Homeward Bound

We took our last walk around the streets of Rome this morning trying to notice things we’d missed before. We were all kind of melancholy as we’ve enjoyed this trip so much. Kaleb even said, “I can’t wait to get back to America to tell all my friends about the experiences we’ve had,” so I reminded him a simple postcard every now and then could do the same. He said “Naw, I really need to tell them in person.” And that’s sort of how I feel. Writing about things sometimes just doesn’t cut it, but often retelling the story in person doesn’t do it justice either. I guess that’s why experiencing something is the best way to learn about it. The culture, history, flavor… all of it needs the personal touch. We feel so blessed to have so many experiences that enrich our lives. (I took over 1200 photos so we’re sure not to forget.)

After breakfast we went into a grocery store in search of a type of candy that Kaleb got at a restaurant one night, but we were unable to find it. We did, however, find several other goodies, so we loaded up on cheap wine (less than 2 euros per bottle – about $2.50 which is even cheaper than Trader Joe’s), olive oil, vinegar, fresh pasta, dried pasta, cookies, candy, raisins (which were incredible!), nuts and chocolate – just a few things to snack on during the day and to taste once we are back home and want to relive the memories. The extra pieces of luggage we bought came in handy (we bought another piece in Pisa yesterday). Kory started drinking wine regularly four years ago when he found out his arteries were clogged and normally we just buy the cheap stuff at Trader Joe’s and he drinks it like medicine. We haven’t bought it so much now in Norway because it’s about $20-$30 for the cheapest bottles (and they really taste like medicine), so we loaded up our luggage with cheap (but hopefully good tasting) wine to bring home. Kory was almost giddy.

Public transportation in Italy is very inexpensive and kids travel free, so we took the train to the airport and flew out of town. We didn’t have a direct flight this time so we landed in Copenhagen for an hour, then took an hour long flight to Oslo before our 50 minute flight to Aalesund. We had to clear customs in Oslo, which proved to be quite the challenge since our flights were only 45 minutes apart. We had to collect our luggage, clear customs and go stand back in the check-in line to get our luggage back on the plane. To top it off, the gate we had to take was at the farthest end of the airport and the moving sidewalks weren’t working. When we saw on the reader board “gate closing” for our flight, we sent Kaleb running on ahead to ask them to hold the flight. He ran like the wind and told me later he was a little stressed out about it, but I think it was good for him to have some responsibility like that. He said he didn’t think they even knew he was American because he talked to the flight attendants only in Norwegian and asked them to wait a little longer because his parents were coming as fast as they could. I didn’t want to run because I was worried about Kory’s heart, plus I have a nasty blister on my foot that has slowed me down but good. So Kaleb saved the day and we made our flight home. He was pretty proud of himself.

The snow that was piled high before we left Norway had all melted while we were gone, but last night more came, so there’s about 2-3 inches of fluffy new stuff covering everything again. It made me glad we had some days in the 50s and 60s while we were gone as it’s just downright cold now. Our house was 42 degrees inside when we got home at 9:30. The only room that was tolerable was the bathroom because we left the floor heat on and put all our plants in there so they wouldn’t freeze. I’d like to say it’s good to be home, but it would be nicer to have a little warmer homecoming.

Looking through the week’s worth of mail, the only thing notable was the certificate I got saying I passed the speaking portion of the Norsk Prøve 2 test. I have to wait a few more weeks for the rest of my results, but all I can say is, they have pretty low standards at this level. The front page of the big national newspaper today said that only a small portion of the immigrants required to take the 250 hours of Norwegian lessons actually complete them. I certainly understand why, but it will be interesting to see what they will do to enforce it. If only Norwegian could be easier. I don’t remember having this much trouble learning Spanish in college, but I was younger then. Kaleb noticed almost all the Italian words ended with a vowel. I’d like to end Norwegian words with something too, but it wouldn’t be a vowel.

The Last Pisa Italy

When we found out the Leaning Tower of Pisa was only a three hour train ride from Rome, Kaleb and I out-voted Kory for how to spend our last full day here in Italy. It was so worth it. We caught an express train north and by lunchtime we were having pizza in Pisa looking at the Tower of Pisa (Kaleb’s idea). We climbed to the top of the tower, which proved to be the best thrill so far as it was a very strange sensation. When we were going with the lean, we climbed up steps but it felt like they had no altitude or resistance, but when we were going away from the lean, the climb was extra strenuous. The marble stairs were so worn down from all the tourists climbing the tower for so many centuries, the pattern on each step looked like a contoured tractor seat, and they actually were quite comfortable to sit on. We were lucky there weren’t many tourists in town today, as reservations are required to climb the tower, but we got right in.

We had less than four hours in the city of Pisa but we made the most of it. We had a nice walk from one end of town to the other, as the train station is just inside the walled city on the south and the Tower and neighboring church are just inside the walls on the north. It’s a cute town, extremely old, with a lot of character. The only problem we had all day were non-natives aggressively peddling their wares and following us as we walked along. We finally decided we wouldn’t be Americans, as they could all speak English, so we switched over to our secret language and just spoke Norske as we strolled along and looked at things. It was fun to pretend we didn’t understand them when they approached and we just responded to their inquiries in Norwegian. We got a kick out of it every time as they looked so confused. I’m sure we had AMERICAN written all over us, but our plan worked and they left us alone.

We enjoyed the view of the Tuscany region of Italy as we zoomed through it on the express train heading to Pisa. It has a lot of rolling hills, farm land, and vineyards. Rarely was there some beautiful estate surrounding the vineyards, however. Most of the vineyards we saw had a small camping trailer in the midst of it and some guy out in the field walking around. Either it’s a farm worker’s home or the farmer’s little get-away from his home, I’m not sure which, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. The train went straight up the coast so we traveled through a few touristy towns nestled along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea as well. We had another gorgeous day here, which makes me feel so fortunate since the rest of Europe is getting blasted with cold and snow, but it seems Italy and Spain are being spared at the moment. Hurrah for us. The train ride back went quickly as we bought a deck of cards to pass the time, since it was dark and the view no longer occupied us.

We ate our last Italian dinner in Italy tonight in Rome near our hotel. I guess one of the biggest surprises I’ve had here is that not once have I smelled garlic! Oh how I love that smell, and not a single restaurant we’ve been in or passed by, has that smell wafting from their establishment. None of the food we’ve eaten has had garlic in it either, so I’m not sure if America has just added that to Italian foods or what. And Italian dressing here is just olive oil and balsamic vinegar – that’s it – they just put it on the table for the customer to mix themselves – no spices involved. So it’s funny to see how much America has been influenced by Italy, but also how much we have changed things. In Italy, their food is much simpler, but I’ve heard, they care greatly about the quality of ingredients. More than once the waiter has told us it was “special” cheese or “special” this or that (assuming they could speak English). So that must be what makes everything taste so good – I’m not sure, but every meal has been incredible and I’ll miss that the most – and also how good (and cheap) the wine has been. We haven’t spent nearly the amount of money I thought we would, so that’s also been nice. I guess Italy is struggling since they converted to the Euro (I know Greece has been ,too). Things used to be much cheaper in Italy than they are today, but for us, having lived in Norway now and almost thinking the prices of things there are “normal” (when they aren’t at all), Italy has been a nice reprieve. Eating out is something I’ve missed doing since living in Norway because it’s just so darn expensive so we don’t do it, but now my needs have been met. The food here has satisfied me quite well and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to eat frozen pizza again.

Visiting Art

The Borghese Gallery here in Rome has one of the best collections of marble statues in the world, so they say. It also has a stunning collection of oil paintings by some of the greatest artists of their day. We tried to get in to the gallery yesterday but the tickets were sold out. The gallery only takes reservations and the viewings are only two hours long. We got reservations for this morning so we were up and out the door early to see ART at it's best.

I was a bit worried about Kaleb's attention span, not having wandered through many art museums with him in the past, but once again, he amazed me. I had the Rick Steve's self guided tour book along and we walked from room to room and read what Rick had to say on the important pieces in each room. Kaleb found the whole thing fascinating. He was so in to it that it made me even more excited to see these classic works of art. At one point we laid on our backs on a bench in the middle of a room to see the fresco painted on the ceiling and Kaleb started pointing out all the things he recognized. The painting was called "The Council of the Gods" and it depicted many of the well known Greek and Roman gods, which he knows from reading about them over the years. He was able to name several of the the gods, which made me feel quite ignorant. It delights Kaleb greatly when he discovers he knows something I don't know, so today was a good day for him. But as he'll soon realize, it doesn't take much to trump his mother.

