around here.

A lot has happened during our second week in Oslo.  Josh started his classes at SUM (Center for Development and the Environment), which means he has class everyday for a couple hours and usually has some reading to do each night.  Perhaps in a while he will blog here about what he thinks of his program and all the academic stuff. While Josh is off at school I have been baking bread and cookies, volunteering at Abels Hage (a community garden), applying to jobs at private schools in Oslo and making crafts to sell at an artisan market in a couple weeks.  I'm pretty excited about this last thing-- most of you probably know that I enjoy making handmade cards and little notebooks and I even have an online shop, which I hope to start up again soon.  But, at Abels Hage the other day, a friend and founder of the garden said they are having an artisan market at the garden and I'm welcome to sell anything if I make things.  "Well, I do happen to make things," I told her and then I told her about the cards and she said that sounds great.  It's fun to have a goal to work towards, especially one that I've been slowly working towards for a while now- that is, selling things I make.  I'm also feeling more hopefully about getting a teaching job or a substituting job.  A classmate of Josh's has a friend who thinks I could be a substitute teacher at his school in the near future.  I guess that's how stuff works here-- you know someone who knows someone who can help you out.  We're slowly making connections and getting to know people better here, which feels good.

 We've been cooking lots of delicious meals together, including gallo pinto and homemade tortillas.  Josh's favorite food right now seems to be the brown cheese that is special to Norway.  It's kind of a sweet cheese that tastes like a mix of peanut butter, butterscotch, carmel and cheese.  He loves it, but I only kind of like it.  We've been frequenting the soccer fields behind our apartment to watch some local high school aged games in the evenings.  Maybe it's weird that we show up to these games, but we enjoy watching.  The teams here seem to play quicker and move hastily than they do in the U.S.  Yesterday we had a nice picnic downtown in Radhusetplass overlooking the water and all the boats.  It had been a while since we went downtown just to hang out and enjoy the area, so I felt like I was seeing Oslo with fresh eyes again. We were realizing that Oslo is a really nice city with beautiful green spaces and lots of fun things to do. We really appreciate how friendly Oslo is towards pedestrians and bikers.  So it's good to be here in Oslo, but we do miss you dear ones back in the U.S. of A.  Hope all is well!