Yappy Howl-een

Big day today for Kaleb (and me). Kaleb got “The Weakly Puppy” finished and delivered, made his Halloween Costume, went to a Halloween birthday party, went to a church Halloween party and went trick-or-treating (sort of). Oh yeah, and we both had school. I had things all scheduled out and then the bus broke down on our way home today so I had to call Kory to come get me and that messed up my timing. Uff da. This afternoon was a bit stressed, but Kaleb made the bulk of his “Ghost Freak” costume (an alien from the “Ben 10” cartoon) and finalized “The Pup” in record time. Sabina has been giving us the daily countdown to Halloween for over a month now as she’s so excited they have such a thing in Norway. I was totally bummed they do, and I’m not the only one. Most families don’t acknowledge it in any way, and there are so few houses around that support the whole idea that Kory and I set up “house” in some of the empty sinking houses here and let Kaleb and Sabina ring the doorbell and get candy from us (more than once) in different houses. Whatever works.

Halloween is very new to Norway and some of the parents at the birthday party were lamenting, “If we had to get a holiday from America – why couldn’t it have been Thanksgiving?” The newspaper did a big two page spread about how to go about trick-or-treating (they call it “Knisk eller Knask” here). My friend, Theresa, thinks the whole thing is despicable and she has several good reasons for thinking so. For one thing, all the costumes for sale in the stores are just downright evil and gory. There are no costumes of flowers or dogs or neutral things, it’s all wicked monsters or ugly witches or butchered faces. Theresa is wondering what will happen if her three year old daughter answers the door and sees that. She also worries about the little children who, up to this point, haven’t been afraid of the dark, but if they are outside and older children are dressed up so horribly and making scary sounds, that it will instill a fear of the dark in them, and so much of the year here is dark, she thinks it’s a horrible thing to bring to Norway. Of course the candy part isn’t something any parent wants in their house either, so she’s against that, too. But the newspaper article did say that houses that don’t have their porch light on will be a sign they do not have candy in the house so don’t even both to knock. So the kids get all pumped up about going out and then the adults are moaning and groaning about it and not answering the door – so it’s a bit different here. I’m glad it’s over.

In Norway at Christmas time there was something similar to Halloween but the reason for it was completely different. All kids are off school for two weeks over Christmas and when they get bored they dress up in silly clothes and go knock on the neighbor’s door then sing a little song. The neighbor invites them in for cookies and a visit. They have a name for it, but I can’t remember right now. It’s been a tradition for many years in Norway, but that seems to be dying out now as the kids don’t get quite as bored with all the televisions and internet connections in everyone’s home. Halloween is a poor replacement for such a sweet thing.

When Kory first moved to America they didn’t know about Halloween. The night of October 31st they were sitting around the dinner table and when the doorbell rang Kory’s dad went to answer it. There was a group of children holding out bags dressed like bums or other such homemade costumes. They said something he didn’t understand – he said something they didn’t understand -- and he slammed the door. He sat down to eat again and it happened again and again. He finally came back to the table and told his boys, “I don’t ever want you to go around begging like that.” No one could figure out what was going on until the next day at school when the boys were clued in. I feel like that about a lot of things around here – I’m mostly clueless as to the “norm” and what is expected, but so far, ignorance is bliss. (And who knows WHAT the locals are thinking about us and our strange ways.) Such is life. Happy Halloween.

The Kaleb Report

(The Photo is of the sunset tonight – just down the street from our house. We see those mountaintops from our living room window, but tonight I wanted a better view, so I trespassed. )

Kaleb has now given title to the list of offenses he receives from Morton – “The Morton Report,” he calls it. So today’s report went something like this: “he threw a chunk of ice at me and missed me by ‘this’ much, he spit on me, and he kicked me in the shin.” I’m always as sympathetic as I can be and usually ask, “So other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?” I really want to know about the rest of his day, but The Morton Report always gets top billing. (I had to explain myself to him the first time I asked him that question. He thought my humor was a bit sick, and I agree, but I can’t help myself.)

We had our first parent/teacher conference at school today, so we got The Kaleb Report. Unfortunately, the bulk of the time was spent on The Morton Report – not Kaleb. The teacher is beside herself, and said “medication is hopefully coming soon,” (for Morton, not her) as he’s been diagnosed with ADHD and probably a host of other problems. I feel horrible for her and Morton’s mother. Kaleb is the brunt of most of his “acting-out” but no kid in the class is immune from it. The teacher said Kaleb doesn’t always give her The Morton Report so she asked that we urge him to report all incidents, as she’s trying to get enough “evidence” to support her idea of hiring someone for recess time JUST to follow Morton around and keep an eye on him. Kaleb loved that idea, as recess presents the greatest challenges and they won’t allow the students to stay inside – they must go out, no matter what weather or terror on the playground awaits them. So, hope is on the horizon.

The little time we did talk about Kaleb, his teacher was mostly just questioning us – like have we had him tested and did we know his thinking is so advanced and is it really possible he can read so fast? She saw him read an entire book (“James and the Giant Peach”) during the lunch break and she couldn’t believe it (I do think he reads about 600-700 words a minute – maybe more.) She knows he’s bored in math as he’s doing algebra just for fun at home, and at school they are doing simple carryover addition and borrowing subtraction problems, but I think it’s good for him to do those routine things. He doesn’t really get bored with anything in school because it’s all in Norwegian and he just thinks it’s all fun as he does the math problems in his head. The teacher said she really hopes he gets better at Norwegian soon so all the barriers can come down and he’s able to mix with the children more, but he mostly stays by himself at recess or hangs out with a few American girls. We asked for the names of some boys in his class that might be a good fit for him to have play dates with and she’s going to send us phone numbers so we can work on his male bonding skills a bit more. But overall, we were delighted to hear that she LOVES having him in class and thinks he’s a very good student – respectful, not disruptive, does his work and obeys the rules (once they are explained). She said he’s had a problem a few times when he understood certain rules to be one way and then the kids did something another way and he got very upset and cried. Once she explained things to him he was OK, but he does have a strong need for things to be FAIR and right. She thinks it’s good for the class to have him there also as they are trying to teach “tolerance.” So, we were well pleased with the report we got. I took Kaleb out for pizza afterwards for a special treat as the local pizza joint had an all-you-can eat night for $11 ($15 for me). Can’t beat that.

Kory had a very frustrating day trying to get the snow tires on our van in below zero temperatures (Celsius). It never got above freezing again today. He broke several tools and finally gave up. I guess we pay for it to be done now as the clock is ticking and they must be on by tomorrow or we can’t drive the van! (They are very serious about their laws here.) Tonight Kory went to help his cousin Odd put in a new kitchen floor and that went much better than his day.

As for me, I make little inroads in this new language and get so excited when I can remember certain vocabulary words, and even more excited if I can put them together in some kind of sentence, but then when presented with the next concept in our textbook and how complex it all seems, I just want to bury my head in something and forget the whole deal. But I was a little bit encouraged tonight when Kaleb and I stopped by to visit Tante Kari and Tante Ruth and I was able to converse with them in Norwegian and they understood me perfectly! I must have talked for an hour and was completed exhausted afterwards but I told some good stories and even got the correct responses, so I know I told them right. Tante Kari was thrilled, as her and I have never really been able to talk one-on-one before because she doesn’t understand English, so I felt like it was a major breakthrough. Hallelujah! Imagine what the future would hold if I could just have an hour together with Kory (even speaking English) and he understood me perfectly.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

The snow stuck around today because the temperature didn’t get above freezing. It was so pretty though, with blue skies and white blankets on all the mountains. Winter is good – even if it does start in October. Kory had to drive Kaleb to school because the streets were just sheets of ice. He was going to put the “pigg dekk” on the van today but didn’t get time (that’s Norsk talk for “snow tires”). Maybe tomorrow. He was busy under the houses, seeing just how much the ground has gone down this month. It never stops! We now even have a sink hole in front of our house, and I’m hoping it doesn’t get big enough to swallow a child. (One of these days Kory will see the logic in me not wanting to buy these “sinking houses.”) But we love living here and it just makes our time in Norway all the more exciting.

We had Mark Wootten, the pastor of Agape Church, and his wife, Unni, over for dinner tonight. He’s from England so it was great to be able to speak English and talk about what God’s doing here in Norway. He said their church has tripled in size in the last year (from 50-150) and they are planning a big expansion project soon and they won’t need to take out a loan. Hallelujah! How cool is that?

