Phew....

Johan's 7th birthday party just ended. Twelve 7-year old boys....it was lively....The great thing was that now that we have the basement for ourselves, we had a place to put them! We had the legos and Playmobil down there, as well as a CD player. They had a dance contest to Radio/Video by System of a Down - and it was really fun!

But now, it's Friday night, the party is over, and it's the weekend....

My friend, the Nobel Peace Prize winner

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my friend Karen's house on Saturday. Karen is a geography professor here at the University of Oslo. That I knew. I also knew that she does a lot of research on climate change. But I did not realize that she is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and one of the lead authors of the report they issued this year. You know, the IPCC, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.... Albeit, the report had many authors and the IPCC has thousands of members, but she has still played a part in winning this prize. And she is considered one of the winners! Just had to brag a little bit about her...

We had a great time at her house on Saturday night, also. Karen is a great cook, as are all of my other friends who brought yummy things with them. I literally haven't felt so full in years. Couldn't even finish my pumpkin pie!

Christmas programs

Anders and Johan had their Christmas programs this week. Anders' was on Thursday evening. The 4th graders had a great reenactment of the Titanic disaster. It was really impressive - they've been practicing for several months, and it showed.




Johan's school program was a more traditional one where the 2nd graders sang Christmas songs and did some little dances. It was in the morning when school started, and I couldn't be there since I had an exam that started at 9:00. Gaute was there, though, and took pictures!

Final tomorrow

I have a 6-hour English final tomorrow - yikes! Everytime I mention that I have a test in English or a paper due, I get comments like "Oh, that must be easy for you, since it's English". I realize that's true, and I don't have to think so much about the actual language when I'm writing. But I still have to know what I'm writing about! So, basically, the moral of this little story is that I hope I get a good grade on this final, but I don't want it to be taken for granted....

Tonight Anders and the rest of the 4th-graders are performing a musical about the Titanic which they've been working on for the last several months. The 4th-graders last year performed the same play, and I hear it was great. And this year they've added more, so it should be really fun. I'll try to take lots of pictures to post here.

On Saturday we're celebrating Thanksgiving. Since it's not a holiday here, it doesn't seem so strange to be celebrating it so late. I have a group of 4 American friends who are all married to Norwegian men (actually, Janine's husband is British) and we each have 3 kids roughly the same age. We've started celebrating Thanksgiving together the last few years, and it's really a lot of fun. This year we'll be at Karen's house, and all together there will be 9 adults and 15 children!

Finished project :-D

Finally, finally, finally. Last night at 8:00 we finally finished this project we've been working on. My life has been consumed with this for the last 10 days or so, and I am sooo happy to be finished with it. Maybe I can start sleeping again.

This project is for my social studies class. We were supposed to be in a group of 3-4 people and create a presentation for the rest of the class having something to do with garbage/waste/recycling. We decided to do something about plastic and how that is recycled and what they do with it. So far, so good. Another aspect of the project was that they wanted us to use some form of audio visual equipment in the presentation, and we had a short course about film editing, so we decided to make a film. Still not a project which is undoable. But then the whole project just spiraled out of control. One of the people in my group had big plans, and every time we (I) tried to say that maybe we should make things a little easier on ourselves, she wouldn't take no for an answer. The third girl in our group complained when were by ourselves, but wouldn't stand up to the one who had the big plans. We ended up making all of these figures for the film, and doing a ton of editing and it took forever. And we're not even being graded on this project - it's pass/fail!

BUT - now it's done, and, I have to admit, we have learned a lot...We ended up with a 25 minute film. On Monday we're going to present it to the rest of the class.

And then on Friday I have a 6 hour English exam. And then on Monday, 3 days after that, I have an 45 minute oral exam in English where we have to discuss how we would teach a certain topic that we are presented with. And then that Friday I have a 6 page paper due based on this social studies project we just finished. And then it's Christmas vacation!!!

Way to go, Gaute!

We've had an old ski box lying around for a few years. And after our renter moved out downstairs, we have the oven that he was using to get rid of, too. Yesterday, Gaute put ads for them onto a popular online site. Yesterday, we sold the ski box (for about $55) and just now, he sold the oven for about $75. And the people come here, pick them up, and pay in cash!

Time to start looking around the house for more stuff we can sell...

Poor Anders

Anders is sick today. He threw up in his bed last night, and one time this morning. He's been lying on the sofa, half asleep all day. Poor little guy. The stomach flu has been making its way through his class, so I'm not too surprised, but it's never fun. Hopefully, he'll be feeling better by tomorrow. And, hopefully, the rest of us won't get it (yeah, right...).

Watch this video

My favorite blogger, Dooce, posted a link to this video on her site, and Johan and I just watched it. It is really cool - check it out!

Busy, busy

I haven't had time to write on my blog lately, because I've been working on a group project. It's a project about recycling plastic, and it's interesting, but it's taking way too much time. It's making me crazy!!!

I can't wait for Christmas vacation....

Tuesday

Not much going on today...I don't have any regular classes today, but at 2:00 I have an AV-kurs. It's a course where we get "certified" to use the audio-visual equipment at the college, something we need to do because we're working on a project about recycling which is to culminate in a presentation. We're supposed to be learning about video editing today, which could be interesting. Unfortunately, I've been to similar courses at good old Oslo University College, and my expectations are not high.

I'm going to call soon and make an appointment for Anders and Johan to get their hair cut this evening. They have both been begging me to get their hair cut as it's getting in their eyes and annoying them. And, being the good mom that I am, I only waited about a month before deciding that I would make that appointment.

