Kjøretur (Car trip)

This was the first day since we’ve arrived in Norway that nothing was on the calendar.  It helped that it was Good Friday, and everything is closed, so the day was full of possibilities.  And to top it off, the sun was out and it was warm today!  Woo hoo!

We were invited up to a cabin about a three hour drive from our place, but neither one of wanted to make such a long trip –even on a sunny day, so we decided to take a road trip close to home, but to an area neither of us have ever been.  The journey was the destination.  We loaded up a backpack with Norwegian road food and much coffee, and we were off!

This entire coastline is dotted with little islands, many of which are accessible by ferry, so we looked at a map and found several areas just north of us that we’d never seen.  We took all the “roads less traveled” to get to the ferry landing, which provided me with ample photo opportunities along the way and several kinda scary moments.  The roads are very narrow, only wide enough for one car, but they are two way roads.  Encountering another car requires someone to backup to the closest wide spot in the road.  Many roads have no guardrails, but certain death if the car goes over the edge.  This is Norway at it’s best.  We took it slow and stopped a lot – which suited us both just fine.

When we got to the ferry landing we saw they were on a Sunday schedule since it’s a holiday here, so we had almost two hours to kill.  We drove on all the roads around that peninsula just to see what we could see, and we weren’t disappointed.  The sun was out so everyone who was home, was out on their decks, sunning themselves. 

One thing I love about Norway is there really is no such thing as “private property.”  Everyone is allowed to access everyone else’s land – especially down by the water.  So it’s possible to park right in someone’s driveway and walk across their lawn to get to the beach or up into the mountains.  We weren’t that crass of course, but it was a lot less stress to know we could pull off anywhere we wanted and head down to a dock or beach and no one would yell at us to get off their land.  It’s just the way Norway is – socialized to the max.  So we found several unoccupied places to pull over and just sit and enjoy the sun, or walk the beach and pick up rocks and shells (another one of my weird obsessions – at least they are free!)

Once on the ferry, neither of us saw the sign that said, “crew only” so we ended up in the captains quarters watching him steer the boat!  He didn’t mind.  He let us out on his balcony to take photos.  I’m sure he knew we weren’t locals.

There are three islands just north of us that are hooked together by bridges but as a community, only accessible by ferry on either end, so that was were we spent the bulk of the day – on the island of Otrøy.  Once the ferry dropped us off, there wasn’t another one to take us back for four and half hours, so it was perfect timing.  We drove all the perimeter roads and were next to the water the whole time.  From end to end is about 30 kilometers (18 miles).  We ended up only ten kilometers away from where Kory was born, but we would have had to take another ferry to get there, so we just admired it from across the fjord. 

I took a total of 333 photos today – most of which are keepers.  I’m still having trouble figuring out this fancy new camera I bought, but it was fun to wear out the battery in just one day.  We stopped a lot for “coffee” so Kory could relax and enjoy the view.  Driving the smaller roads is not exactly relaxing and he couldn’t take his eyes off them for one second, so he didn’t nearly see what I saw.  Good thing I took so many photos so he knows what he missed.

In the middle of the day, Henrik’s mom sent me a photo on my phone, showing Kaleb and his buddies up in the mountains, surrounded by snow.  She said it was 72 degrees up there – so he was having a wonderful day, too.  I’m so thankful he has such good friends here.

On the ferry ride back home we ran into two couples we know from church.  They were all out on different islands and they highly recommended we take a trip out to those, also, but with bikes, since they are flat and easy to get around.  Sounds like plans for our next sunny day when nothing is on the calendar.  I hope that day comes soon.

Happy Birthday Turid

I ran into a woman on the bus today that used to be in my Norwegian class. She got “put back” to the slower moving class and she just loves it. She said it goes at a tolerable pace so she’s able to understand the grammar rules better, and by the way she was able to communicate, I could tell it was a good fit. She was speaking the language way better than me. I’m thinking I need to be put back (or down) too. As The Good Teacher Inga was talking today about some new tense of those lovely verbs, I just tuned out. I haven’t learned a thing in weeks, as it’s all just too much. Others in the class feel the same, yet we continue to clip through the book like we’re on a race to finish before everyone else. A new concept is taught one day and expected to be memorized overnight so the next day another concept can fill that temporary storage space in our brains. I’ve decided I’m only going to class now for my own entertainment – as I’m so done with learning the language. If I could have ever mastered the basic rules of grammar, there may have been hope, but for now, that ship has sailed and I’m too far from the shore. My only motivation to go to class now is that I learn things other than Norwegian, and it gives me something to write about (in English). Uff da.

After school today I stopped off at Turid’s art studio to help her clean it up a bit. She’s having a party for her daughter Hege on Sunday, after Hege gets baptised. Their house isn’t big enough to hold 20 people, but her art studio fits the bill nicely. It is Turid’s birthday today so I thought she shouldn’t have to do all the cleaning herself. Kory called Odd and told him to buy her some flowers and a nice card, and Odd just laughed. He’s not much on gift giving (either is Kory, so it’s kind of funny he gave that advice.) Turid is one of the most underappreciated people I know – she’s a quiet servant to all and she never complains or expects anything in return. I brought her flowers, but it’s hardly enough for all she’s done for us. She has taken care of our condo for ten years and is a signer on our bank account here so she has paid all our bills and done our taxes year after year. When we come to visit every year and stay for a month, we stay with Odd and Turid. We can never repay that debt, but we are trying. When I grow up, I hope to be more like her (she’s 45 today).

Kaleb said he had a fine day at school, but things took a turn for the worse shortly thereafter. He threatened to run away from home today – I think he’s threatened that once before. He’s frustrated with me because I keep taking away days he can play with electronics everytime he is disobedient or disrespectful. He’s been pretty good lately, but today he had a “moment” and he lost one more day. He’s still over a week away from getting his laptop and Nintendo back and he won’t go play with any kids from school until he can use electronics again. He’s been sitting inside and reading the Harry Potter series again (for the fourth time, I think). He can devour one book a day. And today was so warm outside and beautiful, but he wouldn’t go out. Tobias came over to play with him but he wouldn’t play, he just pouted and cried. I felt like doing that myself. I finally had to leave and go for a walk as the tension was a bit much. We needed a loaf of bread so it gave me an excuse to walk to the neighborhood grocery store. I keep forgetting that going to the store at the end of the day is always a bad idea. The bread is often sold out (as it was tonight). I think they have figured out just how many loafs to bake everyday to feed the neighborhood, and that’s just how many they bake. One time I told Odd we were out of bread and it was around 5:00. He said not to bother to go because it would all be gone by then, and he was right. No one would ever buy day old bread, so I guess they can’t risk baking too much.

I’m still not used to the whole grocery store environment here. Things don’t get restocked during the day – or at night. The stores do all their stocking of the shelves in the morning after they open, so often if I go early, I’m dodging pallates of food. If I go too late, many things have sold out and I can’t get all I need. And going to the store to buy something that is on sale is always a challenge. They don’t have “rain checks” here like they do in The States, and sale items are always first come first serve. I’ve rarely made it to the store in time to get in on the best deals, and they don’t restock the items. (The whole “deceptive advertising” thing wouldn’t go over well here.) I guess the stores are a lot like my patience on days like today. When I’m out, I’m out - and there’s not much to do about it but leave. No wonder Kaleb wanted to run away.