And today was a great day for me because the Good Teacher Inga was back in school! She has been gone for the last three classes (well, she’s never there on Friday so that’s normal), and we have missed her terribly. She had to take some test in Bergen so we had a substitute the last two days and none of us do well without Inga. Our substitute teacher made it pretty clear she has some “issues” with this one guy in our class who is from Turkey (and is Muslim). He’s new and I personally don’t like him at all as he’s very disruptive – he talks non-stop to anyone sitting around him, he pays no attention to what is being taught, he clicks his pencil on the table all the time, snaps his gum, and taps his foot on the ground so hard (non-stop) that it shakes the floor – lots of nervous energy. He comes late one hour each day and hits on all the young women during the break. I get a knot in my gut just looking at him so I try to steer clear. He came in an hour late yesterday, as usual, just as the substitute was taking attendance. Each day in class is four hours/lessons, and he/we are required to take 250 hours of Norske lessons in order to stay in Norway - so he’s just there to bide his time so he won’t get kicked out of the country. He could care less about learning the language. This guy cuts one hour from his “obligation” each day by coming in late but the substitute told him she was going to ding him for it (Inga never does). Then he got belligerent with her and said his bus was late and he started making excuses for himself, as if it were the first time. She wasn’t buying it. (I’m sure she’s heard it all before.) It’s the first time I’ve ever heard any student speak out against the teacher. The tattle-tale in me couldn’t resist telling her that he comes in late every day, so not to believe his story. I was quite pleased when she stuck to her guns.

Later when the substitute was teaching us about two different types of pronouns, she asked this guy if he was married to a Norwegian. He said he was, so she wrote on the board, “Hans kone er norsk.” (His wife is Norwegian.) Then she wrote, “Han liker hun.” (“He likes her.”) But just as soon as she wrote it, she said (half under her breath), “I sure hope so.” It was very funny to me because she’s obviously encountered many of these Arab men who come to Norway just to abuse their systems. They marry very “undesirable” women because certain women are so desperate to get married, the men know they are an easy target (usually the women are very overweight, not too attractive or have some kind of handicap). And these guys go after them because if they stay married for three years, they can become permanent residents, complete with all the benefits (even if they get divorced right at the three year mark.) It’s an extremely common practice here and it has even happened to one of Kory’s relatives (who has a little brain damage). This one guy from Jordan started attending church (even though he’s a Muslim…), he met Kory’s relative and married her just a few months later (then stopped going to church). He told her not to tell anyone they were getting married because he knew her parent’s would stop it. Then, right on schedule, he divorced her at the three year mark, and now he never has to leave the country. So the teacher’s disgust is somewhat understandable because most of these men just go on welfare and live off the “system” once they are divorced, or they bring over another woman from their home country and marry them. (One can live a very fine life on welfare in this country.) One of the new classes that just started up on our floor has about 20 Arab men in it. Lord help them if they ever get the substitute we just had.

As the teacher was explaining that there are two different sets of pronouns to be used depending on whether the pronoun refers to the object or the subject in a sentence, my pal, Vestina, leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I feel like I’m deep in a dark forest.” (It’s an unbelievably complicated concept to learn and I’ve yet to figure out how to tell what the “subject” or “object” is – let alone figure out which form of the pronoun to use.) I whispered back, “Well, I feel like I’m deep into something – but it’s sure not as pleasant as a forest.”

Our First Snow!

We got some unexpected weather during the night – IT SNOWED! We woke up to about three inches on the ground and it was still coming down hard. What a shocker. It wasn’t even forecasted as a possibility and I guess it’s pretty early in the year for what’s “normal” around here. The photo shows Kaleb at the bus stop by our house, with our yard and house in the background – at 7:30am. (See how well that reflective gear works?) Downtown Aalesund had less than an inch but a woman on the bus told me that Myrland, where we live, always gets the most when it does snow. Woo hoo! Kaleb was so excited he was out before daylight throwing snow balls around (it was the perfect kind of snow for such things.) Needless to say the bus this morning was crammed packed so I’m glad we live at the beginning of the line or I would have been standing all the way into town. Kaleb rode with me on the bus just a mile down the street as it was impossible to ride his bike (cars were spinning out all over the place). He still had to walk about a half mile to school from there so now he gets that quintessential Norwegian experience of walking through the snow to go to school! And he had so much fun during recess – making snowmen and forts and sledding. Most people thought the snow would be gone by this afternoon once the sun came out, but it stayed on all day and was just beautiful (but it’s cold!). Kory started his day off helping his boss change the tires on the work truck so they could get out to the jobsite. (The laws here state that all vehicles must have winter tires on by November 1st.) After work/school Kory and Kaleb were outside for quite some time having a snowball fight. Sabina brought over her sled and that kicked things up a notch. So the day had quite a bit of excitement to it, and it seems that winter is here and it might last until April. I’m so thankful we aren’t homeless!

Tonight we had some drop in company. A woman that we know from church came by and asked us to pray for her son. We’ve prayed for him before at church so it was a privilege to pray for him again. We both loved being able to help them tonight and we trust God to answer our prayers for them. It was such a cool feeling to have people show up at our door needing us to help them! Hallelujah!

I had Theresa, a new friend, over for lunch today after school. I met her our first day here, as she had a studio apartment for rent in her basement that we looked at but thought it was too small for us. We stayed and had coffee and chatted with her a lot that day. I ran into her again at a flea market and she asked if we could get together sometime, so today was the day. I spoke Norwegian to her and she spoke English to me, so it was fun for both of us to work on our language skills (but she’s WAY better at English than I am at Norwegian.) She is quite interesting and had many thoughtful things to say about life in Norway. She’s lived in Sweden for eight years and in Spain for a year but has never been to America. Having lived outside the country she has made her own observations about Norwegians and why they do what they do. (She chastised me for not speaking more Norwegian at home and said she kicks herself for not learning any Spanish all the time she was in Spain, but it was so easy to just speak English to everyone. She doesn’t want me to make the same mistake while we are here.)

The funniest thing she said was about how Norwegians feel about the food they eat. She said it is very important for them to feel “safe” and in control of what they eat, and they get great comfort from the predictability of it all - having the same foods over and over their entire lives. She said her grandfather who is in his 80s only wants his fish cooked a certain way – boiled in salt water – with no sauces or other flavorings on it. Boy does that sound like Kory! When we were first married I made some kind of blackened fish which I thought was fantastic, but Kory said, “I like my fish to taste like fish.” And so it goes… these Norwegians aren’t much into spices or fancy foods… they just boil something and call it good. Theresa said her grandfather has refused to try any of the “new foods” that have entered the country these past years – like pasta and rice – but she did talk him into having a piece of pizza. She’s sure he only did it because she asked him to eat it, but he never would have done it if his wife had offered it (that also sounds pretty typical for a Norwegian.) I think the food thing here is so weird (and boring), but they obviously got used to some standardized foods and it works for them. In America, we want different things all the time and the packages are always changing because things are “new and improved,” but here, they brag that they DON’T change the food - “original recipe since 1971,” is says on the package. Change is NOT good when it comes to food. They find something they like and they stick with it. I guess it comes from a tradition of not having many options, as it’s only been recently that faster transportation has been able to bring other kinds of foods here… AND change obviously happens slowly when such stubborn people are involved in the process.

Kory was very pleased when I told him what Theresa said today. He felt so validated! But he was even more pleased when I made salmon for dinner with boiled potatoes and carrots using no spices whatsoever. Our marriage is safe.

The Storm Has Passed

The weather finally broke today and we saw patches of blue in the sky. I guess the “storm” we had over the weekend was actually classified as a hurricane Saturday night. The winds were over 100mph. The news doesn’t make a big deal out of it, because not much gets destroyed. Norwegians build things to last, but Kory said on one job site the scaffolding along the side of a house blew several hundred feet down the street and damaged a car along the way. The storm made for good conversation today in class since we have learned all the words in which to carry on a conversation about all kinds of weather… and now I see why it’s so important. Talking about the weather is the number one thing to talk about here in Norway. I guess how a person “feels” about something isn’t as important – unless it’s how they feel about the weather – or global warming. (Norway is seeing some huge changes in their weather patterns because of it.) So much for deep friendships.

Kory worked out on Giske today and Kaleb went to school. Both reported uneventful days, which I take as good news. Kaleb made soup for dinner and Sabina came over just in time to eat with us. Afterwards she helped Kaleb with his homework. The day was fairly normal in all respects.

I ran into Valentina at the bus stop today. She’s the little old Russian lady that WAS in our class. She got flunked back to start a few weeks ago because she just wasn’t “getting it.” No kidding. She speaks no English and very little Norsk. Our conversation in Norwegian went something like this:
M: Hey Valentina! We miss you in class!
V: I go on bus.
M: Are you in a new Norwegian class?
V: I live at Moa.
M: Are you taking the bus to Moa?
V: Chapter 4 in book.
M: Do you like your new class?
V: Inga teach English Friday.
M: It’s not the same in the class without you. Everyone misses you.
V: My husband, he likes boots. I shop at Moa. Shop, shop, shop.
In other words, she didn’t understand a WORD I said. At least I think I got the basic meaning of what she was saying but it was quite the challenge to carry on a conversation with her. I guess Norway can teach them, but can’t make them understand. I know she’s trying… but I’m wondering how she made it to the level of Commanding Officer in the Russian Army as it seems all the lights are on, but no one is home. We have a few more like that in our class even now so I’m wondering how long they will last. I know my brain is getting tired of all the grammar rules but I know I have to press on. I’m sure I sounded just like Valentina when I came here…as I could speak some things, but couldn’t understand much of anything. I am getting better though. I can read the newspaper everyday and understand the basics, which is encouraging for me to see I am making progress.

