Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for all of our friends and family who call us (on our Internet telephone number - if don't have it, let us know), e-mail us and mail us letters and packages. We are very appreciative. It helps us during our adjustment stage of settling into our new environment in Norway. Technology is so amazing and we utilize "chats" and video cameras and lots of e-mails to stay connected to the people we love. Thank you for sharing in this journey with us.

Imagine our surprise when we opened our turkey package and found a cat. Okay, so this is really Forrest. He seemed to like the box - I am sure the smell of turkey was alluring!

JH, NK and I cooked a turkey with all the trimmings. NK had to cover his turkey with peanut butter.

What did surprise me is that the turkey had some feathers still attached. I spent 45 minutes plucking feathers. I finally gave in and chopped the wings off, since I couldn't take the plucking any more! I packed the turkey with sliced citrus fruits and the result was awesome. Our first Thanksgiving in Norway was successful.

Campaign to Name the Sun & Moon - PHOTOS ARE UPDATED

For a few years now, I have been curious about the lack of name for our Moon. We call it the Moon. Technically, it is a satellite - according to some quick online research. We call moons of other planets "moons" and then use a name like Titan (a moon orbiting Saturn). I think our Moon needs a name.

The other night I shared with JH & NK my quirky concern about the moon. JH said that he is concerned about the lack of name for our sun. Other stars have a proper name and then they are (sometimes?) called suns. Well, what about our sun. Doesn't it need a name too? Or, as JH tried to convince me (and I agree) the sun needs a name too.

Is anyone else concerned that the moon and sun do not have names? Give me a shout-out.



Fact - It takes light 8 minutes and 30 seconds to reach the Earth from the Sun. It takes light, 1.2 seconds to reach Earth from the Moon. From the Sun to Pluto 5 hours and 40 minutes. For light to travel from the Sun to the nearest star it takes 4.3 years.

This is a photo of Gjøvik. We live on a nice little mountain, and we have a nice view of the water. Looking down towards the Mjøsa has lately been obscured by fog - lots of fog. For a few weeks now the fog has been, well foggy. As we drive around the city from one mountain to another we drive in and out of fog. Sometimes the mountains are in the fog, and sometimes the fog is in the valleys. The other day the fog just hung in the valley that goes from Gjøvik to Raufoss. The photos on this posting are of the foggy valleys and the fog sticking near the lakes.

I have yet to see the Aurora Borealis in Norway. I haven't seen the Aurora in a long time...officially. I have seen some lights which may have been the Aurora, but maybe they were just lights that I credited to the Aurora. North of the Arctic Circle the lights are know as the Polaris Borealis. The top (supposedly - according to the Norwegians!) center for research and seeing the Aurora is in Norway. Here are some great links, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Borealis or http://www.fjordtravel.no/tours/winter/northern_lights/northern_lights_safari.html or http://www.northern-lights.no/ or http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Aurora-Borealis-Photo-Gallery.--DR/index.htm.

On the days when living in Norway stinks, I think about exciting - even good reasons to live in Norway. The Aurora Borealis is on my list. Although, the best Aurora I have seen was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. One of the photos here is of a strange phenomena which may have been Aurora or a burst of vertical pink light at just after sunset, although the light was opposite the sunset and the sun was behind the mountain anyway (and since the sun goes over the mountain between 1 - 2:00 p.m. - I can't remember how late the photo was taken). I don't think it is an Aurora but maybe.

Ramblings from the North Country

I saw my first moose. Well, I had seen moose before - on trips to Norway, but this is the first one I have seen since we moved to Norway. It snowed last week (and again today) and the moose was about 35 yards of the road in a field. He was kneeling down on his front fore legs and snacking on some grass.

We went swimming today at an indoor water park. It is a place we have been to several times. Each time I go there I think about how VERY different it is from American water parks. It has ramps and slippery floors and a poorly designed layout. American architects and attorneys would flip-out (hopefully into the water) if they visited this water park. On our last visit there we found glass in one of the pools. The visit before that NK cut his toe and the lifeguard used her hand to brush the blood of NK's foot. Could you imagine a lifeguard in the US casually wiping away someone's blood? Today there was more glass in a pool and someone left pebbles of poo-poo rolling around the pool deck. Of course people were stepping into the poo-poo and smearing it around and then jumping into the water to clean off. The lifeguard came and assessed the situation and then she used towels to pick-up the feces...and then you guessed it...she brushed away the smear with water! Oh Norway. You are killing me man. If only I was a stand-up comic and not a cynic I would have loads of material for a routine!

In Norway, at the doctors' offices and at the hospitals they don't use alcohol before they draw blood (according to all my non-Norwegian friends I speak with). True story. A classmate of mine asked them why they don't - as she was in ER with her toddler. The nurse told her that if people "look clean" they don't need to use alcohol. Holy moly. Norway - you are killing me!

