Back Home

We started the day off having a luxurious breakfast at the SAS Radisson hotel in Trondheim. The room and food were even better than the last time we were there because we got the “friends and family rate” from Turid’s daughter, Sarah, who works for SAS, so it was less than half the cost we should have paid. Bargains always make me happy…. We woke up to blue skies and sunshine too so we walked around the heart of downtown and bought some organic produce from the farmer’s market in the main square and went into a few second hand stores just to see what treasures might be waiting for us. It was good to get some fresh autumn air and to watch the leaves falling off the trees before getting back in the car for the last stretch home. I love this time of year. We made it home safely, and this time, I won the competition as to the exact moment we’d arrive: 6:02pm (I was off by seven minutes, but it beat Kory and Kaleb’s estimate). We had more incredible sights to see on the way home with the colors of autumn all around (the photo is of a cabin we passed along the way – double click on it to see the amazing detail). When we got within an hour of home the skies were black and the rain came down something fierce. It was almost comical as we had such a perfect trip in so many ways and never had to drive in the rain, and then when the trip was over, the skies opened up. Odd says we were “lucky” to have good weather that far north this time of year. I told him luck didn’t have anything to do with it – God loves us that much and wanted to bless us. He nodded in agreement and said, “Yes, maybe.” He was quick to point out also that the weather report says now that winter was right on our tails and that we were very lucky to make it back home without ice or snow on the roads. He was worried about us, I guess, but we managed to stay ahead of the elements. God is good.

Turid was so kind to have us over for dinner tonight. We had to unload the van and start putting things away and making dinner wasn’t something I was looking forward to, but Turid saved the day. I had even commented to Kory on the way home about how spoiled we were back in Mount Vernon as my neighbor Wendy would always put a meal in the refrigerator for us after we’d been gone for a few days so we had something to eat the minute we walked in the door. I was lamenting the fact she wasn’t here now, and then Turid called and invited us over, so we felt lucky, and blessed. We had a great time visiting with Odd and Turid as we went over some of our impressions of the trip with them. Turid’s mom is from the Lofoten Islands and her dad is from just as far north. We talked about how life must be for people living up there and she said their life “may not be wide, but it’s very deep.” Meaning, they don’t spread themselves around in doing many things or going many places, but they have deep thoughts and spend a lot of time contemplating life. I imagine they would, as there isn’t much else to do. I’m thankful we don’t live that far north or Kaleb might drive us all nuts, as he thinks enough as it is. He had a bit of a breakdown in the car on the way home, saying how homesick he is and how he just wants to have a friend that can understand him. (But I’m not sure he even has that back in America, even if they do speak English….) I reminded him that Hege can understand him and they play well together and he countered with, “She’s not my age” (she’s soon 14). He so wants a friend his age to play with, and while Sabina almost fits the bill, she’s close to where we live, she’s his age, she does well in English – she also drives him nuts and has a lot of hard-to-live with social skills. Poor Kaleb. I feel his pain and I’ll just pray he overcomes the desperation. But we do hope the experience of living in Norway serves him well in developing his character and helping him to become the person God wants him to be. Otherwise, we’re in big trouble.

Heading Home

It was a long day in the car today to make it to Trondheim. We’re only five hours now from home and at this point, considering how much we’ve traveled, it feels like we’re in our own backyard. We have been on more ferries and through more tunnels and over more bridges these past ten days than I’m sure I’ve been in a lifetime. We took the “scenic” route down the coast today, which added a lot of time to the journey but it was worth it. The fall colors are really at their peak and everywhere we drove was just gorgeous with all the contrasting evergreens and bright yellow birch leaves. We had very little rain today too, but even with overcast skies and it was still jaw dropping gorgeous. I love this country.

I feel like Norway is similar to that elephant in the old story about the six men that each felt a different part of the elephant’s body. The one that felt his tail was sure he was like a snake, the one that felt his legs was sure he was like a tree, etc. We have seen so many sides to Norway that it’s hard to wrap up all our impressions in just one description of the place as there are so many different facets to this country - not just in landscape, but in lifestyle and “feel” (the food is all pretty much the same though.) Each city is special in its own way too and I could easily live in many of them but we’re glad we live where we do, not just because it’s a beautiful place, but because all our family is here – and I guess that’s why many people live where they do. It’s been such a great opportunity to get out and see so much of the land, and now it feels great that we are going home.

We had a big night out tonight in Trondheim – we went to the Ikea store. We bought (hopefully) a year’s supply of napkins and candles, as they are so much a part of the ambiance of life here and they are not at all cheap to buy in Ålesund. Our van has room for much more, but I’m afraid our house is maxed out and at this point, so anything I buy has to go in the garage. I’m so thankful our van held up during this trip – it is such a great vehicle and it’s gotten incredible gas mileage. Kory held up well too – driving the entire 2,300+ kilometers (about 1,400 miles in total), and Kaleb did well to keep us all entertained. We so love road trips. I’m positive that’s the American in us, because I’m pretty sure that Norwegians would take a road trip somewhere and then sit for hours or days drinking coffee and eating a bit before they would get back in their car again. Unlike us where we just drive and drive day in and day out and eat in the car on the way. Kory thought today was a good mix of both cultures though as we hurried up and arrived at the end of the road, then had to sit and wait for the ferry, then we sat on the ferry for 20-60 minutes while we crossed a fjord and he could have a cup of coffee while someone else was at the wheel, then we hurried up and got to our next destination and did the same thing – over and over. So it was the perfect way to be an American (in a hurry to get everywhere), yet enjoying the Norwegian style of travel wherein a stop for a cup of coffee is necessary every hour or so (and taking that essential time to relax). Kory got lots of coffee today, but it took over ten hours of traveling to get it.

Kaleb kept asking today how many “clicks” until we are in Trondheim. Since the measurement for distance here is in kilometers, some Europeans use the word “click” to refer to the same. Kory has decided that “We’ll be there in 46 clicks,” is more appropriately used when referring to the number of photos he expects I’ll be taking between any two given points. (Some we stop for, others we don’t – see photo.) But I must say, if we’ve now traveled over 2,000 kilometers, I’m pretty sure I haven’t taken that many photos… but when doing the conversions to miles, well, I might be pretty close.

Molvika

Today was a very special day for me. I finally got to visit the Molvika farm (see photo), where our friend Halton Molvik was born and raised. I wrote a book about his life on that farm in the 1920s and 30s and it was just as I had pictured it, only with details I couldn’t have imagined. It was almost like walking in the steps of my own ancestors as I got to relive several of the moments he had in his early years in each of the locations they happened.

Molvika is just like many of the farms in Northern Norway – only accessible by boat(or on foot.) It sits just a few hundred feet south of the Arctic Circle and it’s a long way from anywhere. We had to walk over a mountain to get there and it was pouring down rain the entire forty minutes we walked. I thought it was a far better representation of his life on that farm, having the rain as part of the experience. When we arrived, there was no porch in which to seek shelter, so we found the cellar door open and we huddled under the house to escape the downpour (see other photo of the view looking out toward the grayed out sea.) I brought along a copy of the book and read excerpts to Kory and Kaleb about life on that farm while we waited out the squall. It was almost surreal.

No one lives at the farm today – it’s only used as a summer place by Halton’s nephew and his family. The house and all the outbuildings are still frozen in time. The fields and rocks surrounding the house were just as Halton described them. The feeling of absolute calm and isolation were every bit as real today as they were for him growing up there – only the children were missing – all 17 that his mother gave birth to. I found a few of their graves at the cemetery along the path back into town.

Halton had many memories of the walk he made over the mountain to get to town. We stopped at the only store and met the owner – a cousin to Halton. We left a few copies of the book with him to sit on the tables of the little café he has added to the back of his store. We also left a copy for the local school library and we went to the old folk’s home nearby and left a copy there as well. (Several of the residents we met there were related to Halton, including his sister-in-law.) I also spoke on the phone with the “mayor” of that area as he helped me write parts of the book and he was quite distressed he couldn’t meet me in person, but the ferry schedules didn’t work out as he lives on an outer island and was unable to get to the mainland.

It was such a blessing for me to visit Molvika and to connect personally with its history. We all picked up rocks from the water’s edge as mementos of our journey north, as the title to the book I wrote is, “Built on Solid Rock.” It had a double meaning – that the farm where Halton was from was built on the solid rock of the Norwegian coastline, but also, the life he built for himself was built on the Solid Rock of Jesus Christ. It’s good to have reminders of that (especially when you live on sinking sand!) The visit today was the main reason we took this road trip north, to see the farm up close and personal and it was every bit as exciting as I hoped it to be. We can go home now.

