coffee cups to go around and we were drinking coffee in shifts, with me washing the cups in between. And we only brought six dinner plates here, so it’s a bit limiting on having company over.

Two things you’ll find in every Norwegian window sill (they have very thick walls here) -- are candles and potted plants. They sell four inch flowering plants in all the grocery stores and it’s “typisk Norsk” (typical Norwegian style) to have all your window sills filled with plants. And you can’t be tacky and just set the plant in the window sill in those ugly black plastic containers they come in - you have to have some stylish looking pottery container to cover it up. Well, they sell the plants for as cheap as four dollars, but the pots are all around $20, so now I’m stylin’ too as I have my window sills all full of plants (in used pots, no less) and candles (in used candle holder). I think I’m set when it comes to all those things “that make a house a home” (as Kaleb likes to say).

I saw a sign in the round-about today on the way home from church that said, “tur heis åpent i dag,“ which literally translated means “walking elevator open today.” I envisioned an outdoor escalator and wondered what that could be. This is another area where Kory comes in handy… he translates. It meant that the “chair lift” was open. Since it was yet another fine day here in Ålesund, they opened up the chair lift near our house that goes to the top of the mountain (used mostly in the winter time for skiing.) We were still in our church clothes but decided to take in the view from the top nonetheless (see photo – downtown Ålesund in straight over Kaleb’s head and our condo at Moa is to the right). It almost felt like cheating – to absorb all that scenery without the huffing and puffing that usually goes along with it, but after yesterday’s hike, I was glad to take it easy. Well, I shouldn’t say it was too easy, as I was under a tremendous about of stress going up and down in those skimpy chairs, as it didn’t exactly feel safe to me. (I was more than a little scared – my body nearly turned to jello.) It was worse than the zip lines I went on in Mexico, as the chair lift stopped frequently to let people off and on and every time it stopped, it bobbed up and down, only adding to my anxiety about how far I’d be falling to my death. Kory and Kaleb found great pleasure in my distress. I know they love me, but sometimes how they show it is a bit warped.

We Conquered Another Mountain

OK, I take back what I said yesterday about not feeling any older. We just got back from climbing up a mountain and I feel every muscle and bone in my body -- and they feel pretty old! It was such a gorgeous Saturday afternoon that we couldn’t help but go find a peak that we had not yet conquered (there are many to choose from around here). When in Norway, do as the Norwegians do. Odd and Hege came along with us as we ascended Sukkertoppen (The Sugar Top) right next to downtown Aalesund… fantastic views from there of the city and surrounding islands. The picture today was taken about half way up, with Aalesund “sentrum” (the center of town) in the background. Lovely, lovely day. It still feels like summer here, but I know fall is on its way.

After a nice Norwegian waffle breakfast this morning Kaleb and I did homework while Kory helped cousin Odd with some carpentry work. At noon we all went to a rare event here in town – a loppemarket (flea market). A local soccer club organized a big garage sale held in their arena to raise money for their club. After our major scores at the loppemarket last weekend in Trondheim, we were all set to look for more treasures today, but were sorely disappointed, as the prices were anything but cheap. I did manage to buy a few tablecloths and doilies, and we got a few nice paintings for the wall and a lamp for the living room. None of them were screaming deals, but we really like everything we bought. One watercolor painting is of the mountain top we can see out our living room window here at The Sinking Houses, so we’ll take that back with us to the States as a good reminder of our time here. The best thing about going there was that I ran into a woman I met when we first moved here and she gave me her number and asked if we can get together for coffee. I’ll call her next week. It’s exciting to think I might have a new friend in the works.

Odd and Hege came over for dinner tonight but Turid had to work so she missed all the fun. It was so nice to be able to treat them to a meal, as we’ve eaten plenty at their house (all made by Turid, though). Afterwards we played cards (Golf) and Sabina and her mom came over too – lots of screaming and laughter ensued as that game stirs much emotion. We had a very fun evening as we watched the sky change colors all around our mountain peak view as the sun slowly set in the west.

