I had a rather strange experience this morning on my walk to work. I live a fairly healthy 20 minutes from my office (part of the reason I spend soooo many hours here!) and as I was walking this morning I began to notice big splashes of water on the sidewalk around the trees. At first I actually thought someone had hosed the trees off, and that it was just dripping from that. As I continued on, however, I realized that all the trees were dripping. Then I saw the ice, flowing down from the tips of all the branches. It was so odd to experience raining trees.
That really is the main reason I felt like writing on here. Just to share about the trees. Sometimes it's so easy to come up with something to write about, and other times I realize it has been ages since I've had anything to say.
I'm sure most of you know by now that I have decided to stay here in Cheb for another year. I'm still a bit befuddled by the decision myself, but I really feel like this is what God has for me at this point in time.
While I often find myself contemplating the future, wondering if I'll ever be settled down somewhere, living a more standardized life, I'm so thankful for all the random experiences I've been blessed to have. I don't know what will come from day to day, but it teaches me to rely ever more on God. Without him, I really would have nothing to show for this strange and transient life I lead.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
A week to decide
The finish line is in my sights. I have only a week left to go back and forth about my plans for next year. As of next Monday I must sign in with my official decision whether to stick it out another year, or head back to the great confusion which is life in the United States.
At this point I must say, rather surprisingly, that I'm leaning toward staying. While there is a great possibility that most of the people I've grown really close to so far will not be returning next year, God has really been reminding me that He is the one in control. He knows the things that I am able to bear, and will not put me in a situation that is beyond my abilities. Besides, I think there is still a lot of work for me to do here. It has been said, over and over again, the Spring is the time of year when relationships begin to really open up with students, and I'm really hoping that's true. I feel like, thus far, I haven't really had a chance to get to know them at all beyond the confines of the classroom, and I really would like to. I think often, by showing the ability to commit, people become more open to the idea of really getting to know the foreigners who have seemingly invaded their world. I would like to have a chance to develop some of these friendships, and I really don't see much of any way to do that if I leave after only one school year.
I still haven't set anything in stone just yet, and would definitely appreciate all the prayers I can get at this juncture. In my life of constant change and revision, the thought of even momentary stability is rather nice, albeit fleeting. So if you think of me at all this week, please pray that I'll know for sure the direction I'm meant to lean.
At this point I must say, rather surprisingly, that I'm leaning toward staying. While there is a great possibility that most of the people I've grown really close to so far will not be returning next year, God has really been reminding me that He is the one in control. He knows the things that I am able to bear, and will not put me in a situation that is beyond my abilities. Besides, I think there is still a lot of work for me to do here. It has been said, over and over again, the Spring is the time of year when relationships begin to really open up with students, and I'm really hoping that's true. I feel like, thus far, I haven't really had a chance to get to know them at all beyond the confines of the classroom, and I really would like to. I think often, by showing the ability to commit, people become more open to the idea of really getting to know the foreigners who have seemingly invaded their world. I would like to have a chance to develop some of these friendships, and I really don't see much of any way to do that if I leave after only one school year.
I still haven't set anything in stone just yet, and would definitely appreciate all the prayers I can get at this juncture. In my life of constant change and revision, the thought of even momentary stability is rather nice, albeit fleeting. So if you think of me at all this week, please pray that I'll know for sure the direction I'm meant to lean.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Finishing the weekend
I just realized I didn't finish posting for my trip. We continued on with the tour through the lakes and mountains district, listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack and singing along. Fortunately they're mostly fairly well known songs, so it wasn't to hard to join in on "Do a deer." We spent about an hour in the last village among the lakes where the big church they used for the wedding scene was. Whilst there we had a chance to sample some Austrian cuisine. I learned that it's very similar to Czech Cuisine, seeing as how they were once one country. Still, I enjoyed my cheese strudel, and felt very at one with some of Austria's favorite things.
