Test Day

Many things in Norway are extremely relaxed, especially when it comes to education, so it surprised me today when we had such incredibly strict rules around taking the Norsk Prøve 2 test. They were all business and they were VERY strict. It was almost comical as it’s so opposite from all my other experiences with tests here so far. We had to come in 30 minutes early to register, we got our hands stamped after we showed photo ID, we had to turn off our cell phones and store them, our coats and backpacks until the test was completely over. We had to have our ID sitting on our desk at all times and we couldn’t get up to leave unless we raised our hand first and had our work reviewed. It was quite formal but it was clear – they mean business. I guess they want to be sure no one is taking the test for us, so the certificate they hand out afterwards must count for something.

I think I did OK on the written, reading and listening parts of the test. I know I got several things wrong, but I’m pretty sure I still passed. The speaking part was the toughest for me only because the subject they had me speak on wasn’t anything I had “material” for. They wanted me to talk about something I’ve wanted for a long time, how much it costs, how long until I’ll get it, how I’m going to afford it, etc. I didn’t know all the words to say how completely satisfied I am with my life right now and I don’t need or want a darn thing, at least nothing money can buy. They specifically asked about a “thing” and I had to say I have all the “things” I need but I did talk a little about how much I love to travel and that we are going to Rome next week and that’s something I’ve wanted for a while, but I’m not sure I communicated all that too well. My conversation didn’t fit the bill exactly so I’m not sure if that matters as there wasn’t much to say. Uff da. I do know this is a test for just a “basic” command of the language, nothing fancy, so I’m pretty sure I met the minimum for that, but it makes me wish I were better at communicating in Norwegian.

I hate that I missed my Monday “off” this week and had to go into town to take the test, but I’ll take Friday off, as I’ll surely die if I have to be gone from home five days this week. And today we had so much snow, which I would have loved to enjoy a bit more, but I was in the city and far from my cross country skis. I got home after dark and just wanted to “kose meg” as they say here (cozy myself) when I got home. It was cold out there (see photo I took out the window this afternoon at my school.)

It seems Kaleb has made a difference in his world as he said his teacher has taken our suggestion and now makes any kid that hits another, stay in for the next recess. Morten didn’t have many recesses last week and Kaleb came home gloating. Whether the punishment makes any long term difference is yet to be seen, but Kaleb is elated that he was able to do something to change the very ineffective system of just talking to the kids when they hit or kick someone. Kaleb feels empowered, so that’s good. Every day I ask him what he learned at school and he always says, “Nothing.” I gave him algebra homework every day now instead of twice a week because I told him I love him too much to let his brain waste away and learn nothing, so at least he can progress in math. All of a sudden he started talking to me in Norwegian, just to show how much he knows and to make the point he really is learning something after all. He tries hard to outsmart me.

He came home today complaining about his day. He liked the fact they went skating, but he hated that they had “to walk twenty miles to get there.” (He tends to exaggerate every now and then to make a point.) But he’s proud that this week he was assigned the exact same homework as all the other kids because he is finally fairly fluent in Norwegian and he doesn’t need extra help to learn it any more. I wish he could get fluent in obedience, respect and time management. Neither Kory nor I had patience to deal with him tonight as we both had a long day and Kaleb was pushing all our buttons. Kory was particularly crabby and short tempered because he didn’t get enough sleep last night, his back hurt, he had to work in the cold today and then come home and make dinner for himself and Kaleb because I didn’t get home until late from the test. At least now Kory’s able to sit down, relax, draw some pictures and calm down since Kaleb went to bed. That kid is exasperating sometimes. Aren’t we all. This is no way to start a week. I want my weekend back!

Mother's Day in Norway

We woke up in the Hotel Alexandra and tried to enjoy the luxury of it all as long as we could before hitting the road to come home. I probably would have slept all day if Kaleb hadn’t woken me up. Kory and I were up until one o’clock dancing and the boys fell asleep just before midnight. They were up late on Friday night too as they couldn’t settle down. They were both trying to gross each other out with certain sounds and smells they were pleased they could make with their own bodies. (I guess this is how boys entertain themselves when they must sleep in the same bed.) Last night was just too funny at dinner time though as they were each motivated to eat only what they thought would create the most gaseous outcome. Tobias was disappointed that Kaleb fell asleep before his body churned out the mother of all “fanny burps.” They were a good match. (I’m glad we are now home and everyone is in their own beds!)

After the boys had a swim this morning and we all stuffed ourselves at breakfast just one more time, we drove to the end of the lake at Loen, which is quite famous for its two huge natural disasters. In 1905 and yet again in 1936, massive chunks of the surrounding mountains gave way and tumbled into the lake below, creating such a large tsunami that it wiped out two small “towns” along the lakeshore, both times. In all, 135 people died – entire families died in an instant. There is a marker near the church with the names of the dead. Totally tragic, but not terribly uncommon in these parts. We drove along the shore trying to see if we could identify the spot that broke free, as often the rock is much lighter in color, but we weren’t sure. We just enjoyed the scenery and stopped to watch some people skate on the frozen lake.

Before we headed home we decided to drive in the direction of a particular glacier we hadn’t seen in a long time. On the way there we saw more people skating on yet another frozen lake, so we stopped to smell the roses, as it were, except we stopped to skate on ice, which was very cold, and had no smell. Initially we were going to go skiing today but there wasn’t much new snow and we brought skates along too so that seemed just as good. Neither Kory nor Kaleb had used the skates we bought last fall so today was their initiation day. (Coincidentally, Kaleb’s class is going skating tomorrow so he was pretty excited to get some practice time in before then.) The day couldn’t have been more beautiful – nor the scenery (see photo above of Kaleb skating.) I took over 300 photos this weekend alone as everywhere was just storybook perfect. And except for Tobias getting too cold out on the lake, we all had a good time. We found a “spark” (a type of sled) on the side of the road by the lake that was all broken up and left for dead, but we managed to get some use out of it. We actually brought it home with us as Kory thinks he can fix it and make it usable again (it clearly was left as garbage). It’s a good option for me to use when we go skating as I don’t like the skates with shoes and a “spark” is something with huge blades and a handle that you stand on and kick (“spark” is the Norwegian word for “kick,”) so I’m thrilled we now have one. We never did make it to the glacier as we had too much fun on the ice.

On the way home I suggested we take a turn off and go a different way to see a famous hotel I’ve only read about. What I apparently didn’t read however, is that it’s closed in the wintertime. So we drove quite a ways out of our way, only to see the outside - and it’s the lobby inside that’s spectacular. Oh well. Then we went to the end of the road to take the ferry, only to realize it might too be closed for the winter, so we had to turn around and back track through “the valley of the shadow of death” to get home. There was this one valley that really spooked me on the way there as the mountains were so steep on both sides and there was no signs of life anywhere – no cars on the road at all and obviously it is not habitable because the evidence of falling rocks and avalanches were everywhere. In fact the road has already been covered this winter with several avalanches that have since been cleared away, but it was freaky to drive through those sections with snow piled up on both sides of the road. I kept thinking some natural disaster was going to strike at any minute and I wasn’t the least bit happy about having to go through that valley one more time as we back tracked to the main road. Uff da. But we made it home safe and sound, just after dark, and just as an overdue snow storm entered the scene. It was all quite beautiful. It was Mother’s Day today in Norway and I can’t imagine doing anything better than what we did, but I’m double-dipping because in my book, the second Sunday in May is still MY day.

Spa Day

Okay, so I may never BE rich and famous, or live the kind of lives they do, but today came close. This whole spa resort thing works well for me. While Kory was off watching one product demonstration after another, Kaleb and Tobias and I enjoyed the facilities. The boys were in the pool right after breakfast while I had my first facial ever. It was decadent. I lost count as to how many products were smeared on my face and then removed with scented, heated clothes. There was also some nice smelling warm steam that was being blown on my face as the woman massaged every little pore. There were so many different scents in the products she was using I was sure I’d come out smelling like a fruit salad. Instead, I came out glowing. My face was softer than a little baby’s behind and I only wished I could have taken a nap afterwards as I was so relaxed. Instead, we played with our laptops until it was time to meet up with Kory and have lunch. (Another feast on par with breakfast, and I’m only wishing I would have brought pants with elastic waistbands.)