And we’ve now had our first taste of what it’s like to own rental property without Kory being available to fix the problems that arise himself. We have friends in Seattle that have been doing a great job managing our apartment building there, and we have a wonderful on-site manager as well, so we’ve been without care or worry so far, but last night we got a call from our on-site manager to tell us about a leaky pipe going to the bathtub of one of the units. Our friends that are managing it got a quote to fix the problem and the plumber wanted over five thousand dollars to replace the tub and pipes, etc. Kory could have flown home and done it himself for much less than that, so Kory called up a guy he knows in Seattle and he went and looked at it and said just the pipes need replacing and he’d do it for a hundred bucks. Whew. I was praying about that one all night as it’s an urgent situation that needed attention because the water was dripping down into the unit below, but the problem is now getting resolved. I sometimes take for granted just how handy Kory is and how he fixes absolutely everything that breaks every time, and just how much money he saves us by his resourcefulness. Even half a world away he was able to solve the problem in a thrifty manner. I so appreciate that. I was ready to buy him a plane ticket home. (To fix the problem - not to get rid of him - Kaleb said I needed clarification there.)

The Day After 51

I’m still basking in the glow of yesterday’s big day (the photo today is from my party last night). Fortunately, I don’t feel any older, so all is well in my world. School was all review today so it was a bit boring (and Vestina was gone and she makes me laugh a lot.) Kaleb didn’t have school today because it was a teacher’s planning day, so his little American girlfriend, Victoria, came over. I think they spent the bulk of their time honing their “breaking and entering” skills. All the internal doors in our house use a skeleton key to lock them from either side. We’ve long since had to hide the key from Kaleb because he has just too much fun locking us in or out of rooms, but today, Kaleb and Victoria discovered the many uses for a paperclip and they were able to work it like a pro. I’m not sure why it was such great fun for them, but it kept them entertained during the few drizzles we had off and on. Otherwise they played games, drew pictures and made each other laugh. We all sat and ate lunch together and Victoria and Kaleb got these dreamy lilts to their voices as they discussed what they missed the most about America. Kaleb misses his favorite dogs and being able to talk to everyone in English; Victoria misses Sub-Way sandwiches. I asked her what she missed the most about Sub-way and she said, “the whole concept” – she loves picking out what she gets to put on her sandwich, but mostly it seemed, she misses black olives (you can’t get the same kind of olives here). Then she said she misses Starbucks (she’s 8, soon 9 years old), as she thinks their hot chocolate is the best. Kaleb said he missed the pastry items at Starbucks and he was quick to try and impress her with the fact he’s been to Store #1 at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle. They went back and forth trying to top each other on what they missed the most (she is from Atlanta.) So then I had to ask, when they go back to the States, what will they miss the most about Norway. Victoria said, “We’re never going back,” and “there’s nothing I’ll miss.” Kaleb said he’ll miss, “cheap fiskeboller.” (It’s a special treat to eat fish balls in America, but here – it’s about the cheapest food you can buy so he eats it a lot. I’m glad he likes it. I personally think it’s one of the more disgusting foods available here - think “fish pudding” -so I find it convenient to “fast” on the nights it’s on the menu… our teacher even took a poll one day in our class and not a single person said they liked it. I guess it’s an “acquired” taste. Good thing we started bringing Kaleb to Norway at an early age.)

Kory spent the day piddling – his absolute favorite thing to do. He discovered some joint or some spring or something somewhere under the car that was making noise. Turns out it was a broken stabilizer bar so he had to take it off. He had to order a new part and can’t fix it yet, so he went on to project number two and now we finally have light in our bedroom! He connected a light fixture we bought to the hot wires dangling from the ceiling (but not without blowing a circuit breaker in the process). He also waxed all our “new” skis and adjusted the bindings, and shined up Kaleb’s new ice skates (if only I could get him that interested in the condition of the house…). Fall is in the air, but winter won’t be far behind.
After Victoria left today, Kaleb and I worked on the next edition of “The Weakly Puppy” (his dog newspaper). He’s a funny boy, and he always makes me laugh when he dictates things to me. His head is so full of so many facts it actually takes him a long time to form a sentence. I just imagine a tornado of thoughts swirling around inside his brain, waiting for one of them to touch down and come out his mouth. Sometimes they are doozies. He came into the living room one night a few weeks ago with just his bathrobe on (think “smoking jacket”). He was carrying a large book under his arm, and as he set some cushions on the floor by the fireplace, he said “I’m going to retire for the evening,” and he sat down to read. And now, I shall too.

