The Long Walk Home

I woke up thanking God for a good night’s sleep – finally!  This morning I was feeling rather refreshed for the first time since we landed.  Kory already had the coffee going so I was able to have some quiet time before waking Kaleb up for church.

We are always torn, when we are here, as to which church we should attend.  We have friends at both Pentecostal churches in our area, but Kaleb likes one better than the other, so we headed off to Agape, even though his friends attend Philadelphia.  Pastor Mark, at Agape, speaks such perfect Norwegian I am able to understand his sermons better than at Philly, so I like it a little better there, too.  We were warmly welcomed and there were lots of squeals of delight and hugs given and received when people saw we were back.

Agape has moved into their new remodeled building and it is very nice.  The sound system is good and Kory joked that it’s loud enough he doesn’t have to wear hearing aids (he doesn’t wear them anymore, anyway).  We had a great time of worship, as they have so many gifted singers and musicians but I swear they have a rule that at least one person on the worship team must be pregnant as I’ve never seen it any other way.  It’s a church geared for the younger crowd and those folks make lots of babies.  Mark preached about heaven, and what our bodies will be like when we are there – something I’d never thought about much as I tend to focus too much on the one I have while I’m on earth. We went to the café afterwards and visited a bit with people we know.  The church is growing, but all the old familiar faces were there, too, so it really felt like coming home.

We had no plans for the afternoon and since the local soccer team had a home game, we knew many folks we’d like to visit would be there, so we decided just to go for a walk.  My earthly body is a bit out of shape so I didn’t think I could conquer any mountains (they are all covered in snow anyway), so we decided to take Inger’s car back that we had borrowed for the weekend. 

While Kory and Kaleb washed it, I started packing up a few of my Norwegian treasures I want to take home.  I’m making up small boxes of things that easily fit into suitcases, as there are several folks here that will be coming to visit us before we return, so I’m hoping to send things home with them, bit by bit.  There’s no way we have enough luggage space on our return voyage for all the things my heart desires to bring along with me.  I may not be able to take them with me to heaven, but I sure want to enjoy them as much as I can here on earth.

It didn’t rain all day today, but it was windy and fairly cold - a perfect day for a Sunday walk.  Bjørn and Inger live about three and a half miles from us so we drove their car over to them, then walked home. (Bjørn was gone with the boys to the soccer game.)  We stopped by Cousin Axel’s house, which was right on the way, to greet them and have a little chat.  One of their daughters just had a baby on Thursday and the other one just moved back from England with her hunky monkey fiancé – they will be married in August, so it was nice to see them, too. 

We tried to find a more scenic path along the water for the trip home, rather than the one that follows the road the whole way, or the one that Kaleb takes all the time on his bike, but we made several wrong turns along our journey.  It almost became comical as we kept ending up in places we didn’t even know existed and they all dead ended, so we had to turn around and go back to the main path.  We left Inger’s house at 5pm and didn’t get home until nearly 8pm, with most of that time spent backtracking along the wrong paths.  I needed the exercise, but Kaleb was getting bored by the whole process.  I love it that in these parts, everywhere I look I see either water or mountains.

I hate eating dinner so late but we were hungry and tired by the time we got home so we had a quick soup dinner and played a board game until bedtime.  It wasn’t a bad way to spend a Sunday, that’s for sure.  And we got the word out to several people that we need to rent out our condo for two years, so maybe something will come of that.  I hate to put an ad in the newspaper, but we were told we could get over $2,500 a month rent for our 725 sq ft place! That’s way more than we clear on our 11-unit apartment in Seattle.  I guess if food is expensive here, rent would be, too, but I was shocked by that bit of news.  I’d rather rent it for half that amount though and have it be used by God in some way, than to pay taxes on all that income.  Ugh. I had no idea rents had gone up that much in this area so I’m sure if we price it lower, we’ll get it filled with the right person at the right time.  I’m already grieving that transition.

