The Egyptian Recharge

After a very sad week of dealing with Stretch's death and the grief that came in waves all week, our trip to Egypt was a welcome distraction. After spending a whole week in Egypt doing nothing but relaxing it seems as though we have been "reset" and we are starting to feel a little better and more hopeful. We returned yesterday and now we are looking forward to the move home. We leave here on August 29 (in 31 days - not as if we are counting!). We really appreciate all the kind emails, messages and cards from everyone - it makes it easier to know others are thinking of us and Stretch. To update you on Dopler- he is doing great! He got a clean bill of health at the vet and is playing and eating like a champ. He is getting lots of love and attention and I think he will be just fine- we are more then excited to see him.

Okay enough about regular life- here is Egypt! First off let me tell you- we didn't see any pyramids, culture or camels. I know I know - how could we not? Well it wasn't what we were looking for- we wanted sun, warmth and relaxation. Our original plan was to be in the US by now and do a Mexico or Jamaica vacation so this was as close as we could get. Plus to be honest I think wandering the desert to see pyramids in 104+ heat would not have been real fun. Maybe another time.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort in Sahl Hasheesh on the Red Sea which is about 20K south of Hurghada. The hotel was beautiful and lush. Our room was amazing and we had a nice view of the sea and pool. The area we were in is still being developed so there are very few other hotels near us. But they expect a lot of development since they have built out roads with grass, palm trees and sidewalks for about 5 miles leading up to our hotel. And they employ about 100 workers to water and maintain this road area- strange site, it is like a road to nowhere.

Our room - the bed was HUGE

The view from our patio

The view across the street from the hotel- sand as far as you could see

As I mentioned we did basically nothing which was great. Well I lie- we did get a few massages which were amazing! They brought in Thai women to work at the spa- I think I am a convert...Thai massages are wonderful. The food at the hotel was decent but not great. The drinks were also included but unfortunately they were pretty bad so we stuck to the local beer which was decent. We do think we had the world's worst strawberry daiquiri one night. The staff was pretty great and very attentive. It took us about a day to notice that all the staff were men- including all the waiters and housekeepers. We learned that workers have to travel to work here and live in staff accommodations and that would be improper for an Egyptian women so it was all men. We were also told the men tend to work harder. The workers were really nice and worked 12-18 hour days - we learned that they worked 3 weeks on and then got 1 week off when most returned home to their families (yes just like Sex and the City 2!).

Pepsi cans in Arabic

Funny old school pop top lids

The hotel was pretty empty - about 125 guests we estimated- which we loved. We were told the hotel had 400 staff members - the ratio was pretty funny at times. We were the only Americans- most guests were British or Russian. We came to love the Russians- they were hilarious and everything you imagine. We saw some amazing outfits and heard some pretty funny stories. We went into Hurghada one day and were unimpressed - which we expected. We did a little shopping and had to haggle prices which we both hate. The one thing we did notice was 90% of all building projects were unfinished. It was like a ghost town in many areas. We did hear that in Egypt you didn't have to repay loans until building was complete so most building were never fully completed.

Another unfinished hotel - this picture starts to give you an idea of how beautiful the water was

Kind of sums up Egypt - lots of wealth and beauty behind the run down (or unfinished) junk in front

Our flight home was delayed for 4 hours due to a strike in Greece. So that meant we missed our flight from Oslo to Trondheim and had to spend the night in the Oslo airport hotel. We were not fans of that but it's life. We did have the MOST amazing airport experience in Egypt on the way back. We were meet by an "agent" of our tour group and he hooked us up. First we cut through the initial security line of oh 250 people - he just waved over a guard and we were moved though the line like we were rock stars. Then we cut in the next security line the same way and then again at the check in counter- he cut us in front of about 100 others waiting for to check in for our flight. Then later we found out he also got us exit row seats- which on a charter flight is amazing! We don't know why we got such treatment but we tipped him the $15 we had left and felt it was the best tip we could have ever spent! Another interesting Egypt fact- their money is the Egyptian Pound but they would rather do business in the US Dollar and they accept about 6 other currencies as well.

