Headin' to Turkey

It was anything but a routine day, today.  After Kaleb was off to school and I posted my blog, I had to start packing. 

I’m currently on a charter flight heading for Turkey.  The name written on the outside of the plane is DETUR, which in Norwegian means “your trip,” but in English, it gives me pause and makes me pray we make it to our destination.   Antalya, Turkey is one of the cities visited by the Apostle Paul in his wanderings.  We are looking forward to what the week will bring.  I’m just thankful we are traveling with people who know their way around.  Kory’s second cousin Bjørn owns a vacation house in the neighboring city of Side, so we will be staying with them for the week.  There are ten of us total on this trip; the three of us, Bjørn and his “samboer” (living together partner), Ingrid, their 7 year old twins, Markus and Jonas; Ingrid’s son, Tobias and daughter, Josefine, and Ingrid’s niece, Janne (all teenagers).  I think Bjørn rented a bus for when we arrive, there are so many of us, and so much luggage.  But the weather report says sunny warm days are in our future, so we are all looking forward to that.

Kaleb came home right from school today and was crying within minutes of walking through the door.  He had a tough day as he’s been discovered by another bully on the playground.  Apparently his previous nemesis, Morten, hasn’t given him any trouble at all this year, but some new kid named Alexandar lit into him.  He’s yet to own up to anything he does to set these kids off, but I know he’s not an innocent victim in all of it.  He got a couple shin bruises from being kicked, but he was able to thwart the punches to the face by just holding his arms still long enough for the playground teacher to come to his rescue.  Tough day for him.  Good thing we’re leaving town for a while.

I asked Kaleb how any kid could get the better of him, since he’s been working out and is getting stronger by the day.  He said, “Well, Mama, strength is equal to mass times acceleration and my problem is, I don’t have enough mass!”  I guess that’s one way to say he’s a skinny little kid, but the fact he said it that way leans him toward the “nerd” category, which has it’s own tendency toward being picked on.  Poor thing.

Kory wanted to take a nostalgic trip out to his hometown this morning, so I took a break from packing and went with him.  I wanted to see if there were any bargains at the sweater factory outlet store over there.  I think the glory days of buying wool sweaters for $11-20 are over.  The cheapest ones were a hundred dollars.  Even just a wool headband was $20.  It takes all the fun out of shopping when the prices are so high, but I did buy Kaleb the next size up in long underwear, both pants and top.  He wears them under his ski gear and they are pretty toasty warm without being itchy.  Only practical items today.

Kory and I should have gone for our walk in his old hometown today, but I was getting antsy and needed to get to the task at hand – packing.  I also had to clean out the frig and pass on a few things to the Tantes, including the beautiful roses I got last night from Toban’s parents when they came for dinner.  Tante Aslaug said she wasn’t sure she could keep them alive for me all week.  I just laughed and told her I gave them to her so she could watch them die.  They sure are pretty.

Kory was a little crabby today because he spent too much time in our storage unit getting out the luggage and he started mumbling about all that’s in there.  He’s one to talk.  He went dumpster diving a few days ago and got enough stuff to fill the back of our van twice.  To each his own.  It didn’t take me long to find the luggage I needed.  I’m just thankful we have a place to put things, otherwise the condo would be mighty crowded.  Kind of how I feel right now on the plane with the seatback reclined in front of me on a full flight and my backpack lying where my feet want to go.  I can barely type.  But as my daddy used to say, “This too, shall pass.”

An Incredibly Boring Day

The weather was most unpredictable today so we scratched our plans to go for another hike (my body is thankful for that). Instead, we cleaned house. Kaleb had arranged a sleepover with a friend for tonight so I told him we wouldn’t take him there until his room was clean. It took him nearly all day to clean it, but it was pretty impressive by day’s end. I used the time to clean my desk, which tends to get overrun with paperwork and little bits of this and that. And Kory used the bulk of his day changing out the tires on my new/used bike. He was concerned I’d have a blowout sometime soon, so he solved that problem. He likes to solve problems.

