Endelig! (Finally!)

I ordered a wake up call at 6:15 so I wouldn’t miss crossing the Artic Circle.  We were scheduled to cross it between 6:30 and 8:00am.  There is a contest on board for who guesses the closest time.  We crossed it around 7:15, and I guessed 7:18 but I didn’t win.  Kaleb won second place last time we crossed it and we still have the coffee mug to prove it.  Kory is still looking for the line in the water, marking the exact spot, which shows up on the map.  The rock with the little globe on top was good enough proof for me (see photo).

We woke up to cloudy skies and rain again today so all the beautiful mountains along the coast were lost under a gray blanket.  It freed me up to work on the Israel photo book some more, but it still bummed me out that Stu and Judy can’t see what a gorgeous coastline there is.  I guess it’s best they don’t know what they are missing.  Stuart claims he’s going to adopt Kory’s “It’s a great day, no matter what,” attitude, so Stu was smiling all day, even though it was miserable outside for the bulk of the day. 

By the time we got to Bodø, the rain FINALLY let up and the clouds were high enough to see the surrounding mountain peaks.  It was just what everyone needed as it was getting a little old being on this ship and having nothing to look at.  It was my worst fear, but hopefully the worst is behind us.  Apparently sunny days are here again so maybe our future is so bright we’ll need to wear shades.

We had a two and half hour layover in Bodø.  Normally, that would have been the perfect amount of time to spend in the best thrift store in northern Norway, but it was the “second day” of Pentecost today, a national holiday, so everything was closed.  Go figure.  I peeked in the window of the thrift store anyway and it got my heart racing.  I went to the nearest hotel and asked for the telephone number for that shop and called the guy on the phone to see if he would open up for just one hour.  I knew he’d make a killing.  But alas, there was no answer so all my dreams were shattered.  It was a sad day. 

Kory and I walked around town for a few hours – all the way down to the marina and back again.  Stu and Judy stayed on board, as did the rest of our group.  I just needed the exercise because we’ve been eating an awful lot of good food.  On the way back to the boat, I walked past a garbage dumpster that had a cool beer glass just sitting on top of it, with some beer still in it.  It had a picture of a Viking ship and it said “Nordland” on it, so I grabbed it for Stuart.  I knew he’d like have to gone thrift store shopping today too, so I took it as a gift from God, since I know he enjoys a good cold beer every now and then.  I hope it makes it home in one piece.

After we left the mainland at Bodø and headed west to the Lofoten Islands, I curled up on the back deck with a wool blanket and slept for a few hours.  Boy that sure felt good.  The only problem was I kept waking myself up with my snoring.  Kory slept well too, or so it sounded. 

Once we docked in the Lofotens, a bus was waiting for those of us who purchased the excursion out to the Viking long house.  Kory and I have seen it before but only from the outside, so we were curious what the inside looked like.  They had a little presentation of Viking life and served an “authentic” Viking meal.  We all drank some “mead” (a sweet liquor made with honey) and danced around the fire.  It was very touristy, but still worth doing and we got to see a lot of the islands in their summer glory, on our way back to the boat in the next city the ferry was docking.

At 11:30 tonight our boat, the Trollfjorden actually entered into the Trollfjord, a very narrow passage with a short dead end (see photo above).  The ship nearly scraped the sides while going in and out of there and how it turned around at the end is still a mystery.  The ferry staff made a big deal of out it and served hot “Troll” soup up on the top deck, they played music and offered special drinks.  It was a little party because it was the fjord this ship is named after, but it was still an impressive event even if it weren’t for that reason.  What a sight that was.

It’s hard to imagine the beauty of the Lofoten Islands because a photo only captures about 10% of what is in front of us.  I can stand in one place and turn my head from one side to the other and all around behind me and everywhere I look it’s just a “Wow!” kind of thing, so photos really don’t do it justice.  But I’m just thankful we now have nearly blue skies and the majesty and awesomeness of this place wasn’t lost in a blanket of fog.  We also have the midnight sun, which means the sun (when it’s not hidden by clouds) never goes down. (see photo taken at 12:30am tonight.)