We had a two hour drive to get to the nearest hotel and we got into Sandnessjoen just after sunset. We managed to see two moose nibbling grass on the side of the road as we were entering town. That was another thrill for the day as grazing moose are not the norm in our world. The life on this north coast is so different from anything I can relate to. I keep wondering what it is that keeps people here and why they don’t all move to a place more convenient. I got my answer today in talking with Halton’s cousin -- he said, “We have everything we need here,” and he’s quite content with his life. He either doesn’t know any better, or it doesn’t get any better, I’m not sure which.

By Land and by Sea

We’re heading south quickly now as our big Norsk road trip is coming to an end and it feels like winter is fast approaching this northern part of the country. We were driving awfully close to the snow line today and it made me a bit nervous. Everywhere is so remote here if the car broke down it feels like we would freeze or starve to death or both. There is only one main road going north and south throughout this part of Norway and we only saw a handful of cars or trucks all day. We changed our plans and decided not to go to Bodø afterall, but rather continue on the inland route to Mo I Rana, which is closer to tomorrow’s destination. I didn’t want to be stressed for time tomorrow so we put in a few extra hours of driving today. Poor Kory – he’s done all the driving. I’m not comfortable yet with all the Norsk traffic signs so I haven’t taken up the charge – and I don’t think Kory’s heart could handle me behind the wheel anyway as many stretches of road are just one lane with no center line and rarely a guard rail. Uff da.

We saw herds and herds of caribou today up in the mountain passes – more of them than cars, that’s for sure. We also saw a lot of beautiful scenery again as we had blue sky and bright sunshine most of the day. I did a lot of “drive by shootings” rather than make Kory stop the car to take a picture and even in a moving vehicle I got some incredible shots. And I’m just kicking myself that I recently discovered the “foliage” setting on my camera that makes the fall colors really pop out. Had I known about that while on the Lofoten Islands my photos would have been more like what we saw – rather than a bit washed out. Oh well, live and learn.

Kaleb kept us entertained most of the day reading us “interesting facts” from one of his science books. He likes to take a fact, blank out some detail in it and then form a question so that we have to fill in the missing piece. For some reason, this is great fun to him. Kory and I usually pick extreme opposite possible answers to these weird questions just to let him do the math and figure out who wins. He also likes to just read us interesting facts and I got almost as good as him in saying “WOW!” without even tuning in to what he was saying. Oh the joys of a road trip. He won the competition we set up as to what moment we would cross the Arctic Circle too – he got within one minute of the time and won a cookie for a prize (he was negotiating for something more substantial but I wouldn’t cave.) Last week we crossed the Arctic Circle while heading north on a ferry boat – today we did it going south by car (see photos – the small marker over Kaleb’s head is the “line” in the ocean). Kory and Kaleb both had to pee while we were pulled over to take photos of the Arctic markers. They each picked one side of the line to pee on. I think they were looking for which way it would flow. It’s not like it is the Continental Divide or anything, but Kaleb is always looking for experiments to perform. He then had immediate regrets he didn’t “save it” to try and melt some of the frozen puddles he discovered in the parking lot. He was quickly pacified with “skipping stones” on a frozen pond, however.

We arrived in this cute little town of Mo I Rana right at dinnertime, but we delayed eating so Kaleb could go swimming (we accidentally discovered they had a pool as we were driving around looking for a hotel.) It was super nice but not as decadent as swimming in a cave but it sure helped him to burn off some energy after sitting in the car all day. This town reminds me of a New England coastal town – nicely kept wooden salt box style houses with picket fences and little lamps burning in all the window sills. It has a wonderful downtown area, too. There is a lot of new construction here so I’m not sure what the big income source is but they tout themselves as being the jumping off point for the Arctic Circle. Considering half the hotels in town are shut down right now, they must do a lot of tourism at one time of the year or another. We passed dozens of ski lifts and camping grounds today so I’m sure there is a lot happening around here in winter and summer. I guess we are in the “shoulder” season. I like that feeling of not being around in the heat of things, and it especially works well for me now being in Norway with all that’s brewing in the U.S. God’s timing is perfect.

The Road to Narvik

We managed to buy a few treasures today before we left Harstad, some “antiques” (probably not older than Kory however), as reminders of the trip. The prices are so high if we were to buy anything in a regular store it almost takes the joy out of owning it, so we go for bargain prices at second hand stores and then like it all the better. Besides, they don’t make things like they used to. I’m trying not to think much about money on this trip as it would certainly pull the plug on all the fun we are having, but tonight Kory wanted to stay in a bed and breakfast rather than a nice hotel. It only saved us about $50 but somehow that made him happy. Kaleb on the other hand, was devastated as there is no bathroom in the room – we have to walk down a hall to use the toilet. He cried and pitched a fit about it and even offered to pay the difference on the room rate himself, but Kory wouldn’t budge. I’m not sure the logic in it all, but Kory thinks he’s teaching Kaleb a thing or two about being flexible and being responsible with financial choices. I think Kory has reached the “life shouldn’t be this good” limit and now wants to feel a little less decadent… I’m not sure. I’m steering clear of them both by typing this in the sitting room of the B&B waiting for them to go to sleep. Life is good no matter how you slice it if you ask me.

We had a lot of grey clouds today but not much rain so the drive from Harstad to Narvik was a piece of cake (easy for me to say, as Kory did all the driving.) The scenery changed significantly as we were up IN the mountains, not down below looking up AT them. We saw a lot of rainbows today – even at high noon! It was only about a two hour drive, so we decided to take a side road and go check out Sweden. The width of Norway this far north is surprisingly narrow, so we wanted to add a little novelty to the day and let Kaleb cross the border into another country. At first he wasn’t that thrilled about the idea, but once we got there, he thought it was cool – literally. We were in a high mountain pass, close to the snow line, in a topography unlike anything we have encountered before (see photo on left). There was bare rock everywhere with little shrubs at best, growing in the cracks. On the Sweden side of the border is a big ski resort so there were many unoccupied cabins up in the mountains. I guess the snow up there lasts until mid-summer so we hit it at its deadest time but were thankful a little store was open so we had some destination point. In all of Norway, no matter what store you go into, you find the exact same products. There aren’t too many variations on the Norsk palate theme, so it was a huge thrill for Kaleb when all the products were different. He’s tried every kind of ice cream cone Norway has to offer, but he was faced with a freezer full of choices he’s never encountered and that threw him for a loop and made the day quite exciting for him. As we left the store and headed back to Norway, we got a lick by lick account of just exactly what that ice cream tasted like as it had flavors Kaleb wasn’t familiar with and he was trying to tell us what it was “kind of like.” The fact we could carry on a conversation for twenty minutes about the flavors in an ice cream cone is some indication of the kind of day we had – not much else going on. I think the highlight of the day for all of us was seeing reindeer in the wild on the road to Sweden (look for the white speck in the center of the other photo and if you double click on it, you’ll see it better.) There was an entire herd of them just off the road – huge antlers and all. It was just like watching a National Geographic special on Arctic wildlife. Very cool indeed to see them up close and personal.

Once we got to Narvik, our destination for the day, we walked around this somewhat dreary town. In some ways it reminds me of Astoria, Oregon because it’s old, on a hill, has water at the bottom, has a lot of potentially cool old buildings but not well maintained and it looks like it might have seen its better days. The next city with a hotel is a five hour drive so we had to stay put for the night here and make the best of it. Luckily, they have a bowling alley so we went bowling, which made Kaleb happy even though he lost. Afterwards we took him to a climbing wall place and let him climb the walls and ceiling until he was good and tired. He had great fun there as he had the place all to himself and it was only ten bucks for as long as he wanted to stay. What a blessing that was. We were just thankful we found some places open, as many places we’ve encountered this trip are either closed for the winter or they close at three o’clock and we arrive five minutes after that. Today we found a nice restaurant for dinner but they stopped serving food at 5:30pm. What’s up with that? Even the store in Sweden closed at two in the afternoon – and most places don’t open until eleven in the morning. I know the days get shorter here in the winter, but I find it odd that opening hours would also be that short. What else is there to do? We’ve yet to figure that one out.

Way Up North

Kory was complaining about the stop and go traffic this morning, yet there wasn’t another car in sight. Every time we rounded a corner I’d yell “STOP!” as the picture in front of us was begging to be forever captured on film. Stunning. (Actually, I’ve been doing that for days, but today he finally decided to complain a little.) The storm brought snow to the highest peaks, yet the fall colors in the lower elevations remained. Bodies of water interweave with vast landscapes at the base of all the mountains with just the perfect building or two added for effect (see photo). It’s an absolute dreamland and I hesitate to even add photos because they are so lame at representing the majesty of it all. Kaleb has kept his nose down and head in a book throughout this trip and we are constantly pointing out things of beauty and asking him to look up at them so he’ll have memories of this place. I saw him in the car window reflection today and he didn’t even turn his eyes from the page he was reading, yet he yelled out, “Wow!” without even knowing what he was commenting on. Anything to pacify the parents, I guess. Smart boy, however, frustrating. One mountain must look like all the others to him.