Let the Parties Begin

I woke Kaleb up at 11 this morning.  He’d slept for 12 hours straight, so hopefully he’s now adjusted to the time.  It was a bit better for both Kory and I also.  I don’t remember being this affected by the time difference before.  The groggy brain is getting to me as I can’t think straight enough to do any projects.

I was at the mall this morning before it started getting crazy full of people, so I got my grocery shopping for the weekend out of the way.  I decided to not delay in inviting folks over, so I was pleased that Cousin Bjørn and family came to have dinner with us tonight.  Kory went jogging this morning so he could eat a bit of fish for dinner, as I promised him if he exercises regularly to get his heart rate up, it would be OK to have fish once or twice a week.  You’d think he’d be exercising everyday for that offer, but he doesn’t.

Kaleb spent the afternoon over at Daniel’s house so I was glad for that – even if they just spent it on their computers – at least he’s out there.  I spent the afternoon prepping dinner and Kory spent it running around looking for some parts that will allow our portable gas grill to work, using the larger propane tank we have from our old bar-b-quer.  Things aren’t so easy to find here, and when we do find them, they cost way more than they should.  He still doesn’t have all the parts he needs, but he’s getting closer.

Kory and I took a little walk down the street to an “exotic foods” import store to see if we could find black beans.  None of the grocery stores here have them, so we were pleased they were available there.  Only in Norway would black beans be considered exotic. One the way back, Kory stuck his head inside a McDonalds just to see if it was busy.  Boy, was it ever.  Even at three in the afternoon the place was packed out and the line was nearly out the door.  A Big Mac, fries and a coke sells for $16.50.  I saw an older woman eating her hamburger with the top bun off, which cracked me up because Norwegians only eat open faced sandwiches… they never use the top piece of bread, so she was applying that same practice to her American hamburger.  Too funny.

Cousin Rune and Sol came by today to welcome us back, and they are free next Friday for dinner so we’ll have a chance to catch up with them at that time.  I hope we have enough time this year to visit all our friends – we sure didn’t last year.  I was glad we had a relaxed evening with Bjørn and Inger though, even if the twins were a bit bored with our place.  Kaleb did his best to keep them entertained, but there’s only so much one can do with 9 year olds.  At least dinner was a hit- they’d never eaten food from a bag before.  I made fish and veggies inside a parchment pouch so it was a unique experience to open up the bag right on their plate and eat from it.   Boy was it ever tasty – local fresh fish baked with organic potatoes, carrots and turnips all topped with fresh dill, tarragon and lime.  Kory’s was the only one not dotted with butter, but the Norwegian butter here made it all taste so yummy.  It was an easy dinner to make, so I’ll have to make it again soon.

I’m putting the word out we need to rent out our condo for the next two years, so now I’m analyzing all the things I have in it that I need to get rid of, store or take back to America.  It will be a sad day to have to undecorated all that I’ve so lovingly decorated over the past few years.  Sniff sniff.  I love our little Norwegian home (check out our view, above!).  Life is simpler here and way more social.  Hard to believe we get to live “the good life” no matter where we go.

Settling In

Jet lag continues to plague us all.  I woke up at 12:30am and never slept well after that.  Kaleb was up doing chores at 5am.  We were dogging it all day today as we all wanted a nap but we continued to keep moving so that wouldn’t happen.

Kaleb spent most of his day playing a new DS game, but he did manage to help Kory a bit. They got the battery charger going on our van so the van will start by Monday and they fixed a few flat tires on our bikes.  Details.  It’s all about details.

Right after breakfast I went downstairs to help Turid finish cleaning Tante Kari’s condo.  I spent most of the time there listening to all the gruesome details of both her mother’s death and Tante Kari’s death.  She needed to vent.

