July Already?

Time is flying - hard to believe we have been in Norway for five months, and out of the US for almost 8 months. We started our training a year ago this month, and life has been an exciting, emotional, incredible whirlwind ever since!

Here are a few recent pictures. Enjoy!

Hanging out on a viking ship (a replica
of one that was found in our city)

Charming home in a town we visited last week

This shop had great baked items!

What a scenic area!
This place is about 40 minutes from where we live

We attended our first Sandefjord Fotball game

Zack hanging out in Oslo (Starbucks!) with good friends

First day of school in February/
Last day of school in June

Boat Procession on Midsummer Eve
(June 23 - the longest day of the year here)

Exploring a viking burial ground with friends

The boys love trying new foods. Here,
Daniel is enjoying caviar paste, mackerel
in tomato sauce, and liver paste

One of our new favorites: biffsnadder

We love walking by the whaling monument
in our city

Saw our first Norwegian rainbow last week!

People have to stay in shape for cross-country in the offseason!

We rarely see squirrels here. They are
brown, very small, and have pointy ears!

Hanging with new friends!

Norsk Baking Lessons

The breads and pastries in Norway are great. I (Jenn) thought it would be cool to learn to make them, even though I'm not much of a baker myself.

Thankfully, I have an outstanding teacher! One of my new friends in our city offered to have me over for the day last Wednesday, and she taught me the basics. There is one dough that can be used for a variety of different items. Her excellent lessons left me feeling confident about my future Norwegian baking attempts.

So we started with the dough. From there, you can make boller, skolebrod, kanelsnurrer, klippekrans, and more. S taught me three of the more common items.

A couple of things to help you along...

1. A boller is a simple roll. Many traditional Norwegian boller includes raisins. 
2. As I am learning more and more, cardamom is a staple of any baking recipe here!
3. Even if you think you baked a lot, don't expect these items to last long. Seems like they were gone as soon as Z, W, & D spotted them!

First up: skolebrød. From what I've read, it gets its name from the fact that it used to be packed in lunches for dessert, or sold at bake sales.
A delicious boller, filled with vanilla cream, baked, and then topped with a confectioner's sugar and coconut glaze.
Wow.

Kanelsnurrer, or skillingsboller... or for our American friends, cinnamon rolls!
We made a LOT of these. This was a pic I snapped quickly as we were taking them up from the trays.

Finally, we made klippekrans, or kringle. The word klippe is Norwegian for cut, and comes from the fact that you use scissors to cut it before baking. Our variation included a thin layer of vanilla cream, and chocolate.

So if you notice us looking a bit 'thicker' around the waist in the coming months, you'll know why :)

Hytte

Our friends invited us to spend a weekend with them at their hytte. A hytte is a mountain cottage/cabin, often shared by a family and passed down over generations.

Our friends' family hytte is in the Telemark region, just outside of Bø. We had a great time relaxing, hiking, and being tourists.

Here are some pics from a wonderful weekend...

syttende mai

The seventeenth of May (syttende mai) is Norway's National Day, or Constitution Day.

Our city is not that big and the celebration was HUGE, so I can't imagine what it must be like in a big city like Oslo! The day includes two parades, bands, music, lots of food, traditional clothing (bundad), cook-outs, flags, and so much fun.

*Each area of Norway has its own traditional design for the bunad. You can visit THIS SITE to check them out. We live in Vestfold.

Here are a few pictures from the day. It was incredible, overwhelming, and unforgettable!

There's no place like home

I just realized that I never posted a follow-up to unpacking. We are unpacked and settled now. Here is a little peek at our home... hope you enjoy!


If you can't view it above, click HERE.

Unpacking

About nine months ago, the movers pulled into our driveway in Georgia. They boxed kitchen items and toys. They carefully wrapped beds and other furniture. And most of our personal belongings (what remained after several yard sales and countless trips to drop donations at thrift stores) were placed in some faraway storage facility, awaiting our arrival in Norway.

Nine months later, I sit in our home on another continent. Awaiting the arrival of another team of movers. This team will come today with all of those boxes and furniture. And after almost three months here, we will finally get to unpack and really settle.

I don't know exactly what to expect today. I imagine there will be surprise as we see things that we'd forgotten were around anymore (many things were packed when we sold our house back in September 2011). There will be excitement as the boys unwrap beloved toys. Maybe some disbelief as we wonder why in the world we thought it necessary to pack some of the items for the move. And probably a little anxiety and frustration as we try to find a place for everything!

One thing is for sure: this weekend promises to be a busy one!

Spisebord

We sat at a table as we ate lunch today. The first time we've sat as a family at home around the table for a meal since we left Oslo in mid-February. We are thankful for a great deal we found on Norway's version of Craigslist. We are now the proud owners of a lovely table and 6 chairs! Can't wait to see who might end up around this table over time :)

And while we're talking dining tables, I'll share a bit of humor with you...

A dining table is called spisebord [SPEEH-seh-bord] in Norwegian. It is a combination of the words for eat (spise) and table (bord). You see, in Norwegian, when you describe something it becomes one word. So you put SPISE and BORD together: spisebord. Take a look at the funny picture one of our Norwegian friends posted on Facebook. It shows you how we can really mess up the language with just the incorrect use of a space. Dining table? Or eating a table? ;)

Impromptu Date

We (Zack & Jenn) have Wednesdays off from language class. So this morning once the boys were off to school, we studied for a while and did homework. Then we decided to take the bus to Tønsberg, a nearby town we'd visited once before. We leisurely walked around the mall, and even found a couple of items we'd been trying to find for a while. Then we grabbed two kebabs (similar to what some cultures call doner, donair, shwarma or gyro) and found a bench by the fjord. The sun was out and it was 7C - a beautiful day! We enjoyed an outdoor lunch & beautiful scenery (and the rare chance to eat slowly and quietly :) ).

Unplanned dates are often the best dates!