Takin' Care o' Business

It’s been one storm after another since we got here, so it’s a good thing we didn’t come for the weather.  This morning we lost power twice, which didn’t pose any real problems since daylight was upon us, but our days have been very unpredictable because we don’t yet have our car going so we need to walk to get anywhere.  One minute the sun it out with no visible clouds on the horizon and fifteen minutes later there’s a torrential downpour.  Planning is impossible without full rain attire.  As much as I’d like to go out for a walk when the sun peeks through the clouds, I don’t want to get caught in drenching rain any length from home, so we’ve been staying inside pretty much since we got here.  We’d had indoor stuff to do, so it’s kinda been a blessing.  If the sun were out, I sure wouldn’t want to be inside washing floors and cleaning our cupboards, like I have been doing.

We rented our place for a few months to a missionary from Brazil while we were gone.  She wasn’t the cleanest person, so we’ve had to clean up quite a few messes.  She wrote us a lovely note saying how much she loved staying here and she hoped to come back again in November and December this year.  I think she thought she would move right back in because she left things behind in every room.   I’ve been packing up her stuff as I run into it and taking it down to our storage unit.  It’s a LOT of stuff.  I’m not sure we want to rent to her again so we need to figure out how to get everything to her when she returns in November. 

When Kory walked to the post office to activate our address, I went to the grocery store and saw a sight I didn’t want to see (see photo) – empty shelves!  The pump on their refrigerated unit broke so all the food was gone from the freezer and refrigerated sections – including the produce.  It’s a huge store, so the entire back section didn’t have a single item of food in it.  So much for shopping.  At least I scored a loaf of bread before THEY were all gone.  They aren’t sure when they will get a new pump – “it’s ordered” they said.  It might be days.  Good thing there’s another store across the street.

Cousin Rune (Odd’s brother - see photo) dropped in for a cup of coffee this afternoon.  He’s a welder so I begged him to help me with my bike.  The key to my bike lock got stolen in Prague when our car was broken into the summer of 2008.  I haven’t been able to ride my bike since then and since we still don’t have our car on the road, I need it!  He and Kory were all about solving that problem so they went and got some grinding tool and finally freed my bike from its locked and upright position.  Now I have wheels again – woo hoo!

We found out a little more about the problem with the missing paper for our car’s registration.  It’s some kind of bill of sale we needed that we are sure we never got.  A friend told me I just needed to have the guy we bought the car from go down to the vehicle licensing bureau and sign a paper that says he sold it to us, and it shouldn’t take as long to get our plates back as if they had recreate the wheel – as it were.  Good thing that guy is still around and I remembered his name.  We got ahold of him today and he said he’d go down tomorrow and write that note, so hopefully we will have our car road legal by next week.  It’s been licensed before, so all this seems very stupid to me, but rules are rules.

Kaleb rode his bike to his old school again today to meet up with his friends.  He asked his teacher if he can rejoin his class next week and she said yes, so he came in all smiles tonight after spending the afternoon with his pals.  I’ve never seen a kid so happy to be told he can go to school everyday.  The contrasts in our lives between America and Norway are pretty incredible.

I went for a walk outside when the clouds disappeared for a few minutes.  I’d made up a shopping list of things to buy for meals I’m making this weekend so I headed over to the grocery store across the street, instead of the one with empty shelves right next door.  I also needed some vermouth so I went to the liquor store where I ran into Turid’s uncle.  He used to be a Captain for Royal Caribbean cruise lines.  We went on one of his last cruises before he retired.  It was nice to chat with him for a while and to see a familiar face when I’m out and about.   As I was in line to pay for my $20 tiny bottle of vermouth, I noticed the total for the guy in front of me was 6,549 kroner [$1,190].  He bought a few cases of wine.  Alcohol isn’t cheap here.

We started our day with a wonderful time of prayer with Tante Aslaug at her place and ended it with prayer with Tante Kari at her place.  Aslaug’s been experiencing vertigo something terrible so we prayed for her then had a nice visit afterwards.  Tante Kari fell and broke her hip two years ago and the doctor messed up the surgery (we hear that a lot around here) and she’s in constant pain.  I’m trusting God to heal both these sweet ladies because I hate to see them at less than par. 

Tante Kari lets Kaleb use her piano to practice (see photo) while we are here but it was sure hard to have a conversation over his music.  Both Kory and Kari are hard of hearing on a good day, so it was almost comical trying to talk to them with Kaleb banging away on the keys. Ya just gotta love ‘em anyway (see top photo).

The Word is Out That We are Back!

We all slept through the night and woke at six this morning, so I think we are now over jetlag.  As we were having breakfast together, Tante Aslaug walked by our kitchen window and stuck her head in the crack and asked us how we were doing.  It was very sweet to have a little visit through the kitchen window.  (See photo of Kory’s favorite Norwegian breakfast – Cod liver oil, brown cheese on bread, orange marmalade on bread and pickled herring on bread – at least they were on separate slices.)