As we were leaving the gallery, we saw a small flock of parrots in the gardens just outside. That gave us all a thrill as we stopped in our tracks to watch them. We could only guess how they got there and our theory was that Borgeshe (the cardinal that owned the palacial house and art collection we had just toured), also had an aviary, so we surmised that some of the parrots escaped and started their only colony like the parrots of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. We may be all wet, but we often write our own script as to how something came to be, so it was fun working on that one. And the birds were beautiful and nothing we expected to see in Italy, of all places.

We took the subway over to Vatican City (see photo of Kaleb posing as a statue in front of St. Peter's Basilica) and once we saw how long the line was we just sat in the square and soaked up some Vitamin D. I think I fell asleep for a few minutes while Kaleb was busy chasing after pigeons. It was downright hot sitting in the sun so it felt like a taste of summer as we sat there trying to figure out our next move. Fortunately for us, we sat there long enough until the line disappeared so we just walked on in to the church and looked around. Today was Ash Wednesday and we had intentionally missed the Pope's address to the masses (which we later saw on TV). We then went over to the Vatican Museum and the Sistene Chapel and walked until I thought I couldn't walk one more step. There is four miles of art work in that museum and we saw every last bit of it as there were no crowds and we had free run of the place. Kaleb was a bit disappointed in the Sistene Chapel as he thought the whole painting of God reaching out to Adam (otherwise known as the "pull my finger" painting), would take up the entire ceiling. The fact it was nearly lost in all the other scenes from the Bible was a real bummer to Kaleb so he complained bitterly about how his perspective and expectations of the whole thing were shaped from previous information he had about it and it just wasn't what he was expecting. I too have to say it wasn't what I was expecting to see, but it still was fascinating.

So our day was taken up by ART and a thousand questions from Kaleb about the catholic religion and I'm so impressed with myself that I survived it all. Sometimes Kaleb's questions nearly send me over the edge. As soon as I come up with one answer, he wants to know the answer to all the exceptions to the general statement I just made. So by day's end, my mind is as tired as my feet and there is nothing left but sleep.

The Day of the Dead

Kaleb protested this morning. He was so tired from our long day yesterday that he just wanted to sleep in and be all "cozy" this morning. So we did. I brought breakfast to our room which he ate while watching American cartoons (dubbed in Italian). We didn't have much of an agenda today but because the forecast was for a little rain, we decided to take in some indoor activities for a change. Kaleb's dream day would be just to ride the subway from one place to another and get off at every stop and just see what is there, and we almost accomplished that. We bought a three day pass that works for the buses and subway and we took full advantage.

We finally figured out what the deal is with the buses. It works on an honor system and apparently, not many people here are honorable. The bus driver could care less if anyone swipes their little magnetic paper tickets in the reader, which is located somewhere in the center of the bus, so people just get on and get off without paying. Since it's not required, and the buses are frequently jam packed full, it makes it awkward to try and pay anyway. It's a very strange system indeed, but somehow they must make money to pay for the whole thing as the busses run quite frequently. The subway, however, has turnstiles so it's necessary to run the card through the reader to access that.

So today we took the bus seemingly to the edge of town to the Catacombs of Priscilla. We found out we were all wrong on our assumptions of what the catacombs were used for. Kory thought they were secret hiding places for the early Christians, Kaleb thought they were secret passageways under the city and I didn't know what they were. Turns out they are all just the burial grounds of Roman citizens. The catacombs we visited today had over 40,000 people in them, and it's just one of many in the city. The real estate was too expensive to put the cemetaries above ground, and since Rome is built on a bunch of soft pumice, which makes digging rather easy, they just went below ground and dug out little spots for the bodies. It is like an entire underground city though as there are hallways all over the place with bodies floor to ceiling. I guess they just kept digging down when things got full so in some places seven bodies would be buried all in a column one under the other with about six inches of rock separating them. Each burial spot would be bricked up and a plaque set on the face to show who was there. The tombs went undiscovered for over 700 years but now most of them have been opened and raided , but there were some with the bones still in them and some that haven't been opened. The cool part though was all the art work that was painted around some of the tombs, depicting different scenes from the Old Testament. The oldest known picture of Mary and the baby Jesus is in the catacombs of Priscilla - from the second century. It was all quite fascinating.

We went from there to a church that had a crypt beneath it with the bones of 4,000 monks and someone, at some point, got the idea to use the bones as decorations and to walk through that place was just downright morbid (see photo). It wasn't the kind of thing I would think would be in any way honoring the monks - since all their bones were scattered about in very artsy ways. It seemed more like something that would have been done with the bones of the Jews after the holocaust to just display them for show. Room after room was decorated with skulls and thigh bones and every bone from every body. I'm sure Kaleb won't forget that place -but it sure gave me the creeps.

It started raining just after we exited that church so we sat in a cafe and had cappuccino to wait out the squall. Kaleb read the travel book and discovered there was a Children's Museum here in Rome, so we took the subway and spent the rest of the day there.

We had more good food and wine for dinner tonight. There must be people that come to Italy just for the food and wine, as that's turning out to be my favorite part. And because of all the walking we are doing, I'm sure I'm losing weight - at least that's what I'm telling myself.

A Day in Pompeii

Today was my favorite day so far. We were up at six to catch the 7.30 high speed train south to Naples and then a commuter train on to Pompeii. The train ride down provided a look at parts of Italy I'm not sure we'd see otherwise. Besides seeing a few vineyards, a lot of olive orchards, marble quarries, snow covered mountains and rolling hills with a castle here and there perched on top, we also saw garbage dumps with people living in the midst of them in little camper trailers, many abandonded and/or delapitated old farm buildings, and a lot of greenhouses. The countryside wasn't nearly what I thought it would be and I'm sure it's prettier in the spring and summer. I think all the movies of Italy use the Tuscan countryside, which is north of Rome, as south of Rome is quite the everyday ordinary, working man's place, not the backdrop for anything Hollywood would want to film.

Naples itself has an incredibly different feel than Rome, which we discovered later today after we returned from our trip to Pompeii. Traveling to Pompeii was a dream come true for Kaleb as he has read a lot about that place also and couldn't imagine it in his mind. Walking around there for four hours and only scratching the surface of what was there, helped him absorb some of the enormity of it all. It was a town built many centuries before Jesus walked the earth and in 79AD it was covered in ash and hot lava by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, just five miles away. Some areas of the town had 16 feet of ash, so life was perfectly preserved there when around 2,000 people lost their lives that fateful day. The town originally had over 20,000 people and I was surprised by how massive the place was - 164 acres of land and every bit of it impressive. About 75% of it has been uncovered, which says something about the amount of work there has been done since the town started being excavated in the mid 1700s. For over 300 years it's been a work-in-progress and to even think the whole thing has been dug out is mind boggling. There are houses upon houses, all next to each other, laid out in a most methodical way with the central government houses on one end, a colosseum on the other, bath houses and temples sprinkled throughout and businesses lining the streets. All that's missing are the roofs, as most of the walls and interior things like the baker's ovens are still intact. The amount of "loot" discovered in that place filled the gigantic archeological museum in Naples. Things like gold coins, metal pitchers, glass vases, statues, and the most impressive mosaics I've ever seen. Even sections of walls with murals painted on them were in tact and some are still in Pompeii on their original structure. The streets are all lined with rock that still have the chariot wheel wear marks on them, like places we've seen on the Oregon trail. The part that fascinated Kaleb was that the streets are lower than the sidewalks because a few times a day they "flushed" the streets, since all the town's water and sewer would end up there. At all major cross roads, there are boulders high enough to step across so one could cross the street without stepping in the gush of water washing things out to sea (see photo of Kaleb crossing the street). It was all quite sophisticated. Kaleb and I lost Kory somewhere in the maze of the city but thanks to our cell phones we met up in the Colosseum and had a little snack in the blazing sun (Rome had rain today but not Naples/Pompeii).

We took the commuter train back to Naples, went to the museum for about 90 minutes to see all the best treasures found at Pompeii, including a scale model of the place that was made in the 1800s and then we walked around town. We took a wrong turn, which landed us in the middle of a working class neighborhood that reminded me of what New York city might have been like 60 years ago - small little businesses along the street fronts, each selling their speciality. One sold meats and cheeses, another pasta, a baker, a fruit stand, a place to buy paper products and cleaning solutions, a toy store, a small grocer with candies that caught Kaleb's eye. The people couldn't have been nicer and even though Naples has the highest crime rate in Italy, and is the birthplace of the Mafia (and pizza), we felt perfectly safe (unless we were trying to cross the street). We finally corrected our course and headed down toward the water (but never quite made it all the way to the beach). We dodged mopeds on the sidewalk, listened to people yelling at each other, street vendors hawking their wares, cars honking and be-bopping around pedistrains trying to cross the street. There was an amazing energy there as the streets are so incredbily narrow and the buildings several stories high. I'm sure the sun has never reached down to the streets below for all the laundry hanging out the windows from the apartments above. It's definately a city with character, even more so than Rome. I felt like we were perhaps the only tourists there, opposed to Rome, where it feels like it's mostly tourists. I liked Naples, but I wouldn't want to live there.