Reading the newspaper in Norway is right up there with talking about the weather. I read a travel book of Norway while on the ferry a few weeks ago– it was translated to English and it highlighted every town along the coast. Each city’s description started off like this: Aalesund, population: 40,000; newspaper subscriptions: 38,000. Several cities had nearly as many newspaper subscribers as they have residents. I thought about that for a while and wondered how that can be since children wouldn’t be subscribers... but then I figured it out. In just this area alone there are no less than four major newspapers, two local ones and two national ones. Everyone I know reads two or three of them a day. It’s like the national pass-time – reading the news. And the newspapers here aren’t anything at ALL like American ones where the motto is “if it bleeds, it leads.” In fact, Norwegian newspapers are mostly human interest stories and the bad news is buried somewhere in the middle and not at all highlighted. There are very few ads in these papers (the bulk of the pages have no ads whatsoever) and they are all in full color – every page. Of course, each paper costs about $4 a day, but people buy them by the handful and devour them. They have tons of human interest stories and they report on even the slightest of details. A few weeks ago the huge headlines and front page story was on a neighborhood where people weren’t picking up the dog poop. The (translated) headline read “Crap tired of dog sh—“ (only they spelled out the word.) The whole article was how tired this guy was walking around his block seeing all the piles of poop or tossed aside “doggie” bags. And they don’t have nearly the censorship in papers here as they do in America. They don’t censor a word, and swear words are often in the headlines. They also have at least one naked picture a day in the paper as nudity over here is nothing. It’s just the human body and they don’t have any modesty when it comes to that. But the papers are pretty interesting as they highlight a lot of different people and what they are doing in their jobs or with their spare time. I’m sure everyone that lives in Norway has been written up in the paper more than once in their lifetime. I guess it’s the way Norwegians feel connected to one another, without having to talk to each other and dare risk sharing their feelings.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Three months ago today we arrived in Norway! It hardly seems that long, as time just rushes by, but then, it did at home, too. I was thinking the other day as we sat inside our cozy house - protected from the storm, how comfortable and similar that felt – all of us under one roof just doing our own thing. So even though many aspects of our life here are so different from our lives in Mount Vernon, the one thing that’s constant is that we are together and God is with us in all we do. Hallelujah! I think a lot of people suffer from homesickness after three months in a foreign land because they don’t have their whole family with them… and as long as Kory and Kaleb and I are together, life just feels right and “normal.” Sure we miss our friends, but we know we will be together soon enough. And we’ve often gone at least three months without seeing even our closest friends… so the homesickness has not yet settled in for us (maybe a bit for Kaleb, but Kory and I are doing fine.)

The one thing I have been a little discouraged by is that I’m not feeling all that useful for God here yet. I hate to waste even a day and I’ve been wishing I could get plugged in a little quicker. But that feeling didn’t last too long as we went to Agape Church this morning and I felt much better afterwards.

This afternoon I decided to give my new rain gear a workout. It was pouring outside (but the wind let up) so we all got on our warm coats, put our rain jackets and pants on over our regular clothes, put on our boots and reflective vests, pulled up our hoods, put on some gloves and headed out into the wilds of the fall weather in Norway. (It felt much like bundling up for snow.) We tromped around the streets in the pouring rain just to see what it’s like to be a real Norwegian. Kaleb hopped in every puddle he could find and we plodded on. We stopped in to say “hi” to all the relatives in the neighborhood and just to show them we weren’t afraid of the elements. Kory’s 2nd cousin Bjørn is heading to America next week for a flight training session in Wichita and asked if we “needed anything.” I made a list. Then we stopped by cousin Axel and Kari’s house to hear how it went for them the last few weeks on their vacation to Israel. They couldn’t say enough wonderful things about it so we can’t wait to see their pictures. Then we ended up watching a little soccer on TV at Odd and Turid’s house (we’re trying to be as Norwegian as possible here – but I have to admit, we were real good at faking interest in that one.) We got home later than we expected as our little adventure took several hours. It was so liberating to not carry an umbrella and to be nice and snuggly warm while walking around in the rain. Now if I can just figure out how to put little wiperblades on my glasses, I’ll have it made.

Stretching Myself

It’s just after midnight and the wind is whipping outside like we’re in a hurricane or something. The houses are so well built here in Norway, they can take it, but we might lose power. It’s quite the storm. Kind of fun actually, as there are no tall trees around to think about, like at home. I stood right next to our front door that is mostly glass, and didn’t even feel the slightest bit of air coming in anywhere. The houses are sealed up very tight which comes in handy when trying to keep the place warm. Kaleb is in bed, Kory is drawing, the fire is burning, and I’m clicking away on the keyboard. All is right in our cozy little world.

This morning we all slept in then we took Kaleb and his “bodyguard” to Barnaslekerland – a big indoor play area here. I think Tobias was a bit too old for such a thing, but he’s a good sport and ran around with Kaleb nonetheless. One of us had to stay on the premises and since I had a few errands to run, Kory stayed behind. Up until today, I haven’t driven our vehicle. I’m not all that comfortable with the rules of the road here and I especially hate the round-abouts. They are everywhere. In this entire region, I’ve only seen one stop sign and two stop lights – every other intersection is a round-about (some the size of a man-hole cover) and not everyone follows all the rules so they are a tad bit beyond my comfort zone. And everyone coming from the right has the right-of-way even on regular streets so Kory has been driving down the road and some car will come flying out from nowhere right in front of him and he has to slam on his brakes because they came from the right. Bizarre law. (Bigger roads have a special sign to show oncoming cars must yield first… but that panic feeling is always there that someone will nail us if we don’t keep a look-out.) But I stretched myself and just figured one of these days I’m going to have to drive, so I better do it today when the sky looked so threatening it would have been foolish to walk anywhere. And God kept all other cars away and I survived the trip (all ½ mile of it). I feel so accomplished! One of my errands was to buy rain gear, so if I’m not brave enough to drive the next time, I can walk – no matter what the weather looks like.

Tonight we were invited to some friend’s house for dinner on one of the outer islands. The storm was really raging out there but we were warm and toasty in their house. It was fun to watch the waves breaking over the jetty in front of their house and see the spray flying up as high as the street lights. Woo hoo. The guy is actually Kory’s third cousin but we only met him in the last few years so he really is first and foremost a friend. He and his wife are both extremely wonderful people. We had a fantastic evening at their house talking about everything from Norwegian Christmas traditions to the condition of the Norwegian and American stock markets. I love all the formalities Norwegians have … candles throughout the house, fine linens and china, everything so fancy. There’s nothing like it. But when we go to someone’s house we always run the risk of being served some strange food I’ve never eaten and I’m not much of an adventure-in-eating kind of gal. Tonight we were served deer meat for dinner, and so far in my 51 years on this planet, I’ve managed to avoid eating such a thing… but I felt so proud of myself for driving the van today that I thought I’d stretch myself just one more time and take a bite. I took two to be polite, and then when they weren’t looking I put the rest on Kaleb’s plate. That kid will eat anything. Kory said it was super good and he had seconds, but I don't eat much meat … especially from cute animals. I’m glad they didn’t serve the moose they just bought today because that’s one ugly looking critter, but I think I still would have had a hard time taking a bite out of that one.

A Blustery Day

We’ve had a few days of huge wind gusts and off and on downpours, black skies and unfriendly weather. It makes me so glad we have a fireplace and a small house so it doesn’t take much to keep it warm. I’m also thankful I don’t have to be outside! Welcome to the beginning of the winter, as the days get increasingly shorter and the darkness sets in. (The photo today was taken Saturday. I’m sure those peaks have several inches of snow on them by now.)

Kory was inside all day, and not having any other projects to keep him busy, he did housework. What a concept! I came home to floors vacuumed and washed and a clean kitchen. I like it. I love it. I want some more of it! I made him a yummy dinner as reward (and then he cleaned up!) Kaleb had another rough day with Morton and his gang going after him at recess, but he’s making as much sport out of it as he can and at least he’s not crying about the encounters anymore. Sabina was here tonight and we played cards until the two of them got in a squabble. They are starting to act like siblings. Sabina kicked Kaleb under the table then she started messing with the cards and “not following the rules.” Kaleb grabbed her arm to get the cards back and squeezed it more than he should have. She didn’t complain but we called it quits and sent Kaleb to bed. Uff da. So much for my "nice" boy.

