It is monday morning, 5.15 am, and I am at the computer, blogging. Why on earth would I do that? Should I not be sleeping? I bet once Kelly reads these first lines of the blog she will roll her eyes at my early morning, but - it has a reason. I guess I will have to wait to say for sure, but...
As we approach our marriage, a few things need doing. We needed a bed large enough for the two of us for instance. And just a couple of weeks ago I went to town and bought one Kelly and I had set our eyes on. A tempur bed we both liked. Now, we will not BOTH enjoy it until January when we return from the states, but for now I have a seriously good bed that I will enjoy all by myself. Mwa-ha-ha Mine, ALL mine!
...
Erm, anyway. The bed is good, and even though it is 5:15 I am wide awake and fully rested. Tempur rocks!
The bed was delivered to my flat Thursday last week. I had paid extra to have it delivered to my flat, which sadly is not a free service here in Norway (some places it is, not everywhere though). However, Thursday comes, the delivery guy arrives, and drops it off. BUT; My flat is a few stories up. The bed - while in parts was heavy. The weather was hot - and mr. delivery just left. With all the matresses, bed frame, everything just dropped down behind the door on the ground floor! Thankfully it was all small enough to fit into the elevator. Even if barely. So, I lug it all into the elevator, piece by piece, realizing it is not too easy to even get it through my flat's door. Glad it was not one mattress, then I would have had to lug it up the stairs alone. And tempur material is heavy.
So I sweat a couple of days worth of water, but get the bed into my flat. I then proceed to put it all together (it was in pieces). As soon as it was all put together I left for Hamar, as I took Friday off to go home, and spend some time with Kelly.
It is good to see the pieces for our life as a married couple falling into place. Things are getting ready for the life we will lead together as a married couple. I like seeing that :)
Monday, July 31, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
Photo Log
(be sure to read my most recent post below these pictures!)
Oddities:
Norwegian pinecone. My hands are really small, so you can imagine how tiny this thing is!
Song we sung at a state church. hehe 'Come by ya'
Kelly eating crepes the way vegar did as a child, starting in the middle! He told his parents it was the ONLY right way to eat a crepe! :P
Brushing time! Kelly, Vegar, and Linda Lee
Shrimp Night!! (Loads of shrimp, heads included!)
(be sure to read my most recent post below these pictures!)
Oddities:
Norwegian pinecone. My hands are really small, so you can imagine how tiny this thing is!
Mexican food aisle! :) Yum!
Song we sung at a state church. hehe 'Come by ya'
Norwegian Tartar Sandwich: Slice of white bread, raw beef, raw onions, raw egg
Kelly eating crepes the way vegar did as a child, starting in the middle! He told his parents it was the ONLY right way to eat a crepe! :P
Kelly keeping Vegar in his ???. At the fort and monastery in Hamar.
Brushing time! Kelly, Vegar, and Linda Lee
Now that is Trust! Kelly giving Vegar acupressure below his eye. How very trusting he is to let me press so close to his eyes!
Shrimp Night!! (Loads of shrimp, heads included!)
Hugging :D
Friday, July 07, 2006
Bugs, Bright Lights, and Roller Coaster Rides
It's official! Summer is here, the nights are long and bright, and everyone is outside enjoying the ever-present sun! So much has happened in the past month, and it is difficult to know where to begin!
Invasion of the Dandelions!
As Spring progressed in the middle of May, dandelions overtook every patch of dirt in southern Norway! I have never seen SO many dandelions in all my life! They find places to grow in the asphalt and in tiny crevices in rock walls!
