Tag Archives: Norway

Day-to-Day

Tønsberg Tønne

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The Tønsberg Tønne (translated Tønsberg Barrel) is a an old beacon at the tip of Tønsberg Fjord in Sandefjord. We went there Sunday morning for a hike with friends. The weather was overcast and around 6 C (43 F): good hiking weather! It really is a great hiking spot and the weather cooperated well… until we got to the very top where the beacon (?) is. The wind was whipping so hard! It would almost knock us over. On our way back, we stopped on the beach and grilled our lunch.By the way, do you notice anything in the pictures? Yeah, our snow is almost completely gone and it’s still February!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random

Olympics / OL – who are you rooting for?

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We’ve had quite a few people ask us lately…

Who are you rooting for in the Olympics?

We are primarily about the red, white and blue… okay, that’s easy to say when our home country and our current home utilize the same colors on their flags. So here’s a rundown of the countries we follow closely, and why:

USA
Zack and I are most loyal to the place we’ve called home most of our lives (it’s hard to change after 38 years!). There’s just something special when the US gets the gold, and you hear the Star Spangled Banner. And Zack really liked their (really loud and really odd) opening ceremony sweaters. I’m still a bit confused by them, but they definitely turned heads!

NORWAY
Then there’s our new home. We’ve lived here for a year, and we spent a couple of years preparing to get here. And you gotta give it the Norwegians: they own the Winter Olympics. They are the all-time leader in overall medals AND gold medals.

Plus, their curling team uniforms totally rock!

And Team Norway has really cool headwear this year, both in the ceremonies and on the medal podium.
 
(Check out this article from People Magazine about the Norwegian Olympic team:
6 Reasons Why You Should Root for Norway at the Olympics)

UKRAINE
Most of you know our history with this country. It definitely holds a big piece of our hearts. And combine that with the unrest in recent weeks… we just can’t help but cheer for the yellow and blue.

GERMANY
Yeah, why not throw one more in the mix. We have so many friends in Germany, both nationals and ex-pats. And we just love visiting Germany/Deutschland/Tyskland. But I do have to say I wasn’t crazy about their opening ceremony outfits.

So in the end, it’s pretty hard to disappoint us when it comes to the Olympics. We are just happy to get to watch and cheer!

celebrate, Christmas cheer, Norway

Norwegian Christmas: Part 4

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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.
celebrate, Christmas cheer, Norway

Norwegian Christmas: Part 3

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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!

You never know what you might see near Oslo S!
We visited Tim Wendelboe coffee with
our friend Sæbjørn

 

 

Lunch at Mathallen
Beautiful street decorations
Love this window display!
Karl Johans Gate and the Palace

 

 

 

Sentrum with Bente

 

 

 

 

 

See the horse’s antlers? 🙂

 

 

celebrate, Christmas cheer, Norway

Norwegian Christmas: Part 2

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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.

 

 

 

 

celebrate, cross-cultural living

365 Days Later

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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…

 

 

 

 

 

Norway, What's it like

Norwegian Summer

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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?!?!” 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cross-cultural living, Norway

Norsk Baking Lessons

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The breads and pastries in Norway are great. I (Jenn) thought it would be cool to learn to make them, even though I’m not much of a baker myself.Thankfully, I have an outstanding teacher! One of my new friends in our city offered to have me over for the day last Wednesday, and she taught me the basics. There is one dough that can be used for a variety of different items. Her excellent lessons left me feeling confident about my future Norwegian baking attempts.

So we started with the dough. From there, you can make boller, skolebrod, kanelsnurrer, klippekrans, and more. S taught me three of the more common items.

A couple of things to help you along…

  1. A boller is a simple roll. Many traditional Norwegian boller includes raisins.
  2. As I am learning more and more, cardamom is a staple of any baking recipe here!
  3. Even if you think you baked a lot, don’t expect these items to last long. Seems like they were gone as soon as Z, W, & D spotted them!

First up: skolebrød. From what I’ve read, it gets its name from the fact that it used to be packed in lunches for dessert, or sold at bake sales.
A delicious boller, filled with vanilla cream, baked, and then topped with a confectioner’s sugar and coconut glaze.
Wow.

Kanelsnurrer, or skillingsboller… or for our American friends, cinnamon rolls!
We made a LOT of these. This was a pic I snapped quickly as we were taking them up from the trays.

Finally, we made klippekrans, or kringle. The word klippe is Norwegian for cut, and comes from the fact that you use scissors to cut it before baking. Our variation included a thin layer of vanilla cream, and chocolate.

So if you notice us looking a bit ‘thicker’ around the waist in the coming months, you’ll know why 🙂