So today, Stu and Judy were wowed by the beauty of the Lofotens and after that, I’m not sure there’s many more thrills left, but we still have several days to go so I’m sure Stuart will find something good in our future.  He’s been shouting HALLELUJAH on a fairly regular basis around here.  It guess to him, this probably seems like the holy land, although we like to call it the “Ole land.”

Trondheim Day

Our ship came in today – to the port of Trondheim, anyway.  The sun has yet to shine, but at least it wasn’t raining on us as we departed to go see what we could of the city.  I ordered a taxi before we got off the ship so Stuart wouldn’t overdo it by walking too much.  It’s a good thing I did because the big thing to see in Trondheim is Nidarosdomen, the holiest sight in Norway, and it was only open for half an hour this morning.  It’s a church that was built in 1070 over the grave of Olav Tryggvason, the Viking king that brought Christianity to Norway.  It’s said a spring sprang up over his grave that had miraculous powers, so for centuries, Norwegians from all over the land have made a pilgrimage to this spot in Trondheim.  I’m glad we live in a day and age when we could arrive by taxi.

The church was only open to the public for a brief window of time this morning because they do have Sunday services there, so Stu and Judy were some of the few to go in (see Stu doing the Hallelujah pose above). Kory and I used the time to just walk around town since we’d already been there.  It was another awe inspiring moment for the two of them, though, not ever seeing any kind of cathedral the like before.  They were both in a state of shock when we met up with them afterwards.  Glad it didn’t disappoint.

The rest of town was closed up tight.  Not only is it Sunday today, but it’s “Pinse” (Pentecost) one of the holiest days on the calendar.  Fortunately, because of that, we got a little parade of bunads (traditional Norwegian dress) as people made their way to two different churches, one was holding infant baptisms and another, confirmation.  We were relentless in our pursuit of photos, so we had no shame in asking everyone we could, to stop a minute so we could take a picture of them.  That wonderful Norwegian “hospitality” came through and they were happy to pose and smile for the camera. 

We slowly walked our way back to the ferry from the heart of town, having well over an hour to go less than a mile.  Judy watches Stuart like a hawk and is worried if he’s sitting too long, he must stand up, and if he’s walking too much, he must sit down.  Her job isn’t an easy one.

The ferry left at noon from Trondheim only to pass through an incredible lightening and thunderstorm soon thereafter.  The slanted front windows of the ship made it appear as if one were standing under a waterfall as the water just kept on coming.  The only hope for seeing anything out the windows was from the sides of the ship, and even then, the gray clouds were low and thick.  I didn’t bother taking too many photos today.  The last time we were through this stretch of the coastline, we had the exact same weather, as there is a famous octagonal shaped lighthouse we passed and I took yet another photo of it surrounded by a gray dreary blanket of sky.  Kory then sat down and drew that scene while I worked on making a photo book of our trip to Israel.  At least the day was productive, if not a little boring.

We have only seen the rest of our group during dinner tonight.  The ship is big enough we can easily lose people so we haven’t had much social time today with anyone.  Stu and Judy explored a few more floors, but they’d yet to be up on top, out in the weather.  Tonight when we docked in Røros, Kory and I got off the ship and looked around in another Hurtigruten ship that was parked in the same dock.  Boy am I glad we are on the best one in the fleet, as I’d surely have claustrophobia if I were on that one.  It’s only one step down in size from the one we are on, but it makes all the difference, with smaller windows, smaller lounges and no big open areas.  Yikes.

I called Kaleb today and he was sounding a little worn out.  He said he’s missing me a little more, but still having a good time.  He slept over with his pal Toban last night and was at Andre’s grandmother’s house when I called.  He’s been adopted as Janne’s “fourth son” so I’m sure he’s being well cared for.  But I’m starting to miss him now, too.

Kory took a nap on the top deck today, wrapped up in a wool blanket, snoring away.  The hum of the engine is good “white noise.” I’ve enjoyed being rocked so sleep each night as I lie in bed.  My only misery has been a full stomach because the food is just so darn good I can’t miss a meal.  It’s hard to complain about something like that, however. 

Well, day three is done.  Only eight to go.  Lord help me.

A Good Day To Be Indoors

I don’t think I took one breath of fresh air today, as it was so dark, dreary and wet outside, I had no desire to be out there. I had to run to the store for a few things and I used the underground passage to get there so I stayed nice and dry. Our condo has its advantages.