Norwegians spend quite a bit of time on their lawns and gardens, thus, seeing Norwegians out uprooting dandelions, trimming trees, and mowing is a regular occurance here. :) Just as quickly as the dandelions popped up, they quickly disappeared, giving way to other types of wildflowers that grow a bit more sparsely and do not threaten to overtake whole yards and roadsides as the dandelions did. Just an interesting sidenote, the Norwegian word for dandelion is Løvetann, or Lion's tooth.Bright Lights
Summers in Norway are very sunny! The sun never goes down completely, resulting in very bright nights! :) It took me some weeks to adjust my bedtime... I wanted to stay up late because it always felt too early to go to sleep! :) The sun is extremely bright at a very early hour, so I really must go to bed at a decent hour here! Because the days are so long and warm, there is a lot of activity out on the streets, especially in Oslo! There are street musicians, statue actors, beggars, demonstrators, open flower, produce, and cheap goods markets, etc... There is always something going on in downtown Oslo! I have really enjoyed wandering around Oslo in the daytime and evenings! I just can't get enough of that town. :)
Apartment Search
Vegar and I began looking for apartments several weeks ago. The market is really good now, and we considered buying something. Everything is very expensive in Oslo, though. So we have decided to save for a year and then next summer see what options we have with apartment buying. It seems silly to rent and put money into someone else's pocket when we could own and put money into our own pockets. So we will see what happens in the months ahead. :)
Kelly's Education
Last weekend I visited the University of Oslo. I knew it was close to Vegar's apartment, but I had no idea how CLOSE it is! It is perhaps a quarter mile or half mile... just a couple of blocks! It takes a couple of minutes to be on campus! Very very convenient!
Norwegian First: I will have to begin Norwegian language classes in Hamar in August. I will take classes there until moving to Oslo in January. Then I will continue with language courses there. If I had enough undergraduate credits in science classes, I could begin graduate school immediately without needing to learn academic Norwegian. (Graduate school is taught in English, but undergraduate courses are only in Norwegian. *pout*) Thus, I am concentrating on Norwegian first, and then perhaps I can begin my year and a half of science credits in Fall 2007 or Fall 2008.
BUGS!
A couple of weekends ago, Vegar and I went for a five hour walk around this area I am living in near Hamar. The hike is called Ottestadstien. Along the trail, we came upon the yuckiest thing! Thousands and thousands of catterpillars had formed webs over trees... they were hanging everywhere by the thousands... forming small coccoons and covering the trees in that white silky webby stuff. :) We found out that it is a night moth that is currently devestating forests in northern Norway... they fear that there will be a belt of dead forest stretching from the sea to sweden! Click on a photo below to see more pictures of these crazy bugs!
A Thousand Glees
Tysenfryd... A thousand feelings of glee. :) This is the roller coaster park in Norway. There are three roller coasters and several other rides... Tidal wave, something like the Superman at Six Flags, the wooden roller coaster, the Loop roller coaster, and then a new super fast one that does several cool loops and G-force drops! :) We had a wonderful time there last Saturday! :) Vegar got quite wet on the tidal wave ride... We enjoyed the ride that rolls and rolls upside down over and over again! Weee! And then the roller coasters... ah! Isn't life exciting?! :0D
Vegar and I on the ride that rolled around and around, upside down for a very long time!
The Longest Day Ever
Summer solstice is the longest day of sunlight in the year. In Norway, summer solstice comes around the time of St. Hans' day. St. Hans is John the Baptist. They celebrate his birth with barbeques (AKA grilling sausages at home or on the lake), bonfires on the lake, and spending time with friends in this late night gathering. :) I made delish shish kebabs for us to roast. Num Num! We had a fun time visiting some of Vegar's friends on the island where Vegar spent his early childhood. The island is very lovely, mainly farmland, with beautiful views of the lake! :)
Trine, Vegar's mom, making the kebabs with the bonfire behind her. ----^
Summer solstice is the longest day of sunlight in the year. In Norway, summer solstice comes around the time of St. Hans' day. St. Hans is John the Baptist. They celebrate his birth with barbeques (AKA grilling sausages at home or on the lake), bonfires on the lake, and spending time with friends in this late night gathering. :) I made delish shish kebabs for us to roast. Num Num! We had a fun time visiting some of Vegar's friends on the island where Vegar spent his early childhood. The island is very lovely, mainly farmland, with beautiful views of the lake! :)
Trine, Vegar's mom, making the kebabs with the bonfire behind her. ----^
Friday, May 26, 2006
A fine day to propose!
