Making Plans

Daniel’s phone alarm went off at seven this morning – his usual wake up time to go to school.  He’d forgotten to turn it off now that it’s spring break, so it woke our whole household.  No harm in rising early if there’s coffee in the house.

Kaleb and Daniel played a few hours on electronics, then I set up the indoor ping pong table to get them to move around a little.  Kory and I took off to the mall to get a few last minute things before the stores closed early and for the next two days.  The lines in every store looked like Costco at Christmas.  Crazy busy.  I bought a ham a few days ago when I saw at least a hundred of them on the end cap of a refrigerated aisle.  I wondered then if I should buy it, or wait, and my instincts told me not to wait.  Good thing – they were all gone by today.  I can’t believe how fast food items move through the stores here.  It’s almost like shopping at Costco – if I don’t buy it when I see it, when I go back, it may not be there. 

We ran into Josef Kloven at the store, a guy we know from Seattle.  His father and Kory’s father were very good friends back in the 60s.  Josef married a Norwegian woman and they are living here now so it was good to see him.  We invited him over for dinner in June when his mom will be here visiting.  We also ran into my friend, Melinda, from my Norwegian class, so we had a little chat time with her.  It’s impossible to go to the mall without running into someone we know – but that’s part of the charm of being here.

When we got home, the house was empty.  I thought maybe Kaleb and Daniel went to the mall to look for us, but fortunately I found a note Kaleb left behind (how responsible!) saying that Daniel’s mom came and took them over to his house so they could play over there.  I guess our house was just a bit too boring, even with the instant conversion of the kitchen table into a ping pong table.

Kory finished up a drawing he was working on of a fishing boat surrounded by seagulls (see photo).  He tried a new style using india ink and pen. (He doesn't like it.) I finished loading up all the photos from last summer with Tobias into a digital photo book.  I’m far from being done with the book but at least I got the photos assembled the way I want.  I’m hoping to have it done to give it to him as a Confirmation present in June.  It was fun to remember back to all the things we did with him.  Whenever we ask him what his favorite part of the trip was, he always says, “All of it.”  I can see why.  Many good memories.

We picked up Kaleb and went to dinner at Andre’s house.  (Top photo is of the view from their place. Photo above is of the fine table that Andre set for us - he was pretty proud.) Since his whole family is coming for a visit this summer, we needed another planning session on what their options are while they are in America.  We realized Seafair is happening then, so we put a few more things on the calendar.  They are overwhelmed with the idea of coming to America, since none of them have done it before.  They said they wouldn’t know the first thing to do, so all of it will be good, hopefully.

We stopped by Cousin/Doctor Odd’s house on our way home, even though it was nearly 11pm, because Kaleb had some swelling on his gum near his back tooth.  He’s in so much pain he didn’t eat anything for dinner.  I was worried he might have an infection and if he is going away for three days to the mountains, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on it, so we needed Odd’s professional opinion.  No dentists are open until next Tuesday after Easter break, which made me stress a little bit more, but after Odd looked at it he said he would be fine for now – that maybe he’ll need to see a dentist next week but there’s nothing to worry about - unless of course Kaleb starves to death between now and then.  That boy doesn’t have much meat on his bones.  I made sure he ate some yogurt before he went to bed – no chewing required.  But I have noticed that Kaleb doesn’t feel all his aches and pains nearly as much when he’s just with his friends.  When I’m around – it’s a different story – so it’s hard to tell when he’s in real pain or when he’s pulling a fast one.  He’s the ultimate boy who cries wolf.  Maybe that’s why he’s such a dog lover.

Scheduling

I went through this enormous internal struggle this morning as to whether I should go to class or not. I skipped school Friday to be with Paula so I was a little worried about getting too far behind again. Because I had already prepared my Bible study lesson weeks ago, I decided to go ahead and go to class and just review the lesson when I got home. So I got up and out the door, took the 40 minute bus ride into the city, breathlessly trudged up the hillside and two flights of stairs, only to discover the teacher was sick and there was no substitute. I wanted to cry. On Monday’s we have one teacher for the first two hours, then The Good Teacher Inga the last two hours. Our first teacher was sick and just left busy work to be done until Inga came. I grabbed the busy work and walked out the door. I was on the next bus heading east. (The photo today is looking east from the harbor in Aalesund.)

Kory was at work, Kaleb had left for school and the dryer was still tumbling when I walked in the door. Even though I had my Bible lesson prepared, I needed to review it. I also needed to finish up another talk I prepared for Christian radio. Esther, the woman with the radio show, asked if I could speak on her show tonight, rather than Saturday, so I needed to go over my talk on “Giving.” I love that topic the best, so I wanted to be sure I was well prepared. It was nice to have a quiet house.

Kaleb broke the silence as he came bouncing through the door with a big “Hi, Mama!” an hour earlier than I expected him. He was half laughing as he said it, as he thought he was pulling one over on me. I did have to ask why he was home so early and then he revealed his “secret.” Apparently his teacher sent a note home last week reminding the parents that the school schedule has changed, but he kept the note to himself so he could “surprise” me. They dropped one hour of something at school on Monday’s, but I’m not sure what. The notice said “Uke 17,” which means “week 17,” there will be a change in school hours.

The system they use for scheduling things here in Norway takes a bit of getting used to. First of all, all the calendars have Monday as the first day of the week, so that Saturday and Sunday are all the way to the right side of the page. I had to bring an American calendar with me because I just can’t get my bearings straight when all the weeks start with a Monday. And all the Norwegian calendars have a special little column before every Monday showing which week of the year it is. So “week 1” is the week that has January 1st in it somewhere, then every week after that is labeled “uke 2,” “uke 3,” etc. This is uke 17 and the last week of the year is uke 53, so it’s easy to see just how fast the year is flying by. But it’s so weird even in church they will make announcements that “Week 20 we will have a special seminar,” etc. and they will never say what date they are referring to – like everyone knows when “week 20” is. Announcements in the newspaper and all types of communication use this system of just naming the week number if something is happening for more than a day or two. It’s quite different from anything I’m used to, but I could see it would actually work pretty well if I ever got used to where the numbers fall within the year. People here say, “I’ll be on vacation week 30 and 31,” rather than, “I’ll be on vacation July 20-August 1st.” Okay, then. We’ll be heading back to America week 37, but I still haven’t bought our tickets – maybe I’ll do that by week 24.

After Kaleb got home it was pointless to try to study any further, so I resorted to cleaning house. It was a bit out of control as I’ve had other things I’d rather be doing lately, but the laundry was about to take over. Kaleb mentioned this, and I have noticed it too, that people here in Norway wear the same clothes day after day until they get dirty. It’s so odd to see that, but I think it’s part of a tradition that’s comes from the poverty this nation once had and that many did not have more than two sets of clothes – one to wash and one to wear. I so wish Kaleb would adapt to that custom as that kid wears a new outfit everyday and throws them in the hamper whether they are dirty or not.

Our Bible study went well tonight but Ledto didn’t come because she’s due to have her baby any day now so she’s not feeling too hot. Kory offered to take her to the hospital so we should be the first to know when she goes into labor. And I think my talk on the radio went well. In one way I like that I don’t know what people think (so my pride isn’t affected one way or another), but in another way, it’s nice to get feedback. The translator loved my stories anyway. And so did Kory – even though he’s heard them all a thousand times before. I love that he’s my biggest fan.