We ate pizza for dinner at a place that's been making pizza for over 125 years and their menu hasn't changed in all that time. Pizza with tomato sauce and no cheese; sauce with a little cheese; or sauce with double cheese. That's it. And the only thing in the sauce besides tomatoes was a small piece of fresh basil somewhere in the center of the pizza. The mozzarella cheese was set in globs all over the pizza, not grated, like we serve. The pizza crust looked burned and actually, not very appetizing, but it couldn't have tasted better. Pizza here is never cut in pie shaped pieces, because it's eaten with a knife and fork. For five bucks at that place it's possible to order a 14" pizza and a beer. We ordered two. The place was full of locals and had the ambiance of a cafeteria with a bunch of old guys walking around taking orders and delivering the pizzas. There was some Godfather looking character sitting at the register taking in the money. What a place. The locals were lined up to get in there and because the menu is so limited, service is almost immediate since the pizzas are always in the works. People walk in, eat, and within about 15 minutes walk out again. Fast food at it's best.

Our train home from Naples was delayed by 50 minutes so Kaleb was pretty tired by 8:30 when it finally arrived and he fell asleep on the way home. We are all exhausted from all the walking, my feet are crying out for a massage or hot soak but I know we'll all sleep good tonight. What a day.

Carnival

Ash Wednesday is fast approaching so today in Rome, it was Carnival (Mardi Gras)! They had parades (which we missed), music and festivities in all the large open squares (which we hit) and little children dressed up in costumes just like American kids do for Halloween (which we couldn't miss.) It was the cutest thing. The difference from Halloween though was that the kids just walk around the streets throwing confetti at each other, there isn't really any candy involved in the day. But everyone was out celebrating, that was for sure. In fact, it got a little nerve racking around sunset when the hoards of teenagers were hanging out in huge crowds making lots of noise. But the police were out in force too, so hopefully nothing got out of hand. I think the biggest employer in this town must be the police as there are thousands of them all over the place. In Norway I think I've seen one police vehicle in six months. But here, there are at least three police cars that pass by for every block we walk, and more officers standing on street corners just watching people. It would almost feel safe if every store front didn't have big garage door like things over all the doors and windows that they pull down when they are closed for business. Crime must be something here to have things shut up so tightly. But we haven't had any bad experiences, so that's good. Even today when we went to the big Sunday morning flea market, which is known for it's pick pockets, nothing happened. Kaleb thought it would be funny to put a small pack of kleenex in my back pocket, like it was a wallet or camera or something, and just see if I still had it by day's end. I did. But he kept stealing one pack of kleenex I had in my coat pocket, presumably to perfect his own pick-pocketing skills, or just to get a reaction out of me. I'm not sure which.

We were up at the crack of dawn today and took a bus to the seedy part of town to go to this flea market that has to beat all other flea markets in the world. It went on for miles and we barely made it through half of it in three hours and then we were exhausted. I bought a lot of treasures, however, so I was glad for that. Some nice scarfs, a leather wallet, crystal from old chandeliers, prints of old art sketches of Rome, some nice old serving utensils and an extra piece of luggage, just in case. Kory found lots of things he would have loved to buy but getting them home posed too big of a problem so he came out empty handed.

We tried to take a tram back to the center of town but got tired of waiting for the one with the right number, so we decided to go on an explore and just take the next one that came along and see where it took us. As it turned out, it was a good thing we were so adventuous because the tram's last stop wasn't far from the Pantheon, which we intended to see anyway - an incredible structure built over 2000 years ago (see photo of Kaleb running around inside it). We then went on a long walk north and ended up in a huge square just at the edge of the old city walls by a park. We watched people for quite a while as the kids were in costumes for Carnival, music was playing and people were just out for a stroll on yet another incredibly gorgeous day here in Rome.

We took the subway back to our hotel and rested for about an hour just so we didn't wear ourselves out too much, then took off again, heading back to the Spanish Steps to see what was going on there for Carnival. Massive amounts of people, that's what was there, so we sat on the steps and just watched the crowd. Kaleb chased bubbles created by a guy trying to sell automatic bubble making machines and Kory and I rested our feet. We went to dinner afterwards and had a leisurly stroll back to the hotel.

I have been desperate to post my blog for days and finally found an internet place that worked (others I found were horrible). I certainly didn't expect to have the kinds of troubles I've had with the hotel's network, or the other internet sites, but finally tonight I found a place that will do. I couldn't use their wireless network so I had to bring the laptop and re-type my blogs straight on to the web, not able to copy and paste like I usually do. It was a challenge with an Italian keyboard. I'm almost used to the Norwegian keyboard by now, but the Italian one threw me for a loop. It took over two hours to just post three days worth of blogs and I was happy I could post photos too. Ugh. Such committment I feel to keep people posted on how we are doing. Sometimes I feel like our life is a slow motion reality TV show - without the ratings.

A Day in the Country

It was another early-to-bed night last night from exhaustion so getting up early this morning was fairly easy. After breakfast at the hotel we took our first subway ride to the end of the line to catch a bus out to the country. The guy at the hotel told us the wrong stop, so we had to backtrack a little to get the right bus, but fortunately, it's only one euro per ticket. In Norway, riding the bus is around seven dollars, just to go a little ways, but here, we can go all the way across Rome for about $1.25, so at least public transporation is affordable. And the weird thing was, we went to the ticket counter and bought bus tickets to go to the Village of Tivoli, but once on the bus, we were never asked for them. In fact, no one getting on the bus paid or showed any kind of pass whatsoever, all the way out to Tivoli (45 minutes) and the same coming back. Strange.

Kaleb was pretty excited about getting out of the city today and the village we were at was spectacular. There is a villa - an old private residence called Ville d'Este - built in the 1500s by the grandson of Alexandar VI (the Pope) - that is now open to the public. It was the most decadant place I've ever seen with room after room of mosaic floors and painted walls and ceilings. They didn't have any furniture in the rooms, which was just as well because each room was a work of art unto itself. So the "house" was unbelievable, but the surrounding gardens were a work of genius. Apparently this villa was built on top of a waterfall, and those clever Romans (that first invented indoor plumbing, flush toilets and running water in a sink) had a hey day at this place. They managed to contain all the water coming from this waterfall (which is now not visible) and channel it all throughout several acres of land with hundreds and hundreds of different fountains spouting up everywhere. In fact, one sidewalk that ran nearly from one end of the complex to the other, had one hundred different animals heads carved out of marble with all of them spurting water (see photo of Kaleb running next to them). Several of the fountains were dedicated to pagan gods and goddesses, which is why the owner, who eventually became a Cardinal, wasn't too popular in Vatican City. In the middle of the garden was something like the mall in Washington DC with different reflecting ponds and a massive water feature at the end. Every nook and cranny had naturally spurting water fountains, it was just unreal. Kaleb was in heaven, just thinking it was the coolest place ever (and I'm sure in the summertime it's VERY cool up in those hills). He kept asking me if I wanted to move in there, and wouldn't that just be the best place to live. I told him I was happy just to visit for the day, but he didn't want to leave. Fortunately, he finally got hungry enough to precipitate our exit, but he couldn't stop talking about it. It was overwhelmingly beautiful and we saw it early enough that we had the place practically to ourselves. Just as we were leaving, hoards of tourists were entering.

We went in the village square and sat in the warm sunshine and ordered lunch at a sidewalk cafe. It is just too funny to order things here because no one speaks English. We get things we don't order and we don't get things we do order. It is funny everytime, and the food has all been good so we're not complaing. The wine has been fabulous and it's not like me to be drinking wine for lunch, but I can't help myself - it's cheaper than bottled water or pop. In Norway, a glass of wine with a meal can costs about $30 so we never order it, but here, it's less than four bucks and tastes better than anything I've ever had. What a treat.

After lunch we were going to walk around the village and look in some of the shops, but our timing was off. All the businesses in Italy close down between 1-4pm or 2-5pm and then open back up again in the evening. It must have to do with the heat of the day in the summertime or something, but not a thing was open so we just walked around a bit and tried to find the entrance to a huge castle in the middle of town, but never did find it. We also read in the travel book that buses back to Rome don't come too frequently after 4:30 so we hopped on one around three o'clock and got back to town before dark.

Inside the big subway/train station in the heart of Rome by our hotel, we discovered the biggest bookstore any of us has ever seen. It's about 3 times the size of the biggest Barnes and Noble so that ate up the rest of our day as it was impossible to get Kaleb out of there once he discovered the English book section. I bought him a book on Pompeii as we will be heading there soon. I'm hoping he can be our tour guide and save us some money. He devoured the book when we got back to the hotel as he's been desperate for a good read for quite a while. We went to dinner across the street from our hotel and had pizza and pasta. No surprise there.