Or, the day I popped the question
The oddities
Kelly and I are not very normal people. I love that about her, and I rather do like it about me too. Originality is the spice of life I think. We have long been planning our wedding, and have for a long time known we were "the couple" so to speak. But - and I guess this is a big one - I never actually proposed! I have had plans alright, but still... Kelly and I have a wedding planned. She has the dress, and most of the decorations are already bought I believe. She has moved to Norway, and well... We have for some time been well on the way to a blissful marriage. Yay!
The silence before the storm
Through the months of knowing Kelly and falling more and more in love with her, I shaped up the proposal through time. This is how I popped the question;
The 24th of May I was at work. Kelly was in Hamar, and was supposed to come to Oslo later that evening. However, she had gotten off a lot sooner than expected and left on the three o'clock train, meaning I had only an hour and a half from when I left work at three till she was here. Normally, I would be thrilled. But this day I was going to make the salad, dressing and more for a picnic the day after. And I still lacked a few fundamental ingredients. Like a cucumber, tomatoes and.... The picnic basket :P
Thank goodness for good friends though, Ann Kristin, a friend and former teacher from Ecuador offered to make the food for me as Kelly came to my flat. So, I got the ingredients I missed, stuffed them all hurriedly in the basket, concealed the basket in a plastic bag the very moment Kelly rang my doorbell! So, when she entered my flat, I left with a concealed picnic basket with loads of ingredients for loads of goodies and left it at my friend´s place.
The rings I had left in a chest in my apartment. Firmly secured to a bible, neatly tied around it with a green silk ribbon, flowing in beautiful bows and curves. The bible was in turn carefully placed in a box and wrapped in a nice giftwrap.
Night came, and I left Kelly and the apartment as I went to my friends´ place where I stay whenever Kelly is in Oslo. The morning of the 25th I woke and went to the apartment. Kelly had prepared a tasty Albanian breakfast which we ate before I took Kelly out on our special day, unbeknownst to her I had our rings close by, and my heart trying to race itself. First I popped by Ann Kristin´s and picked up the picnic basket before we took the bus to the subway. Which lead us to the Oslo central station from where we took a bus to Vippetangen and a small boat lead us out to an island called "Hovedøya". An island where you will find an old monastery, or rather the ruins thereof. There are also really old military buildings on it, as shown on the link. Furthermore you find flowery meadows and lovely beaches ++.
We found ourselves a nice spot about fifty metres to the left of the building shown on the photo, and sat down. I pulled out food and drink from the basket, but before we served ourselves, I gave Kelly the wrapped up box, and said "First, I want you to have this gift. As a celebration of our relationship.". She opened up the wrapping paper and before she opened the box within it, I said "Wait." and proceded to take it from her.
Pop, goes the question
At this point my mind and heart were respectively scrambled and racing, so eloquent formulations vanished with a proverbial "poof" and I felt s if I stuttered and stammered as I told her;
"Kelly. You have been a wonderful addition to my life. You know I love you very much. Will you marry me?"
Her reply was a teary eyed "yes".
Oh joy!! I was very happy at this point! Kelly and I undid the silk wrappings together, loosened the rings from it, and I put hers on her finger, and she put mine on my finger. You see, in Norway we have a tradition I value very much; Both the man and woman wear engagement rings to symbolize their commitment. As proud as I am I cannot imagine not wearing a symbol of our love and commitment.
As the rings were on our fingers I asked Kelly to undo the last bits of silk ribbon from the bible. She did, and found I had had it engraved with her future name, Kelly Ottesen.
Post - proposal repast
As rain sadly proached the island upon which we enjoyed our delicious treats we decided to return to my flat. When we arrived I asked Kelly to please change clothes into something a bit more formal. She got dressed in a beautful green skirt and shirt, while I dressed up in my suit, and off we went yet again.
Once again, we took the bus to the subway, but this time we took the subway up towards Holmenkollen, a very large ski jump on the hillside near Oslo. We got off the subway, and I lead her to this restaurant "De fem stuer", or "The five livingrooms" which is the restaurant at "Holmenkollen Park Hotel". I strongly suggest having a look at the hotel´s website to get a little glimpse at the atmosphere we dined in.
