Thursday and counting

So no house yet. Things are looking up though, our Relocation/Realtor has been more helpful. Norwegian law discovery number 56: landlords have little hope of kicking renters out so they are very particular about who rents from them. I hope to have one soon, uh soon so we can plant and get out and enjoy Norway & Europe.

Speaking of exploring. I took the bus successfully today to the mall. That was fun... just don't look at the price :). It was a nice sized mall bigger than the Tulsa promenade I would say. It has these cool escalators, they don't step up like I am used to they angle up and down but are completely flat so you can take your stroller on it. I got max new swim trunks, he is very excited to go and swim at Grandmommies pool. I was able to also shop and buy a jacket that looks great for wind!! Max was happily distracted by a balloon from the baguette place, if I knew they offered balloons to kiddos I would have stopped there first! There is a swim, underwear store called Dick & Daisy. Its got man panties of every color/pattern. I have seen these before at a store by the harbor with a hunting scene on it. I did not stop a shop there for the record. I did find a store to get leggings in 20 colors. I also got max & I hats at the sporting goods place. Yes its late May and I am buying hats! His is a wide cotton head wrap, I see all little kiddos wearing them here, its got a monster on it ofcourse. So more about the mall.. it had a bank, and you need to get a number when you walk into the bank. They had two grocery stores inside the mall. They did have mall food, I didn't try it. They had a Body Shop, and mulitiple toiletry shops, some were higher end with perfume or make up. One that I went into had a pharmacy with chairs for each patient, I am assuming you needed a number ticket too to sit down. I got suckered into buying max a round plastic ball about 4 inches diameter with a mickey sticker on it. It had a lolly pop and mickey arm bandz, 20 kr/4 usd.

I bring up the leggings because this is a fashion must have item around here. First of all, the young women & teens still wear denim shorts, just with fancy patterned pantyhose and probably with high top tennis shoes (think Michael Jackson in the 80's). Then there is the skinny jeans, jeggings, leggings every woman of ages below 50 are wearing skinny pants.

Okay so I want to get good pictures of things all over town. Like the construction company called Stangeland. I want to laugh out loud at the irony. Or the road bumps/humps are call Farts, or Farts Demple. There are signs in front of them that say Farts! Max knew farts was an impolite word when we first said it about the bumps. Now thats our favorite thing to say before a bump. Dolly Dimples is a pizza place. PB is a pizza place too. I think of peanut butter every time I see it.

I went to Ikea on tuesday with Max. That was a better bus ride than mondays. We did try to go to another place but we gave up, the wind was awful, and we just walked to Ikea. Aaaa Ikea, it has a ball room for the kiddos to go play, really this is awesome I think. No it gets better. I can leave my sweet spawn at the play area and go shopping. I did not though, I don't need uninhibited shopping time, once again don't look at the price... Smile & Wave. He was very happy to play with others. He mentioned to me after wards that none of the boys he played with spoke eeenglislsh, they didn't know engleesh, he kept on repeating this fact to me in a medium volume. Then we went to eat at the restaurant, food good, price good, but probably won't be rushing back to eat there.

Tuesday was a windy day so I didn't notice the dust. They closed the airport intown, along with airports in Germany and other w Euro countries. This was due to the volcanic action in w Iceland. It wasn't anything like the one last year, but it seems airports are playing the safety game. I saw on the new they have these lasers that shoot straight into the clouds (sounds silly yes, but it was dry crispy BBC info, no joke) to test the dust. So I spent the day inside coughing and avoiding the outdoors. Max needed a day inside too.

I am still waiting for my national ID number, THEN I can get a norwegian bank card. Until then I get to play a game called

Bliss "I dont have a chip"
they say "No cheep?"
Bliss "no chip"
They "you sign"
They "o ahh signator"

Its like a chip in the bank card then you use your PIN number and the money taker does nothing, so I make them work...

So I saved the best news for last... I am getting my biggest birthday gift ever. I am going to Rome!! AHH! I was actually shopping plane tickets for rome for my bday, when Jeff looked helplessly for a way to let me down gently. So I gave up on it for the moment. Then he gets an invite to a Trade Show there the week before my birthday. So this is a happy thing.

Well bye guys for now. Stay safe from crazy oklahoma storms.

Adventures in busland

Hello, I have been here now for three weeks. Max & I have been relying on Jeff to drive us anywhere outside Stavanger Sentrum. So we can do many things here in the sentrum. It is also pricey (hello its very smart to charge more next to a harbor). I finally took max down to the bus station. First I went to the train station, nope, wrong place!! Walked on to the Kolumbus Bus Station. Walked through the tolken people smoking directly infront of businesses. So walked in, got my ticket, even though no one was in line at any teller. Then I started the process of getting a buss card, I got a Flexi pass for one month I can bus all over Kolumbus routes. One weeknights (after 5pm) and weekends I can take max & Jeff with me for free. I couldnt get Max one of these passes so I just got him a card with credit on it. Then drama with my card and putting my birthdate on it, my american drivers license said 6-12-1979, thats what she put on my card, Norwegians do DD-MM-YYYY so then I needed a new one, blah blah. It didn't take as long as it seemed for me. You see I have control issues, so letting go and getting in a bus and following a route in another country stretches my mind. I also am taking my kiddo with me so it makes me feel very uneasy about relinquishing control.