We left our cushy hotel this morning after several cups of coffee and a relaxed breakfast and drove even further north – as far north as we will be on this trip – to Harstad. Tomorrow we start the journey south. Rain came and went today but the scenery was still beautiful in every way as the waters were so calm I took many photos of mirror images. The clouds just added dimension and the rain made us glad we were warm and dry in the car.

We officially left the Lofoten Islands today and we’re back on the mainland of Norway. On the first ferry we parked next to a fish truck (big business up here). It smelled nearly as bad as Kory smelled after he ate some dried fish last night for a snack. I almost made him sleep in the lobby. They hang all the fish to dry on outdoor racks here in the winter and then they eat the darn stuff. I can’t imagine being that hungry. And based on all the racks I’ve seen and how many fish they each must hold, I find it hard to believe there are still any fish left in the sea.

Kaleb made it well known today that he’s come to realize this trip is more for me than him, as there hasn’t been a thing we’ve done that would qualify as a “vacation” to him. He’s been such a trooper in the car, no complaints, just reading the same books over and over. I told him when we get to Harstad we’ll find something special to do just for him. Little did I know that Harstad has the best swimming facility in all of Scandinavia! How lucky was that? We even found out about it by chance at a second hand store we stopped at – the guy there told us about it (thank you, Jesus!). Then when we went to check into the hotel, I asked for directions to the pool, and I found out there was a package deal for the hotel and pool so that we got 30 kroners knocked off the hotel price (about $6) and free entry to the pool (which would have cost about $60), so that was an unexpected thrill. Then as we left the hotel to walk in the direction of the pool I was looking around this quaint little town and wondering just where oh where could that little pool be, since all the buildings were old wooden things with a lot of charm and I couldn’t imagine a pool in any of them. And then we saw the entry doors, went through them, and walked down, down, down into a deep tunnel, only to discover the pool hall was completely carved out of the base of a rock that made up the hillside here in town. It was the coolest thing, as they sprayed the entire cavity they made with some kind of white stucco so it seemed we were entering into an ice cave (and I’m sure in the wintertime this town is rather icy being so far north.) The pool facility has every feature imaginable, from the river current pool, hot tubs, wet and dry saunas, spraying water features, wave tank, water slide, kiddy wading area, and a separate huge Olympic size lap pool with all the high dives. It was quite the sight (see other photo of Kory and Kaleb raising their hands in praise to God.) We stayed for two and a half hours and Kaleb was so exhausted when we left he nearly fell asleep on the walk back to the hotel. He needed some exercise, and it sure got me off the hook for entertaining him. I told him not many kids have gone swimming in a cave north of the Arctic Circle before. But then again, probably not many adults have either.

Drivin' Around

Our goal today was to get to the next city north, but we took the long way there so instead of the normal forty minute trip, it took us seven hours. That’s what I call dawdling. We took every dirt road we could find and stopped at every view point. We walked the beach and picked up rocks, we climbed around an old fortress used in World War II and we sank ankle deep in moss that’s surely older than Kory (although he claims he’s never allowed to sit still long enough to have moss grow anywhere on him.) The boulders have been tumbling down these hills for thousands of years and there the huge rocks sit, waiting for something to be brave enough to grow on them. The moss is so thick you’d never even know there was a rock under it all, and it’s an awesome sight to come across a hillside with a blanket of green literally sprayed across the boulders. And now with the fall colors, the scenes were just downright “eye candy.” (see photo) We even managed to find some blueberries just waiting to be eaten.

We drove around the middle of the Lofoten Islands today – between Stamsund and Svolvær. We discovered the middle of one of the islands to have a lot of fresh water lakes and beautiful farmland (see other photo with Kaleb running) that once was a huge Viking village (discovered to be so in 1982 when a farmer was ploughing his field and came across some artifacts.) They rebuilt a Viking longhouse near one of the original sights and there is a lot of Viking pride in this neck of the woods. We ate another tail-gate picnic lunch in a deserted whaling village. Sheep were everywhere up in the hills. (I saw a weasel this morning and a few sea eagles, a harbor seal, and some blue herons, but other than crows and seagulls, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of wild life around here.)

The big difference between the towns today and yesterday is that there were actually a few people in them. It wasn’t so desolate and some of the roads even had two lanes! There are a lot of art studios so I’m sure they have their share of artists as the nature here would inspire anyone to want to replicate it in some form or another. Kory and I spent a good deal of time talking about WHY people would still be living here. Yes, it’s beautiful beyond words, but it’s a three hour ferry ride to the mainland, it’s north of the Arctic Circle and far removed from the rest of the world and there is absolutely nothing going on anywhere. Life is at its most basic element. I’m sure it’s totally different in the summer months, but there are still ten months out of the year it’s NOT summer here. There must be a lot of loners that live here or something. We even saw a little tiny island in the middle of a good sized lake and someone had built a cabin on it. An island on an island… how isolated should one be? It was Sunday today and we saw lots of churches, but not a single one that was open or had a service. What do people do with their lives here? It’s gotta be a tough existence, but then Norwegians aren’t exactly known for taking things easy.

We managed to keep ahead of the rain today, as we saw it coming from the south and it didn’t hit until we were checked into our hotel for the night. Let it come, it’s dark outside now! I’m sitting in a hotel lobby and the windows are moving, as the wind is gusting outside. I think these islands should take a lesson or two from the Northeastern states and promote the fall foliage. It really is fantastic and yet there’s not a tourist in sight. We were the only ones at the hotel in Stamsund for two nights and tonight we are in a much larger city and there are only three cars in the parking lot. I guess there is no guarantee that the weather would cooperate for a fall foliage tour, but I’m sure many have come in the summer here and not seen the sun for days. We feel so blessed to have the weather cooperate which only adds to the great memories of this trip. I feel a bit guilty about how good we have it and I worry we might be “heaping lusts upon ourselves.” As Kory has been known to say from time to time, “Life shouldn’t be this good.” Oh wait, that answers my question as to why people live here!

Mickey's World Heritage Site

About thirty years ago I bought a poster of Norway and hung it over my bed and only dreamed of going there one day. The poster was of the town called Reine on the Lofoten Islands (see photo on left). Today, I got to enter the picture. But thirty years has added a lot more buildings to this quaint little fishing town on the southernmost tip of these incredible islands, so I included a photo of another town we passed along the way that hasn’t had quite so much construction – just for the feel of the area up close and personal. Fish drying racks fill every empty space here, as they dry fish the old fashioned way. In fact, most everything is done the old fashioned way – it’s part of the charm of the Lofoten Islands.

We drove around for eight hours today – all on a one lane road. Kory left the map I bought of this area on the ferry, so he stopped in to buy a new one and the man at the store asked him why he needed a map, as “there is only one road here.” We headed south to the end of the road, then turned around and drove back north to our hotel at Stamsund. It was nice to have the map as there were some off shoot little roads that lead to incredible places with amazing views. Oh wait, the whole area is like that. I guess that’s why I took over three hundred photos today. I don’t know what I will do with them all but I imagine someday I’ll want to relive this day. (I’m so thankful we have entered the digital age as I would have been in agony trying to not use up all my film. Everywhere is just stunning.) The things we saw were just like another world. Some of the landscape was like a George Lucas film – where the landscape is so wildly intense it can’t possibly be real – but it was. And God blessed us with no rain and some sunshine and the most amazing fall colors everywhere we looked – the hills were crawling in oranges, reds and yellows, all nicely contrasted against the grey rocks. Just mind boggling. (If you double click on the photos they will enlarge.) These islands are way north of the Arctic Circle and yet there is no snow because the Gulf Stream keeps the ocean warm so none of the ports freeze in the winter, but snow will come to the mountains. I’m just glad it didn’t come before today.

I’m not sure I would enjoy these islands as much in the summertime though when they swell in population – not only because of the one lane roads, but claustrophobia would surely set in as there are hardly any places to park a car and there are nothing but dead ends everywhere because of the steep mountains backing everything up. The bulk of the buildings here are “fishing cabins” that have been turned into tourist accommodations – but mostly they are just new cabins built for the tourists right at the edge of the sea like the fishermen used to use. Although tourism is huge in the summertime, fishing is still the main industry for the locals so there was an abundance of fishing charm in every village we passed (no commercial fishing boats in sight – it was all wooden bottomed little one-man boats). We rarely saw a car and we only saw a handful of people all day. The entire southern end of this chain of islands was completely deserted. I’m not sure if the locals left for fall vacation too, or if they are some kind of snow bird that leaves as soon as the summer is over, but it was a most desolate place and it only added to its charm. We couldn’t find a restaurant open so we had a tailgate picnic overlooking the harbor at Reine and enjoyed the view in the photo. A little chilly, but we had coats, hats, gloves and a million dollar view. No tip required.

