Live from York

Just a quick update - I'm writing this from York. I'm having a great time. It is beautiful here. Everyone you turn are beautiful old buildings. And so many great stores. They have the Gap and Borders, for example....

The apartment we rented is really nice. It's nicer than our house, actually, and in a great location. I'm so glad we decided to rent it. The people staying in the dorms are hating it.

The course that we're taking is fabulous. All of the professors are so good, and everything is so interesting.

And one last thing - the food here. I can get English muffins, and good sharp Cheddar cheese. And in the sandwich shop next to the school, they sell individual sized custard pies!

What a dad

I'm leaving for York in just a few hours, but I wanted to write one last blog praising my husband. It occurred to me today that if Gaute was leaving for 2 weeks and leaving me alone with the kids right now, I would be doing a lot of complaining. Especially considering the fact that we are responsible for planning a "European evening" for Espen's class on Tuesday. But Gaute has not said one word. If anyone has been complaining, it has been me, because I have so much to do before I leave.

Gaute is taking it all in stride, and I think he's looking forward to being alone with the kids for 2 weeks. This morning he changed Espen's sheets and discovered that the stitching was coming undone on his duvet. He then whipped out the sewing machine and fixed it. I've been looking at that stitching for a long time, without ever doing anything about it.

I'm looking forward to my trip. I am really going to miss everyone, but I am not worried about them. They're in good hands.

And the latest....

Espen had is 6 week checkup after his surgery. They confirmed what we had already noticed - that his eyes are worse now than they were one week after his surgery. His eyes don't point inwards anymore, but slightly outwards. And he's still seeing double. It's about the same degree as before his surgery, but the opposite. Before, he saw most double when looking down, now it's worse when he's looking up.

Once again, they're telling us that they don't understand why this is happening...

At this point, they don't see any immediate danger, so they want to just wait a while and see how it goes. He has a new appointment on December 18 with the head of the department. Hopefully, he'll figure out something. They still don't know what is causing this, though, which I don't like. Now Gaute and I are wondering if maybe they should do the MRI and all of those good tests again to see if anything new shows up. We'll wait to talk to the doctor in December, though.

The good news is that Espen is feeling great and doesn't really see what the problem is. He is managing just fine - he doesn't even realize that he often tilts his head backwards to see better. The opthamologist who saw him today mentioned first that he might need prism glasses and he was all ready with all of the reasons that this is not a problem for him. After testing him, she decided that the glasses wouldn't help, though, since his vision changes so much depending on which direction he looks in.

We'll see what happens...It would have been so nice if everything was fixed by that one operation...

Yorkshire

The day has nearly arrived for my big excursion to York, England. All of the students from my English class are going to be spending two weeks there, at the Norwegian Study Centre. During the last few weeks I have been dreading the trip more and more, mostly because I don't want to be away from the kids for that long, but also because I've had a lot going on with school, and have felt pretty overwhelmed. Yesterday I finished the last paper which was due before my trip, and finally felt like I could start thinking about going. And now I'm pretty excited.

Everyone who has been to York says that it is beautiful. It is, apparently, the second most visited city in England after London. I'm travelling with four women from my class who I have a lot of fun with. We're renting a car together, which means that I get to try out driving on the left side of the road :-O. We have also rented an apartment together - Click on Riversmead on the lefthandside of the page - that's where we're staying.

We're going to be there for two weeks with a car and an apartment. We can drive around and explore a bit of the countryside. We can also go to the grocery stores and buy food - I think that will be pretty fun. Not to mention hanging out at pubs. Our apartment has a washing machine, too - yea!

Yesterday I bought Wuthering Heights which I'm going to read again. I'm finally going to see the Yorkshire moors.

I'm going to miss my family, and I'm sure they'll miss me, too. My cell phone bill will undoubtedly be huge. But now I'm looking forward to, rather than dreading my trip!