This week = so far so good.
Arild has off this week so he has been helping me out tremendously.
I forgot to mention something from my last post about returning home! Apparently it's customary for friends of the newlywed couple to play pranks on them in their home. When we returned home, the first thing Arild said was,"Something's off. Someone's been in here besides my dad." We had maybe taken 2 steps inside when he said that. Sure enough, he was right and something was off. First, we noticed the lights in the hallways wouldn't shut off. Then, he checked his desk and what is usually lined up and in order (yes, he's one of those people) was "chaotic" or so it appeared to him. It looked fine to me. The bathroom door handle was in a different direction, there was a note on the bathroom mirror which said something to the extent of, "Arild and Evelyn you light up my life", the TV was wrapped in paper towels and had a note welcoming us into our home. And then... there was the bedroom. The door handle was gone. We couldn't enter the bedroom door because it was latched shut and no door handle. Well, the door handle was on the table, but it was no point unless we had the metal bar which connects the door handles so it can turn. After 30 hours of travel, we were exhausted and this was the first time I've ever seen Arild mad. If I hadn't known him, I probably would have had no idea he was even angry at all. He's the calmest mad person I've ever seen before. He kept saying, "Why would they do this? This makes no sense. Why would you do this to someone who needs to sleep?" So he sent some text messages to the culprits (aka his friends) :-) and we found the bar connecting the door handles inside the refrigerator. Problem solved. We could enter the bedroom! However, we didn't feel like messing with the door handle completely at the time and so when I was asleep and he was lying there watching TV he said, "I think we're locked in here." He was right. We only put the door handle on the outside of the door to let us in and didn't put it on the inside of the door as well. I wasn't paying attention and shut the door and then went to sleep. I woke up in a panic when he said we were locked in, ran to the door and yes, we were locked in the room. We then had 2 options. 1) Call his dad and wait for him to arrive and let us out OR 2) I climb out the window, onto the balcony and go in through the kitchen to then open the bedroom door from the other side. I should mention we don't live on the first floor. After a quick discussion between Arild and I and deciding if I fell out the window I probably wouldn't die, but have some injuries or a broken leg or two and him calling me insane, I ended this discussion and told him, "Hold onto me!" as I climbed in the window sill, grabbed part of the window which seemed sturdy enough and then climbed onto the balcony and over it. Our problem was solved with no broken legs and we couldn't have a better story for our first day in our home as a married couple. :-)
We've had a couple of shopping sprees and now I can say our home doesn't look like an old bachelor lives here anymore. :-)
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| My panda throw blanket and new throw pillows for the couch. :-) |
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Miss Stella (our cat) loved the previous rug in the hallway,
so Arild put it in her play room and we bought a new one. |
On today's agenda I've replaced a "weed" (as Arild called it, which actually turned out to be a tree!) in one pot with a plant on the front terrace and replacing a dead plant in another pot on the back terrace and I'll be hanging up pictures later. :-)
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I'm definitely not finished with buying plants,
but it's beginning to look better. No dead plants and
weeds (or trees) at least! |
On another note, the hot weather in Skien is gone. It's back to an average of 58 degrees now and I'm refusing to give up the flip-flops. I won't retire them until I'm at risk for frost bite. :-)
We took a walk in the park a few days ago. He wanted to show me around the city center and help me get more familiar with things. Monday was a holiday for Norway (a holiday for America too, but the holidays are celebrated for different reasons) so, everything was closed and we went to this park to have a look around.
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| Brekkeparken! |
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| So very relaxing and pretty here. |
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The park has a cafe and there was this
lady knitting mittens to sell. |
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| I think this resembles a Thomas Kinkade painting. |
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| A small flower maze. |
I think one reason why I probably feel like I'm still in the US is because of all the American flags I've seen since I've been here. What is going on here? First, I noticed a girl wearing a shirt with the American flag, then we walked past a store and a mannequin was wearing an American flag bikini. We went to other stores which had Americana pillow cases, home decor, rugs, etc. The flag is everywhere! In a way it's nice to see my country has largely impacted Norway, but wow, this is confusing. I understand I'm not in America, but seeing the flag everyday in different places is a bit confusing during this transitioning.
Then there's adjusting to the keyboard! There are 3 extra characters in the Norwegian alphabet - Å,Æ.Ø and so I have to adjust to other characters I'm used to being in other random places. It took me a while to find the question mark which is beside the 0 on the keyboard. The quotation marks are shift + 2. Several symbols I've been used to my entire life on the keyboard are misplaced, but I'll just have to get over that. :-)
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