Yesterday my biggest need was clean underwear.  Today, it was a car.  Kory got the battery all charged up and we were thankful the car started so we didn’t have to buy a new battery.  He called an insurance company to see about getting insurance on it, but the company he called said they wouldn’t insure us because we are not Norwegian residents.  They were recommended to us by cousins because they are much cheaper than IF, the company we were using before, but we had no choice but to call IF back again.  (I think IF is a funny name for an insurance company.)  Of course they will insure us, but for a price.  They said we’d get refunded half the thousand dollar premium when we leave the country, but from what I can tell about insurance companies around here (and in the U.S.), their goal is to not pay out a thing, no matter what, so I’m not holding my breath.  Even after we bought travel insurance when we lived here, we haven’t seen a dime in reimbursement from Kory breaking his back and us having to buy new airline tickets.  I wonder why we even need insurance since nothing is ever covered.  Ugh.  But insurance with IF is still cheaper than renting a car, even though the insurance premium is only a fraction of the cost of owning a car.  We’ve yet to see how much the tabs will be, or if we can even get them.

Once Kory secured our insurance, he walked down to the car registration office, only to find out he didn’t have the proper paperwork with him to get our plates back.  We looked everywhere for the paper they need, but couldn’t find it, so if they have to create new paperwork, it might be a while until we have wheels.  Norway confiscates the license plates when the vehicle is not in use, and since they sent them off to Oslo, he had to pay $22 for them to be shipped back here to the local licensing bureau, and chances are good they won’t arrive by the weekend, and unless we find that paperwork soon, we’ll be hoofing it for many weeks to come.  We need the exercise, so it’s not a problem, and everything is close, but it limits our ability to go visiting our friends.  People are happy to come here though, so we aren’t wasting any time.

My friend Tina came by today for a cup of tea (see photo) since she was at the mall anyway.  Living in a building attached right to the mall does have its advantages.  It was great to catch up with her and we’ve already started putting dates on our calendars as to when we’ll be doing things together.

Since Kory gave the insurance company our address to mail the bill to, Tina drove me over to the post office so I could register our address as being LIVE again.  They have very different systems here.  I thought all I needed to do was to give them our address and tell them someone is living here again so mail would be delivered, but that turned out NOT to be the case.  I had to fill out a form, which required my “person number” (think social security number).  I didn’t have it with me, so I couldn’t register the address.  I took the form home so I could find my person number, but I didn’t get back before 3pm when the post offices closes, (like many other services around here), so that will have to wait until tomorrow.  The woman also told me it takes six days to activate our address, so hopefully they won’t send back the insurance bill if it arrives before our mailbox is officially opened.  That was a genuine pain in the pa-tooty, but I guess that’s Norway’s way of being sure people who are here illegally will NOT be receiving mail.  They also won’t be owning a car or opening a bank account, having a cell phone, accessing the internet or getting electricity, because all those things require a person number in order to have them, too.  Norway is one tough country, but with only four and a half million people, it’s easier to keep track of them all, I suppose.

When I got home I headed for our storage unit to bring up my clothes and household items I stored last year.  I was pleased my pants still fit!  It was a bit worried about that since I didn’t bring many clothes with me.  It’s been my motivation all year to avoid stress eating – knowing I had to fit into last year’s clothes.  I’ve also been doing aerobic exercises a few times a week hoping to stem the rising tide on my waistline, and it worked!  Hallelujah.  I found Kory napping upon my return (see photo.)

Kaleb was gone all afternoon again with his buddies.  He rode his bike in the rain to meet them all after school, then as soon as he got back home for dinner, Daniel, a friend from church stopped by for an hour and they “linked” their Ninetendo games and sat in Kaleb’s room yelling things at each other as they played the same game on different screens (see photo).  It was noisy, but fun to listen to.  Our condo is so small there is nowhere to escape the noise or mess.  If two things are out of place, the entire house looks a shambles and with Kaleb around, that’s going to be the norm.

While Daniel was here, Cousin Linda (Aslaug’s daughter) stopped by with some fresh lefse and a household plant as a welcome back gift.  That was a nice surprise.  She didn’t stay long but just wanted to greet us and give us a hug.  Moments after she left, our old neighbor, Tobias, came by after his Confirmation lesson at the State church next door.  It was GREAT to see him (he stayed with us for six weeks last summer in America).  He’s grown up so much (see photo) and is looking very much like a man.  His voice has changed and he’s acting quite mature.  He turns 15 on Friday.  He seemed pleased with the few things we brought for him – one of them being a Chinese food take-out box with the wire handle.  He so wanted to have one when he was with us last year so we ordered up take-out Chinese food and it was delivered in Styrofoam boxes!  He was totally distraught over that as all he sees in the movies are those paper boxes all folded up so cool, so I managed to find a few unused ones for him and bring them – full of peanut butter M&Ms, which I discovered he also loves and aren’t available in Norway.  It was nice to see him smile and visit with him a bit.