We stopped a few times to get up close and personal with the terrain and to let Kaleb explore things a little. We saw how weathered the rocks are and how many plants find a way to survive in the cracks. We also walked along one of the many white sandy beaches around – which was such a shock to discover. We weren’t able to buy any souvenirs today because everything was closed, but nature provided. I got some rocks (no surprise there), sea urchin shells and white sand to take home. It was one of those days where I’ll think back upon in later years and wonder if it really happened.

Above the Arctic Circle

There was a contest on board the ferry to guess the exact moment the ship crossed The Arctic Circle. Kory kept teasing Kaleb and telling him to look for “the line in the water.” They informed us it would be between 6:30am and 8:00am so we all picked our times within that range. We were up at six o’clock so we wouldn’t miss the big moment. At exactly 7:37:40 we crossed it. Kaleb’s guess was 7:34:27, so he came in second place and was the winner of a Hurtigruten coffee mug. He couldn’t have been more proud. It was a much better way to start the day than yesterday’s series of events.

We woke to a spectacular sunrise this morning, bright red sky and dramatic mountainous peaks silhouetting it all (see photo). Overnight we left behind the rounded mountain tops that were all apparently covered in glaciers at one time, and moved into the zone where the peaks did not get touched by glacial action so they were as jagged and steep as could be (see other photo of Kory and Kaleb enjoying the view). Think Swiss Alps – only flooded, so a boat can move around between the peaks. It was more awesome than words could describe or pictures could ever depict as it was another three hundred and sixty degree view day. I spent the whole day running from one side of the boat to the next taking at least 300 pictures. Uff da.

After much prayer and a therapeutic Jacuzzi last night on the top deck of the ferry, my knee made some major improvements today, for which I am quite thankful. It was good that we had rain yesterday so I wasn’t tempted to walk around too much and it had a chance to heal. It was quite swollen and a little discolored, but today the pain has reduced significantly and I’m not limping nearly as much (stairs are still a challenge however.) Nothing worse than feeling like an extra piece of baggage just along for the ride.

Just as we passed the Arctic Circle this morning, we also passed the Molvika farm. It was a big thrill for me to be in “the neighborhood,” as I wrote a book about that area and I could finally visualize all the places our friend, Halton, had told me about as I was writing his memoires. Very cool. We plan to visit the farm itself on the drive south.

We got off the boat for a few hours in Bodø – got some lunch and looked for an internet signal so I could post my blog. I also was on the lookout for a clock tower that I remembered quite well from the last time I was there in 1983. I have some vivid memories of my time in Bodø and it was quite satisfying to find some familiar landmarks. The town has changed a lot in 25 years though….

On the last leg of our journey today – crossing from the mainland out to the Lofoten Islands, the boat was packed. I didn’t fully appreciate how few people were on board the last two days, but once we hit the Friday night rush traffic (and the Friday night before a holiday week), the boat was standing room only. There was also a little “convention” on board of about 300 knitting women. There is a chain of stores in Norway called “Husfliden” (house made – aka, made by hand), and they sell very fine hand made products. Well, I was wondering what the people must do that live in these incredibly remote areas and now I know, they knit. The store had a meeting with all their “suppliers” from up here to show them the latest in fashion, so the entire seating area up front was taken up by these very chatty, busy ladies, knitting as they sat there. It was quite the sight. And they just rode the ferry over for the three hour crossing, got off and waited an hour for the southbound boat to take them back. I’m sure there are very few places this far north of the Arctic Circle that could have held all these women, so it was a very clever idea to have the meeting on board a ship.

We arrived safely in Stamsund, a small little town teetering on the water’s edge. There isn’t much “buildable space” here because of the incredibly steep mountainous rock surrounding it. It’s the opposite of where we live on sinking sand, as the houses here are all built on solid rock! There is one small hotel here, and no restaurants open on a Friday night – go figure. Fortunately we arrived ten minutes before the only grocery store closed so we were able to get some food and have a picnic in our room. We’re looking forward to the adventures that await us tomorrow and we feel blessed beyond measure. What a ride.

"Fin Tur" (Fine Tour)

I slept well last night as I love the rocking motion on boats. I woke up before we arrived in Trondheim at 6am and felt the boat go through all the motions of docking. Kory and I headed out for coffee at 7am when the dining hall opened. Kaleb was sound asleep in the room. I left him a note on the toilet seat that he should join us for breakfast, but I still kept coming back to the room every 20 minutes to check on him. At 8am I went back to the room again only to discover him sitting on the bed, crying. He saw out the window that we had docked and he was sure we had gotten off the boat as planned and left him behind. Where in the world he comes up with these “desertion” scenarios I’ll never know, but he was quite upset with me one more time. I showed him the note and he said, “Oh.” He didn’t need to use the bathroom, so he never saw it. He’d been sitting alone in the room crying for nearly 20 minutes. Okay, so I won’t ever get “Mother of the Year,” but I kind of already knew that - even before this happened.

We had a nice breakfast – a buffet – Kaleb’s favorite, and we stuffed ourselves but good. The boat wasn’t leaving Trondheim until noon so we had several hours available to go explore the city. As we were getting ready to leave, I turned too quickly in the room and slammed my kneecap against the door jam in the bathroom. I thought I may never walk again. It certainly ruined all plans to go “explore” as I was horizontal for quite some time, and even when I could stand up, I was in much pain (and still am.) Kaleb was a bit relieved (and probably felt there was some cosmic payback in it all, as well), because he didn’t want to go out exploring in the rain. It was a bit rainy and windy, but nothing serious and Kory and I were set to face the challenge – but not Kaleb. So we stayed on board the whole time and played Yahtzee and I beat them both on a six round game. That’ll show ‘em.

The rain washed away the “T” in “great” – so it was a very “grea” day today (get it?). I thought of that myself… that’s what happens when I spend all day on a boat – and look out at gray skies. The rain did stop after lunch though, so it was smooth sailing into the night. Kaleb read and played games on the computer when he got bored of the scenery. At one point he said, “You made me miss two days of school for THIS?” He really was upset about not going to school, and watching an endless stream of crumpled up rocks sticking out of the water wasn’t his idea of a good time. (I tried not to have him miss school but we could only get tickets if we left on the 1st – all the other dates were sold out as next week is the fall break from school in all of Norway.) I’ve been trying to think of what this coast line reminds me of and all I could come with is what the dining room table looked like after Kaleb got done playing with Play-Doh in his early years. There would always be some formed rounded things, a few almost flat pieces and lots of scattered bits everywhere – and that about sums it up here as well. There is no rhyme or reason for the shaping of things, it’s just all huge chunks of rock with no trees, all clumped together, mostly smooth topped from the glacial action, in a mish-mash of shapes and divots and erosion. It’s incredible, really (see photo and look closely for the farms on the green field below the behemoth mountain.) Kory thinks it looks like cold oatmeal that’s been dished out of a pan, or the many folds on the body of those Chinese dogs with all the wrinkles. My only complaint is that it goes by too fast, which Kaleb discovered when he had to go to the bathroom and he missed the only thing he was looking forward to all day – the boat going under a bridge.

The scenery today was amazing so I knew not to take a break to go pee because I didn’t want to miss a thing (I took 229 photos today!). Every once in a while some nook or cranny along this coastline has some cool building on it, whether it’s a cabin, boat house, farm or lighthouse – there was never a lack of things to photograph. And once the rain stopped, the fall colors just popped out. There are over 30,000 named islands along the coast of Norway, and over 100,000 smaller “rocks” that stick up out of the water – and even some of those have cabins or houses on them. How and why people live in such remote, primitive places, I have no idea. Maybe because they can. Norwegians are notorious for doing the impossible. There is a big poster on board the ferry showing the plans in place to build a tunnel along the coast – just for these huge ferry boats (think cruise ship). The world’s first boat tunnel – right through a mountain. Apparently they say, going around the mountain is too dangerous (although they have done it for decades and no boat has ever gone down), but I think they are doing it just because no one has ever done it before and they want the bragging rights. It’s so Norsk – find out something that seems impossible or has yet to be achieved, and go for it. (I guess that’s how Kory ended up with me.)

Sailing Into the Sunset

I am posting this blog from the ferry boat Hurtigruten. It's more like a cruise ship than a ferry, but then, Norwegians have a lot of class, so it's not surprising. We will be on it for the next two days traveling north, above the Arctic Circle. (Our cabin is larger than ones we've had on Royal Caribbean.) Friday nigth we arrive at the Lofoten Islands where we will hang out for three or four days, then we'll drive south along the coast and get home by next weekend. Our town, Ålesund, is the most beautiful city Norway, but the Lofoten Islands are suposed to be spectacular - the most beautiful area, by all accounts, and even Norwegians are impressed by them. I just pray we don't have rain the whole time. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day today to set "sail" though - it was warm and sunny all day and I've already taken over a hundred pictures. It's not like there is just one thing to look at, we are surrounded on all side by glorious sights as there are outer islands on the ocean side and the steep snow covered mountains along the coast ( see photo.) Kory said it's like that cineama that used to be at Disneyland where you stand in the center of a circular room and there is something to look at all around. It almost seems that fake as it feels so much like being in a storybook land.