One evening's entertainment - Egyptian folk dance called Tanoura (he spun around for 15 minutes!)

Stretch (June 17, 2003-July 14, 2010)

Sadly, on the dogs return trip from Norway to the United States yesterday, Stretch passed away during the flight from Frankfurt to Houston. Jason’s parents were in Houston to retrieve the dogs and were able to pick up Dopler and take him back to Beaumont. We do not have many details about what exactly happened to Stretch and it is unlikely we will ever really know because of the circumstances. Right now it just appears that either right before or during the flight Stretch began to have stomach and intestinal issues which quickly escalated. He passed several hours before the flight landed in Houston.

We were hoping yesterday would be an exciting and happy day. The dogs would begin their new adventure together in the US, and it was really our first big step to moving back home. It is amazing how quickly your emotional pendulum can swing. Today we are filled with sorrow and self-doubt about our actions leading up to Stretch’s trip. We try not to ask the “what if” questions because it does not help, but at the same time, although he was 7 years old, he was in the prime of his life. It seems like this could have been avoided. It is a terrible thing to know that in the last hours of your friend’s life he may have been scared and alone. I hope he took some comfort knowing that Dopler was close and I hope that he somehow knew that he was constantly in our thoughts.

To know Stretch when we first got him was to know a shy, timid, and cautious boy who was fresh off the track. In the three glorious years we got to spend with him we saw him change into a playful, affectionate, and often hilarious friend. We could not wait to bring Stretch back to the states and share him with all of our friends; if you knew him before you would have barely recognized him. Whether it was his playful hoping around the house when he wanted to go outside for a walk or when he would come over and throw his head in your lap for a good scratching, to spend time with Stretch was to spend time in a warm place where the sun shines.

I am glad to know that Stretch’s last day with us was probably one of the best days we have ever had with him. He got to eat his favorite meal of chicken and rice, he got to enjoy gorgeous sunshiny weather on two walks, and he spent a lot of quality time getting his head and tummy rubbed. He had one of his grandest fits of playfulness we have ever seen, and as we said good-bye to Stretch as he began his final journey his last remembrance of us will be kisses on the head and hearing how much we loved him.

People tell us that he is in a better place now… we only wish he could have spent more time with us in our place before moving on. We will always cherish my time with him and feel blessed to have been able to provide him a loving and warm place to live in his final years.

Taken a few hours before he left for the trip

Celebratory Cookies

I made Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies to celebrate that testing on Jason's project is COMPLETE!! This means that we can officially leave Norway! He took them to work and they were a hit. I really like this cookie since it is not too sweet, has a hint of banana and of course chocolate. Here is the recipe.

We have had a great day today. We finally got word that both of our visa renewals were complete after only FIVE months and paying twice. We headed to the police station at 6:00am to wait in a pathetic version of a line to turn in our passports to have the visa inserted. It is quite an education on different cultures lining up at the police station for 2 hours to get the chance to pull a number to talk to an immigration officer- something I can't quite put into words. After a successful visit there we headed to the bank to determine how to close our account in Norway once we leave. We have to do it after we leave since we expect several payment and bills after our departure. We got good answers there. Then we headed to the folkregister, which is like the Social Security Administration. There we determined how to change our address and we went ahead and did that today! We also learned that we get to keep our personal numbers (like a SSN) forever which made us happy since they were so difficult to obtain.

