Walking Dogs in the Snow

It snowed on Sunday but melted on Monday.  Today it snowed and sleeted (sludd in Norwegian) most of the day but this evening it snowed again. We decided to get the dogs dressed in their “get up” and take them out for a walk.  It was -1 C with a fierce wind and blowing snow/ice.  After putting on our warm clothes and getting them dressed in boots, coats, reflector vests, and snoods (like a hat) which took 15 minutes- we were ready to go! Dopler was not amused and refused to leave the house.  Finally we got him outside – then he realized he was even less amused.  But we pushed on – the dogs high stepped in their boots for the first 5 minutes then settled in to a normal walk.  The high stepping is honestly one of the funniest things ever!  Neither dog was too pleased with the walk but they need to learn.  As soon as Dopler saw the house – he took off for the door- which is really unlike him so we know he was ready to be home.  As soon as we undressed them they both took off inside like bandits!  They ran straight for their warm beds.  But the boots and jackets kept them warm and dry.  

Tacos and Margaritas

We had a nice weekend. Friday was the Science Fair at school and Jason came to be an “expert scientist” and help “judge” the projects. And by judge I mean look at and ask questions- there are no winners or losers – though there should have been! I had the joy of being in charge of all 30 middle school kids for 8 hours of no planned activity – talk about fun!

After that taxing day we had Matt and Kathryn over for drinks and card games- they taught me how to play Peanuckle. Then Saturday we had our Norwegian friend Lena take us cross-country ski shopping. Three hours later we are proud owners of hybrid, steel edged, non-waxed skis- who knew there were so many options?! It was nice to have her with us since we know nothing about cross country skis – we look forward to learning how to use them – I think it will be pretty comical. Then we had Lena over for dinner as a thank you. Sunday night we had Matt and Kathryn over for Tacos and Margaritas – which was really nice - tasted just like home! We had dinner and then it snowed which was really pretty. Our first snow! It was about ½ inch of huge fluffy flakes. The dogs seemed un-phased by it so far.

Driving

We have had an eventful week with driving. First last Tuesday I took my Norwegian driving test. I passed with flying colors! So I now have a license good for 75 years! The test was harder then I expected – they tell you to follow street signs to a location. That is not the easiest thing when you don’t know the part of town and are taking a test! And I had to drive downtown which has some crazy traffic patterns- even though my instructor told me the test “never goes downtown” - guess he was wrong.

Then on Wednesday we took a slick-driving course to help us (really me) prepare for winter driving. I was pretty nervous since I have never driven on snow or ice and to be honest driving in heavy rain makes me want to pull over. But after 4 hours of driving on an oil slick course I feel a lot more comfortable with it. I learned to drive slow, brake slow and turn the wheel slow so the moral is drive slowJ We did think it was pretty funny that the oil slick course lets the oil drain into the environment – they have no method to control or collect it. Jason has his driving test on Thanksgiving morning…unfortunately for him it looks like the snow is here to stay so he might have bad weather.

My new license!

Elections

We voted by absentee ballot before we left for Paris.  Though it was weird to know our vote really didn’t count since Texas only counts our votes if needed a week after the election.  But voting gives me the right to complain right?  I am not complaining about the results but I could I wanted to.  It was weird to not be forced to watch election results all night – I could have watched the BBC from midnight to 6 am if I wanted to but that was a lot of effort.  So we woke up to the news of Obama’s win.  Which I was happy with but I know not everyone is but it is really weird to live overseas at this time.  I really think if McCain had won the world would have turned their back on us.  I can’t tell you how many times people have “congratulated” me – literally - on our new president and making the “right choice”.   Kinda like winning the lottery or getting promotion etc.  Very strange feeling but at the same time it is nice to see that people are supportive and again pleased with the choices Americans made because there is a lot of resentment and even hatred about our current government.  I just hope he can pull of the change our country needs and he promised.  It will be interesting to view the beginning of the Obama presidency through the eyes of the world.  

European Vacation

We were lucky enough to jet off for another week vacation. This time we headed to Paris to meet our friends Cheung, Devina, and Brooks. We spent 2 days in Paris seeing some local sights with Brooks who is working in the city. We had some fabulous crepes and saw some nice parts of the city tourists might not normally see. Though we also did the tourists sights like the Eiffel Tower (at night), Norte Dame and St. Chapelle. We then took a cheap flight to Barcelona. I had never been to Spain before and I really enjoyed it! I basically got of the metro onto Las Rambles (the main market street) and turned to Jason and said “I like it already”. The weather was warm the day we arrived which was a welcome change from rainy Paris (and colder Norway). We spent the first day just walking the city and enjoying the sun. Then we visited some of the classic sights like Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and some of Gaudi’s other landmarks in the city. We did tour the Picasso Museum after waiting outside in the rain for 45 minutes. I was glad I was able to clear up Jason’s ideas on Picasso before we went inside- he had it in his mind that Picasso was actually Van Gogh – he would have been so disappointed!

We parted ways with Cheung, Devina and Brooks and stayed another 2 days in Barcelona before taking a sleeper training back to Paris. The train was a nice way to travel but not as quick or cheap at a flight. We spent the last three days in Paris. We saw the Sacre-Coeur– including the end of a service, which was cool – and we climbed the tower, which has a nice view but it was raining. Then we spent an hour in line to tour the Catacombs. It was very, very interesting and creepy – 6 million Parisians and their bones. And little did I realize it was Halloween! It as a 1.7 km walk but it was well worth it – we were checked for bones at the exit – they had about 3 skulls and 5 long bones on display that they had collected from visitors on that day alone- yuck! Then we had dinner with other friends working in Paris, Brian and Phuong and their son Michael, which was great- it is nice to hear others experiences with living and working abroad. We spent the last day at Versailles – it was beautiful and we got to see a good bit of the gardens and Marie Antoinette’s domain, which was really interesting. The weather let up just in time for us to talk a cold 2 hour hike in the gardens. Though we were annoyed with the “modern art” displays in Versailles- it took a lot away from the rooms- see the pictures for an example. The trip was really nice and relaxing. It made us long for good food but also realize how lucky we are to live in a country were people can and will speak English to you and are nice! The French were quiet interesting JOn Sunday we flew home to our dogs. The first snow of the season happened while we were gone. Part of me was happy to miss it but another part was sad to miss it. But the next snow will be our first. I think it might happen late next week.