Catch Up

I have been a total slacker about posting lately. One reason is that we just moved and I spent a couple weeks packing and then a week moving and then unpacking and before we even moved we were spending time tracking down an apartment. Apartment hunting in Trondheim is a little different that in any other town I've looked. Here there is a shortage of apartments so it is not unheard of for a renter to get 50 applications for one apartment. The land lord's choose who they want to come see the place and they set up a viewing on one night. You go to the viewing, talk to the land lord, hand in references and then keep your fingers crossed that they liked you. We lucked out, we got the second place we looked at and really it was just luck. The land lord's daughter talked to us and had a gut feeling we would be good renters. We are loving the new place, we have a wood stove and it is two levels such a better feel than the last apartment. Here are a couple pictures.
The entry and stairway up. Both bedrooms and the bath are upstairs.
The kitchen, not the fridge is a lot bigger than our old one.
Once we got into our new place instead of putting the Christmas decor away we decided to just put it up. This is a Norwegian Santa that we bought.
Halloween in Norway was interesting. We managed to find a pumpkin that we paid through the nose for but I was so thankful to find him that I might say it was the best pumpkin ever! Kids here do trick or treat. I noticed that not many if any little kids trick or treat it seems to be more of an elementary aged thing. We ended up with about 20 trick or treaters which made us happy.
Ave has a bunch of costumes for dress up and she wore most of them that day. This was my favorite look.


Last month before the snow came it rained and rained and rained. In Trondheim, however, you go outside no matter the weather since it could rain for a month. Elisabeth and I took our girls down t0 the creek by our old apartment on rainy day so they could splash in the stream. The girls each have waterproof suits and boots, Elisabeth's girl's even have waterproof gloves! Everything was going great until the girls all decided to hike across the stream through a deep section to the other side. Everyone ended up getting water in their boots. It was still a fun day.

Presents from China

Sorry it has taken me so long to post more about Jeff's China trip. We have had some sickness in the family and a few other things have come up lately that have kept me from blogging. Kept might be a strong word, I just haven't felt like it lately, however, I am vowing to get back into my posts and thought I better get a little more of Jeff's China trip up. I would like to post pictures of the World Expo that is in Shanghai but that requires Jeff telling me about each picture and to be honest, I'm not sure when I'll get my shit together enough for that to happen. Instead I've decided to post pictures of the loot that Jeff brought Avery and I back. When Jeff left I wrote down a list of things I would like him to buy. Lucky girl that I am he managed to pick up almost everything I asked for and then some. In the group that Jeff went with they were lucky enough to have two Chinese PhD students. Sarina went off shopping one day while everyone else went to the beach and Jeff tagged along which was wonderful since he had a translator and someone that could help him bargain for things. Here is a glimpse of the goods.

A paper fan with masks painted on it.
Avery's silk outfit. It cost around $10 USD.
One of the three fans he brought back. This one had panda bears on it and it for Avery.

A silk fan.

Chop sticks. I think Jeff said he paid around 2 USD for all of these.
Chocolate from the Russian airport. Such beautiful wrappers, such awful chocolate, like so bad I threw it out.
Porcelain tea set. He spent around $10 I believe for this.
Hand carved wooden tea set. This is my favorite. It is beautiful.

Jeff also brought back chinese tea, sandals and crocks for Avery that he got dirt cheap and a T shirt for himself. He said that some things were very cheap and some things were expensive. I was very pleased with what he brought me and I will cherish all of it. I have always liked to incorporate Asian pieces in to my decorating and these things fit beautifully. Such a lucky girl to have such a great husband!