A Day In Ruins

We had a wonderful, but exhausting day in the heart of Rome today. Our hotel couldn't be in a better spot. We can walk to all the major sights, but we opted to take an open topped double decker bus to get the feel of the city first, at Kaleb's request. So first thing this morning we were bopping along the very narrow streets of Rome, watching the traffic from a bird's eye view and ever so thankful we don't have to drive to get around. Many of the streets had orange trees lining them and Kaleb begged Kory to try and grab an orange as we passed by, but he never quite made it. It gave Kaleb a thrill as the architecture wasn't anythinghe was that interested in today. Kory however, couldn't get enough of it.

We got off the bus near the Colosseum at a place called Circus Maximus. For over a thousand years it was the "Ben Hur"horse/chariot race grounds. It was also the place where thousands of Christians were martyred. Kaleb and Kory both picked up stones as a somber reminder as we walked along on our way over to the Colosseum (see photo). Rick Steves' travel book gave us many tips for our stay in Rome and so far, all of them have been good ones. One of them was to pay for a tour of the Colosseium so we would by-pass the ticket lines. I'm sure we were done with the tour and on to the next thing before those standing in line even entered the building. Nice tip and it only cost $25 extra, so well worth it as Kaleb would not have survived otherwise.

I do think Kaleb was slightly thrilled about actually being in the Colosseum but he woudn't admit it. He knew everything the tour guide told us, and then some. We found a fantastic history series of books when we were in England a year or so ago, called "Horrible Histories!" and they are just the ticket for 10 year old boys as they include comics and gruesome details and stuff normal history books won't cover. Kaleb's favorite book was on the Rotten Romans so he came well prepared for this trip as he read it at least three times and knows way more than Kory or I. Over two million people were killed at the Colosseum over the years as a spectator sport. Most of the gladiators were slaves or prisoners and they could win their freedom if they won the battle. Ift they died, they were probably better off anyway. Lovely. (All the animals that died were more worrisome for Kaleb than the humans.)

The tour of the Roman Forum, the heart of the civilized world in it's day, was also quite interesting. The Forum was in more of a ruinous state than the Colosseum as many of the structures (but also including the Colosseum) had their building materials "recycled" into what is now Vatican City. On that tour we learned how many of our wedding traditions come from ancient Rome, which was a bit of a srurprise. All that was needed to marry in those days was a common handshake, so the groom would ask "for her hand in marriage" and the father had to grant it. Once the handshake occured, they were married. And Rome, when first populated, was just soldiers, so they ran off and stole the woman (and killed the men) from the nearby Sabine Hills and carried them into their homes, kicking and screaming. The celebration of the populating of Rome became the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold on her wedding day. And the tradition of wearing a white dress and which side the bride and groom each stand on in the church is also from Roman days but it's complicated.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here in Rome is extraordinarily elaborate and has been updated with an elevator to the top to get a breathtaking 360 degree view of the city, so we enjoyed the blue skies and amazing city scape for quite a while up there. The view of the thousands of satellite dishes were almost comical however, as there were just so darn many of them. And Kaleb tried counting the number of church tops visible, but lost count many times. We waandered into a few more churches today and once again, Kory was itching to shout Hallelujah but signs were posted all over the place, no talking and no photography. God is too sacred for such things, I guess.

We took the tour bus to the very famous Trevi Fountain and then walked over to the Spanish Steps, all just as the sun was going down so we had a nice after dark look at those two amazing places (which were packed with people). We ate good food today (lots of lasagne and fresh pasta), tasted new flavors of gelato and drank some fine red wine. Kaleb held up incredibly well considering how much walking we did and that we were at it for over 11 hours straight. I'm the most out of shape so I'm definately feeling the extra exercise but it's the kind of pain that feels good in a way. Tomorrow we head out to "the country" as Kaleb thinks Rome is just like any other big city and he wants to see Italy. "Rome isn't Italy," he surmised. "Just like the Pope isn't Catholic," I responded.

Rome-ing Around

We were up at 4am to catch the ferry to the airport this morning and with just a quick stop in Oslo, and only a 2 1/2 hour flight to Rome, we were here before noon and walking all over the place with dropped jaws. By 8pm tonight, however, Kaleb was already done with the place and ready to see the Italian countryside. Too funny, especially since none of the places we have seen so far are even in the travel books as recommended sights, and we were blown away by them all. Beautiful churches on every corner with at least a dozen picture perfect scenes inside every one. Kory was so inspired by their beauty he just wanted to shout HALLELUJAH, but that wasn't allowed - which had him chuckling that no one can really praise God properly in Rome because "silence is golden" (and flash photography prohibited.) Too funny for both of us since I love to take pictures. But the Roman architecture displayed in every building impressed even Kaleb.

We had to take care of business when we first arrived - exchanging dollars for euros - which ended up being a couple hour pursuit with minor results. No banks here want American dollars! The most I could change ws $300 at a time and it took about 20 minutes for each transaction. And the banks here are more secure than Fort Knox. Every one has a guard station at the front door and the bank entrances are highly secured. I had to push a button to get the door to open, then I stepped inside a rounded booth with the door I entered from the sidewalk on one side, and another door that went into the bank on the other. Both doors could not be opened at the same time, so for a moment, I felt like I was encapsulated in something that resembled the whole "beam me up Scotty" pads from Star Trek. Kaleb thought they were a hoot, I thought they were a bother. But obviously it's a security measure so no one could rob the bank and just walk out the door since they'd be trapped in the tube already imprisoned before they could enjoy the cash. Some banks wouldn't even open the doors when I pressed the button, assuming they didn't like the looks of me. If I understood Italian I would have known why they wouldn't open the doors, but I could see the tellers on the other side of the window just looking at me like I was an idiot and some loud speaker went on and on in Italian, saying something or another. I was in a bit of shock over the difficulty of the money exchange here so I'm hoping it doesn't pose a problem as I can tell from today's adventures that we'll be going through a lot of cash. Rome ain't cheap.

Kaleb could probably leave tomorrow as all he wanted was real pizza in Italy (which he had for lunch - see photo) gelato (which he had for an afternoon snack), and real Italian lasagne (which he had for dinner.) That boy has simple pleasures and they are all met so now he's "been there, done that" and doesn't even want a t-shirt. He's a good traveler though and I'm sure he'll enjoy tomrorow just the same. Today he insisted we go see the "Time Capsule" - some special effects movie they made to show the history of Rome which said more than once "the past is still present." It was a selective overview of Roman history, but then we had to listen to Kaleb for an hour afterwards correcting all the things they got wrong. According to the movie, Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome, were left in a basket in the woods for the wolves to eat, but instead the wolves adopted them and rasied them up. Kaleb said they ere set afloat in a basket down the river like Moses and washed up on shore and then taken in by the wolves. He also said the movie showed Julius Ceasar getting murdered during a counsel meeting, when in fact, according to Kaleb and his sources, Ceasar was killed in front of a theatre. That kid is just too funny. He's read a lot about Roman history and he remembers every bit of it. I can't tell if he's all wet or what, as I haven't read a thing on the history of Rome, but it's fun to listen to him spouting off, just the same.

I am so spoiled in Norway because everyone speaks English as a backup language, but not so here! So far, only the hotel personnel have been able to tell us anything. Everywhere else we've gone, we just get Italian, shaking heads, shrugged shoulders or lots of finger pointing, but no real conversations. Ordering food in a restaurant has been interesting as we never know what we will get. The whole language thing might be a challenge, but then, it's as it should be. I'm glad for Kaleb to experience that and for us to try to figure things out on our own.

We had a beautiful day today, but it got chilly when the sun went down. Kaleb and Kory were both asleep by 8:15 as it was a long day. Our hotel is rigth in the heart of town, walking distance to everything so it's very handy and it was a good choice (thanks Rick Steves), but the one drag is their wireless network is outdated and it won't work with the latest operating system (which I have and therefore, can't get internet access at the hotel!) It's fun to be here as a family and to experience the history, art, food and culture like this. Kory's cousin Linda said before we left that we are giving Kaleb so many experiences in his childhood, when he grows up, all that will be left for him is the moon. Perhaps, but there's a big world out there now just waiting for us tomorrow, and it's called ROME.

