Heavenly Sunshine!

Of all things, we had some sunshine today!  What a difference a day, and a little light can make in a person’s life.  I was downright giddy.  Of course, there were two flea markets today, too, so that didn’t hurt, and we topped the day off by having friends over for dinner, so all-in-all, it was a downright glorious day. 

It felt so good to sleep in this morning, too.  I’ve had some rude awakenings with the alarm clock this past week, making sure Kaleb isn’t late for school.  Living my life on a schedule is not something I’m used to, so it felt good to lie in bed a little longer.

I told Kaleb yesterday when I bought his bus pass for $60, that if he lost it, he’d have to pay for a new one because our budget is getting a bit tight.  He said, “So that means no more thrift stores, right?”  Uh, well…. sort of. Kory and I went to a loppamarked  (flea market) today at a school nearby, just to see what there was to see.  I actually didn’t buy much, but what I bought was super cheap. (The moment the doors opened, above.)

It’s always good, I’ve noticed, to go in the line where the men are pricing things.  They don’t value kitchen things very high at all, nor hand made items.  It’s often that women will realize the value of some objects, or how much work was put into making something, and they price things higher than I want to pay, but the guy today priced each object at either five or ten kroner (85 cents or $1.70.)  I was in heaven.  I had to go back for a second round, knowing how cheap things were, so I got a few cool things – including an old coffee grinder (for $1.70) and a handmade knife with a hand carved antler handle and leather carrying case ($1.70).  It was hard to pass those things up for that price (below).

We left the one loppamarked to head on over to another one (below).  The sun was actually out while we were waiting in line for both of them to open.  Thankfully they opened an hour apart so we could hit them both.  The second one, however, was terribly overpriced and I couldn’t bring myself to buy a darn thing even though they had some things I’m “collecting”.  I just can’t enjoy something if it costs too much, no matter how cool it is. 

The soccer club that put on the second flea market was overpriced four years ago when we went to it back then.  But in the last hour, they sell bags for about eight dollars and that covers the cost of whatever can fit in the bag.  It’s a two-day sale so I’ll return during the last hour tomorrow and see what they have left. 

While we were gone, Kaleb spent time scrubbing the grout on the bathroom floor.  It really needed a good cleaning and my knees would kill me to do that job, and Kory’s wrists wouldn’t survive the motion, so he was our only hope.  I was thinking how nice it was for God to give us a healthy teenage boy in our advanced years.  He did a pretty good job too, and the best part was, he didn’t complain about doing it.

The only day the sun was shining, and I was in the kitchen making dinner.  If I wouldn’t have been so excited about seeing my friends, I would have been bummed by that, but I snuck out on the deck for a few minutes when I could.  It felt so good to get some sunshine on my face.  I so wished I could have stayed outside all afternoon.  Sniff sniff.

We had a lovely visit with friends I made in my Norwegian class, Sandra and Valesca and their families.  Sandra is from England and Valesca is from Brazil.  Sadly, it seems, Valesca is moving back to Brazil.  She’s been here six years and says she still hasn’t made any good friends.  She can’t stand the whole socialized system here where no one wants anyone to stand out.  She’s a workaholic and wants to excel in her career, and hard work is not only not respected in Norway, but people actually don’t LIKE her because of it.  It’s tough for her to work where, according to her boss, “everyone hates her.”  And when she got her first pay raise, she ended up with less take home pay because it bumped her up into a higher tax category.  She is really struggling.  She also has a four-year-old daughter with no family support around and both her and her husband travel a lot for work and they have no one to help.  They aren’t allowed to bring in a nanny from outside the country because there’s some weird rule that if they are not Norwegian citizens they can’t have a nanny.  A Norwegian nanny would cost too much, so they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Her husband likes the work environment here and how good the pay is, so he doesn’t want to move back to Brazil, so it might cost him his marriage.  It was hard to hear this news and Valesca’s husband is clearly upset by her plans to leave the country.  Sad, sad, sad.

Most of our conversation tonight revolved around pointing out the BAD things about living in Norway.  Sandra’s husband was the only voice defending the way things are, or at least trying to explain why things are the way things are, since he grew up here.  He said he realizes Norwegians don’t make friends easily, and as “tradition” goes, no new friends are added to a person’s life once they reach the age of 20.  Most people just hang out with family members or friends they had from their childhood.  They act as if they have no room for anyone else.  It’s a bit strange, I’ll say.  I think in the Pentecostal church environment, it might be easier to make friends, but outside of that, it’s a fairly closed society.

So it was interesting discussions, but sad realizations.  Kaleb, thankfully, kept the kids entertained by playing hide and seek in our tiny little place.  It was an early evening though, since they had bedtimes to maintain.  Been there, done that.  So glad we’re past it. 

I so needed today.  Bright spots all the way around.