around here.

We're back into the swing of life in Oslo, which means plenty of time for outdoor activities!  We've already gone sledding (more to come on this crazy adventure later) and we rented skis.  Josh's classes have begun.  He has two classes, one about consumption and another about success stories in the field of development, both of which are somewhat intriguing but do not really pertain to his areas of academic interest in the slightest. He goes to SUM for a two hour class on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  No classes on Friday means plenty of time to cross-country ski (everyone around here does it, or so it seems); yesterday he went skiing twice!  Though we've only gone a couple times this season, he really enjoys skiing and seems to be a natural at it.

The most exciting news for me is that I have two jobs!  I work at Ungdomsakademiet (Youth Academy), where I tutor a high school student in English.  We meet for two hours twice a week.  I'm really enjoying getting to know my student and planning lessons to suit his learning style.  My other job is a babysitting gig for three young Norwegian kids (ages 5, 3.5 and 1.5).  I pick these kids up from barnehage (daycare), which means getting winter gear on the two squirmy younger girls.  Then I get them to walk up the hill to their house while I push the youngest in the stroller.  It's not always easy to get up the hill, but when we get home they start to draw or play with their ipad and I make their dinner in peace.  The parents hired me because they wanted an English speaking babysitter.  The dad is a native English speaker, so they want the kids to grow up bilingual. I find communicating to be the most interesting part of the job.  The kids understand English really well, but pretty much only speak Norwegian.  Occasionally they say an English word, but never full sentences.  I think my Norwegian comprehension abilities are sky rocketing.  I usually understand what the kids want to tell me and if not, I ask them to show me.  Both my jobs fall on Tuesday and Thursday, so I have the rest of the week to plan lessons, practice skiing, workout at the gym and spend some time being crafty.  I'm in the process of getting my etsy shop up and running again.  

Other than our time spent at school and work, we are enjoying spending time in our home together, hanging out with friends, attending Christian Union and, of course, trying to get better at cross-country skiing. Our home is feeling more homey & cozy these days.  We have put up some new decorations and photos on our walls and we usually eat breakfast and dinner together.  I'm loving the french press that was a christmas gift from Uncle Frank. And, our letter wall is growing!  Most recently we received a letter from Obama's dog (actually from my Grandma Ann).  Maybe you can see it in the top right.  Thanks to all you who have sent us letters.  We still want to write back!

greenville goodness.

On the plane ride home to Oslo I wrote a list of some of my favorite memories from the last week or so in Greenville.  Some is the key word here.  It would take a whole day to list all the goodness of our time in Greenville, so this is just a portion of the good memories.  I felt blessed by so many people.  Here's the list:

game nights, cookies and SNL with friends

a hug goodbye to erica

a really good conversation with my dad at jo's java (in honor of his 50th birthday)

watching my cousin mary ride her bike

walking a mile with my mom on our last day in greenville

a car ride with josh with a beautiful sky and good music

hearing grandpa matt's account of his birthday morning + celebrating his birthday

helping my mom organize the house

breakfast with nat

a double date with michael and kelly

laughing a lot with elise at jo's java

snuggling and laughing with my college roommates

visiting jordan and niqui in decatur

the hymns at st. paul's

two hugs from grandma ann the day we left

the usa tour.

Joshua and I are so thankful that we got to spend a month in the U.S. with our family and friends.  It was great. We spent about 10 days in Seattle with Josh's family.  We snowshoed, we made granola, we sang carols, we ate together, we saw The Nutcracker, we opened stockings and presents, we laughed and talked and had a great time. It was over all too soon. We headed over to Greenville, Il and spent Christmas with my family. We had about 3 weeks in Greenville.  Somehow we managed to pack a lot into those 3 weeks. We ate fondu, celebrated Christmas, attended our friends' wedding,  went skiing, celebrated the new year with friends by playing loads of games, attended church at St. Paul's three times, ate a few of my Dad's world class omelets, watched SNL, played games and celebrated a few birthdays. And, we spent SO much time with friends- we had coffee dates and dinner dates and lunch dates and breakfast dates. Oh so many wonderful dates with people we love.  Now for the photos.  I hope this gives you a glimpse into the quality time we spent at home. 

Thanks, friends and family, for sharing the holiday season with us.  We love you!

project life in 2012: favorites from weeks 4- 17

Woah.  I didn't exactly realize how behind I am on sharing my project life spreads here on the blog.  I may have mentioned before that it's been tricky to work on this project on a daily basis because I can't print photos very easily in Oslo. Therefore, I've slacked on posting about project life each week. Because it would be an overload to share every page from the past few months, I'm sharing snippets of some of my favorites weeks.  This turns out to be a lot of weeks, actually.  It's been a good year!

week 4:

week 5:

week 7:

week 9:

week 10:

week 11:

week 12:

week 13:

week 14:

week 16:

week 17:

You can see my previous project life posts here. I started by using one page per week, but after a while I realized that I was taking a lot of pictures and had quite a bit to record.  So I switched to using two pages.  Every now and then I have an uneventful week or I don't take many pictures so I use just one page.  I love how flexible this project is.  Actually, I love everything about this project.  I love the process and the reflection that I do while putting the spreads together.  But I also love the end result.  I love the daily memories that I've recorded and can reflect on 10 years from now.  I love that someday when we have kids, they can know what our life was like in 2012.  I still have some pages from november and december to complete and I look forward to continuing this project in 2013!