I’ve been watching with great interest the last few days the exchange rate between the kroner and the dollar. The dollar was over seven today – meaning we can buy seven kroner with one dollar. Just a month ago we could only buy five kroner with a dollar so this whole financial crisis is still working well for us. This afternoon we went to the bank and converted all the dollars we had left as we feel things might reverse and then we’ll be kicking ourselves. Of course there is no telling what the future holds, but thankfully we know “who holds the future”! It’s so nice to ride out these storms, whether they are financial ones or weather ones, knowing we have nothing to fear.

In my Norwegian class today we learned weird things – common expressions and sayings. After all the work they make us go through to learn the different tenses of verbs, today we find out that if the verb is obvious, you can just skip it altogether. Why in the world you need to leave out a key element in a sentence is beyond me, but maybe the Norwegians think like Kory did as a child. He was required at the dinner table to be quiet so his parents could talk. He thought he wasn’t allowed to speak because there were only so many words that would come out of his mouth in a lifetime, and that he wasn’t supposed to use them all up as a child…. Such is the logic of a young mind, but I have no idea behind the logic in this new rule we have learned. It’s very weird to hear someone say “Jeg kan norske” which means “I can Norwegian.” It’s allowed to leave out the verb “speak” because it’s obvious what goes there (more obvious to some than others, I suppose). So it’s possible to hear people say things like “I will the store” or “I must to class.” Makes no sense. Why not just say “GO” right in there with the sentence, as it’s not a very big word, even in Norwegian. But then, Norwegians are known to be quite the conservers. They don’t even waste a breath, as they often talk while sucking in air. I’ll be talking to someone and it sounds like they just choked on something as they suck in a breath and say “Ja” at the same time. It’s as if what they were agreeing to couldn’t even wait until the next breath was taken and the comment has to come out immediately, even if they are in the middle of breathing in. I don’t get it, but then I don’t get a lot of things Norwegian. Like the expression we learned today, (Kan du slå på tråden?) which word-for-word is translated as: “Can you hit me with a thread?” or “Can you punch me with a string?” – it could go either way as the words used mean both things. That’s the literal translation, but the meaning is something that could never be guessed: “Can you give me a call?” (I’m sure there are weird English expressions as well, but since I’m so used to them they don’t exactly come to mind and it’s not nearly as much fun to point them out.) Can you hit me with a thread? Where do they come up with this stuff?

A Nice Boy

Kaleb is such an inspiration to me. He had another run-in with Morton today and I asked him if he’s getting tired of all this and does he still like school. He shouted his answer to me: “There’s only three people that are a problem – out of a school with more than 100 kids– do you think I’d let those three kids keep me from liking school? HA HA HA HA HA!” So that settles it. He really loves school, and I’m so thankful he doesn’t focus on the negative. Sometimes I think it’s typical for Americans to have 99 things going right and then complain about the one thing that isn’t so well. But that’s not Kaleb at all. Hallelujah!

When Kory picked Kaleb up at school yesterday he ran into one of his teachers and he asked how it was going with him. Her comment was “He’s such a NICE boy!” And then last night I went to a meeting at church and I met a woman that knew Sabina and her mom. She said Sabina’s mom had told her that, “Kaleb is SUCH a NICE boy!” So when we find out he’s being talked about in such a positive way, we have cause to celebrate and we want to reward that kind of behavior. Woo hoo. He gets enough negative consequences with the choices he sometimes makes, so we want to be sure to emphasize the positive as well, and have positive consequences follow good things. Saturday we’ll be taking him and a friend to a local play land here as a special treat (it’s kind of like a huge indoors McDonald’s play area.) He’s excited about that. And we’ll find out more details about how he’s doing in school next week when we have our first parent/teacher conference. (I’m sure glad we don’t have those for my school or Kory would get an earful.)

Today we continued the painful study of past tense verbs, but we also learned all the measurement words, weight, height, width, length, kilometers, etc. We learned that there is such a thing as “a Norwegian mile” – which is quite different from an American mile. A Norwegian mile is 10 kilometers (6.1 miles), so when in Aalesund and someone says it’s 56 miles to Oslo, a little math calculation is in order because it’s really 341 miles. Good to know.

For the past few nights we’ve used the dinner hour as a time to just “snakke norsk.” I thought Kory and I would just speak it, but Kaleb joined right in and then started correcting my sentence structure. So we haven’t even been here three months and already we’re speaking Norwegian at home – which is very exciting for me to see we’re making that kind of progress.

The big news of the day is that we finally got some mail from home! Our house sitters sent us a package over a month ago that has yet to arrive, but the one they sent last week made it. It had all the latest newspapers from LaConner so we can catch up on things over the next few days… but last week’s paper particularly caught my eye because there was mention of Kaleb on the front page! Channel Town Press (now called The LaConner Weekly News) did a front page story on Kaleb in January telling about his weekly dog publication and how he sells subscriptions and all the money he raises goes to dog charities. He’s raised nearly two thousand dollars since he started a year and a half ago (but he now just publishes it monthly since we are in Norway.) Anyhoo… the newspaper submitted their story about Kaleb and “The Weekly Puppy” to some big competition that newspapers across the state enter – and that story won second place in the whole state! So we were all whooping it up here over that bit of news and the local paper was proud to toot their horn as well. Go figure – Kaleb isn’t even in the country and he’s still making the front page. I’ve never seen anyone that’s more of a media magnet than him. I’ve Googled his name before and he has an entire page of “hits.” He’s destined for something beyond comprehension, I’m sure. But I'm just thankful that some days, he really IS a nice boy.

Taxes

Kory was so thankful he didn’t have to work today as the weather took a big turn toward COLD and the wind was blowing so hard it unsnapped the snaps on my coat as I was walking toward the bus. Snow has completely covered all the mountain tops around here, almost down to sea level. (The photo today was taken last Saturday, however.) We had a mix of snow/rain and lots of sleet and hail today, but just as much blinding sunshine. I guess this is why Aalesund has the reputation of “shifting weather.” Honestly, every five minutes the weather changes. I’ve never seen anything like it. Umbrellas are useless as the wind is so strong it flattens them in a second. It’s time I invest in raingear and a “rain jacket” for my backpack. When in Aalesund, do as the Aalesunders do. Kory spent the day inside running coaxial cable to hook the TV up to an outdoor antenna, as he’s determined to get some kind of TV reception. The nights are getting just a little too long for him, and he swears we’ll all learn the language quicker if we have TV. Uff da. (At last report, all his efforts were in vain as he couldn’t get any channels – ya hoo.)

Kaleb had a fine day at school and I wish I could say the same. We tried to climb up to the next step in grammatical rules today, but I’m afraid most of us fell off half way there. We were introduced to past tense verbs. It was my understanding that you just add a “t” to the end of verbs and there you have it, but it ain’t that easy! You see, most Norwegian verbs end with the letter “e,” so if the verb has two consonants right before that ending “e,” then you put a “t” onto the end to make it past tense (so it’s “et” like our “ed”). I was almost right with my VERY simplistic idea of how to make a word past tense. But what I learned today is: if the verb only has one consonant before that final “e”, then you take away the “e” and put “te” at the end instead of “et,” except of course, unless that solo consonant is a “d” or a “t,” then you must remember to use “et.” Got it? And that’s only the first two rules for past tense verbs. Another possible ending is “de” which is used if the verb doesn’t end with an “e” but ends with a “v,” “g,” or “ei” instead (which doesn’t happen all that often, I guess). But then there is the “dde” ending you must use if the last letter of the verb is anything BUT “v,” “g,” “e,” or “ei.” And then we were told about all the “irregular” verbs that don’t follow any of the above rules. And from my experience, there are as many irregular verbs as there are the ones that end with “e.” Let’s just say it was a bit much. We were told we must memorize all the irregular verbs as they have no lovely rules in which to memorize. I’m sure someday it will all gel, but for now, I’m trying hard not to think about it and it was all I could do to write it down just now.

During lunch break today I was sitting in the back of the room checking my e-mail and one of my classmates asked me what the word “formue” means. She was looking at a website that used that word. The website is the latest hit in Norway – one the government set up just last week – which shows everyone’s tax return; how much they made, how much they paid in taxes, and how much “formue” they have (the total value of their personal property, including money in the bank – which gets taxed separately.) There are only 4.5 million people in this country and in the first week alone, that website got 1.2 million hits. Lots of people are apparently wondering how much their friends, family, neighbors, and ex’s make… and now it’s all right there for the world to see. I guess the info has always been a matter of public record, but one had to go into an office and ask for it. Now they can just find it out themselves in the comfort of their living room. The local newspapers even have a direct link on their homepage websites so you just type in the name of a person, which “state” they live in, and up pops the info, complete with the year they are born so you know you have the right “Ole Olson.” Incredible.