After lunch Kory went back to his classes, the boys went back in the pool and I opted for a long walk to a church down the road and a ways beyond. I saw a huge stone cross made about a thousand years ago, which was discovered on the site where The Hotel Alexander now sits. They moved it up by the church and put up a plaque explaining that in Viking days, when an area converted to Christianity, they set up crosses to display their faith but also to show the spot where they would meet together and worship God. They didn’t build churches, they just gathered out in nature. I took a lot of photos as the sun was shining so nicely on the tops of all the surrounding mountains, but baby it was cold outside, so I didn’t stay out too long. When I returned, Kaleb begged me to join him in the pool, so I did. The boys didn’t stay long in the outdoor pool because their hair kept freezing, but I found it most enjoyable. I think the hotel built it to take in the majesty of the surrounding mountains because there is nowhere else that gives quite the same angle on the mountains. The dining room here has glass in part of the ceiling, but even still, it’s hard to see the tops of the mountains, but out in the pool, it all becomes eye candy. The inside pool has its uniqueness too with rock walls, waterfalls and even a fireplace next to the “sunbathing” area (I guess they use tanning bed lights over the lounge chairs.) It was all quite fancy and I felt more than satisfied after taking a sauna.

I was heading back to the room to shower when I saw a sign that said something about a “quiet area” with no kids. I asked at the desk, only to discover there was another entire spa for adults only hidden away out of view. Because I had a facial this morning, I got in for free, otherwise it comes with a $40 entrance fee, but it was worth it! The real luxury of this hotel was well displayed in the ambiance of that spa. They had a huge mineral bath the shape of an almond with massaging jets lining the sides. At one end was a large linear “faucet” coming high out of the wall, which I stood under and got the best water massage on my head, neck and shoulders, while at the same time getting a foot massage from jets of water bubbling up from below. I went into one of the three saunas (it was hard to choose which one because they were all different), laid down and took deep breaths until the sweat ran good, then I jumped into an ice bath they had just outside the sauna area. I noticed I wasn’t the only one to let out a little squeal upon entering. My skin tingled ever so wonderfully afterwards. After about an hour I headed back to the room to take a shower and the boys were there playing with their Nintendos. I really wanted a little nap as I was feeling like a wet noodle, so I gave them each a digital camera and an assignment to go out and take pictures of what they felt represented the essence of God. I told them to use thirty minutes and when they returned, I’d reward the winner. I really just needed some quiet time for my body to recover from all the pampering, and it was a good move. The boys came back so excited with the images they’d captured. Kaleb photographed a light fixture, “Because it looks like the light that Jesus is,” a big overstuffed beautiful chair “Because you’d think God would be warm and comfortable,” the doors entering the dining hall “because it looks like the pearly gates going into heaven, and that’s how I feel when I go in there,” and the entrance to the spa, “Because of that feeling that you get when you come out.” Tobias went outside and took photos of the mountains (see his photo above) that surrounded the area because “He formed the landscape.” Both boys were winners as they each hit the spot. They won a pay-per-view movie in the room but we couldn’t pull them away from the pool table to watch it.

Kory went to the adult's only spa after "work" today and then we all enjoyed another lush dinner. The evening’s entertainment was some well known comedy team which had the audience laughing to tears but Kory and I didn’t get the jokes. Norsk humor I guess. We enjoyed the dancing afterwards though and even danced to a song called “Hallelujah.” Imagine that. It was a dreamy day.

Oh, Glorious Day

It took just a little over two hours of an incredibly scenic drive (see photo) to arrive at our destination for the weekend – Hotel Alexandra in Loen, one of the most popular resorts in all of Norway since 1884. It sits at the end of a long fjord and is surrounded on all sides by incredibly steep mountains with the most interesting peaks imaginable. The hotel is known for its spa services, three different swimming pools, and incredible food. Within hours of arriving, we’d experienced a taste of it all. Tobias and Kaleb barely made it into the room to get their swimsuits on before they were splashing around in the pool. They thought it was just too cool to jump in the pool inside the hotel, and then swim under a wall and be in the outdoor pool. They found out it was cool alright – freezing cool – so they didn’t last long outside. But they liked the indoor water slide and sauna just fine. While Kory took a dip in the hot tub, I had a six o’clock massage appointment so I got my weekend off to a good start with a little stress reduction. By 7:30 we were all partaking of the evening buffet, which had more food than I have words to describe. The boys went back several times but just got French fries and lasagna nearly every time. (I heard some talk of eating like “Garfield.”) They loved having the options of all the food selections even if they didn’t partake of it all. So did I. I’ve never seen such a spread of food in all my life and I’m not exaggerating to say that if I would have just taken one spoonful of all the things they had out, I could have filled ten plates easily. Kory was in heaven, as most of it was special Norwegian foods and he enjoyed the splurge. We all ate until we were downright uncomfortable. You’d think we were Americans or something.

Some of the conversation at dinner tonight centered around a huge painting hanging on the wall above our table. It portrayed the hotel a hundred years ago, but it also showed the mountain peak jutting straight up behind it. Jonathan (one of Kory’s bosses) said that to hike to the top of that peak takes about six hours, but his wife’s cousin was able to run to the top in just one hour and 28 minutes (it’s nearly 6,000 feet straight up). He was not able to break the record for that ascent however, which stands at one hour and nine minutes. The man that set that record died last year while he was out running up yet another mountain when it was just too cold up in them thar hills, and he himself had a cold and he collapsed and died. I guess that’s why we are always told we must REST when we are sick, not go running up mountains. What’s interesting about all that is that every area of Norway I’ve been to, all the locals know how long it takes to reach every summit they can see, and many know who holds the record for getting there the quickest. Local folk heroes, these mountain climbers, even if they die in the process. Jonathan also said that up on top of the nearest mountain sits the remains of a cabin that was built over a hundred years ago for people with tuberculosis. The cure of the day was to give TB patients clean, cold, fresh air. I guess horses took them up in some kind of wagon. So I’m sure that mountain runner guy isn’t the first one to die up there, as fresh air was no cure-all for TB.

Something I thought was ironic today was that I had a Swedish massage, and I’m in Norway. The woman giving me the rub-down is from Sweden. There must be something to that…. And even more ironic, it was the first massage I’ve ever gotten where I was asked to put on some disposable undies, rather than be totally nude. Considering Norway is so accepting of public nudity, I thought that was just downright strange. But what was funny is that they gave me a disposable “thong” to wear. I’ve never put on one of those before so I kept it to show the boys to see if they could figure out what it was. Kaleb thought it might be something I’d wear in my hair. Close, but not quite.

This entire resort, plus the hotel across the street, is full of customers from one building supplier named Dyrøy (said almost like “Deer-roy”). Dyrøy is holding a big product demonstration tomorrow – kind of like an expo, with classes on the use of the newest building materials. They are heavily subsidizing this weekend so it’s a real perk for their customers. Dyrøy pays more than half the hotel, plus all the meals and activities. Such a deal. Interestingly enough, it used to be just doctors that got these kinds of perks from drug companies, but now, they have outlawed doctors from being able to take any kind of outside compensation. Other businesses however, have jumped on the bandwagon and now everyone EXCEPT doctors can enjoy such lavishness. Too funny. I guess, for once, I’m glad I didn’t marry a doctor.

Preparations

Today was packing day for the weekend. It’s amazing how much stuff we need just to get away for a few days. Where we are going has a lot of snow and the boys will be playing in it, plus skiing and maybe snowshoeing. There is also a huge pool so we will all swim, and there is a formal night on Saturday so we all must bring our Sunday best clothes. And then there’s the road food, snack food and lunches for a few days, plus all the electronics; laptops, portable DVD player for the three hour drive plus camera equipment, Nintendo and chargers for it all. I think we’ll have half of what we own packed into the back of the van which makes me happy we bought the vehicle we did. I am looking forward to the massage.

We had more snow overnight so everything is just beautiful around here. Of course, it’s beautiful anyway, but when all the world turns white, it kicks it up a notch (although the photo today was taken the day before it started to snow). Kory drove Kaleb to school this morning, not just because the streets were icy, but because he couldn’t wear his backpack. He had a little accident last night at bedtime and he can’t bear the pain of any pressure on his back. I was lying down on his bed with him, praying for him and having a little pillow talk, and right before I said good-night and got up, he jumped up to go pee one last time. I was just rolling out of his bed but he tried to beat me up and went out toward the end of his bed and fell, scraping his back against a desk lamp. Oh, how he cried. He got a pretty good injury below his shoulder bone and on the back of his arm. I’m glad I had jumbo sized band-aids because it took two of them to cover the scrape. He’s such a drama king anyway, so it took a while to calm him down. I’m just hoping it will heal fast enough so the chlorine in the pool won’t sting. I’d hate for anything to get in the way of the boys enjoying themselves, as they have been anticipating this more than I expected. Most of Tobias’ friends have been to this resort, so he’s heard a lot about it and now he gets to even the score, and he’s pumped. We leave right after school tomorrow. Woo hoo.

