We had a really nice weekend here in Stavanger and the surrounding area. We spent some time with Andrea Mahugh, a new co-worker of Kimber's and mutual friend of Jinni. Kimber met her once before she came here at Jinni's wedding in Cozumel. Andrea is here on a one year assignment as a safety professional, coming from rotations in Equatorial Guinea. It is nice to have someone around that knows many of the same people we know, and especially nice for Kimber to have an American woman about her same age with whom to work and socialize.
We went to Sandnes, the little town south of where we live, Saturday. There is a really nice downtown area for shopping, and it is all pedestrian traffic only. There are a lot of different types of shops in the area, including many "foreign" food (Arabic, Asian, etc.) grocers. We also found a great place to get clothes for cheap (especially by Norwegian standards) and picked up a few more things for our wardrobes.
The weather wasn't all that great Saturday, but we made the most of it (there is no bad weather in Norway, only bad clothing selection). We finished off the day by having a "breakfast" for dinner of blueberry pancakes (from our supply we picked last week), hash browns and bacon. The vanilla lattes were the icing on the cake!
Sunday was much nicer, with the best weather we've had any time recently. The sun shone all day and temperatures were in the upper 60's. We went to church, then picked up Andrea and went to Dalsnuten for a hike. Dalsnuten is a great introductory hike for the area, as it is not difficult and offers a lot of reward with the tremendous view. We didn't mean for the hike to take the entire afternoon, but we met some people along the way that stretched out the time a bit.
Sidney had a little meltdown at the top, as we left the fruit we packed along in the car for when we returned. As the weather was nice, there were lots of people up top taking in the view and sunshine, with many of them picnicking. She kept saying "But why won't they share some food with me?" We finally convinced her to go down to the car to get her snack, and as we were going down, we encountered some very friendly Norwegians cooking pancakes on a camp stove. They were offering them to anyone that passed, and of course Sidney was more than happy to take them up on the offer. We sat and chatted with them for about 20 minutes, and of course Sidney charmed them all.
One thing I would like to point out is that the trails and hikes are much more social areas that you will find in everyday life in Norway. Generally, people are very friendly on the trails - they say hello, they like to chat, and they are usually pretty happy. Being outside and enjoying nature is something people here genuinely enjoy, and it makes them feel pretty good. It is not unusual to find people sharing their food, chatting, and always willing to lend a hand on the trails.
After leaving the pancake group, we met up with one of Sidney's schoolmates and her family. They are from Italy, and Sidney and Gaia get along quite well. Gaia is also a little mountain goat, and Sidney is getting much better with her climbing as well. It was quite entertaining to listen to them both talk non-stop all the way down the hill.
We finally got home and got some necessary housework done. We look forward to a few more days of this nice weather, as is forecast for the remainder of the week. We know it will change soon, though, as the low on one of those days is supposed to be 44.
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