A few nights ago we attended Family Group. Of course we didn't know what it was, but we received a note from NK's school that said we had to attend. NK has about 35 students in the 4th grade at his school (his neighborhood school - NOT the school he goes to for Norwegian class). Of the 35 students roughly 28 are boys. They have broke the students into 5 family Groups. Once a month the kids in the Family Group get together at the home of one of the members. The kids (in NK's group it is only boys) play and eat and talk. The purpose of the group is to deter drug use and criminal activity. The parents show-up for the last 1/2 hour to talk and drink coffee. The kids and parents are supposed to forge a "Family Group" of positive reinforcement and a community of support for one another. NK loved his first Family Group. JH and I liked it. Since 5 of the 7 boys in his Family Group are on his soccer/football team, we had a chance to visit with some folks we know and meet others. This group will stick together through 10th grade. Interesting, huh?

I have started going to an accelerated Norwegian language course one night a week in addition to the 20-hour a week day course I take. I am REALLY trying to learn this language! I felt like my day class was/is moving too slowly for me. I needed more of a challenge. The people in the night course are all employed and so it was a little different than the day course where few work, and most are women and several are refugees. I love the folks in my day course and I want to stay put in my day class - but this new class adds a new dimension to my Norwegian experience by making me think harder and work faster...which is something I have been craving. In fact I have applied for a couple of jobs. I know I said I would wait until Spring of 2008, but I am getting cabin fever. I am eating too much and watching too much TV...and I want to learn more Norwegian!

NK is spending part of his school week at the neighborhood school. He says he feels like he is able to understand most things, but not quite ready to give up the support of his Norwegian language class yet. Although at Family Group and at soccer and when his friends are over - he speaks Norwegian. He won a Norwegian karaoke with his friends. Then they had the contest in English and he won that too. He is such a goof. He has made friends so quickly and is such a little ham. We are so glad that he is blending in to his new culture. Whew. We still have rough spots, but we had those in Wichita too. And, with a 9-year old I am sure we will have a lot more.

We have been doing some sky gazing at night. Last night, Mars was the brightest any of us can ever recall having seen. The stars have been amazing. We aren't at a very high elevation - even on the mountain we live on - maybe the clean air - and limited lighting at night...whatever, the sky has been a great show!

A few people have asked about Forrest. Forrest thinks he is an indoor cat. I think the Norwegian climate is getting to him. He can often be found snoozing on a chair or couch.

Well, enough ramblings for tonight. I have homework. Norwegian homework!

The Prague Post is Finished

Scroll down a few posts to the Prague posting. It is FINALLY updated.

the arctic experience

Last weekend NK was out of school for an extra day, so we used the opportunity to head North and visit my folks in Bodo. The 1 and 1/2 hour drive to OSL Airport went quick and easy. But we had not gotten far, before we remembered what we had forgotten to bring - THE CAMERA - well, good thing cellphones are better cameras than phones these days.

As we were figuring out the automated check in at the airport, this guy walked by, stopped, coughed a little, so I would look up, then he spoke to us and it still took me a few seconds to recognize an old buddy from the Army. He had been in Oslo for some classes and was heading back to the West coast. The funny thing is that I had looked up his e-mail and gotten in touch with him just earlier in the week. Then three days later we run into each other for the first time in 15 years.....we had some time to catch up before our planes departed.

The plane ride to Bodoe was in a Boeing 737-600. Something in the plane vibrated as soon as the engines were at more than climb power, so after the first half hour we were well shaken. Then after a short time in smooth air, we started the descent into the less smooth air around Bodo. NK thought it was more fun than a roller coaster ride, LL didn't. After landing we were both shaken and stirred.

We made it to my folks and went to bed. The next day we visited, went downtown and otherwise just hung out. There were birds and squirrels enjoying the food my mother had put out by the kitchen window. The squirrels were new, they are normally in the denser pine forests, so they are rarely seen around the house.


Bodo is a tad North of the Arctic circle, and the days were getting shorter. To be different I took a picture of the MIDDAY SUN(at 11:56). In a few weeks the sun will not make it above these mountains, until late January.



Saturday NK, Farfar and I made a quick dash into the mountains to get some first hand experience with the snow. NK brought a sled, so we were on a mission to find a sledding hill. We succeeded. The first place we tried was above the tree line, so some of the snow had drifted pretty good, but there was also ponds that hadn't froze over, so we tried a second spot, where a path cut through the forest as it slopes down to the Beiarn valley. It worked pretty good. At about 4PM, the light got dim enough that it was time to stop, and head back to Bodo.



That night the movie "supersize me" was on, so we lost a lot of appetite. There is a McD in Gjovik, and we are rarely there, but after that movie it might be quite a while until next visit.

On Sunday it was time to head back, and the plane ride to Oslo in a 737-700 was much nicer than the trip North.