The Day Before Rome

The Good Teacher Inga heard my cries today. I complained bitterly that the class is moving along so rapidly I’m lost in a fog. Others in the class nodded in agreement. Inga looked surprised. The reason she is The Good Teacher Inga is because she cares. She decided we can slow things down a bit and have more time to comprehend all we are learning. Honestly, I was nearly ready to drop out because I just couldn’t keep up with the amount of homework and how hard everything is. I’m still not that great with basic grammar but now we are learning more advanced things like how to build compound words like “underholdingsprogram” which tricks the eye because there are so many English looking words in there, but the meaning isn’t obvious. “Program” means just that, same in both languages, but “underholding” means “entertainment” – why, I do not know. When two words are combined together there must either be an “e” or an “s” between them, unless of course they are short words and then nothing is required, but there are no specific rules on when to use the e or the s. Imagine that. I’m still trying to figure out who came up with this stuff, and I think I might now know. Some guy named Ivar Aasen went around Norway about a hundred years ago and wrote down all the words used in different areas for the same things, and came up with a nice “blend” of them all and then wrote the first Norwegian dictionary – of sorts. I guess he’s Norway’s version of Mr. Webster. If he were alive today, I’m not sure I would hail him as the hero the locals do. There is a museum dedicated to him in his home town (not far from here), I’ve seen ferries named after the guy and of course he’s a big figure in the history books. I’d like to wring his neck. Of course, I have no idea how bad it was before all these grammar rules came in to play, but I’m not real fond of the ones they are using today, that’s for sure. At least I get to skip the next two days and the following week is winter break, so hopefully my batteries will be recharged when I come back.

Kory had his heart test today. They found “something” that didn’t look right (no surprise there), so they ordered more tests for him (including an angiogram) for the first week of March when we are back from vacation. He has to go to Trondheim for the test, however, which is a six hour drive from here. He’s not wanted an angiogram before (they go in with a little camera and see what things look like on the inside of his arteries), but now he feels more at peace with it, so he’s getting it done. After that he’ll see what the doctors say and we’ll go from there. He said the cardiologist he spoke with today said that America doctors have a reputation around the world for being a bit “too eager” with their patients, and Kory agreed, so we’ll see what the Norwegians think.

Kaleb had a fine day at school today and isn’t terribly thrilled about going to Rome tomorrow. He was looking forward to more play dates with his classmates during the break and he doesn’t like to miss Thursdays because that’s the day they have “forming” (hand crafts). I hope he changes his mind when we get there. He worked a little after school today on the two year anniversary edition of The Weakly Puppy, which is due the day we return. I can’t believe he’s been at it for two years. I’m glad he’s taking a little break after this because he hasn’t even petted a dog in at least a month. He is losing interest in them, I dare say. Sabina was over all afternoon and they played games together on the computer. I’m so shocked over how little kids move around anymore. When I was a kid we played kick-the-can and hide-and-seek, but now they just sit on the couch and look at one computer screen or another. These last ten years in Norway have been quite transforming as the internet has taken hold and satellite dishes are the norm. It has changed the culture here for the kids as much as mother’s being part of the work force. This is really the first generation to grow up without a mom at home, and with so many outside influences. It will be interesting to see what happens in ten or twenty years. One recent survey taken asked parents what they thought was important for their children to learn and 92% said “to follow instructions,” but only 11% said they thought it was important that they learn to work hard. That ranking was just below the 12% that thought it was important for the children to have a religious belief. Divorce is now at 50%, but that only measures those couples that actually got married. Living together couples far exceeds “ektepar” – literally translated means “real couples,” but refers only to married couples (as if couples NOT married are “unreal.”) About a hundred years ago all the illegitimate babies were recorded in the church book records as “uekte” (unreal). There are so many hidden agendas in the words that get used in this language. But I like the fact that Rome is spelled Roma here and if you spell that backwards, it spell AMOR (which is Latin of course, for love), and I’m lovin’ that we are going there tomorrow!

We Have Sludd

The snow keeps melting, but there is a lot of it to melt, so it might be this yucky slush (“sludd”) for many more days. They use a combination of salt and sand on the roads here so all the mounds of snow along the roadways are starting to look a nasty shade of brown. The pristine can turn ugly with just a few degrees variation. It’s okay by me though, as we are now packing our bags and will soon be flying to sunny Rome! The entire time we are gone it looks like Aalesund is in for rain, but so far, the weather forecast in Rome is sunny and around 50 degrees. Yahoo. I’m ready for a little vacation because my Norwegian class is moving along at a pace faster than I can manage. I had zero motivation to get out of bed this morning and continue this torture called the Norwegian language. We had a test the other day and I didn’t know half the words on it, wondering where they came from, only to find out, they were our new vocabulary words which somehow slipped right past me. It must be the poor lighting on the bus in the morning when I’m doing my homework… I’m just losing it, I fear.

I checked my e-mail before I caught the bus this morning, and then felt compelled to answer a message from one of our tenants in Seattle, which nearly made me miss the bus. Kaleb ran out the door to hold the bus for me and just as the bus pulled out, he realized he forgot his swimming gear. He has swimming for PE every other week. I told him to get off at the next stop and go back and get it, and he said he doesn’t like swimming anyway because the water is so cold at the pool they use so he didn’t want to do that. He “forgot” his swimsuit the last time they had swimming too so I told him I was very disappointed in him for not being more responsible and that he couldn’t use any electronics today because he was choosing to miss his PE class when there was still plenty of time for him to rectify the situation. He got off the bus at his stop by the school and I waved good-bye and went on to my school. When I got home today he told me that he started walking toward school and about half way there he stopped and thought, “I don’t want Mama to be disappointed in me. I want her to be proud of me,” so he turned around and RAN back to the house (over a mile with a heavy backpack), to get his swim gear and then he caught the next bus and made it to school on time. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He swears his only motivation was to make me proud and NOT because he would lose the use of his Nintendo and laptop (he often doesn’t even have time to play with them), so that cheered me up like nothing else. I guess this is normal parent stuff, where the kid can go from driving one crazy to filling hearts with joy. I’m not sure I have a strong enough seatbelt for this roller coaster ride I’m on, but I’m thankful today was an UP day nonetheless.

Kory had his “Friday” today as he’s now off work for a few weeks, and happy about that. He gets tired, his body hurts, and he wants to be re-retired. At least he can sit and draw and that doesn’t wear him out. Tomorrow he goes in for a test on his heart, which I think has him a little worried. His cousin Odd (who is a doctor) has been pestering him since he got here to have a Norwegian doctor tell him if there’s anything wrong. Kory doesn’t trust American doctors because he thinks their number one priority is to make money, not do what’s best for the patient. It’s been nearly four years now since a cardiologist told him if he didn’t have surgery, he had a 30% chance of dropping dead of a heart attack within six months. We prayed about it and God clearly did not lead in that direction. Kory hasn’t had surgery, isn’t on drugs and is still kickin’, but he is getting tired of all the vitamins and his restricted diet (although he hasn’t been so strict since we’ve been in Norway, nor has he exercised one bit since we got here.) Kory knows God has healed his heart, to some degree or in some places, but he still gets angina pain if he exerts himself, so he knows there must still be a blockage somewhere. Before we came to Norway he had a heart scan and it showed one artery was 100% clean, which is a bit unusual for a guy his age, so he’s thinking that’s the spot he felt get healed once when he was being prayed for. I’m still believing for a total healing miracle, but the heart scan did show two arteries that are partially blocked. We will continue to pray for guidance and wisdom from God, no matter what the test shows tomorrow. Doctors aren’t God, only God is God, and we’d much rather take advice from Him. God can heal through a variety of sources, including doctors, but He just hasn’t opened that door for us. It takes a lot of faith to go against doctor’s advice, but God has never let us down. We refuse to make a “fear based” decision. Every decision we make, we must be at peace with, because the Bible says fear doesn’t come from God – so that only leaves one other source - and we’re not going there.

The Big Melt

It's warming up inside and out. For some reason, which I’d like to attribute to answered prayer, Kaleb woke up in a much better mood today and was as pleasant as he could be and fairly cooperative. We rode the bus down the street together this morning since the roads are still a bit slick (but the snow is melting quickly). This afternoon Kaleb said he had a good time at school – especially at recess when the kids all participated in a covert snowball fight. Such things are not allowed, but the teacher, as Kaleb and the other kids discovered, doesn’t have eyes in the back of her head, so wherever she WASN’T looking is where the snowballs went flying. Kaleb thought it was pretty fun, even though a few hard packed ice balls smacked him upside the head. (They don’t call them hard-headed Norwegians for nothin’.) He spoke to me only in Norwegian today, and I returned the courtesy. I’m so relieved my sweet little boy is back. He had me pretty worried, but perhaps he was just homesick or lonely or tired or overwhelmed or something else that has moved on. As my Daddy used to say, “This too shall pass,” and thank you Jesus, it did.