Our little guide took us back to the Mirabell Gardens and from their we went on our second tour to the Salt mines just outside of Salzburg. We had a nice ride up into the Alps once again. This time we were the only people in the van, so we got some interesting history, and had a chance to see one of the palaces Hitler decided should be his during the occupation. We then made our way to the mines. There are some amazing wooden slides we had to go down, and in order to preserve the quality of our clothing we had to wear some pretty stylin' outfits.
The tour was quite interesting, although I zoned out through some of it. Lots of information about how they leech the salt out of the rocks. I think the most interesting bit was getting to ride in a boat across one of the underground lakes where they are processing the salt. After the tour we returned to our hostel, tired and hungry from a day of traipsing through the Alps. We asked for a recommendation of where to eat, and the guy at the counter sent us on quite a hike. We did get some lovely views along the way, however.
As disappointing as it may seem, upon learning that Czech and Austrian cuisine were so closely related I ended up eating fried cheese for dinner. I just had to see if they could make it as good in Austria as they do in Czech. For the record, it was awfully good. All I can say is, American mozzarella sticks are nowhere near as good as Smazny Syr! After dinner we came back and relaxed for our final night in the hostel.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early, rushing to pack up and see the last couple of sights. Naturally the weather was AMAZING today. We were tempted to stay later in the day, but the early morning train was our cheapest option, and we didn't want to miss it. Besides, I had lesson planning to do because Mondays are my busiest days of the week. We did enjoy watching the sun rising over the Alps, even if we weren't anyplace where we could take good photos of it.
We made our way into Old Town in order to find the birthplace of Mozart. Seeing as how this is his town, we thought we should at least hit up his most famous sights. After wandering almost to the end of the best shopping district in town, I was feeling quite frustrated at not having been able to spot it. We ran across a man who obviously worked in one of the very closed restaurants (not much is open at 7 AM on a Sunday morning) and we asked him if he could tell us how to find the house.
"It's very difficult," he said. "You turn around the way you came, walk about 150 meters, and it's #9 on the right."
come to find out we'd been standing right next to it when Nicole had stopped to tie her shoe. I just thought it was on the other side of the street. Ah well. We got our photos and moved on to the house where he lived. It wasn't nearly as eye catching, so I'm only putting up a photo of the Geburtshaus.
We still had plenty of time to make it back to our train, and proceeded to have a lovely sunny ride back to Czech.
Our little guide took us back to the Mirabell Gardens and from their we went on our second tour to the Salt mines just outside of Salzburg. We had a nice ride up into the Alps once again. This time we were the only people in the van, so we got some interesting history, and had a chance to see one of the palaces Hitler decided should be his during the occupation. We then made our way to the mines. There are some amazing wooden slides we had to go down, and in order to preserve the quality of our clothing we had to wear some pretty stylin' outfits.
The tour was quite interesting, although I zoned out through some of it. Lots of information about how they leech the salt out of the rocks. I think the most interesting bit was getting to ride in a boat across one of the underground lakes where they are processing the salt. After the tour we returned to our hostel, tired and hungry from a day of traipsing through the Alps. We asked for a recommendation of where to eat, and the guy at the counter sent us on quite a hike. We did get some lovely views along the way, however.
As disappointing as it may seem, upon learning that Czech and Austrian cuisine were so closely related I ended up eating fried cheese for dinner. I just had to see if they could make it as good in Austria as they do in Czech. For the record, it was awfully good. All I can say is, American mozzarella sticks are nowhere near as good as Smazny Syr! After dinner we came back and relaxed for our final night in the hostel.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early, rushing to pack up and see the last couple of sights. Naturally the weather was AMAZING today. We were tempted to stay later in the day, but the early morning train was our cheapest option, and we didn't want to miss it. Besides, I had lesson planning to do because Mondays are my busiest days of the week. We did enjoy watching the sun rising over the Alps, even if we weren't anyplace where we could take good photos of it.
