Packin' Up

Boring, boring, boring day. It rained and drizzled all day while we were hauling stuff down to storage and running around dropping things off here and there. The boredom was punctuated only briefly as we stopped off at Tobias’ house to pick up some things Kaleb left there. It was then I realized Tobias needed a note from his parents in case he needs medical attention while in America, and then it dawned on me he might need more than that just to get into the country. I sat for a few panic stricken moments checking different websites to see how to assure the officials he was not being kidnapped from Norway and taken home to America to become my child slave. I’m not sure we are totally out of the dark on this one, but I’ll be praying hard when we arrive that all goes well. All I could find out was that he needs a notarized letter from his parents giving us permission to travel with him, for which dates and where he will be staying. I hope that is enough. It never even crossed my mind that we could have any trouble getting him into the country, so I do pray we don’t.




Kory and I bickered all day as to what to leave in our condo and what to put in storage. He wants our place looking more like a hotel; I want it to feel personal and like it IS someone’s home people are staying in. We couldn’t disagree more, but since we don’t have any rentals lined up, I didn’t want to pack up our whole household of clothes, kitchen and bathroom things and decorations, only to have to unpack again in nine months. I absolutely hate packing and moving anything, so this was not a fun day for me.



One thing that’s been on my mind lately that I haven’t written about is how incredibly patient and quiet Norwegians are. (You’d never know Kory and I have any Norwegian blood in us at all if that were the only criteria.) I’ve seen this behavior in action time and time again. For one thing, no one EVER honks a horn for any reason. I guess it would be considered rude and obnoxious. One time we were walking on the ferry past all the cars that were lined up waiting to load. Several cars had already driven onto the ferry, but there was one car in line with a woman driver, and she was digging for something in her purse. All the cars behind her could have easily gone around her as all the other lanes were empty, but no one did. They must have sat there waiting for about two minutes. Not a single horn was beeped and no one cut in front of the line, they just waited, and when she was done, they all drove on. It was such a foreign experience for me to see that kind of tolerance. That was definitely an event that would never take place in America.



Women love to stop and chat with each other when pushing these incredibly large baby carriages around. Often times they block an entrance to a store, or an entire aisle. I’ve never seen anyone try to scoot past them, or say “excuse me” and try to get by – they just stand there waiting for the conversation to be over, and then they proceed. It’s so weird! And at the grocery store, customers have to bag their own groceries, so the entire line of people have to wait until the person is done with all the bagging and move out of the way before anyone else can get checked out. No one complains or lets on they are in a hurry. Sometimes that inefficiency drives me nuts, but waiting one’s turn is obviously part of the socializing that begins in the mandatory pre-school they have in Norway and it’s definitely part of the tempo of life here.



A few times I’ve been in the grocery store and I’ve seen someone I know, so I hollered their name to get their attention. Every single person turned their head and just stared at me. No one hollers to get anyone’s attention in Norway – they simply go over to the person and speak softly. I felt like such a moron the first time I did it, so I had to do it again. The next time I saw someone I knew, I hollered their name just to double check the experience, and sure enough, the room went silent and all heads turned to see who in the world would yell in public like that. Now I know, and my moronic days are behind me. I’m learning to adapt to this foreign land, just in time to be leaving it once again.



(The photo today is the backyard of our friends that live out on the island of Valderøya – their view is of two neighboring islands - Godøya has the mountain which has a lake at the top and that’s where their drinking water comes from. The flat as a pancake island to the right is Giske where the most powerful Viking king in all of Scandinavia once lived. I love their yard because it’s NOT boring.)

Saying Our Goodbyes

The day was completely scattered with packing, good-byes to some, fetching things Kaleb’s left at every house he’s spent time in since we got here, and continuing to tie up loose ends. Cousin Axel’s wife, Kari, said she would be our contact person should we rent out our condo. She said she’ll contact a temporary employment agency she knows about that places doctors and nurses in this area for short periods of time. She felt it would be no problem to get our place rented, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just glad she’s in charge, and not me. We have to take out everything we care about and put it in storage in the basement, so I’m not real fond of that part, but at least it will only take a few hours when we return to get all settled in again. Everything else is staying put.




Kaleb had the camera with him at school today so he took some photos of his pals, but mostly of his teacher. She’s a cutie, and as sweet as can be, so I’m glad he captured her smile so many times. He went right home after school with Andre. Kaleb, Andre, Daniel and Henrik all signed up for a Pentecostal children’s retreat this weekend so once the rain and wind stop, they should be in for a good time – I hope. I only saw him for the few minutes I was driving him to the bus stop. I’d picked up his other friend’s too and they all sat in the car with their noses in comic books. It was pretty funny looking. I’m sure it’s some form of male bonding I’m unaware of.



Kory took Kaleb to school this morning and didn’t notice he wasn’t wearing a coat. The bus terminal where the boys caught the bus to go to camp is right at the mall where we live. We were ten minutes early so I had Kaleb run home and get his coat. I’m not sure what took him so long, but he nearly missed the bus, as they had a ferry to catch and they weren’t about to wait for a little boy. Uff da. I was in such a panic, but he got there just in the nick of time.



Now that I’m nearly done packing our suitcases for home, I realized we had a little extra space in our luggage (thanks to all the stuff we’ve been able to off load on Tobias’ parents.) So I ran to my favorite second hand store to buy a few more treasures. I like to have unusual gifts on hand and for those interested in Norway. The old handmade items I’ve been able to find are something special – I think anyway. Cousin Kari says she hates all the pewter stuff I’ve bought, but I think it’s the coolest. I guess she’s not alone in her thinking, and that’s why it’s all so cheap now in the second hand stores. Yipee for me.