Next, we are standing at the stop, I'm trying to keep my cool and trying to act like this is completely normal for me. Max is holding his bus pass with excitement and mulitple questions in a normal voice (he might have been just as nervous). Bus #1 arrives, I follow the directions the lady told me about using Max's card. That works and the bus driver is very short with me (perhaps he cause he is a man my size!). I hand him max's card and say going to Forus, and he scans it and explains I have money left on the card (I knew that, I was the person who put the money on it), can't understand the short mans words. I nice english man behind us explained I used 16 kr for the trip. Then my card, it didn't work. The driver just said doesn't work, well I am blocking the line, already paid to get max on the bus. So I ask to use Max's card, no, shorty tells me "you pay" (just like the nail salon people). So I ask him how much, I did have some coins on me. 31 kr, then shorty loudly helps me count my Kroner coins. Laughs when I pull out a 1 kr. Finally I get my half kr coins back and am sitting with max. Now I realize I just paid 700 kr on that card that he said was no good. AND I need at least 31 kr to get back home from our destination (IKEA, Max's choice). Ah man, this wasn't even part of the worries that I had. At least I am off on an adventure right? Well an adventure with more excercise (we will have to walk 1.4 km instead of taking another bus to ikea. Boo. Just to pop your bubble of excitement or keep you interested... Ikea wasn't there. I don't think it moved since last week, I just don't think my address book likes me. I wish the address was something I double checked before I left (like the bus routes, I spent 30mins this morning and 30 mins last night). One more adventure touring stavanger without cell roaming.

After I broke the news to Max the Ikea is no where in site. You have to understand its in a industrial park/car sales lots. All the buildings are 2-3 stories and I'm the size of short bitter bus driver. So I figured if I followed my maps directions it would eventurally appear. At the end of the 1.4 km walk on a nice paved path through warehouses we found the tire place, so we decided to turn around and walk back 1.4 km :). Poor brave little cold boy!! So we get back to the bus stop and we miss it by a minute tops. I think I needed that time to ponder. Max played on his phone. I tried ignore the only other soul at the stop. She was quite involved with chewing her fake nails off and spitting them out. Thankfully, she was spitting opposite of Max & I, but still she spit them towards the bus wall, glass with spit & nails were very clear. The bus arrived on time. My card worked this time. Ah shorty bitter driver might have been wrong. So back at the bus station I got a refund and they checked my card and it was fine. I wonder what shorty is calling me in his blog right now...

So I treated my tired self to McDonalds. I didn't know how much the coke would make most of my pain slip away. I did meet an american there that works there. He may have spotted out that I was trying to put my food away, people usually leave their fast food out on the tables. Its very sweet.

The McDonalds did its job, I am much more kitten like about my day now. And also I am getting my birthday wish. I have been trying to work on Jeff taking a family weekend trip. I have looked at Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Nice, Rome. Rome seemed the most reasonable btw. So I was trying but since we still don't know about our house stuff I knew it would be a dream. Jeff was asked to participate in a meeting in Rome june 6-10!! WOOhoo!

So tomorrow with better directions to our destinations. Max & I are going to take the bus again. Maybe I'll see my new friend shorty. So max will have another adventure!! I love that he wants to go to IKEA, I have a perfect kid. That is a good note to end on... PEACE!

God Morgen

Hello, so we looked at a house yesterday and I am having a large amount nervous energy about it. I don't think I really like it. Jeff reminds me its not permanent, but a year is a long time.

So I am writing to help me with my nerves.

We got to attend a work function last night with Jeffs company. It was call Orienteringsdag, um it was like a scavenger hunt in the woods. These are woods that medieval movie directors would love. Tall tall trees, all about less than 3 feet from each other. The ground is crazy soft, you sink a little if you leave the path (it was made of wood mulch). It was sponge like. There are even lucky homeowners who live on in this forrest, Rogaland Arboretum. There are parts to the forrest that the sunlight completely disappears. We did okay on the hunt, I should have tried to see if my phone compass would have worked :(. I don't get service outside the apartment so I don't consider using anything other app.

Just an update: I have checked my email 3 times during this letter to see if the landlord of the apartment has agreed to our offer. I just am having bad joo joo feelings about it and we already put in an offer. Stupid thing I know, but I just... ahh back to distracting letter about Norway.

