Chicken

Today we went to visit the chicken that we have been getting our eggs from lately. The belong to our sister in law and we had fun running after them together with our niece.

 we shall call here the chicken whisperer :-)

she sure is not afraid of chicken, even petted one

Norwegian exam

Today I took my Norwegian exam and I think all together it went ok. The written part was easier then I thought and the oral part harder then I thought.... oh well, I will get the results in the beginning of July, we will see.
Wanna see where I took my exam?

Here, at the Ålesund football stadium!

 I was very glad though that my football skills were not tested as part of the exam today :-)

wie man arbeitet...

... so isst man! That is a thing my mom used to say and it means: You eat the same way you work!
Ergo it only makes sense that my hard working man had to eat a lot of food today!

 getting ready for the tourists with our 'lollipops'

well deserved burger

sunny sunday

After a meal with some visitors we enjoyed the beautiful weather on the balcony. We have to make to most of it as long as it lasts, next week it is supposed to be colder again.

haircuts and the city

Today Erlend had to go to work and I had a whole day which had to be used well :-). So after dropping Erlend of at work I did some grocery shopping, made a pasta salad, washed my shoes, cut the hair of my brother in law, my pappa in law and somebody who just happened to be there and needed a hair cut.

Then I went to town, sat at the pier and studied the book of Daniel and Norwegian, then took some pictures around town ... got a weird sun tan, picked up Erlend, drove home, enjoyed pasta salad and grilled chicken with our friends N and D, cut D's hair and how we are watching the England vs. Norway football game. So apart from the Norwegian team getting their backsides kicked by England it has been a good day! :-)

 exam in 4 days, getting nervous...

 so many cool places in this town

 Ålesundet - the place Ålesund got its name from

 please identify the signs of Jugendstil (aka Art Nouveau) displayed in the picture :-) 

 we gave had such beautiful weather here the last days...

... and the flowers are open for it :-)

it is official now...

... we are real tourists guides because we got our ID cards to prove it :-).

watermelon instead of the royals

I was very excited yesterday night when we got a call asking us to work today at Geiranger fjord. Why was I so excited, don't I do that almost every day? Well yes, but there was something special about today...

... because today was the day that the crown prince and the crown princess of Norway were going to be at Geiranger fjord and I do admit, I did think that it would help me in my culture study (yeah, right, that is why :-)) to shake their hands. But we just caught a climbs of them as they drove by us as our bus got there a bit too late. Oh well, dear Håkon and Mette-Marit, we will have to catch up another time :-).

So to ease the pain of disappointment we decided that it was a good day to kill our first watermelon of the season

 Erlend did the honors...

... and it was soooo delicious, perfect snack on a warm (yes, you heard right!) summer day

grillsesongen har startet

Today our BBQ season started for us. We went to a beautiful spot almost right in the city. On days like these I realize that we actually get to live where other people go on holiday, awesome!

 what is a BBQ without beautiful scenery?

 Thank you all who shared their food with us :-)

 Erlend got to eat the steak in the middle all by himself...

... that is why he is smiling so much in this picture :-)

studying, sunset and a sweety

Today we had amazing weather here in beautiful Sunnmøre and we enjoyed every bit of it.

 studying Norwegian is so much more fun when you can do it outside with the sun on your face

 I will never get tired of posting sunset pictures

we met this little sweet cat at our friend's birthday party, Erlend had lots of fun with him

big ship = work

Today a cruise ship with over 2000 passengers came to Ålesund and that means work for us :-).

Can you see the ship? It was the highest "building" in Ålesund today!

nice forecast

Looks like it is going to be a good work week with this weather forecast for Geiranger. Yay, good weather usually means tourists in a good mood :-).

Langtidsvarsel

Mandag21. mai	Tirsdag22. mai	Onsdag23. mai	Torsdag24. mai	Fredag25. mai	Lørdag26. mai	Søndag27. mai	Mandag28. mai	Tirsdag29. mai
14°	17°	19°	20°	20°	20°	20°	20°	19°

go nuts

The title could refer to my feelings during watching tonights game, but I don´t really wanna talk about that, as, of that I am sure, no other Bayern supporter does.