I was noticing this morning on the bus I was the only one that didn’t have a scarf around my neck - EVERYONE wears them – even the men. And some of these scarves are more like shawls which they put on backwards. Everyone pulls the pointy tip of the shawl tight up under their chin (fringe and all) and then they wrap both ends around the back of their neck and to the front again, so there is this big ol' bulky thing sticking out of the front of their coat. Even men wear these shawls, which I find odd for some reason. I can’t say that I have really noticed my neck being so cold I need to wrap it up tight, but most people even wear them indoors where it's not at all cold, so maybe it's more of a fashion statement, or just a Nordic thing. I'm not sure as I'm oblivious to both.

I’ve been given extra writing assignments to help me prepare for the real Norsk Prøve 2 test on Monday. I got back some of my creations today, heavily marked up with red pen, yet again. But The Good Teacher Inga insists I’m still beyond the Norsk 2 level because she understands perfectly what I am writing, and that’s more important than all the grammatical details at this point. I finally believed her today when she was teaching us about different types of homes, and the names for areas in a house. She informed us that the west side of Norway will always say they are “in” a room in the house using the preposition “på”, but all those living in the eastern part of Norway will use the preposition “i” for the same thing. I have trouble with those prepositions because “på” more often than not, means “on” and “i” frequently means “in.” Inga says we can use either one, but it’s best if we use the one that’s common to this neck of the woods. So this is why, apparently, grammar doesn’t matter. The entire country can’t agree on what’s grammatically correct so they just figure comprehension is the ultimate goal. It drives me crazy, because there is still that whole, “nynorsk” versus “bokmål” thing going on with these two “official” versions of Norwegian, plus all the dialects. I can’t even have Kory help me with my homework because when he does, I get it all wrong – he speaks “nynorsk” and I’m learning “bokmål.” I want to scream. It’s a wonder these people have advanced as far as they have in the world without the ability to clearly communicate. Oh wait, maybe that’s WHY they are so advanced… because they’ve had to learn how to understand one another in the midst of all these communication difficulties. I’ll keep trying, but I’ve talked to several other “imported” women that are about ready to throw in the towel, as most everyone around here speaks English anyway. I wonder why.

The Third Winter

It started snowing this morning on my way to school (see photo of the street in front of my school). By this afternoon, my world was all white again. I think this is the “third winter”, maybe fourth; I’m losing count. By the time our year in Norway is up, it will seem like we’ve been here for years for all the seasons we’ve gone through time and time again. But I like it because it’s never boring. It did however, put a crimp in my plans to get some exercise today during our lunch break. Yesterday I managed to get almost to the top of the mountain behind my school and today I was looking forward to making it all the way up, but not with snow and ice on the ground. It’s 418 steps, and each one is a death trap when the weather turns. At the top sits “fjellstua,” (“mountain living room”) with a nice view of the surrounding area and probably the most photographed spot in the city. I’m trying to take some of the creaks out of my body and climbing to the top everyday seemed like a good idea because the path is so close to my school – but only wise when the weather cooperates.

Because she had jury duty yesterday, The Good Teacher Inga explained today a little about the legal system here in Norway. She said there are three levels of courts – one for minor crimes, one for major crimes and one that is like our Supreme Court for the most difficult cases. For minor things like drunk driving, petty theft or assault, one would go to “ting retten” and be sentenced for their crime by a judge and two private citizens that make up the “jury” (where she was.) In this court, the majority rules, so if the two citizens disagree with the judge, their opinion wins. In the higher court for bigger crimes, one would go to “lagmanns retten” and there sits more citizens on the jury, with the judge, but the judge’s opinion matters more. And then if a case is taken to the highest level, it goes to “høyesterett” which is made up of all professional lawyer/judge type people and they decide the case amongst themselves.

The penal system here in Norway is quite different from America. We know one guy that was going over 110 kilometers an hour (about 65-70 mph) in a tunnel and got caught by a traffic camera and had to pay a big fine, he lost his driver’s license for nine months, and went to jail for 18 days. Just for speeding! There were no other cars around either, so it wasn’t like he was endangering anyone or driving recklessly (except for the speed). He had enough vacation time that he just used it for his jail time so he even got paid while he was there. He said the prison was just like a volunteer work party, where they were well cared for, ate good food, treated with respect and just had to work a normal workday. They did manual labor - building playhouses for children that would be sold in stores. After “work” they were free to play sports, watch TV, whatever they wanted. He even checked himself into the prison –he just showed up at an appointed date and time to start his sentence, and then took the train home after he was done. After a few years, his “crime” will be off his record, but I think if he has other traffic related incidences the sentence next time might be harsher, but not by much. We know someone that was caught embezzling from his employer and he just had to pay back a fraction of what he took and go to jail for just five months. He even got out on the weekends and holidays to be with his family, so they handle “criminals” here quite differently than in the States. I heard this week that per capita, Oslo now has the highest crime rate of all the major cities in Europe and New York. Oslo’s population has changed drastically in the last ten years even, so that now over 25% of the population is made up of immigrants, which happen to be the bulk of the ones doing the crimes. It’s sad really, as twenty five years ago Oslo was by far the safest city in the world. In 1983 when I first visited Norway, I remember reading in a travel book that it was the only place safe enough for women traveling alone to hitchhike, as the crime rate in Norway was next to nothing. My, how things have changed.

Kaleb had another uneventful day, except for the fall off his bike on the way to school because the road was a bit slippery. (He’s fine.) He managed to breeze through his homework when he was told if it wasn’t done by four o’clock he wouldn’t be allowed to play with Tobias today. I hate that he needs so much motivating, but at this point, whatever works. Tobias came over after he was done with his work and we all went to the store to buy snacks and road food for our big weekend at the resort coming up this Friday. The boys have been counting down the days and it’s soon here. I hope they have as good of a time as they are anticipating. I’ve ordered up a massage and a facial at the hotel as this weekend in Norway is Mother’s Day and I’m thinking I deserve it. What mother doesn’t? Well, I know a few....

Back to School Tuesday

I like these four day weeks I now have. I think it was a good change for me to make, even though I end up with more homework. The Good Teacher Inga had jury duty today so we had a substitute, which everyone loved because she talked slowly and deliberately and taught us a few things we didn’t know. Like, the word “lekke” (pronounced “le-kah”) can mean three different things – it can mean your faucet has a “lekke” (leak), you have a “lekke” (you peed your pants) or you look “lekke” (elegant). Is it just me, or might others think it’s a bit odd to use the same word to describe someone who just peed their pants and someone who looks elegant? You’d think there are enough letters out there that could be shuffled around to come up with a new word for one of those two meanings, since they aren’t anywhere near the same thing. Not like the word “regne” which can mean both “rain” and “bill” (the kind you must pay). It’s easy to see how possibly one day someone got a bill in the mail and they felt dumped on, similar to a heavy downpour of rain, so the same word took on two different meanings; but using the same word “lekke” for such opposite meanings just messes with my head and makes me question the validity of this whole language.

We talked about a lot of things in class today (see photo of my “new” school), like building codes and inheritance rights – handy stuff to know if we were planning on staying a while. I could never figure out why the door threshold on bathrooms sticks up so much higher than the other doors and creates such a perfect place to stub a toe, but now I know. Building codes require it high in case there is a water leak in the bathroom – the water can be contained up to about two inches. But the strange thing is, the building codes also require all bathrooms to have a huge drain in the middle of the floor – in case there is a water leak. So I questioned the logic in requiring both of them since the water would obviously go down the drain and not flood the room, and I just got a shrugged shoulder response as our teacher couldn’t make much sense out of it either. Perhaps the threshold law came into effect before the drain requirement, and someone just forgot to remove the first one, and now for years all houses have been built with double protection against any kind of flooding in the bathroom. Laundry rooms are also required to have the floor drain, but not kitchens, so go figure.

The funny thing about those building codes is what “is” and “is not” required. Eighteen years ago on our first trip to Norway together, Kory and I visited the farm where his father grew up in Telemark. Kory’s cousin (who lived there) was so proud to show off the new house he had just built next to the old house where Kory’s dad lived (that was built in the 1700s.) When we were visiting, I had to go pee and I asked where the bathroom was. Kory’s cousin (not a young man), opened the front door and showed me the path to the barn and pointed out which door I’d find the toilet behind. It was an outhouse, attached to the barn that had been used for hundreds of years, I’m sure. I asked Kory to ask his cousin why in the world he wouldn’t have put a toilet in his new house (obviously the building codes didn’t require such a thing or it would have been there), and his cousin responded with, “Some things you just don’t think about until it’s too late.” He was so used to going outside, it never occurred to him to have it any other way. Unbelievable.
And as for inheritance rights, we learned that it is NOT allowed to disown children in Norway. Most people don’t even have wills because the money just gets divided according to the laws anyway. Children automatically get half (or 2/3rds – I’ve heard both) of the estate, no matter what, with the spouse getting the rest. A person can make a will and leave nothing to the spouse, but they cannot leave out the children. And by law, if a farm is involved, it automatically goes to the oldest child. It used to be the oldest son, but now they changed that law to say it goes to the oldest child (who may have to cash out other siblings if they protest.) It seems the more I learn, the more questions I have about Norway.

