Electric Bill

We received our electric bill yesterday... we read the meter and pay it every three months.  Our bill for January - March was roughly $1300 dollars which means we paid about $450 a month for electricity this winter!!  

Tenerife Part 2

We enjoyed several more days of relaxation, reading and sun. We both got a massage at the spa in our hotel - yeh! Jason needed one after sleeping in a cramped airplane seat for 6 hours! I got a salt scrub with my massage which was heaven but ended up leading to a sun poisoning rash. L I think the combination of the salt scrub and my skin not seeing sun for about 5 months was not a good combination. I only had it on my feet for the second half of the week and it spread to my hands and neck on the last day but some calamine lotion helped. We had considered traveling to the next island, La Gomera, but it was over 100 Euros and we were not sure if Jason was up to a boat trip yet.

We did find a great British pub for fish and chips – they also had 1 Euro pints which was cheaper then the tiny sodas. We ended up back there for a 2 for 1 burger lunch as well one day -which was excellent. We had a nice dinner on of the last evenings in a cute restaurant- we shared Paella which was also excellent. We loved the cheap food and drink. We found that in the grocery stores you could get beer for as cheap as .17 Euro cents and a ½ liter of box wine for .67 Euro cents. I don’t think .67 Kroner cents could buy you a stick of gum in Norway.

The last day we rented a older convertible and toured the rest of the island. We headed through the middle of the island to El Teide, which is the inactive volcano that created the island. It last erupted in the early 1400’s and it is the tallest point in all of Spain. The ride up was twisty and scenic. We went through several changes in plant life and temperatures. We had our Garmin GPS with us to help with directions but we finally had to turn it off when Garmin took us on a “shortcut”. That shortcut ended up taking us up a tiny road with a 55% incline (no joke) – we ended up meeting a car coming down the hill – Jason did an excellent job of stopping and restarting on the hill in a stick car! Then Garmin wanted us to turn on to a donkey path – not a dirt road but literally a donkey path. So we turned it off and headed back to the marked roads!

El Tiede was pretty impressive – you can take a cable car almost to the top but it was 25 Euro so we just hiked around the base in the cool rock formations for awhile. It was pretty cold (about 50 F) so we hiked quick and headed back to the car. The volcano is neat because you can see the lava flow tracks as they came down the mountain. We then finished the trek across the island to the city of Puerto de la Cruz. This is another tourist beach town but it is less populated and felt much more Spanish which we liked a lot. We had an amazing lunch of Jason’s absolute favorite – Tortilla Bocadillo. Then we headed around the north tip of the island back to the east side. We stopped in Candelaria – which is a tiny town that is famous for it’s basilica, which holds the patron saint of the Islands. Then we went on to tiny town that was built into the volcanic rock and had a tiny volcanic rock beach but an amazing view. Then back to the hotel for our last meal at the British pub for our last burger and beer fix.

Overall the trip was great. The weather was perfect – we got lots of relaxing in and some quality food. We also got some sun and warmth that was much needed. We don’t think we will be back to the Canaries but it was good to see them. Our flight home was a 10am flight. Unfortunately it was full and had tons of kids on it. It literally felt like we were in a kindergarten playground at a few points! Back in Trondheim- all the snow has melted!!! The dogs were excited to see us and Matt and Kathryn who had been watching the dogs had dinner waiting for us- what a great way to return home. Luckily we had Monday off as well – Easter 2 they call it here!

Tenerife Part 1

We left for Tenerife in the Canary Islands on Sunday evening. We were annoyed that it was an evening flight but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Jason got food poisoning (or something) the night before and spent most of the night in agony. So after 8 hours on the couch recovering we headed to the airport. We were slightly concerned when we first got to our gate because there was a “puddle jumper” plane there- we couldn’t imagine 6 hours on that….but thankfully our plane was just out of sight. When we got on we discovered the seats were tiny and the legroom was non-existent. Jason was feeling pretty bad and we were crammed in which didn’t make him feel better. Luckily the guy in the aisle seat moved to another row so Jason could lie down for the rest of the flight and not puke on me. We arrived about midnight in Tenerife and were shuttled to our hotel.

The next morning arrived and Jason felt better but still not 100% so we took it easy. We needed to buy Jason a bathing suit since in his sickness he forgot to pack one and even though I double-checked it I missed it too. So we got a 15 Euro suit and walked the boardwalk. Then we found a much-coveted spot by our pool and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading. The good news is that it is much warmer then we expected - every day but one was low 70's and sunny! We headed out that evening to explore more of the area and have dinner. We saw an “American” restaurant and had dinner there since we were both craving burgers. We were sadly disappointed with our bacon cheeseburgers. The burger had British bacon (which is not good – sorry Colin), horrible white tasteless cheese and the burger itself looked like a frozen patty. We both ate half and left the rest.

The next day we got a great spot on the El Duque beach in front of our hotel under a palapa. What we didn’t realize was at 1pm we were charged 18 Euro for the privilege of using the chairs and palapa but it was well worth it. We did get an eyeful of European beach activities including numerous topless women. I have to admit that the Europeans in general are much more accepting of their bodies. I saw women in suits that you would never see a woman wearing in America at her size– there is something pretty cool about how comfortable they are with themselves.

So a few notes on were we are staying. The area in general is called Playa de las Americas. It is very touristy and there are lots of hotels and junky souvenir shops. Our hotel is on the west end of this area, which is called Costa Adeje, which is much nicer and well kept. Our hotel was really nice and our room was great. The room had a great balcony and view to the next hotel and it’s tennis courts and helipad (?) and you could see a tiny speck of ocean. The hotel included breakfast, which was excellent. The location itself catered heavily to British tourists- everywhere you went you saw ads for British Breakfast and Champions League Football (soccer). There were also a good bit of Germans and Spanish as well – Americans are rare and we made some friends with our accent. Jason and I both had to admit the area was nice but it could have been anywhere in the world – it didn’t feel Spanish or African (considering it is closet to Morocco).