For those of you interested in starting this project, look here to learn more about project life.  For those of you scrapbookers or other project lifers,  here are the supplies I used in these pages: Black Signature Binder, Project Life Cardstock- Cobalt Collection, Photo Pocket Pages Designs A and B (I have this variety pack),  buttons and paper tabs from Ormolu, colorful Sharpies, American Crafts Slick Writers. American Craft Thickers. Washi tape from this etsy shop.  Lots of kraft cardstock, because it's my favorite.  Since I'm pretty thrifty, I mostly use supplies I already have.  

my first try at cross-country skiing.

After our trip to Granada, I ventured out on a cross-country ski trip. Two vastly different but, nevertheless fun, trips back to back!  Josh had to stay home to take a couple exams, but I joined our friend Benny, Benny’s brother and sister-in-law and another friend, Beat, in the ski adventure.  We stayed in a cute cabin in a small skiing village close to Lillehammer, about 2 hours north of Olso. Our little village was the picture of Christmastime.  Our cabin was one of many cozy cabins and there were pines trees covered in snow in every direction.  Plus, it snowed every day.     

The trip had a great combination of physical rigor and relaxation.  After a big breakfast every morning we skied for a 2-3 hours then spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, reading, drinking hot cocoa, eating a nice dinner, sitting in the sauna, playing games and even watching some ski tournaments on tv.  Although I really enjoyed it all, I must say that I found the skiing rather difficult.  I’ve grown up downhill skiing, but this whole cross-country business is new territory.  I borrowed some skies from a Norwegian friend who is just a bit taller than me.  Both the skies and the boots were a tiny bit big, but I managed.  A couple of the other people in the group had cross-country skied before, so they helped teach the others.  I still didn’t feel like I got really good instruction, so I mostly tried to nail down the technique I had been taught and which I saw the Norwegians on the trail using.  

(our cabin)

(other cool looking cabins)

The first day was awesome!  I was excited, had fresh legs and worked really hard to use the right technique. We took a really nice 8 kilometer loop that had a lot of ups and downs.  Even thought the ups were really hard, it was totally worth it for the nice easy downhill stretches.  The second day was pretty tough because my legs were so sore.  I mean, if I wanted to sit with my legs folded on the couch I had to use my arms to put my legs into the right position.  It was painful to move.  But, I kept on skiing.  While I really enjoyed being out in the fresh air and on the snowy trails, I was a lot slower than everyone else in the group.  That was kind of a bummer, but I was able to stay positive anyway.  We did a 14 kilometer loop and then I headed home while everyone else skied a little extra.  I stretched a lot that night and sat in the sauna, which maybe helped.  I like to tell myself it did.  Anyways, on the third day I did the same 8 kilometer loop from the first day, while the rest of the group set out for a 20 kilometer loop or something crazy like that.  This little loop really saw some of the best and the worst in me.  About 2 kilometers in, I came to a really tough uphill bit.  I think this is where it really hurt me that my skis didn’t fit quite right.  I kept sliding back and had to use all my effort to plant each ski and each pole in the ground and push off carefully so as not to slip.  I cried.  It was hard and I felt a little lonely being on my own.  But I kept going and finally made it to a downhill portion.  Oh wow.  This was the fun part.  I flew down the hill and then glided softly down the gradual slope for about five whole minutes.  Totally worth the uphill battle.  The rest of the loop had a mix of uphill, downhill and flat stretches; I took my time and enjoyed it.  I didn’t feel any pressure to go super fast even though Norwegians would whiz past me.  I was so thankful that I had set off alone so I could ski at my own pace.  Cross-country skiing turns out to be kind of hard.  I think I prefer downhill (right now, anyway), but I do want to keep learning how to cross-country ski.  Since this was my first attempt at cross-country and I learned some things, I’m sharing some tips for other first time cross-country skiers.  

1. Get skis that fit-- Your height and weight really affect what kind of skis and poles you should have.  I think I was a little light for my skis and didn’t weight them down enough. I think this caused me to slip sometimes. Plus, my poles were a bit too tall and I kind of had a hard time going up hills smoothly.  (All of this might also be due to my lack of experience, not just the equipment.)

2. Go with a Norwegian-- Obviously, you don’t have to go with a Norwegian, but it seems helpful to go with someone who really knows what they’re doing and who is willing to teach you.  Plus, with skiing you have to use this wax and it’s just nice when someone else can tell you which kind to use and how much, etc.  

3. Don’t be afraid to fall down-- Unless you’re a natural at this, you’ll probably fall down.  I found it helpful to expect to fall occasionally and to laugh when I fell.  It doesn’t hurt much and it’s pretty funny to imagine myself in a tangled mess of skis. 

4. Dress in layers, preferably wool layers--  I wore running tights and snow pants on my legs and on top I wore a long sleeved wool shirt, another thin wool sweater and a rain jacket.  With a hat, scarf and warm mittens (plus hand warmers) I was perfect! 