Unbelievably, her mother’s death was pre-determined.  The doctor in charge of patients on respirators, decided she’d lived long enough and he needed to pull the plug.  Her brain was 100% even to the end, which made it hard for Turid, but her mom had been on a respirator for over two years and initially they thought she’d just be on it temporarily.  When she couldn’t go off it, they told everyone she wouldn’t live more than a year, but she just kept going.  The doctor felt her quality of life was going down, even though every other day she was perfectly fine, but on her “off” days, she complained about not getting enough oxygen.  It was just horrible for everyone to count down to the day they turned off the machine.  She died instantly.  It was like an execution, in a way, but this is how socialized medicine works.  Patients and family don’t get any final words on the matter.  Sad, sad, sad.

On the other hand, Turid went on and on about how they took care of Tante Kari’s body after she died.  Kari was worried she would look bad in death so she made Turid promise she’d fix her up  nice.  Tante Kari has always been a fashion queen, so Turid and her daughter did up her hair and makeup, and loaded her up with jewelry in the hours after her death.  Kari’s boys went home and got the clothes they wanted her to put on so the funeral home didn’t do anything other than keep her cold until the funeral came around - another weird set of circumstances that just wouldn’t go over well in America.  They don’t embalm the body or drain blood or anything here, they just “plug up holes” so they don’t leak in places… eeew.

So Turid talked all morning as we cleaned, then she came up and had lunch with me and talked some more.  It’s all still so fresh, as her mom just died two weeks ago.  I wish I had words to say that would help, but I was glad to be a much needed sounding board anyway. 

Kory came down to Kari’s place and repaired a sliding door as Odd isn’t much of a fix-it guy.  I’m hoping he can do more helpful things for them while we are here this year, since everything got done in our condo last year and Kory needs stuff to do.  Kory did call the insurance company today so we’ll have insurance on the car on Monday, and he called the internet provider, so they’ll get that hooked up on Monday as well.  Whew.  I’m desperate for an internet connection.

Several relatives have stopped by the last few days to welcome us, but I’ve missed them all as I was out and about.  Cousin Bjørn loaned us a car for the weekend so Kory immediately drove me over to my favorite thrift store, just so I could get that out of my system.  I would have walked, but it’s been hailing/snowing/raining all day.  (We left spring behind in Skagit County – only to walk back into winter here.)  I didn’t buy much at the thrift store, but what I got was pretty cool.  I got two crystal vases and two crystal candlestick holders, a few handmade doilies and a reindeer horn that’s been transformed into a little knife holder for appetizer knives… all with handmade antler handles - a most unique item from Norway and I got it for five bucks.  I love stuff like that.  Kory just rolls his eyes at me but even he had to admit, the knife set was pretty cool.

I made some yummy portabella mushroom tacos for dinner tonight which were worth making again.  I love when I find recipes like that.  Then after dinner we took a drive down to see Tante Ruth at the old folk’s home, just down the street.  She looked healthier than she did last year when we were here and she was as perky as ever.  She was so surprised we came in April, as she was thinking we wouldn’t come before May.  Kory reminded her she said she wouldn’t be here when we returned this year, but she’s still around – 89 ½ and going strong – even though she’s blind and nearly deaf.  She was pleased we remembered she likes Aplets and Cotlets so she scarfed those down right away.  I took photos of old photos in her room while Kory yelled in her ear so she could hear him.

When Tante Aslaug went over to visit her the day Tante Kari died, Ruth was sitting in her room crying.  She’d been crying all morning because she said Kari had already come to visit her to tell her she was dying, so Ruth knew she was dead before she’d even been told.  Kinda gave me the creeps to hear that one, but I guess one never knows what goes on in the spiritual world around us, until something like that happens.  It was nice to visit her, as always, even though I can’t imagine her quality of life, just sitting in a chair, only with her memories to keep her company. (The photo below is of Tante Ruth on the left in the days she was living with Kory's family in America.  Kory is the one in the center in front of the curtain.)

We dropped Kaleb off at Philadelphia Church on our way home since they were having a youth group meeting tonight, then we stopped by Tante Aslaug’s place once we got home, since I hadn’t seen her yet.  She said she’d come by several times and no one was home so she doesn’t understand how we could be so busy already, since we just got here.  Good thing she doesn’t see what our life is like back home in America.