Max did really good on the hunt. He only fell once. He got all his energy out for sure. Max can now get himself fully ready (minus the button/fly on pants). He's been able to for a while, but now he even can do it with out direction from me. Yesterday when I told him we are leaving in an hour to see the house, but I needed to get ready first. Next time I see him he has picked out his shirt and pants, he had his shirt on and was pulling on his pants. It makes me happy, but as with every step a bit sad. Silly me my emotions are pretty out there lately.

So some cool things: I can use my Maps app on my phone to find places around town, thats not new. What is cool I can use the bus option on the maps, I thought it would be simple. Its even cooler, it routes my trip and finds the bus number that would take me to my destination. Crazy fun, I have had the hardest time getting an English bus route for the area. I just need wifi outside of this place. So I don't get to the mall and forget which bus I need to take home. Ikea awesome by the way. It has all the things I expected and more. Its got a kid play area. Its got a small grocery store, mostly frozen meals & meats. I want to move in to my local Ikea, its like the walmart girl in that movie Where the Heart is. It has a restaurant, serves meals from breakfast to dinner till close at 9pm. Um last fun/cool thing cars here. That will be a whole letter once we start that shopping (after house, ahhh now I am thinking about it again). In Stavanger they have some new brands that Jeff and I are unfamiliar with, Opal is one. And his brand called peugeot, its brand looks like a Porshe ha.

Um still trying to stay sane here, I should also preface the house choice with the face that I want a place when my stuff gets here to Norway. Our shipping company, hmm not a big fan of the person handling us so far. I might have been looking down the cruel reality of wanting things now being perhaps desperate for facial products, running shoes, rainboots. I just want my pantry items too. Like have this amazing mixes that will turn canned tomatoes (they sell that here) into amazing salsa. I would like Max's videos. ahh so now I am complaining. Well I will update you later. I need to do some laundry and feed max grapes.

Peace!

Two Weeks in Norway

God Dag! Two weeks and I figured I should possibly have some sort of diary of my family adventure. It does seem like wonderland at times, then it just seems different, then I am tired of caring.

Yes its a beautiful place here, after a little bit of sightseeing I have one conclusion the phrase "now this is Gods country" (Jeff uses it about Oklahoma) is absolutely wrong. God was really busy, he even had the for thought of making destructive objects like glaciers. The rain is making the harbor dissappear in the distance. The mountains are hidden by fog (max told me that earlier).

Everyday life is going on but we have been holding our breath till we find our new home here. We have been staying at the company apartment in downtown Stavanger (Sentrum in Norsk). Its nice with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (a luxury I wont have in the next probably). Heated floors in bathrooms are amazing. Nice kitchen with a half full pantry too. Tv/internet are also nice for everyday life. Max watches Disney in Norwegian. The majority of channels are in english with subtitles. On sundays there is a MASH marathon. I can access my Itunes account through a little device (LOVE it) called Apple TV. So movies/tv shows can be purchased or rented thru itunes.

People here are very kind about the language problem. I just need a CHIP in my visa, most places take my card without it, but it would be much faster. I have been to the post office, you need to take a number to get service. Jeff says the same thing is at most public places, police station etc. We have to get our Norwegian ID number at the Police station. He says its cause they don't know how to wait in line. :) I have been to the grocery stores, in Sentrum Stavanger they are inside malls, with flower shops (they are everywhere!), convenience shops, vitamin/drug stores, bookstores, clothing, coffee shops, and household shops. The hours are posted like this Meny 10-20 (18) meaning 10am to 8pm weekdays, 6pm on saturdays. Meny is a store Jeff found where he bought a dinner with reiendeer balls, and ate it with out knowing its meat origin. Now I am here and I use Google translate, and also don't buy mystery items.

So shopping on monday Max decided he needed to go number 1 and I asked an employee for a Toalett, and he said theres one outside the store, darn. Well so after speaking with an employee at another store they pointed to said restroom. It looks like a fire exit, big metal door that looks like a fire door. The second employee told me I have to pay. SO I did have coins on me. I tried, I gave it 11 kr, for its charge of 5 kr, we still couldn't open the door. Max let me finish shopping then we went home and he made it with out incident.

Jeff gets home earlier than he used to, 6pm most days. Norwegian employees have a strict 37.5 hour work week. He is still an American employee. He is excited about moving out of the apartment so his drive will be better. There is parkering (parking garage) under our building. To get to it you go down a winding spiral drive down. There is a car wash mid way down the spiral drive. A gas station at the entrance to the parkering, along with a convenience shop to pay for gas. 13.50 kr per liter, 2.6 liter in gallon, so 35.10 kr per gallon, 1dollar to 5.58 kr so 6.29 us dollars per gallon here :) nice. I won't tell you my rent it makes my eyes explode.

Well That is all for now. I hope I have fun here. So if I seem to start sliding and being ungrateful some one please shake me out of it...

Bliss