Today was a little busier for me than normal. After school I cleaned house and made banana bread for the Bible study we had tonight for the refugees. I helped Kaleb with his homework, made dinner, taught Bible study and left early to go to the “Jesus Kvinne” (Jesus Women) meeting at Filaldelfia Church. I took Ledto with me (she’s a woman that attends our Bible study) so Kory stayed behind and finished up the first half of James chapter 2 with just the men. Ledto is from Eritrea, a very small country in Africa that borders Sudan. Eritrea has become communist and will not allow Christians to practice their faith. All the staff from Ledto’s church back home are in prison. She and her husband, Emmanuel, escaped Eritrea just over a year ago. She told me they had to “run away in the night” and it took them 10 nights of walking and hiding (up in trees or in bushes) during the day to get to a place in Sudan where they knew they were “safe,” although she said, they weren’t really. They had to take a lot of money with them (her husband was an engineer in Eritrea), to pay off all the right people to get refugee status in Sudan. We ran out of time before I could hear the rest of the story, but she told me those ten days of escape were very frightening and they didn’t know if they would live or die. She said her husband had been imprisoned for his faith, so that’s why they left. All their family is back in Africa and she’s now seven months pregnant. They don’t know if Norway will accept their application to continue to live here as refugees – they could easily be denied and have to go back. All the refugees here live with such uncertainty, as sometimes it takes years before the Norwegian government approves their application. The refugees in our Bible study have such a peace, and such a handle on the providence of God, that to them, it’s all just part of the process of living a life of faith. Lawrence, the man from Darfur in Sudan, made the comment tonight that ALL Christians are refugees here on this earth, because this isn’t our homeland either. I love that guy. He is so positive and so knowledgeable about the Bible and wavers NOT in his belief (he’s the one whose parents and other loved ones were murdered by the Muslim Jihad.) It’s humbling to be around people with REAL problems and REAL pain and yet I’d never know it unless I’d asked (but I’m learning not to ask too much, which is hard because I’m so curious.)

So today shaped up pretty well but now I’m tired and want to sleep and I haven’t done a lick of homework (I have plenty.) Besides all my regular assignments, I’m supposed to read a newspaper article and be prepared to discuss it in class tomorrow. We are on the topic of the “media” right now and so far I haven’t been able to participate in the discussions because they have revolved around certain TV shows or movies and I’m oblivious to all that since we don’t have a TV and the only movies I’ve seen for the past 10 years have been rated G. I did find out today though that Norway’s government heavily subsidizes all the newspapers, which explains why they aren’t full of advertisements. But I also found out that the biggest newspaper in this country, in the last four years, has lost over a million readers (they had 1.4 million and are now down to 300,000). A sign of the times, they say, with the internet increasing in popularity. But what’s strange is that that newspaper has NEVER had subscribers. Each and every day, people must go to a kiosk or store and buy the paper if they want to read it. If that newspaper want to survive in these “tough economic times,” maybe they can learn a thing or two from the pizza guy because at least he delivers.

I've Had Better Days

For the bulk of today I just wanted to scream. For some reason, Kaleb whined and complained and made every sad and sour face he could come up with the whole day. I hope he’s not getting sick, but he was insufferable today and I couldn’t be happier that this day is over. Tobias even came over to play with him and he wouldn’t go outside – he just sat on the couch with a grouchy look and swore he just couldn’t help himself – that for some reason he just felt crabby. It was contagious. Tobias had the good sense to leave. I guess I should have done the same. Uff da. I tried to take a nap but Kaleb’s whining prohibited that. He sounded like a wounded puppy, just sitting in a lump on the couch making pathetic moans and groans. He doesn’t like being in Norway, he doesn’t like school, he doesn’t want to go to Rome, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want us for parents. Ugh. And I still have the teenage years to look forward to. And to make matters worse, we’ve got a tenant at our apartment building in Seattle that is making me crazy with e-mails nearly every day ranting and raving about all kinds of insane things, and we’re helpless to do anything about them because there are no solutions. He even called Kory tonight to say he doesn’t like people being in the laundry room the same time he is in there – like Kory can do something about that! Good grief. And on top of all that - we went to Filadelfia Church this morning and they were out of translating headsets so I didn’t understand everything that was being preached and afterwards Kory wanted to point out all the things that were said in the sermon that he felt were beneficial for me to apply to my life. I told him I didn’t understand everything, so maybe those things were really meant for just HIM to hear. Ha. What a day. I’m frazzled.

After dinner tonight we walked over to cousin Axel and Kari’s house to see their photos from the trip they took to Israel last fall. Both Kory and I have been there (at different times) so it was fun to see what’s changed since we were there – and to see a few places neither of us had been to. On the walk back home Kaleb and I were talking to each other in Norwegian and he came up with a plan to alleviate some of his apparent pain. He said he would like to talk just Norwegian to me in exchange for not doing algebra (he doesn’t like that I have him do extra school work when other kids don’t have to). He also wants me to speak just Norwegian to him (which is probably a good idea.) I told him it was fine with me. So we made a deal that if he can go a whole day speaking only Norwegian to Kory and I, then the next day he wouldn’t have to do any algebra. He thought that was fair, but just before he went to bed he asked me a question in English without thinking, so it won’t be as easy as he thinks. He’s full of questions, that boy. Yesterday he wanted to know why muscles are more sore the day after shoveling snow than on the day the muscles get used. Good one. I’d like to know that too, since I’m still feeling rather stiff and this is now the second day after shoveling snow.

It got above freezing today so all the snow is sliding off roof tops in big sheets, and it’s very fun to watch. The snow outside now is not as pristine as it was but it’s way better for making snowmen. I tried to make a snowman yesterday but the snow was so dry it just fell apart every time I formed a decent sized ball. Today was a different story and snowmen were popping up all over the neighborhood. And the coolest thing about them is that everyone makes snowmen or sculptures and they put candles in them! In the photo today, the flash overpowered the glow coming out from the snowman’s eyes and mouth, like a pumpkin. It’s such an odd effect – snow and fire mixing to make art. We saw one big dome made out of snow balls with a large candle burning inside so all the space between the balls was glowing. I guess the candle heat doesn’t really melt the snow that fast so it doesn’t hurt to do it. It sure makes for a nice walk in the dark around here since so many creations are lit up. The snowman in the photo today is sporting the AaFK (Ålesund Fotball Klubb) colors – blue and orange. “Football” is “soccer” here and Ålesund has a professional soccer team which the entire city is ga-ga over. They play their games on Sundays and many people fly the team flag to show their support, even though they are the worst team in all of Norway. It’s a situation similar to the Chicago Cubs – it makes no sense that there is so much support for them when their results are so poor but I guess everyone loves the underdog – and it’s the exact same situation here in Ålesund. I’m not a sports fan myself, so I just can’t relate. Kory went to a soccer game with cousin Odd once and thought it was a lot like church, only a bit more rowdy. The soccer team has a huge choir that leads the audience in songs, everyone cheers and shouts (not “hallelujah”, but they might as well), and they all dress for the occasion (in blue and orange, not their Sunday best.) Kory came home from that game wondering why we don’t get that fired up for God. And I came home from church today just wondering “why.”

Not Your Typical Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is a new thing in Norway. “That’s American,” I’ve heard more than one Norwegian say about the day, right after they let off a big huff. They are sure the retailers have only picked up on the idea because there is a profit they can make from it, which disgusts the Norwegians even more than the fact it’s one more American tradition invading their country. The fact it’s a day to celebrate LOVE is completely lost on them. Oh well. What’s interesting is that red hearts are the traditional Christmas decoration here so I was curious how Valentine’s Day would play out in the stores, and the answer is – PINK. They only use pink hearts for Valentine’s Day, which distinguishes it from the left-over red Christmas heart things still being sold for a 75% discount everywhere. Too funny.

Our trip to Rome on Thursday is my Valentine’s Day present and romantic enough for me, so I just the let the day slide so Kory’s off the hook (as am I). Kory doesn’t do well showing his affections on prescribed days of the year like anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas or Valentine’s Day. He feels too controlled by the calendar and he’d just as soon choose the moments he does something special for me, so I’ve had to make peace with that. A trip to Rome works well though, even if I did have to plan it myself. But I got the best Valentine’s Day gift today from Kaleb, and he doesn’t even know it. I went to Agape Church this morning to hear a special speaker that came in from England to talk on church growth (I mostly went because I just wanted to hear a sermon in English.) Afterwards, the pastor’s wife (who is a teacher at Kaleb’s school), told me something about Kaleb that filled my heart with pride. She said that this week at school the kids were rehearsing a song for an Easter production. It is a Christian song and one of her favorites. The kids were supposed to be raising and lowering their hands during different parts of the song but Kaleb was so in to it, she said, that he just kept his hands raised, closed his eyes, and began worshipping God while singing it. She said all the teachers saw it and talked about it later. That’s my boy! It does my heart good to know he’s not afraid to love on God like that outside of church. Every day I pray for him before he goes to school that he will be “a light in the darkness,” and my prayers are being answered. Hallelujah!

