Category Archives: cross-cultural living

Now it feels like home!

Packing for Virginia (3 years ago last week)
There’s Santa!

Expat life often involves lots of suitcases. Lots of cleaning out and paring things down. Change. Moves. New places, new faces, and a search for a sense of home.

One of my childhood friends is preparing to move his family to Italy. His wife recently posted on Facebook, asking expat friends for suggestions on what to pack and what not to pack.

I really enjoyed reading the comments. And some stood out more than others.
A couple of people suggested something that I especially appreciated. They encouraged her to pick out a couple of items in her current home that they could take with them as a symbol of home. Then, no matter where they are, when they see these things, they’ll know they’re home.
We actually have one such item ourselves. He was a gift from Zack the first Christmas after we got married. He’s a beanie baby Santa. He stays out year round at our home. And he lives wherever we live.
Three homes in Georgia, then Virginia, Vancouver, Oslo and now Sandefjord.
Most people who see it probably think it’s weird that we have a Santa sitting out. But when I see him, I know I’m home.
If you were preparing to move overseas, what would you insist on taking with you? What is one thing you have that always lets you know you’re home?

How High?!?!

It really is a shame how little we have seen of this beautiful country after 2 1/2 years here.

 

We did manage to expand our horizons this past weekend. We have now explored a good bit more of at least the southern part of the country.

 

As we made our way to Stavanger last Friday, we stopped about an hour outside of the city to experience one of the more iconic hikes in the area.

 

 

Preikestolen – or Pulpit Rock – is something I’d seen in pictures before moving here. But pictures pale in comparison to the reality.

 

 

Standing nearly 2000 feet / 600 meters above the Lysefjord, this rock formation is impressive… and a bit scary!
Preikestolen / Pulpit Rock

It took us just under 2 hours to make the walk to the top. And it was amazing.

 

We highly recommend this hike!

 

Here is a video from our weekend in Stavanger. The first 6-7 minutes will give you a glimpse of our Preikestolen experience.

Tips for Preikestolen:

  • Wear good shoes. While the path is fairly wide, it is also very rocky. Careful measures have been taken to ensure that all the foot traffic (200,000+ visitors annually) don’t destroy the area.
  • Take water with you. And pack a lunch. There is no hytte/kiosk/snack bar at the top. We took a couple of Camelback-style backpacks, several packs of nuts, and sandwiches. There are quite a few spots along the way where you can stop and rest when needed.
  • Start early, or start later in the day. Mid-day hikes mean more traffic, and more of a queue. We arrived just after 2:00 and the majority of the traffic we encountered was from people descending the mountain. We also went on a weekday, thinking that weekends might be more crowded.
  • Most of the websites suggest hiking from April to October. Otherwise, you might encounter some additional weather challenges.
  • You can read more on Visit Norway’s Preikestolen page.

Viking Festival

We happened upon a viking festival a couple of weeks ago. It was a sun festival, but apparently the sun didn’t get the memo. It was a bit drizzly and quite chill!

 

But despite less than ideal weather, we had fun. There was music and dancing, and a couple of us even geared up for battle!

 

 

 

We tried viking bread and fish on a stick.

It is always fun to stumble onto interesting cultural celebrations like this!

TimeHop – January 31, 2013

Two years ago today, we were sitting in the airport in Vancouver. Sitting with lots of emotions. Excited. Nervous. Scared. Happy. Curious. You name it, we were probably feeling it. We really didn’t know exactly what to expect.

 

More baby steps

Photographic evidence of my short outing today

I got out this morning, for the first time since coming home from the hospital last Tuesday. One week in this house will definitely give you cabin fever!

I rode around with Zack while he ran some errands. I even went in a couple of shops with him (when we could park close!). We were only gone for about an hour and a half, and I spent the majority of that time in the car. It felt good to be out.

But I. am. tired.

Now I’m back home, resting up so I can stop by for a quick visit this evening for a dear friend’s birthday. Amazing how much motivation birthday cake can provide, isn’t it?

It’s the little things

The snow finally arrived in Sandefjord early Monday morning. As we left for the hospital just after 6:00, everything was already covered in a nice blanket of white.

You never know when the temperatures will take a swing upward and the snow will change over to rain. So while we have a nice coating of snow (probably around 10-12 inches / 25-30 cm so far this week), Zack wanted to give the boys (and himself!) a chance to go skiing.
So right after school yesterday, they came home, had a snack, and headed out for the cross-country trails. Zack said they did great, and they all seemed to have a lot of fun. I’m disappointed I won’t get to join in this year,  but glad they are able to enjoy a fun activity, that also just so happens to be free! I hope the snow will stick around long enough for them to go out a few more times.