At school this moring we got our tests back first thing and our teacher went over each section with us. They don't grade things here, which is so hard for my competitive self to get used to, but the teacher did note the highest points attained in each segment so we could all compare how we did to the top score in the class. I got the highest score in "vocabulary" but it was just by sheer chance. The test just said, "fill in many words here" and the sentences started with "In the living room you will find..." or "In the kitchen you will see..." and then we had to write down whatever words we knew that could fit the description. Well, my pal Vestina outscored me on every single segment of the test, EXCEPT vocabulary because we were never told you get one point for each word, so I smoked her. She was kicking herself all morning as she knew far more words than I did but I wrote smaller than her so I fit more words on the lines (and I've never been short on words, you know.) Overall, I got 125 out of 140 possible points on the test, which is a high B+ (I can't help myself, I have to put a grade letter on it.) One more point and it would have been an A-, so I didn't do too badly but I made some stupid mistakes. Oh well. I always seem to learn the most from my mistakes - and not just in Norwegian class.

Right after the test review we had a party (Høstfest) - a fall festival. Everyone brought food they made and we combined with another class to eat a little and play some games. Everyone was so excited to have others taste their special dish from their home country. (I liked the oatmeal cookies from the other American in the class the best as I'm not much of an "adventurer in eating" kind of gal.) I made a salmon spread for crackers and I must say, it got gobbled up rather quickly and everyone was asking for the recipe. No one had ever heard of some of the ingredients, so I had to explain which store to go to and exactly where in the store they woudl find things like horseradish and liquid smoke (I was shocked myself when I found them here!) It was fun to share good food. One woman, who speaks very little English and NO Norwegian as of yet, came over to me with her eyes wide open and mouth full of the stuff I made and just said, "Boom-ba!" Whatever that means in her language, I have no idea, but I think she really liked it. We were having some good laughs and then the Russian women got out the vodka, and things got a bit out of control at their end of the table. Our teacher about had heart failure over that one as there is a strict rule about no drinking at school, but she turned her head the other way and just let them have fun (I could tell she was more than a little nervous though.) Apparently in Russia, if there is a party, or if there is food, there is Vodka - even if it is ten o'clock in the morning.

I made a huge error in planning today, as I was so busy packing and worrying about other details that I messed up with Kaleb. I though he got out of school at two o'clock today so we told him we'd pick him up right after school and then drive straight to the ferry which was leaving at three. Well, his school got out at one o'clock (the dismissal times are always different) and he didn't have his bike with him because we were going to pick him up, so he had to walk over a mile home with a heavy backpack all the while wondering where in the heck we were. I felt so terrible, as just as we were leaving to go get him, he walks in, tears in his eyes, thinking that we had forgotten him. He was more than a little ticked. It was one of those gut wrenching mother moments that I hate, as he waited so long at school just standing there wondering what to do, then finally headed home... uff da. It was no way to start a vacation but I'm hoping the memory of it might fade quickly. (I only use the word "vacation" here becuase I don't really know what word to use to describe a trip taken when one is on a year long "holiday" from their already retired lives...).

Adjectives

Kaleb had another great day at school – it was double swimming day for him. For PE class every other Tuesday he gets swimming lessons, then as part of his afterschool program today they went swimming. He was so tired when he got home that he asked if he could skip soccer practice and he did homework instead (you know he must have been tired for that trade-off.) He did mention over dinner however, with a bit of a tear in his eye, that when he reads Norwegian out loud in class, the kids laugh at him. He was pretty upset by that, but then he said, with a fresh glimmer, that there is a “fix” for that. The teacher suggested he bring one of his English books to school and the next kid that laughs at him for the way he pronounces his words will have to read his book in English and then he gets to laugh at them. One kid in particular, the teacher said she would bring a book written in Chinese …. So at least she is trying to help Kaleb’s plight. He is loaded down with high level reading books for tomorrow and all set to try out the scheme. I hope he doesn’t intentionally goof up just to get them laughing though.

Tonight cousin Kari had us over for coffee and dessert so we could meet the couple on staff at their church that are responsible for small groups, Bible studies and women’s events. They have been gone most of the time we’ve been here so we finally got to meet them. We had a great time visiting with them and sharing stories from the Bible and how we live out our Christianity and they have agreed to let me teach a Bible study this fall. I guess all their new programs start up the first week of November, so I’ll be on the schedule at Filadelfia Kirke then and people can chose to come or not – knowing it will be in English. We will be studying the book of James so I will be praying for God to use that time for His glory.

Today in my Norwegian class we started learning about adjectives so our teacher started us off by telling us the names for all the colors. One woman was wearing a pink top and when the teacher said “rosa” the woman said, “It used to be red” (rød). I asked her if it turned pink since she’s been here and she nodded and we both laughed. Norwegian washing machines are notorious for ruining clothes. They have no cold water setting, and the lowest temperature you can chose is 90 degrees. You can select your temperature of water by ten degree increments, all the way up to boiling. The colors in the clothes fade quickly here, but it was still a pretty shade of pink she was wearing.

After the run-down on all the colors we went to another adjective, the names for the different kinds of stores. (See photo – that’s the cobblestone, store lined street where my school is located – on the right, one block down.) Everyone was either yelling out the names of stores they know, or their equivalent in English, wondering what you call it in Norwegian – like a butcher shop or hardware store etc. One woman in our class never participates in any of this kind of dialog as she can’t speak a word of English and perhaps only two words of Norwegian. She is from Russia, and she’s a fairly hunched over, wrinkled up little old woman who never understands a thing that is going on. When she’s called upon to give an answer, she just looks over her shoulder hoping it’s the person behind her that will answer or she looks to another Russian in the room to translate just what it is she’s supposed to say, then she shakes her head, looks down and says nothing. Well today, she spoke for the first time. As we had the names of every possible specialty store written up on the board and were about to go on to the next subject, this little old lady pipes up very loudly and says in perfect English, “sex shop.” The entire classroom burst out with hysterical laughter and our teacher couldn’t bring herself to even say a word for at least five minutes as tears were rolling down her face. It was unexpected “input” and from the least likely source. And the woman herself didn’t even laugh as she was completely clueless as to why it was so funny. I told Kory this story when he got home from work and again I was lamenting over all these women that are married to Norwegian men and it’s obvious there is no possible way for them to be communicating with their spouses as they don’t know Norwegian and their English is horrible. Kory said, “It’s the perfect relationship, I don’t know why you are so shocked by it.…”

Immigrants

We had more fresh snow in the mountains this morning… it’s like powdered sugar has been sprinkled over all the peaks around here – it’s so pretty, but it’s still September! The air has definitely gotten a bit chilly (in Norwegian it’s spelled “kjølig” but to say it properly you need to hold a pencil between your nose and upper lip and then say “chilly”). Our teacher was telling us all the ways to say hot, warm, chilly, and cold, in reference to the weather: hot, varm, kjølig and kald. They are spelled differently but it all sounds the same to me when you pronounce them. I razed our teacher a bit about the Norwegians stealing English words and changing the spelling to make it look like their own, but really, it’s all pronounced and means the same as the English. She quickly, and with no humor in her response, told me that it was the English who stole the words from the Vikings in the first place… that the Vikings had a huge influence on much of the English language. (From all that pillaging and pummeling they did down there, those Brits probably did learn how to say a few things in Norwegian, but I’m wondering why “Uff da” wasn’t one of them.) She said that it was the English who took on Norwegian words and changed their spelling, not the other way around. Ok, I stand corrected. (Geez.)

Today’s photo was taken yesterday of Kaleb and his new playground bodyguard and 3rd cousin, Tobias. Tobias is already doing a good job keeping an eye on Kaleb as he talked to him at lunch and after school today and introduced him to some of his friends. Word will get out, I’m sure. “Don’t mess with the American kid – he’s a relative of Tobias…” something like that (I hope). And I’m pretty sure I won’t have to pay any “black money” for this “inside job” at school – keeping my sweet boy safe. It’s all in who you know. So Kaleb had a great day and came home a happy camper. Kory came home cold. It was raining this morning and quite cold but the sun was out this afternoon. Kory stayed after work and collected all the scrap lumber to burn at home (are we immigrant salvagers or what?) He went to buy a load of firewood at the hardwood store (they sell it in bundles there) and refused to pay sixty cents per foot long piece, so he got creative. (He thought he could wad up dollar bills and get more heat from them than the little piece of wood they were selling at those prices.) He will now be the after-hours janitor on his job sites and bring home all the wood scraps as they burn the same as split firewood, but are free! (And they stack nicer, too.) Our little wood stove heats up the house in no time and it’s just so darn cozy to have it going when it gets a bit “kjølig” outside.