Happy Birthday To ME!

Oh what a great day it was! I almost got breakfast in bed, but Kory forgot to turn on the crock pot so the oatmeal wasn’t cooked, but he made a mean cup of coffee and that was just fine for me. At school, my partner, Vestina, gave me a beautiful candle as a birthday gift and the entire class sang a real Norwegian birthday song (and I thought there wasn’t such a thing!). I had to remain seated as the entire class got up, sang, clapped along with the melody, hopped up and down, turned around and danced a jig - as that is all part of the song. (I guess that’s why they usually just sing the American version of the Happy Birthday song - no hand motions required.) It was all very special and I got many good wishes from my classmates, text messages on my phone, a call from a cousin in Oslo who remembered today was my birthday as well as our first call from America since we’ve been here -- my friend Barb Schummer (a good Swedish woman, no less), called to wish me the best – and it was! During our lunch break at school Vestina walked me over to her gym next door and let me sit on the massage chair there for a good 20 minutes and I had an incredible massage to help these old tired bones. And if that wasn’t enough, Kaleb just happened to have early dismissal today so after my school was done, Kory and Kaleb came to my classroom with a dozen red roses in hand and whisked me away to a secret location where they promised me “the best lunch in town,” and they weren’t kidding! Kory had gone through tremendous effort to make a scrumptious lunch – a Norwegian shrimp sandwich on fresh baked rolls – and fresh fruit with vanilla sauce. He also brought along some bakery made chocolate cream cake and coffee. The two of them set up a table and chairs in a very isolated spot by the sea (just out of the reach of the breeze we had today) and there the three of us sat, with soft jazz music playing in the background and the sound of the waves lapping at the shore nearby. It really couldn’t have been any more perfect. The pictures today are of Kory and Kaleb setting up, and then the dance afterwards I had with Kaleb (Kory and I danced too but Kaleb didn’t take a picture of it.) It was all very special as they waited on me hand and foot and wanted to be sure my every wish was their command. Kaleb did keep telling me however, that this was not the norm and the only reason they went through all this trouble was because I was OVER 50 now. I hate to break the news to him that every birthday from here on out, I’ll be over 50, but if this is the only year I get such treatment, I’m sure I can live with the memories the rest of my life (hopefully my brain will hold out for that.)

Then this evening I got DOZENS of e-mails from friends in America wishing me happy birthday - all of the cousins and aunts (except Aunt Ruth) came over for cake and coffee! Our little house held 20 people for the entire evening (I had plenty of fresh American coffee available so the party just kept on going…). It was fantastic! I guess that’s the norm here – Turid told me yesterday that you invite folks over for a little coffee and cake on your birthday, so today we bought several cakes and brewed up several pots of coffee and started making phone calls. Most of them didn’t know about it until an hour before it began – and they just dropped everything and came over. How cool is that? And I got gifts – completely unexpected – and most of them were beautiful flowering orchids and exotic plants – so now our house is loaded with flowers and it’s as if I died and went to heaven – literally.

As they say in Norwegian – “Dagen var helt fantastisk!” – THE DAY WAS TOTALLY FANTASTIC! Turning 51 never felt so fine. :)