We made our way into Old Town in order to find the birthplace of Mozart. Seeing as how this is his town, we thought we should at least hit up his most famous sights. After wandering almost to the end of the best shopping district in town, I was feeling quite frustrated at not having been able to spot it. We ran across a man who obviously worked in one of the very closed restaurants (not much is open at 7 AM on a Sunday morning) and we asked him if he could tell us how to find the house.
"It's very difficult," he said. "You turn around the way you came, walk about 150 meters, and it's #9 on the right."
come to find out we'd been standing right next to it when Nicole had stopped to tie her shoe. I just thought it was on the other side of the street. Ah well. We got our photos and moved on to the house where he lived. It wasn't nearly as eye catching, so I'm only putting up a photo of the Geburtshaus.
We still had plenty of time to make it back to our train, and proceeded to have a lovely sunny ride back to Czech.
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Hills are ALIVE!!!
Just for the chance to remind myself how amazing it is to live in Europe, I spent this past weekend in Salzburg. It's one of the beauties of being able to hop on a train for a three day weekend. I can easily forget what an amazing opportunity I'm in the middle of, when the days grow long and monotonous. So to mix things up my friend Nicole, who teaches at a high school here in Cheb, and I decided to make the most of proximity, and took the 5 hour (stretched to 6 due to a long stop-over in Marktredwitz) to explore the amazing city of Salzburg, Austria.
We headed out early on Friday morning, and were blessed with amazing weather, and a great hostel location when we arrived in town in the mid-afternoon. After checking into our hostel, a fortunate recommendation from Crystal, we were in awe of the view.
The fortress sits high up on a hill overlooking the whole city and can be seen from pretty much everywhere in town. On Saturday we went on a couple of guided tours, and were able to see the castle from pretty much every angle. Just below the castle is a church and monastery. This church was where part of "The Sound of Music" was filmed. We walked up there right away and had way too much fun taking pictures from every possible viewpoint.
We wandered around until it got dark. Then, upon arriving back at the hostel we learned that every night at 8 they show "The Sound of Music." Having only seen the movie once (a horror that nearly made Rebekah deny she had ever known me) I decided it was only fitting to take advantage of the opportunity. Nicole had actually never seen the movie, making her an even less appropriate candidate for the tour we were planning on going on the next morning. Having spent the afternoon wandering around the city we were able to pick out quite a few of the places we had been in the movie.
We spent a short and noisy night in our bunk beds. Fortunately there was only one other girl in our room for the night. We got up bright and early and were disappointed to see that the sounds of rain that had haunted our dreams were, in fact, a reality. Nevertheless, we were determined to take in as much as we possibly could. We headed down for breakfast and booked two tours for the day.
Our first tour was called: the most unique "Sound of Music" tour. It was, indeed a fascinating tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable, and shared information both about the city, as well as about the movie and the actual events. There were quite a few discrepancies betwixt these two. Most interesting was the fact that Christopher Plummer, who played the father in the movie, didn't actually like working with children...hmmm...must not have been the most fun experience for him.
This tour took us all around the city of Salzburg, and then up into the mountains around the city. Unfortunately the Alps were not wanting to be viewed on this occasion, and we mostly saw fog and drifting snow. Still, it was quite interesting and beautiful. So here are some views of the tour:
Here are the Mirabell Gardens were our tour began. Most of the pathways were not open, but we wandered around to the best of our abilities and enjoyed the limited winter views. We were definitely here in the off season. It was still quite beautiful, and we spotted numerous places from the movie.
So it looks a little bit like I'm in "Singing in the Rain" instead of "The Sound of Music," but the fountain was seen in the movie.
These stairs were danced upon by Julie Andrews. Just had to write a sentence in the passive tense since I've been teaching it so much recently. :)
This Palace was used in the movie as the back side of their house. They actually used two different palaces for the house the Trapp's lived in. This is the lake that was seen in the back yard. This palace is now owned by the US and isn't open for the public, but is used as part of a university.
