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.
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.
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