My Last Day Being 50

Well, it seems, Kaleb was the big HIT at school today. Morton finally landed several punches on my sweet boy’s little cheek. I guess he cried something awful right after it happened, but by the time he got home and I asked him how his day was, and he said, “Great!” Not one word mentioned of the altercation. Apparently he was the talk of the school after it happened so he kind of liked all the attention he got. The reason we knew about it was because Morton’s mom marched him down here right after school (they just live down the street from us), and made him apologize to us (Kaleb wasn’t home at the time.) The teacher called her at home and told her what had happened and Morton got in as much trouble as you can get here in Norway for that – he was told not to do it again. They have zero tolerance for fighting or bullying, but they have no consequences in place if it does happen. Morton’s mother was devastated and embarrassed and frustrated with him and she came to personally apologize to us and to ask us to please keep her informed of anything else that might happen. Kory and I both felt terrible for her and even for Morton – it seems he’s a victim of his own internal conflicts. He’s the cutest little kid, about Kaleb’s size, blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes, big smile and not in the least bit “bullyish” looking. All we could do was listen to his mother tell us all she has gone through to understand his “impulse control” problems and how helpless she feels about the situation. We were as sympathetic as we could be and above all else, we want to just show them the love of Jesus and not be upset that the kid turned our sweet boy’s face into a punching bag (apparently he hit him four times, with both fists.) Kaleb couldn’t get away from him because he was pinned between the bikes – which was the reason he got nailed – Morton didn’t want Kaleb to park his bike next to his. Kaleb told me yesterday that he had already received six blows from Morton (a shoe to the head, kicked in the shin, rocks thrown at him, etc.) and if there were any more incidences he was never going to speak to him again. I reminded him that the Bible says we must forgive seven times seventy times, so he needs to start counting, and when he reaches that number then he can do something about it. So when he got home from the after-school program and we asked him specifically how it was with Morton today, he said, “He’s up to ten times I’ve had to forgive him,” and then he went on to tell us about the “fight.” (He counted each blow as a separate incident that needed forgiving.) His face was a little swollen but there is no bruising and I don’t think any lingering pain, so he’s fine. We just thank God for how Morton is refining Kaleb’s behavior, as He promises that “all things work together for good,” and Kaleb has stopped picking is nose because of all this (something I’ve been trying to get him to do for years). And we’ll trust God too that Morton might stop being so “impulsive.”

Last night our neighbor (Sabina’s mom) invited us over for coffee and banana splits. It was all very formal – fine china, candles, table cloth, soft music - the whole nine yards (Norwegian are REALLY into ambiance). We had a nice visit with her and Kory talked a bit with her about how God teaches us the most during difficult times. She was very receptive to what Kory had to say. We also signed up to be in a home fellowship group through Agape Church, and tonight we went to our first meeting and Sabina’s mom came with us! It is a great group of Pentecostal people (8 women and 3 men) and we sang, prayed, ate and talked about what an “attractive life” means to us. They call them “connect groups,” and I must say, I feel well connected after that.

So today was my last day being 50 years old and any number higher than that feels a bit daunting. Maybe the blessing in forgetfulness that comes on with age, is that all the years just run together and we forget to keep count. I don’t just want to get older, I want to get better, as they say. Last year at this time I was in Greece with my girlfriend Cathy and we were enjoying ourselves more than a person should, and now, I’m living in Norway – yet another dream come true. Life is good.

(The photo today is of Saturday night’s sunset near Trondheim. I thought it was an appropriate photo considering the step I take tomorrow into the “sunset years” of my life – over the hill and rolling down it fast.)

An Almost Ordinary Day

We all got a decent night’s sleep and we’re back to normal now. Kory was up early to go to his carpenter job today then had to work a little overtime. Kaleb was off to school, then soccer practice (see photo – he’s the one in the light blue shorts and shirt under the red vest). He was beaming again today because he got his “Weekly Test” back and he scored another 100% (27 out of 27). He was also in high spirits because today FOR SCHOOL, he had free reading time in the library AND swimming lessons. He considers both of those incredibly fun leisure activities so he came in laughing about what constitutes “school” here. And as for me, the house is clean, clothes are washed, and dishes all put away. It’s so nice to live in such a small place and have a place for everything to land. There are no side projects – yet --and life is as simple and routine as it gets. I do fear however, that our eating habits will become a bit too routine, as the selection of foods available to purchase here is pretty limited. More than once we’ve had the standard fish-potato-carrot dinner because that food is plentiful and relatively cheap. I guess if I cooked lamb, we could vary the routine a bit, but then I’d have to throw it all up and waste the money spent on buying it. (I refuse to eat cute animals.) Surprisingly, chicken is hard to find here but every type of pig product is in abundance. We try to eat “heart healthy” food, which doesn’t go too well with what you can buy in Norway, aside from fish. Norwegians all eat basically the same kinds of foods and their idea of variety is, “Do I put goat cheese on my piece of bread today like every other day or should I shake things up a bit with a little salami (pølse)?” I’m sure their thinking is, “If there is no bread, it’s not a meal,” but at least the bread here is to die for. Norwegians buy fresh bread each and every day. There are even fresh bakeries inside most of the gas stations here because gas stations are the only thing open on Sundays and heaven help them if they had to eat day old bread.

