Update...the Returns

Okay...I just typed an entire post and it went poof. Okay Google, you are really starting to get me fired-up!

My post was about the return of NK. He comes home to Norway tomorrow. We have really missed him!

The stars have also returned to Norway this week. It has been too bright for the last few months, but finally, we can see stars. Of the first to appear were my favorites, Alcor and Mizar.

JH and I have been enjoying lounging in our new funky swivel reclining chairs. Star gazing and sipping smoothies is awesome. We have a long history of seeing strange and amazing phenomenon including last nights solar reflection on a satellite which looked like a huge flashlight shining down on us in the middle of the night. Past strange and amazing sightings have included the burn-up of space junk, a Kazakstinian rocket, the Northern Lights and meteor storms and strange and spooky lights.

Tomorrow night NK will enjoy our new star-gazing chairs with us. I am so excited!!!!!!!!!

Vacation to the USA!

I started a blog before NK and I headed to the states...I never finished it...but here are the photos anyway..."as is".

NK hanging out in the apple tree. He tried to rescue Forrest who was stranded after a failed attempt at eating baby birds.

NK had a school program. Here is a shot of him and some buddies.

The 4th grade at NK's school program.

NK's team got second place...I think...in their division during a large soccer tournament.

Nk and a buddy chilling after a soccer game.

We had a two-year old tagging along for a weekend. She is the daughter of our friends from England. The cutest little thing...huh?

Our fruit trees looked wonderful and so did our bushes...

until a wind storm blew them all to heck.

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!

Our Favorite Chef from Eritrea

I thought I would post a few photos of our favorite chef in Norway. No, it isn't a Norwegian. She is Eritrean, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea. She is also our favorite childcare provider. Kristina has been an au pair helping us out when we need her...and she is fantastic. She and NK are tight. She is so good with him and he loves her...of course she has a Play Station III...and she is a great cook!

Her "friend" is from Iraq http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq. He and I were arm wrestling in the photo - well, we stopped to pose. I think the current President of the US is special, and he really likes the current President of the US...so we were arm wrestling over who is right. We both agreed that we love America! Well, to each their own!

Kristina and her "friend" came by the house for dinner one night...and of course Kristina cooked. We had reindeer stir-fry over long grain rice. Yummy. Kristina is a 'real' chef, a trained chef. She did her training in Lebanon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon, and now gets to practice her recipes on us. Her homemade carrot cake with (also homemade) cream cheese frosting is to die for! Even NK loves it and he isn't a carrot eater!

New House...Job & School Updates

Photo of the front of our new house.

We keep seeing more signs of spring in Gjøvik. We only need to drive to the other side of Lake Mjøsa to see spring. There is little to no snow across the lake. In Gjøvik it keeps snowing. After a wonderful sunny day last Saturday it has been snowing for a few days…although a few minutes ago the sun crept out. Maybe it will expedite the melting of the snow so I can see spring flowers (I am not sure of today’s temperature)!

Photo of the side of our new house.

JH & NK took advantage of a warm (above freezing) sunny day on Saturday to go skiing. There is probably only a month left to race down the slopes. I had lofty ambitions of packing, but I got no further than a list…well, actually a plan. I made the list and started my plan to move. Most things are still in storage, but there are a lot of things we won’t need for the next few weeks until we move into our house. Books, DVDs, decorative items, and extra clothes are all going to be packed first. I made another list of things we need to buy. Nancy…I know you remember how much stuff I sold or gave away before we moved. Due to the size of our shipping container and the fact that our electronic items from the US won’t work in Norway (without a transformer) we purged. Well, now we need desks, TVs, bookcases, desk chairs, blinds, curtains, an entertainment center…blah blah blah…the list goes on.

Thank God for IKEA. We plan to head to Oslo this coming weekend and stock up on our needed items. I think we will need to park NK with Maggie’s family (sister in law) or with friends, because a day at IKEA would kill NK. He can’t handle that much shopping. And, since I have a list, divided by rooms, and store departments we should have a fairly efficient day…but NK will freak out.

We are adding bathroom and laundry room (combo) to the house. Since it has four bedrooms, plus a den, and it only has one bathroom…we are converting a bedroom into a large bath/laundry/mud room galore. So of course we need all the bathroom components picked out. We hired a design team which we had to turn loose since the decided to go crazy with out money…well, they hadn’t spent any yet…but we gave them the boot. I know what I want…something basic (CHEAP!) and so I will pick it all out and we will have contractors do the professional stuff like plumbing and electrical and we will do the rest.

I still really look forward to our trips to Oslo. Just last evening we went across the lake to Hamar and it was a big deal. Maybe because we live in a valley or maybe because it is Norway…I feel very contained. The flat lands and wide open spaces of Kansas (I keep listening to the Dixie Chicks’ song Wide Open Spaces) really spoiled me and I think that psychologically I developed a strong affinity to the big sky and flat terrain. Strange, since I always wanted to live in the mountains, and now here I am missing flat ‘ol Kansas.