Kaleb played with his friend Daniel all day so at least we didn’t have to deal with him telling us how bored he was because I’m sure he wasn’t bored at Daniel’s house. When Kory went to get him at five o’clock, Kaleb called me crying his eyes out because he didn’t want to leave. I could tell he must not have slept much on his sleepover.



We invited our ex-neighbor Tone, and her daughter Sabina for dinner, along with Kory’s cousin, Ketil, and his wife, Lise. I knew Sabina wanted to spend time with Kaleb, so I had to be rather firm with Kaleb that he needed to come home before everyone arrived at our house. Kory took nearly thirty minutes trying to get him in the car because he was so overly tired, he was impossible to deal with. Kory is way more patient than I. Once Kaleb got in the car, he fell right to sleep. Kory let him sleep for thirty minutes then went and got him down in the garage. Kaleb came up the stairs, went in the bathroom and fell asleep in there with the door locked. I had to bang on the door to get him to open it and he then stumbled to the chair in his room and slept all curled up with his head resting on the arm. I’m thinking he didn’t sleep one little bit last night as it was impossible to wake him for dinner. I felt bad for Sabina, who sat in our living room patiently listening to all the things grow-ups talk about when they are at a dinner party, with no one to talk to herself. Poor thing.



Kory worked all day on rewiring different lights and lamps that weren’t working. He’s handy that way - he can fix anything. He even tore open the alarm clock to see why the second hand wasn’t working. He’s got some kind of gift. Me, I just made dinner and tried to find the piece of a missing puzzle on this family tree I’m working on. I’m totally perplexed as to why I can’t find the information I’m looking for. I need to think more outside the box. But this is the very challenge I crave when I go searching for the names of dead people. They don’t give me any grief, but they sure cause me to lose sleep at night.



My biggest challenge in this ancestral search is that a hundred years ago, parents named their kids the exact same thing. We think it’s weird that George Foreman named all his kids George Foreman, but he wasn’t the first one to come up with that idea. The Norwegians have been doing that for generations. It was most common to name the next child after the family member that had most recently died, so if a child died in infancy, the next baby would have the same name as the baby that died. That is not too tough to deal with because at least the first baby doesn’t have other records on file – like confirmation, marriage and census records. But when parents name three of their living daughters Sogni, and they are all known as Sogni Olsdotter from the same farm, and they are born within a few years of each other, it’s nearly impossible to tell which child is which. Such is the problem I’m facing now as I think the discrepancies I’m finding in birth years and husband’s names is that two sisters have the exact same name. Ugh. I sure hope they had nicknames when they were growing up so it was easy to tell them apart.



Last year Kaleb met a man on a hike we were taking up the mountain. He had two golden retrievers and he named them both Seiko. My grandma named all her dogs from 1954 to 1983, Pete, but at least she just had one at a time. But why someone would name their only two dogs the same name is beyond me. It’s the same with these parents naming their kids the same thing. What are they thinking?



People here often ask me, “What kind of name is Mickey?” like it’s a disease or something. They understand the concept of nick-names, but no one uses them. Once I tell them my real name is Mary, they all want to use that instead, because Mary is a traditional Norwegian name. No one seems to like the name Mickey. They like traditional names and hyphenated names like Tor-Arhild, Gunn-Bente, Per-Helge, and they use both names when talking about and to the person. No one would ever consider just using the first part of someone’s name as a nickname. That just wouldn’t be proper, and Norwegians are very proper people.



There was a time in Norway when all baby names had to be approved by the government before a birth certificate was registered. They didn’t want anyone feeling weird because they had a strange name – maybe that’s why they used the same name over and over again – because it was safe and had the government’s seal of approval. But that law changed about fifteen years ago when all the immigrants started infiltrating this land. I think some of them were named Mohammed.

Reservations

We met up with cousin Kari this morning to talk about “our” mutual interest in taking the Hurtigruten (Norwegian coastal ferry – see photo) up to the top of Norway and back down again next year. It will be our 20th wedding anniversary (isn’t that incredible?), and Kory has always dreamed of taking such a trip. Personally, I feel we’ve seen the best of the Norwegian landscape already when we took a three day trip on that same ferry almost two years ago up to the Lofoten Islands, but Kory often sees things differently from me. Unless I have family or friends to visit, I hate going back to a place I’ve already been on vacation. I like to visit new places every chance I get.