One local I talked to thought the reason the government might be doing this is so they can find out who is NOT paying enough taxes. It’s more likely now that someone would turn in their neighbor if they see something suspicious. If their income doesn’t support their lifestyle, then there is a chance they are getting “black money” somewhere (money received “under the table”), which is obviously illegal. I guess the jails are full of people who have little “businesses” on the side and don’t pay taxes for it. Taxes are a big thing here and we have paid them for years in Norway –even though we have never made a cent. Because we own a condo, we pay income tax on the money we receive in rent from Aunt Ruth, even though the amount we paid out for the loan is much greater than the income we receive. They have different tax rules here and we can only deduct 30% of the interest we paid to the bank… so even though we lost money every month, they calculate it as a gain and we have to pay taxes. Strange system. So I’m not sure the money reported on their tax lists is such an accurate picture of what people really have, but it’s something to look at, for sure. For a country full of people known to be so “closed,” I think it’s hysterical that they have all this financial information so “open” and readily available. The website even makes little bar charts so you can compare the amount you make with others born in the same year, or in your area. But the funniest thing of all is the word “formue” -- it literally means “too much.” And while I believe the intent was to say “you have too much, therefore you will be taxed on it,” my take on it is, they have provided “too much” information.

Work

Kory had to work in the rain again today and then had to soak his bones in the tub when he got home just to thaw out. The temperatures are dropping around here and it’s downright nippy! (The photo today is of the house he’s building on the island of Giske.)

Kaleb came home with incredible news – Morton actually was nice to him today! During the afterschool program Morton asked Kaleb to sit by him, so Kaleb accepted the offer. Kaleb has surmised that he might like Morton after all if he just looks at him through different eyes. He’s decided that all the hitting Morton does could just be considered “playing rough” and he might just give him a second chance. So I say, HALLELUJAH! Things are looking up. We might even be brave enough to arrange a play date with him sometime soon. (Gotta get while the gettins’ good.) Kaleb spent his entire evening doing homework and doing it well (when the stakes are high enough, the results are there.)

I got a little Norsk test back today that I took before the fall break – and out of 109, I scored 109! It was a listening test where we hear two words that sound similar and then we circle the one we think it is. Well, I have a terrible time distinguishing between the sound an “e” makes and the sound the letter “æ” makes. On previous tests I always get them mixed up, so this time when I took the test, I picked the opposite word from the one I thought it was, resulting in a score of 100%. Whatever works.

We have had a real change lately in the student body of my class. I guess there were some people who paid for just six weeks of the course so their time came to an end at the fall break. But most of the students are new immigrants and they all need to work, so one by one they have been getting jobs and either coming sporadically or not at all because they are working days and had to switch to a night class. It’s sad for me because I liked so many of the students and now I may never see them again. We had a good “feel” to the class, but now there are new students coming in that were not doing well in the next level up so they had to go back to start. Uff da. I don’t think I do well with change. Oh wait, that can’t be true, or I wouldn’t be living here!

I was talking with some fellow classmates today at break and I found out almost all of them work - and they all have the exact same job: cleaning. I was so surprised by that. One cleans offices, one cleans hotel rooms, one cleans houses, one cleans up at a slaughterhouse, one cleans a ferry, one cleans fish, and one cleans at the hospital. I so enjoy how clean Norway is, and I guess if it weren’t for the immigrants, it wouldn’t be so clean! And the fact that the ONLY job someone can get in Norway if they don’t know the language is cleaning – well, that becomes the great motivator for them, and WHY they are in the class – because they don’t want to keep doing what they are doing forever so they need to learn the language. Getting a job in retail would be like a dream come true for most of them but they have to pass a Level 2 Norsk exam and get a certificate before they can get that kind of job. Every job pays a livable wage however, even cleaning jobs, so it’s not the money that makes the big difference here, it’s the job itself. I guess that’s one of the good things about socialism –everyone gets paid about the same (or taxed in such a way that their take home pay is about the same), so they end up doing what they really want to do for a living – not doing something just for the money. (That concept is SO NOT American.) Most people working full time make around fifty grand a year here and about a third of that goes to taxes. And they all live upper-middle class lives compared to Americans (many have cabins, all go on extended vacations every year, most drive new cars, everyone has a nice house). Go figure. But they actually get something for the taxes they pay – they have no medical insurance premiums or expenses (just a $20 co-pay but everything else is covered), they have no property taxes, they don’t have to save for retirement as that is guaranteed by the government, they don’t have to pay for their kid’s education and they don’t have to worry about becoming disabled because everyone is “insured”. When I think about where the bulk of our money goes, and all the uncertainties in rising costs, they are all around medical expenses, Kaleb’s college fund, and property taxes -- so if we removed those things from the monthly budget, we, and most Americans, would have a significantly higher standard of living. But one thing I read today that nearly leveled the playing field with America is the leading cause of deaths in Norway. A whopping 39% of deaths here are cardiovascular related and another 25% are from cancer. That’s 64% of people in Norway dying from either heart attacks or cancer and while that seems incredibly high – the average age of death in Norway is 80.5…. so when you factor in that the bulk of those deaths are from old people, then it’s not such a shocker. And if the only sure things in life are death and taxes, it’s a sure bet that if the taxes in Norway kill you, they will also pay for your funeral.

The Passing of Time

We woke up at six this morning to sixty degrees outside! There was some tropical storm in the Caribbean that blew this way and brought with it incredibly warm air, and a bit of rain as well, but apparently tonight we’re in for the worst of the wind. Both Kaleb and I left the house in total darkness this morning at 7:30am and I realized he doesn’t have nearly the amount of reflective gear that he needs. All the kids here wear “dingal-dangels” hanging from their coats, backpacks and bikes (they are reflectors on a string that move around so oncoming cars can see them.) I went to the store after school and bought reflective arm bands and vests. I guess the reflectors come free from any bank if you ask for them, so that’s tomorrow’s task.

Today my pal, Vestina, had her turn at poking fun of English. She asked me what I did over the weekend and I told her “We had company.” “Company? Why use that word, ‘company’?” she asked. “Before you use ‘company’ for two people coming… now you use it for just one person?” And I realized it is kind of a funny word to use – since the other use for it has to do with a business. She was quite confused by it and when I started thinking about it, I was too. Maybe because I was up past midnight doing my homework and then couldn’t sleep because of the coffee I drank too late in the day. Everything seemed to confuse me today.

Our good teacher Inga tried to explain the use of sub junctions today and how they don’t follow normal grammatical rules in Norwegian. (I’m still not even sure I know what a sub junction is.) Before she finished the entire explanation she turned and looked at me and said, “And I don’t know WHY that is Mickey!” I guess I ask “why” too much. But I did ask her “how” we would ever know when a quote was over in written text if we use a colon at the start of the quote when there is nothing at the end (Friday’s lesson). She stood like a deer in headlights, scratched her head and said she didn’t know, but it would be best if we used quotation marks, or the double karat like the newspapers use to show a <>. And then she also said it is customary for authors to show dialog in a book with a dash before each direct quote without any other marks so that it looks like this:
– So when are you going to ask me? inquired Kaleb.
– Ask you what? said Mickey.
– How it went with Morton today?
– How did it go with Morton today?
– Well, he starting hitting a friend of mine and she started crying so I went over to help her and then Morton and two of his friends turned on me and started hitting me instead!

And that’s how Kaleb’s day went. I was pretty proud of him for helping out his friend at school, and he claims that even though he received several blows by Morton and his cronies- he is developing “thick skin” and it didn’t hurt too much. (I think he was a little pumped up about coming to someone’s rescue, too.) At least he is finally at peace with Morton and understands it’s nothing personal. We prayed again for Morton today as that may be his only hope in changing the situation.

Kaleb’s foot is getting better but he decided to just drop out of soccer all together. (I had him soak his foot in vinegar a few times a day and I bought some tea tree oil to put on it – as suggested by a friend – and all the swelling and blisters have disappeared!) Kaleb decided he doesn’t like being gone from home so much and with the after school program lasting 2-3 hours, then rushing home twice a week for a 90 minute soccer practice, it was just too much. I totally agree, as the weeks are just flying by and it seems like we hardly see him. I’m so thankful as I couldn’t bear the thought of him out in this horrible weather all winter playing soccer! (We’re lightweights, I know.) He also needs additional time to do his homework as they are beefing things up a bit and he was up until 9:30 tonight and still didn’t get it all done. Uff da. Most of the hours were just bad time management on his part (daydreaming) so I’m threatening him with no trick-or-treating this year if that happens again. (I’m no lightweight when it comes to school work, however.)

Kory had a wet day at work and came home just a tad bit crabby. As winter sets in I’m sure he’ll be dreaming of “retirement” again real soon. But the dollar is getting stronger every day so maybe in the dead of winter he won’t have to work at all… poor thing. His bones are old and tired and his joints are very painful, and even though he likes to see how Norwegians build houses and he enjoys the mental process of carpentry, I’m sure he’d just as soon stay at home as well.