The very famous gazebo, with me and Nicole in front. We were on a tour with two couples and felt a bit out of place being without a couple (sigh)
onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiYcPPxmVDwqlosk0Ix2zGWtxwXkpDTWr9zy8_1AI181-_6k8LMXQE8rBqm6sQjv2qiZGZVQ69qYJTtaar3B7SaIZC-nHQFGMiQRc4b4JxGKwnOTFtYC-SIz7fEmgN-lL70C1rguDtq5V/s1600-h/P2010127.JPG">
This is a palace that is just used in stock photography in the movie, but I thought it was so beautiful.
Here is the actual home of the Trapp family. It is now owned by the Catholic church, so we weren't able to go inside, only to the gate.
Now the internet is deciding to go slow, so I think this will have to be it for today. Enjoy. :)
We headed out early on Friday morning, and were blessed with amazing weather, and a great hostel location when we arrived in town in the mid-afternoon. After checking into our hostel, a fortunate recommendation from Crystal, we were in awe of the view.
The fortress sits high up on a hill overlooking the whole city and can be seen from pretty much everywhere in town. On Saturday we went on a couple of guided tours, and were able to see the castle from pretty much every angle. Just below the castle is a church and monastery. This church was where part of "The Sound of Music" was filmed. We walked up there right away and had way too much fun taking pictures from every possible viewpoint.
We wandered around until it got dark. Then, upon arriving back at the hostel we learned that every night at 8 they show "The Sound of Music." Having only seen the movie once (a horror that nearly made Rebekah deny she had ever known me) I decided it was only fitting to take advantage of the opportunity. Nicole had actually never seen the movie, making her an even less appropriate candidate for the tour we were planning on going on the next morning. Having spent the afternoon wandering around the city we were able to pick out quite a few of the places we had been in the movie.
We spent a short and noisy night in our bunk beds. Fortunately there was only one other girl in our room for the night. We got up bright and early and were disappointed to see that the sounds of rain that had haunted our dreams were, in fact, a reality. Nevertheless, we were determined to take in as much as we possibly could. We headed down for breakfast and booked two tours for the day.
Our first tour was called: the most unique "Sound of Music" tour. It was, indeed a fascinating tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable, and shared information both about the city, as well as about the movie and the actual events. There were quite a few discrepancies betwixt these two. Most interesting was the fact that Christopher Plummer, who played the father in the movie, didn't actually like working with children...hmmm...must not have been the most fun experience for him.
This tour took us all around the city of Salzburg, and then up into the mountains around the city. Unfortunately the Alps were not wanting to be viewed on this occasion, and we mostly saw fog and drifting snow. Still, it was quite interesting and beautiful. So here are some views of the tour:
Here are the Mirabell Gardens were our tour began. Most of the pathways were not open, but we wandered around to the best of our abilities and enjoyed the limited winter views. We were definitely here in the off season. It was still quite beautiful, and we spotted numerous places from the movie.
So it looks a little bit like I'm in "Singing in the Rain" instead of "The Sound of Music," but the fountain was seen in the movie.
These stairs were danced upon by Julie Andrews. Just had to write a sentence in the passive tense since I've been teaching it so much recently. :)
This Palace was used in the movie as the back side of their house. They actually used two different palaces for the house the Trapp's lived in. This is the lake that was seen in the back yard. This palace is now owned by the US and isn't open for the public, but is used as part of a university.
The very famous gazebo, with me and Nicole in front. We were on a tour with two couples and felt a bit out of place being without a couple (sigh)
onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiYcPPxmVDwqlosk0Ix2zGWtxwXkpDTWr9zy8_1AI181-_6k8LMXQE8rBqm6sQjv2qiZGZVQ69qYJTtaar3B7SaIZC-nHQFGMiQRc4b4JxGKwnOTFtYC-SIz7fEmgN-lL70C1rguDtq5V/s1600-h/P2010127.JPG">
This is a palace that is just used in stock photography in the movie, but I thought it was so beautiful.
