Culture and Cats
I was just going through old emails from Arild the other day and found this video he sent me maybe a month after we met. It's a promotional video on moving to the Grenland area in Norge. Of course, he cartainly wasn't trying to persuade me into moving to Norway after just a month of knowing me, but we were normal penpals and we were in the stage of saying, "Kentucky is like this." and "Norway is like that." He was just simply showing me what area of Norway he lives in. It's interesting to watch now because I've actually been to some of the places in this video. :-)
Hva er Grenland? (What is Grenland?)
Arild found this article the other day and sent this to me to read as it has something we have personally found as a cultural difference.Is it Cruel to Keep Cats Inside?
When we were still in the stage of getting to know one another Arild asked me all sorts of questions about Stella. Some of them concerning why I never let her outside and he thought it was cruel and keeping her from doing cat things. He told me everyone lets their cats roam around, the cats come back home as they wish and the cats just do what they want, when they want and no one bothers them. I have never thought of letting Stella outside to roam by herself. She seems happy and healthy being inside. I am of course scared to let her outside. She already has a handicap only having 3 legs. I couldn't imagine what could happen to her if she were to be outside on her own; whether someone would abuse her or whether she'd be harmed in any way or get lost.
Soooo... we had to compromise and so far it has worked well, especially for Stella. When Arild was here last October, he bought her a leash and a harness. I now take her for walks outside, she gets to roam around, sniff the air, lie in grass and enjoy sunlight while she is still in sight and I am able to make sure she's okay. Granted, I am the only person in my neighborhood taking a cat on walks. :-)
Some days these walks mean taking 2 steps, sniffing air, taking 2 more steps and preying on a bug, taking 3 steps and then sitting to have a look around. Other days this means we just sit in grass and sometimes she just wants me to hold her and walk around. She has now become so spoiled with these walks, she will sit by the door and stare at me. This is her sign language she wants a walk.
Onto other things, wedding plans! I will be so SO glad when I don't have to update with this anymore! :-) Well, I've finally pried my fingers apart from using super glue (superlim in Norsk, even they think it's super) when I was trying to make his "stupid flower thing" as I once called it. I'm really talking about a boutonniere, but I have to find alternative words as I either forget or simply don't know what all this wedding vocab is. For example, when getting my dress altered I was asked if I wanted a bustle. I had no idea what this was and assumed it was something similar to a corset. However, I figured the nice lady working on my dress didn't think that as I told her before we started tightening the dress, squeezing me in places I DIDN'T want to be squeezed and making me more uncomfortable than I ever wanted to be I want to keep my independence on my wedding day and still be able to dress myself. :-) She later told me to Google "bustle" so I could figure out exactly what I wanted and I did. No bustle in the dress!
I made the wedding menu in December and like a sane person I decided to send the menu to family and friends at a reasonable time like this past weekend. :-)
We are now looking into wedding bands for Arild. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to keep his engagement ring and use it as a wedding band or just get a new ring, so we're getting a new ring for him. This is exciting!!!!!!!! =D
All that's left is getting Arild's suit rented and the wedding license. I did check on this and it's relatively simple to do when even a "foreigner" (I say foreigner in "" because it's hard for me to imagine Arild as someone from a strange land far far away) comes to the USA to get married. Their main concern at the court house was just making sure he has documents to prove he's a legal adult. Arild loved my answer to that, "Oh yeah! He's WEEEELLLLL over 18!" Poor guy! :-)
I'm pretty sure that's it. Oh and just making the centerpiece for mine and Arild's table at the reception as well as finding 60" round table cloths. I'm sure that's it with wedding stuff. Just working on making thank-you gifts.
Onto moving stuff! Well, I have boxes here. That's about it! Wrapped and ready to ship.
39 Days!!!
Hva er Grenland? (What is Grenland?)
Arild found this article the other day and sent this to me to read as it has something we have personally found as a cultural difference.Is it Cruel to Keep Cats Inside?
When we were still in the stage of getting to know one another Arild asked me all sorts of questions about Stella. Some of them concerning why I never let her outside and he thought it was cruel and keeping her from doing cat things. He told me everyone lets their cats roam around, the cats come back home as they wish and the cats just do what they want, when they want and no one bothers them. I have never thought of letting Stella outside to roam by herself. She seems happy and healthy being inside. I am of course scared to let her outside. She already has a handicap only having 3 legs. I couldn't imagine what could happen to her if she were to be outside on her own; whether someone would abuse her or whether she'd be harmed in any way or get lost.
Soooo... we had to compromise and so far it has worked well, especially for Stella. When Arild was here last October, he bought her a leash and a harness. I now take her for walks outside, she gets to roam around, sniff the air, lie in grass and enjoy sunlight while she is still in sight and I am able to make sure she's okay. Granted, I am the only person in my neighborhood taking a cat on walks. :-)
 |
| This was a walk 2 steps and sit day. :-) |
Some days these walks mean taking 2 steps, sniffing air, taking 2 more steps and preying on a bug, taking 3 steps and then sitting to have a look around. Other days this means we just sit in grass and sometimes she just wants me to hold her and walk around. She has now become so spoiled with these walks, she will sit by the door and stare at me. This is her sign language she wants a walk.
Onto other things, wedding plans! I will be so SO glad when I don't have to update with this anymore! :-) Well, I've finally pried my fingers apart from using super glue (superlim in Norsk, even they think it's super) when I was trying to make his "stupid flower thing" as I once called it. I'm really talking about a boutonniere, but I have to find alternative words as I either forget or simply don't know what all this wedding vocab is. For example, when getting my dress altered I was asked if I wanted a bustle. I had no idea what this was and assumed it was something similar to a corset. However, I figured the nice lady working on my dress didn't think that as I told her before we started tightening the dress, squeezing me in places I DIDN'T want to be squeezed and making me more uncomfortable than I ever wanted to be I want to keep my independence on my wedding day and still be able to dress myself. :-) She later told me to Google "bustle" so I could figure out exactly what I wanted and I did. No bustle in the dress!
I made the wedding menu in December and like a sane person I decided to send the menu to family and friends at a reasonable time like this past weekend. :-)
We are now looking into wedding bands for Arild. He couldn't decide whether he wanted to keep his engagement ring and use it as a wedding band or just get a new ring, so we're getting a new ring for him. This is exciting!!!!!!!! =D
All that's left is getting Arild's suit rented and the wedding license. I did check on this and it's relatively simple to do when even a "foreigner" (I say foreigner in "" because it's hard for me to imagine Arild as someone from a strange land far far away) comes to the USA to get married. Their main concern at the court house was just making sure he has documents to prove he's a legal adult. Arild loved my answer to that, "Oh yeah! He's WEEEELLLLL over 18!" Poor guy! :-)
I'm pretty sure that's it. Oh and just making the centerpiece for mine and Arild's table at the reception as well as finding 60" round table cloths. I'm sure that's it with wedding stuff. Just working on making thank-you gifts.
Onto moving stuff! Well, I have boxes here. That's about it! Wrapped and ready to ship.
39 Days!!!
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