Kory worked today wearing six layers of clothes as it was so cold. Kaleb had a pretty good day until he came home and I asked him to do his homework before he played with his Pokemon cards. His nasty side reared its ugly head and he was sent to our room to calm down. He managed to convince his teacher that he has too much homework to do so she cut it in half, but he still sits at the table for two hours doodling, no matter how much work he has. He could do it all in about 40 minutes a day (or less), but for some reason, he doesn’t. Today he took three hours and only finished because Tobias rang the doorbell and he had a reason to be done. What’s up with that?

Groundhog's Day

I set the alarm this morning after I got Kaleb off to school so if I fell back to sleep again while I was praying, I would at least wake up by 9:30. It was too nice of a day to sleep it away, no matter how tired I might have been. And it was a good thing I did that, as I did fall asleep, but only for a little while so I was well rested when I got up. While I prepared for my Bible study lesson the house was quiet and the sun was shining and it couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. I’m not sure if Norway has the same rules for Groundhog’s Day as we do in America, but if so, we’re in for six more weeks of winter - but if this is winter - bring it on! (I’ve heard it’s common to get snow here in April, so it might be a little longer than six weeks.)

After I finished my lesson, I actually did some homework for my Norwegian class. It’s been piling up and it took over three hours to complete it (Inga would be proud). I was a little stressed out however because I really wanted to go for a walk while the sun was still up, but I didn’t want to break my stride with the homework so I kept going. I had to look up so many words in order to complete the assignments that it took forever. Some of them were just downright painful, like “gjennomsnittlige” – which means “average.” You’d think there could be a shorter way to say that word. I finished my homework just a few minutes before Kaleb was done with school for the day so I laid down on the couch to pray a little more and wait for his bundle of energy to come bursting through the door. He rode his bike today so I thought I might have ten minutes to myself, but he walked his bike home to keep Tobias company, and he got home a half hour later than I expected. I got in a little nap during the wait, which felt just right, considering it was my day of rest.

Kaleb ate a few waffles I made for him as an after school snack and then I convinced him to go on a walk with me before the sun set. Initially he just wanted to get his homework done right off the bat and go play with Tobias, but when I pointed out the fact that I was going to go for a walk and when I came back he’d be gone and then I had Bible study and after that he’d be in bed and I wouldn’t have one single minute to visit with him today unless he went with me, he relented with a whiny “all right.” Guilt is a good thing. We walked over to the trail (a good 20 minutes to get there), and then went part way up the nearest mountain (see photo). I just wanted to get up high enough to get some good sunset photos and to see the mountains with a little snow on them from on high. The trail is normally very mucky, but this cold weather keeps it nice and frozen, so it was a pleasant path to take, and I needed the exercise. Kaleb entertained himself with running off the trail and hiding behind trees to see if I could find him, but since he was wearing a bright orange coat, he didn’t stand much of a chance, no matter where he hid. He liked the challenge nonetheless. I was glad for a little one-on-one time with him and we talked about what he’ll miss when we leave Norway and what he misses now back home. The only thing he said he misses about home is our actual house and all his books and places to play, and the neighbor dogs. I guess that was the bulk of his world before we came, so there is no surprise there.

We stayed up on the trail until the sun sank behind the mountains, and then we called Kory to come get us at the base because Kaleb needed to go to the bathroom. I was thankful for the excuse not to walk back home as I’m terribly out of shape right now and my body feels a bit creaky. I used to walk two miles every morning before we moved here, but I haven’t kept up that routine because of my school schedule, so I’m due for a little tune-up.

Tonight we had the Bible study in our home again for the English speaking refugees that attend Filadelfia Church. We are working our way through the book of James, and I just love all the insights they have into scripture. It’s hard to read something like James chapter 1 verse 2 though right after Lawrence, a 32 year old guy from Sudan, tells us that both his parents were murdered six years ago by the Muslim Jihad for being Christians. The verse says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…”. I asked how he can even keep the faith after something like that happens and he said if he walked away from his faith, his parents would have died for nothing. They raised him as a Christian and he trusts God and believes every word of the Bible, and he knows he will be with them again someday. He made it clear he doesn’t like to talk about all the things he’s seen and been through, because he said, he gets too many “pains in his head” if he thinks about it, so it’s better for him to talk about something else. I wanted to cry.

Sunday Dinners

Kaleb had me convinced this morning that it snowed last night. It was certainly cold enough for that and when I looked out and saw a layer of white over everything, I believed him. Turns out it was just a very heavy frost. How ironic it would have been to have a summer-like day end in snowfall. It was cold today but still a lovely day to be outside, so we walked to Agape Kirke this morning and back home again. We were missed at church (we haven’t been there for three weeks), so that was nice to hear. The sermon was excellent, as always, and the people there are very friendly. It’s so good to feel like we have a church family no matter where in the world we go. The fact we all love God is the common bond, despite how different we are otherwise. I like that.

I came home and started preparing dinner for our guests this evening. I can’t let one weekend go without having someone over, so tonight was the night for hospitality. We invited cousin Odd’s second cousin, Arne and his wife Hilde for dinner. We met them over ten years ago when we first started coming to Norway as they are also Odd and Turid’s neighbors. We’ve sat out on Odd’s balcony many summer nights, wrapped up in blankets, drinking wine and talking until the wee hours of the morning. Two of Arne and Hilde’s kids have been very good to Kaleb over the years as well. When Kaleb was younger, their daughter would take him for long walks in the stroller, and when he was a little older, their son would kick around a soccer ball with him endlessly. Sometimes it seemed Kaleb spent more time at their house than Odd and Turid’s when we came for a visit. It was nice to finally have a chance to invite them over for a meal. And once I learned that Hilde grew up and is good friends with The Good Teacher Inga, I thought it would be fun to invite Inga and her husband for dinner as well. So it was a very entertaining evening with these two old girlfriends and their husbands sitting around our dining room table chatting about their children, their childhood and the happenings in the world today. Hilde and Inga were best friends in school and also neighbors in their childhood, as their houses shared a common wall in the 4-plex where they both grew up.

Inga’s husband, Patrick, is from Ireland, and it is a little ironic that he doesn’t speak much Norwegian, when she is a Norwegian teacher! So a good part of the conversation tonight was in English, which I enjoyed very much. Patrick is a carpenter, so he and Kory had something in common, and Patrick, as we learned tonight, works for the Ålesund Kommune and his boss is the guy Kory’s been in contact with that just arranged the purchase of The Sinking Houses. Kory asked Patrick to put in a good word for us with his boss so hopefully we can continue to keep living here. And Arne, the other guy here for dinner, works for the insurance company that just sold The Sinking Houses to Ålesund Kommune, so it was a very fun night as we all told our stories of our experiences with the houses where we live. Small town stuff.

Having guests on Sunday makes the most sense on one hand, because there isn’t much else to do on Sunday’s around here so visiting with friends is a good option. But on the other hand, it’s a bit stressful since no grocery stores are open and everything required to make the meal must be in the house before 8pm Saturday night when the last store closes. Planning is the key because if I wait until 8pm Saturday night to buy something, chances are pretty good the store is already out of it. I planned to make a very yummy salad using butter lettuce (something very hard to find in these parts). I bought three heads of lettuce on Friday, but had no room to store them in the frig, so I set them out in the garage and wrapped them up so they wouldn’t freeze. It was so cold last night that they froze solid anyway. It feels nearly disastrous when there are no options to go to the store and re-buy anything and the menu has to be altered. After soaking the lettuce in warm water I was able to salvage some of it so I went ahead with the salad I had planned and just made them very small, like a genuine French restaurant would serve. But I’ve had that situation before with not having all the items I needed for something I planned to make on Sunday, and had to go begging from the neighbors to borrow this or that. So much for independence. Maybe keeping things closed on Sunday is about more than just a day of rest, maybe it’s also part of Norway’s socialistic planning and how they demonstrate best that we all need each other and must work together for a common goal: Sunday dinners.