So instead I will tell you how we went nuts today on our shopping tour. We realized that we did not have a lot of summer clothes and considering were we will be moving (and next weeks weather forecast, yay!) we got a lot of good deals on nice summery clothes. Does this happen to anybody else but me, where they set out to buy clothes and they end up just finding lots of things for their husband? Oh well, we will look very handsome in all the new rings :-).

poaching

Today I thought it would be a good day for poaching an egg. I have never done it before nor have I eaten a poached egg before but have seen it on cooking shows. I like eggs, specifically those which have a runny yoke, so I figured: Poached eggs - must be for me!

 the pretty disgusting looking part when the egg poaches

 oh glorious finished product

It was so much fun making and eating it! 

Especially the part where I got to dip a bread stick into the yoke and it oozed out - YUM!

17th of May = Norwegian National Day

Today Norway is celebrating constitution day. That means that everybody gets dressed up and meets to eat lots of hot dogs, cake and ice cream and to listen to speeches. The weather has been pretty bad all day, but I was told that is part of the tradition :-).

 I know it looks like mamma and pappa are helping us getting dressed - in our defense, 

sometimes it is hard to get dressed for a national day!

 look how smart that dress is, it come with a purse for your cellphone!

 my handsome Norwegian and I!

 my Norwegian twin and I :-)

my adorable patriotic niece and I

preparing...

... for the Norwegian National Holiday tomorrow! This is just a picture of my accessories I will be wearing. Stay toned for more pictures tomorrow... My pregnant sister-in-law has kindly offered me her national costume as she does not fit into it at present. Thank you, Grete!

soup

We have our brother, sister (+ little bumpkin :-)) over for dinner. First course was a asparagus and leek soup with garlic baguette, second course was, wait for it........ frozen pizza :-)! And right now we are having ice cream for dessert.

stormy times

As I was laying in bed last night, hearing the wind outside storm around the corners of our house, I was wondering if the weather would be just as bad today, a day I had to drive to Geiranger fjord and drive back with a bus load of tourists, showing them the beauty of the Norwegian countryside. Guess what, the weather was not just as bad - it was worse.
In the morning the wind was bad that my nice take away hot chocolate was spilled on my new awesome (white!) guiding jacket as I was running towards the bus.
When my touris and I got to our last few point on a mountain that overlooks Ålesund, the wind was blowing so strong that those poor people had to hold on to their cameras and hats so they would not be blown over the edge. Just was we got back into our bus it stopped raining and storming and we got to see the brightest rainbow I have ever seen (what an awesome reminder of God's faithfulness!).
Of course I could not get my camera out and start snatching pictures - I was at work, but I found this picture on the internet...

the white house on the mountain, that is were we were (det er Aksla for alle Sunnmøringer :-))

Muttertag

Today it is mother´s day in Germany, and as we all know one day is way too little to honor the woman that very likely has influenced you and me more then any other. But because my Mama is German, so will be the rest of this post.

Liebe Mama,

so gern hätte ich dir gerade heute eine Umarmung gegeben,

aber dafür dürfte ich nicht in Norwegen leben.

Drum muss jetzt ein Gedicht ausreichen,

um dir zu sagen, ´Mama, du bist nicht zu vergleichen!´

Du bist freigiebig und mitfühlend und total selbstlos,

deshalb war früher mein Lieblingsplatz dein Schoß.

Ich würd mich ja heutzutage noch auf deinen Schoß setzen,

aber vielleicht würd des die Gefühle vom Erlend verletzen :-).

Jedenfalls bin ich mir sicher, ja ich weiß:

Gäbe es einen Orden für Mütter, hättest du den 1. Preis!

Zum Schluss steht in diesem Gedicht einfach drin,

dass ich unglaublich stolz auf dich bin!

Zwei der wichtigsten Menschen in meinem Leben!

P&P marathon

We just finished a Pride and Prejudice marathon (5 and a half hours!).
I am rather inclined to speak in a manner such as displayed in that particular motion picture even if said behavior might infuriate those who are in my company at present :-).

 three generations present :-)

K and N were inspired by the movie and are playing the piano with braided hair now

kids club

Tonight, that is in about 5 hours, I have the privilege of talking to kids about missions. It is in the kids club I have been involved in during the last months. It will be the first time that I have to speak publicly in Norwegian and, yes, I am sooo scared! Please pray that the Lord would prepare their wee hearts and my wee tongue :-).

I will be talking about prayer for missionaries and as a craft we will attempt to make a prayer cube.