 

There’s no place like home!

Lunch before leaving the hospital – don’t I look thrilled?

Monday night was a long night. I think I had been so in and out all day Monday that I just wasn’t very sleepy when night came. Add to that the elements of being in the hospital with a lot of activity around, and two other people in the room, and it just made for a long night.

I got up Tuesday morning and made my way down the hall to the patient cafeteria. This was quite different from my experiences in American hospitals! The nurse will gladly bring food to your room when you aren’t up to moving around, but I was encouraged to try and start walking a bit so I could be discharged. So I had a bite to eat and then went back to my room, exhausted but happy with the progress.

Zack dropped the boys off at school and then came to the hospital. We sat around a bit, and then I had a meeting and exam with the doctor, who said I could go home after lunch. I managed to get myself dressed while Zack went downstairs and fill my prescriptions, and then he accompanied to the cafeteria.

Around 13.00/1:00 PM Tuesday afternoon I was released and we made our way home. Again, exhausting is the best word that comes to mind. Everything is exhausting right now. But I slept much better last night, and I feel a bit more energetic today. I’m trying to get up and move every hour or so, and each time it gets a little better. I just keep reminding myself that this will take a while!

I survived surgery in another country!

Disclaimer: I blame all typos on medication!It’s just after 20.00/8:00 PM and it has been a long day. Long, but successful.

I arrived at the hospital around 6:45 this morning. By 7:30 they were taking me back for surgery. And just after 11:30, they wheeled me into recovery. Everything went really well, despite being a bit more complex than expected. I will have a bit longer recovery period, but I can manage! And thankfully, they only removed my uterus. (Yeah, that was probably more info than you needed, but get over it!)
For those who have asked, I managed about 95% of everything in Norwegian. The last couple of minutes before the anesthesia really kicked in, I explained that I was having a hard time putting sentences together, and the nurse assured me it was fine to switch to Englsh. The recovery nurse (who was amazing, by the way) and I communicated in Norwegian, but she asked the doctor’s assistant to speak English when she came in afterwards, so I could be sure I understood all the details of the operation.
Now I’m just resting at the hospital. I had a couple of handsome visitors earlier (and one other handsome guy behind the camera) – I think it was important for them to see that I’m okay! Now they are home and I’m settling in for what I pray will be an uneventful night.
Thanks for so many emails and text messages that were sent to check on me. I hope to report tomorrow that I am home!

Surgery Next Week

Apparently my last post about surgery was confusing. I have not had my surgery yet. It is scheduled for this Monday, January 19.For those that aren’t caught up, I’m the lucky 39 year old that gets to have a hysterectomy (more on that HERE). Not the most exciting thing to deal with, but I’ve had some health issues that necessitate it. And I am totally ready to get it behind me. In fact, I was totally ready back on December 3 when I was originally scheduled for surgery. But as most of you now know, that didn’t happen (read about that HERE).

I could write a book about that whole experience. About the difficulty in understanding language if it involves medical terminology (WAY outside my limited Norwegian vocabulary), or when I have already been given strong medication. Or about the importance of bedside manner when delivering the news that you’ve sat in a hospital bed for seven hours, but the surgery will not take place (two different people delivered the news, in two very different ways). Or about how much it meant for friends to check on me, and especially those who heard the postponement news and replied with simple messages like “I am so sorry. That really stinks.” Because it did. Plain and simple. Or about how my mom worked so hard to get here to help out, getting bumped from flights and waiting in Minnesota and Amsterdam for hours on end, only to arrive to the news that surgery wasn’t happening.

Yeah, I could write a lot. But the fact is, it didn’t happen. And maybe it was God’s plan that it didn’t happen, or maybe it just didn’t happen because life doesn’t go the way you planned.

But I am hopeful that Monday will end this part of the story! They have me placed earlier on the schedule, so it is less likely for me to get bumped this time. And while we don’t have a family member to help out this time around, I’m certain that my amazing husband will manage just fine!

I’ll try to keep you posted…

Signs

As I’ve said before, I always enjoy the signs we see when traveling. Sometimes because they’re funny, sometimes because they’re ridiculous, and sometimes because they’re true.Here are some of our favorites during our first two years outside the states…

From Budapest –
Not just any breakfast – THE breakfast
Ingen fart, uten bart (no speed without a mustache!)

 

You can’t live well, love well, or sleep well –
if you don’t eat well

 

Poop signs are always funny

 

From Paris – Beware of words

 

Ah, the international bathroom signage

 

Please don’t drive into the fjord!