Kory likes to play victim from time to time, complaining that I call all the shots in our relationship, but he fails to remember the times he won’t budge an inch. This is one of those times. (And the time we bought a certain apartment building in Seattle. To this day, I still don’t want to own it.) This trip next year is very expensive and there is nothing I hate more than “cruising.” This isn’t exactly a cruise, but in a way, it is. Nine days on a ship doesn’t provide enough action for me, and even though it’s stunningly beautiful scenery, I’m not looking forward to it all that much. The only thing that makes the trip tolerable is that we are going with other people (the more, the better), so at least I’ll have someone to talk to, should the opportunity present itself. (Ha! There will be nothing else to do!) After twenty years of marriage, Kory and I have pretty much talked about everything there is to talk about. He likes to sit and drink coffee, relax and watch the world go by. This is the perfect opportunity for that. But me, I’ll be like a caged animal, pacing back and forth, wondering when I can get out. I might need a vacation after we get home.



Cousin Kari and her husband Axel are coming along on the trip, which is nice because they flew over from Norway to be witnesses at our wedding way back when, so it sort of connects the dots for them. We also might have some second cousins and a few other folks from Norway and America joining us. We get a ten percent discount if we have over ten people go, but otherwise it’s high season, full fare, and that is also not my idea of a good time. I like bargains, even when I travel. But this is Kory’s deal and Lord knows, there won’t be any changing his mind. We picked out our dates (June 11-20) and which boat we will go on, and I’ll be making the deposit next week. (Oh, to have such problems. Sometimes I admit, I lose perspective.) Kaleb will stay with his school chums that week, I’m sure, as he’s already made it clear, he’s not going.



While Kaleb was at school today, we ran into town for a couple errands. I did a little more second hand store shopping and bought some wonderful treasures, none of them costing more than $1.40 each. It lifted my spirits. I also went to the library to find a particular book pertaining to the family farms I visited yesterday, but I couldn’t find it. That bummed me out. We rushed back to get Kaleb from school and head out to Solevaag to have an early dinner with Kory’s mom’s cousin, Oddrun, and her husband, Oskar. That filled me up. We were there for five hours, talking Norwegian non-stop. That wore me out.



Kaleb had a sleepover tonight with his friend, Daniel, so Kory and I were home alone all evening. Kory vegged out for the first time in front of the TV. I tried to use the internet to help find the missing piece of information I need to connect the dots in this family tree I’m researching, but I had no luck. It’s been rainy and windy all day and night and when I sat outside to try to get the wireless signal from the library, the wind was blowing the rain all over my keyboard and the gusts were so strong it nearly blew my laptop out of my arms. I had to give up and go inside to do something else, so I worked on editing my blog from last year. I am nearly out of “inventory” for my feature column, “Nuggets from Norway” in the LaConner newspaper back home, so I need to get busy and catch-up. For some reason I thought I’d have nothing but time when we were here in Norway to work on that project, and maybe even be done with a book by now. Ha. What was I thinking?

Playing Hooky

I got a good night’s sleep last night. So much so that I realized I have way too much to do and way too little time to do it, so I stayed home from school and packed. I was sad all day. I hate that we have to leave. But I also hate that I have to pack up. I hate moving, but this isn’t quite the same thing. There are so many questions I have to ask myself over each and every item. Will I need this in Norway in the future? If not, can I give this to someone? Should I just throw it away? Do I need to take it back home with me? Will it cost more to send it than to just buy a new one in the States? Do I need it for our road trip? Can I do without it for the next few weeks so I can pack it away now? It’s like hyper packing and it takes way longer than just throwing everything in a box and putting it in storage. I made some progress though, so that was good. I just hope I made the right decisions.

Kory went over and helped cousin Odd and Tante Kari peel 20 pounds of shrimp for Hege’s Confirmation party tomorrow. When he got back he started cleaning out the garage. It’s amazing how much stuff we can accumulate in a year’s time. I’m so thankful we’ve had a garage and an attic so most of our stuff was out of our daily view. Now it’s scattered all over the house with half filled open boxes in the hall, the laundry room, living room, bathroom and both bedrooms. I hate the disarray but the day ran out of hours before I was able to fill all the boxes.