A few weeks ago we went to the Alicia Keys concert. I love Alicia Keys, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Keys! JH had surprised me with 9th row tickets and so JH, Maggie and I grooved. We sat in the wrong seats to start with and we grumbled about our bad seats. Good thing that before the concert started that the rightful owner of the seats enlightened us about our predicament and we gracefully sashayed to our 9th row center stage seats. So, getting out of the mountains and Gjøvik and down to the society of Oslo and seeing my girl Alicia really was cool. Again, these getaways keep me content with life in Gjøvik…okay, that and the view.

We still have dark nights…they are just shorter now…but in a few months we will hardly have nights at all. The stars have been amazing! The clear mountain air and the limited lights…wow, we have had some great, crisp stargazing nights. Last night I bought a patio heater so that I can sit out on the big deck at my new house and star gaze anytime I want…even when it is chilly. The view is awesome during the night…and the day. At night we will look up and during the day we will gaze up and down the valley and across the Mjøsa. Do you know what a diabolo is?

Well, NK is a diabolo freak, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabolo. For the last six months he has spent a lot of time developing tricks with his diabolo. Last week we ordered a trick diabolo from a circus supply company in England. He is getting so good that we have been threatening to sell him to a circus…and of course NK would like to be in a circus…so our threat appears to be more of a promise. He now wants a diabolo that can be ignited. I have him convinced, for now, that his new trick diabolo is going to have to suffice. No igniting!

Photo of NK's Room...of course this is how it looks now...three weeks before we move in. A girl that goes to NK's school lives there now. NK can't wait to have this huge room with a great view of the lake and the valley.

I am finally getting into the swing at the office. It sure is A LOT different that my jobs in the US. Here, we get ½ hour lunch and everyone eats together at long tables in the dining room. It kind of makes me feel like Harry Potter. Also, I am awed at how paper-free the work environment is, and, how portable with wireless, and all electronic gadgets and communication. It is so efficient. Also, we get to wear whatever we want, unless we have a presentation to do – or else. Many women wear skinny Capri’s (jeans, cotton or wool) in or out of their knee high boots with cotton or cashmere sweaters. Men wear jeans and brushed cotton shirts. Well, most of you know how dreadful I would look in anything skinny…like a sausage! So I have opted for mostly dress pants, jeans and turtle necks of cotton shirts. I have noticed how this dress code really puts mostly everyone on a more level platform. CEO, VP, file clerks, engineers, contract administrator, IT, secretaries… everyone kind of looks alike. So euro, huh? It reminds me of when I thought a Bureau Chief at the State of Iowa Department of Economic Development was a copy room staffer and I gave him a copy job to do for my department. He howled about it for a long time. Here, support staff is rare. Everyone does their own stuff. So, we are all more alike than different, despite titles and responsibilities. I keep pulling up my organization chart to figure out who people are and what their responsibilities are. People go by their last name and our titles are really more about responsibility than social climbing. This is all quite different form my US experiences…but okay.

Photo of our new dining room.

We work 37.5 hours a week, we get 5 weeks vacation and we all have the same high standard of nationalized health care…I keeping thinking…what is the catch? Well, so far I haven’t found it. After work we go home (at 3:30!) and eat dinner with NK and he keeps saying, “Wow, it is so early. We have so much time to do stuff and to hang out together”. Okay, so this is Norway. We get a lot of time to hangout together. It really makes my constant bitching about Norway seem pathetic. I guess it is just my on and off homesickness and my still culture shock. Maybe once we move into our new house in a few weeks Norway will feel like…well, home. Maybe.

UPDATED!!! Easter Week 2008

After a nice ski vacation a few weeks ago, we are back at it. Another week off for a vacation. You really need to hand it to the Norwegians. They love to vacation. It is the one thing that just might keep me living in this country!

Many (most?) companies in Norway give employees the week of Easter off. So we can ski of course! Well, this time we aren't skiing. Instead we came back to the farm house on the west coast to hang out. The snowy weather followed us. At least it tailed us. The trip west was beautiful. We snaked along the Gubrandsdal Valley and through the mountain passes. We saw winter and spring. Until we were well north and west of Lillehammer the "holiday" traffic from Oslo was nasty. Essentially we were part of a parade. We had no funny hats, no candy to throw...and no one to throw it to, but the traffic was bumper to bumper for miles. But, the weather was nice and sunny, and we enjoyed seeing people skiing across Lake Mjosa, and then the downhill skiing and ski jumpers in the old Olympic venues around Lillehammer. The ice castle at Hunderfossen has melted - or at least shrunk sufficiently that we could see no trace of it as we snaked past into the Gubrandsdal.

