It Just Doesn't Quit

We woke up to another sunny day here in the land of Shang-ri-la, Norway.  I think I even got a little sunburn on my face today, it was so sunny!

After my morning cup of coffee and Bible study, I went to the library to post my blog and discovered their wi-fi connection was down.  So were all their computers.  I walked across the crosswalk to the mall to go get some money out of the bank before the dollar gets devalued anymore while we are here, and the cash machine was out of order.  I had to laugh, especially after thinking about my comments yesterday that few people take pride in their work, or even work hard, and then to encounter two situations that could easily help make my case.  The cash machine has been broken for days.

Kory and I went on our walk earlier today than normal because of the above mentioned “challenges.”  We took yet another new route in our neighborhood in order to get to the bank and see if my new debit card arrived.  I had one, but as Kaleb’s friend Andre said about his Nintendo “It’s not lost, I just can’t find it….” So I’ll say about my Norwegian debit card.  I had to order a new one and it’s been over two weeks and it still hadn’t arrived. They said they would send me a message when it came in, but I know better than that, so I’ve been checking periodically when I’m in the neighborhood of the bank during it’s opening hours (between 10 and 3). 

I took my number at the bank then sat down and read magazines while waiting.  Several people were in line at the automatic teller, but instead of pulling money out, they were putting money in.  It’s possible to swipe a bank card, then deposit cash and coins into an account.  Many people had bags of coins and they stand there dumping them in at a fairly slow rate so the machine can count it and make the deposit.  When I closed my eyes, I swore I was in Vegas, back in the days when the quarters made that clink clink sound as they spilled out of the slot machines.

Today was my lucky day as my card finally arrived.  (Yet, no one sent me a message to tell me so – no surprise there.)  While we were at the bank, Turid called to ask where we were.  Apparently my Norwegian isn’t as good as I had hoped.  I talked with her yesterday and agreed to meet with her today to get the key to her studio so we can sell some of her art work this Saturday along with Kory’s –at the Spring Festival.  Apparently, she said we’d be meeting at noon at her studio, and somehow I missed that part of the conversation, so we had to hustle back home to get the car and drive into the city to meet her, as she was on a tight schedule.  Oops.

After we got home I made a little lunch and sat out on our deck to eat it, overlooking those mountains that take my breath away every time I look at them.  The sun was so warm and I was so tired I fell asleep in the chair and woke myself up with my own snoring.  Glad no one else was around.

Kory called the travel insurance company today to ask again why we haven’t been reimbursed for any of our expenses when he broke his back.  When he called a few weeks ago they said the money was just sitting there, waiting for an account to transfer it into.  He gave them our account number then, but I’ve been checking the bank daily, and no deposit has been made.  They said they needed to get approval to make the transfer.  So, we have no other option, but to continue to wait.  I guess this is how the Norwegians develop their unbelievably patient demeanor.

Kaleb had a fun day at school since they used three hours to learn how to make art on a computer, and another three hours they just made food.  He came right home from school because we were invited to an early dinner at Cousin Axel’s daughter’s house.  Miriam and her husband, Kenneth, just had their second child, but they’ve been foster parents for 7 years to Benjamin, who turned 13 today.  Kaleb and Benjamin have been hanging out together since they got Benjamin, so he asked if we could come to his party.  His parents are drug addicts so he can’t live with them. He has some affects from that, but he’s a sweet kid.  The whole family pitched in and totally surprised him today with a new laptop (see photo).  He rarely smiles, but he sure smiled today.  He’s grown a head taller than Kaleb in this last year and is very much looking like a teenager.  Hard to believe that phase is just around the corner for us.

Miriam’s oldest child, Elander, greeted us with a tiger’s roar (see photo).  He wanted his face painted for the party.  He’s a firecracker, that kid.  He makes me laugh.  His new brother Darian, is a very mellow child, and cute as a button (see other photo.)  We had a nice visit with that branch on the family tree.

One funny thing about Norwegian birthday parties is that all eyes must be on the birthday person when they “open up the cake.”  It’s a huge deal when they slice into it.  No one takes a picture of the cake before it’s cut, like we do, they take a picture of the birthday person with their first slice in hand.  It just seems odd.

Unfortunately, we had to leave after three and a half hours.  I hosted a home fellowship group at our house tonight so I had to get home and make coffee.   We arrived home just in the nick of time since one of the attendees was already in the elevator when we got there.  Fortunately I’d prepared everything before we left for the party, but it still felt a little rushed.  We had a great time of sharing though.  A new woman from Latvia joined the group and she had one powerful testimony about how God’s been working in her life.  And the best part was, we had to speak in English, for her benefit, because she’s new to Norway and doesn’t know the language.  Whew.

Kory went next door and watched a movie with his Aunt Aslaug while the meeting was going on, and Kaleb went in our room and fell asleep in our bed.  Our place is pretty small and there’s not many options for putting space between us, but so far, it’s been over three weeks and no one is complaining.

Tax Day

I skipped school today so I could get my taxes done. There is a tax office not far from where we live, so with papers in hand, I took the bus this morning to be there soon after they opened at 9am. I got there at ten past nine and I was the tenth person standing in line waiting for help. Most places around here have the numbered ticket system so I can just take a number and sit down while I’m waiting to be called - but not the tax office. There are plenty of chairs, but no ticket system, so everyone has to just stand in line and wait their turn. I was expecting it to be hours because there are only two counters to help people, but surprisingly, everyone that works in the office must set aside their normal duties to tend to all the questions this time of year – as employees came from every corner and out every door of the office to help people. That was a pleasant surprise, especially since I wasn’t even in line for ten minutes before it was my turn.