Kaleb had massive amounts of homework tonight because he will miss school Thursday and Friday. Every week the kids get sent home with a paper from the teacher showing what homework they have each night of the week in each subject – which page numbers to do in which books, etc. Kaleb’s teacher had to start making him his own homework list because he uses different books from the other kids while he’s trying to learn Norwegian. And what they are doing in math here is just far too basic for him (he was doing algebra before we came) and the teacher has yet to get him an advanced math book so she just wrote “do your own homework” for math. I’m so glad I brought the next level of algebra book with us so now he can keep up with what he was learning at home and not have to waste more time on the easy stuff they are doing here (today they learned to carry over numbers to the next column). And Poor Sabina, she must have rang our doorbell five times wondering when he would be done with everything. Finally, she just let herself in and sat on the couch waiting for him. Kaleb was anxious to show her his new Pokemon cards so she stayed for dinner and played a game with Kory and Kaleb afterwards.

I was up until nearly midnight last night, cramming for my big test today in Norwegian. Uff da. I think I did OK, but I’m sure I’ll be kicking myself over the simplest things I missed. I still struggle with sentence structure and spelling, but I think I have that same problem in English, too. As a warm up in class today we had to go around the room and talk a little about ourselves. What I found interesting was all these foreign women in the class that are married to Norsk men LOVE to cook (I’m not one of them.) It got me to thinking (sometimes a dangerous thing.) For years Norway has been considered the most feminist country in the world (according to Ms. Magazine) and they are top-notch when it comes to women’s rights and equal pay and all that. Even in our school literature we read all about how Lars stays home with the baby, prepares dinner and cleans the house while Kari goes off to work (and Lars likes it, no less). And based on the incredible amount of ready-made food that is being sold in the grocery stores around here, I was wondering if anyone even cooks a meal from scratch anymore. And then I hear today in class that all these women, new to Norway, LOVE to cook. Perhaps there is something to that (can it still be true that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?) Maybe it’s the more traditional (less liberated) men that are leaving Norway to get a wife who is not quite so feminist? It does make me wonder. And based on how poorly some of these women speak English, and that is the only language they have in common with their husbands, well, I gotta figure they didn’t get married because they are sparkling conversationalists. I imagine cooking isn’t everything.

The Ergo Cup

I was up at six this morning making waffle batter and baguette sandwiches. I didn’t know I signed up for this when we signed Kaleb up for soccer. But twice a year, in the fall and spring, his soccer club hosts a “Cup” where they invite all the teams with nine year old kids from the surrounding areas to come play soccer for the day on their turf. (This year’s cup was sponsored by “Ergo” – a company owned by Morton’s father.) There were 350 kids playing all day on one big field parceled out for each game. The games were only 25 minutes long with a one minute half time, so the day moved quickly. Kaleb had four games back to back, but I missed most of them because I was in the café cooking up that waffle batter. All the parents were required to bring different food items (hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.) to be sold in the café (which is located in their clubhouse next to the soccer fields). I brought three liters of batter and I made a lot of waffles (I counted at least 50 liters of batter in the kitchen – they bring it in 1.5 liter pop bottles for easy transport.) I also brought 20 sandwiches (baguette style with cheese and ham as requested), and a skuffekake – a cake which I didn’t make properly (oh well…)

The soccer club at Blindheim uses the money made from the food sales today to support the club in the future when they travel to games as far away as Oslo - in their junior and high school years. (Currently all the games are played locally, but as the boys advance, the competitions go nationwide.) They made $4,000 on their “cup” day last year on food sales and they ran out of food then so this year they brought twice as much food and there wasn’t that much left over. I imagine they made quite a bit of money today too, even though the weather was a bit touch and go. At least the storm passed from yesterday, leaving the first dusting of snow in mountaintops (they said they would have played in the storm too – as nothing stops a soccer game around here). I prayed all night Kaleb wouldn’t have to play outside in rainy weather as he’s not quite acclimated to that yet, but God was good to us and it was sunny all morning and then the rain started just as he finished his last game! (That’s Kaleb in control of the ball in the photo – a rare moment, believe me.) They don’t keep score here – their only “goal” is for the kids to have fun and to give everyone a chance to play (so Norwegian). Kaleb was keeping score himself and he was only having fun because his team was winning (so American), but he didn’t make any goals himself. Kaleb’s team will now be invited to other “cups” by other soccer clubs, but it’s optional for him if he goes or not – so the pressure is off. He still practices twice a week and they play scrimmage games every week so it’s a bit different than the soccer system we have at home. All-in-all it was a fine day, but very sad for us to miss church because of it though. Ironically, Odd and Turid and Hege went to church today, so maybe that balances things out (they couldn’t remember the last time they went.) Hege is going to be confirmed this year so the state church requires all confirmants to go to church a few times during the course of the year – today being one of them. (I guess those “Holy Ole” tactics were a bit much so they scaled down their requirements for conversion a bit.)

Tobias (Kaleb’s 3rd cousin and new “bodyguard”) came by the soccer field today to watch Kaleb play. His mom and dad and four year old twin brothers came along, too. It was so nice of them to be supportive, especially since we have just recently met them all. I didn’t want to invite any family members to come watch Kaleb play for fear they would do it out of some unspoken obligation or cultural norm I wasn’t aware of – but these folks just came on their own accord, so it was all the better. Kaleb was on his last game, so after he finished up he went over to Tobias’ house for the rest of the afternoon. He came home ecstatic that Tobias had outgrown his Pokemon cards and he had given Kaleb his entire collection (at least 500 cards Kaleb says), including a Pokemon notebook for storage. Kaleb quickly did the math and realized that he’s been buying packs of Pokemon cards here in Norway for ten bucks a pop – and there are only ten cards in each pack, so he just netted $500 worth of Pokemon cards, plus some special collectable chips and the notebook. He figured that was nearly the cash equivalent to the amount he lost on Washington Mutual stock this week – so he was shouting HALLELUJAH almost as loud as Kory does. God is good.

The Body Guard

We found out shortly after moving into The Sinking Houses that Kory had a second cousin living almost within a stone’s throw from our house. We’d never met him before but we know his parents and have been to their house out on the family farm at Solevåg many times. We’d walked right by their son, Bjørn’s house a couple of times and not even known he was a relative, so tonight we had Bjorn and his three boys over for dinner. Besides taking the opportunity to get to know even more family members here, we were particularly interested in getting Kaleb and Bjørn’s son, Tobias together. Tobias is 12 years old and goes to Kaleb’s school. Tobias hadn’t officially met Kaleb before but he’s seen him on the playground and he said he’s talked to some of the kids already and told them to be nice to Kaleb. We’re hoping he’ll continue to do that and that he and Kaleb will become great friends. (Tobias’ English is incredibly good.) Kaleb didn’t know what Tobias looked like so now at least he’ll have someone he can turn to at school for backup – should the need arise. Sometimes kids may not listen to their parents, or teachers, but often an older, bigger kid on the playground might be just the ticket to keeping the bullies at bay. We’ll see. It was a great evening overall and we got to play another round of the card game Golf, and visit a bit with Bjørn and hear a little about his job as a pilot for an air ambulance company. He also told us it’s not the norm in Norway to go to dinner at someone’s house – that that is something you just do with immediate family members. Friends don’t have friends for dinner here, so I guess I’m shaking things up a bit. Imagine that. (I intended to get a picture of Kaleb and Tobias together but I forgot to do it, so today’s photo is one I took our second week here.)

Well, the storm is here – mostly just drenching rain and some hefty wind gusts this morning. All the pots holding the herbs outside my kitchen window got blown off the shelf, so I know the gusts were pretty strong in the night, but today it wasn’t too bad. It was in the 60s – inside and out – so no need for a fire in the fireplace, but it sure was nice to be in a cozy warm house when I was looking out my window at a blanket of gray for a sky and sheets of rain pouring down from heaven.

There were two “loppemarked” this morning (flea markets) at two different schools and they were wheeling and dealing because it seemed that only us lowly immigrants braved the weather enough to get out of the house and go shopping. We got more screaming deals – ski poles for $4, ski helmet for Kaleb for $2, a high quality bean bag chair for $6 and a radiant oil filled portable heater for $4 (now we can take back the one we bought for $60 on sale at the hardware store.) I had to stop at the store afterwards to get a few items for dinner also and I thought it was funny that I bought a portable heater that will last for many years and bring heat and comfort to my tired old bones this winter for less money than I paid for a head of lettuce that will be gone by tomorrow.