Jeff's Trip to China Part I

Jeff was in China for a school trip for 7 days. He started his journey flying to Oslo, Moscow and then down to Shanghai. In Shanghai they spent a day visiting the World Expo ( I will post pictures of this tomorrow) before they flew on to Xiamen. When they left Xiamen they spent the day in Beijing. He said it was an amazing trip even though the heat and humidity got to him. Make sure to click on some of the pictures to see them larger. Some of the detail on the skyline, palaces and shrines are very cool. Shanghai's skyline. This skyline was developed in the last 20 years, prior to that time there were no sky scrapers in this area.
A restaurant they ate at in Shanghai.
Snake! Jeff said that you could pick out your own snake for them to cook up. He said it tasted like chicken.
Another restaurant Xiamen. The meal here cost Jeff about $80 USD so it was a very expensive restaurant for the city.Pigs ear. Jeff did not try this but those that did liked it.
Octopus which was good.
Lobster.
Wall decor.
On the way to a buddhist temple.
Inside the temple.
A buddhist temple.
Inside the temple.
This means Buddha.
In Beijing this is the entrance to the forbidden palace from Tiananmen Square.
Tianenmen Square. Jeff said it was huge. Beijing is VERY polluted. He said it never gets sunnier than this day!
On the backside of the Forbidden Palace the group hiked up a mountain to take pictures and this was at the top.
The shrine on top of the mountain they hiked.
Looking into the Forbidden Palace.

I will post pictures of the World Expo and of the cool things that Jeff brought us back in the next couple of days. Jeff also brought back a cold from China that I have also caught so I'm running a little slow right now. More posts soon!

Bye Bye Spain

This is more of a farewell post so to really get a feeling for our trip scroll down to the first entry and then read backwards.

Flying over the beach.
She's such a great traveler!
This is flying over the Center of Arts and Science where the Oceanagraphic is located. The buildings are very impressive.

With a heavy heart we said goodbye to Valencia on Sunday. We loved the city and the people and the food. I loved the heat and my tan oh and the cheap wine. In grocery stores one can buy good wine for 1 Euro!! We bought a lot of cheap wine to drink in our room. Prices in Spain are great. On par with if not a little cheaper than back in Montana. Coming from one of the most expensive countries in the world (i.e., Norway) being able to eat out every day was such a treat. The grocery stores prices were really cheap. On our way back from the beach we decided we were hungry but didn't want to wait until 8 when the restaurants opened so we snuck in the grocery store. For 6 Euro we got, two bottles of wine, a pack of cheese, a large pack of turkey lunch meat and a loaf of bread! The equivalent in Norway would be closer to 50 Euro and probably around $20 in the US. Jeff and I decided we could retire in Spain. The funny thing is that my one semester of Spanish back in highschool was enough to get my point across and many of the locals spoke English or enough to get their point across. I have a feeling this will not be my last trip to Spain!!

The Mediterranean Sea

We spent a day on the beach. I'd have loved to have spent more time there but our hotel was a long ways away. When we got to the beach it was around noon and we were hungry. The area has dozens of restaurants that look out onto the beach. We choose the only one we could find open at noon (most open for lunch at 1 or 2). It turned out to be a good choice. Our view!
Drinking the cheap wine. Even at restaurants you can get really good wine for 10 - 15 Euro a bottle. We drank two.

Paella, so good. We ordered shrimp with garlic and a ham, egg and potato appetizer that was great. We got toasted bread that you could put mayo or a fresh tomato sauce on. Then came the paella. They even threw in free desert, two sponge type cakes with pudding and blueberry or strawberry sauce. What a great way to start the day!
We paid for a cabana and one chair. It cost 7.5 Euro per day. The beer was cheap so we had a few of those too.
Me in the ocean but you'll notice the leather woman in the foreground, she has no top on. In fact we saw a ton of topless women. Tops are optional I guess. Jeff took a few pictures but none that were G rated enough for the blog. This one cracked me up since the arm of a chair is strategically placed to cover boob.
The couple in the background were from California. How funny to sit right next to other Americans on the beach.
Daddy had fun covering Avery up.
The beach was HUGE! The biggest I've ever seen.
The topless leather woman from the back. Scary. I think she spends every day on the beach with her retired friends, not a bad life.
Daddy taking Avery out into the Sea. She enjoyed it.

Awesome beach I would go back again in a heartbeat!