The man that helped me didn’t speak a word of English (maybe he could, but since I spoke to him first in Norwegian, he just stuck with that.) I showed him my papers – already filled out by the tax computer. Since the banks, employers and everyone that has anything to do with money has to report every detail to the government, all the numbers were already pre-filled out on the tax form (including the four kroner – 50 cents – we earned from some profit in a co-op membership). If we had no exceptions (or questions), all we would need to do is sign the form and send it in and pay the bill that comes with the form equal to the amount the government says we owe. They make it so painless here to pay all those taxes. But I had a few exceptions that made their seamless system not so smooth. For one thing, they had no record of Tante Ruth paying us rent, nor did they have a place on the form to add that income. They also didn’t include the interest I earned on an account I set up at our friend Ole-Petter’s bank. So when I told the tax man that I had extra income to report, he looked at some other form to find the line number that rental income should be reported on, then he just wrote that line number at the bottom of the pre-filled out form, along with the amount of income (less expenses), we had. And as for the interest income, he said just to forget it because that account was in my name, and I didn’t have any other income. (Each person in Norway is allowed to earn almost six thousand dollars a year tax free.)

There is no such thing as a “joint” return here so everyone must file their own tax form. Since he said I didn’t have to file one, I asked about the amount they deducted from Kory’s tax return for his “child tax credit.” They always split the credit between the two parents but since I wasn’t going to file a return, he doubled the amount on Kory’s return. Kory earned a whopping $5,000 this year working two days a week for about four months. They held back around a thousand dollars to pay taxes, but the tax man told me today it looks like we might get most of that refunded because our income was so low. Woo hoo. When the tax man was done writing all the numbers on the form, he asked me to sign it. It was Kory’s tax form, but Kory was at work, so the man just told me to forge his signature. I thought that was pretty funny. So all-in-all it was a most pleasant experience and I’m thankful they don’t make us pay taxes on our income from the U.S., like Uncle Sam makes us do for our income in Norway.

I was back home by ten o’clock, wondering what to do with the rest of my quiet time before Kaleb came home from school, since I assumed it would take all day to do my taxes… so I decided to start planning our summer vacation. Everyone in Norway is on vacation the entire month of July and ferries must be reserved, hotels are already booked and theme parks are overcrowded. But it was a good day to start thinking about all the summer fun that lies ahead since now I know our savings account won’t be taken by the tax man. But as I sat for hours at the computer researching where to stay and what to do, I realized the dollars aren’t going to go as far as I had hoped, so the eight weeks of travel might only be six. I’m certainly not complaining, however, as I know we are very lucky to be able to go anywhere at all.

It was another beautiful summer-like day – and Kaleb came home peppy as ever. He and Tobias played together after he finished his homework and I rode bikes with both of them around the neighborhood just as an excuse to be outdoors. It reminded me of my childhood – everyone racing to see who could be the leader as we went up one street and down the other. It’s never a waste of time to relive pleasant memories.

Where Do I Start?

For the last several weeks I’ve had it on my calendar to start cleaning out closets. For some reason I think this is the first step I need to take to prepare for our move. Getting rid of junk, making space for our housesitters, deciding what to bring and leave behind. But, as with all good intentions, life gets in the way. Last week my step-mom’s sister died and my two days off from schooling Kaleb were spent in Renton with my step-mom. The evenings of my days at home were spent preparing the funeral. Last week we had guests in our upstairs apartment – family of friends of ours in town for a big birthday celebration. All beds were full at the families homes so we provided for a lovely retired couple so they could spend time with their family in from Alaska. I couldn’t get to the closets that need my attention the most so I used the time to pay bills and take care of a million details life often provides (pricing new tires for our van, finding shipping companies, dog sitting the neighbors dog and feeding the goats…). This week we have a family of six living upstairs as they sold their house and aren’t ready to leave the area for a few weeks. We love this family though so we wish they would never leave, but still, no access to closets. At least I’ve made a list of things I think I need to do before we go and things to buy and stock up on for our year abroad. It’s a good thing we’ve gone to Norway as often as we have so we know what we can and can’t get there and how expensive everything is. I’ve purchased a year’s supply of clothes and shoes for Kaleb – the next size up – as one pair of jeans can cost over a hundred dollars in Norway.

The dollar is at the all time lowest it’s ever been against the kroner. I think we are nuts to go live there at this time with such a high cost of living. But one day when I was praying to God about it I felt him remind me of how scared we were when we bought our condo initially. We thought it was only going to cost $50,000 and it turns out, after it was too late to back out of the deal, we discovered the condo cost $150,000. We nearly cried. We panicked. We drank much wine and stayed up late talking about it with the cousins in Norway. But in the end, God provided every penny we needed, every time, and now the condo is paid for and God was asking me, “You’re worried about money?” I know it’s one of the easiest things he can do so I had to let it go and let him work out the details. And a part of me hopes the details include closing the door to Norway! The thought of spend $7 dollars on a head of lettuce or $12 on a gallon of gas goes against every fiber of my being… especially the fibers that like to get a bargain.

I got our first bid for moving the car and some boxes – around $3,000 – about what we expected. It will be so nice to have our own car over there and hopefully we can keep it there. We’ll see.