Wednesday routine

We are settling into a definite Wednesday routine.  Run, coffee with other moms and kids, butcher shop, lunch @ home, weekly cleaning while Rory naps.  Wednesdays are nice - we see people, Rory naps well and I get things done in the afternoon.  Yesterday I added my 6th and 7th trips to the Apple Store to the Wednesday routine.  It's close to the coffee shop.  Visits to the Apple Store are not nice.  Getting a phone without a Norwegian number requires too many steps, each one different depending on who is working that day.  New guy made visits 6 and 7 a little easier and I'm waiting on a call from the store to say that I can get my phone.  We shall see.  I'm not going back unless they call me.  

Ready for the rain

Today while we were out running errands I finally found a rain suit for Rory on sale. Rain suits are required for schools here because they go out to play no matter what the weather. It's one that I'd had my eye on for awhile, hoping it would go on sale. It's still a little big, but she seems to like it!

Yesterday was Friday play group. For the summer we've started meeting at a beach park. Rory fell asleep in the car on the way there so we missed the first 45 minutes or so of it. But once she woke up she enjoyed the playground and the other kids very much.

Rory has officially (finally!) moved to size 18 month clothes.

Biblioteket

Rory and I visited the Stavanger Library for the first time today.  You can actually get a library card with just a picture i.d.  No person number required.  A person number or at least a temporary person number is required for almost everything.  And as we learned today, if you only have a temporary number you have to provide proof of income and Norwegian residence to get a cell phone.  Geeze.  Car dealerships let you drive off with a car on a test drive without even making a copy of your driver's license.   

Anyway, about the library, Rory and I took the elevator to the children's section on the third floor. They had a decent selection of children's books.  We only picked out five books to take home with us and we've already read four of them.  Rory loves to read and it's great (for all of us) to have some new books to read.  We also looked at the adult books and they have an even better selection of English books in the adult section.  I did not get anything for myself though because I still have several books bought before we left Houston that I haven't read yet.   

There is also a children's museum in the same building as the library.  We'll have to go back to check it out one day soon!

Some of the everyday

I’m sitting on our back balcony enjoying the end of a beautiful, sunny, spring day in Stavanger. Rory and I (Stepler is on a field trip in England) spent most of our day outside enjoying the wonderful weather. This morning we went for a run around Mosvatnet Lake. Then we met two of Stepler’s co-workers and their families at the Arboretum for a picnic lunch and a bit of wandering through the grounds. Rory really liked picking flowers (weeds) during our walk and kept us moving at a very sloooow pace.

I haven’t given much or any detail about out daily activities lately so I’ll try for a quick recap of our last week. It was a nice week as we both had the opportunity to socialize with others several times.

On Monday Rory and I went to our last Lille Gym class before summer break. It’s too bad that it ended so quickly, because Rory was having a lot of fun there. If it works with our schedule, we’ll start again in the fall. The last class had a summer vacation theme – with one half of the room “underwater” and the other half “on the beach”. Rory liked the “underwater” side best because it had a small pool of water that she could play in and pretend to fish. She liked the pool so much that I had to pull her away from it so that she could try some of the climbing and jumping activities.

Tuesday was my first Norwegian Pilates class and Rory’s first time in the gym’s kids’ room. It went well for both of us. The class was all in Norwegian, but I was able to follow along. I was very sore on Wednesday though!

Wednesday we joined several moms and their young children for coffee at the French café. The restaurant was fairly empty early in the morning so the children were able to wander among the tables without bothering anyone while the moms chatted and enjoyed their coffee. After coffee we went to the butcher shop for the first time to get hamburger meat. Rory charmed the butcher with her smile and he gave her a hot dog. She was shy though and didn’t want to eat it in front of him. The hamburgers were that night’s supper and were the best we’ve had since arriving in Norway – other hamburger meat has been a bit chewy.

After dropping Stepler off at the airport on Thursday morning Rory and I headed to the big grocery store. But because it wasn’t open right after dropping Stepler off, we stopped at a nearby park. I wanted to go there because the Friday playgroup is going to start meeting there next week and I wanted to be sure I could find it. We didn’t get to explore the park much because it started sprinkling and we weren’t really prepared to be out in the rain. But by then the grocery store was open. I can find almost everything I want there – including tofu. At the grocery store we ran into one of the moms from the coffee – Stavanger really is like a small town!

Friday morning we went to the international playgroup on one of the islands for the first time. Many of the same people from Wednesday’s coffee were there. The group meets in a large room in a community center and there are lots of toys for the children to play with. Including two Flintstone type cars which were everyone’s – including Rory – favorites. After playgroup our day was pretty much done because Rory was so tired. After nap and before supper we did manage to sneak in a few minutes on our playground.

