Easter Eve

As with all good holidays, Norwegians can’t wait to celebrate them, so tonight actually, was the big Easter dinner in many houses in Norway.  Strange, but true.  Tomorrow is pretty much a non-eventful day around these parts, but we’re sticking with American traditions and having ham and asparagus and other such American delicacies, and inviting friends over to share the day with us.

Because we do plan to attend church in the morning, I had to make a lot of the meal today so I have just a minimal amount to do when we get home from church.  The sun was shining so I wasn’t the least bit happy about being in the kitchen, but I had to do what I had to do.

I ran into Tante Kari on the way to the grocery store (it was open only for a few hours this morning).  She wanted to know if I saw the photo of her that her granddaughter posted on Facebook yesterday when she was there for a visit.  I told her I had seen it.  She said her phone’s been ringing off the hook for all the people who saw it and she seemed a bit confused as to who could see it and who couldn’t.  Later, she came over to our place and asked if I would log on and show it to her.  She squealed in delight over each comment people posted under her photo.  She then went next door to her sister’s place and started bragging that she was on Facebook, like it was some nationally broadcast TV program or something.  She was quite proud.  When Tante Kari saw all the “friends” I had on Facebook, and how many of them are here in Norway, she told me I have more friends here than she does, and she’s lived here all her life.  Funny.

I wasn’t about to spend the whole day inside, on the computer or in the kitchen, so I told Kory at 1:30, we were going for a hike, ready or not.  Well, that turned into 2:00 before I could actually wrap up a few things, but nonetheless, it was another gorgeous day and I longed to be out in it.

A few weeks ago we noticed a signpost to a trailhead a few hundred feet from our building, so we thought we’d go for an explore today and see where it led.  We had only 30 minutes to go one way before we had to turn back, because we were invited out to a big traditional Easter dinner at Kory’s cousin, Linda’s house, so we had to be back in time for that.  So off we went, mostly walking down streets, past houses we’ve never seen, and on into the woods.

The good thing about our little explore was to see how many wild blueberry bushes there are in the woods within just minutes of our place.  When we come back again next year I’m sure it will be in August, so we’ll be having plenty of fresh blueberries then. 

We tried to find the main trail to some hilltop lookout, but got totally turned around and ended up on some guy’s farm.  Again, it was nice to know we wouldn’t be yelled at for crossing his field and tromping around on his place, but we never did make it to our intended destination.   At least we have that goal for another day, and we certainly enjoyed some nice views from where we were (see photos above.)

Cousin Linda has one of the nicest houses we’ve been in in Norway (see photos below).  It’s always a pleasure to spend time there.  After the traditional dinner of lamb, cabbage, potatoes, etc…we were treated to a little concert by her two boys – both incredible musicians.  Rasmus played the piano while his younger brother, Henrik, was on the cello. It was a pretty high class evening, but that family rubs elbows with the elite of Norway since Linda’s husband’s uncle used to be Prime Minister of Norway.   They also own a house in Turkey, so they were telling us the places we shouldn’t miss when we go there in ten days.  Fun.

Linda’s husband went and got Tante Ruth out of the old folks home tonight so she could join us for dinner.  She sat by herself in the corner while we ate because she needs help to do anything.  It was pretty sad to see her sitting there – can’t see, can’t hear much and can’t walk.  Uff-da.  After dinner, everyone took turns sitting up next to her, shouting in her ear so she could hear them.  Linda’s teenage daughter, Nina, really got her talking (see photo).  She was asking Ruth about her childhood and what she did during the war.  She asked why she moved to America and what it was like there.  Of course, Ruth had no idea all ears were on her.  I told Nina to ask her if she ever had any boyfriends.  Kory always suspected she had some, but whenever we have asked her about it – she said she never did.  Nina asked her and Ruth just lit up and said, “Oh yes, I had MANY!”  That was news to us and I’m sure she wouldn’t have said that if she could see who all was listening.  She then told her she didn’t marry any of them, even though she had the chance, because she didn’t love them like they loved her.  She even revealed that she was caught naked once by a guy when she forgot to lock the bathroom door.  He proposed on the spot.  That was pretty funny.  She didn’t really want to come tonight, but I think she was glad she did.