In class yesterday the teacher gave us the basic Norwegian shopping list: bread, potatoes, fish, goat cheese, eggs, liver pate (the kids here eat it on bread like American kids eat peanut butter), milk, juice, coffee, jam. It would be hard to find a house in Norway that didn’t have every one of those items in it. And they eat jam by the scoop – I guess that’s how they get most of their fruit requirements. The size of the jam jars they sell here are of the “Costco” variety – which really makes them stand out because everything else is so darn small (a mayonnaise jar for instance, is about a third the size of jar of jam). When we’ve stayed with Odd and Turid in the past, I’ve seen them go through a whole jar of jam (about 2-3 cups in volume) in just two days. Norwegians aren’t big on fresh produce (especially salads) but they do eat a lot of carrots, potatoes, rutabagas and cauliflower for dinner and red bell peppers and cucumbers for breakfast or lunch (set slices of one of those veggies over some yummy white cheese on a piece of fresh bread and there you have my favorite Norsk meal.)

We continued our lesson on Norwegian foods in class today. The substitute teacher commented about certain foods and which ones last longer than others. It’s a big concern here and why so many fresh produce items aren’t available – because they won’t survive the trip this far north. She also told us about some foods that become poisonous after a while. Of course she was talking only in Norwegian, and I heard a word that she used the other day when she was talking about families (we had to learn the names of family members that day.) The word that caught my attention was “gift” (pronounced “yift.”) It’s the Norwegian word for “married,” but as we all learned today, it’s also the Norwegian word for “poison.” I brought up the irony of that word being used for both “married” and “poison” and asked her why that would be - and I got her to think a minute, but she was not able to answer my question. There are several Spanish speaking students in our class too, so I also pointed out that the Spanish word “esposa” means “wife,” but it also means “handcuffs.” I’m not liking these associations one little bit, but I must say, it makes them easier to remember – kind of like the word “but” in English is “men” in Norwegian. There are so many things to remember… I do what I can to help the process. But why “child” is called “barn” in Norwegian, I have no idea. I know as a kid, my mom used to ask me if I was “born in a barn” when I left the door open… so maybe there’s something there -- she is full blooded Norwegian, after all. We studied weather words today too, and if it’s cloudy they say here it’s “skyet” (pronounced “she-it”). Here all these years I thought my mom was swearing when she’d say a certain naughty word in a certain way, but as it turns out, it seems, she was just talking about the weather.

Back to our Routine

Both Kory and I were beat this morning, having stayed up until after midnight to see the Schaubs off to Bergen. A nap was so in order once we got home this afternoon. Kaleb was even dragging all day but I’m sure tomorrow we will all be back to normal. He was off to school by 7:30am and his day was almost without incident (he swears he never picked his nose today but Morton still kicked him anyway). Kory did heavier work than he wanted today - erecting scaffolding and hanging gutters. At least it wasn’t raining and he is thankful he has a job.

It seems I didn’t miss much in class on Friday, as everyone I asked couldn’t tell me what they learned that day. Personally I think they are all just tuned out, as our teacher Inga is still gone and everyone is complaining bitterly about all the substitutes. All these substitutes must have gotten their start teaching Kindergarten, as one of them had us singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” one day – complete with hand motions. Today the teacher had us stand up and do the Norwegian version of The Hokey Pokey as we were learning the words “right” and “left.” Personally, I think it’s all quite fun, but there are several in the class who wouldn’t agree. I guess some people have just lost touch with their inner child. Today we also learned some words for food and some prepositions – on, under, in, behind, stuff like that. I’m realizing the time Kaleb and I spent learning Latin last year is also coming in handy as there are many of the same principles we studied then that are quite helpful to me now.