Here is the actual home of the Trapp family. It is now owned by the Catholic church, so we weren't able to go inside, only to the gate.
Now the internet is deciding to go slow, so I think this will have to be it for today. Enjoy. :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
And here it is almost February already...
And while I've put up a lot of posts this month, none of them have really been about this month. So I guess that now that I have just sent out my newsletter I might as well update everything. I'm one of those, when it rains it pours sort of people. When I'm in the mood to sit down and write you just never know what all I'll do.
I'm about to enter the month of the big decision. I'm still really uncertain about what I should do next year. I've enjoyed my time here this year, but I know that a lot of things will be different in the year to come. I want to make a decision based on all the facts, as well as on the guidance of God and others. It seems that every year I'm facing yet another round of starting fresh. Whether I stay here or go "home," things will be different than they have been before. (sigh)
I had a pretty good and entertaining weekend this week. I was able to spend quite a bit of time with students at pub night, as well as hanging out with one of my students after a concert on Saturday night. Moments like that remind me that there is a purpose to my being here. But I haven't gotten to the point where I feel like I'm really going out and making friends here in Cheb. I mean, I love my students, but we never really do much outside of class, and I don't really know how to change that. I'm just not the sort of person who is good at making such things happen.
Anyhow, I would appreciate all the prayers I can get as I'm heading toward this huge decision about what to do next year.
I'm about to enter the month of the big decision. I'm still really uncertain about what I should do next year. I've enjoyed my time here this year, but I know that a lot of things will be different in the year to come. I want to make a decision based on all the facts, as well as on the guidance of God and others. It seems that every year I'm facing yet another round of starting fresh. Whether I stay here or go "home," things will be different than they have been before. (sigh)
I had a pretty good and entertaining weekend this week. I was able to spend quite a bit of time with students at pub night, as well as hanging out with one of my students after a concert on Saturday night. Moments like that remind me that there is a purpose to my being here. But I haven't gotten to the point where I feel like I'm really going out and making friends here in Cheb. I mean, I love my students, but we never really do much outside of class, and I don't really know how to change that. I'm just not the sort of person who is good at making such things happen.
Anyhow, I would appreciate all the prayers I can get as I'm heading toward this huge decision about what to do next year.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Time to finish it up
While I could probably continue to drag this out for a few more weeks, I've decided it's time to finish it up so I can get on with the other things that have been going on in days of late. So here is the final installment in the trip to Scandinavia:
Sunday was a pretty mellow day. Ester and I went to church in the morning and then made our way to the National Museum of Art. It was free, which was very cool, but naturally they don't let you take pictures inside.
I was so amazed to see so many amazing works of art. I saw original Van Gogh's and Monet's and Manet's and Picasso's. It was incredible. On the ground floor the main display was of a Norwegian painter whose name I can't think of at the moment. Anyhow, he did a lot of drawings for fairy tales, and I really enjoyed some of his swampy monsters. Very cool. Upstairs they had a nice display of the works of Munch as well. It was pretty amazing to see "The Scream." There are apparently two versions that are equally famous and amazing. The one we saw here wasn't the one that was stolen. But even that one has now been returned and can be seen at the Munch museum. We didn't have time to go there though.
After the museum we walked down along the pier and enjoyed the amazing view:
We also went to the Nobel Peace Museum, which was pretty cool to see. The rest of the day we mostly just relaxed, which was nice. In the evening Merethe and Tone came over and picked me up and we went back to Merethe's place. It was soooo nice to see them. I hadn't seen Merethe since she left Mother's Choice back in the summer of 2002! It was so surreal to suddenly be sitting in her living room in Norway. Just amazing. We had a nice little snack and looked at pictures and talked about the old days all evening.
Monday was New Year's Eve. We had the morning free, and most businesses and museums were closed, so Ester and I decided to go for a walk. The weather was far more cooperative this time than in Tonsberg, and we had an incredible - albeit icy and scary as I'll get out! - walk in the woods over Oslo. The trails are usually used by skiers in the winter, but we decided to risk it on foot. We both lost our footing only once, which truly was rather miraculous. And the views were quite spectacular.