Kaleb spent the entire day with four of his classmates that all live on the same street, quite a ways from where we live so Kory had to drive him over there. Kaleb said they built snow caves, had snowball fights, rolled down the hills covered in snow and dug each other out after they jumped off a cliff into a huge pile of snow. I’m sure he’ll remember this day for years to come. I want him to connect with as many kids as he can while we are here so when we come back every year he has friends to hang out with. Today was a good day for that as the snow provided so much entertainment. I hate that so many kids are hooked on electronics these days, so I’m glad there was something else to do besides that. Kaleb had a lot of fun, but it wasn’t so much fun for us when we went to pick him up tonight and got stuck up on the hill where he was. Kory and I both had to dig out the van, which took about 30 minutes, and the snow keeps on falling, but I still love it! (The photo today is of Kaleb and Tobias’ snow cave from yesterday.)

This afternoon Kory and I went to a concert at the local high school. Cousin Linda’s son, Rasmuss (age 18), played the piano for several songs. That kid is incredibly talented so it was nice to hear him perform. The concert was to promote the use of “fair trade” products. I think it’s a pet project for some of the high school kids – their shot at doing something to help make the world a better place – as there was quite a long presentation on the state of food production around the world and what a difference it makes for the farmers when they are able to sell their foods at a “fair trade” price. It was interesting to listen to that talk on the same day I heard the talk about church growth. Everyone has their “product” to sell. On some level, I hate that church is a “business,” but it is. The speaker at church today said that church isn’t a country club where we pay our tithes as dues and then expect to have our say about the worship style, how long the sermon lasts and the color of the carpet. He said church is supposed to be about helping people connect with God – and not about making it what WE want it to be. I also liked that he said if we want to focus on other people’s sins, then we should just focus on one – their sin of unbelief - and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. When the church hand selects which sins get more attention than others, then they become known more for what they stand AGAINST, rather than what they stand FOR. And what we are supposed to be standing FOR - is the love of God. Now THAT’S some good lovin’. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mocha Day

We must have gotten at least six more inches of glorious snow overnight. I’ve never experienced anything like this. They say it’s been a long time since there’s been this much snow for so many days around here. I feel it’s a gift from God just for me, as I love it so much! It is quite difficult to walk through however, up over my knees, and if I fall, it’s nearly impossible to get up, but at least it’s a soft landing (my knee is much better). I tried to make a few snow angels and as much as I loved lying in the snow, getting up was a whole other story as the ground was farther away than my arm could reach and there was nothing firm to push up against. It gave Kaleb a few belly laughs, but it proved to me just how out of shape I am. I did however get a work out today as I shoveled all the snow out from around our van and cleared a spot all the way to the driveway (no small task). Our neighbor sweet-talked the snow plow operator to come down our driveway, which now made it possible to get vehicles in and out, but in the process, blocked our van off completely with the snow berm, so I had to take care of that problem. If it rains, the snow gets too heavy to move, and if it freezes, it becomes a solid object. I had visions of missing our plane to Rome next Thursday because we couldn’t get our van out of the driveway, but I managed to clear the snow and move the van to a level spot. Kory was at work all day and I wanted to spare him from doing any shoveling, but now I can barely move a muscle. Uff da. I found out today they have one word for “shoveling snow” in Norwegian and it sounds exactly like the word “mocha” (“måke”). Everyone’s been talking about “mocha” this and “mocha” that and now I know firsthand what it is – and it’s not a drink to be ordered from a coffee bar. (So if ever in Norway and someone asks if you wanna mocha, you are warned.)

I skipped school this morning so I could go to a prayer meeting with The Praying Women from Filadelfia Church, and I’m so glad I did! We had an incredible time of soaking prayer and then praying for each other. We also took communion together which was amazing. I love how God moves in that group and He did a lot of things in those hours so I gotta say, Hallelujah! (The photo today was taken from the balcony of the house where we met.) One of the women, (in her sixties) invited me to go for a little swim after the meeting. Nearly every day she goes down to the fjord and jumps in – totally naked. She does this year round and says it’s the best feeling ever. She can’t stay long in the water in the winter, but it’s just enough to satisfy her. It sounds a bit crazy to me but she swears by it. She’s one hardy Norwegian, that woman. I told her “maybe next time” because today I didn’t have a towel with me. Whew.

The sun came out for quite a while today but we still managed to have a few good snow showers mixed in. When it was snowing, the sky was a steel gray and all the world was pure white – I’ve never seen anything like it. I just wanted to go throughout the whole city and see everything, from every angle. I took a lot of photos again today as I’m noticing my memory isn’t what it used to be and photos help me remember. Today is a day I don’t want to forget. What’s most incredible to me is that life just goes on like normal - the busses even run on-time and nothing gets canceled or delayed. Everyone knows how to drive in this stuff and no one misses a beat. All the roads and walking paths are starting to look like bobsled runs though as walls are being built along the sides of everything. It’s so exciting because it is all just temporary and we could wake up tomorrow and most of it could be gone, or more could arrive. The weather changes so fast here that this many days of consistent snow is almost freakish. And it feels warm – just hovering around freezing – so it’s very pleasant to be outside.

Kaleb and Tobias played in the snow all afternoon building snow caves over at Tobias'. After dinner and a game of Aggravation with Tobias tonight, the boys insisted I go see their caves. They were worried the snow plow would ruin it by morning. So I took the spark over to Tobias’ house and felt very much like the ducks on those carnival games that move steadily along as someone with a gun shoots at them. As I was gliding by Tobias’ house on the spark, I was assaulted with all the snowballs the boys had hidden in their caves. They only managed to land a few on me before I took aim in return. Nothing like a good snowball fight. As we were getting ready to leave I told Kaleb, “Let’s go, Bub.” Tobias asked me, “What is bub?” I told him it’s just a nickname people call each other sometimes. He told me in Norway it’s the word for, “The stuff up your nose that comes out,” so Kaleb and I had a pretty good laugh over that one. For once, an English word that sounds funny to a Norwegian.

More Snow

Okay, I’m not feeling so sad that I missed the epic snow in Washington State at Christmas time. According to the locals, what we have been getting is far from record breaking, but it’s the most snow I’ve ever been around and it gets more and more exciting every day as it piles higher and higher in the yard. All our doors here open out, which makes me glad we live in The Sinking Houses. If the ground around our houses hadn’t sunk, the snow would have made it impossible to open the door by now. I was up to my knees in snow walking to the bus this morning. So fun! The sun was out this afternoon, but now a new snow storm has arrived and is dumping more. Kaleb, Tobias and Kory were outside until bedtime building snow forts as it packs nicely in a cooler for making building blocks.

As much fun as it is, I did have my first little fall today walking home from the bus stop, something I’ve been so careful to avoid. I landed on my knee first, then on my side, so I am not terribly injured but my knee is very stiff and a little swollen as it hit ice, not the nice fluffy white stuff. I’m hoping it gets me a little sympathy and out of a few household chores as I nurse myself back to health. We’ll see.

My Norsk class met back at our old school just for today (it sits behind the dark brown building on the left in the photo) because they are putting an elevator in our “new” school and it was rather noisy yesterday. (My new school sits at the bottom of the hill on the right behind all those other buildings). I took the photo today during my lunch break. The stairs up to the top of “Fjellstua” (mountain living room) are visible on the right side of the hill. I’m hoping to make it up and down all 418 steps during my lunch break as soon as all this snow is gone and my knee heals. It was nice to be back in the ol’ neighborhood as I love being close to the harbor when I’m walking to and from the bus. Everything was just so darn gorgeous today – every branch on every tree was sprayed with snow and all the world was white. I love it.

Kory took a side job today for Odd’s neighbor. I guess the guy got himself in over his head with his home improvement projects. He tried to save some money by buying a new door without the door frame attached (since he already has a door frame in his house), but it’s costing him about double the price to get the door installed in the frame because he can’t do it. (They put doors in the frame at the factory for a reason.) Kory didn’t really want to take the job but with our trip to Rome coming up, and not knowing how the dollar will fair against the Euro, he thought it wise to have a little cushion on our spending money, so that made me happy. At least he could walk to work, as getting our van out of our driveway is impossible since the snow plow has made such a huge snow berm we could never dig out. Kaleb and Tobias were able to make a long snow tunnel out of the berm in front of Tobias’ house. It’s so fun to have all this snow!

Kaleb had a good day at school, even if he did have to walk over a mile, through the snow to get home. He’s had a pretty good week and has been rather cooperative the last few days in doing his homework. He wrote his first report all in Norwegian this week on the planet Saturn. He is so proud he’s on the same level as the other kids now, but I’m still making him do Algebra so he doesn’t lose any ground in all he’s learned so far. I’m not as nice as his teacher.