Photo Day

It was over 60 degrees today and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day. I love the fact that the weather along the coast of Norway is so unpredictable and it changes like it does. Up north, down south and in the center of Norway, they just have snow all winter long, but here we get snow, sleet, rain and warm sunshine, all within the month of January. Today was exceptional though and everyone was out enjoying it. Many cars got washed today (including ours) and a lot of mountains were climbed, I’m sure. Kory hasn’t done any exercise whatsoever since we’ve been in Norway so I’m a little hesitant to go climb any mountains for fear it will do him in, so he settled for fishing today with Kaleb (see photo of Kaleb trying to unhook his line from some seaweed). Still no fish, but at least they tried and there’s always hope. I stayed home and opened all the doors and windows and got some fresh air throughout the house, while cleaning it up a bit and doing some laundry. I so wished we could have done something incredible today to match the weather, but we did do something that was good. We only have 22 Saturdays left in Norway and I want every one of them to be memorable.

My pal Vestina and her boyfriend came out with all his fancy camera gear and he took some family photos of us down by the beach. It took an incredibly long time though and Kaleb was worn out and stopped smiling about half way through. Minde, the photographer, just wanted to practice on us and he had a lot of good ideas for family photos, so that part was fun, but he’s yet to figure out the attention span of a ten year old that owns electronic devices, so that part wasn’t so fun. Just how long a kid can be torn from their toys, especially when a friend is hanging out in the wings, is a level of knowledge about photography that one can only get from experience. The whole ordeal took several hours and over 200 photos later we were finally done. In most of the photos I think I look fat, Kory thinks he looks old and we all think Kaleb looks bored. Other than that, the background scenery was spectacular and Minde does an excellent job with the camera! We did get a few fun photos that will be worth framing and will be good memories of our time here in Norway, so that was the goal, and we accomplished it today. It turned out to be a Saturday that we might remember even better than most of them, since we’ll have the photos to look at for years to come.

Tobias patiently waited all afternoon to play with Kaleb and he sat quietly behind the scenes and watched the photo shoot, so tonight we treated both boys to a few games of bowling. We had family game night last night with Sabina and Tobias at our house playing games til late, but tonight I really needed to get out of the house. Kaleb and Tobias have been playing bowling on Tobias’ Wii (an electronic game) so we thought we’d see how they handle the real life version. There is one bowling alley in all of Sunnmøre (this entire region) and it has a whopping 12 lanes. I was worried on a Saturday night we might not get a lane, but there was no problem with that. The problem was finding balls and shoes that fit, so we had a wait for a few games to end before we could begin ours. Above each lane in the bowling alley is a piece of paper tacked up for all the world to see just who holds the record for the highest score on that lane. The scores range from 258-290, and according to Tobias, no one, in the history of the bowling alley, has EVER bowled a 300 in that place. I’m sure it would be front page news if someone did. Considering how many world records, and Olympic gold medals, and amazing accomplishment the Norwegians have achieved over the years, it just seems incredible to me that no one has bowled a perfect game in the local bowling alley. Now there’s a mountain yet to climb. I’d take on the challenge myself, if I was any good at bowling, but I didn’t even come close tonight with my high score of 118. If the bumpers wouldn’t have been up, I’m sure I would have only gotten half that amount. But we all had fun anyway, and that was the point. Bowling in Norway isn’t cheap though (like most things here). Kaleb and Tobias bowled 2 games each and then Kory and I joined them for the last go-round. Between the shoe rentals and the price of the games, we were out over seventy bucks. Maybe that’s why no one has bowled a perfect game… perfecting one’s skill would empty one’s pockets. I still get sticker shock over how much things cost here but for the most part, I just don’t look. I buy what we need and thank God we have the money to pay for it. I set out the cash for that week’s allotment and when the money’s gone, it’s gone, and we have to wait until the next week to spend anymore. A few times I’ve spent the whole week’s budget on the first day of the week, but then I like the challenge of making it through the rest of the week without spending a kroner. It’s like a game, and when I make it to the end, it feels like I’ve bowled a 300.

Praying Women

I played hooky from school today. I was going to go for the first hour and then leave to join this group of incredible praying women at ten o’clock, but I was enjoying the comforts of a toasty warm bed on an ice cold morning and I couldn’t bear the thought of getting out of it anytime soon. As I was lying there after I turned off the alarm, pleased with the peace and quiet of the morning, with both Kory and Kaleb breathing heavily beside me, I thought I had all the time in the world because I didn’t have to catch the 7:45 bus. Then at about 7:45 I realized that, while I may be skipping school today, Kaleb surely wasn’t! All those peaceful and cozy thoughts of mine turned to real panic when the big “click” in my brain happened that Kaleb needed to be up and out the door in 15 minutes – a near impossibility. He made it to school on time only because we bought an extra 15 minutes by giving him two bucks to take the bus, as the streets were pretty icy and he couldn’t ride his bike anyway. It was no way to start off a morning I thought would otherwise be relaxed. But once I got a quick lunch made for him, I was able to have a cup of coffee with Kory before taking the 9:10 bus into town to go to a prayer meeting with all the women in the photo today.

There was only one woman missing today from this long-standing group of praying women and that was cousin Axel’s wife, Kari. She flew to Oslo early this morning to go say goodbye to her daughter Roda, who is moving to Australia for one year just for the fun of it (kind of like what we are doing here in Norway.) So Kari was missed, but I sure enjoyed the time spent with these other women. I was able to share quite a few “God” stories with them, talking mostly in Norwegian, so I didn’t feel too badly about missing school. I told them about several tight spots Kory and I have been in where God has come to our rescue in various and miraculous ways. I told them I once said to Kory that I thought God loves me more than everyone else because He is always doing so many unbelievable things for me. Kory then reminded me that God loves us all the same, and He does all those things for everyone else too, it’s just that I notice them more. They liked that. After we talked a while, we spent time in soaking prayer (I love that they want to do that), and then talked some more about what God showed us during our quiet time with Him. I gave them all pretty little notebooks so they could write down all the things God is doing in their lives so they will have their own little love booklet from God. They liked that too. I love that they invited me again today as it was a big thrill for me to be with women who have such a hunger for God and who want more of whatever He has to give. We all left encouraged, even though some of these women are going through incredibly difficult times right now. But God is faithful, and I believe that “all things” will work together “for good,” as the Bible says.

The photo today was taken around a coffee table, and certainly depicts a normal “coffee time” in Norway. The coffee tables here are much higher than ours in America as they use them almost like a dining room table where everyone gathers in the living room and eats a light meal together. Having “coffee” in a Norwegian’s home seems more like lunch, as they always serve open faced sandwiches, coffee and something sweet to eat no matter what time of day. The best china, candles and crystal are also commonly used when having someone over for coffee. Chances are much greater to be invited to someone’s house for coffee, than for a full blown meal. I like it.

I’m always thrilled when I hear from someone that reads my blog, as it encourages me to keep writing. Today, one of the cousins in Oslo that reads it wrote to me and filled me in on the “swallow some camel” comment that I was pondering the origins of yesterday. Bent-Jarle (a preacher’s son), quoted Matt 23:24 where it says, “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” So that was it – it came from the Bible! I asked so many people where that saying came from and no one knew. I suspected it might be from the Bible, but no verses came to mind so I dismissed it. But now I know. I think it’s funny that Norwegians are quoting scripture and don’t even realize it.

Kaleb published his latest edition of The Weakly Puppy today and I am sensing the end is near. He has found children much more fun to be around than dogs and he is running out of material to write about. I actually think that is a good thing. After next month’s 2 year anniversary edition, he wants to take a break until we get back to America. I’m sure dogs will take on more significance then, since there are no children to play with in our neighborhood at home. So sad.

Funny Words

It would have been a pretty boring, ordinary day if we didn’t have a good laugh over some Norwegian words and expressions I learned in class today. There’s several words and phrases that just make me laugh when I say them anyway, like “snart ferdig,” which means “soon finished” but when I say it fast, it just cracks me up every time as it’s pronounced, “snart far-dee.” It’s used often, whether referring to dinner soon being ready or when I would say, “I’ll be done in a minute.” Say it three times, and it’s evident why it sounds so funny. Of course, “snart ferdig” doesn’t crack me up as much as when I hear someone say “full fart,” which, honest to goodness means “high speed.” There are often huge advertisements in newspapers or on the sides of busses for internet service, and the words that grab my attention every time are “full fart” (pronounced just like it’s spelled.) And certain neighborhoods have “farts dempre” which are “speed bumps.” And when traveling along certain stretches of highway there’s a sign that says “din fart” which means “your speed” and then they have those digital read-outs so it’s clear just how fast a person is traveling. The photo today is of an umbrella at a “fast food” kiosk, the words mean “food in a hurry.” There is lighthouse in downtown Aalesund with huge letters painted on the side that say “sakte fart” (slow speed) so no boats coming in to the harbor make a wake. I can’t imagine the origins of these words, but it’s pretty funny for someone from America to live here and see them everywhere.