The funniest thing she said was that she saw Kaleb’s Facebook post when we were sitting in the airport in Oslo where he said we were waiting on our last flight into Aalesund.  She misunderstood that to mean we were taking the last flight out of Oslo to Aalesund, which meant we’d be coming in at midnight.  She didn’t hear us come in around 6:30, nor did she hear all the noise we were making while preparing dinner or having Odd and Turid over… and she said she stayed up til after midnight waiting for us to arrive so she could greet us.  We assumed she wasn’t home when we got in from the airport because all her lights were off, so we didn’t even ring her doorbell (she lives right next door).  It was a comedy of errors so we all had a good laugh.

Kaleb had a nice time tonight at church, reconnecting with some of his friends. The text messages started pouring in for dinner invitations once our phones got turned on, so our time here will be full and will again go by way too quickly, I’m sure.  I just hope we get adjusted to the time zone so we have our wits about us when we visit folks. 

It’s now bedtime and it’s snowing pretty hard, so we might wake up to a winter wonderland, which will suit Kaleb just fine, since we missed winter this year and he’s itching for a snowball fight.

We're Baaaaaack!

Our beloved Grammy J often comments that she doesn’t understand how I am able to get so much done in such a short amount of time.  She’s also in awe of how much energy I have.  I don’t think what I do is anything out of the ordinary, but yesterday, even I have to admit – I wondered how I was able to do it all.

We were up at 6am on Tuesday in order to get out the door for our return journey to Norway.  While Kory was at his 7:30am Bible study, Kaleb and I did some last minute errands.  Then we were off to Seattle to say goodbye to Grammy J and have coffee with some friends before we left. Kory also did a little repair at our apartment building before our manager there took us to the airport.

The airplane left Seattle at 4:30pm and none of us slept on the seven-hour flight to Iceland.  We only had 40 minutes before our next flight left for Oslo and neither Kory nor I slept on that leg of the journey, but Kaleb did, which was good.  Our two hour layover in Oslo kept us all awake, but Kaleb was so tired, he slept again on the 50 minute flight to Aalesund.  Kory and I were still wide awake.  By the time we arrived at our condo in Aalesund, it was 6pm Wednesday night here in Norway, but 9am Wednesday morning back in Seattle, so we’d pulled an all nighter, and had been awake for 27 hours straight.  We were both dog-tired, but also very hungry, so I knew I had to make dinner.

I’d left some pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles in our storage unit to grab and make a quick meal upon our return, so at least I had a plan.  But, when we got here, Odd and Turid were downstairs at Tante Kari’s old condo (owned by her son, Odd).  They had already cleaned it out and were painting and cleaning it, so silly me, I invited them up for dinner because Turid had been working there all day and I knew she would appreciate it.

I realized I couldn’t just feed them pasta and sauce, so I ran to the mall to get some salad makings, garlic bread, cauliflower and some ground beef, onions and garlic so Odd didn’t have to eat fat free vegan.  Then I had to make two different sauces and all of a sudden we’re in the midst of bigger dinner plans than I had intended.  Fortunately, Kory and Kaleb provided much needed extra hands and the table got set, dressing got made, cauliflower got steamed, pasta cooked and two sauces were done all within half an hour.  We popped open a bottle of red wine we brought from home and sat down with them to one delicious dinner as we were all starving.  We laughed about the fact we’d been traveling all day, hadn’t slept the night before and here we are entertaining dinner guests.  I even impressed myself. 

We had a wonderful chat with Odd and Turid, but it was sad, too, as they both talked about losing their mothers in the last month.  Turid’s mom died just weeks after Odd’s mom, so none of us made it through dinner without a few tears in our eyes.  Odd will rent his condo to his son now, so at least there won’t be strangers there.  Still, we already miss Tante Kari.

