I couldn’t bear the toothless grin on Kory so I called a dental clinic in his old hometown this morning. There isn’t much going on in that place so I figured someone might be free to glue in his missing tooth. I was right, and for less than thirty dollars, he can smile again without making me turn my head and moan. The dentist said the glue will only hold for a few days, so he’s keeping his appointment with the other dentist for Tuesday, just to see what he says. I hope this isn’t an on-going problem.
The rest of the world was back to work today, but all schools were closed so Kaleb and I had a free day. I guess having a holiday on a Thursday is all the excuse they need to make it a long weekend. It was good for me as I enjoyed sleeping in until ten o’clock. I had a lazy morning then Kory and I went to the mall to get a few groceries. Actually, he went to visit Tante Ruth while I did the shopping, since the condo and the mall are attached to one another. Tante Ruth was pretty chipper today but her eyesight is going quickly. If her sisters weren’t living next door, I’m sure she’d need to be in an assisted living place by now, but Tante Aslaug is good to come over everyday and help out.
Kory spent the afternoon with Odd buying materials to finish up his remodel. I used the time home alone to clean house and start packing stuff up. I need to separate out things I need to get rid of, what I’m taking back home, and what I’m putting in storage at our condo until the day we can actually live there. And let me just say how much I love those vacuum storage bags! I put all our extra bedding in one bag and it shrank right down to a manageable size. Same thing for wool sweaters. I have to conserve all the space I can as our storage place isn’t too big. I’m only just beginning with winter clothes and things I know we won’t need for our road trip, but at least I got the ball rolling. I think I was doing this same thing a year ago back home… trying to figure out what to bring and what to leave behind.
Kaleb came home tired and crabby tonight. He was up until four this morning on his sleepover with his friend Toben. So much for sleep. He had a good time though, so that counts for something. It was such a beautiful day we decided to have a BBQ tonight and we invited Tobias and his family to join us. Kaleb fell asleep sitting on the couch after dinner, which sort of put an end to playing any games afterwards, but we had a nice visit with all of them anyway. We are trying to talk them into coming to see us next summer, and it sounds like they just might do it. We thought we’d take Tobias home with us when we leave Norway next year and they can come get him. He’s such an easy kid to have around and he has a tremendous fascination for all things American. He speaks English better than anyone I’ve met here so I think it will be a good experience for him. The evening was shorter than I would have liked, but Kaleb needed to get to bed and Tobias’ five year old twin brothers were getting a bit squirrely. Bjørn, Tobias’ step-dad, is heading to America again next week, so hopefully we can score on getting a little more coffee. We just ran out of American coffee last week and it’s just a horrible way to start my day when I have to drink Norwegian coffee. Bleeeck. Bjørn’s frequent trips to America have certainly made our stay here in Norway sweeter. My girlfriend, Barbara, sent us a care package at Christmas full of lots of American goodies, including several packs of Starbucks coffee. I tried to drink Norwegian coffee a few days ago but had to resort to the last pack of coffee Barbara sent, which was decaf. The flavor is good, but I’ve been groggy everyday since. I need my caffeine fix, but not so much that I’d drink Norwegian coffee to get it.
I was drinking my coffee this morning reading the local paper – something the locals can do for hours on end. Today’s paper had an article about the gigantic increase in the number of immigrants to Norway. Currently ten percent of Norway’s population is made up of immigrants. Last year 11% of all the babies born here had Polish parents. One side-bar article said that Ålesund Kommune had no immediate plans to build a cemetery just for the Muslims, unlike other Kommunes in Norway. Muslims are a despised group, right up there with the Asylum Seekers. Odd told us that for every Asylum Seeker they allow in Norway, an average of 22 “family” members come to Norway a few years later – all getting approval to live here because they now have family here. Norway is now like the family member that just won the lottery and everyone wants a piece of the pie. If they didn’t have all the money from the North Sea oil, they wouldn’t be having such a good life, but then they wouldn’t be having the world knocking on their door trying to get in either. As The Good Teacher Inga says, “Everyone is just trying to improve their lot in life.” I guess that’s why I need my American coffee in the morning.
