Back Home Again

(Our sidewalk)

Kaleb was up hours before he had to leave for school today, which was good since he finally had enough time to make his own breakfast and lunch.  He was off without incident, ready to be back in school and to meet up with his friends.

I had a long list of things to do like laundry, grocery shopping and preparing for this weekend.  We are borrowing a friend’s cabin and five of Kaleb’s friends from school will be sleeping over night in it, along with us and two guests from America.  I had to use some quiet time today to think through everything I’m going to need to take along, and how to organize the days we will have six lively boys with us.  I had to make several trips to the store to get food, as I know food just disappears when boys are near.

Kory helped me get some things ready as I’m pressed for time.  Tomorrow is Ascension Day, which in Norway, is a National holiday so everything will be closed.  We have guests coming for dinner and we’ll be gone all day, so I had to prepare some things ahead of time.  Such is life.

Kaleb called me after school and told me he and Andre were going to ride their bikes over to Daniel’s house – which is a long way from where we live.  I love the fact he can be so far from home and I don’t have to worry about him.  He called later and asked to spend the night, so he’s back into his very active social life.

Our car was supposed to be ready this morning but there was a problem with one of the parts that got installed on it, so it had to be redone.  We were without wheels all day but now we can go get it in the morning and pay later.  It’s good to have friends that own car repair shops. 

We were invited out to dinner tonight to Inger’s house (Cousin Odd’s ex-wife).  She had a little dinner party and wanted her friends to meet us so we were there all evening (until midnight!).  We told lots of stories and had a nice visit with her friends.  I was especially pleased to meet one of her friends who volunteers at my favorite thrift store.  She recognized me right away.  I went on and on about all the great finds I’ve gotten there and she asked me what kinds of things I like.  I told her, and she said she’d keep an eye out for stuff for me, since she receives in all the stuff and sees it first.  Woo hoo!  Talk about having the right connections!

Another friend of Inger’s was surprised to hear that Kory was the one that painted a Norwegian flag on the bus stop in our old neighborhood.  She walks by there all the time and when she heard him tell that story she said, “So you’re the one that did that!”  She looks forward to seeing it every time she passes by.  She also listened intently to Kory telling the story about our old neighbor when we lived in that neighborhood, how he used to dump his cut grass on our lawn and how he stole a downpipe from our garage one day.  Kory went on and on about this guy and when he was done, she said quietly, “He’s my cousin.”  Kory felt terrible.  It’s a small world and around here, you never know who is related to whom. 

One of the guys there tonight didn’t say much but we told stories about Kory’s old childhood friend Ole-Petter and when we were done he said, “I work with him.”  It’s not six degrees of separation around here – it’s more like one.

I told everyone tonight how patient I thought Norwegians are, as demonstrated by the fact they NEVER honk the horn at anyone.  In Israel, it’s just part of the way they drive.  They use the horn more than Americans do, but in Norway I’ve never heard a horn honk once.  They are so polite, or so I thought.  I was informed tonight that it’s against the law to honk the horn.  Well, that explains it.  There’s something new I seem to learn everyday about this land.  Some of it strange, some of it not.  Sometimes it keeps me awake at night, but now it’s late and I must sleep.