Kaleb came home tonight from his big ski trip.  He had a good time but in the last hour of skiing, hurt his foot during a fall on the slopes.  The snow yesterday was perfect powder, but today, after a day of hot weather, it got pretty slushy and miserable for skiing.  Kaleb said he sat on his butt to get down off the top of the mountain because it was straight down and he was a little bit scared.  When he got to the bottom he had to go over a jump and then he landed wrong and hurt his foot.  Once again, he’s big-dealing it for us, but I’m sure he’s fine.  At least the swelling in his gum went down so he’s not whining about that now.

He got his feelings hurt a little last night, he said, when they were all playing Monopoly with different rules than he’s used to.  The other boys formed alliances and cooperated together, but there wasn’t anyone for him to join up with so he felt they were all out to get him.  Such is life, but he teared up when telling me about it.  He’s really into playing fair, so it hurt his feelings a little.  I think it’s good for him.

Kory went to a special Easter eve service at Philadelphia Church tonight while I helped Kaleb decompress from his trip and get him to bed.  I also needed to do a few more things for dinner tomorrow and get all the Easter eggs ready to hide.  Hunting for Easter Eggs is NOT a Norwegian tradition, so I brought some plastic eggs with me from America so the kids tomorrow can have a little American culture along with their American meal.  I made up some Resurrection Eggs that tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, so I’m hoping that will be a good tool in helping them all understand a little better the reason we should all be shouting HALLELUJAH!

Being Duped

I found out today in my class that the school building we are in was used during World War II as German headquarters. Some of the classrooms were sleeping quarters and some were offices. I hope there are no ghosts left behind. We had quite the discussion on Norway’s history today so it was interesting for me, but The Good Teacher Inga admitted history is not her strong suit so she doesn’t know much more than the book reported. It was tough, in just a few hours, to go from the Viking times (over a thousand years ago) to World War II. I like that all the school books here in Norway inform the students that it was indeed Lief Ericksen that discovered America over five hundred years before Columbus. We Americans have been duped and we give credit where credit isn’t due. Oh well, Plymouth Plantation wasn’t the first settlement in America either, and yet, that’s what I was taught in school (Jamestown, Virginia was the first in 1607, but it is “nicer” to say America was founded by people seeking religious freedom, than by people growing tobacco.)

Today I got back a big writing assignment I did for class a few weeks ago. Inga was so impressed with it and said it is certainly good enough to pass the Norske Prøve 3 test, even though it had some red ink on the page from her corrections. What I didn’t tell her was that I had no time to do the assignment (or desire), so I wrote up the essay in Microsoft Word in English, then clicked on “translate.” Norwegian isn’t a option, but Swedish is (and they are very similar) so the whole document translated over to Swedish and I was able to fix the few differences in spelling, and then I copied it by hand onto the homework sheet. I guess it worked. It was a test. It was only a test. I wanted to see how well the computer generated respectable translation and it passed! I was so proud. Not that I would do that for a real Norwegian proficiency test or anything, but it’s nice to know I can use it in a pinch for other things. As they say, intelligence is not having all the answers, but rather, knowing where to find them. Tee hee.