Today’s words that made me laugh were referring to an expression they use for when things might not be ideal, but you just have to “tough it out” as we say. Norwegians say you must, “svelge noen kameler” which literally means, “swallow some camel.” I can’t imagine why someone living in Norway would even come up with the imagery of swallowing a camel since camels aren’t anywhere near this country, but I’m beyond trying to figure out most of the reasons why they say what they do. Like the word “født,” (which actually sounds like “foot” to me when it’s being said) means “born.” In the early Norwegian days did all the babies come out feet first, and that’s how they made up that word? “Fred” really cracks me up because that means “peace,” in Norwegian. Perhaps the first Nobel peace prize winner’s name was Fred? (They give those awards out in Oslo every year.) And “hell” in Norwegian actually means “luck” in English. Try to figure out the logic in that one.

One word they use here is “fornøyd” which is pronounced like “for-noid” which also sounds to me like the English word “annoyed.” But the word “fornøyd” actually means “satisfied,” which is quite the opposite of annoyed, so it helps me to remember it’s meaning, but it also makes me laugh to say it. The word “selfølgelig” (pronounced “sell-full-gully”) means “of course” and I laugh every time I hear Kaleb saying it, which he always does if someone asks him to do something. It sounds so foreign and not ANYTHING like “of course,” but I guess that’s why this is a “foreign” language. But then they have all these English words (which aren’t foreign) mixed in with Norwegian, with completely different meanings, like the word, “fag.” The Norwegian word “fag” means a “subject” that one takes in school, or a particular trade, so I often see work trucks with the word FAG in huge letters going down the road, whether it’s a plumbing truck or specialized carpenter van. Too funny. And the word “do” actually means “toilet,” so when in Norway, be careful with the usage of that English word. “Go på do,” (pronounced “go poh do”) is how people here say they need to pee. But I DO like the fact that “love” in Norwegian means “promise” in English (and they have four different words that mean “love.”)

Kory never seems to get the humor in my observations, but Kaleb and I have shared quite a few laughs over this language thing, especially today. But Kory and I did have a few laughs tonight as we went to a Junior High school talent show. Cousin Odd’s daughter Hege had a dance performance in the show but she was toward the end so we had to sit through an incredible line-up of NO talent first. But it was worth the wait as Hege’s dance routine was incredible. She choreographed it herself and that girl can dance like no one I’ve seen dance. The rest of the acts are what would be expected of any junior high age group of kids, but there was one band that played “Hotel California” and it was actually very good. (But it seemed rather surreal to be in Norway hearing some 13 year old belt out an old Eagles tune in English.)

Kaleb finally had an uneventful day at school, Kory worked on his latest drawing, and I came home from school and started planning out our trip to Rome next month. If I go “full fart” I’ll be “snart ferdig.”

Smart Women

Kaleb had another run-in with Morten today – actually, Morten kicked some large rocks at Kaleb and hurt his ankle. Morten then later took an even larger rock and smashed it down on Kaleb’s backpack. All in a day’s work I guess. At least nothing was broken - on the foot or in the bag. That kid is something else.

Kory went under the houses today to take measurements and do his monthly report – possibly the last one he’ll do, as the houses now have new owners and our future is uncertain. The attorney called today to see if we’ve heard from the Ålesund Kommune, but we haven’t. We’re hoping Kory can continue to be the watchman, and that we can continue to live here. We might know more tomorrow.

I had the speaking part of my “practice test” today so I had to stay after school an hour and talk. I passed with flying colors even though I was grammatically incorrect in nearly every sentence. They care more that the idea gets across than they care about proper grammar, so that saved me. We had to carry on a dialogue with other students about all kinds of things. The only comment the judges made to me was that I need to “make room” for the others to talk… that’s the nice Norwegian way of saying I talked a little TOO much. I felt like I was in 1st grade all over again getting in trouble for talking. I had them all laughing though, so I’m sure I got extra points for being so entertaining. Tee hee.

Today in class during our discussion time, we broke into small groups to practice our conversational Norwegian. One new woman to our class is from Brazil and she was in my group. She moved to Norway two years ago when her husband’s job relocated him here – he does something with shipping companies – I’m not quite sure what. She was an attorney in Brazil but she can’t even dream of being that here unless she becomes fluent in the language and goes back to college to learn all the Norwegian laws. She could only say that she had to give up her dream job to come here and she has no idea what she will do with her future, other than raise their one year old daughter. She is a stunningly beautiful woman, dresses in high fashion and speaks many languages. She’s Jewish so she speaks Hebrew, and she’s from Brazil so she speaks Portugese and Spanish. Her English is flawless and she’s also very good at Norwegian. I have such a hard time understanding how people can be so good at so many languages when I struggle so much with one! So much for feeling smart.

When we were talking today she said she had just one brother, but he died two years ago in an airplane crash. She told us that a smaller American executive jet collided with the wing tip of a much larger Brazilian plane. The American jet was able to land safely, and no one on that plane was injured, but the Brazilian plane went spiraling out of control down into the jungle and crashed. All 154 people on board died, including her brother. It took 20 days to locate the plane. He had become a father just 11 days before the accident. She said something that I thought was interesting, because it shows just what the world thinks of America on some level. She said that if the smaller plane was a Brazilian plane and it crashed into a larger American plane, they would have called it a “terrorist attack” even though it was an accident. As it was (I read this on the internet tonight), the Brazilian government detained the American pilots for two months as they were going to put them on trial and charge them as criminals. It was the worst airplane accident in the history of Brazil, and it was America’s fault, in their estimation. But from what I can tell, it was the air traffic controllers fault, and some gauges that didn’t work properly that would have warned both planes they were too close. I don’t know how much news coverage there was of this in America (we don’t watch TV), but it’s been huge news in Brazil. I felt so sad for my classmate as she was telling us where she was when she heard the news and how it’s been since then. Everyone has a story that will break your heart. But then she turned right around and cracked us up as she told us that her mother is a feminist and refused to teach her how to do any kind of housework or cook any food because, her mother reasoned, if she knows how to do it, she will be expected to do it her whole life. So here sat before me today an incredibly gorgeous woman, very intelligent and educated who honestly can’t (and won’t) do laundry or cook a meal to save her life. Her husband does it all, she says, or they hire it out. Amazing. It reminded me of my great Aunt Clara in North Dakota who refused to learn to drive a car because she feared her whole life would be running into town to get things for the men out on the farm and she wouldn’t have a life of her own. (She’s one smart cookie, too.) But when she was 72 I taught her how to drive because her husband was dead by then and SHE needed to get to town. Life happens. Things change.

My World

Needless to say I didn’t sleep much last night as I overdid it the night before. Nothing worse than messing with my body clock, but it was still very refreshing to have an extra day off from school and be down to a four day “week”. Kory likes his schedule too as he says he used to work five days a week and get two off, now he works two days a week and gets five off. We are rather spoiled, I think.

Today our class got the results back from our Norsk Prøve 2 practice test we took last week. Going in to it I was sure I would fail, as I forgot so much over the holidays. Then when I was taking it I thought it was just too easy and I would pass with flying colors. Then after we took it and I started talking to some other students who said it was very difficult, I had second thoughts. I thought maybe it seemed easy because I didn’t fully understand all the instructions, so then I went back to my expectations that I would fail. This test has four parts to it and if I just fail one part, I fail the whole test. They test on listening skills, speaking, writing and reading comprehension. We didn’t do the speaking part, but we did the other three. The listening was the most difficult for all of us and nearly everyone in the class failed that section – except ME! Actually, there were a few others that passed it too, and I didn’t have the high score, but I did get 18.5 out of 22 and anything above 15 is a passing grade. Woo hoo. The reading comprehension section I got 23.5 out of 25 so that was pretty good and my writing was just a passing score as they don’t give points on that. The Good Teacher Inga has every confidence that I’ll pass the REAL test next week, but I’m not so sure as I feel I just got lucky this time. We’ll see. It does encourage me a little when I see just how many failed the test and I didn’t even come close to failing – and also that I don’t really do any homework or give much attention to learning the language other than showing up to class. So, two points for me.