After speaking so much English this last week, my brain hurt to try and say even one word in Norwegian today, but I have no shame, so I keep on trying. Norwegians are very encouraging when it comes to people trying to speak their language so it makes it easy. If they laughed at me or constantly corrected me or were at all snooty like the French, I’m sure I wouldn’t be so bold, but I’ve got nothing to lose here so I approach the language with reckless abandon. On the bus ride home today there was a foreigner getting on the bus and he said “tax” to the bus driver but she had no idea what he was talking about. Finally he said, “Moa” (an area here) and she said it was the right bus, so he got on. He sat by me and in very broken English asked if I knew where the tax office was. I did know, so I told him I’d point it out to him (it’s next to a store called “Jysk”). We had a little conversation and I found out he is from Paris and he is here for two months to work in a fish factory so he needed to register with the tax office. He didn’t speak a word of Norwegian. I asked how he was able to get a job without speaking Norwegian and he said his boss speaks English, but he will work in a fish factory, so “you don’t need to speak anything there,” he said. I thought that was funny. I wasn’t sure of the exact bus stop he needed so I approached the bus driver and spoke very slowly (carefully picking my words.) I said, “Jeg vet ikke bus stoppen for buttiken Jysk. Han skal gaar til skat office.” I think I said, “I don’t know the bus stop for the store Jysk. He wants to go to the tax office.” The bus driver very quickly responded in perfect English and said, “Ok, I’ll stop there.” I guess the fact that I used the word “office” was the first clue I spoke English – as that’s not a Norwegian word (but I didn’t know the right one) – but the pace in which I talked was also a dead give-away. At least I try.

(Today’s photo is from this past weekend in Trondheim - all of us standing in front of the Nidaros Cathedral.)

Heading Home

After our deluxe hotel breakfast this morning in Trondheim, we headed back home to Aalesund – via an inland passage so there were no ferries to catch or tolls to pay. It was not as scenic as the coastal route we took north, but it’s hard to drive around any parts of Norway and not have something incredible to see. Willy did nod off a bit, as parts of the trip looked so much like Northwestern Washington or Idaho that it verged on being ordinary (and we always thought those states were so beautiful). The amount of varied terrain we went through though was just incredible – from rolling green hills with farms that dotted the landscape as far as we could see, to heavily wooded mountain passes and rocky rivers paralleling the road. Some places even had the feel of what the moon might be like – just flat bare rock with little growth visible. The scenery was most interesting the closer we got to home however, because by all accounts, Aalesund is the most beautiful city in all of Norway.

The photos today are of Trondheim with the church (Nidaros) that sits atop Saint Olav’s grave, and a mountain near Andalsnes that nearly sits atop the house that is barely visible in the shadows at the bottom of the picture. On our last leg of the journey we turned off at Andalsnes and instead of heading straight home the quickest way, we took the more scenic route as we wanted to give Nancy one last thrill before leaving us. We knew she isn’t very fond of heights, but there is a road called “Trollsteigen” (The Troll Trail) which we felt she needed to experience up close and personal. The road snakes straight up this incredibly high mountain, weaving back and forth so much we were comparing to rides at Disneyland. It’s only one lane too, but cars are both going up and coming down. There are little turn-outs all along the way so it’s possible to pass each other if someone is willing to back up. I am thankful we didn’t encounter any tour busses, however, because that scares even me. Nancy came close to dying of fright, but she saved herself by not looking down when she peered out the window (there isn’t much of a guard rail either). It is quite the experience, and one that everyone should have when they come to Norway. We were so thankful Kory kept us all alive, especially after he had such a long day of driving. But there was no danger he’d fall asleep on that road, as it’s white knuckle driving all the way. When I stand at the top of that mountain and look way down into the valley so far below I think, “Only a Norwegian would think it’s possible to put a road in such a place.” We all know that if the rest of the world says something is impossible, Norwegians will find a way to do it. (And we just try to love them anyway.)