5. Enjoy the nature while you ski-- I think cross-country skiing is kind of liking hiking.  It’s not just about the skiing, but also a chance to enjoy the beauty of the environment you’re in. We skied in a really beautiful area and occasionally I would just stop and look around.  And, of course, have fun!

Have you tried cross-country skiing?  Do you want to try it?

our trip to granada, spain.

Josh and I have been thinking for a while that we should do some traveling in Europe.  We haven't even done much traveling around Norway (although I did go to Stavanger) because I think we've been focused on getting settled in Oslo.  Josh had a break in his class schedule during Thanksgiving weekend, so we planned a trip to Spain!  Before I get into all the sunny Spain details, I would like to note that we had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with some friends here in Oslo.  We cooked all day on Tuesday and then had friends over in the evening.  We took some time to reflect on what we're thankful for, we ate & ate & ate and we sang some folks songs.  It was good and we're both thankful to have some really good friends in Oslo.

On Thursday we flew to Malaga, Spain and then traveled by bus to Granada. We made it to our Bed and Breakfast around 7:30pm and after unpacking we wandered around the Albaycin area (the older Moorish part of the city)  looking for dinner.  Actually a lot of trip we spent just wandering through the streets, which was perfect for us.  We didn't feel the need to see everything or do all of the typical sight-seeing things.  We wanted to do what we enjoyed, which turned out to be renting bikes, walking, eating and enjoying the sun.  Our Bed and Breakfast was awesome!  The room was great, the view was great and we had fresh fruit, toast and coffee every morning.

On Friday, our first full day in Granada, we rented bikes and rode up to The Alhambra, the famous Moorish castle.  We were happily surprised to find that there are many parts of The Alhambra that are free!  Of course, you needed to buy a ticket for the coolest parts of the castle, but we felt satisfied with just exploring the free parts. The architecture is quite beautiful and I'm amazed that so many buildings are still there.  I imagine if we did toured other parts we could have learned more, but I was happy to just see and be amazed.

In the afternoon, as we were wandering around and enjoying the sun we noticed a large group of hippie musicians with matching drums.  It looked to be a drum line, so we stuck around to hear them play.  It turns out they were a sort of drum line with a couple guitars, a saxophone player and a couple singers.  This group starting playing in a plaza area and, after drawing a large crowd, they started walking through the streets of the old city.  We were swept up in the crowd and followed the music for about half and hour.  Cars and pedestrians who were not a part of the parade didn't seem to bothered by it.  For dinner we walked all over Granada looking for hummus and we finally found a little shop that had hummus, delicious salad, falafel and milkshakes.  It was a good day. 

Saturday was filled with more relaxing and wandering.  After breakfast and reading, we went on a long run.  We planned to run to a church that we saw on a nearby hill and, although we asked for directions, we ended up taking a much longer route than we intended.  And although it was hot and uphill most of the way, I enjoyed the challenge.  One of the more touristy things in Granada is the Hammam bath house, where you can relax in three different baths, get a massage, drink tea and sit in the sauna.  We partook in this seemingly extravagant activity and it was totally worth the money.  After a long run it was great to soak in the pools and get a massage.  The bath house was also decorated in a Moroccan style theme.  I just loved it.  On Saturday night our goal (well, mostly Josh's goal) was to watch an Arsenal game, which took some effort because Granada's team was also playing.  We finally did find a place (an empty restaurant) that was willing to change the game to Arsenal.   It was fun and we ate delicious vegetable paella, but Josh admitted that he's struggling with the whole fandom thing as he's not sure he feels comfortable being a fan.  

One reason we chose Spain was because I speak Spanish, so I could help us communicate.  Being in Norway, where we rely on English to talk to locals makes us feel handicapped.  Pretty much everyone here speak English, but it's feels better when we can talk to people in their native language.  So it was great to be able to speak Spanish, but I'm pretty rusty.  I'm not sure why, but a lot of people at restaurants or elsewhere would speak to English the second I fumbled with Spanish.  That was a bit frustrating, but I kept on trying to speak in Spanish.  Josh even picked up on some phrases and talked to people. 

On Sunday we headed back to Malaga thinking we would enjoy the beach and then go to the airport for the night.  Our flight left at 6am on Monday and we didn't want to pay for a hotel.  Our time in Malaga was kind of a bummer compared to Granada.  We spent most of Sunday afternoon walking around in search of a grocery store.  We just wanted some bananas and nutella.  Is that so much to ask for?! Finally, after several hours, we came upon Mr. Choco.  It's not nutella, but it's a hazelnut chocolate spread, so we settled.  We also made two trips through "A Taste of Malaga," where we sampled lots of goat cheese, honey and olives. And we felt guilty after going through a second time.  The beach was quite a bummer, but we still managed to have fun talking and laughing.  

So, we had a great time in Spain!  We were so thankful for sun the whole time and for nice quality time together. 

I had a tough time uploading photos, so I plan to post some more photos on facebook next week.  Tonight I'm leaving for a cross country ski trip and Josh will be home studying and taking an exam.