A room with a view
We were lead into a room in the restaurant all to ourselves where we had a beautiful view of the Oslo Fjord and the hills and valleys around Oslo. We ordered a five course meal. First, we were presented with an apetizer which was very small. It was a shellfish soufle of some sort, in a ceramic bowl the size of about a spoon. Yet it was exceptionally tasty. This apetizer was followed by the first course which was... Hm. Well, something fancy in french or latin... It was a pate like substance looking like spam between two pieces of toasted bread. Oh, you are probably thinking it does not sound too good. But truth is; I have never had anything so tasty before in my life! It was amazing how it played
with my tastebuds. How it melted on my tongue! Yum!
Third course was a shellfish soup. The waiter once again explained in detail the contents of the dish. He first produced two tiny soup bowls with a carefully (and beautifully) arrayed mixture of vegetables lay alone, until he poured the soup in. Once again, a culinary experience far better than any up until this date. Course three was pork, in a delicious potato soup - also a very small meal - followed by a lemon refresher to clear our taste buds and prepare us for the main course. Steak. It, too was very small. And exceptionally tasty. The meat in the steak itself was soft and nearly melted on my toungue. In addition to the meat there were spring rolls with ox tail in them. Also an incredibly tasty treat. There was also a perfectly round ball on the plate, a fried ball of celery and potato mash.
As desert we had a fairly large plate, with very little content. There was about a spoonful of raspberry sorbet. Half a raspberry, half a blackberry, half a blueberry and tiny slice of strawberry. Plus a little glazed mound of pineapple.
A day ends, having yielded unending, treasured memories
So, we left de fem stuer almost as hugry as when we had come, but seven large and extraordinary culinary experiences richer. It was a day to celebrate, and Kelly and I both love good and tasty food. De Fem Stuer certainly delivered. Not only on the purely culinary experience, but the atmosphere, the view and the way the waiters behaved and treated us.
It was a lovely end to a lovely day with my wife to be.
Or, the day I popped the question
The oddities
Kelly and I are not very normal people. I love that about her, and I rather do like it about me too. Originality is the spice of life I think. We have long been planning our wedding, and have for a long time known we were "the couple" so to speak. But - and I guess this is a big one - I never actually proposed! I have had plans alright, but still... Kelly and I have a wedding planned. She has the dress, and most of the decorations are already bought I believe. She has moved to Norway, and well... We have for some time been well on the way to a blissful marriage. Yay!
The silence before the storm
Through the months of knowing Kelly and falling more and more in love with her, I shaped up the proposal through time. This is how I popped the question;
The 24th of May I was at work. Kelly was in Hamar, and was supposed to come to Oslo later that evening. However, she had gotten off a lot sooner than expected and left on the three o'clock train, meaning I had only an hour and a half from when I left work at three till she was here. Normally, I would be thrilled. But this day I was going to make the salad, dressing and more for a picnic the day after. And I still lacked a few fundamental ingredients. Like a cucumber, tomatoes and.... The picnic basket :P
Thank goodness for good friends though, Ann Kristin, a friend and former teacher from Ecuador offered to make the food for me as Kelly came to my flat. So, I got the ingredients I missed, stuffed them all hurriedly in the basket, concealed the basket in a plastic bag the very moment Kelly rang my doorbell! So, when she entered my flat, I left with a concealed picnic basket with loads of ingredients for loads of goodies and left it at my friend´s place.
The rings I had left in a chest in my apartment. Firmly secured to a bible, neatly tied around it with a green silk ribbon, flowing in beautiful bows and curves. The bible was in turn carefully placed in a box and wrapped in a nice giftwrap.
