I was up at six this morning making waffle batter and baguette sandwiches. I didn’t know I signed up for this when we signed Kaleb up for soccer. But twice a year, in the fall and spring, his soccer club hosts a “Cup” where they invite all the teams with nine year old kids from the surrounding areas to come play soccer for the day on their turf. (This year’s cup was sponsored by “Ergo” – a company owned by Morton’s father.) There were 350 kids playing all day on one big field parceled out for each game. The games were only 25 minutes long with a one minute half time, so the day moved quickly. Kaleb had four games back to back, but I missed most of them because I was in the café cooking up that waffle batter. All the parents were required to bring different food items (hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.) to be sold in the café (which is located in their clubhouse next to the soccer fields). I brought three liters of batter and I made a lot of waffles (I counted at least 50 liters of batter in the kitchen – they bring it in 1.5 liter pop bottles for easy transport.) I also brought 20 sandwiches (baguette style with cheese and ham as requested), and a skuffekake – a cake which I didn’t make properly (oh well…)
The soccer club at Blindheim uses the money made from the food sales today to support the club in the future when they travel to games as far away as Oslo - in their junior and high school years. (Currently all the games are played locally, but as the boys advance, the competitions go nationwide.) They made $4,000 on their “cup” day last year on food sales and they ran out of food then so this year they brought twice as much food and there wasn’t that much left over. I imagine they made quite a bit of money today too, even though the weather was a bit touch and go. At least the storm passed from yesterday, leaving the first dusting of snow in mountaintops (they said they would have played in the storm too – as nothing stops a soccer game around here). I prayed all night Kaleb wouldn’t have to play outside in rainy weather as he’s not quite acclimated to that yet, but God was good to us and it was sunny all morning and then the rain started just as he finished his last game! (That’s Kaleb in control of the ball in the photo – a rare moment, believe me.) They don’t keep score here – their only “goal” is for the kids to have fun and to give everyone a chance to play (so Norwegian). Kaleb was keeping score himself and he was only having fun because his team was winning (so American), but he didn’t make any goals himself. Kaleb’s team will now be invited to other “cups” by other soccer clubs, but it’s optional for him if he goes or not – so the pressure is off. He still practices twice a week and they play scrimmage games every week so it’s a bit different than the soccer system we have at home. All-in-all it was a fine day, but very sad for us to miss church because of it though. Ironically, Odd and Turid and Hege went to church today, so maybe that balances things out (they couldn’t remember the last time they went.) Hege is going to be confirmed this year so the state church requires all confirmants to go to church a few times during the course of the year – today being one of them. (I guess those “Holy Ole” tactics were a bit much so they scaled down their requirements for conversion a bit.)
Tobias (Kaleb’s 3rd cousin and new “bodyguard”) came by the soccer field today to watch Kaleb play. His mom and dad and four year old twin brothers came along, too. It was so nice of them to be supportive, especially since we have just recently met them all. I didn’t want to invite any family members to come watch Kaleb play for fear they would do it out of some unspoken obligation or cultural norm I wasn’t aware of – but these folks just came on their own accord, so it was all the better. Kaleb was on his last game, so after he finished up he went over to Tobias’ house for the rest of the afternoon. He came home ecstatic that Tobias had outgrown his Pokemon cards and he had given Kaleb his entire collection (at least 500 cards Kaleb says), including a Pokemon notebook for storage. Kaleb quickly did the math and realized that he’s been buying packs of Pokemon cards here in Norway for ten bucks a pop – and there are only ten cards in each pack, so he just netted $500 worth of Pokemon cards, plus some special collectable chips and the notebook. He figured that was nearly the cash equivalent to the amount he lost on Washington Mutual stock this week – so he was shouting HALLELUJAH almost as loud as Kory does. God is good.
The soccer club at Blindheim uses the money made from the food sales today to support the club in the future when they travel to games as far away as Oslo - in their junior and high school years. (Currently all the games are played locally, but as the boys advance, the competitions go nationwide.) They made $4,000 on their “cup” day last year on food sales and they ran out of food then so this year they brought twice as much food and there wasn’t that much left over. I imagine they made quite a bit of money today too, even though the weather was a bit touch and go. At least the storm passed from yesterday, leaving the first dusting of snow in mountaintops (they said they would have played in the storm too – as nothing stops a soccer game around here). I prayed all night Kaleb wouldn’t have to play outside in rainy weather as he’s not quite acclimated to that yet, but God was good to us and it was sunny all morning and then the rain started just as he finished his last game! (That’s Kaleb in control of the ball in the photo – a rare moment, believe me.) They don’t keep score here – their only “goal” is for the kids to have fun and to give everyone a chance to play (so Norwegian). Kaleb was keeping score himself and he was only having fun because his team was winning (so American), but he didn’t make any goals himself. Kaleb’s team will now be invited to other “cups” by other soccer clubs, but it’s optional for him if he goes or not – so the pressure is off. He still practices twice a week and they play scrimmage games every week so it’s a bit different than the soccer system we have at home. All-in-all it was a fine day, but very sad for us to miss church because of it though. Ironically, Odd and Turid and Hege went to church today, so maybe that balances things out (they couldn’t remember the last time they went.) Hege is going to be confirmed this year so the state church requires all confirmants to go to church a few times during the course of the year – today being one of them. (I guess those “Holy Ole” tactics were a bit much so they scaled down their requirements for conversion a bit.)
Tobias (Kaleb’s 3rd cousin and new “bodyguard”) came by the soccer field today to watch Kaleb play. His mom and dad and four year old twin brothers came along, too. It was so nice of them to be supportive, especially since we have just recently met them all. I didn’t want to invite any family members to come watch Kaleb play for fear they would do it out of some unspoken obligation or cultural norm I wasn’t aware of – but these folks just came on their own accord, so it was all the better. Kaleb was on his last game, so after he finished up he went over to Tobias’ house for the rest of the afternoon. He came home ecstatic that Tobias had outgrown his Pokemon cards and he had given Kaleb his entire collection (at least 500 cards Kaleb says), including a Pokemon notebook for storage. Kaleb quickly did the math and realized that he’s been buying packs of Pokemon cards here in Norway for ten bucks a pop – and there are only ten cards in each pack, so he just netted $500 worth of Pokemon cards, plus some special collectable chips and the notebook. He figured that was nearly the cash equivalent to the amount he lost on Washington Mutual stock this week – so he was shouting HALLELUJAH almost as loud as Kory does. God is good.
