Spring Snow Day

Most of our plans today got axed, for one reason or another. I was going to speak on the radio, but the translator had something come up. I guess that’s good motivation for me to be able to speak the language better, but I’m sure I’ll never be good enough to be on the radio. So my plan B was to go hiking up in the mountains with Kaleb and a couple friends, but that plan got changed when it started to snow, and didn’t stop all day. We now have a few inches and it’s still coming down. What a surprise that was. So in lieu of making any more plans, I spent a good ten hours in front of my computer, doing family research for my girlfriend, Paula, who is coming here for a visit in a few weeks. We want to take her to her family farm and I wanted to double and triple check this time that we got the right one before we head down there (it’s south of Oslo). But really, it was my ideal day because doing family research is such a luxury for me. I love it so much and don’t afford myself the time to do it because I let everything else go. It consumes me. I did have to stop a few hours to clean the house, go to the store and make dinner, which was a good thing. My body cried in pain when I stood up, as it had been sitting just a little too long.

Kory was going to do the car wash again today with the refugees, but the weather sort of prevented that, so he spent the day with his cousin Odd. Now that Kory’s put in a new kitchen floor and countertops for him, Odd wants to extend his bedroom a little, so they were building the new outside wall – in the snow even. He was over there all day and came home just in time for dinner. We invited one of Kory’s cousin’s daughters over tonight. She’s a single mom and coincidentally, lives in the basement of Kory’s boss’ house. I run into her on the bus all the time, but Kory hadn’t seen her much, so it was a good day to have her over. Tobias stayed for dinner too, which was nice for Kaleb.

Kaleb cried all day that his school chums were all on a scouting adventure so he had no one to play with. I tried to get him in to scouts when we first got here but there was a long waiting list, and we won’t be living here that long. He pestered me about one thing or another all day until I got downright impatient with him. Tobias came over and they tore apart a broken remote control airplane and tried to remake it into a remote control boat. They were excited about their plans until I told them that water would short out the battery so they needed to protect it. That took the wind out of their sails, literally.

When I left to go to the store I forgot to bring my canvas bags. They charge about twenty cents for each plastic bag here, so I kick myself every time I forget to reuse them or bring the canvas bags. I also keep forgetting about the money transaction. All the grocery stores here use machines to handle all the money. If I pay with cash, I hand the paper money to the teller, and drop coins into a slot on the counter that counts them out and spits out any change. The teller takes the paper money and feeds it into a machine, and the machine spits back out any paper money change. It’s all so antiseptic. There are no cash drawers and apparently, no room for error. It’s an interesting system, but I always forget to put the change into the little machine, and feel like an idiot when I hand it to the teller and they reach over the counter to put it in for me. By the time I start remembering these things, we’ll be gone. My brain used to be my most valuable asset. I just don’t know what’s happening.

Kaleb acted a little suspicious when I left for the store, and when I came back, he and Tobias had set the coffee table with dishes and candles, flowers, hot cups of tea, toast, crackers and chocolates (see photo). The best part was the “carbohydrate salad” as Kaleb called it – a bowl full of chunks of bread, broken pretzels and munched up tortilla chips. They were sure I’d like that the best. I even got a plate of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dunk it all in. I guess Kaleb got it in his head to do something nice for me since he’d been whining all morning. Smart boy. He got a lot of extra credit today for that one. And he even talked to me in a tone that must have been one octave higher than his normal pitch. He told me this is “almost” as nice as he is to his friend’s moms. I’m so glad I’m moving up in the world.