The Good Teacher Inga was in Oslo today so we had a new substitute named Astrid. She is a good friend to cousin Turid, so it was fun to have her teach us. She is from Sogndal (about a five hour drive south of here) and she read to us in her dialect and we couldn’t understand a thing she said. She told us her sister was not understood in Oslo once so she’s had to learn to speak a little differently. We caught Astrid on a few spelling “errors” because she was writing Nynorsk, and we are learning Bokmål. Honestly, I just don’t get it with all these dialects and two official languages and all the variations on the theme, but I just do what I can. Astrid told us today an expression that is common to use in Norway if a person buys something they are sorry they bought, they say they, “kjøpte katta i sekken” which means they “bought a cat in a sack.” It has the same origins as our saying, “letting the cat out of the bag.” In mid-evil times (according to Kaleb), piglets were sold in cloth sacks tied up tight and dishonest sellers would put a cat in the bag instead, to cheat the buyer. So I’m wondering if there’s a saying for a country that might be sorry for a language they started.

My Favorite Norsk Invention

The snow continues to fall but the sun peeked out this afternoon a little while so we all had to go out and play. It was too gorgeous to be inside so we put on all our layers of winter clothes and had a little fun. I bought a pair of snow shoes over a year ago and we haven’t had deep enough snow to see if I like using them, but now I know - they are great! And, I can run faster in them than Kaleb can cross-country ski, as we found out today in our front yard (Kaleb loves to compete). But the fastest mode of transportation in the snow around here is the spark (see photo). It has to be the best invention I’ve come across yet and I’m totally in love with it.

About thirty years ago, when cars were not that common in Norway, every household had a bike with a basket and a spark, so the women could get to the store and buy groceries any time of year. The spark glides farther if there is some weight on it so it’s perfect to set a child or a bag of groceries on the front seat. It works like a scooter, where one foot stays on while the other foot kicks along (“spark” means “kick”.) It glides incredibly well on ice or packed snow and going down hills on it is way better than on a sled because I can stand up, which I like better than being down close to the ground. It’s easy to turn or brake because everything is so flexible and it goes much faster downhill than Kaleb on cross-country skis, as we also found out today. (I like to win.) I am so thankful we now have a spark and that I’m married to a guy who can fix anything. (Kory’s job this morning was to repair it.) Woo hoo. I like it. I love it. I want some more of it! But I must say, I’m glad to now be sitting down as I’m all sparked out and my legs are a bit wobbly. I hope winter lasts a while longer.

Today in class we learned more grammatical rules about things for which I’d just as soon not repeat as it might give me a headache. I’m feeling hopeless when it comes to learning the details of this language. And I hate the fact that some students in our class don’t understand why I find it so difficult. I want to hate them, but they are too nice, so I can’t. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m older than their mothers and when I was their age, I could learn things quickly too. One of them asked me today if I had any old photos of myself because she suspects I might have been quite the babe in my day. I couldn’t have felt older, or more over the hill, but I’m at least ten years older than her mother, I’m sure, so I must seem almost grandma-like to her. And my pal Vestina asked me today why I wouldn’t consider dyeing my hair. I guess the grey is just a bit too much for her. It is for me too, but I told her I’ve never dyed my hair and I never will because I believe hair dye can cause cancer and she just laughed and called me a “crazy lady.” She’s called me worse, but I love her anyway.

The Good Teacher Inga had us listen to a children’s song today and see how many words we could identify. It was a song about a classic children’s character here named Kaptain Sabeltan (he’s a pirate). I guess there is a TV show with him on it and a theme park in southern Norway with all the characters from the show. What was funny about the song was the word used for “treasure,” as in “pirate’s treasure” - which is “skatt.” I’m sure it’s not just a coincidence that it is the exact same word they use here for “tax,” which I’m bracing for now that we are in tax season.

Inga told us today the number one hobby in all of Norway is remodeling and/or redecorating homes. She said because Norwegians spend so much time inside, and because they have a good economy and can afford such things, most people spend the bulk of their free time fixing up their houses. Whether it’s repainting, tearing out walls, adding decks or extra floors or garages or buying new furniture, it’s what consumes the most time for everyone. Kory said he went for a walk through the neighborhood the other day and there wasn’t one house that didn’t look like it was having something done to it. And most people do the work themselves. There is something in a Norwegian’s DNA that just makes them good at construction, no matter what job they have (cousin Odd is the only exception to that rule, but he tries). I even heard that about 50 years ago (and for many generations before that) it was expected of every young man to have built his own home, with his own hands, by the age of 25, whether he was married or not. It was some right-of-passage thing that has now obviously gone by the way-side, but perhaps has morphed into this whole home remodeling thing. So it seems a man’s home here really is his treasure, and ironically, there is no tax on it.

Blessings

We have a good six inches of snow outside now and it’s still coming down. It’s supposed to snow off and on all week, which is fine by me. I love that it comes and goes so we never get tired of it. The landscape changes so dramatically every time things get covered in white. I was thinking the winter would be the hardest season to be here, but so far, it’s been fantastic. So was summer and fall though, so I must be well suited for this climate. We haven’t had nearly the rain that’s normal so I’m pleased we picked the right year to be here.

The photo today is one Kory finished a few weeks ago. It’s of Solevåg in the snow – the farm where his mom was born. He was once again “experimenting” with his drawing and I’m not sure he really likes how this one turned out. He’s now doing another one of Solevåg in the summer – without the hidden details. (If you double click on the image you can see things better.) In the mountain on the left side of the picture is a face. If the picture is turned upside down, it becomes a Viking – I even think he tried to put a Viking ship in there somewhere but then tried to take it out somehow. Also, in the reflection in the water of the group of trees a little to the left of center, he put a horse drawn wagon – reflective of the old farming days when he was young. I’m not sure if there are other hidden things, but those are the ones I spotted. The house where his mom was born is on the right side of the picture. The pitch of the roof is the highest one visible. She was born in the upstairs bedroom of that house, inside the room with the window. That entire hillside hasn’t changed much in a hundred years, but the hillside across the water from it is experiencing quite a housing boom so it’s completely different. The farm land reaching down to the sea is what makes this scene so spectacular so I hope future generations don’t sell out the family farms in that area or this image will be lost forever. Kory and Kaleb’s roots run deep at Solevåg.

Today in my Norsk class we got to scare all the students that didn’t take the test yesterday by telling them how “vanskelig” (difficult) the test was. Testing is a “free will” thing (“frivillig” – pronounced like “free willy” - which cracks me up every time I hear it.) Testing is not mandatory so only if a certificate is needed for something, is it necessary. Not everyone chose to be tested so those of us that made the choice had to make a presentation on how it went. I guess I won’t really know how it went until I get the results back in a few weeks, but I enjoyed telling everyone it was hard and how strict they were, which scared people even more. Over half the people in Norway that take that test fail it, but I guess the Ålesund Kommune has some of the highest statistics for passing, so we’ll see how it goes.

Tonight I was invited to a dinner party just for ME. I was the guest of honor and it felt great! The praying women I’ve met with a few times decided to say “thanks” by throwing me a little party. I guess I’ve made quite an impact on that group. Of course, it’s not really me, it’s what God is doing for them, through them, with them… but they wanted to thank me for all I’ve taught them. It was so encouraging for me to hear what has been happening with them since they started “soaking prayer.” Miracles, really. One woman took a friend with her to a retreat center and they just soaked all weekend. The things she said happened there were incredible. We decided all seven of us women should go there together next month, so I hope we can get a reservation. They are a fun bunch of women to be around because they are all sold out for God. We shared stories of how God has worked specifically in our lives with perfect timing, perfect provision, healings and teaching us to forgive. Tone, (pronounced Tone-ah) the woman that hosted the party, said she looks at forgiveness like fertilizer because it helps her to grow and become more beautiful every time she forgives someone that does her wrong. She said she learned that from a dream she had once where she was in a greenhouse and two plants stood out as being so healthy and perfect looking. She asked the gardener what he was feeding those plants and he said, “forgiveness.” She feels that when she forgives someone, it protects her from anything that would otherwise destroy her “beauty.” (And she’s a beauty – inside and out.) I thought that was great imagery. These women are a hoot to be around and I so needed it tonight as I’ve had a tough couple of days dealing with both Kory and Kaleb’s crabbiness and my own spurts of depression. I keep thinking I’m not doing enough with my life yet I feel so blessed and somehow that feels wrong. I’ve almost adapted Kory’s mantra of “life isn’t supposed to be this good.” But I know it is, and it should be, and it’s okay to feel blessed and be blessed because then I’m a blessing to others, as I found out tonight. Talk about perfect timing. God is good.