Norwegian Constitution Day - UPDATED!

On Saturday, May 17th, Norway celebrated their Constitution Day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Constitution_Day. In 1814 The Constitution of Norway was signed and Norway declared itself to be an independent nation. It the time of the declaration Norway was under Swedish rule, in what officially supposed to be a union. It wasn't until 1905 that the union was dissolved and Norway declared sovereignty.

The Norwegians also wanted to reinstate a monarchy and without a current King, the King of Denmark gave Norway his second son to be the new King of Norway. The first documented monarch in Norway was in the year 872, but with the unions with Sweden and Denmark and the lack of a hereditary King, the Norwegians did 'elect' the prince from Norway to be the King of the sovereign nation of Norway. The prince's name was Carl but upon becoming the King of Norway he changed his name to a historical name for Kings in Norway, Haakon. His wife, Maude, was the daughter of the British King, King Edward VII. His young son was Alexander who upon becoming Norwegian was renamed Olav, Crown Prince Olav. Olav later became King Olav. Olav's son, King Harald is the current King of Norway, and his son, Crown Prince Haakon will be the next King. Haakon's daughter who is currently four years old will someday be Norway's first Queen in her own right – not through marriage. Little princess Ingrid Alexandra will someday rule Norway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_monarchy.

Last Saturday we woke up to snow. It wasn't really a surprise since it had been forecasted. JH arrived home about 1:00 a.m. from a business trip to London. At about 4:00 a.m. I woke-up, as I do when the sun rises, and the snow flakes were floating and swirling around the mountain and the gray clouds were rolling over the lake. We spent the afternoon at NK's school. The children were all dressed in bunads (national costumes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunad), or suits or dresses. The parents were dressed the same. There was a parade, and then later we had games, cakes, and a children's program. JH and I were on the game committee. Proudly, I worked the ring toss.

During the children's parade's throughout the country the "Russ", the high school graduates, are once again getting quite rowdy. They are marching naked and drunk through the parades. Many wear the overalls they have had on for two weeks during the final exams. The overalls are red, black, green or blue depending on the discipline they choose. They paint the overalls and get sponsors whose emblems they sew to the overalls. During the two week test spree and at the fair they sell news magazines about their graduating class. The stories in the magazine are quite varied, some are serious and some are not, it includes photos of naked students discussing sex, drugs, religion, academia and politics. During some of the parades the graduates rode in or on their brightly colored buses that they buy and paint to match their overalls...bright colors with logos, emblems and motto's. The police and the communities tend to tolerate the graduates unless they get violent or put themselves or others in harms way. NK is already curious about what color he will "Russ". Great (sarcasm).

NK in front of the Parliament building in Oslo.

NK in Karlstad Sweden.

At the New Address

My favorite little guy takes a study break.

At 9PM the sun is still over the mountain and shining in the kitchen windows.

View from our house towards the city and the lake.

The guys play a little soccer during a break from unpacking.

Looking south along the lake.

A few nights before we left the apartment, our little chef made a snack for us while JH and I packed.

A view of the apartment before we handed over the keys to the owners.

Our house during our unpacking spree.

Someday this will be our home office, until then it is my unpacking center.

Okay. We did it. We moved. After piles of boxes and an incredible mish-mash of boxes from the condo and boxes from storage, we are in the new house...with everything we came to Norway with.

Some old friends, some new friends and Ole (JH's dad) helped us move. It drizzled a little and the mist and the fog clung to the mountain. After several trips back and forth we called it a day. The next day we did a few more trips. Well...I didn't do any trips. JH and I did several pre-move day trips and we have done a few since. On the bog move days I was the traffic cop. I tired to get everything in the right rooms, or at least the right floors, garage, etc.

Our good friend Kristina made gourmet pizzas and Dilnor made Uiguri food, so we had great energy for the move. We had rainy weather, but great help and great food!

NK has been so thrilled with his new house and especially his room. Kristina started getting it squared away and we have been working on it on and off ever since. I have been unpacking like a crazy woman. JH has been moving things back and forth as we try to get all of the pieces of our puzzle to fit.

The contractors have already been here to start the new bathroom/laundry room. And in the midst of working, and unpacking and rearranging, I have been trying to get empty boxes out of the house so we can maintain some level of order.

Forrest spent the first day and half in the house. However the skies cleared and it became sunny and warm and he wanted outside. He has spent the week creeping around, inside and outside. The only time he freaked out was on the first day when he broke a wine glass. No more wine for the cat!

The view from our house is so fantastic. We look down onto the valley, the lake and the city. We really enjoy the late nights looking at the twinkling lights of the city and the reflections on the lake. The days are so long. It isn't completely dark until about 11PM and sometime after 4AM the sky starts getting light and by 5AM it is so light in our house it is almost impossible to sleep. Needless to say we have been smacking curtains and blinds up around the house.

The weather analysts have predicted that this will be one of the nicest summers in Norway in maybe the last 150 years. Good we need it. We got robbed of a summer last year and we had a long snowy, but mild winter. We still have snow in the forest and in the mountains when we drive over to the next valley to work.

We will post some photos soon. I am going to get ready to head to bed tonight. I pulled my thigh muscle away from a tendon while trying to carry a box. Great. Well, I am recovering, but I am tired and cranky. Somethings never change!