Our big outing today was going to the mall at Moa to buy some groceries. We ran into a few people Kory is related to so it almost felt like it was a social outing, not an errand. I also ran into a woman that used to go to my Norwegian class – she got a job stocking produce at the supermarket. She doesn’t like the job so much but she said it’s better than going to class. The mall was packed today. Since all the stores were closed yesterday and will be again tomorrow – there was a run on groceries. We were there around 2pm and many of the shelves were already empty. I guess it also has to do with the fact it’s Confirmation time so many people are having parties this weekend, but it was almost scary looking. There wasn’t a loaf of bread in sight, and an entire aisle of meats was just empty. The grocery store must have been a madhouse when the doors opened today. I’m still not used to NOT being able to buy what I want when I go to the store to buy it. It always catches me by surprise that some basic item like bread or eggs or milk might actually not be there when I go. I’m such a spoiled American.

We saw a lot of “Russ” (pronounced Roose) kids at the mall today. Russ is defined in the dictionary as “sixth former” so I have no idea what it really means, but when I looked up “sixth former” it said something about studies at the “videregaaendeskole,” which is what they call high school. I do know that starting May 1st every year, all the kids that are going to complete “high school” begin their shenanigans. High schools here are more like trade school/community college type things. Kids are only required to attend school for ten years so the last three years are optional. If they go, they have to pick a specific course of study and when they are done, they are certified in some trade, or prepared academically for further study in a field if it requires advanced education. So all these kids we would call soon “graduates” are called “Russ.” And for some reason, after May 1st, they all wear bright red overalls everyday for the last six weeks of school. The overalls have all kinds of things printed on them – weird sayings, the Norwegian flag, handprints… it’s all very artsy. I’m not sure if they order them that way or customize them themselves, but they are pretty darn proud they are finishing up school and they want to be noticed, that’s for sure. Also, a lot of Russ kids go together and buy bright red vans and they all paint their names on the sides of them, along with other slogans and symbols, and they drive them around town honking their horns and drawing attention to themselves. These vans get passed down from one graduating class to another and I think there is a special permit they must get just for these six weeks because I see those vans parked behind buildings the rest of the year and no one drives them anywhere – but now they are out on the roads enforce. The local newspaper had an article on the number of traffic tickets issued to Russ vans the first night of Russ. Russ students also design bright red business cards they get printed up with their picture on it (usually with some corny pose), their personal motto and contact information. Younger kids collect these Russ cards like my brothers used to collect baseball cards. Even Tante Kari has all her grandkids’ Russ cards stuck in the mirror in her entryway – so I’m not sure what’s up with that either, but it’s a long standing tradition here. The Russ kids pull pranks on each other and there is a lot of tolerance for the mischief they make. I’m not sure they break many laws but they do a lot of crazy things and have a lot of parties, that’s for sure. I guess it’s a time they all get to act out and be childish one last time before they enter the work force or go on to higher education. It’s a little different than in the U.S. as graduation itself is somewhat dignified and a more formal event, but here it’s quite the opposite, as they don’t even have a graduation ceremony.

After Kaleb left for his sleepover, Kory and I were incredibly bored as we couldn’t think of a thing to do. We will not be good empty-nesters, I’m afraid. Kory wanted to go to a movie but I didn’t want to spend the money. We now have one vacancy at our apartment building in Seattle and two more on the way. The economic crisis is finally hitting us. We may need to go home even earlier than expected if we don’t find some renters soon! Yikes.

The Unknown

I’m beginning to set up on-line bill paying and taking care of the smallest of details. I fear as the days grow nearer, I’ll be in a panic and not thinking about the little things.

Our friends left yesterday and 2 new dogs arrived today, along with an old friend for lunch. She brought a friend. Kaleb is so behind in his school work and I was hoping to make big progress today but we didn’t. At least we got The Weekly Puppy published (but not delivered). My list of things to do before we go keeps growing, and the days keep passing.

If we could live in our condo in Norway, we would all be tickled pink we are going - couldn’t be happier. But the fact we are not living there makes us all want to stay home. We want the familiar – to some extent. We love the location – right next to the other aunts; attached to the mall; across the sidewalk from the swimming pool and movie theatre; right next to the library; across the street to the church. Everything we would ever need is within arm’s reach, and it would be furnished (if Aunt Ruth was no longer living there). But as it is, we face the strong possibility of moving into an empty apartment in an unknown neighborhood.

In Norway, when tenants move, they even take the light fixtures and heat registers and often the appliances. We cannot possibly afford to furnish an apartment, nor do we want to ship furniture over there, so the old “what will we do?” question keeps popping in my head. I trust God that he has the ability to provide a house sitting opportunity, or even a furnished apartment, or even our own condo… but it’s all a big unknown right now and it’s kinda scary.