My New Norwegian Home

One man's trash is another man's treasure. That's how I look at it anyways. Last week our neighbors moved out and they left behind them a bag of trash and a lantern with 2 candle holders outside their door. Giving them the benefit of the doubt thinking they MIGHT come back to pick it up, I waited 4-5 days. They just left it behind. So I picked it up and brought it inside. I have a healthy addiction to pinterest and got a few ideas, so I snatched our neighbors left behind candle holders and lantern. A few coats of paint later and I put them outside on our table on the balcony. :-) I've only had to listen to Arild make fun of me for a few minutes over "stealing the neighbor's trash." A couple of days after this incident and nearly a week after our moved-out neighbors left the bag of trash and decor outside, I answer the doorbell, thinking it was Arild coming home from work and just playing around. Nope, it was our neighbor and she wanted her stuff back. ...

Today is my first day home alone as Arild has gone back to work and I've been cleaning, doing language exercises, messaging him just like in the good 'ole days and now I'm taking a break from language learning only to find myself listening to a Swedish band. Go figure! :-) At least the next couple of days Arild can work from home and I won't be making to-do lists for myself. So for now, let me recap on a few things... There was the meeting up for the final time. :-) It was the point in our lives where we never have to say goodbye again. When waiting for him to get off the plane from Chicago, I was quite impressed I was able to pick out his distinctive walk out of the crowd of people getting off the plane. I only saw the top of his hair and noticed from the movement it was him. We hugged, waited on his luggage and went home to have one of his many favorite American foods, macaroni and cheese. :-) We ran into some difficulties with the lady we had first arranged t...

Last semester in one of my classes, we were discussing family rituals and traditions and had to write a paper on our personal family traditions, rituals and what have you and what we'd like to continue. I don't think there are many traditions in the family, but one thing I loved was during the week breakfast was mostly cereal, but on Sunday my mom would fix a huge breakfast and she'd cook whatever I wanted. This is something I want to do. Every Sunday cook something for breakfast.  Anyways, last Sunday I decided to wake up and cook waffles. I know Arild likes waffles and I do too, so it seemed like a good idea. Last Sunday they turned out okay and we had waffles with butter and sugar and rolled them up. A bit different than how we eat waffles in America. Here the waffles are made thinner and can be rolled up. In America, we want butter and maple syrup smothering our waffles! Oh yeah! :-) WHERE can I find maple syrup, by the way? This Sunday, I decided to do the same. E...

In Norway it's required to have 600 hours of classes. That is, 600 after the application is approved. Language classes taken before then does not count, but it's worth spending the money on them because to put it bluntly, if you're going to live here you need to learn the language and it's best to go ahead and get started with it. 50 hours are for Norwegian social studies. If you take this class before the application approval, it WILL count. I will soon be taking these classes this month, so I will of course update on how that is going. The other 550 hours are for language classes. While signing up, the lady whom Arild and I were speaking to had shown us the books I'll be using. 2 very thin books. So, I'm assuming since the books are thin there will be a lot of talking in these classes. I'll find out for myself in August. Now there's the application process. It's just the application for residency approval. To ease some worry from family and fri...

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 int...

There are a million things I could update on, but I'll just start with the very present. We're home! All 3 of us! After delays, traffic jams, and not knowing where to pick up my cat after our long flight after 30 hours of traveling, we have made it to our home. :-) I am awaiting 3 more boxes I shipped while in America, but I've unpacked the other 15 and have now made my place in my new home and of course we do need a few more shopping trips as my husband has been a bachelor for 29 years and we are lacking things like extra clothes hangers and shelves. Stella (my cat) is now settling in quite well. We of course knew this trip would be a lot of stress on her and we were worried about this, but she did just fine. I hope we've made up to her by giving her a nice play room. I'll be making a thank you card for her vet soon as she and the staff at our former clinic have been very supportive and had a major headache of trying to get paperwork to this place and that ...

Ah, so I'm wide awake at 4:30 a.m. and not knowing what to do this early, I'll write! :-) Yours truly. Painted inside this horse is Churchill Downs and previous Derby winners. There are colorful painted horse statues all over the state of Kentucky.  A little over a week ago I picked Arild up from the airport. Earlier that day, an aunt strongly encouraged me to go to Churchill Downs with her to keep my mind off things. So I did. It was by far one of the most important days of our lives. May 12th was the day the waiting ended and we'd never have to be apart again. At the airport waiting at luggage pick up. Then there were several trips visiting family and finally his parents arrived to Kentucky for the first time, after a trip to New York for the first time - let alone their first trip in America. I think and I really hope this trip went well for them. They commented they themselves were picking up on the southern accent and Americans eat cheese on everything...