I was going to use that “translate” option for writing a letter to the local newspaper a few weeks ago. They had a big article about Fjellstua – the biggest tourist spot around here. Fjellstua is a building on top of the mountain in the heart of town. Four hundred and eighteen steps lead up to it from Aalesund’s only park and it provides a sweeping view of the entire city (see photo). Everyone that visits Aalesund, goes to Fjellstua. So this huge two page article was written about how the Kommune is going to sell Fjellstua to the richest guy in town and he’s going to tear down the existing building and put up private condos, complete with a rooftop swimming pool. They had the architectural drawings of what it would look like (hideous) and lots of quotes from prospective buyers that couldn’t wait to move in. Both Kory and I were in shock. We read the article just before we went on our road trip and while we were in Bergen and saw the improvements they had made to their mountain top viewing platform there, we were just sick that Aalesund couldn’t do something similar and that they would sell out that view to private individuals. I was formulating my “thoughts” as we were on vacation and was determined to come home and blast the city for such an insane idea. Then I found out from cousin Odd that the whole article was an April Fool’s Day joke (it did appear on April 1st.) I couldn’t believe the paper would resort to such a thing, but I guess it’s a pretty common occurrence here - and they never publish a retraction so it’s up to the local gossip pool to figure out what story that day was a hoax. Uff da. I was duped again.

After class today I stopped off at Moa to see how Kory was doing installing the awning for Tante Ruth at our condo. He wasn’t too happy as he couldn’t find any of the studs to secure the bolts, so his progress was nil. Tante Ruth had made coffee for us and set out some bread and jam. It was a huge effort on her part as she can barely stand up and has to feel her way around a room to find things. I felt terrible she went through so much effort, but she wanted to. Tante Aslaug was there too and she raved about the fresh torsk I brought on Tuesday. She said every time she visited Kory’s mom in America, all she’d have to do to make her homesick was mention fresh torsk. Tante Aslaug said she still had some “rogn” (fish eggs) left over and she’d be happy to fry some up to have with coffee (I prefer a little cake or something sweet with my coffee, but then, I’m only half Norwegian). Kory was thrilled with the offer so she ran next door and cooked up those fish egg patties in a hurry and she and Kory scarfed them down with their coffee. I wanted to puke. My clothes smelled like fried fish eggs the rest of the day. I guess that’s one way to keep Kory close.

The Beginning

I bought tickets to go to Norway yesterday. Normally I can’t wait to click on “purchase”, but yesterday I stalled. I read all the fine print. I looked for excuses not to buy them, but the price made me commit. The fact is, it seems, we are moving to Norway for a year, and I just couldn’t help but be a little sad about leaving the comfortable life we now have. But that’s what it’s like when you sign a blank paper with God and say you will follow where he leads.

True enough, I asked for this. From one of the first times I met Kory, I joked with my cousin that “someday I was going to marry that man and run off with him and live in Norway.” And it happened – almost 20 years after saying it. But life is so good now. Our house is the best. I love everything about our life. Kaleb is doing well in school. We have a groove. We are all involved in different things and feeling useful. And it’s spring – and there’s no better place to be in the spring than in the Skagit Valley with our view over the blooming tulip fields and the golden plum blossoms in our yard. Out every window is a scene I could stare at for hours. We have great neighbors. We love our church and all that we do there. Kaleb has great friends and wonderful enrichment activities. Life is good. Maybe too good. Maybe our faith needs to be stretched and we need to find God on a closer level.

After I finished some quiet time tonight I went “Bible dipping” – where I just opened up the Word and read the first thing I saw. It was in Isaiah 43 and this scripture stuck out: “This is what the Lord says- he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters… Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me and the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” I get it. We are blessed. Norway has lost sight of the God we know. They need to hear about our God, our Savoir. They need to know people who know this God. They have lost him. The government has provided for all their needs and their need for God is no more.

But I like snuggling in bed with Kory and Kaleb in the morning. I like this time in my life. I worry that everything will change and when we come back, everything will be different. Maybe a neighbor will die or a tree will be cut down. Maybe Kaleb will be too old to snuggle and he’ll be roughed up a bit by school kids and lose his innocence. Maybe….

But God is promising a New Thing and I do know God well enough to know that a New Thing is not ever a BAD thing. So my focus will shift from one of sadness over what we are leaving, to excitement over what is yet to come.

The details will work themselves out and my worries over the fallen dollar, the high cost of living in Norway, the empty apartment we may encounter, the long dark winter… will all fade as God reveals his perfect plan because he has promised a New Thing. And I have promised to follow.