Package from Home

So no pictures in this blog posting. Sorry to disappoint. But a huge thank you to all our friends from Findlay and elsewhere who contributed to our care package. Especially to Michelle, the organizer and major contributor. Thank you all so much.

Home is where our family is and we always refer to where we currently live together as home. But Findlay was home for so long and was such a wonderful home for us. And being in Norway is such a great adventure and we are loving it. But that doesn't diminish how much we miss our friends. Your thoughtfulness is much appreciated. And for as much as we may have affected your lives, we can never express how much you have affected our lives.

On a lighter note, being that it is Wednesday, it was sail boat Regatta night. I sat and counted over fifty boats. It appears they must race in classes as they come out of the fjord opposite us in groups of ten to twenty. The groups all have similar sized boats with the largest coming first and the smallest last. And today at least they are racing one way and then the other.

Finally, one of the things we like about our apartment is the opportunity to participate in things like Waffle Thursday and some other special events. Last night, the office manager organized a dinner. It was a "Grill Night" and a chef that is apparently pretty famous in Norway came in a prepared the meal. There were various salads (one was a pineapple-avocado salad that was really good), grilled meats, bread and desserts. The meats were leg of lamb, beef loin, chicken and trout, all roasted on the grill. The desserts were fruit salad and chocolate mousse. It was delicious, especially he trout. It was also expensive, at about $100 for the two of us (no charge for Sidney), and we ended up eating on the floor. It was supposed to be served on the terrace patio, but it rained last night and the food was too good to get watered down by rain.

Now this is retro!

And from the part of the world that brought you ABBA (one member of the band was Norwegian, the others Swedish), we bring you our new piece of art! We picked this up at an antique store this week. It may be retro, but we think it looks cool, and that is what counts with art, right?!? It also matched the furniture somewhat, so that is also important.

Speaking of ABBA, they are still quite popular here. Popular enough that I actually heard a little girl (probably about 7 years old) singing an ABBA song the other day. Maybe it was just because of the Mamma Mia! popularity.



Sidney went to her Reception Year Induction at school yesterday. Reception year is on the same level as kindergarten in the U.S. She met her new teacher and new classmates. She will actually begin in August. She was very cute in her little bumble bee dress, so we included the gratuitous Sidney picture for your enjoyment here.

I also went to school yesterday. You see, I will be working at Sidney's school starting in August (provided I can complete all the work permit paperwork, etc.) I won't be practicing as a nurse, but will be working full-time with a little girl coming in from another country that needs full-time assistance. My class will actually be Sidney's sister class, so I will be there the same time she is every day.

Now a little on Norwegian bureaucracy - I have investigated practicing as a nurse here and found some obstacles. I would not necessarily have to learn Norwegian to get my authorization, but I would have to take a class about the national health system here which is only taught in Norwegian. Further, if I were to work in the local hospital, the charting would all be in Norwegian. Considering we will only be here 1 1/2 - 3 years, learning that much Norwegian would be almost impossible. Another little obstacle is that my current license is a U.S. license. Unless you have an E.U. license here, you have to go through verification of education (submit copies of all coursework, exams, etc., to ensure they meet the "standard") and work history (to ensure you worked enough to meet the "standard"). This can take five months on the short side, even if everything is in order (which it most likely won't be.) Needless to say, I am happy that I will be working an doing something that, while it is not "nursing", will at least use my nursing skills and talents.

And a little more regarding bureaucracy - beer here is just too expensive. What does this have to do with the government? The government imposes a "sin tax" on all alcohol sales. I understand the idea and actually agree with it on some levels. But when a beer costs $2 a bottle for the CHEAP beer at the grocery store, and $10 for a glass of CHEAP beer at a restaurant, that is just too much. Don't get me wrong - I am not a heavy drinker by any means. I MAYBE had two beers a week back in the U.S., and rarely drank more than two beers at any one time (even at parties), but with these prices, I can't afford to even do that in good conscience here. I know things are generally more expensive here, but it is just sad that we are a two hour flight from Frankfurt where you can get a case of 1/2 liter bottles of good beer for $12.

With that, there is the kind reminder to anyone that should come to visit - stop at the duty-free at the airport and by your limitation of alcohol for us! This is the custom here! You will also see every Norwegian on the plane buying their limit of alcohol at the duty-free as they return home.