Cabin Weekend

First off - it seems like Annika's husband is doing a lot better now.

We had a fun weekend at the cabin. We were only there for about 24 hours, but it's amazing how it really feels like we've had a mini vacation. I love it up there, especially when the weather was as gorgeous as it was. We haven't had any snow in Oslo yet, but up there there was a bit of snow on the ground. The boys were LOVING it!

Finally got my Sun Valley poster framed and hung up!




Anders' bag that he had packed to take with him. With his climbing rope and tooth fairy pillow.




Snowball fight out on the deck.



The climbing rope came in handy!




First tracks...




Johan wanted to take a picture of me :-)



Back home to dark, foggy Oslo.

Change of plans

Since I'm writing this blog right now, then you probably realize that I'm not on a train on my way to eastern Sweden (although they probably have internet on the train now).

Annika called this morning and said that her husband was really sick last night. He was going to go to the doctor today, and she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to go after all. He wanted her to go anyway, so we went ahead with our plans. We met at the train station a half hour before we the train was supposed to leave. Just then her husband called and said the doctor wanted to admit him to the hospital. She felt like she wanted to stay here to be with him, and I'm glad she did, because it wouldn't have been the same kind of trip if she had been worried about him the whole time. They're worried about him because he's been sick a lot this fall and really rundown and they're thinking the big scary C. But it could be that he just has a bad urine infection. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

So, anyway, now I'm going to go up to the cabin this weekend with Gaute and the boys. We're leaving tomorrow morning, so it'll just be a short trip, but I'm looking forward to it.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan was fantastic last night. It was one of the best productions I have ever seen, with Peter Pan and Wendy flying across the stage. We had such a good time! (And by the way, I think Gaute wants me to mention that when I was in York last year, he took Anders and Johan to the theater!)

I'm off to Sweden tomorrow. I have a Swedish friend, Ulrika, who moved back to Sweden this summer, and another I and another Swedish friend, Annika, are going to visit her this weekend. We're taking the train there - leaving tomorrow afternoon and coming back Sunday evening. She lives south of Stockholm - I think the train ride is about 5-6 hours. I'm really looking forward to it!

Gaute and the boys are headed up to the cabin while I'm gone. It's been snowing up there, and I think the boys are excited about throwing some snowballs around. Here's the link to our webcam up there.

November 14

Today Anders, Johan and I are going to the theater. We're going to see Peter Pan. A whole group of us from Johan's class are going together, so it should be a lot of fun. The production has gotten good reviews, and it's always fun to go see a play. Espen's not going because he has football practice, and Gaute's not going because he'd rather stay home :-). They're not quite as in to the whole theater thing as me and the little guys. Their loss...

The latest on Espen

Gaute took Espen to the hospital on Friday for a checkup with the surgeon who did his operation. And she said everything looked pretty good. He was able to focus his eyes together when looking at things close up, which was the primary goal of the surgery, and he was able to focus them better when looking at things at a distance as well. Still not a hundred percent, but definitely a good result. The only bad news is that she wants us to put this ointment in his eyes at night to keep them lubricated, and Espen refuses to do it, so it's a struggle every night. He is quite a stubborn little guy. It is so much fun....

Almost Molly's birthday

My little sister Molly is turning 22 on Monday, and I'm dedicating this blog entry to her.

Molly was not even 2-years-old when I went away to college, so we've never lived together. Since there is a 16-year age difference, you would think that we didn't have much in common and didn't speak to each other very often. But we do.

Molly spent the summer with us here in Norway, and it was so much fun. We did lots of fun stuff (despite the worst summer weather in 40 years, or something like that), and we all miss having her around. She has been talking a bit about coming back and staying here again next year, and we were all so excited!

I love you and miss you, Molly, and I hope you have a fantastic birthday!!

Rainy Thursday evening

I was going to go on a walk this evening, but it's pouring rain, so I decided not to. Except I'm thinking that I probably should anyway (isn't that why they invented rain clothes?)...So, I decided to put off the decision and post a new entry to my world-famous blog.

Except, I don't really have much to say, except that it's raining and I'm not walking...

I know, I'll make a plug for my very, very favorite blog of all time - dooce.com. If for some reason any of you have not checked out Dooce yet, then DO IT NOW! It's the first thing I read when I turn on my computer every day.

Now, I'm going to go look for my rain boots.

Ut på tur, aldri sur

A common saying in Norwegian is "ut på tur, aldri sur" - roughly translated - out on a hike (skiing, biking, etc.), never sad. For most Norwegians, spending their Sundays out in the forest is an important part of their week. And as good Norwegians (or wannabe Norwegians) we try to adhere to this as often as possible.

This last Sunday, we even got Kari and Grim to go with us. The weather was gorgeous - a nice crisp fall day. We weren't alone out there, but we ended up at a little lake by ourselves. Kari and Grim had taken donuts with them, and I had made shortbread cookies and hot chocolate, so we had a nice little picnic up there.



We went on a hike two weeks ago, also. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out last weekend, because it was pouring rain, and, more importantly, Gaute and I went to a party Saturday night and were pretty tired on Sunday. The week before that, we hiked up to the top of a hill not so far from our house.

Blogger is having some problems right now, so I can't upload the pictures from that day, but I'll try to do it later.

Johan the nerd

Johan put on a pair of Gaute's old glasses and did his best to look like a nerd. He did a pretty good job....

Halloween