As difficult as the Norwegian language is for me to learn, I really LIKE going to school and NOT being home all day. Not only am I learning the language, but it gives me something to write about. I heard a quote in college once that went something like this: “Those who can do, do. Those who can’t do, teach. Those who can’t teach, teach teachers.” So I guess I’ll add one more little snippet to that soliloquy and say, “Those who can’t do any of that, write.”

Good-bye to Bent-Jarle

Today we had to say goodbye to Bent-Jarle as he flew back to Oslo after attending Agape Kirke with us this morning (Sabina and her mom came also). The sun finally came out so he could see the majestic mountains surrounding our town and he was mightily impressed, as well he should be (the photo today though was taken yesterday in Aandalsnes). It was so nice to have him here and spend more time with him. (He was surprised to see someone he knew at church today - Norway is such a small country.) After we dropped him off at the airport we drove around the outer islands a little since we’d already paid the $40 tunnel toll to get out there - and there was no rush in returning to the city. Aalesund’s airport is located on a fairly flat island just northwest of the city center and you have to take two under-the-sea tunnels to get out there. One of them didn’t have enough space in which to engineer a dip down under the bottom of the fjord and back up again in a safe enough incline, so they had to corkscrew the tunnel down one side and back up the other. It’s somewhat like going into the parking garage at Sea-Tac so that you enter the tunnel and go around and around until you are at the level that is low enough to have a tunnel that cuts through the rock under the water overhead and then corkscrew back up the other side. It’s a bit disconcerting to go in that tunnel when there is so much water leaking down on the windshield we must use the wipers (maybe that’s why they are doing repairs to it now?) And when I start to think about what is over the top of us, and one little crack in the earth or one decent sized tsunami, and we’re done for… well, let’s just say going through tunnels isn’t as bad as going on Trollstigen, but it’s a close second for me. Normal tunnels through mountains are just fine, but the ones that go under the water freak me out a bit, and we were in plenty of them today as all the outer islands here now connect with undersea tunnels. (Uffa meg – “poor me”). But I got to go out to the island of Giske and see Kory’s job site so it was nice to be able to visualize where he’s working. And the fall colors just don’t stop! My teacher told me that this year the colors are more spectacular than usual because there was such good weather all summer and the storms didn’t come and blow the leaves off the trees while they were still green, so between the good weather and the crisp fall we are having, it truly rivals the northeast coast in terms of fall foliage and fantastic colors everywhere we look.

We stopped by a flea market today in downtown Aalesund and got several more treasures. I love what people think is junk – old wooden carved spoons and bowls, little candy baskets, trays and vases all hand made from pewter, crystal candle holders and very Norsk Christmas linens. We bought an entire apple box full of little trinkets and it only set us back fifty bucks, and that included some ice skates for Kory and a Christmas tree stand that wouldn’t fit in the box. Woo hoo. I also got a white table cloth we’ll cut up for Kaleb for a Halloween costume so he can go as a “holy ghost.” I got caught off guard there as I didn’t realize they have Halloween here or I most certainly would have packed him a costume. Halloween is fairly new to Norway and it’s a total rip-off from America, but the kids love it and they go trick-or-treating just the same and dress up in costumes. Older Norwegians hate it as they feel it’s just the stores trying to copy America so they can sell things no one needs, and anything that comes from America is not looked upon too kindly here anyway, so it’s a bit touchy of a subject. I’m not even sure which day it is, but it’s coming soon. Sabina keeps saying it’s next Saturday, but I need to investigate this week so I’m sure to have some candy on hand. They don’t have much for decorations in the stores but I did see one real pumpkin in Trondheim for $30 and decided I didn’t need a Jack-o-Lantern that badly. I haven’t seen any pumpkins here in Aalesund, but I was able to buy a few gourds so that’s the extent of my fall decorations this year.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner tonight and just as I came in and sat down to do my massive amount of homework, Kaleb came running in and told us Sabina’s mom had coffee made and she was expecting us for dessert. First I heard of it, and not wanting to be un-neighborly, we went over for a few hours to visit. I guess it was as good as doing homework as she only spoke in Norwegian and I had to work hard to understand her as she spoke so fast. She talked a lot about her frustration with the school system not doing anything about bullying. She finally decided to put Sabina in another school after several girls repeatedly beat her up. Sabina had a friend over tonight playing with her who spoke incredibly good English and was quite talkative. All the adults are constantly telling me how well I’m doing in speaking Norwegian but the little friend told me the letter sounds I was making that “need a little work.” As they say here in Norway – “You only get the truth out of drunks and little children.”

Trollstigen

We had another wonderful day here in Norway - driving Bent-Jarle around to see the mountains and fjords and all the color this time of year brings. We took the scenic route out to Åndalsnes (oh, wait, all the roads around here are the scenic route….) and we stopped for coffee (imagine that) before heading back via Trollstigen (the crazy zig-zag road up the side of a cliff face). I have to say I have jelly legs the entire time we are on that road as it just goes against everything that nature is about. I tend to worry a bit too much about my painful demise should anything go wrong. Fortunately today there weren’t many other cars on the road as it’s usually closed because of snow by this time of year. Wouldn’t you know we had another beautiful day and not even a drop of rain hit our windshield until we were just minutes from home. God is so good. The photo today was taken by Bent-Jarle because it required getting just a snitch closer to the edge of a cliff than I was capable of getting due to my jelly legs and queezy stomach. The glacial cut valley is visible in the distance – the road from whence we came. On the way up, we passed two guys on roller-skis and darned if they didn’t make it to the top. Those are some buff guys.

We had just gorgeous fall colors all the way home and it was at least a one hundred “click” day. I have no idea what to do with all the photos I’m taking, but somehow it helps my soul to feel OK about leaving these places behind if I can take a picture of them with me. Otherwise, I would just stand in awe in one spot and want to keep absorbing in all the beauty until I either got hungry or had to go pee (I’m not sure which would be the strongest motivator for me to move.) But the camera provides an easy out as I can always look at the photos again and again and even bore my friends and family with something that loses a lot when seen in two dimensions (but it’s the best I can do.)

We had a cozy evening at home tonight. Kory built a fire and I made a yummy dinner. Turid and Hege came over to eat with us (Odd was in Oslo). After they left, we played cards again with Bent-Jarle and talked about the pros and cons of having a TV. Kory wants to hook up an outdoor antenna so he can watch the news, but I think ignorance is bliss and why ruin this happy little oblivious world we have created for ourselves here? He gets bits of news on the Norwegian radio and I get the headlines via the internet. It’s enough. I know the winter will be long and dark (we only have light now from 7:30am-6:30pm) but life without TV is a fine life for me. Besides, I have a few thousand photos that need revisiting.

A Visit

We have a visitor for the weekend! Kory’s cousin’s grandson, Bent-Jarle Brenne, flew up from Oslo to spend the weekend with us. He has been to our house in America a few times and we stayed with him in Oslo two years ago so we are thrilled he is here with us now. We love that guy. He just turned 30 and is engaged to be married next summer and he loves to travel. He showed us pictures from his recent month-long trip to Thailand and surrounding countries and has many stories to tell of his adventures there. He also loves kids and is a good climbing wall for Kaleb, as he’s nearly a head taller than Kory and quite burly. Kaleb so needs someone to wrestle with. Bent-Jarle flew in this morning so Kory showed him around town while I was in school then we all picked Kaleb up from school and headed down to the beach – Norwegian style- in the pouring rain. (Bent-Jarle was prepared and brought along his rain pants and coat.) The beach is surprisingly wonderful in a downpour. I guess I need to get out more.

Sabina was here within minutes of our return so she and Kaleb used Bent-Jarle as an entertainment center. She stayed for dinner (no surprise there - see photo) and then we all had a rousing game of cards (we played “Golf” - our favorite.) It’s nearly midnight and all is finally quite in the house now but earlier I was sure we might lose the roof or a few windows for all the whooping and hollering that was going on. Uff da. Maybe I AM getting old…

Today in my Norsk class we had a different teacher. I so miss Inga when she’s not there. We continued yet one more day on words for weather. They are really putting an emphasis on this because it’s such a huge topic of conversation around here. They want to be sure we know all the possible ways to say just how horrible of a day we are having. Today we learned the expression to use when it’s raining about as bad as it can rain. In America we might say “It’s raining cats and dogs,” but here they say it’s raining “Trollkjerring” – which literally translated means it’s raining “female trolls.” Ok, then. And then we had to learn all the names for all the possible pieces of clothing you could use in all the different seasons. They even have “fall jackets” – which of course are much different than winter jackets or summer jackets, but I’m not yet convinced there is a huge difference between a fall jacket and a spring jacket – as they both seem to be rain jackets but they do have rain jackets identified as a separate piece of clothing so, I’m not sure. And I learned a new word for that piece of baby clothing that is all one outfit and snaps inside the legs for easy access… they call that a “sparkbukse” – meaning, “kicking pants.” I guess the babies at that age just lay there and kick all day and they had to call that thing something. I’m not sure we even have a name for it, so as silly as it sounds – at least they named it.

