Norway-Versary

May 1^st was our one-year anniversary in Norway. It is also a national holiday (International Labor Day) – lucky for us. We had a great weekend in celebration. The Thursday before was a beautiful warm and sunny day so we did what all good Norwegians do and we spent a good part of the day outside (at least I did) and then we grilled in the evening. They have this great thing here called an “engangrill” which translates as one time grill. You light it with a match and let it sit for 20 minutes then you have about 30 minutes of grill time. It is not really big (see pictures) but it works great. They cost about $2.50 and on warm days everyone is out in the parks using them. So on Thursday we bought a few and had Matt and Kathryn over for hamburgers. It was pretty decent – we also made S’mores which was pretty exciting for us.

Then on Friday we spent a lazy day outside reading then went to the movies in the evening and then ate out at the first place we ate when we arrived – Pepe’s Pizza. The food is good and the service is horrible but we are used it by now. It is hard to think that we have been here for one-year already- in so many ways it has flown by and in many ways it feels like we have been here forever. But the reality is we think we are now in the home stretch – one year to go and we will be moving again. Of course you can’t hold me to that since relocations are always a moving target but that is the “expected” timeline. Overall I think it has been a great year – it is challenging at times (lots of times) but it makes me appreciate everything and it gives me such a better understanding of the world. I think when it is all said and done this experience will shape many of my beliefs and thoughts for a long, long time.