When Tobias’ mom came to get him she gave me a ride back to our old neighborhood so I could attend my old home fellowship group that was meeting tonight.  Some of the women didn’t know I was back in town so there was a lot of squealing going on as people arrived and saw me there.  We had a great time of prayer, singing, Bible reading and visiting.  My brain hurt from trying to understand all the fast talking Norwegian.  It was like listening to people speaking in tongues until I asked God to help me understand it all - and He did. 

What a day!

The Road to Kristiansand

We took the LONG way to Kristiansand today, and as the old Robert Frost poem says, “…it made all the difference.” Sometimes the journey is better than the destination. We arrived in Kristiansand just before dark, so we look forward to exploring the town tomorrow, but the journey here certainly was a day well spent.

There were gray clouds overhead all day so none of the photos I took were eye-popping, but the day was probably more typical than the blue skies we’ve enjoyed since we left Aalesund. The south coast of Norway is known to have the best weather in all the land, so it’s a bit ironic we got clouds and a little rain today.

We passed so many different types of areas in the space between Stavanger and Kristiansand it would be hard to make any generalizations– other than it’s VERY rocky. The mountains here aren’t nearly as high or dramatic as those around Aalesund, but Aalesund is a tough act to follow. A normal drive between today’s two cities would take about four and a half hours, but we used eight as we stopped often. The first stop was at Ikea outside Stavanger. I love that store and it’s as close to a Costco fix as I can get here. We don’t need anything, but I was happy to buy gifts for a few babies soon to be born to friends of ours in Aalesund. I love bargains and the only other place I can get them is a second-hand stores. I made Kory turn around a go back to a “bruktebutikk” (used store) we passed today just so I could check out the goods. All the stores this week are on limited hours due to the holiday, but our timing was perfect. I found a few treasures, so that was a good day for me. We also stopped at several “bomb stations” (bomstasjon) – which is actually what they call “toll booths” here. Pretty funny word for it. The side roads had an unforeseen benefit – the tolls are not nearly as high. Instead of paying $12 to $15 every so often, it was only three or four bucks a pop. Gotta love that. And the scenery in the small towns and the farms right along the coast were very quaint. I can’t believe the size of the farms this far south – huge farms, huge barns, lots and lots of land – so NOT like the farms around Aalesund – and they were all lined with rock fences. (I’ve never seen so many corralled rocks in all my life.) I can’t imagine what it was like for the early settlers, as some cleared fields stood next to fields not cleared and it was easy to see how many back aches came from the clearing. We also passed several types of quarries along the back roads up in the mountains. Some of the rocks were totally white, so many of the driveways we passed were covered in white rock – which was quite a contrast to the surrounding area. So many old roads no longer used, so many old rock fences now grown over with moss and trees and so many very scary roads hugging the sides of steep cliffs with hairpin turns that made me want to lean toward Kory as we were driving, just to make sure we wouldn’t topple over to our certain death below. I’m so thankful Kory’s wrist was better today as there is NO WAY I could drive those roads. This area is as old as the hills, literally.

Kaleb kept himself entertained in the backseat all day with electronics. I so hoped he would like to see the geology and differences of all the areas we passed, but for some reason he finds Pokemon games far more interesting. He did take interest in the restaurant where we ate dinner tonight, however. I’ve never seen anything like it, but the restaurant near our hotel obviously employs a very creative artist. Each table was set completely differently, and they were each incredible works of art – using only the glasses, silverware, bread plates and napkins. Glasses were delicately balanced on each other, stacked in creative ways, the napkins were all formed in unique shapes and the silverware and plates were knit together as part of the overall effect. Kaleb insisted on taking pictures of every table (there weren’t many in the restaurant because of Easter break – normally I guess, reservations are required, so we lucked out.) I’m sure I’ll never set the table again without thinking about that restaurant. We didn’t really want the food to come and mess up the table display, as it was all just so darn clever. Kaleb is ready to start stacking glasses and artfully weaving silverware together so I might actually get him to set the table from now on. At least there is something he’ll remember from this trip.

We were talking this morning at breakfast about the hardest and most dangerous jobs in the world. Kaleb naturally wanted to know the best paid and easiest jobs to have. I told him, “Being a child,” to which he responded, “That’s not a job, it’s a privilege.” I’m thinking Norwegians should feel about the same, as they are extremely privileged just to be Norwegians, as life here is pretty sweet, no matter what kind of job they have.