Yesterday was Tante Aslaug’s 85th birthday. She had some of her kids and grandkids over for a party (we were invited but couldn’t attend), so today she invited us and Tante Ruth to come over to eat the leftover cake and goodies. We were next door at her place for a while this afternoon – Kory longer than I. Aunt Ruth was there in body only – she was so lost and unable to communicate or see anything going on. I rubbed her shoulders as she’s been complaining about a pain she has there, so all she really kept saying was how good that felt, while others carried on a conversation around her. I got maybe one last photo of the three sisters together (see today’s photo – Kari is standing, Aslaug is kneeling next to Ruth). I hope Aunt Ruth is still around when we come back next year, but who knows what the future holds. She’s pretty frail right now, but she sure perked up when Aslaug gave her some licorice.



I was actually alone in the house tonight for a few hours while Kory visited his Tante Kari downstairs. Except for the sound of the wind whipping around outside, it was pretty quiet here. I even took a break to sit down and rest and watch a few minutes of television – the first time I’ve done that since we’ve been in Norway. I haven’t been missing much. What a bunch of junk.



It certainly feels like we are winding down now. There won’t be enough time to say goodbye to everyone this weekend so I’ll just have to send text messages and let my friend’s know I’m leaving. Everyone sends text messages here, rather than make a phone call. I even saw one girl riding her bike with no hands the other day because they were busy “texting.” I guess my blog could just be considered one heck of a long text message… but as my Daddy used to say, “This too, shall pass.”

My Last Day of School

Had I known our only assignment today in class was to rank all the swear words by how bad they are, I’m sure I would have stayed home. I couldn’t believe we were given that assignment. And it was out of a book, no less, complete with exercises to define what each word really means. Our teacher was even overwhelmed to hear us pronouncing the words (apparently it’s important we learn how to say them.) Good grief. Then the last hour of class we “got” to go to a presentation by some other students that was kind of like a senior project. It was one of the most boring and horrible things I’ve has to sit through since I’ve been here, so I used the time to get to know my cell phone. I learned all kinds of trick features I wish I would have known before, and I also figured out how to delete old text messages. Everyone and their uncle here use text messages as the number one way to communicate with each other. I had hundreds of them on my phone so I was glad to be rid of them. People send text messages for every possible thing – party and dinner invitations included.

And to really put the icing on the cake today, when I went outside during the lunch break, I saw a girl about ten years old from the private school that shares out building, haul off and kick a boy very hard in his side. She did it right in front of me so I yelled at her that she must NOT do that. She turned to me and with the snottiest voice she could muster, said (literally translated) “You can’t decide that,” which was her way of saying, “You’re not the boss of me.” I told her it wasn’t allowed to hit and kick other students and she must stop it right now. So she hauled off and kicked him again. I was so ticked off at her I marched into the principal’s office and tattled on her. I yelled at the principle and said they MUST teach more respect around here – not just to other students but to adults as well as I didn’t appreciate the way she spoke to me, and why in the world isn’t there an adult out on the playground anyway? The principal did what I expected and said that she would talk to the girl’s teacher, to which I replied that talking isn’t enough. I told her how Kaleb takes his daily blows (today was no exception), and it’s insane there are no consequences to these children beating up on each other. She just gave me a look like I was from another planet and then thanked me for letting her know about the situation and walked me to her door. I could have had a better exit from school, as the rest of the year has been quite pleasant.

Vestina also gave me the what-for today when she told me she’s worried, after reading my blog, that people might think she’s “like this” as she stuck her nose up in the air. She said she might come across as too picky and that no one is good enough for her. I assured her that wasn’t the case. (This is the reason I’ve hesitated in giving out my blog address to anyone in Norway.) And actually, I went to school today to help Vestina. I was going to introduce her to a woman I know from Filadelfia Church that knows a lot about makeup and styling. Vestina wants nothing more than to be around that kind of stuff and see what she can learn. The woman couldn’t meet with us until 2:45 so I had to kill a few hours in town. It wasn’t a bad thing as I was able to change my address info at the bank, post office and library, and I also did a little thrift store shopping and found the coolest hand croqueted bed cover for fifty bucks. A big thrill for me as it’s just like one my grandma made that I always wanted, but my aunt inherited it, rightly so. God provides. I also used the time to take a lot of photos of downtown Aalesund since I won’t be going there so much anymore. Today was my last day to take the bus, too. So after waiting for two hours, it turns out the woman we were to meet was running late so I had to catch the bus at three and I was never able to introduce them. Talk about frustrating. Vestina will meet with her next week on her own, I guess. I had to get home to pack up Kaleb’s things for the weekend as he is now at his first church retreat with forty other kids around his age. He has two friends from school with him, a new friend from church and our neighbor girl, Sabina. They were all sitting in the back of the bus after we dropped them off. I always thought the bus rides were one of the best things about going to camp. They are just going across the fjord but it might take an hour to get there with the ferry wait and all. I’m so praying he stays safe and has a great time. We thought it would be a good way to end out his school year (his last day isn’t until Tuesday however) and have some good memories with his friends before we leave. He was thrilled to go. So I’m thankful something good happened today.

After cleaning up the house a little, Kory took the van in to his friend’s car shop and got two (slightly used) tires mounted and balanced and installed on our car for FREE, just in time for our road trip. Once again, God provides! Tonight we walked over and visited with cousin Odd for a while as Kory forced me to take a break from my computer (I’m still working on picture books of our time in Norway.) The day was not a total loss, but I’m glad it’s now over.