Land of the Midnight Sun

Well, not really the sun, but there is still residual sunlight after midnight. This picture was taken this morning at a few minutes past midnight, and you can see how bright it still is. The sun rises in the Northeast, moves around to the south and sets in the Northwest. While it is below the horizon, it moves around the North, the whole while providing residual light, almost as much as a "false dawn", before re-emerging above the horizon. We are fortunate here, as just a bit further North the sun doesn't set from mid-May to mid-August.

The sun does not, however, correspond to daily life here. Almost everything is closed on Sunday. The exception are gas stations and most restaurants. The hours for everything else are also pretty short. Most grocery stores close at hours at 9-9 during the week at 10-6 on Saturday. Most regular stores are only open from 10 until 7 during the week. This is mostly because the Norwegians respect family time. It is also because there are very strict laws regarding overtime and working hours. While it isn't all bad as long as you plan appropriately, it does seem a bit strange for a city of this size to be completely "shut down" for such long periods.



Yesterday we did a little biking. We rode across the peninsula (from the fjord to the North Sea) and back. It was a very pleasant ride, and we did not push ourselves hard. Along the way we stopped at the memorial to the Alexander Kielland, a rig that sank in the North Sea in 1980. Several people were lost in the incident, and many of them were from here in Stavanger. The memorial consists of three massive links of chain, on of which is broken with the open part being to the sea, representing the lives torn away and lost there. There are also two plaques embedded on the rock below with the names of those lost.



After the hike, Sidney and I did a little fishing off the dock in front of our building. I have regularly seen people catching mackerel and cod there, so I wanted to give it a try. No license is required to fish in the fjord or the sea, and the preferred "bait" are lures, so it is a pretty cheap form of entertainment. We caught five mackerel (I threw the first back for good measure.) The largest was a female and was much larger that the males. We have looked up some mackerel recipes and will give them a try this week. If they are good, it could cut down on the grocery bill a little!

We were planning on doing the "Seven Nuts" hike this weekend, but decided not to try it. If you refer to an earlier blog entry, you see that we did Dalsnuten, which is one of the mountains across the fjord from us. There are actually seven peaks (nuts, pronounced NOOTS) on the other side, and there was an organized event this weekend to hike all seven in a row. The entire hike is about 18 kilometers. We decided we would take it a little easier this weekend, as we have been pretty busy almost every other weekend. We went to church this morning (we are attending the Anglican church here) and came home to rest this afternoon. We will, at some point, hike the seven nuts, but will probably enjoy it more when there aren't a bunch of other nuts trying it at the same time as us.

Ugly ducklings

And now the big announcement...

The swan couple has SEVEN chicks! And they are not really the ugly ducklings the old children's tale would have you believe. In fact, they are quite cute, as you can see in these photos. While they may not be the cute pale yellow of many duck chicks, they are a nice white or gray. They are also quite curious. The parents seemed to bring them by Sidney's school gathering at Vaulen beach yesterday to show them off. They swam up to the beach, came ashore a couple of times for photo ops, then swam away. We think they hatched some time this past weekend, based on when we have seen the swans on the island where the nest is. Additionally, Kimber reports that the swan nest in town no longer has eggs in it, meaning those have probably hatched now too.

As mentioned before, Sidney had a school outing at Vaulen Beach, which is within view of our apartment, yesterday. The kids all had great fun, but I would describe the scene as somewhere between controlled chaos and cat herding. It seems the only thing that can settle down a bunch of preschoolers is the offer of food. At one point, Sidney was having a snack with a few of her classmates. There were six nationalities of kids all sitting beside each other having a snack! This is one of the reasons we came here and also why we enrolled her at the British school. On a side note, Sidney is learning a few words with a British accent. One of her teachers is Ms. Janet, whom she calls "Ms. JOH-net", and today she said she wanted to get into the "cah" to go home. She also prefers "biscuits" for a snack.

A hearty welcome to the new blog followers and those just visiting regularly. Also, it was nice to meet those of you that attended the class at the Chamber in Stavanger today. I will be curious to see if your experiences are like ours.

Finally, another visitor is tying up at the pier next door this evening. She is the Boa Deep C, which is a sister ship to the Boa Sub C that was their previously. She came in slow. No idea what will be done or how long she will be here.