The worst part of class today was when the teacher took thirty minutes to teach us that in the written word, to show a direction quotation, you don’t HAVE to use the quote marks, you just put a colon after Mary said: and then we know it’s a quote. But how you know when the quote is over, I have no idea. I guess that concept would have taken too long to explain.

Secrets

The party continued today for Tante Ruth as she felt so well, she invited her sisters over for coffee and leftover prune cake (she hasn’t done that in over five years). She was still feeling overwhelmed even today with all the good wishes and nice memories people wrote down for her on the pink hearts I cut out and she spent the day going over and over what people had written. The other two aunts thought my “heart” idea was “laughable” and they really didn’t do as I asked because they said, “we don’t do those kinds of things in Norway” – meaning “share feelings” – but when they saw how effective it was at getting Tante Ruth out of the dumps, they had second thoughts and now think I’m a genius. When I heard that Tante Ruth even went out and bought a scrapbook album in which to set the messages in, I got to work on my laptop and fired up Microsoft Publisher. I made five sheets of photos from her party in a sort of scapbooky style and printed them out on photo paper for her to put in the book. I took them over to her this afternoon and she was just downright giddy. Tante Kari thinks I should run for President as she is sure I am capable of doing just about anything. (Those ladies like to gush.) It does my heart good though to hear Tante Ruth is feeling so chipper as she’s been in a dark hole for several years now and her future isn’t too bright.

Kory spent his day at home poking around The Sinking Houses. When I missed my bus late this afternoon by two minutes and the next wasn’t coming for an hour, I called him to come get me. But, he had just taken a few sips of beer and wouldn’t drive. Norway has incredibly strict drunk driving laws and NO ONE would ever get in a vehicle even after one sip or they could lose their license for life, go to jail for at least a year and get a huge fine (thousands of dollars). There is no getting out of drunk driving charges and there is zero tolerance with NO breath limit. In fact, someone can just see you take a sip of alcohol and turn you in and you’re done for. So no one here ever gets behind the wheel after sipping anything alcoholic. We’ve even offered wine at the beginning of a meal, knowing people will stay several hours and it would wear off by the time they have to drive home, and they still won’t risk it. Even our neighbor – half a block away, wouldn’t have any wine when he came for dinner and an evening of playing cards, because he drove here. The law is incredibly effective at keeping the roads safe, and folks get real cozy with their immediate neighbors as they are the only ones they can really sit around and have a drink with. I so wish there was a way to have that whole scenario be part of the American culture, but it would only work if the entire country is full of people with the kind of strong will that the Norwegian people possess.

I had a pretty fun day at school today. We were back on the subject of weather and the seasons. Our teacher, Inga (see photo – the one on the right) told us there are usually just two seasons here in Norway – the white winter and the green winter. I thought that was pretty funny. She also spent a good deal of time being a cheerleader to half the class who are getting homesick and tired of how hard it is to learn Norwegian. She told us it’s hard to move to another country even if you know the language because she lived six years in Ireland and was fluent in English but still had a horrible time adjusting. She’s so good for us. She keeps cheering us on and telling us all we are doing great – even the ones that can’t speak a word of Norwegian. And then she mixed things up a bit and had us change our usual partners (see photo of Vestina, the one on the left – my usual partner). She put me with the little old Russian lady that doesn’t speak much of anything - what a hoot that woman is. You’d swear by looking at her, she is old enough to be my mother, but she’s only five years older than me. (Life must have been hard in Russia.) She told me today (through using her Russian/Norwegian dictionary – and me translating what she said using my Norwegian/English dictionary), that she used to live way up north on the Norwegian/Russian border. We were supposed to talk about the weather in our home countries so she said (also using a lot of hand motions and drawing pictures on paper for clarification) that in the winter, that far north, they would get up and turn on the radio and hear, “Today will be five minutes long,” and the next day, “Today will be ten minutes long,” for that’s how long the sun would barely rise above the horizon around noon. And for those two winter months the whole town would go outside and wait to see that little crack of light and they’d whoop and holler and have a great old time because the sun is still around. I asked what she did up there and she also told me that for seven years she was a General in the Russian army (I didn’t see that one coming). Then she made hand motions like little boys do when they shoot guns and she made all the sound effects that go with it. I got the sense she’s actually shot people. She then looked up the word that meant “secret” and I’m not sure if she meant I was supposed to keep that bit of news a secret, or if she worked for the secret service agency within the army. I guess her secret is out now. (So much for me being President.)

Happy Birthday Tante Ruth!

She’s 85 and she’s alive! The party we had for Tante Ruth was a HUGE success – and she was the last to leave after three hours of non-stop laughing. (We thought she would just stay ten minutes but she was having so much fun she just kept going and going.) Her sisters were in absolute shock over her behavior and how alive and happy she seemed. We had many bright pink paper hearts full of greetings, memories, and love and she was deeply touched by that gesture (Thank you Jesus!). She sat and told story after story about the pranks that Kory and his brothers pulled on her in the years she lived with them in America. She was quite comical in acting out the story of the time Kory hid in her closet until late in the evening when she came in from some meeting. When she opened the closet doors, Kory was standing there with a flashlight on his chin shining up in his face. He nearly scared her to death (and apparently he got in big trouble over that one.) It almost rivaled the time Kory’s brother Henry set a realistic looking toy rat on the top step, tied a string on its tail, hid the string under the carpet and waited for her to walk by, then pulled the string. She has a strong heart or surely she wouldn’t have survived living all those years with those boys. She’s hard of hearing now so towards the end of the evening I yelled across the table and asked her (in Norwegian) if she thought it was a good day today (“fin dag i dag?”). She said “No.” Her sister yelled in her ear and repeated what I asked and then she corrected herself and said “Yes,” but she thought I had asked if she had a headache (which when spoken in Norwegian it does sound similar). We all had a good laugh over that one.

I feel quite satisfied that we had this party for her. And it wasn’t just good for her -- it was good for her sisters too – they got to see her having a good time and now they have this memory of her after she’s gone. I took a little video clip while she was telling some of the stories -- so that’s the Tante Ruth that will live on – not the one that sits alone in her apartment all day, curtains drawn, not answering her door bell or phone, wearing a frightful scowl on her face, and complaining constantly about every little thing wrong with herself and the world at large. We’ll just remember the good times and be thankful even the crabbiest of people can have a happy birthday every now and then – especially if it turns out to be her last one.

I’ve been off school nearly two weeks now so my head was a little fuzzy in deciphering Norwegian today, but I made it through class nonetheless. I had to read aloud the report I wrote about what we did on our vacation. I cheated and had Kory help translate, as I couldn’t say all the important things about the trip with my limited vocabulary. I wanted to be understood, without too much embarrassment. It worked. It was good to be back in class with my pal Vestina and the good teacher Inga. Today’s lesson was a lot about weather again – it’s such a huge part of life here in Norway that they want to be sure we are fluent in all the words to use when complaining about it. (We even learned the word for “complain.”) Today was an “oppholdsvær” day. They use that word to describe a day where nothing is falling from the sky – no rain or snow, but it looks like it might. It literally means “holding up weather” – like the clouds are holding in their moisture. It’s a step in the wrong direction from “overskyet” – which is just overcast skies with no real threat of precipitation. I feel like I’ve stepped into that zone where the Eskimos in Alaska have 26 words to describe snow. It’s something like that here – they are far more descriptive in their weather words than we are in America.

We started the day off singing a song about rain. We’ve already had to memorize a poem about playing in the rain, now we get to sing in the rain, too. They do everything in the rain here and even though they get a lot of rain, they take great consolation in the fact that Bergen always gets more. I was thinking the massive amount of foot and bike traffic going in front of our house was because it was so nice outside all summer, but when it was raining the last few days, there’s wasn’t much of a decrease – people were still out for family bike rides, just all dressed in their raingear and it was POURING down rain (“pøsender regn” in Norwegian). And women were still out doing their power walks – with rain pants and coats on. It’s amazing to me, as I use the rain as an excuse to get inside things done, but some years here I guess no one would ever go outside if they were sitting around waiting for a sunny day. In the Northwest we were raised that if the sun it out, we should be out in it. So when I moved to California to go to college, I didn’t clean my house for a whole year as I kept waiting for a rainy day so I could stay indoors and clean. And then it dawned on me that it wasn’t ever going to rain so I should probably get busy. It will be the opposite here - I may need to go buy some rain pants. But it didn’t rain today and by all accounts – it was a “fin dag i dag”.

No Complaints

I had another day off school today and I had a much better day than Kory or Kaleb, even though I had a lot of homework to do. We are now memorizing the names of items of clothing. Learning this language never ceases to tickle my funny bone. In Norway, a man wears a “dress” and “slips” (otherwise known as a “suit” and “tie”), and the word they use for a briefcase is a “stresskoffert” – literally translated means, “stress luggage” – how funny is that? I’d like to know who comes up with this stuff (probably someone who works in an office and carries a briefcase with his dress and slips).

