surviving another country part two

ok.... where did i leave off? i believe it was sleeping for 12 hours... (btw: sleeping for 12 hours after being awake for nearly 24 was AMAZING!)

full day one: june 28

after sleeping for those glorious 12 hours we woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast. breakfast in norway is a little different than here in america. they have open faced sandwiches: a slice of break with a multitude of choice for topping. there was salami, cheese, weird spread products in tubes with names we couldn't read, pickled haring. luckily this hotel has americans on a regular basis and knew that we don't like to have lunch for breakfast, so there was yogurt (btw: pear yogurt is INCREDIBLE. if you know where to find it in the states, please tell me) cereal, eggs, and bacon.

after showering and going though our "do we have everything?" check list (camera, kroners, key, water bottle, map) we made our way downstairs to ask for some direction. that is where we met, Maria, the fantastically helpful receptionist. she told us some things we should make sure to see and showed us how to get to our first destination: the travel information kiosk.

after the surprisingly short walk to the travel place, we purchased our Oslo Passes (they got us into many museums for free and on all the public transportation for free, too. we made our way to the ferry dock, hopped on and headed to the culture center and viking ship museum. we also got stranded on an island for an hour and explored a fortress. both we pretty awesome. especially the island... the geese very close. i was a little scared. the day ended with some great pizza at pepe's.

Here are some day one pictures:

i was the navigator. this was me trying to get my bearings after going to the Tourist information. not too boast too much, but i didn't get us lost once. and thanks R for following me so faithfully even when i was uncertain

R on the public ferry.

the pretty archway at the culture center.

norwegian stave church at the culture center.

one of the viking ships.

oslo fjord.

akershus fortress

the gubmo screen that played the world cup games

view from the island

surviving another country part one

i survived my first trip overseas... it was AMAZING!!!! my sister, R, and i went to norway for one of my high school buddy's (T) wedding. here are some of the high lights:

as R and i were sitting in the airport waiting for our first flight, i looked over and saw E, one of T's good friends. it was lovely to travel with someone who had been over sees before. we took the first picture of the trip together,




while waiting even longer and beginning to feel somewhat restless, this happened:


our flight took use to our one layover in ICELAND!!! we didn't see any volvanoes, or ash. generally, i don't say i was in a place if i was just in the airport. but when we landed in iceland, we had to walk outside to get from the airplane to the airport. so i'm going to say that i was in iceland. while in the airport we had to go through another security check... not fun after being up for many hours and sitting on a plane for 6 hours. we got our passport stamped and boarded the plane. we arrived safely in oslo, found the train to the city center, and got almost lost trying to find our hotel. after our 2 hour nap, we got advise from maria, the very friendly and helpful lady at the reception desk of the hotel. she gave us a map and showed us how to get to the water. here is what we discovered:






after a lovely but cold (air temperature) meal at a restaurant by the water we went back to the hotel and slept for 12hours. thank goodness that T told us to bring our eye masks because this is as dark as it ever got: the picture was taken at 11:30pm




to be continued...

two short stories

today i embark on two firsts. 1) a run with another human along with me 2) traveling overseas

let's start with number one: i've been running for about 2 months. it is going very will. i lace up my sneakers and head out on the open road and run until i feel like stopping. today i'll be running with one of my besties, C. she is a runner. she ran cross-country in high school. we'll see how this goes.

number two!!! i leave for norway today! i'm excited.... and nervous. i'll tell you all about in when i'm back.

a rambling of excitment

i really do have a great job. it's going to be sad to leave it (i'll fill you in on that in a bit). i get to play with campers, help counselors to be better counselors and to understand their campers more, plan activities that will help campers and staff grow, play guitar, and wrap people to look like mummies. it isn't all sunshine and bunny rabbits; i'm the one who gets to call parents if something is happening, be the "bad guy" in situations, and be quality control. but those things aren't even a drop in the bucket compared to the good things.