Pulks

The weather has warmed up and the snow is melting faster then we expected.  We heard from friends that it was still great cross-country skiing conditions in Bymarka – which is about 5 miles from us.  So on Wednesday, which is my day off, I decided to brave cross-country skiing alone.  What a great decision!  It was warm (about 45F), sunny and completely deserted which is a great changed from battling the Norwegians on the weekends.  It was quite a treat and I look forward to skiing on weekdays in the future.  I posted some photos of my trip – you can see how much snow there still is and how deserted it is – usually there would be 20 people in each of those shots!  Interesting Norwegian story from the weekend- I have a co-worker whose girlfriend is pregnant so while he was out skiing he had stopped at the local refreshment hut for a coffee and some waffles.  He ended up talking to a lady about her pulk (see below- a pull behind sled for cross country skiing), which are really common here.  She told him how great it was and what to look for when he bought one- then she cautioned him to ensure he got one with enough insulation since her neighbors baby had died in his pulk last winter!   WHAT!? Amazing that they are willing to take their babies in the freezing cold when there is a chance the baby would get too cold and die just to get a skiing trip in.  I can’t imagine what possesses them at times but it doesn’t surprise me since they also leave their babies outside in their prams in the winter to sleep – the theory being it is “good for them”.  Weird. 

One a lighter note- we leave Sunday for 6 days on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.  The Canaries are off the coast of West Africa but are a Spanish territory.  We are excited for sun and warmth – although it might only be 65 or 70 most days that will be very “warm” for us. J  I will update the blog with photos and stories when we return.  Hopefully images like this will be what we see all week.  

The Things YOU Take for Granted

Here is my ongoing list of things you take for granted living in the US:

• Automatic garage door openers
• Central air and heat
• Doing a load of laundry in less then 3 hours
• Free plastic bags at the grocery store
• A "bag boy" at the grocery store (I can't imagine being offered helped to my car in Norway!)
• Being able to hire someone to do anything you don't have the time or energy to do yourself such as a maid, lawn care etc
• Watching a movie (in English) at the theater without subtitles
• Having to wait up to 3 months after the US release date for new movies to be released here (sometimes we can rent them on iTunes before they make to the theater here!)
• Bagged ice (or ice in general really)
• Not having to think "will that fit in the oven?" about anything
• Appliances that are larger then what you find in a college dorm room or studio apartment

It is funny the things you never think twice about in the US that are completely different here.  

Nothing much new to report.  After a week of warm temps and us looking forward to Spring --- it snowed another 6 inches!  Grr!  But it is warmer each day so the snow that fell has already melted.  I do think I saw one of the first real signs of Spring though - the city trucks sweeping up the tons of gravel they use on the roads.  But we are not changing out of snow tires yet :)  We are looking forward to our Easter Week trip to the Canary Islands in two weeks. Interesting note- Norway has three and a half days of national holidays surrounding Easter (not including weekends) and from what we hear everything closes down including the grocery stores - can you imagine?  

Spring? Maybe soon..

As you can see from the new photo on the blog Spring is slowing making it’s way to Norway.  These flowers are called “Snow Drops” and they are literally coming up through the snow all around the house. We have had minimal snow this week and it is usually followed by rain.  The temperatures have been warm (33-46 degrees) and it has been mostly sunny.  We are defiantly getting excited for no more snow and warm weather.   We used to laugh at the Norwegian idea of spending all your time outside but now we are really starting to understand it.  When there is snow on the ground for 6 months and the weather is nasty (and it is dark) it REALLY makes you appreciate the little changes like melting snow, warmer temperatures and sunshine.  We have found ourselves craving time outside even though it is still pretty chilly by our standards.  

Funny story from the weekend- we are at the grocery store and I am looking at some stuff while Jason is off with the cart getting ice cream.  I hear a loud crash and think to myself “I hope that is not my husband”.  Sure enough it was – he knocked over an entire display of candy – maybe 500 boxes!  Luckily a worker came running and proceeded to spend the rest of her shift picking them up and sorting them!  We felt pretty bad so we bought a box.  There is not much else to report.  Work for Jason is slow and due to budget cutbacks we don’t think he is going to get to the States for work at all this year. School for me has been drama filled but it is still going just fine.

Turning 30

So it was my turn to get old this week – so sad. I turned 30 on Monday. We had a nice evening out the Saturday before with Matt and Kathryn. We went to a burger place downtown for some good American food and a beer – which is a rarity these days. We followed that up with a nice dessert at a local pastry shop and then we went BOWLING! It was pretty fun and felt like home except that it was only 10 lanes! It was tiny and I swear that everything was sold at auction from a defunct bowling alley in America. It was all about 20 years old and to top it off it cost $50 an hour! So we kept it short and had a good time. Monday rolled around and I was sick so Jason stayed home in the morning with me and we had pancakes. That evening we had a simple dinner and I got my present from Jason, which was a cool speaker system for the kitchen that I can use with my computer or iPod. And he even surprised me with a cake!

There is not much else to report. I was mildly sick most of the week but I am feeling much better. One of my students showed our home economics class how to make sushi so we had homemade sushi tonight for dinner, which was a great change. And the most exciting news would be that we have booked a trip to Istanbul for June! We are excited to get to experience a new part of the world and a completely different culture. We are both pretty excited about it and have been researching all there is to know and see while we are there.