We got to experience another tradition today…
Julekake
And everyone gave it a big thumbs up!!
Thanks to our sweet friends for continuing to share Norwegian traditions with us.
Tag Archives: Norge
Norwegian Christmas: Part 3
We spent about 24 hours in Oslo this week. We had numerous meetings with local friends/partners. And we enjoyed seeing the city all decked out for Jul!
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| You never know what you might see near Oslo S! |
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| We visited Tim Wendelboe coffee with our friend Sæbjørn |
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| Lunch at Mathallen |
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| Beautiful street decorations |
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| Love this window display! |
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| Karl Johans Gate and the Palace |
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| Sentrum with Bente |
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| See the horse’s antlers? 🙂 |
Norwegian Christmas: Part 2
Pepperkake… of course, our American friends will know it better as gingerbread. And it is a big part of Norwegian Christmas tradition.
We were excited that our friends invited us to bake pepperkake with them this past week. We had so much fun! After we made lots and LOTS of cookies, the kids worked together and made a cool gingerbread house.
365 Days Later
A year ago, we woke early at a hotel by the airport, boarded a shuttle bus, and then made our way onto an airplane. We said good-bye to our home country and anxiously prepared for our first field assignment.Two flights later, we we arrived in what would be our home for the next 3.5 months: the beautiful and big city of Vancouver.
I remember that first day in Vancouver. We were exhausted, nervous, a little sad, and very much overwhelmed. We boarded the (wrong) SkyTrain towards our apartment in Surrey, and finally made it there. We were excited about the cool views from a very hip high-rise apartment. We were hungry. We needed to go grocery shopping. We didn’t know where anything was. We wandered aimlessly, searching for what would become our routine: grocery stores, shops, restaurants, coffee, etc. While it wasn’t always easy, we really enjoyed our short time in Canada.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we left our normal. And yet in some ways, it seems like even longer than that!
A few photos from our journey out of the US a year ago…
Norwegian Summer
Not much I want to write today – just want to share a bit of the beauty that we get to enjoy on a daily basis. Each day we wake up, look out our windows, and say to God, “do we really get to live here?!?!” 🙂
Impromptu Date
We (Zack & Jenn) have Wednesdays off from language class. So this morning once the boys were off to school, we studied for a while and did homework. Then we decided to take the bus to Tønsberg, a nearby town we’d visited once before. We leisurely walked around the mall, and even found a couple of items we’d been trying to find for a while. Then we grabbed two kebabs (similar to what some cultures call doner, donair, shwarma or gyro) and found a bench by the fjord. The sun was out and it was 7C – a beautiful day! We enjoyed an outdoor lunch & beautiful scenery (and the rare chance to eat slowly and quietly 🙂 ).
Unplanned dates are often the best dates!
"Can" you figure this out?
We are settling nicely into our home and town. We have small victories and minor setbacks on a daily basis.
Today I was excited to make chili for dinner. That is, until I realized I don’t have a can opener. So I rummaged through drawers and came upon something…
Take a look at the picture. I have never seen anything like this before. I thought it must be a can opener, but couldn’t for the life of me figure it out.
Superman to the rescue… Zack worked with it and finally figured out how to use it. My hero!
I found out later from my aunt that it is just like one my great-grandmother used to use (hers wasn’t so rusty though!).
And for those who already expressed concern, we are all current on our tetanus shots!
Moving in the Right Direction
Looks like we have a home!Zack and William took the train back to Sandefjord on Monday to sign the lease, and we made a trip to the bank on Tuesday to make the deposit (our first banking experience here – success!). All looks to be in line for us to move in by Wednesday of next week!
We are renting the second floor of a beautiful home built in 1897. It has lots of windows, beautiful floors, and way more than any expectations than we had. The landlord has been great to work with so far, and we look forward to getting to know him and his family (including two sons not much older than our boys!).
Here is a sneak peak…
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| The view from the master bedroom |
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| Living room |
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| Kitchen (this is where God really knocked our socks off!) |
Sandefjord
On Monday, we rented a car and drove to Sandefjord, the city where we will ultimately be living. We stayed two nights, toured the city, looked at several apartments, met with a local friend, and visited the boys’ school. We are incredibly excited about our new town and can’t wait to get settled there.
We have one apartment that looks to be a very good option – awaiting the final lease and all the details to fall into place. Hopefully we’ll have everything finalized early next week.
We are back in Oslo now, spending some time trying to learn about the city, the culture, and little bits of the language. Zack is excited to get to spend some time with several of his Norwegian friends tomorrow, and we hope to visit a couple of museums over the weekend.
It is SOOOOO cold for Georgia natives (supposed to get down to -16C tonight!), but we are thankful to have lots of warm clothes that make it bearable!
Here are a few pictures from Sandefjord:
Our first official Note from Norge!
And now we can officially live up to our blog title!
The last week and a half were a whirlwind, to say the least. But here’s the short version: we got permission to travel to Norway, and we are here!
We arrived late Friday evening. We were greeted by several friends and are now in our temporary apartment in Oslo. It is good to be here… and a bit surreal!
Jet lag is a killer. We slept well our first night, mostly from exhaustion I guess! But it is about 4:30 AM right now, and Zack & I are wide awake. Guess it will just take time to get adjusted!
We will write more as we get settled. For now, here are a couple of pictures from our first day here.
