Tag Archives: Summer

Is/Eis/Ice Cream/мороженое

It’s a word we have learned in many languages. How can you order it if you don’t know how to say it?And it’s especially good to know how to order ice cream in Germany: theirs is not only delicious, but also really cheap! So we ate a LOT of Eis (pronounced a lot like ice) during our time in Dusseldorf and Hamburg.

 

 

 

 

Boats: living by the sea

Living in a seaside town means boats. Lots and lots of boats! Summertime is especially fun, walking down to the brygga/harbor to see what might be docked that day.Many times we see names of cities – or even countries – that aren’t exactly close by. Interesting to see all the different people and places that end up in our little town here in Norway. I always wonder who they are, how they ended up here, what their story is…

Here are just a few of the boats we’ve seen in our area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer: so far, so fun!

While we haven’t done our big summer travel yet, we are enjoying summer holidays so far.
Life here really is quite different during the summer. The rhythm changes. People seem a bit more social and a bit less rushed. Our city’s normally quiet and distant veneer seems to fade in the summer sun, as many travel to the area to spend the summer in their seaside cabins.
With that comes a big population increase, but also a population shift. While we do have a lot of tourists, it seems the majority of the faces we see most often have also travelled away from home. This is especially true in July, the official holiday/vacation month. This means most regular events and activities are suspended during the summer, including the majority of church services. This was a big cultural difference for us!
So what have we been up to the past few weeks?We’ve hiked a lot, been to the beach a number of times, attended some cookouts, and strolled around the city. We’ve made some new friends, and worked on building upon existing relationships. We enjoyed a weekend visit from an American friend, spent a few days in Stockholm, visited Oslo, and grilled by the sea. We attended a couple of conferences. We’ve experienced some disappointments, as well as some much-needed encouragement. We’ve met folks for coffee, and shared meals as a way to slow down and grow closer. We’ve taken the time to rest a bit, to practice language in less formal settings, and to simply enjoy each other.

Still to come: a weekend trip to a cabin, and then a big road trip to Germany!

How is your summer going?
Enjoying coffee with a friend from Georgia
Strolling through our city
Our version of a ‘church fellowship dinner’
Look what we found while driving through Sweden!
Zack took this shot during a bike ride with the boys
Oslo
Making a meal with friends
Silly friends taking a break during a summer conference
Mølen
Mølen

 

Daniel made a tree friend 🙂
Just a few of the beautiful flowers in Sandefjord

 

Crab catchers
Dinner break in Stavern
You never know what you might see around here!
Evening concert after a day filled with conference seminars
Driving home from Larvik
Hiking at Bøkeskogen
Hiking at Bøkeskogen

Norwegian Strawberries: what do you think?

It’s that time of year again. The stands are popping up all over the city. Just in front of the mall, in fact, you can find two set up right next to each other.
A price war in the making, perhaps?
Yes, it’s time for Norwegian strawberries again. And people here seem to be quite serious about them. Countless times, we’ve been told of the far-superior berries grown in Norway.
Don’t get me wrong: they are good. Maybe it’s just my inexperienced palette – but I can’t really taste a difference between them and the strawberries we can buy at the grocery stores.
So while many around us are snatching up local berries for 35 – 50 kroner per basket (prices are continuing to drop as supply has greatly increased the last few days), we were happy to buy the Belgian berries at our local Kiwi last week for 18 kroner for a basket.
So to our friends who live in Norway…
What do you think? Can you taste a big difference? Do you spend a little more to get the Norwegian fruit? Are we missing out?

Living at the beach

Fifteen minutes. I timed it. That’s how long it takes for us to drive to our favorite beach.
Sections of rock, sections of sand – lots of beauty

Zack and I have never been the kind of folks who live for the beach. We don’t look forward to endless hours laying in the sand. It’s just not our thing. A short trip to the beach and we’re happy, and ready to move on.

And yet, if you pay for a beach vacation, and take the time to drive several hours to the beach (as was always the case when we lived in Georgia), then there is a sense of obligation. You feel like you need to spend a lot of time there.

But ah, the beautiful thing about living in a beach town: it’s quite easy to spend an hour on the beach and not feel like it was a waste of effort.

We’re learning to keep a few things close to the door (beach towels, sunscreen, beach toys), a few things on hand in the kitchen (lomper, sprøstekt løk, pølse, chips, snacks, engangsgrill), and a few things in the car (fishing net, picnic blanket).

William & an engangsgrill (one-use grill)

So if the mood hits and the weather and schedule come allow, we can be ready to go at the drop of a hat.

And if we get there and decide were bored after an hour, it’s no big deal!

The one major drawback? Sand. Everywhere. But I guess I can live with it.

Pizza. Summer. Life is good.

We made pizza for dinner tonight.

That’s not so unusual. We do that a lot. Really. A LOT. Yeah, we love pizza.
You know what made it even better? Check out what I’m wearing: shorts and no sleeves! Summer has arrived and the weather has been great. It reached around 26 C / 79 F today! We’ve even had a number of afternoon showers and thunder storms, much like we would have in Georgia.
Only a week and a half of school stands between us and our official start to summer, we are ready!