Kaleb was off to school before eight this morning, so Kory and I sat and had a relaxing cup of coffee while doing our Bible studies. At ten, I headed to the library to post my blog and on to the grocery store to buy a few things on sale. Kory’s been pestering me for some marzipan candy but I told him to wait until after Easter when it will all go on sale for 50% off. So today was his big day. Instead of a piece of candy costing $6, it only cost $3. Lucky duck.
Yesterday when we were walking around our neighborhood, I saw a really cool huge old bucket in the dumpster of a business we walked past. I wasn’t sure if it was OK to take it not, so today we drove down there and I asked. “No problem,” was the response I got, so I’m now the happy owner of a big old bucket from 1892. Kory thinks I’m crazy to bring home such a thing, but he’s no one to talk. They did plenty of dumpster diving when they moved to America when he was a kid – it’s just what immigrants do. Our sense of style isn’t up to Norwegian standards, so one person’s garbage really is another person’s treasure.
When we were telling someone about the odd sized mattress Kaleb has in his room, they suggested we go down to a local factory that makes foam, and ask to buy a piece in the size we need. We drove down there after I scored on the bucket, to ask them. I would have asked for a piece of foam cut to a certain size, but Kory asked them for a mattress, so they said they don’t sell those directly to the public and we had to go to a store to find them. So much for that idea. If we knew someone that worked there, I’m sure we’d get what we wanted, but for now, we might have to spring for a new mattress (no pun intended – because there are no springs in it!)
Since we were near our old neighborhood we decided to take our daily walk down there to see what we could see from the other side of the mountain, as it were. (All the photos today were from our walk.) We drove out past Kaleb’s school and parked our car, then walked across a very tiny bridge to get onto the island of Turla. We planned to walk the roads and check out the houses and yards, but we saw a sign for a hike up to the high point of that island, so we took it. The trail was pretty soggy but we enjoyed some time in nature before the trail ended up back in a neighborhood that just happens to be where Kory’s cousin, Ketil’s, son has built a house. Strange coincidence. We walked as far as we could go on his road, then walked back along the main road. It took 90 minutes total, so I’m well pleased with my little work out time today as I was sweating pretty good. I so need more movement in my life. Flitting about the condo from room to room just doesn’t cut it.
While we were out walking, we ran into my friend, Tina, the mother to Kaleb’s friend, Daniel. She was out for a bike ride and she’d taken with her a slice of bread and a thermos of coffee. It was such a nice day she just went out for a spin and a little time to relax by the seashore. Norwegians love to just relax, wherever they go and whatever they do, there must be time to just “slapp av” (relax!). Funny.
Sabina came by after school, not long after we returned from our walk/hike. She’d spent all her bus money on candy at the mall and wanted to know if we’d loan her money for the bus ride home. We invited her to hang out with us for a while and stay for dinner. She didn’t have much else to do at home and I’m pretty sure she’d rather be here than there. We challenged each other to “difficult” words – she’d give me one in Norwegian and see if I knew the English word for it and I’d give her an English word to see if she knew the Norwegian translation. She was frustrated that I knew so many words so she had a hard time stumping me. Kory made Kettle Korn for her, at her request. She watched him make it so she can try to make it herself at home.
Kory is hoping to sell copies of his artwork this weekend at a Spring festival in the city, so we took Sabina with us to the thrift store to see about buying some frames to display his work. She was thrilled the store has a FREE area, and she started stuffing her pockets with all kinds of goodies. I nearly did the same, but tried to stay focused on the task at hand.
Kaleb came home the minute I started saying Grace at dinner. I hadn’t even set a place for him because I thought he’d be a bit later, but he was able to join us all for dinner. I told him Sabina was our “vikar barn” (substitute child) for the day. He didn’t think that was funny. He spent the afternoon with Toban. He said Toban felt bad about not connecting up with him this weekend, but he had trouble with his schedule and he apologized. Kaleb was somewhat relieved he hadn’t done anything to cause him to stay away on purpose. They will try again this weekend for a sleepover so I hope nothing gets in the way.
Tonight I scheduled a little reunion gathering at a coffee shop in the city with some women from my Norwegian class. As of yesterday, about 12 women were coming, but by the time the event rolled around, only four showed up. I’m sure it has to do with the fact that many of them have newborn babies, but several others had different last minute reasons. The Good Teacher Inga had requested the gathering. The four of us had a good chat nonetheless. We’ll set another date before I have to leave, as the ones that couldn’t make it, really want to see Inga again. She’s one of a kind.
I asked Inga about our car insurance. Kory noticed when we got the bill (for $1,700 a year!) that it said we can’t drive over 8,000 kilometers. I wondered what would happen if we did. Inga said that car insurance in Norway is sold by the mileage driven. The minimum amount is 8,000 kilometers, (less than 5,000 miles a year), but if we think we’ll drive more than that, we have to buy more miles for the year, otherwise, we have to pay a penalty premium for going over the amount that’s allocated. We didn’t know that when we lived here before. Good thing we’ll only be here three months at a time.
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