There were actually people out ice skating, but I was having enough trouble staying upright on the trails that I didn't really want to risk it. We made it back just in time for me to make myself ready to meet up with Ellen, who I also lived with briefly in Hong Kong. She was there the last few months before I left in 2005. We met and walked around the city for a while and caught up on life. She's doing really well, and had great fun showing off her amazing little girl, Mia. After making sure that most places were closed, we finally found a cafe' where we could sit and visit for an hour or so. Sadly I wasn't taking as many pictures as I should have, and didn't end up with any good ones of Ellen, but this one is pretty good of Mia.
After a couple hours hanging out Ellen took me back to Ester's so I could take a shower and help get things ready for our New Year's Eve party. Merethe and Tone came over a bit later and we had a great evening hanging out together and eating WAY too much food. After all the meat, it was fun to have a mostly vegetarian meal.
Dinner and dessert were both incredible and I was soooo full! We had a nice time just sitting around and visiting. Merethe had to leave early, but I managed to get a good picture with her before she left.
Merethe took a taxi with us and left us as a church. We went to the Midnight Mass, so I ended up having both the early morning and the late night service experience on this trip. The service actually started t 11 and finished just before 12. We went out and found someone with a lighter so we could light our sparklers and usher in the New Year. Wow! 2008! It's just craziness!
We walked home amidst the "rocket's red glare," and did our best to avoid the flames falling from above. We managed to make it home safely where, naturally, there was more food to be eaten :) We sat around and talked until about 4AM. In all, I'd say it was a very successful New Years.
Tuesday was my last full day in Norway. Naturally we slept rather late. Ester had bought some American pancake mix, which obviously I was meant to be the expert at using. I did manage to make fairly decent pancakes, which we ate with some maple syrup. Tone had to get to work, so she left around noon. I had time to take a shower and start packing before Merethe came around 1:30 to pick me up. We had a great afternoon walking through the streets, spending hours in a cafe, then going back to her house to just talk and talk and talk. When you haven't seen a person for years it's easy to wonder how things will be when you suddenly see each other again. She had only just turned 20, and was not yet married the last time I saw her. I was just in my first year in HK, and was quite a bit younger myself. There are so many things that have passed in that time. And yet, as we sat and talked we discovered that, if anything we are just better able to relate to one another now. It was truly amazing and I am so thankful that we were able to have this chance to reconnect.
I had one last sleep (and naturally some more food!) at Ester's, and then it was off to the train station. I made it back to Cheb with no real problems, and life is now back to life. I feel so blessed to have been able to take this trip, and really hope it won't be so long before I see these dear friends of mine again.
Sunday was a pretty mellow day. Ester and I went to church in the morning and then made our way to the National Museum of Art. It was free, which was very cool, but naturally they don't let you take pictures inside.
I was so amazed to see so many amazing works of art. I saw original Van Gogh's and Monet's and Manet's and Picasso's. It was incredible. On the ground floor the main display was of a Norwegian painter whose name I can't think of at the moment. Anyhow, he did a lot of drawings for fairy tales, and I really enjoyed some of his swampy monsters. Very cool. Upstairs they had a nice display of the works of Munch as well. It was pretty amazing to see "The Scream." There are apparently two versions that are equally famous and amazing. The one we saw here wasn't the one that was stolen. But even that one has now been returned and can be seen at the Munch museum. We didn't have time to go there though.
After the museum we walked down along the pier and enjoyed the amazing view:
We also went to the Nobel Peace Museum, which was pretty cool to see. The rest of the day we mostly just relaxed, which was nice. In the evening Merethe and Tone came over and picked me up and we went back to Merethe's place. It was soooo nice to see them. I hadn't seen Merethe since she left Mother's Choice back in the summer of 2002! It was so surreal to suddenly be sitting in her living room in Norway. Just amazing. We had a nice little snack and looked at pictures and talked about the old days all evening.
