visiting old friends

Today we were invited to visit our friends who are living a bit outside of Bergen. We went through the training with all of them and we have all chosen the same "career path". Had such a nice time with them, bbq-ing, catching up, hanging out.

the men around the BBQ - classic

look - it is Superman!!!

sunny Bergen

We went to the beach today because there was actually nice weather in Bergen. I was told once that Bergen has 265 rainy days a year, so I consider ourselves quite fortunate to have caught on of the sunny ones.

 first time I got to throw fishing line myself - didn't catch anything though

our sweet little niece Klara - with her new umbrella, first she was disappointed that it did not rain, but then just decided her umbrella was a sunshade - smart girl!

traveling in Norway

We drove from our wee Island down to Bergen today to spend some time with Erlend's oldest sister's family. It took us about 8,5 hours with a few short breaks (for 420 km - I know, all Germans are shocked :-))
So I thought it would be a good time to write something for all you non-Norwegians who are reading this blog - a short summary about traveling in Norway.

If you ever travel in Norway, you will...

... see amazing scenery... 

 ... have to drive through many tunnels...

 ... most likely have to take some ferries...

 ... maybe be forced to slow down because of sheep.

But only if you have married into an awesome family like I have will you be welcomed with a meal that can only be described as culinary bliss!

... and we are still not done...

We are leaving Vigra in 12 hours but we are still packing and cleaning... even though we are close to finishing.

Suitcases packed - check
car cleaned - check
said some painful goodbyes, some are still ahead - check :-(
apartment cleaned - last swipe happening as we speak
last meal at Esso - check
quit jobs - check
looking forward to seeing some special people in Bergen - check :-) !

Erlend is not a fan of swiping - at least not when the mop breaks every two minutes

it has begun...

After a long day at work Erlend and I were laying on the couch when we realized that we had no time to procrastinate anymore and we just had to start packing... the living room looks like a bomb went of and it will probably stay that way until we leave...

reunion

Today were had a little reunion with people from Bible school. We loved hanging out with them, it is always nice to see people from the good old times :-).

Gudbrandsjuvet

Today was probably the last time I got to guide a tour that stopped at one of my favorite sights in Norway called Gudbrandjuvet. (you can translate juvet with the gorge (Schlucht auf deutsch) and Gudbrand is a guys name here in Norway).

The gorge is 20 m deep and at its narrowest point it measures 5 m width.
There is a really cool story to this gorge and I just thought why not do a little guiding on the blog :-).

The story goes like this.
In the 16hundreds there was a young man named Gudbrand and he was in love with a girl from a local farm. The girls father, however, did not approve of Gudbrand and promised his daughter to another guy (lets make this other guy an evil guy, just to make the story more dramatic :-)).

So, Gudbrand, knowing that he could not live without the love of his life, took the girl, threw her over his shoulder and ran for his life. Of course, the father, as well as the brothers of the girl, noticed and ran after him. They came to the gorge and in an act of desperation Gudbrand, still with his chosen one over his shoulder, jumped over the gorge! Nobody dared to jump after him and so Gudbrand and his love were free. They lived happily ever after on the other side of the gorge!
The end! :-)

I just love looking at the water running through that gorge with such force, it is a wee bit frightening.

goodbye party

We are leaving our wee island in no less than a week and so we had a goodbye party today. It is really setting in now how little time we have left here.
Of course we are looking forward to living in Germany and all the perks that come with that, but there is no doubt that we will miss our family and friends here. I guess you can sum it up in the remark my brother-in-law made the other day when we were talking about moving and having families in different countries, "Welcome to cross-cultural marriage!" But then we thought about the fact that it is awesome having two families in different countries who we actually like to be with - that is not normal and we thank our heavenly Father for it!

 takk for å lage svele, mamma!

a birthday in Molde

Today my beautiful friend Kristine had her birthday and so it seemed very fitting to drive to Molde and spend some time with her. First we enjoyed some Belgium waffles downtown and then we decided spontaneously to go and watch the football game of the Molde football club. It was so much fun! Thank you, Kristine, for an awesome time!

wallpapering

This evening we helped the Attys wallpaper a bit. I made the following observations:
           1. wallpapering works different in different countries
           2. wallpaper clue smells kinda nice
           3. mothers seem to have a natural talent for wallpapering (at least both of mine do)

a few of the diligent workers of tonight

more boat festival

Today we went to the boat festival again, this time with some family :-).

 they build a boat...

... and let it swim

there ARE polar bears in Norway

Look what I found, finally I can tell my tourists that, yes there are polar bears in Norway :-)

båtfestival og jordbærfestival

Today we went to the local boat festival and afterward we had some family over for ice cream and strawberries.

 Erlend was thrilled to find food from the Philippines at the festival

just hanging out with family, enjoying the last days with them

it is about that time

You know it is time to go on a trip when your husband gets out his "scratching the countries you have been to"-map, stares at it, dreaming about traveling and getting to scratch more of those countries.

We have only realized these past days that it is only two short weeks until we will leave our beloved Norwegian island for our big move that will take us to the south of Norway for about two weeks and eventually settle us in my Bavarian hometown. So there is lot of traveling ahead.

feeling it

I am definitely feeling pregnant, considering that I feel sick almost all the time. It is a good sign though, I am told, so in a very weird way I am happy about feeling nauseous.
Erlend, however, is feeling the effects of the pregnancy in a totally different way. He has been so good at bringing me any kind of food I have asked for, being so caring and handling my "unexplainable weepiness", as they call it in the books, so well.
Another change for him right now is, that he has to make a lot of his food himself because just the thought of smelling certain food or opening the fridge sends me right to the bathroom where I get to "hug the porcelain queen"... so this is what a lot of evening meals have looked like for Erlend - he does not mind though he says.

mircowaved cheese sandwich

baby blanket

Look what my mother in law posted today... she started to knit a blanket for our little one. I am looking forward to wrapping it around our little blessing.

bring a friend to work day

Today we were asked to work a long tour from Geiranger to Molde, but we said that we could not because we had a friend visit. Our boss said just to bring her along, so we did and it was a lot of fun.

 snow in July in the background

can you see me? Thanks, Kristine, for taking all the pictures :-)

first dip of the year

Today we had awesome weather and Erlend went back to his childhood days' favorite swimming spot.

nettbuss

Thank you to everybody who prayed for me today, it was a good workday and I did not throw up into the microphone, so that was good :-).

One of my German tourists pointed something out today that I had never thought of, and sorry it is only funny for Germans. 

guckt mal, unsere Busse sind total nett, steht sogar drauf :-)

our busses that we usually drive with on our tours our called nettbuss and if you take that literally in German it just means "nice bus" :-)

no pic

Today I don't have a picture for two reasons. I did find an awesome picture of Erlend being about 5 years old, singing in a choir, but he would not let me put it on here as it would interfere with his statement that "Erlend does not sing"!
The other picture that would describe this day best would be one of me hugging the toilet, throwing up. I am pretty sure that nobody wants to see that...
But please could you pray for me tomorrow? I have a 12 hour workday guiding a lot of tourist and I hope that my food will stay down for that amount of time.... Thank you!

40 years

Today our Norwegian parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary! Gratulerer, pappa og mamma!

 the happy couple

we went out for lunch and the guys got their money's worth from the buffet :-)

these are their second plates, which were followed by dessert