Kaleb has gone to seven birthday parties since the start of school. There are only 13 boys in his class so those are incredible odds that more than half of the boys in his class are born in August and September. They must have very cold, or very boring winters around here to get that kind of baby boom in the fall. When dropping and picking up Kaleb from these various affairs, we’ve had a chance to chit-chat with some of the parents and are able to tell which kids really like him and which ones – not so much. Many of the parents have offered to have Kaleb over for special play-dates with their kids so today we took one of the mom’s up on her offer and arranged for Kaleb to spend the afternoon with Henrik. Ironically Henrik used to live at The Sinking Houses and had to move, so now he’s living very close to the school. (Kaleb has Henrik’s old closet in his room as we moved some things from some of the other units into our house to make it more comfortable and to save us money.) When Kory called Henrik’s mom to ask about the playdate, she said that they are “a modern family” and that Henrik was with his father this weekend. Funny way to say it – but chances are pretty good the parents weren’t married so she couldn’t exactly say she was divorced. It really is the norm in Norway to NOT get married, but couples still have kids and carry on life as usual. Kaleb and Henrik had a good time today and from the sounds of it - spoke only in Norwegian. Kaleb will not let on just how much Norwegian he understands or can speak, but it does my heart good when he’s able to play for several hours with a kid who doesn’t speak any English. Maybe that’s the key to a lasting relationship in Norway, as it seems the bulk of the couples that actually DO get married are the ones who have wives from other countries and they can’t speak Norwegian either.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today’s photo is of our name plate by our front door – another “typisk Norsk” thing. Everyone has their names by their front doors. “Her bor” means “Here lives.” I like the concept and all its practicality. My friend Wendy (who I miss a lot), painted this for us before we left. I should go around Norway and take pictures of all the different name plates and make a poster of it like I’ve seen for “The Doors of Dublin.” There is such a huge variety with these name plates, it’s very fun to see all the creativity people have – different media (wood, slate, porcelain, etc.) and different artistic venues – wood burning, carving, painting, etc. I love my name plate the best though (and not just because Wendy made it). Everyone is so impressed when they come to visit that we have such a “Norske” thing already (I was planning ahead). You’d never know we were foreigners (especially if you walked by our house last night and got a wind of the aroma from the får i kål hovering overhead.)

The weather report says we have a doozie of a storm coming tomorrow – the fall’s first one, so we have our stack of wood for the fireplace and I bought some hot chocolate today at the store, just for the coziness of it all. An article in today’s paper said to be sure and bring in all the outside furniture, so I’m not sure what to expect, but I hope we’re ready.

Kaleb had a great day at school today – kids played with him and no one beat him up. He came home in a chipper mood. He also got his “Weakly Puppy” newspaper finished up and sent out to all his subscribers today, too. He printed off a few copies to take to school as I guess he talks about it a lot and his teachers wanted to see it. I wonder what they will think… it wasn’t just about dogs, he also wrote about getting smashed in the face by a fellow student and how he wished he could take a guard dog along with him to school. So much for the reputation of the quiet, peaceful little country of Norway – Kaleb’s painting an entirely different picture of it. But then, most things in Kaleb’s world look different….

Kory spent another piddling day at home – folding laundry, doing dishes. That man has come a long way. I’m so proud of how he’s grown up! He also crawled under all the houses for his month-end measurements and photo shoot so we can write up a report next week to give to the attorney, which justifies our living here.

I am feeling rather thankful that we’d pulled all the money we had out of the stock market earlier this year, but shouting HALLELUJAH that we didn’t lose any of it yesterday because we put it in a CD at Washington Mutual. What a mess. We’re thanking the Lord for protecting our savings! Kaleb however owned 35 shares of stock in WaMu so he shed a tear over the headline news today as that was $652 he’d invested of his own money. It’s best he learn those kinds of lessons early on so he doesn’t think the stock market is a sure bet. His two shares in Costco are holding their own but his 11 shares of Krispie Kreme Donuts are still pretty low. I told him he has plenty of time to recover from his losses, but he was still a little depressed about it until Kory popped popcorn and we played yet another exciting round of “Golf” (a card game). Sabina (the neighbor girl) won in the last round by 2 points. At least it got Kaleb’s mind off his troubles.

Well, I’ve been going to Norwegian school for a month now and while I feel like my Norwegian is “ikke så bra” (not so good), I do feel like I know much more than I did a month ago. We’ll see just how much I’ve learned on Monday, as we have a huge test then – ugh. Our teacher helped us review for the test today and also explained to us some of the laws relating to working in Norway. The law here says that no one is ever allowed to work more than ten hours a week of overtime – ever. And in one calendar year, no one is EVER allowed to work more than 200 hours of overtime total. Imagine that. But after the financial crisis that’s going on – they may need to re-think that one -- as Norway had over 33 million US dollars (168 million kroner) of their citizen’s retirement fund invested in Washington Mutual stock (it made headlines over here, too). Perhaps if some of Norway’s top financial advisors had put in a few extra hours at the office this year – they might have seen that one coming.

Får i Kål Day

Kaleb had a good day at school but got harassed a bit at soccer practice again. I talked with his coach and he talked with Kaleb and will make some announcements to the boys and see if it gets any better. Kaleb’s nearly ready to quit at this point. If he wouldn’t have made a goal today in a practice game, this might have been his last day, but he got a bit energized by the whole thing so he wants to keep going for now. It’s tough to get socialized in a socialist country.

Kory had a good day relaxing at home. He was out in the garage for most of the day piddling. Oh how thankful I am for that garage! Even though the ground is about a foot lower than the floor of the garage in some places and we can’t put our vehicle in there, it really does serve as Kory’s “shelter from the storm” as it were – and he takes great refuge in being out there when things get a bit too noisy in the house (Sabina comes over a lot). Every man needs his cave.

We were informed in class today that it’s the National “Får i Kål” Day today. Får i kål is considered the number one “national dish” of Norway – the most popular, the most common, the longest history, the most readily available… I’m not sure what all – food (certainly not the most attractive looking dish, that’s for sure – see photo). It’s not like it’s Thanksgiving or anything today, but apparently a lot of people will be eating får i kål tonight, and always on Sunday, and maybe every time they have company. The Norskies like that stuff. It’s as Norsk as Norsk gets, so the Norwegian government felt like they needed to set aside a special day every year to acknowledge this incredibly popular dish. All the stores have the two ingredients used to make it on sale, and if you already didn’t own a big enough pot to cook it in, they are on sale now, too. The newspapers wrote stories about it, reminding people of this day, and included a recipe just in case you’d lost yours. I’m so thankful I had a recipe for it because if someone would have just TOLD me how to make it, I’m not sure I could have remembered (just kidding).

I caved under the pressure of the day, and made it for dinner tonight and Kory said it was almost as good as his Mama used to make (how could it taste any different with only two ingredients?). It's just cabbage and the meat of a dead baby lamb – hence the name “får i kål” (“lamb in cabbage”). To make it, you put water in the bottom of the pot, layering cabbage leaves with chunks of the poor little creature (…that gave it’s very life for sustaining the people of Norway and their traditional dish), and you keep layering more cabbage leaves and more lamb until you have run out. Then you pour in enough water to cover the ingredients, add some salt and pepper, put a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil. When it boils, you simmer it for a few hours and you’re done. It’s served with potatoes and carrots on the side (and a little rutabaga if you have them on hand). Kory and Kaleb loved it (they are WAY more Norwegian than I am). I felt like I had done my part in making it, so I opted out of eating it. (My legal/birth name is “Mary” so it is just too heartbreaking for me to actually eat “a little lamb”.) Instead I ate what is now considered to be the latest “National Dish of Norway” (voted #1 recently by call-in voters to a radio station) – frozen PIZZA! They had the little single serving sizes on sale for $2 today, so I couldn’t resist trying Norway’s version of America’s version of an Italian favorite. (But I’m still mystified by the list of ingredients as one of them just said “pizza meat”.) The only problem during dinner was that I still had to smell what Kory and Kaleb were eating. My teacher recommended I set a bowl of vinegar next to the pan of får i kål while it was cooking so it wouldn’t stink up the house so much – but I dumped it out when the cooking was over, not thinking I’d need it to get through the meal, too. Uff da. The things I do for love.

It's a Small World Afterall

The people you see in the photo today are friends we had over for dinner tonight. A few years ago we had cousins from Norway visiting us in Mt. Vernon so we took them on a little tour around Washington State. We’d stopped at a rest stop near Leavenworth, and when I thought we’d been there long enough I yelled out (in Norwegian), it was time to go. There was a man standing near me that turned around and asked me “Er du Norsk?” (Are you Norwegian?) and I told him I wasn’t, but they all were – pointing to the cousins. Kory’s cousin Linda is married to Lief-Eric Bondevik, who is the nephew to the then Prime Minister of Norway. I was trying to impress the guy so I introduced Lief-Eric to this total stranger. The stranger (Ole-Petter) said that he listens to Lief-Eric on the radio. Right away we knew Ole-Petter (on the left in the photo) was from Kory’s part of Norway because the radio station Lief-Eric works for is only broadcast around Ålesund. So, it was a small world thing… but then it got smaller.