Monday was New Year's Eve. We had the morning free, and most businesses and museums were closed, so Ester and I decided to go for a walk. The weather was far more cooperative this time than in Tonsberg, and we had an incredible - albeit icy and scary as I'll get out! - walk in the woods over Oslo. The trails are usually used by skiers in the winter, but we decided to risk it on foot. We both lost our footing only once, which truly was rather miraculous. And the views were quite spectacular.
There were actually people out ice skating, but I was having enough trouble staying upright on the trails that I didn't really want to risk it. We made it back just in time for me to make myself ready to meet up with Ellen, who I also lived with briefly in Hong Kong. She was there the last few months before I left in 2005. We met and walked around the city for a while and caught up on life. She's doing really well, and had great fun showing off her amazing little girl, Mia. After making sure that most places were closed, we finally found a cafe' where we could sit and visit for an hour or so. Sadly I wasn't taking as many pictures as I should have, and didn't end up with any good ones of Ellen, but this one is pretty good of Mia.
After a couple hours hanging out Ellen took me back to Ester's so I could take a shower and help get things ready for our New Year's Eve party. Merethe and Tone came over a bit later and we had a great evening hanging out together and eating WAY too much food. After all the meat, it was fun to have a mostly vegetarian meal.
Dinner and dessert were both incredible and I was soooo full! We had a nice time just sitting around and visiting. Merethe had to leave early, but I managed to get a good picture with her before she left.
Merethe took a taxi with us and left us as a church. We went to the Midnight Mass, so I ended up having both the early morning and the late night service experience on this trip. The service actually started t 11 and finished just before 12. We went out and found someone with a lighter so we could light our sparklers and usher in the New Year. Wow! 2008! It's just craziness!
We walked home amidst the "rocket's red glare," and did our best to avoid the flames falling from above. We managed to make it home safely where, naturally, there was more food to be eaten :) We sat around and talked until about 4AM. In all, I'd say it was a very successful New Years.
Tuesday was my last full day in Norway. Naturally we slept rather late. Ester had bought some American pancake mix, which obviously I was meant to be the expert at using. I did manage to make fairly decent pancakes, which we ate with some maple syrup. Tone had to get to work, so she left around noon. I had time to take a shower and start packing before Merethe came around 1:30 to pick me up. We had a great afternoon walking through the streets, spending hours in a cafe, then going back to her house to just talk and talk and talk. When you haven't seen a person for years it's easy to wonder how things will be when you suddenly see each other again. She had only just turned 20, and was not yet married the last time I saw her. I was just in my first year in HK, and was quite a bit younger myself. There are so many things that have passed in that time. And yet, as we sat and talked we discovered that, if anything we are just better able to relate to one another now. It was truly amazing and I am so thankful that we were able to have this chance to reconnect.
I had one last sleep (and naturally some more food!) at Ester's, and then it was off to the train station. I made it back to Cheb with no real problems, and life is now back to life. I feel so blessed to have been able to take this trip, and really hope it won't be so long before I see these dear friends of mine again.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A trip to Tonsberg
It's really hard to make that word look right. Especially since the "o" isn't a normal "o" in Norwegian. Anyhow, it'll have to do. The "berg" could also be a "burg" but I'm not really sure. Tonsberg is the town that Ester's family comes from, so we went for the day to go to her family's Christmas party.
Before the party we wandered around town for a while. Unfortunately there was some rain, which was less than pleasant. However, there were also whales...and in great abundance...
Okay, I honestly don't even want to talk about just how many gummy whales I ate while we wandered around. Let's just leave it at a lot! Some of them were good, but the one I took the picture of actually ended up tasting like soap, and after chewing on it for a couple of minutes it met it's demise in the rubbish bin instead of being consumed.