We were so productive that we decided to go to the tax office as well to ensure that my tax refund in October would be paid directly into our Norwegian bank account- success! And lastly we went to the dealership where we bought our car to discuss the possibility of them purchasing it from us in late August. They said they would definitely offer us money for it and it would just be up to us to accept that offer. So now we know that in the worst case we can get rid of the car there! Then we got home and I got a call from our movers in Oslo trying to set up a move survey for next week- success again! I was also happy to hear from the mover that the move organizer in the US has almost agreed to allow the Oslo move crew to come to Trondheim to pack and load us instead of using the local group that made me very unhappy the first time around. It is starting to feel very real. It will be even more real when our pups leave for their journey on Sunday night :(

No Sugar Here

Someone recently commented that I make a lot of sweets...which I do and I know is not great for me but I do make other stuff too. So I thought I would show you some un-sweet things. I have a lot of time on my hands since school ended so this week I have made two different items. Last night we had some Turkish food so I made homemade pitas- they were delicious!

The unrolled out balls of pita - then a little rolling pin and baking and voila...

Then tonight we had pork tacos from this recipe- they were amazing nectarines and all. So I made fresh flour tortillas to go with our tacos- also very yummy. It is amazing how easy tortillas are to make- I may try more of these in the future.

Later this week- some more bread. So I can make things without sugar. Though I did make a huge batch of blueberry muffins the last week of school for our students breakfast and for Jason's belly.

And we have liftoff!

After months of speculation, worry and annoyance- our moving process has begun. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of unanswered questions and lots of worry left but at least it has started. We now have a date when the packing should begin (drumroll......) August 25th. We still need to have a move survey completed to determine how long it will take and that will in turn determine when we can fly out but we think we will be in the US the week of August 30th at some point. We are slightly concerned with how the Norwegian movers will do but in the end it will all be insured, right? As I said there are still lots of questions, such as, where we will live in Houston, how long we will be there etc etc but hopefully some of those will be determined in the next month or so.

Other then that there is not much new to report. I had a lazy week of not working last week and another one coming up. Jason had a colleague in town last week so we did do some entertaining but nothing too exciting. The weather has continued to be crappy but it is nice today. I was going to write a whole post on how crappy the weather has been this summer but it made me too sad so I stopped. I will just say the warmest it has been was one day back in mid-May when it was 21C or 69F- and that was one day- it hasn't gotten that warm since :( And just so you know, hearing how miserable you are in the heat of the summer is not very comforting....:)

Last Day!

Today was my last day of school! It may very well be my last day of "educating" children ever and it will be my last day of being employed for at least a few months. We had a nice lunch for the kids and then a graduation ceremony for our oldest students. I got a few sweet presents and lots of hugs which was really nice. I am sure once I am removed from it I will be sad but today was pretty great! It has been a busy week of musical performances, picnics, events, dinners with colleagues and the such. Glad the weekend is here and I can relax. Unfortunately for us the weather is crap- it even sleeted this morning :(

Because all good blog posts need a picture...

I think our dogs have decided they are in love. They are always laying right next to each other nowadays - which is a huge change from the first year. I swear that Dopler moves his bed to be touching Stretch's bed every day :)

Caramelized Apple Skillet Cake

Today was a lazy Sunday- Jason was working from home and I didn't have much to do, so I decided to bake. After searching my cookbooks for something I had all the ingredients for I decided on Caramelized Apple Skillet Cake from the Craft of Baking book- here is the recipe from another person's blog.

I did have a bit of trouble with this recipe. First off I don't have a cast iron skillet or an oven proof skillet so I needed to make it in a cake pan. You make the caramel on the stove top in the pan but I didn't think my cake pan was stove top proof so I made the caramel in a regular pan then poured it into the cake pan. First mistake- hot caramel into a cold cake pan doesn't work. So I tried again - this time warming the cake pan in the oven first but I wanted to get the apples cut up before I transferred the caramel to the cake pan- well that was a mistake as well. The caramel cooled and couldn't be reheated to the correct consistency. So third time was a charm- warm cake pan and apples that were ready to be placed in the caramel. Looking back I also should have had the batter ready before I started the caramel and apple phase but it still worked just fine.

Hot out of the oven

Inverted

Finished product is heavenly! Jason could barely wait for me to let it cool and invert it so he could eat it. This will be something I make again and again!