The giant snow slides coming down off the mountains and cliffs are starting to drip and in some places they are gushing. The ice sickles and fountains are either light green, gold or hues of blue depending on the elements in the soil. But for 6 hours we saw waterfalls, and valleys starting to spring into life just in time for Easter week.

By the time we crossed the continental divide it became obvious that the days are FINALLY longer. And, as we drove down towards the coast and into the fjords the long days were a reality. No more hidden sun hiding behind the mountains like in Gjøvik, but we saw the sun glistening on the sea. So divine. And, it was warmer. Out of the mountains of winter and into the coastal regions of spring...or so we thought.

Each time we make the trip to the farm at Myklebust (in the fylke of Møre og Romsdal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B8re_og_Romsdal), NK wishes out loud that the Norwegian transportation department would build a tunnel under the fjords from Andalsnes to Brattvag so that we wouldn't need to zig zag into the fjord and back out, around a mountain and then back into another fjord and back out and so forth for two hours until we make it to our ferry stop in Brattvag.

Our trip west gave us lots of time to talk about our first year (still underway) in Norway. NK is liking school a whole lot more. They have the forth graders split into three groups and he has been moved into the top group. Even his Norwegian language is now scoring near the top in the weekly assessments. He is catching on so well. He has whined a lot about how easy the math is, but the trade off of having more time to focus on Norwegian has been important - or so we have tried to convince him. Now, in the top group he can get challenged in all subject areas.

JH and I now work together. Strange huh? His company brought us to Norway, and now we both work for the "man". Although we work in the same division we work in different areas, but I expect that as we continue to work on some of the exciting projects that we might actually work on a project together. I am enjoying my new job. So much to learn! I have taken a couple of professional classes - one in Oslo and another in-house class. Of course although I speak Norwegian, I am really in a steep learning curve with the technical language. I look forward to actually speaking with the clients - the US, Canadian, British companies and governments as I manage contracts to move products and supplies around the world. I am getting settled in my office and everyone has been great, and I am trying to balance how to use my new language and when to use English...but, it has been hard not allowing English to be my crutch.

So, one our trip west, we visited about the excitement and sense of accomplishment of finally feeling as though we can really make Norway "work" for our family. A lot of our excitement centers around our new house. We can't wait to move in! I believe we will take possession around April 30 - May 1. May 1 is a holiday in Norway and our employer gives us a paid day for moving - so we will have a four day moving spree to get our apartment and our storage facility cleaned out and into the new house. I think I have mentioned before, I forget what I have...since most of it is still in boxes. Some of our stuff has been packed since January or 2007! And, here it is...anyone who wants to show-up to help us move will be feed...great Norwegian cuisine..."kebob" (yes with an "e") pizza! Ha. We are trying to put our moving crew together.

So, here we are on the west coast. We came to do some yard work, hiking and nature enjoyment, but the snow followed us. During the week we were here at Christmas it didn't snow - but it is now. Our ferry ride across the fjord to the island was on the last sunny warm day. Each day since the weather has been so confused and confusing. From minute to minute - literally, we get sunny, rain, sleet, snow, rainbows, sun and then crazy hail. During the sun and the rain NK runs outside and rides his ATV like a little mad man. His cousin Ruben has joined him in trying to maximize riding time between the hail.

We have had some nice drives around the island. The view is magnificent. A pod of orca whales have been hanging around the south tip of the island grazing on herring. The seagulls track the orca and the herring, and it looks like a feeding frenzy. Strange that this island is the base for the whale hunting in Norway and the orca hang out here. Although, the whaling industry catches minke whale, not orca. Remember Willey from Free Willey? When he was released he showed up in a fjord near here and lived with the locals until his death.

I have been hoping for nice enough weather to go down to the beach and walk along the sand. I am planning my retirement house that will sit on a bluff overlooking the beach and the coast across the fjord. The past few days as I have been looking through bathroom remodeling magazines picking out the design for the new bathroom and laundry room in our new house, I can't help but think about a small beach house to retire here along the coast. Just me, JH, and the whales.

Thank God NK loves this kooky little island. Generations of his father's father's family have lived here. JH loves it. It is so apart of him - the reason he wanted to be back in Norway - to defend the old farmhouse and the property. So, we sold, packed and restarted here in Norway to be close to this island and this house. As I type, JH and NK are below me in the basement of the house, sawing and taking tools in and out to trim the apple trees, the berry bushes and address the clumps of bulbed flowers which and growing like crazy all over the farm. And, in the little snow that is still left here and there, especially under the trees and bushes there are crocuses and daffodils bursting with color.

We will spend the whole week here just tooling about. Tomorrow the sun is supposed to be out and the weather is supposed to warm - maybe a day or two that I can stroll along the beach, or climb the mountain and sit on the rocks. This afternoon I will start photographing and cataloging the contents of the house. I will post some photos and some more comments later.

Charlotte - this posting was especially for you. I hope your health improves enough so you can return to Norway to enjoy the coastal breeze and the seafood!