I couldn’t get to sleep last night until all the luggage was unpacked and things put away, so we didn’t get to bed before 10pm, which meant I’d been awake for 31 hours straight.  I zonked out right away but woke up at 1am and couldn’t get back to sleep.  It was a fitful night with waking and sleeping so today I have been woozy in my head and not thinking straight.

My friend Kristin invited me to a prayer meeting this morning, so off I went, just after I finally gave up trying to sleep and got out of bed.  I had to say, starting my time off here in Norway with prayer, was just what I needed.  I was very thankful for the timing of that gathering and it was also good to catch up a little with my prayer partners here in Norway.

This afternoon was just taking care of business.  We walked down to the car registration place so we could order new plates for our car, since they destroy our old ones after six months.  We missed it by a week.  The same plates stay with the car forever, so we had to order new ones with the same number and hopefully they will arrive on Monday so we have transportation soon.  As it is, everything we need is within walking distance anyway, so we are OK for now.  I also tried to get the internet hooked up, but didn’t get to them in time before they closed at 4pm.  And of all things, I left my Norwegian cell phone in America so I was very bummed about that.  I told Kristin about it and she offered to let me use an old phone of hers, so I just went to the mall and bought a new SIM card for forty bucks and now I’m back in business.  The only bad part is all the phone numbers to my friends here are on my phone back at home, so until I get the internet, I can’t even look up anyone’s number.  Ugh.  Even the library was closed today so no luck there.

Kaleb and Kory unpacked things from our storage unit today and afterwards Kaleb rode his bike over to his friend’s neighborhood to say hi to them.  They were excited and glad he has returned so I’m hoping things go better for him this year, than last.  We’ll see.

It feels better to be back than I expected.  I wasn’t really looking forward to coming this year, but it feels good now that we are here.  Cousin Bjørn and Inger came unexpectedly and cleaned our apartment for us a few days ago.  They put chocolates on the table, changed the sheets and turned on the refrigerator, so that was nice – to have things prepped like that.  It was nice to have everything ready for us to move right back in.

Even just in the six months we’ve been away, so many things have changed around our place.  There was a small cluster of tall trees right across the street from us that have now all been cut down.  It’s sad the trees are gone but our view of the mountains has improved.  And the mall has gotten larger and plans are in the works for it to increase in size even more so that it will become the largest mall in all of Norway, which can only help increase the value of our place here.  That was some good news.

Odd and Turid are talking about remodeling Tante Kari’s old place after his son moves out, then they will move in permanently.  They want us to come back and live in our condo after that so we can all grow old together.  Kaleb will be off to college by then, so maybe we’ll spend another year here sometime, but who knows.  The cost of living is just so high that I can’t imagine we could ever afford it.  Just at the airport yesterday I bought a piece of bread with cheese on it and it was $15.  I bought those few veggies and ground beef last night for dinner and it cost $90.  The cost of food is just so stifling that I can’t even think about it or I get depressed.  So we must enjoy the rain, our condo, our good health, friends and family and when we run out of money, we go home.  But I do hope we make it the two months we’ll be here before that happens!

Just as I was on the last few minutes of making dinner tonight, our power went out.  I guess that’s a rare thing in these parts and even rarer that the power went out in the entire region – basically what we would consider a state – and part of the neighboring “state” too.  It was a power outage of monumental proportions.  We had no idea when it would come back on again so rather than steam the broccoli (my last step), we just ate it raw as everything else was already cooked. 

Then, just as we were sitting down to eat dinner, Odd and Turid popped in for a visit.  They had just eaten so they came with “refreshments” in hand and sat with us in the dark and chatted while we ate.  We had candlelight and it wasn’t too dark since the sun doesn’t go down til about 9pm here, but it was cozy nonetheless.  I just love drop in company!

It was a quiet evening at home, even after the power came back on as we all used various means to stay awake until a proper bedtime.  Kaleb seems to be adjusted the best, but Kory and I are suffering a little.  Hopefully tonight will be a better night’s sleep.