I then introduced Kory with his birth/Norwegian name as “Kåre” and Ole-Petter said, “Kåre Slaatthaug?” three times very slowly and thoughtfully, until finally he said, “Didn’t you used to live in Langevåg and you moved to America when you were a kid?” Kory couldn’t believe it – how could he know! So then he told Ole-Petter that yes, that was the case, and Ole-Petter told him that they used to be neighbors and they played together a lot. In fact, Kory had spent the night at his house before he moved away and their older brothers kept in touch via letters for a few years after they moved. So then I had to ask why he was now in America and he said his friend’s son married a woman from Portland, Oregon and they were here for the wedding and now just touring around before going home the next week. The Bondeviks were leaving us that week so I invited Ole-Petter and his wife Unni to come the next week to stay with us so we could have time to visit. They said they were meeting up with their friends and they would have them along and they hated to impose. Then Lief-Eric told them we had a big enough house and it would be OK, so they took our number and said they would call. I prayed they would as it was so exciting to meet someone from Kory’s childhood.

So the next week, they called. They came for dinner and of course, I wouldn’t let them leave, as we have two guest rooms, and we got to meet their friends, Kolbjørn and Anne-Grete Rørstad as well (on the right). Over the nights’ conversation they mentioned that in Norway no one would just pick up people off the street and invite them home for dinner. I said, “Well, Norway is a small country and we’re probably all related anyway,” and we had a good laugh. Then when they went upstairs to go to bed, I showed them the family tree that I had taped on some closet doors up there and I pointed out Kory’s mom’s side of the family – thinking they would see a few farm names they recognized. Kolbjørn pointed to Kory’s great-grandmother’s name and said, “Rørstad -- that’s MY last name.” So I immediately went to my genealogy files and pulled out the census from 1900 for the Rørstad farm and asked if he knew anyone listed there. “That’s my grandmother,” he said, pointing to a name, which happened to be the sister to Kory’s great grandmother – so Kolbjørn and Kory’s are 3rd cousins and I was right – we were related! And that’s how these two couples ended up as our friends… one an old neighbor to Kory, and the other a distant cousin. In past visits they have both had us over to their houses for a meal, so it was our pleasure tonight to finally have them back into our home. We had another great evening visiting about all kinds of things but mostly laughing about how it is I’m adjusting to Norwegian life and learning the language. Good times.

It was a gorgeous day today – in the 70s and still feeling like summer -- so unusual for Aalesund. ( I’m thinking that global warming will work well in Norway.) Kaleb had an uneventful, but fun day – so that’s the best news of all. Kory worked again today because he’s taking some days off in October for our little vacation up north and his day was just fine, until he had to use the bathroom. It was then he realized they don’t have sani-cans on the job sites in Norway – so he had to drive all the way home to use the toilet. He came home laughing about that, not able to understand the logic in it. He said his co-workers just head for the nearest bushes, which is OK under certain circumstances, but it wasn’t going to work too well for him today. Uff da.

For the last hour of my Norsk class today we got to attend a concert by Ålesund’s finest string quartet. They were great musicians, but the problem was they were playing a composition by some local guy that was about as easy to listen to as a cat in heat. They redeemed themselves afterwards by playing a piece by Beethoven. (I think the Germans beat the Norwegians in more than World War II… I think they get the blue ribbon for musical composition as well.) But Norwegians are very much into ambiance and we do start every school day off with a little music, which I like. There are also blooming flowers in the room and little doilies with candles on the tables in our break room which people light during break. In America we often associate candles, flowers and music with romance, but here in Norway, it’s an everyday thing- especially in the workplace, well, at least in office jobs anyway. My bus passes by several office building and I always see employees eating in their lunch room – complete with flowers, table clothes, candles burning, and I imagine, music softly playing in the background. At his job, I don’t know that Kory would care so much about the ambiance of candles, flowers or music as much as he’d just like a toilet every now and then to sit on.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven!

We got an internet connection in our house today! Woo hoo!! This is an exciting moment. I may not sleep tonight as there is so much catching up to do. We got a land line phone too, so now we can call America much cheaper than using our cell phones. Double woo hoo. (Anyone can now call us at home at: 011 47 701 4 5255.) Today’s photo was taken a few weeks ago on the island of Vigra and it just feels symbolic, for some reason. It isn’t exactly the information super highway, but it’s a road that will get you there, nonetheless.

In all my excitement to get home by 2:00 today when the installer was coming, I got on the wrong bus! I had stopped off at the shopping mall at Moa to buy some things. One of the stores was having a killer sale on many non-perishable items so I couldn’t resist buying Kleenex for 10 kroner a box ($2) when I have been paying $5 a box for it, stuff like that. I was quite loaded down with my huge canvas bags full of heavy items and barely able to walk (I spent $200 in total and most everything I bought only cost $2 if that paints a picture here). I only had to make it out the door of the supermarket to the bus stop across the sidewalk, which I did, rather laboriously, and then off the bus and down my driveway and I was home free. I was so excited to catch the 2:00 bus for my seven minute ride home that the second I saw Bus 618 pull up, I headed straight for it. The only problem was, when the bus pulled out of the station, it turned the wrong way! It headed back into town, and I wanted to head out of town to Myrland, where we live. I was in such a rush I hadn’t noted the final destination of the bus – so here I was, with more groceries than any native Norwegian would ever get on a bus, taking up the entire aisle and a seat and a half, going the wrong way. I pressed the stop button and rather clumsily got off at the next stop and just stood there like an idiot. The worst thing was I was so worried I’d miss my internet guy, who was coming just after 2:00, as scheduled. Fortunately, Kory was working on a jobsite today that is about five minutes drive from our home, and fortunately I had my cell phone, and fortunately he heard his phone ring. I called him up and told him the error of my ways and he quickly ran home and let the guy in – probably scared to death to have to live with me one more day if I didn’t get internet access in the house. So then I waddled across the street with all my bags and waited 30 minutes for the next bus to come by that was headed in the right direction. “Stakkars, Mickey,” is all I can say. (“Stakkars” is an expression that means “poor thing” – it’s like “Uff da”.) And that bus I took was crowded with high school kids coming home for the day so I had to stand in the aisle and move my stuff every time a kid got off. I’m sure they knew I was an American, because no self respecting Norwegian would buy that much stuff in one fell swoop. Norwegians are used to going to the store everyday and just taking care of their most immediate needs, but I like to stock up and have a bit of inventory. Today that didn’t seem like such a wise idea, so there is lesson number two in “benefits of thinking like a Norwegian.”

My mood quickly changed however when I got home and there sat a young man at my kitchen table configuring my laptop. I was downright giddy and I nearly kissed him. (Kory thought he deserved the kiss for letting the guy in.) But enough about my elation… because the rest, they say, is history. I’m finally connected! Kaleb had a fine day of school – gym day – one of his favorites as they have a rock climbing wall in the gym. He had no encounters of the worst kind so that was a plus, but then he had soccer practice tonight, and he got initiated into the ultimate childhood humiliation – a kid pulled down his shorts while he was in the middle of the soccer field. And then another did the same… so he was crying and pretty upset when he got home. Stakkars Kaleb. Who would have thought he’d get so many opportunities to forgive? I let him use the internet once his homework was done to help ease the pain. (I now have my favorite discipline tool back. If he gives me grief, he can’t get on-line.)

My school was good today, but I can tell we are turning a corner and it’s going to get even harder. I got my homework back and again my teacher said I’m trying to write things that are too advanced for my level, but she appreciates that I’m stretching myself and that’s probably how I’ll learn the language. But Vestina sat next to me beaming that she had no red marks on her paper and she got a bigger smiley face than me. That girl makes me laugh. I had completely forgotten about doing the assignment over the weekend so I just wrote a few pages while on the bus into town yesterday morning. Considering I didn’t have any help and no one to proof read it for me (like Vestina did!), I thought I did OK. But the sentence structure is still a killer for me, and now we are starting to learn different rules about sentences that have more than one verb in them. Lord help me.

Kaleb and I have off school the week of October 6th for Fall vacation so I bought tickets last week to go on the Hurtigruten (the Coastal Ferry) leaving October 1st. We’re going to ride the ferry for two days north to the Lofoten Islands (which are supposed to be spectacular), and then drive our van back down over the next seven days. I want to stop off and see the farm where Halton Molvik came from as I wrote a book about him growing up there. The ferry was full every day except October 1, so both Kaleb and I will have to skip school for a few days. My Norsk teacher told me I could miss the two days if I write a report about our adventure and read it to the class – in Norwegian of course. Stakkars, Mickey.