The rest of the world was back to work today, but all schools were closed so Kaleb and I had a free day. I guess having a holiday on a Thursday is all the excuse they need to make it a long weekend. It was good for me as I enjoyed sleeping in until ten o’clock. I had a lazy morning then Kory and I went to the mall to get a few groceries. Actually, he went to visit Tante Ruth while I did the shopping, since the condo and the mall are attached to one another. Tante Ruth was pretty chipper today but her eyesight is going quickly. If her sisters weren’t living next door, I’m sure she’d need to be in an assisted living place by now, but Tante Aslaug is good to come over everyday and help out.
Kory spent the afternoon with Odd buying materials to finish up his remodel. I used the time home alone to clean house and start packing stuff up. I need to separate out things I need to get rid of, what I’m taking back home, and what I’m putting in storage at our condo until the day we can actually live there. And let me just say how much I love those vacuum storage bags! I put all our extra bedding in one bag and it shrank right down to a manageable size. Same thing for wool sweaters. I have to conserve all the space I can as our storage place isn’t too big. I’m only just beginning with winter clothes and things I know we won’t need for our road trip, but at least I got the ball rolling. I think I was doing this same thing a year ago back home… trying to figure out what to bring and what to leave behind.
Kaleb came home tired and crabby tonight. He was up until four this morning on his sleepover with his friend Toben. So much for sleep. He had a good time though, so that counts for something. It was such a beautiful day we decided to have a BBQ tonight and we invited Tobias and his family to join us. Kaleb fell asleep sitting on the couch after dinner, which sort of put an end to playing any games afterwards, but we had a nice visit with all of them anyway. We are trying to talk them into coming to see us next summer, and it sounds like they just might do it. We thought we’d take Tobias home with us when we leave Norway next year and they can come get him. He’s such an easy kid to have around and he has a tremendous fascination for all things American. He speaks English better than anyone I’ve met here so I think it will be a good experience for him. The evening was shorter than I would have liked, but Kaleb needed to get to bed and Tobias’ five year old twin brothers were getting a bit squirrely. Bjørn, Tobias’ step-dad, is heading to America again next week, so hopefully we can score on getting a little more coffee. We just ran out of American coffee last week and it’s just a horrible way to start my day when I have to drink Norwegian coffee. Bleeeck. Bjørn’s frequent trips to America have certainly made our stay here in Norway sweeter. My girlfriend, Barbara, sent us a care package at Christmas full of lots of American goodies, including several packs of Starbucks coffee. I tried to drink Norwegian coffee a few days ago but had to resort to the last pack of coffee Barbara sent, which was decaf. The flavor is good, but I’ve been groggy everyday since. I need my caffeine fix, but not so much that I’d drink Norwegian coffee to get it.
I was drinking my coffee this morning reading the local paper – something the locals can do for hours on end. Today’s paper had an article about the gigantic increase in the number of immigrants to Norway. Currently ten percent of Norway’s population is made up of immigrants. Last year 11% of all the babies born here had Polish parents. One side-bar article said that Ålesund Kommune had no immediate plans to build a cemetery just for the Muslims, unlike other Kommunes in Norway. Muslims are a despised group, right up there with the Asylum Seekers. Odd told us that for every Asylum Seeker they allow in Norway, an average of 22 “family” members come to Norway a few years later – all getting approval to live here because they now have family here. Norway is now like the family member that just won the lottery and everyone wants a piece of the pie. If they didn’t have all the money from the North Sea oil, they wouldn’t be having such a good life, but then they wouldn’t be having the world knocking on their door trying to get in either. As The Good Teacher Inga says, “Everyone is just trying to improve their lot in life.” I guess that’s why I need my American coffee in the morning.
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