We were invited to an end-of-the-school-year party tonight by one of my classmates. Kaleb was quite perturbed that he missed a potential sleep-over with a friend to go to an adult party, but the hostess really wanted to meet him, so there was no way out. Kaleb was dreading it until we arrived and she offered him unlimited use of her laptop so he could play games on the internet. We didn’t hear a peep out of him all night. I would have preferred he learn to schmooze a little bit, but he was quite content to sit on the couch with his eyes transfixed on a computer screen. It was a wonderful party and so fun to meet the husbands of the women in my class. It completes the picture of who they are and why they are here. We had a few good laughs especially when the woman from Brazil told us her and her husband have their weekly marriage counseling session using SKYPE – as they still use their therapist from before they moved here but now they have to do it using web cameras and the internet. Too funny. The Good Teacher Inga came, which made it all the sweeter. I finally relented and gave her my blog address. She’s been wanting to read my blog but I’ve hesitated giving her the address because I wanted to feel free to write what I want without worrying what someone thinks of it. But now the cat is out of the bag. My life is an open book anyway and I’m leaving town soon so I won’t be around for the feedback. I told her I only write good things about her, but I’m sure my opinions about things don’t always agree with hers. Oh well!

We didn’t get home until after midnight but I’m so glad we went. The drive into the city and all around this area is lined with wild Lupine, now in full bloom (see photo). I’m not sure what makes the different colors but I’ve seen mostly the dark purple/blue color, but there’s also white and various shades of pink, almost burgundy. It’s just incredible how many Lupine plants there are around here. It reminds me of the drive up to Alaska in June where the Lupine lines the sides of the roads for miles and miles. I love it.

A few weeks ago when we hiked out to see the Viking grave, I had to go so slow because of the pain in my knees. They often feel like they are going to give out on me and I’m so worried about falling. We were on the hike with Tobias’s mom, Inger, and Inger’s brother works in a factory that processes shark liver oil. Inger told me if I started taking shark oil every day, in two weeks time I’d feel the difference, and I must say she was dead on. Tobias brought over some “samples” from his uncle and I’m absolutely amazed by the results. It’s considered a folk remedy here in Norway for all kinds of ailments, mainly strengthening the immune system, but the whole lubricating the knee thing has got to be the best one. I haven’t had any pain in my knees for days and they even feel strong enough I can trust them to walk down steps without holding the hand rail. It’s like ten years of aging just vanished. What a thrill, and at my age, I gotta take the thrills where I can get them!

The Boxes Are On Their Way!

Here's a bird's eye view of the area where we are moving. If you follow the line from the X you can faintly see a circle - and that's where we will live -- an area outside Aalesund called Moa. (The town of Aalesund is further out towards the water's edge.)

Kory and I drove to Kent today to deliver 28 boxes of all that our lives will consist of in Norway for the next year. I do pray they arrive safely. No final count yet on the cost but it won’t be cheap. Oh well… it’s just money. And we’ll have clothes to wear, books to read, towels to dry off with and pots to cook with, so life will be good.

I’m feeling quite relieved to know we have a car waiting for us and a house lined up. It’s a good way to start off the year. The only thing that would make it better is if the dollar made a comeback… but again, it’s just money.

Kaleb showed some sign of promise yesterday. He’s been completely against this move because he’s wanted to live in our condo, but now that he knows we’ll be so close to it I think he’s warming up to the idea of going. Yesterday he even said (with a dreamy lilt to his voice) “Oh I can’t wait til I can have gjeteost and mørepolse everyday – and we can have fiskebolle anytime we want!” (Norwegian foods that I think are disgusting but Kory and Kaleb really enjoy). So there’s always the upside to any change and I’m thankful he’s looking for it.

Cousin Turid registered Kaleb today at what will be his new school. It’s a small school with (I believe) only one 4th grade class so he’ll know all the kids, that’s for sure. We love the cousins! They are all pitching in to help us with the transition. God is good to provide such a wonderful family for us in Norway!