Our weekend in the "mountains"

Our visit to Sauda and Roldal was this past weekend, and it was very nice. I will try to post the blog entry in chronological order, but I may throw in a few things from time to time.

We had a wonderful drive up to Sauda. We took a total of three ferries along the way. Ferries are a part of life in many parts of Norway. With all the fjords, there is no way to build roads straight from one place to another. They aren't very expensive (in Norwegian terms), and they run pretty regularly from the scheduled locations. The rest of the drive was very scenic along fjords, through "mountains" (I put this in quotes because the tallest one we saw was still only about 1200 meters high), and a bit scary at times. The roads are very narrow, often only one lane around blind switchbacks and curves, and there are some places with tunnels that are not lit. Add to that the bicycle race going on this past weekend into Sauda, and it adds up to a high probability of an accident if one isn't careful.



We stopped for a picnic along the way, as is our habit. We ate near a spinnery, which serves now as a crafts center where people learn felting, basket weaving and other local arts. We also stopped at the site of an old stone bridge that is no longer in use. It was built around the turn of the century. It is pictured here.

When we arrived in Sauda, the bike race was still going on. The participants rode over 160 km from the coast all the way to the mountains, and some of the hills looked wicked! We walked around town for a little, thinking we would get a chance later to go back to do a little extra shopping for our picnics for the next few days, but were surprised when everything closed at 4 p.m. (except a few restaurants.) Apparently the closings were in relation to the "Sauda Days" celebration. We also had a little problem at check-in at our hotel as the first person at the reception desk didn't speak English and he and the next person to help couldn't figure out we had a reservation. I had visions of being 120 miles from home with nowhere to stay, but then saw my name in their guest register and pointed it out to them.





We ate dinner at a Italian/Turkish/Indian restaurant and the food was very good. The only problem was there was too much to choose from on the menu! After dinner, we went to Svandalsfossen, a waterfall just outside Sauda. The waterfalls produce a lot of mist, and we wore our raincoats to keep from being soaked. Sidney was tired of walking after the falls, so we drove up to a little farm called Tviettunet, which boasted these sod-roofed buildings with pansies growing on them. The buildings were closed, but the buildings were very nice with the flowers on them.

We went back to our hotel to "settle down", but found our hotel also has a pub that serves outdoors as well. The band playing the Sauda Days dance was also staying there, and the laughing and talking carried on well into the morning. The good thing is that the mountains actually seemed to make it a little darker there, so sleep was a little easier.





We got up early Sunday morning and went down for breakfast. The buffet was the typical Norwegian hotel breakfast buffet, with cold cuts, cheeses, bread, spreads, boiled eggs, pickled herring, mackerel and sardines, cereal, juice, milk, coffee (bad), yogurt and a few other odds and ends. After breakfast, we headed up the Roldal road, which is soon to be a National road in Norway because of its natural beauty. Beauty aside, this road is amazing for the mere fact that they built a road through an area that gets more snow than most other places in Europe! It usually opens some time in May or June and closes during the winter. As you can see in these pictures, there is still quite a bit of snow in the area, even though temperatures in the valleys were near 70 degrees. The road was also very winding and steep in many places, again much of it being one lane. Oh, I almost forgot our "detour" to a dam on the way up. There was a turn-off that showed a tourist attraction labeled "dam", which did turn out to be a dam, as well as a lake (which was refilling with snow-melt water, and an old ski jump, which looked very frightening. There were several cabins, and about 10 cows that felt like hanging out in the middle of the one lane road. We also passed through a herd of goats as we got onto the really mountainous part of the road. I will talk about another "wildlife" experience in a bit.




We made it down the mountains alive, and went through one of the strangest tunnels ever at the bottom. This tunnel actually corkscrews through the mountain. The exit is below where the entrance is on the mountain. Once in Roldal, we stopped at the stave church. For those of you that have been to Epcot, the stave church reproduction there can't compare to the real thing. This one has apparently been around since the 1300's and the interior was decorated in the 1600's. Services were going on, so we didn't get to see the inside, but the church provided a nice backdrop for our Sunday picnic.