as i look out my window, i see a mummy, a obsquere looking monk, a rainmaker, a gangsta', and a native. here's a picture of a couple of them:





it brings a smile to my face that these 16-30 year olds will dress up to look rediculouse just to make the campers smile. that they will work long, hard hours for little pay in hopes that they will impact one camper's life. it is a FANTASTIC job.

it is a shame that the rest of my life in this place doesn't bring as much joy as working at camp does. i would love to stay in this place and do the job that i'm doing. but i'm not happy with the rest of my life. so i'm going to chance that.

i am excited to share that i will be moving back to my home town, B, and work a k-3 grade teacher in a small town north of my home town. i'm excited to be a teacher; it is what i truely love to do. i'm excited that my boss what overjoyed for me when i told here. i'm excted that i'll get to be closer to my mom and dad. i'm excited because one of my best freinds in the world is moving back too; hopefully her husband will share her with me. i'm excited that i found a roommate so fast and that i have chance to renew an old friendship. i'm excited that i get to see a certain boy on a regular basis. i'm excited. now i just have to start telling the rest of the world.

i'm also excited because things with said boy, N, are progressing nicely. last night we had a very open and honest conversation. it is nice to know what he's thinking. it's nice to have him know what i'm thinking. he's one of those guys who doesn't say what he's feeling; he lets his actions talk for him (which can be somewhat confusing) and i'm one of those people who takes forever to say what i'm thinking because i want to make sure i say it in just the right way. needless to say, things had been going unsaid between us for a bit. but now they are out there and it feels lovely. i'm excited to keep this open communication going.

i'm also very excited because i get to see N on saturday; the same day that i meet my future students and go on some apartment viewings with my future roomie.

it is looking like i'll have to change the name of my blog since come august i won't be a city girl in a small town. i'll be a city girl returning home. and they won't be ramblings of how i'm just trying to survive. they will be ramblings of how i'm living the life that god has given me.

i survived staff training

it has been a CRAZY 2 weeks. from monday, may 24 to wednesday, june 2 i worked from at least 8 am to 10pm. it was intense. but it was very worth it. i am very comfortable the my staff this summer. i feel like they can handle more and are more prepared than they were last summer. it is a good feeling. a VERY good feeling. it means that i won't have to work crazy hours all summer. it means that i'll get to go home at a decent time at night and not worry about camp. it means that i will be able to have time to work on my online geography class. it means that i will have time to run.

ready or not

i start training my summer staff today. i'm not ready. NOT READY AT ALL. but they are coming. so i better go get ready...

surviving smells

as i drove into the farm yard and stepped out of my car, i knew that something was going on. anyone would have known; the heifers were billowing like there was no tomorrow. then there was also the smell... imagine the smell of burning your hair with your curling iron... it isn't a pleasant smell. now take that smell and amplify it by about a million. that, rambling readers, is the smell of branding cattle. while helping my aunt and uncle work cattle last saturday, i quickly learned that the smell of branding isn't something that sits well with me. i was dubbed "lever girl" when we started, which had me opening the shoot to let the cute little calves into the "shoot of terror"... in the shoot they got 3 shots, branded, and the boys lost a little bit of them selves. i did fine and dandy for awhile; i got complimented by L, then closed her butt in the shoot (oops), then realized that the smell was too much for me. so i became "herd the calves girl". my cousins, C and G, and i were a good team. we got all the calves through the shoot... all except one. this little guy (C, G, and i named him sleepy):

sleepy wouldn't get up for us. most of the other calves were at least a month or two old. he was two days old. he didn't have to endure the shoot.

after sleepy was returned to his mom i was able to take some more pictures of the other cute calves.


i also had some time to take some others

the horses grazing in the yard

doc vernan resting after taking away the bull calves' manly parts

the roster walking around the yard

the sunset behing the elevator in my little town

the sunset was very distracting while driving home. luckly there isn't much traffic.