Kory’s only task for the day was to meet with his two neighboring aunts and go through at least the furniture and kitchen things and divide up what has been left behind. That was not at all an easy thing for anyone but at least by the end of the day most of the big stuff was out of the condo so we had room to start settling in. There is still about thirty boxes of things yet to go through – mainly books, linens, photos and some decorative items, and that may well take the entire time we are here to complete.
The process they use to divide things up is very time consuming. Each item must be talked about and analyzed and written on a list. They had several methods for dividing up things, depending on whether someone else was interested in it or not. I finally couldn’t stand the painstakingly slow methods and left to go buy a bed, a desk, a few lamps and some decorative items at the local Salvation Army. That was way more fun. Nothing in our condo has any sentimental value to me (nor was it attractive enough to keep) so it was fine with me if they just tossed it all out, but others didn’t feel the same. At one point I just said that all I needed was for everything to be gone, one way or another. Later I was pulled aside by a cousin who told me that was a hurtful thing to say because the two sisters to Aunt Ruth were having a hard time cleaning out her place and it was as if I just wanted her gone. They weren’t in quite the hurry I was as it’s taken some getting used to, that she is no longer their neighbor. I had to apologize for my crassness, but the aunt’s said they took no offense, so that’s good. I think they were just being polite, but the good thing about being in Norway is, people are VERY tolerant and forgiving so it’s not like I have a strike against me for opening my big mouth and saying something about it. I blamed it all on lack of sleep and only thinking about my own needs.
I took Kaleb to buy a bus pass today so he has begun his life of freedom. He took the bus over to his old school and waited outside for all the kids to come out. He was loaded down with a backpack of American candy (at least 10 pounds of it, I’m sure), which I guess he literally tossed at them like a parade or something. The excitement over the candy was secondary to them seeing him again. He said they were all squealing and gushing over him being there and several of them skipped soccer practice so they could play with him. He couldn’t have been more pleased. I let him stay there until dinner time and told him to catch the five o’clock bus home. He missed that one, so he ended up walking, which took him nearly an hour. In America, I get nervous if he walks down our driveway to get mail by himself, but here, he can walk for miles from home with no worries. That’s gotta be one of the best things about living in Norway.
The cousins were all here tonight helping us move furniture in and out and to bring up some of the boxes of our things in the storage unit in the basement. It was like a bee-hive of activity for several hours. While the rooms were empty I was able to wash down the walls and floors, which was a good thing as it was pretty dusty in some places. We still have several days of work before we are going to be living any kind of normal life around here, but today felt fairly accomplished and wonderful. I really like our new bedroom set – it’s high quality furniture from the 1940s, in very good condition. We had to buy two twin beds and attach them together because double beds are pretty rare. We got the entire bedroom set (2 beds with headboards and mattresses), a dresser with a cool art-deco style mirror, and two bedside tables for about $215. I also bought a leather “Stressless” recliner chair with ottoman for $21. They sell new ones for about a thousand dollars. The economy of things here is so weird because no one likes old or used things. Now, if I could just find a “used” food store, we could stretch the dollar even further.
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