After looking around Roldal a bit, and after some yummy desserts from a local cafe, we went for a hike that was described to us as "only steep for the first 200 meters or so." It was only 2 kilometers long, but was steep for about 1500 of that. It went up a mountain and through a sheep pasture, ending up near another old farm no longer in use. We would have possibly taken the circuitous route back, but weren't sure about the path on the other side, as there were waterfalls coming off that mountain and the path was not as apparent. It was a nice walk, but it tired us of walking for the day. On the way down, I said hello to a few of the less timid sheep.







On the drive back, we decided to stop and get some pictures that would give some perspective on the depth of the snow. This is our car parked on the opposite side of the road as the snow, and another picture of Kimber standing beside the snowbank. Notice the wooden poles in the car picture. Those are so the snowplow can tell where the edge of the road is when it really is snowing. See how high they are? There was actually a tractor doing some snow removal as the snow was melting enough to fall onto the roadway and disrupt traffic in areas. Imagine coming around the corner on a one lane road in a blind curve and finding an excavator facing you head on!



We also stopped to enjoy some cool, clear snow-melt water. I stepped into the wrong place and went up to my hip in the snow. You don't often get to see me in the blog, so Kimber was kind enough to get this so you could see. We let Sidney dip her feet into a pool of the water because it looked so inviting, but she didn't think that was very cool. Actually, she thought it was way too cool! The water was beautiful and clear, and I had a little drink. Nope, no cryptosporidium or other problems in this stuff!

We made it back into Sauda and had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was not bad, and the prices were better than most we have found so far, with main courses around $15. We went to the room afterward to get some sleep, but the pub outside was loud again. I finally went down and spoke with the manager around 11 p.m., and he took care of the problem. Other than the noise, the hotel was not bad and was centrally located in town.







Another round of the breakfast buffet on Monday (Monday was a holiday here - Whit Monday, hence the reason Kimber was off), then on to more hiking. We went along a trail that went to an abandoned zinc mine. The trail was flat most of the way, but provided some excellent views of the river, waterfalls, and old mine ruins. You can see some old support pillars for tracks in one of these pictures. You also see Kimber and Sidney at the entrance to the mine tunnel. There are guided tours of the mine after June 15th, but we were a bit early for those. The walk was nice though.




We left Sauda to come back home, but stopped along the way for one more hike, this time to Jona farm. This was a farm that has been in this family since the 1600's, and is the site of an early hydro-electric facility and a water-powered saw. There are a couple of pictures here of these things. We also did a little more hiking up the mountain, but the climb was very steep and the ground was saturated. It reminded me of some areas in Alaska with mushy bogs and swamps. The landscape here actually is similar to Alaska or the Pacific Northwest, and the mountains are reminiscent of Yosemite, but while the land is rugged, it doesn't have the "wild" trait that many parts of the West or Alaska have. The only "wildlife" we have encountered so far on our hikes were a few neat birds and three snakes. Kimber actually picked up a snake on the Jona farm hike, played with it, let Sidney pet it, etc. Some other hikers happened along about that time and when she showed them the snake, they freaked! They told her to put it down immediately, as it was the only dangerous type of snake in Norway. (Norwegians call it a hoggurm, it is a type of viper.) They said she was lucky not to have been bit. Other than the zig-zag markings on his back, he looked like the typical garter snake. This is the second one of these I have seen here, and we did see a garter snake as well, as mentioned in an earlier post.

We came home, and after a nice drive and three ferry rides, found out the Vikings were playing a televised game at home. We were able to watch all the people come in and enjoy the game in the comfort of our living room. We could tell when something exciting was about to happen on t.v. because there was a 5 second delay in the broadcast, and we would hear the roar of the crowd just before it happened on t.v. The Vikings lost 4-0, and they are quickly slipping down to last place in the league.



We also found a new visitor to our next-door port. The Sandpiper is a Panamanian-flagged vessel that looks like a pipe-laying ship. She was here, apparently, to get a new crane on the deck, and she left this morning. No idea when the other ship that was here last week left, but I was a little surprised to see her gone. But like I told Sidney, if they are sitting here in port, they aren't making any money, so they try to get them in and out as quickly as possible.

The next post will have pictures and events from Sidney's day at the beach with her class. And as a little teaser, there will be big news regarding our swans here at our apartment marina!

A new visitor...

While we were preparing for breakfast this morning, I noticed a new visitor preparing to pull into the dock next door. The Betty Knutsen looks like a processing ship or tanker, and by the looks of it, she may be here a little while. She is quite a bit longer than the last ship, but not quite as tall. Notice the tug boat in the lower left of the photo, though, to get a size perspective.