We’ve been having more open discussions in my Norsk class about different aspects of Norwegian life. Last week we were talking about what it takes to get a job here, this week we were talking about marriage. To get a decent job in Norway a person just needs to be able to speak the language and have the right last name. There is such incredible prejudice against the foreigners that even if someone is fully qualified for an engineer job, for instance, they won’t get it if they have a foreign last name (especially if it’s from an Arab nation). It’s one of the many ways the native Norwegians protest the influx of all the foreigners. Thirty years ago there were practically no foreigners living here and the lifestyle was kept fairly constant, but now with the UN dictating more open borders and all EU countries having to take in refugees, Norway is becoming more and more a melting pot and many people here don’t like that one little bit. So they do what they can to control what they can and keep the foreigners from “melting”. One Arab guy finally changed his last name and he at least started getting interviews for engineer jobs, but still didn’t land one. He’s now a waiter.

This afternoon I went for another walk around the neighborhood (see photo) as the day was cloudy, but mild, and I remembered to take my camera with me. So many photo opportunities; so little time. Kory worked today and again tonight as he went to Filadelfia Church for a men’s work party. All church activities here start at 8:00 or 8:30 at night. Their reasoning is that the parents can tuck the kids into bed and get a sitter easier if the kids are already asleep… so things start incredibly late and go until 10:30, 11:00 or later, like everyone keeps those hours. I find it so odd. Most church activities I’ve been involved with in America try to be done by 8:00 or 8:30 at night so there is definitely a cultural difference in that area. I’ve seen several events around here that don’t even start until midnight.

Kaleb was having a lovely day at school, sitting quietly at his desk practicing his script writing and out of the blue he got body slammed so hard he nearly fell out of his seat – by none other than Morten. That kid can’t even walk past Kaleb without causing a scene, and the teacher was standing about three feet away from the whole thing. So Kaleb and I had a good laugh today as he recreated the incident and showed me what the body slam did to the word he was writing at the time. I’m so thankful he has some perspective on Morten and doesn’t take his actions too personal. Other than that, his day was without incident. He did take about two hours to get his homework done though, and other kids in his class say they only take about 20 minutes, but Kaleb likes to dawdle. Perhaps he should get serious about art as all his homework pages are full of scribbles and doodles of every kind… he’s not much on time management, that kid

Another Day of Rest

I was up until after one o’clock last night so I’m glad I was able to sleep in today. I got up to make Kaleb’s lunch and get him off to school and then I went back to bed because Mondays are my designated Day of Rest! I guess I was even more tired than last week as I set a new record and slept in until 1:25 this afternoon! It helps that the bedroom has black-out blinds which are needed in the summer months when it never gets dark, but it sure can mess with a person’s sleep cycle! Our rooms are like caves. I had no idea it was so late. I was barely up in time for Kaleb’s return from school. Actually, I didn’t sleep that whole time, I was praying for a lot of it, but I still had no idea how late it was. Uff da. After I got up I was able to do some Bible study preparations while the house was still quiet though, so that was nice. Then when Kaleb came home I went for a long walk around a new neighborhood I hadn’t explored yet and saw so many places I want to photograph. I usually take my camera with me everywhere, but I forgot. It was another beautiful day and perfect walking weather. What I saw looked a lot like the photo today of Kory’s latest drawing. I walked down by the water and there are rocks and old boats and boat houses everywhere – so picturesque. (If you double click on the photo it gets bigger.) This drawing Kory did was a compilation of four different photos I took when we had snow. I really like how he does wood texture. As he says, he’s still “practicing,” but I can’t see how he could improve anywhere. He tried something new, which gives him a little thrill… if the picture is turned upsidedown, it’s easier to see that the reflection of the boat in the water is actually a Viking ship. I think he’s going for a little “Bev Doolittle” in his style.

Kaleb came home with a little look of mischief on his face today. His day at school was uneventful but getting there this morning gave him quite the challenge. I tried to get him up and out the door by eight o’clock but he wasn’t moving too quickly so he didn’t leave until 8:10. About half way there, the chain on his bike came off and he was stuck. He said it took him a while to contemplate his options. He knew if he came home, I didn’t have a car because Kory was off to work so that wouldn’t do him any good. He knew if he just walked the bike to school he would be late – something he dreads more than anything. So he just stood there, stupefied, wondering what to do. Then, like an angel from heaven, an older kid he knows from the playground at school – one that has pestered him in the past – came by in a car driven by his mother. They both got out to try and help, and when they couldn’t fix the chain, the mom offered him a ride to school so he wouldn’t be late and he just left the bike behind. He got to school just as the bell was ringing. He stopped by after school to pick up his bike, and the kid was finally able to get his chain reattached so he rode home. He wants to do something nice to say thanks to that kid – who he previously tried to avoid – so all-in-all it was a good situation. I’m hoping Kaleb learns a few things from it and will leave in enough time now to anticipate the unexpected and also, that even kids that might threaten him on the playground, really do have a good heart when the time is right.

I talked with our Bible study group at church yesterday and they agreed that every other Monday was a better schedule – it’s the Norwegian way. No one does anything every week here (except play soccer), so it will keep things on a more manageable scale for all of us… so I REALLY had the day off and in keeping with that theme, I didn’t do laundry, clean the kitchen or make dinner (we ate leftovers). But I did sit at my computer all evening (and last evening until very late), doing research for our friend Nancy Schaub. She came to visit us last September and we took her up to Trondheim to see what her grandfather left behind when he moved to America. Well, we found a farm with her grandfather’s last name but no one was home so she left a note asking for more information. The farm owner called Nancy and told her we had the wrong farm! But the farm owner did some research and found one clue that was enough for me to nail down all the information that is available on the internet about that grandfather and his ancestors back to the early 1800s (so far). And from what I can gather, the grandfather must have left from the city of Trondheim itself because the farms where his parents and grandparents came from got absorbed from the ever expanding city. At least we stayed a few nights in that city, so all was not lost. I just LOVE doing this kind of research. It’s like putting together a puzzle and being a detective all at the same time. It makes me think, even if my butt goes dead in the process, as I get so addicted to each lead I find, I find it hard to stand up and move away from the computer. I guess there are worse things to be addicted to, but Kory is always quick to point out the scripture in First Timothy that says, “…command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies…”. But I’m not a man, so I’m SURE that scripture isn’t about me. Tee hee.

Packaging

It was nearly like a summer day today with unbelievable sunshine and such clean, fresh air. I opened all the windows and went for a nice walk around the neighborhood after church. Kory and Kaleb went for a big “explore” on a street they had yet to venture down while I made dinner. It was almost like there was a parade going on as so many people were out for a Sunday afternoon stroll. Gotta love days like today, especially in January!

Tonight we invited a “samboer” (living together but not married) couple over that we consider our first NEW friends in Norway. Therese and her daughter, Cornelia, came over for lunch a few months ago without Jan Ola. Amazingly, they aren’t related to us or anyone we know. We met them the first week we arrived in Norway because they had a studio apartment in their basement and we were desperately looking for a place to live. We had such a wonderful visit with them back in August we decided to keep in touch. We ran into them at a flea market in the fall and exchanged phone numbers and then I had Therese over in November. She offered to give us a BBQ they were going to throw out so we said we’d have them over for dinner as a thank-you and cook them something from the “grill”. So tonight was the night. Kory grilled up some salmon and I made some other yummy stuff to go with it and they couldn’t have been more impressed. They jokingly said I should open up an American food restaurant in one of the empty houses here as it surely would be a hit. And in the course of the evening we showed them Kory’s art work and they thought we could set up an art studio in one of the other empty houses. Then I got out my latest haul from the Salvation Army store (which I discovered is just around the corner from my new school). I’ve been buying wool sweaters there for about $20-$25 a pop, practically new and most of them handmade. Incredible bargains if I do say so myself. I’m buying them for gifts to take home. One sweater I pulled out to show them was exactly like their daughter’s sweater that Therese’s mom made for her. Same pattern, same colors and it fit Therese perfectly (see photo), so I let her buy it for the 159 kroner I paid for it ($22) so they could have matching sweaters. She was downright giddy. Then she thought I should open up a sweater boutique in yet another empty house. They were full of funny ideas tonight so we had a lot of good laughs. They are really a nice couple and their three year old daughter played well with Kaleb too, so it was a great way to spend an evening. I think they might come visit us in Mount Vernon sometime, as they love to travel. I hope they do.

