Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cute pictures




I didn't take these pictures, the mom of one of Anders' friends did. They were taken at a football tournament Anders played in a few weekends ago. It was super hot that day, and all of the kids had been dunking their heads under water to keep cool. I love these pictures of them eating popsicles.



Monday, June 16, 2008

Street urchins

The kids' clothes are not looking great these days. I've been trying to put off buying them things, because I know that in California everything costs about half what it does here in Oslo. Thus, Anders is going around with big holes in his tennis shoes. Gaute decided to go all out with the white trash look yesterday when he DUCK-TAPED the holes on Saturday!



Espen has grown out of just about everything he owns, so he will basically be getting an entire new wardrobe this summer. I think I will scream if I see him in his black fleece sweatpants one more time! I tried to take a picture of him yesterday, but I all I got was, "Talk to the hand!"



Our warm, beautiful summer weather is gone. The huge amounts of sunshine we got the last few weeks, followed now by the rain has resulted in gorgeous flowers in the yard, though.



Friday, June 13, 2008

Goalie



Johan had a football game last night, and he started the game in his favorite postion, goalie. He was goalie in their very first game this season, and he did such a great job that he quickly became known as the best goalie in the 2nd grade :-). So now he makes sure that he's goalie at least one half of each game.

But, although I didn't get a picture of it, he managed to score his first goal of the season last night as well!!

The end of an era




Wednesday evening Espen's class had a type of graduation/party to celebrate the end of elementary school. It was in the teacher's lounge at the school. It was arranged by the parents and the two of the classes teachers were also there. It was a dinner - one long table with all of the kids in the class and smaller tables scattered around for the parents. We had a buffet, and there were speeches and sketches as well as singing and guitar- and piano playing. Finally, the kids each received a fantastic album one of the moms put together with pictures from 1st grade until now. It was a great evening - lasted about 3 hours. These kids have gone in the same class for 7 years, and I think it's a bit strange for them that they'll be split up next year in middle school. Exciting, but strange.









Tuesday, June 10, 2008

I thought being done with school would mean that I would have tons of free time to get the house organized, have lunch with friends and stuff like that. So far, it doesn't seem to be working quite like I had planned. I have put off so much, just waiting until I was done with finals, that I now have quite a backlash I need to take care of. Much more fun than studying for exams, though!!

Last night was Anders' summer program. We went out into the forest up behind the school, and the kids explained some of the cultural history of the area and performed some short sketches. We ended up at a lake where we all sat down and ate our picnic dinners. It was a fun evening - and luckily the weather cooperated. We've had really warm, nice weather in the 80's (it's humid here, so 85 feels really warm!), but it's starting to cool off now. Yesterday it kept looking like it was going to rain, but luckily none came. Forest fires are starting to pop up here in southeastern Norway, so a bit of rain wouldn't be a bad thing...



Friday, June 06, 2008

I'm done!!!!!

I'm officially a teacher! I had my last final today - and I got an A! I am so incredibly happy to be done... I can hardly believe it...

And now it's Friday evening - 84 degrees outside - and I'm headed out in about an hour to a friend's 40th birthday party. And I bought myself a new outfit after I finished my final, so I'm feeling goooood!!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

I'm on the website!

I just looked at the website for Ekeberg School. They just updated it and changed the whole look. If you look under praktisk informasjon and then ansatte, you will see my name under teachers for the 2nd grade (scroll down a little bit). I feel like it's even more official now!

The bad thing is that the teachers in Oslo are still on strike, so I still haven't gotten in there to meet anyone or anything like that...Hopefully the strike will be over before we leave for California!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Blogs everywhere these days...

My stepmom, Mary, has a blog now, too! Interesting enough blog, Mary, but I'm just wondering when you're going to start writing about soccer!!! ;-)

Only 2 more days

My last final is on Friday, at 9:45 in the morning. When that's done, then I'm done. I will officially be a teacher!! I am so excited to be done with college. Looking forward to a spring with no finals.... Everyone keeps telling me that these last 4 years have gone by quickly, and they have in a lot of ways, but in other ways I feel like I've been studying for tests or writing papers forever.

For those of you who think I talk way too much about football, you can stop reading here :-D. Tonight Lyn is playing against the local team, Korsvoll, right up the street at our local soccer field. In addition to the football series in Norway, they also have a tournament. While in the series, teams play against other teams in their same league, in the tournament, teams from different leagues can play against each other. Thus, Lyn, which is in the elite league is going to be playing against Korsvoll, which is in the 2nd division league (the 1st division is between the two leagues). Whoever wins the game goes on to the next game in the tournament, and the winner is out of the running. Lyn will undoubtedly win tonight, but it will be a fun game, regardless.

Monday, June 02, 2008

They won!

Lyn won last night, 2-0. It was a great game!

An update - I got tickets to see Coldplay!! They're coming to Oslo in September. Tickets went on sale at 9 this morning, and after waiting for about an hour to get into the website, I finally got in and got tickets. Almost everything was sold out (!) but I managed to find some seats for me and Gaute and Espen. I can't wait - Coldplay is one of my very favorite bands!

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Big game tonight

Tonight Lyn is playing against their arch-rival, Vålerenga. Vålerenga hasn't won a game against Lyn since 1981, despite the fact that they are nearly always doing better in the series. Lyn and Vålerenga are the two top teams in Oslo, so this is a pretty big game. We're going, of course :-).

Last night we had my friend Maria over with her two kids (her husband was out of town). Her two boys are 8 and 6 and get along really well with Anders and Johan. The weather was gorgeous and we barbecued and stayed outside until 10:00. Norway when the weather is nice is pretty hard to beat!