The weather has been a little strange this week. We have had rain and wind. There has actually been enough rain to make waterfalls flow down the mountains on the other side of the fjord. Of course with the rain comes rainbows, such as the one seen here. It almost looks like it is coming out of the building in front of ours. Notice the amount of light - this picture was taken at 10 p.m.

We have noticed a few things that are very different here. This is a growing town. Constantly growing. That means constant construction. That means constant road construction. Roads here are a little different in that they don't use poured concrete curbs. They use granite blocks about a meter long and 10 cm wide, usually about 15 cm deep. They take great care in placing these blocks, usually with one person that will level the blocks individually and ensure proper alignment. It seems to be a time-consuming process, but it looks nice when it is finished.

Therein lies the problem. They are never finished. It seems that as soon as they finish one section, they come along and rip part of it back up and do something else. The result is a very bumpy ride and lots of construction barricades.

They also seem to take things that look perfectly fine and redo them. At a grocery store where we shop sometimes there was a paver walkway that was level and looked pretty nice. Yesterday, we saw that it had been ripped up and they were putting asphalt in its place. I have no clue why they would do this.

I have also determined that the national bird of Norway must be the crane, as there are "cranes" everywhere. Construction cranes, that is.

We are traveling "inland" to the mountains this weekend and will have a post next week about our trip.

Another wonderful hike...

Yesterday we hiked to Manafossen waterfall and the Man farm beyond it. The pictures do not do it justice. The waterfall falls 92 meters (about 300 feet) and is absolutely spectacular when viewed from the mountainside across from it. The hike itself was somewhat challenging as the rocks were very wet and quite steep in some places, as you can see from the picture of Kimber and Sidney here.



The hike was worth it, though, as the views in addition to the waterfall were spectacular. In the next two pictures, you see an area we passed along the way I referred to as the "fairy garden", as it was lush, green, full of moss, rocks and trees and the sunlight was just so. The second picture shows the view of the dale in which Man farm was located.
















We had one of our hiking/biking picnics of sandwiches and fruit at the farm, which of course Sidney enjoyed. As you can see, though, she likes to take her sandwiches apart and eat the inside only, or on just one slice of bread - Norwegian style.



After the picnic, we hiked back, making a stop at some rapids and a flume on the river. It, too, was very impressive. The water in the river comes from snow/glacial melt up on the mountains, as well as rainfall. There had been rain this week, so there were waterfalls galore and the river was really flowing well.



After hiking back down, we traveled on to a local favorite - the Candle Factory at Byrkjedal. It is located at a crossroad along the way to a popular skiing area. There are lots of different candles, traditional Norwegian crafts, an art studio, restaurant and even cabins for rent. Kids can dip their own candles, as Sidney (with Kimber's help) is doing in the next picture. After the candle dipping, we had a light snack of cake, and Sidney had ice cream. You can tell she really liked it, can't you? I thought the shirt was very appropriate for the moment.





We continued along our journey to an area called Gloppedal. Ten thousand years ago, a glacier deposited massive boulders into a scree called a moraine in this valley. A moraine is a natural dam. The water then backed up behind the dam, forming a little lake in the valley. The boulders really are massive, some as large as cottages. The area was also the site of heavy fighting in World War II between German and Norwegian forces. The Norwegians were able to fortify themselves among the boulders and held the Germans off for quite some time, all the while enduring aerial raids and hostile ground fire. The Norwegians finally capitulated after their supply lines were disrupted. During the battle, only one Norwegian soldier was lost, whereas German casualties were quite heavy.





The drive was also part of the adventure, as the twisting road along the mountainside is only one lane in many places. Speeds are anywhere between 35 and 55 mph, and many of the curves are blind. Fortunately, we didn't meet much oncoming traffic, and were able to see them in plenty of time to react. There were also several tunnels, some of which were either dimly lit or not lit at all. The longest of the tunnels was just at three miles long. There are actually lots of people that bicycle these roads and tunnels!

Our next big adventure is scheduled for next weekend, when we plan on visiting an area REALLY up in the mountains. The road there is usually closed until about this time of the year because of snow, so we should be in for a treat. We plan on taking the bikes and trailer, but we may reconnoiter the ride in the car before attempting it.