About a month later...

About one month into my Norwegian adventure, I am finally "settling in" and living in Norway feels more like a lifestyle rather than a vacation.  I have been trying very hard to learn the language.  At times it feels like it'll never happen, or at least that I should know more than I do.  It's extremely frustrating and perhaps one of the most difficult tasks I'll ever accomplish.  With the exception of music, most academics are difficult for me.   Eventually I will be enrolled in Norwegian classes but until then it's up to me to try my best to learn as much as possible by my own instruction.  I cannot wait until I am fluent in Norwegian.  It'll happen some day!

This is our new car!  For now, we're sharing it.  It's

a 2002 Ford Focus with fairly low mileage considering

how old the car is.  I believe there's less than 100,000

miles on the car.   

The interior is leather which I like because

it's easier to keep clean.  Kristine appreciates

the heated seats.  It's a 5 speed 1.6 liter so it

also gets good gas mileage.  The car came with

8 alloy rims which are currently being stored in

the barn.  I look forward to putting those on.     

The car is also Blake approved!  We needed

a hatchback for Blake to have plenty of space.

We purchased a liner for the back end so his 

shedding doesn't take much to manage.  I 

hope to soon get a bike rack that attaches 

to the trailer hitch so we can drive places far

away and bike.  Possibly around the area of

Kristine's parents cabin.   

One night after a church worship meeting, 

Kristine's cousin Daniel, brother Eivind, and

I went out for a late evening fish.  That night 

I caught a ginormous mackerel.  That'll be hard

to top.   

Last Friday, Bjørn and I went to the HarborFestival in Haugesund.  There were tons of
boats with lots of history behind each one.
Bjørn did his best telling me about someof them so I "think" I know enough to explain
for the purposes of this blog.  

  

This boat is used for transportation of 

passengers up and around and throughout the

fjords.  

This is dried cod.  Typically dried for many

weeks in the north of Norway, this means

of preparing fish goes way back to when

fish was the largest export of Norway.  

Many of the boats at the festival were well

over 100 years old and impressively restored

to look almost new.  

I think this boat was the first boat to ever

go to America with Norwegian immigrants

back in 1825.  

This is an old one cylinder boat engine. 

More old boat engines...

A good example of how well some of these

boats were taken care of. 

Kristine's uncle Charles and aunt Sandra

ask her and I to be God Parents of their 

twins, Erica and Philip. Today we celebrated 

their baptism.  Notice Kristine's traditional

Norwegian outfit.  

Baptism gifts!

Apparently ring cakes aren't only for weddings

which is what I originally thought. 

The birth of Erica and Philip

happened on the 18th of April, 2014

Kristine's cousin loves pushing this 

highchair/kart around.