We saw a place Ester used to live, checked out an old church where I learned that in most Norwegian churches, or at least the state ones, they have a boat suspended from the roof that points toward the front as a reminder of their water-bound past, and their goal of heading toward Christ. We meandered down near the pier and through some of the old classical house portion of town.
Seeing as how at least a quarter of me is of Norwegian origin, we took some time to pay homage to the great Norwegians of the past...the vikings. So I had my photo taken next to a replica (I mean obviously an original) Viking boat, and then we drove out into the country with her Dad to see an ancient Viking burial mound. It seems they would bury the great warriors with their boats, leaving a pretty impressive memorial for generations to come.
From there we went to her parents house where I got to meet Ester's mom as well. It's always nice to get to meet the families of people you know. I've been hearing about Ester's family for nearly 9 years now, and at long last I had a chance to meet quite a few of them. We headed over to the party next, where I was surrounded by Ester's relations, and introduced to them all by her uncle as being from Orrregon. (All the "r"'s indicate how he decided to roll it.) We had a lot of food, and I got to take part in the circling around the Christmas tree when they sing Christmas songs. I even knew a few of them.
There were a lot of little kids there, and they put on a little performance complete with a nativity scene. Then they were given bags of goodies by a Santa-like character. I just had to get a picture of Ester's two nieces in their traditional little outfits.
Johanna and Andrea. Aren't they cuties? Reminded me a bit of all my little blond nieces.
We left the party a bit early so we could go and visit Ingveig. While I never actually worked with Ingveig at Mother's Choice, she had been there between my first summer and my first year, and was living there teaching English during my first year. It was nice to see her again, and also to meet her adorable little girl Jenny. We visited for a while and then had a small meal together before we had to catch the bus back to Oslo.
Overall it was a very nice day, and we were quite tired by the end of it.
Before the party we wandered around town for a while. Unfortunately there was some rain, which was less than pleasant. However, there were also whales...and in great abundance...
Okay, I honestly don't even want to talk about just how many gummy whales I ate while we wandered around. Let's just leave it at a lot! Some of them were good, but the one I took the picture of actually ended up tasting like soap, and after chewing on it for a couple of minutes it met it's demise in the rubbish bin instead of being consumed.
We saw a place Ester used to live, checked out an old church where I learned that in most Norwegian churches, or at least the state ones, they have a boat suspended from the roof that points toward the front as a reminder of their water-bound past, and their goal of heading toward Christ. We meandered down near the pier and through some of the old classical house portion of town.
Seeing as how at least a quarter of me is of Norwegian origin, we took some time to pay homage to the great Norwegians of the past...the vikings. So I had my photo taken next to a replica (I mean obviously an original) Viking boat, and then we drove out into the country with her Dad to see an ancient Viking burial mound. It seems they would bury the great warriors with their boats, leaving a pretty impressive memorial for generations to come.
From there we went to her parents house where I got to meet Ester's mom as well. It's always nice to get to meet the families of people you know. I've been hearing about Ester's family for nearly 9 years now, and at long last I had a chance to meet quite a few of them. We headed over to the party next, where I was surrounded by Ester's relations, and introduced to them all by her uncle as being from Orrregon. (All the "r"'s indicate how he decided to roll it.) We had a lot of food, and I got to take part in the circling around the Christmas tree when they sing Christmas songs. I even knew a few of them.
There were a lot of little kids there, and they put on a little performance complete with a nativity scene. Then they were given bags of goodies by a Santa-like character. I just had to get a picture of Ester's two nieces in their traditional little outfits.
Johanna and Andrea. Aren't they cuties? Reminded me a bit of all my little blond nieces.
We left the party a bit early so we could go and visit Ingveig. While I never actually worked with Ingveig at Mother's Choice, she had been there between my first summer and my first year, and was living there teaching English during my first year. It was nice to see her again, and also to meet her adorable little girl Jenny. We visited for a while and then had a small meal together before we had to catch the bus back to Oslo.
Overall it was a very nice day, and we were quite tired by the end of it.
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