Night came, and I left Kelly and the apartment as I went to my friends´ place where I stay whenever Kelly is in Oslo. The morning of the 25th I woke and went to the apartment. Kelly had prepared a tasty Albanian breakfast which we ate before I took Kelly out on our special day, unbeknownst to her I had our rings close by, and my heart trying to race itself. First I popped by Ann Kristin´s and picked up the picnic basket before we took the bus to the subway. Which lead us to the Oslo central station from where we took a bus to Vippetangen and a small boat lead us out to an island called "Hovedøya". An island where you will find an old monastery, or rather the ruins thereof. There are also really old military buildings on it, as shown on the link. Furthermore you find flowery meadows and lovely beaches ++.
We found ourselves a nice spot about fifty metres to the left of the building shown on the photo, and sat down. I pulled out food and drink from the basket, but before we served ourselves, I gave Kelly the wrapped up box, and said "First, I want you to have this gift. As a celebration of our relationship.". She opened up the wrapping paper and before she opened the box within it, I said "Wait." and proceded to take it from her.
Pop, goes the question
At this point my mind and heart were respectively scrambled and racing, so eloquent formulations vanished with a proverbial "poof" and I felt s if I stuttered and stammered as I told her;
"Kelly. You have been a wonderful addition to my life. You know I love you very much. Will you marry me?"
Her reply was a teary eyed "yes".
Oh joy!! I was very happy at this point! Kelly and I undid the silk wrappings together, loosened the rings from it, and I put hers on her finger, and she put mine on my finger. You see, in Norway we have a tradition I value very much; Both the man and woman wear engagement rings to symbolize their commitment. As proud as I am I cannot imagine not wearing a symbol of our love and commitment.
As the rings were on our fingers I asked Kelly to undo the last bits of silk ribbon from the bible. She did, and found I had had it engraved with her future name, Kelly Ottesen.
Post - proposal repast
As rain sadly proached the island upon which we enjoyed our delicious treats we decided to return to my flat. When we arrived I asked Kelly to please change clothes into something a bit more formal. She got dressed in a beautful green skirt and shirt, while I dressed up in my suit, and off we went yet again.
Once again, we took the bus to the subway, but this time we took the subway up towards Holmenkollen, a very large ski jump on the hillside near Oslo. We got off the subway, and I lead her to this restaurant "De fem stuer", or "The five livingrooms" which is the restaurant at "Holmenkollen Park Hotel". I strongly suggest having a look at the hotel´s website to get a little glimpse at the atmosphere we dined in.
A room with a view
We were lead into a room in the restaurant all to ourselves where we had a beautiful view of the Oslo Fjord and the hills and valleys around Oslo. We ordered a five course meal. First, we were presented with an apetizer which was very small. It was a shellfish soufle of some sort, in a ceramic bowl the size of about a spoon. Yet it was exceptionally tasty. This apetizer was followed by the first course which was... Hm. Well, something fancy in french or latin... It was a pate like substance looking like spam between two pieces of toasted bread. Oh, you are probably thinking it does not sound too good. But truth is; I have never had anything so tasty before in my life! It was amazing how it played
with my tastebuds. How it melted on my tongue! Yum!Third course was a shellfish soup. The waiter once again explained in detail the contents of the dish. He first produced two tiny soup bowls with a carefully (and beautifully) arrayed mixture of vegetables lay alone, until he poured the soup in. Once again, a culinary experience far better than any up until this date. Course three was pork, in a delicious potato soup - also a very small meal - followed by a lemon refresher to clear our taste buds and prepare us for the main course. Steak. It, too was very small. And exceptionally tasty. The meat in the steak itself was soft and nearly melted on my toungue. In addition to the meat there were spring rolls with ox tail in them. Also an incredibly tasty treat. There was also a perfectly round ball on the plate, a fried ball of celery and potato mash.
As desert we had a fairly large plate, with very little content. There was about a spoonful of raspberry sorbet. Half a raspberry, half a blackberry, half a blueberry and tiny slice of strawberry. Plus a little glazed mound of pineapple.
A day ends, having yielded unending, treasured memories
So, we left de fem stuer almost as hugry as when we had come, but seven large and extraordinary culinary experiences richer. It was a day to celebrate, and Kelly and I both love good and tasty food. De Fem Stuer certainly delivered. Not only on the purely culinary experience, but the atmosphere, the view and the way the waiters behaved and treated us.