It was a great day for a drive and we were thankful it wasn’t raining as we stopped for our picnic lunch along the side of the road. Fast food restaurants are not the norm here, nor are restaurants in general. We drove for seven hours straight and saw maybe two or three cafes, but none were open on a Sunday in such remote places. (I knew that would be the case so we were prepared and didn’t go hungry.) Willy and Nancy treated us to dinner out (a luxury we won’t afford ourselves here) once we got safely home to Aalesund. Then they took the midnight Hurtigruten ferryboat out of Aalesund down to Bergen and then after spending a day there they take the train to Oslo for a few days before flying back home. Considering they are in Norway only 12 days, they have seen an incredible amount and will have seen four of the major cities here. It has been so much fun to have them with us – and we hope this year we get other company from America as well. Nancy brought me treats from home like baking soda and pure vanilla extract, books written in English and real brown sugar. And to be able to talk non-stop in English has been the biggest treat for me, as everyone knows how much I like to talk! When I talk to anyone here in Norway I have to pick the easiest words to say, and speak slowly so I know I’m understood… and even that takes a huge effort on my part. So it’s been just like “old home week” for me. My Norsk teacher told us that on the average, immigrants go through a huge depression after being here three months because they miss their friends, their food, their culture… but I think my timer just got re-set -- so I’m good to go until at least Christmas.

Mission Accomplished

We did it! We found the farm where Nancy’s grandfather who immigrated to America was born and grew up (see photo). His father was the “husman” (indentured servant) on the Nervig farm just a bit northeast of Trondheim in the Selbu Kommune – and why we made this pilgrimage here. It took longer than we expected to drive to it, as we didn’t know it’s exact location and the farm doesn’t go by the Nervig name anymore. We stopped at several places to ask for additional information and finally we hit upon a wonderful guy that “happened” to have a map of all the old farm names in the area so then we could pinpoint its location. We were a bit disappointed that the owners of the farm weren’t home at the time, but we didn’t let that stop us from having a picnic on their property. Nancy had goose bumps the whole time and was a bit teary eyed. It was a sweet moment and we took lots of photos. Whew. We were worried the sun might go down before we hit the jackpot, but God lead the way. And before the sun DID go down, we got the directions to the nearest church (built in 1150AD) and walked through the graveyard looking for any sign of her great-grandparent’s grave. We didn’t find them, but we found a lot of possible relatives with that name, (it was still fun to look.) That church is where her ancestors have been married and buried for several generations. Oh what a day.

We started the day off in church as well – getting a tour of the old Cathedral here in Trondheim – also built over 900 years ago. We had a wonderful history lesson while there on Norway’s conversion to Christianity by “Holy Ole” (Saint Olav). He is buried under the massive cathedral in Trondheim – which is considered the most religious site in all of Scandinavia. As the story goes, Olav was a vicious viking king who tortured many people, so when he converted to Christianity, he used the same vicious tactics to get the attention of his fellow countrymen -- “Convert or die” was his motto. He wasn’t too popular of a fellow in his day, but upon his death, the legend goes, people who visited his grave started getting miraculously healed. After one year and five days in the ground, they dug him up to move his body in order to build a church over it - and his body was still completely preserved, right down to his rosy cheeks. "Healing" water sprang up where his grave had been, so pilgrimages to this area soon became the norm. For hundreds of years, people from all over Scandinavia and Europe came to his burial place to receive miracles and this city became the religious center for Northern Europe. Kings have been coronated here for centuries and it's still the place for passing the royal baton, as it were. After the Reformation in the 1500s the cathedral went into ruin for several hundred years but slowly emerged from the ashes, and has become the grand spectacle that it is to this day.

