The biggest (and most expensive) challenge I face now is the Norwegian bedding system. In America we use matching sheets, a few blankets and a bedspread. Norwegians just use a fitted sheet over the mattress and a duvet cover with the down filled comforter tucked neatly inside for the top half. They have thick down for winter, thin for summer. The bottom sheet shows (but never matches the top half), and they just fold the duvet/comforter in half the long way, and call it good. It’s easy to make the bed, that’s for sure, as there is no tucking and straightening involved, but I like what I’m used to. We haven’t switched over to the Norwegian system because we like sleeping under the same covers so we can snuggle. In Norway, every person has their own duvet, so even couples sleeping together in a bed, don’t share the covers. Kaleb likes to crawl into bed with us in the morning, so that system would leave him out in the cold, as there are no covers in the middle of the bed. We brought our American bedding with us, but now that we are leaving, we need to convert all the beds so if we rent this place out, people get what they are used to. There are a lot of pieces to buy, so I’m back to shopping again, but it’s not the kind of things that can be found at a second hand store. Poor me, literally.
Kory was able to finish putting oil on our deck, so at least that task was completed this afternoon and the wood should be well protected for another year. I pretty much wrapped up the search for dead relatives for my friend Stuart. He’s got to be one of the best documented Norwegians there are. It helps if someone comes from a long line of farm owners that don’t move around much, because the records are then so easy to find. I’ve been trying to find information for two other friends with Norwegian ancestry too, but they come from the poor side of the tracks. There was a definite class system at one time in Norway and the farm owner’s children would NEVER marry into the family of the farm workers. The farm owners are well documented because they’ve paid taxes since Viking times, but the farm workers were just workers who owned nothing to tax (they were like indentured servants, or slaves on the farm) and they often moved from farm to farm, so their records are pretty sketchy. But it was a big thrill for me to have such a phenomenal run of luck in finding so many of Stuart’s ancestors, I just couldn’t stop myself. I wish I had such a complete family tree. There is no doubt where that man comes from or that his roots run deep around here.
Kaleb was restricted from going to his classmate’s neighborhood after school today because of how poorly he behaved this past weekend, but lucky for him, Tobias doesn’t live there. Tobias called and asked him to come over, so they spent a gorgeous afternoon sitting inside playing a new Wii game. What has childhood been reduced to?
Tobias’ step-dad, Bjørn, invited us all out to go fishing this evening on the fjord, so at least we all got some kind of authentic Norwegian experience out of the day. It was a gorgeous evening. We went out around eight o’clock and got back around eleven. Norwegians do a lot of things late at night, especially in the summer when it’s still light out. Kory brought along his short fishing pole (see photo of Kaleb using it), but never caught any fish with it. Bjørn used just a fishing line wrapped around a hunk of plastic and he caught five fish at a time with it. No pole required, he just pulled the line up out of the water with his bare hands. It was so basic, but it worked wonders. They just get down to business around here when it comes to fishing. It’s not about the sport, or comfort and convenience, it’s about results.
All in all there were sixteen fish that bit the dust tonight (see photo of Tobias with one of them in one hand, and his fishing line in the other.) I felt bad for them as they squiggled and squirmed in the bucket. I hate watching things die, especially if I’m going to eat it later. According to Bjørn, they make great “kvelds mat” (night food). He said as a kid they used to go out and catch these “Sei” fish, clean them, chop them into three chunks, boil them, remove the bones and skin, then spread the meat out on bread and top it off with a little mayo. Nothing could taste better, he says. He licked his lips after he told me that. It was too late, and we weren’t hungry enough to do it at midnight tonight, but I’m pretty sure I know what we’ll be eating tomorrow.