When I was making dinner for them tonight I was reminded again just how different some of the packaging is on the food here. Mayonnaise comes in a tube like toothpaste. They just squirt mayo on bread in a squiggly line and don’t use a knife to spread it. Mayo also comes in boxes with a little plastic package inside that needs to be cut open. It’s meant to be used all at once as there is no way to seal up the bag. Some lettuce comes in a package that’s best described as an air pillow as you could sit on it and not hurt the lettuce. Other lettuce comes in a little pot, with dirt, roots and all. All the red peppers and cucumbers and some other veggies come vacuum packed in plastic. Jam comes in a container like a ketchup bottle so the kids can squeeze it on the bread themselves. Most bread is not pre-sliced and comes in paper bags. Everyone always squeezes the bread in the store to see how fresh it is because it turns rock hard in about an hour. In fact, most of the food here goes bad very quickly as the government doesn’t allow all the preservatives we use in America. Starburst candy is prohibited in this country because the yellow dye #2 in it is considered a carcinogen. Norway has pretty strict pesticide and chemical laws but surprisingly, organic food is just now coming on the scene. Food here is very expensive, but even so, I can buy organic stuff here cheaper than at home. Go figure.

I gave a little speech at Filadelfia Church this morning. I spoke on what “church” means to me (I’ve been going my whole life). For part of my talk I shared that after all these years, I went and looked up my old Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Faast, so I could tell her how much of an influence she had on me when I was growing up and how I always felt the love of Jesus coming out of her. She was moved to tears. I was so glad she was still around to hear it, as I’m sure most Sunday school teachers never get to see all the “fruit” they produce from their commitment to teach young children. In my speech I said a lot of other things too, and afterwards many people came up to me and told me my talk was very powerful. I was surprised by how many men were affected by it. They shook my hand and thanked me for sharing. So that was nice. I invited cousin Turid to come to church to hear me talk and she responded with, “Why? I can hear you talk anytime I want. I just need to pick up the phone and call you.” I just love that woman’s practical side.

The 105th Anniversary

Today marked the 105th anniversary of the fire that burned down the city of Ålesund. Every year on this date they do a few things to commemorate the event – as it was the biggest fire in the history of this country – but today, because the date fell on a Saturday – they kicked it into overdrive. I had plans to be downtown today to see and do all there was from noon until after 6pm when the fireworks went off, but Kaleb’s agenda won out. A friend from his class at school, Tobias, (not the one that’s related to us) came over at ten this morning to play for a few hours. Just after he arrived, Kaleb got a call from yet another kid in his class – Andre – who wanted to come over as well. So we had two extra boys with us until seven tonight. They both brought their Pokemon cards and all the boys spent several hours trading cards and learning how to play the game.

It was quite amusing to watch the boys play together. A lot of kids here collect Pokemon cards but the instructions on how to play the game only come in English, so none of the kids know the rules. Kaleb sat and read the rules and translated them to Norwegian for his friends and then they all played practice games together as no one wanted to risk losing any cards in a game. I loved their interaction, but I hated that it was a really mild weather day and they were INSIDE for so much of it. Finally, after several hours, we got them to head down to the beach to get some fresh air, but then they were right back again wanting to play with those silly cards. I also kept trying to entice them into going to town to see a fire breathing guy, climb on old fire trucks, go to all the museums that were free today, attend a walking tour of the route the fire took and see the only house that survived the blaze… but they couldn’t be convinced until about 3:30 and by the time we got to town, most things were closed. The one thing that was still going was the fire department’s ladder truck (see photos). It was set up to give kids “rides” up and down in the bucket at the end of the ladder. They all thought that was pretty cool but it looked a little scary to me. Afterwards we got ice cream and walked down by the water and let the boys throw rocks into it to pass the time. We ran into at least twenty people we know as it’s a small town and this was a big day. We had an hour to kill before the fireworks started so we got a pizza and then crossed the street to watch the show. I’ve never been that close to fireworks before so it was something special and gave the boys all a good thrill.

I couldn’t have been happier with how they all played together today. The only complaint I had was that Kaleb doesn’t fully understand things they say, so I had to stay close by to help translate so they didn’t get frustrated with him when they thought he knew what they were talking about and he didn’t. Because of that, I didn’t get outside myself to enjoy the day, and I just sat at the computer loading photos on to my Facebook account to pass the time. I feel like Kaleb has moved to a new level now though – and that he can almost hold his own with the kids so he’ll hopefully be included in more things. It’s great in the short-run but looking ahead, it will make our trip back home all the more painful for him, I’m sure. But our main goal in coming here was to socialize him and get him fluent in the language so we’re getting close to meeting our objectives. With these boys from his class all seeming to enjoy his company, his weekends might get pretty busy. Hallelujah.

We talked with the parents of all these boys about the “mobbing” situation at Kaleb’s school and none of them had heard of anyone having it as rough as Kaleb has, so apparently he’s “special,” although we have heard a few comments about the school itself. One neighbor said that if the Head Master from a few years ago was still there, this problem wouldn’t exist. Another woman I take the bus with said her friends moved out of the area last year because her kids were getting beat up and since they moved, they haven’t had a single problem in their new school. So who knows what is behind it all. I’m just thankful Kaleb doesn’t take any of it personal. I don’t think it’s as important to protect him from those kinds of situations as it is to teach him how to deal with them. It'd be nice if he could stay standing after "going through the fire," too.

A Sunny Day

The sun was shining yet again today, which puts everyone in a most euphoric mood around here, including me. I only wish I would have had time to go for a long walk to enjoy the fresh air, but I was a little bit “opptatt” as they say here (“busy” is the direct translation but it sure sounds like “up tight” to me when it’s spoken – which is also very descriptive of the times that word would be used.)

After school today Kaleb had his classmate Håvard over for a play date (see photo). This was the first opportunity they have had to spend time one-on-one together so they had a bit of an awkward start and I had to help the process more than I expected. They weren’t sure what to do with themselves and although they could speak basic things back and forth in Norwegian, we learned quickly that Håvard is right up there with Kaleb in many areas – including an advanced vocabulary – which doesn’t work well in our household when it’s an advanced Norwegian vocabulary. Håvard is one smart cookie (he asked how we felt about our new president and then wanted to know WHY we felt that way). Like Kaleb he’s a fast reader and is the best in his class in math (excluding Kaleb.) Kaleb was able to teach Håvard some algebra today because they both were done with the big math test early (it was just doing the times table up to 8.) Håvard caught on to algebra lickety-split and liked it a lot so Kaleb was proud to be his teacher and show him the ropes.

After school I could see they needed to do something constructive so I gave them some challenges to work on together. I got out my “Destination Imagination” book and let their brains go to work for a while. (Destination Imagination is a program designed for gifted kids but all kids can do it. It’s an after-school activity where kids compete in different challenges with simple goals using limited resources and a short amount of time to accomplish the task. Kaleb loves the program. We were involved with it before we left America.) So today Kaleb and Håvard were building structures as tall as they could using only straws, paper, toilet paper rolls and a little tape. Kaleb won the first "challenge" so the next go-round I had them work together building a structure that could support weight. They could only use straws, large marshmallows, paper, toothpicks and a little tape. They had a good time once they realized that if they bit off part of the marshmallow, it would stick incredibly well to the hardwood floor and create a sturdy base they could work from. And this is why I didn’t get in a walk today. The marshmallows stuck very well and the boys were off kicking soccer balls and throwing rocks in the water down at the beach before anyone realized what a mess they’d left behind. And we had company coming for dinner. All in all the boys had a great time together and I am so thankful for Håvard. He has a big desire to learn English so I think he’s partially drawn to Kaleb for that reason, but he doesn’t know it much now so it forces Kaleb to speak more Norwegian – so it’s a win/win. And they do have a lot in common so I’m hoping they spend more free time together and become best of friends.

Between going to school myself, helping the boys after school and making dinner for company, my day was done. We had Kory’s two cousins (who are brothers) and their wives over, plus their mother – our dear Tante Kari. Both cousins are brothers to cousin Odd. We’ve had Odd here many times but the two brothers (Ketil and Rune) don’t live as close so they are a little harder to pin down. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and catching up on what’s new in their lives and telling them all about the happenings in ours. They both have stayed with us in America and we got engaged in Ketil’s house 18 years ago so we have a lot of history with these guys and it was a very comfortable and relaxed evening. They are both now on wife #2 (as is their brother Odd) so we had to fill in some of the blanks for the new women. Tante Kari so loves all her new daughter-in-laws that she said if her boys get divorced one more time she is dumping them and keeping the women. She’s so funny. Last Sunday after church she told Kory he has old fashioned glasses and he needs to be a little more hip and modern (she is 80). She went around taking glasses off different people and putting them on Kory to see which style she liked best on him and then she gave him marching orders to go buy new frames. She laughs all the time and thinks everything she sees and hears and tastes is just the best there is. She took a bite of the Chicken Marbella tonight and screeched out a compliment as she thought it was just so incredibly good. Then Ketil said, “She could eat a plain boiled potato with nothing on it and have the same reaction because she thinks everything is incredibly good.” Now there’s a legacy to leave behind.