Hikes

We're getting truly settled in and decided that it's time to start getting out and about for more than just everyday errands. Stepler had this past Thursday off so we took a short hike. We'd heard that the hike to Dalsnuten was nice because it offered a great view of the entire Stavanger area - particularly rewarding for newcomers because it allowed us to see all the places we've driven to and heard about over the past several weeks.

We were the first ones to arrive at the parking lot! There was a map at the beginning of the trail and the trail was well marked so we had no trouble finding our way. It was easy going at first, to a pond and through a sheep pasture. Things got a little more difficult as we started heading upward, but we made it - even with Stepler carrying Rory in the "Kangakid" backpack. The view from the top was great and would have been even better if we'd been lucky enough to have a clear day. But we could still see the Stavanger harbor and all the other little towns that surround Stavanger. It was quite windy at the top so after some pictures and a quick snack we were ready to head back down. For the hike down we took another path down and it was a bit easier. There were even planks laid down so that we did not have to walk through mud. When we got back to the parking lot there were at least 30 other cars there. A Starbucks on the way home would have really been perfect, but no Starbucks here and besides that there was nothing open because of the holiday.

Since we'd tried Rory out in the backpack on Thursday we thought a longer, more difficult hike was in order for Sunday. But first we went to a candle factory. At least that's how it had been described to us. More store, less factory, no factory actually. But the store did have a lot of cool candles, a Christmas shop, a giant troll that scared Rory a bit at first and it offered the chance to create your own candle by dipping a white one in wax. There was a small children's area outside with goats and more trolls. We had lunch in the restaurant attached to the shop. It was pretty tasty and seemed Norwegian. I had lamb, potato casserole, carrots and broccoli. Stepler had meatballs, boiled potatoes and some sort of mashed pea. Rory shared with us and also had a pancake with the traditional Norwegian toppings of raspberry jam and sour cream. As we were walking back to our car we noticed antique trucks coming down the road, they just kept coming, then they turned into the candle factory parking lot and then there was an old bus - Rory loved it!

On our way to the parking lot to begin the hike to the Manafossen Waterfall we went through a very, very long tunnel. Longer than any tunnel I've ever been through before. This time when we arrived at the parking lot there were lots of other people there. We got Rory all loaded up in the backpack. She seemed very excited to get in the backpack saying, "backpack, in." According to the sign this hike was pretty short, but fairly steep. First we had to go up a steep rocky hill. The most challenging part of that was the rocks. This path was also well marked and had chains as handrails for us to hold

on as we went up the steeper parts. We were rewarded with two overlooks with great views of the waterfall. After seeing the waterfall we continued on to Man. On our way there we went over a bridge that also offered a stunning view of the waterfall. Once we got to Man we were able to see a valley that had once been farm land. We stopped again to see the waterfall on the way back down. My legs were shaky on the way down! While Rory enjoyed the hike and seeing the water, she was ready to get out of the backpack.

May 17th pictures

Syttende Mai

The 17th of May.  Norwegian Independence Day.

Almost as soon as we arrived in Stavanger we began hearing about the holiday.  The two main things that we learned were that 1) people dress up for the holiday and 2) a lot of ice cream is consumed.  At the post office one day last week we picked up a schedule of the festivities and made plans to attend the first parade of the day.  I bought syttende mai napkins and a small Norwegian flag for Rory to wave at that parade.   

Sunday morning we got dressed up - Rory and me in dresses and Stepler in a suit and tie - and followed the stream of people down to the city center for the parade.  Many of the Norwegians (particularly the women) were wearing traditional clothing, bunads.   The first parade is made up of students from the various schools marching down the street carrying Norwegian flags while singing and cheering.  A few of the schools had marching bands which Rory particularly enjoyed.  

After the parade we went through the market area where food, candy, balloons and trinkets were sold.  We bought Rory and red, white and blue pinwheel that she enjoyed carrying for the rest of the day.  I was quite tempted by the ice cream, but it was cold.  So I got a 7-11 coffee instead.  

We returned home for lunch.  Continuing our celebration of the day we had grillposers, Norwegian hot dogs.  Not quite the same as American hot dogs, but they were okay.  Rory really enjoyed them, saying "hot dog" again and again and eating and entire hot dog!

After Rory's nap we decided to go to the final parade of the day.  When we got to the spot where we wanted to watch the parade people were already lining the streets.  This parade included many community bands and all sorts of sports clubs and after-school activity groups - soccer, handball, badminton, swimming, dance, drama and many others.  I'm glad that we got out again for the final parade because it was much livelier than the first.  It was quite long though and when there was a break in the action we headed back home.