It was a lovely end to a lovely day with my wife to be.
Friday, May 19, 2006
I AM HERE!!
The past couple of months have been chaotic but wonderful! I submitted my resident permit application in March. I assumed it would take anywhere from 2 months to 13 as the immigration paperwork said. Amazingly, my permit came through by the first week in April! I finished my job the third week in April and
spent my last two weeks in the states with family. I had a really great time visiting family! :)
I flew over on British Air. The flight was longer than it should have been. FYI, direct flight does NOT mean nonstop! As we sat in Chicago for two or more hours, the flight attendant explained to me that they can stop 20 times before actually flying to England if it is just a direct flight! Good to know for future reference!
I had a few hours wait in London... then I was finally on my way to Oslo. I arrived in Oslo, passed through immigration rather quickly, and was in a hurry to get my trunks and get out to see Vegar. I stood for 15 minutes waiting for my luggage... just to find out that I was at the wrong luggage area. Whoops! There were my trunks waiting for me at the other baggage area. A very nice gentleman, Ivar, whom I sat next to on the flight to Oslo, helped me with two of my heavy trunks! I don´t think I could have made it out to the lobby without his help!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first few days in Oslo were very warm and beautiful! I enjoyed walking around town with Vegar and seeing more of Oslo. My first weekend here, we went to Bergen, one of the tourist capitals of Norway. it is surrounded by amazing fjords! Vegar and I took the train there, traveling over the mountains! At our highest stop on the mountains, we were surrounded by snow, frozen lakes, and snowy mountains! As a Texan, it is something interesting to hold snow in May! :) (The picture on the left was in the snowy area. The sun was so bright, thus the eye squints!)
We spent the weekend with Vegar´s uncle´s family. They were extremely hospitable ! I enjoyed learning about that side of Vegar´s family! I see that good humor and friendliness run on both sides of his family! There were 2 teenage boys and a 7 year old girl in that family. The teenage boys like to do extreme skiing with high jumps and stunts. They have a trampoline and are constantly doing flips and stunts on it. It is a good thing that trampolines now have net walls on them! One interesting story about the trampoline... one that vegar could probably tell better, but I will try since I have the time. :)
Our last day in Bergen we went for a walk that morning. We could see that a storm was rolling in across the mountains, but we decided to make it quick. We got to a lookout point at a high part of the mountain... took some pictures, then realized we should head down since the clouds were approaching the fjord. we headed down the mountain. Once we arrived at the house, I asked vegar to jump on the trampoline with me for a few minutes. He could tell that the clouds were on the fjord now and would be there any minute. But he jumped with me anyway. :) We had a fun time jumping up and down. At one point, Vegar tried to kiss me, but we only had a split second to kiss before one of us ending up going up and the other down... so he missed and kissed my runny nose!
17 MAY
The 17th of May is Constitution Day in Norway. It is a huge holiday. Everything is closed but the hospitals and police stations! Every Norwegian who owns national costumes wears them proudly all day long! Vegar dressed in very nice clothes to celebrate the day. The day is filled
with parades of school children and 18 year old Russ
(students who will graduate in a couple of weeks, see image to the right). (A description from Lonely Planet: "An unusual tradition for students graduating from high school is called russ. When a student becomes russ, or rødruss, he or she dons overalls and a beret (these are colour coded based on the kind of high school the student attended - most of the uniforms are red or blue and tend to absorb a lot of alcohol and vomit) and is permitted to raise all sorts of hell for a period that may go on for several weeks around the end of the school year.")
Vegar and I visited a friend of his for bar-b-que (aka, hamburgers and steaks cooked in the oven because it was raining!). We watched a funny swedish comedy and played a really cool strategic/monopoly type game called Settlers.
WHAT´S NEXT
Today is Friday of my second week. We will head for Hamar this evening... I will be living with his parents for awhile, helping them with household things since they have two sick daughters and the government will pay for them to have two full time or part time caregivers. So, I will do anything from cooking, gardening, to painting doors. :) I enjoy broad and flexible job descriptions!
more soon!