We walked around the core of downtown Trondheim for a little while and ran into people we know from Aalesund! Man, Norway is a small country! Our little neighbor girl Sabina and her mom were in town for a dance recital she had today (and they are staying at the same hotel we are), and we also saw a couple that is on the worship team at Agape Church – up for the weekend to show a friend the Cathedral and to do some shopping at Ikea. Too funny. We also found ourselves as a “loppemarket” (flea market) where we hit the mother lode of cheap items. We were able to buy skis, poles, ski boots and ice skates all for five dollars each. We also got a bunad (the traditional Norwegian costume) for Kaleb and a bunch of kitchen items I really needed – all at incredibly cheap prices. Woo hoo. There was a sign by where we parked the van that said not to leave valuables in the car so I suggested we bring our haul into our hotel room. Kaleb said, “I wouldn’t exactly call these ‘valuables’.” And Kory thought it was funny that we paid more for parking than we did for the items we bought.

Traveling to Trondheim

I’m trying not to feel too guilty about the fact I skipped school today. I just had an incredible amount of work to do to get ready for our big road trip north, that I couldn’t see the logic in leaving the house this morning. I’m sure everyone in class “got on” fine without me and I’m so thankful I had extra time to pack up the van (our sweet liberation vehicle.) Kaleb was the only one out the door early this morning. The rest of us had a leisurely cup of coffee, cleaned up messes, packed our things and ate real American pancakes for breakfast. I also made the Norwegian Svela pancakes to take with us, as that is standard “road food” around here, so it will be lunch tomorrow. We were so efficient working together that we had an hour to spare before Kaleb was off from school so we took Willy and Nancy down to our closest sandy beach park and they walked around and took a few more dozen photos. Everywhere is so picturesque that Nancy said, “It’s like a smorgasbord for the eyes.” And Willy is trying to understand why the whole world doesn’t live here because it’s just so darn gorgeous. They haven’t yet grasped just how much God is smiling on them this week with the sunshine we’ve had everyday – which is certainly NOT the norm for Norway. (My Norsk teacher told me the umbrella is the national costume for Aalesund.)

We picked Kaleb up from school right at 1pm and headed out of town on E39 (a major highway by Norwegian standards) all the way to Trondheim, which only included two ferries, two toll roads, a few bridges and at least a dozen tunnels (some more than a mile long.) It took almost seven hours to get here but we stopped a few times along the way to have snacks and/or take photos. (The above photo is Willy and Kory talking during one of our snack stops.) One spot we stopped had a ceremonial rock monument that was set in place prior to the year 800AD – a meeting spot where one of the early Vikings met with the local farmers to have them unite under one kingdom. As the bird flies, Trondheim isn’t that far from Aalesund, but when you factor in the road is one lane in spots and we needed to back up a ways when a large truck was heading right at us, and that there were few passing lanes, but farm machinery and big trucks ahead of us, we made good time traveling an average of 40-45 miles an hour. Willy was in awe of the journey as he just loved all the remote farms with barns and houses up on the hillside overlooking the fjords. He started dreaming of owning a farm in Norway someday… but I’m thinking if Nancy can just talk him into painting his own barn at home the same shade of red as the barns here, they might feel close to having that Norsk farm feeling without the expense.

Kory, brave soldier that he is, drove the entire way -- although Willy might disagree – he swore I was doing the driving. Kory got a lot of “input” regarding his style (too fast, too close to the edge, too dangerous of a spot for passing…) but overall his heart held up fine during all the sudden shouts of terror coming from the back seat. (Nancy and I were the ones in danger of having a heart attack at times, however.) Kaleb just sat and read a book the entire trip. I had restricted him from re-reading Harry Potter this weekend because he wouldn’t put the book down and get ready for bed last night, so this morning he said he wanted to bring an “equivalent” amount of reading in other books. I suggested he just look at the number of pages in the Harry Potter book and find books that equaled the same pages. He said to me, “No, I don’t go by pages, I go by weight – where is a scale?” And he then proceeded to weigh his Harry Potter book and then find enough books to equal it – which he brought along for the trip. (That kid cracks me up sometimes.)

After we landed at our hotel, we went out for a late dinner in the core of the city at a (coincidentally) American restaurant. Willy and Nancy were so happy to eat pizza but Kory was a bit sad there was nothing Norsk on the menu. Everyone got their fill and they are all now sound asleep, but I’m so excited our hotel has internet access that I’m sure I’ll be up all night.