Kaleb didn’t complain about riding his bike to school in the pouring rain, but he does complain about a lot of other things. He’s got some little blisters under his big toe that are making him miserable so he’s really complaining about that. Kory thinks it’s athlete’s foot but I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like it. I may have to take him to a doctor if it doesn’t get better. Socialized medicine may be free, but you have to wait at least four weeks before you get an appointment for anything so I’ll just start praying for God to heal him as I’m not sure I can tolerate four weeks of constant complaining (plus, I’m sure it really does irritate him and who needs that?). He stayed home from soccer practice today because it hurts so much. At least it gave him time to get his homework done. Sabina came over and helped him a little, which was nice.

Kory came home cold to the bone again. He had to work out in the pouring rain all day. He wasn’t complaining though. He said he’s trying to stop that habit. He also said the guy they are building a house for brought them all a hot lunch – steak and potatoes – the whole nine yards. Apparently every Tuesday that guy does that. I’m not sure if it’s in his contract, or if he’s just a nice, appreciative guy, but this was the first time Kory was on that jobsite on a Tuesday so he was bummed he got up so early this morning and made himself lunch. Oh well, at least he didn’t complain about it.

I did a little baking today for Aunt Ruth’s birthday party tomorrow. I made some killer lemon bars and I once again pondered a question that’s been going over and over in my head for years: since lemon is used as a cleaning agent, do I really need to wash the knife after I’ve cut through one? I also made a prune cake. I’ve never made one before but I figure if I can’t make it for someone who’s 85, who can I make it for? (Kory thinks anyone over 50 would appreciate one. Ha ha.) I also baked two loaves of bread. This is what happens when it rains all day, I don’t have a car or TV and no one is home. I guess I could have read a good book, but baking was much more fun. I also did a little writing today that got published on a few websites, so that was a thrill. One was a letter to the editor of a newspaper, and another was a comment on Rosie O’Donnell’s blog. She posed the question, “What is God?” and I wrote, “Creator of all things. Lover of my soul.” And she posted it - with my name even. I thought it was a better response than the person who wrote, “Dog spelled backwards,” but they got on there too, so I guess her standards aren’t all that high.

(Today’s photo was taken last week on Lofoten – standing under a fishing shack at low tide, looking out.)

A Break

I got a break today (and tomorrow) from school! The instructors are having a conference for two days so all the Norsk language students get two extra days added to their fall vacation – woo hoo. It was nice to have a day home alone, as Kory went to work today (in the pouring rain) and Kaleb was back to school. I used the time to clean and organize. It’s amazing how quickly a house can get out of whack. I also took the bus over to Moa to buy a few groceries and to visit the aunts. I needed to talk to Tante Kari about the plans for Tante Ruth’s birthday on Wednesday. I got the idea today to just give Tante Ruth “love” for her birthday. Yesterday when we stopped by for a visit, Kory told her how much she influenced him in the area of gift wrapping. Kory’s gifts always look like works of art, and he gives all the credit to Aunt Ruth (she used to live with his family when he was growing up). He said she taught him the finer points of how to make a package look pretty. When he told her that, she not only looked surprised, but I could see on her face how good she felt hearing something nice about herself. So I had the idea today that all the nieces and nephews (she has no children of her own) should write on a big heart what they love about Aunt Ruth. I cut out dozens of bright pink hearts today and delivered them over to the other two aunts to have them call their children and grandchildren that can’t come to the party, and say what they love about Aunt Ruth and then each heart can say what each person feels. All those who can come to the party can write on their own heart and hold it up when she walks in, then later I’ll go tape them all over her condo. That’s the plan anyway, and I do hope, even in my limited Norwegian, I was able to communicate to the other aunts just what this plan entails. It feels right. There’s a good chance this is her last birthday and everyone will be saying nice things about her at her funeral, so it would be nice if she could hear some of it before she dies.

Kaleb had a fine day at school – which I’m so thankful for. He came home laughing at the level of math they are doing now, and thinks they are way behind in teaching kids what they are capable of. Today they learned how to borrow from another column when subtracting. He said he was bored but I noticed he didn’t do any of the algebra I put in his backpack for just such occasions, and I also noticed there’s a lot of doodling art work in his book, so at least he found a way to entertain himself.

Kory came home and jumped in a warm tub to soak his tired and very cold bones. I made him a cup of tea and he was soon back to normal. He had to work outside all day in the pouring rain, poor thing. There were spurts of sunshine through the clouds today though which made for many rainbows. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Norway was the Promised Land, as I’ve seen more rainbows in this country than anywhere else. I heard once that rainbows are only visible in the morning or afternoon in America, but they show up here at all hours – even high noon. It must be because Norway is so far north it can get the right angle of light no matter what… and they are always spectacular. The rainbows continue to be a good reminder of God’s promises to us – which we so need to concentrate on when our finances or government may fail…. but God never will.

Tonight we finally got to SKYPE Janet – our beloved “Grammy J.” We bought her a web camera before we left as she said she couldn’t bear to go a year without seeing our smiling faces. To tell the truth, it’s the other way around, as we love her smile and her laugh and we’d suffer far more to not see her. It was good to be half way around the world and have her face pop up on my laptop screen. Modern technology is somethin’ else. And the best part it – it’s free! She asked us how the current financial crisis in America is affecting us, and as sad as the whole situation is for so many people we know, it’s actually been really good for us because the dollar is finally making a comeback and we can now buy 6.3 kroner with a dollar instead of the 4.6 kroner we bought it for when we first got here (a 37% increase). Strange economics if you ask me, but that’s one computation that has me laughing all the way to the bank.

(The photo today is one I took from the ferry last week – I love those little fishing boats.)

A Rainy Day

We’ve had heavy rains all day. It’s been so nice to have a fire in the fireplace and a comfy home in which to escape it all. It was the kind of day it would have been nice to just stay indoors, but we ventured out to go to church at Filadelfia – Kory’s choice. Kaleb was distraught over that decision as he much prefers Agape Church, but we all can’t have our own way all the time, now can we? Filadefia had the teenagers running the show today so there was a lot heavy metal sounds during the worship. I noted a lot of the old people chose to stay home today. (I’m sure the rain was a good excuse.) Actually, the service was quite inspiring. During this past week’s vacation from school, Filadelfia sponsored a youth convention and had in special speakers and musicians targeting the teenagers in the area. It was quite a success by all measures and several kids shared their testimony. There is a very young man from Oslo that lead the conference and he gave the sermon this morning. He’s the leader of the “New Generation” Christian movement in Norway and he was quite dynamic, even if I didn’t understand all that he said. And so young… for some reason I don’t feel like I’m the least bit old until I see someone so accomplished, that’s so much younger than I. Uff da. I kept having thoughts like, “he was Kaleb’s age just a few years ago… I sure hope Kaleb is this influential in a few years…” stuff like that. And when I didn’t understand what he was saying, I just tuned into the sing-songy nature of his speech, as I always find the way Norwegian is spoken almost as interesting as the words that are said.

We stopped by Tante Ruth’s after church (Kory’s aunt that lives in our condo) to see how she is doing. She felt some new lumps in her back so she had some tests done before we left on our trip and she got the results back while we were gone. She seemed rather chipper considering her prognosis. She said she is full of cancer – that it’s back with a vengeance and her lungs are completely consumed by it, plus it has spread to many other areas. She will be 85 on Wednesday and the doctors told her if they do anything, it will kill her, so she should just enjoy her life and it may yet be a long one. Apparently cancer grows slowly in old people, but she told us today she thinks she’ll be lucky to make it to Christmas. She is pretty much a loner, but she always seems glad to see us. We tried to talk her into having some kind of celebration for her birthday, but she doesn’t want to be around too many people. She has never liked parties, but it’s a strong possibility this will be her last chance for one. We finally got her to agree that we would all go to her sister’s condo next door and she could just come over for ten minutes to greet everyone. She agreed, but whether she shows up or not is yet to be seen. I hope she does.

Kaleb spent all afternoon playing with Sabina. The Pokemon cards he got from his cousin Tobias seemed to be a common love for the two of them and kept them entertained for hours. I was surprised, in listening to them talk about each card, just how much Norwegian Kaleb can speak. Kaleb was talking to her in Norwegian, and she was answering in English. They were both trying to expand their foreign language skills so it was very fun to listen to. Kory and I just spent the day cleaning up, doing laundry and putting things away. I helped Kaleb and Sabina make “High Five” soup for dinner (see photo) with all the organic vegetables we bought yesterday. That was some good soup. I so want to encourage Kaleb’s culinary skills so I get a big thrill out of him wanting to be in the kitchen (he is SO not like his father in that area.) I think part of his love for cooking is having me around to be his assistant. He takes great pleasure in running the show and telling me exactly what to do (he is SO like his mother in THAT area.) Uff da. (It's good to be home.)