The past couple of months have been chaotic but wonderful! I submitted my resident permit application in March. I assumed it would take anywhere from 2 months to 13 as the immigration paperwork said. Amazingly, my permit came through by the first week in April! I finished my job the third week in April and
spent my last two weeks in the states with family. I had a really great time visiting family! :)I flew over on British Air. The flight was longer than it should have been. FYI, direct flight does NOT mean nonstop! As we sat in Chicago for two or more hours, the flight attendant explained to me that they can stop 20 times before actually flying to England if it is just a direct flight! Good to know for future reference!
I had a few hours wait in London... then I was finally on my way to Oslo. I arrived in Oslo, passed through immigration rather quickly, and was in a hurry to get my trunks and get out to see Vegar. I stood for 15 minutes waiting for my luggage... just to find out that I was at the wrong luggage area. Whoops! There were my trunks waiting for me at the other baggage area. A very nice gentleman, Ivar, whom I sat next to on the flight to Oslo, helped me with two of my heavy trunks! I don´t think I could have made it out to the lobby without his help!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first few days in Oslo were very warm and beautiful! I enjoyed walking around town with Vegar and seeing more of Oslo. My first weekend here, we went to Bergen, one of the tourist capitals of Norway. it is surrounded by amazing fjords! Vegar and I took the train there, traveling over the mountains! At our highest stop on the mountains, we were surrounded by snow, frozen lakes, and snowy mountains! As a Texan, it is something interesting to hold snow in May! :) (The picture on the left was in the snowy area. The sun was so bright, thus the eye squints!)We spent the weekend with Vegar´s uncle´s family. They were extremely hospitable ! I enjoyed learning about that side of Vegar´s family! I see that good humor and friendliness run on both sides of his family! There were 2 teenage boys and a 7 year old girl in that family. The teenage boys like to do extreme skiing with high jumps and stunts. They have a trampoline and are constantly doing flips and stunts on it. It is a good thing that trampolines now have net walls on them! One interesting story about the trampoline... one that vegar could probably tell better, but I will try since I have the time. :)
Our last day in Bergen we went for a walk that morning. We could see that a storm was rolling in across the mountains, but we decided to make it quick. We got to a lookout point at a high part of the mountain... took some pictures, then realized we should head down since the clouds were approaching the fjord. we headed down the mountain. Once we arrived at the house, I asked vegar to jump on the trampoline with me for a few minutes. He could tell that the clouds were on the fjord now and would be there any minute. But he jumped with me anyway. :) We had a fun time jumping up and down. At one point, Vegar tried to kiss me, but we only had a split second to kiss before one of us ending up going up and the other down... so he missed and kissed my runny nose!
17 MAY
The 17th of May is Constitution Day in Norway. It is a huge holiday. Everything is closed but the hospitals and police stations! Every Norwegian who owns national costumes wears them proudly all day long! Vegar dressed in very nice clothes to celebrate the day. The day is filled
with parades of school children and 18 year old Russ(students who will graduate in a couple of weeks, see image to the right). (A description from Lonely Planet: "An unusual tradition for students graduating from high school is called russ. When a student becomes russ, or rødruss, he or she dons overalls and a beret (these are colour coded based on the kind of high school the student attended - most of the uniforms are red or blue and tend to absorb a lot of alcohol and vomit) and is permitted to raise all sorts of hell for a period that may go on for several weeks around the end of the school year.")
Vegar and I visited a friend of his for bar-b-que (aka, hamburgers and steaks cooked in the oven because it was raining!). We watched a funny swedish comedy and played a really cool strategic/monopoly type game called Settlers.
WHAT´S NEXT
Today is Friday of my second week. We will head for Hamar this evening... I will be living with his parents for awhile, helping them with household things since they have two sick daughters and the government will pay for them to have two full time or part time caregivers. So, I will do anything from cooking, gardening, to painting doors. :) I enjoy broad and flexible job descriptions!
more soon!
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