Welcome to Norway!

We are here in Kristiansand. The trip was as smooth as possible. Not once did anyone ask us any questions. I am so used to dealing with US or Canadian customs, so we had our story all planned (I was also nervous about having a one-way ticket). When we arrived at the Copenhagen airport, a guy just looked at our passports, stamped mine, and handed them back. Not one word. In Kristiansand, there were 2 girls and one asked us "anything to declare?" Nope. "Okay, go on through".... Didn't even ask for ID or anything. You have to realize how funny we looked trying to cart around 9 pieces of luggage! Dom sweet talked the Danish lady checking us in in Seattle and she didn't even charge us for being over weight. We had a great day in Seattle: ate good food, walked around. The 9 1/2 hour flight was okay. Not much sleep for either of us, but individual movie screens on each seat and 2 free glasses of wine :). Dom became a Tetris expert on his screen. I watched Revolutionary Road (ironic because they wanted to move to Europe). There was a father and son from Idaho (small world) sitting next to us. The son had won a trip to Denmark with his 5th grade team for developing a bio-fuel from school bus exhaust. Pretty cool kid. Everything went so smoothly! We have found an apartment which is awesome, 2 blocks from the ocean and sandy beach with a big park. Everyone seems very nice and friendly and thankfully speaks English pretty well. We have a nice 16 year old living above us that said he will help us with anything we need. And mom, lots and lots of bakeries here. Yeah! I do have pictures that I hope I can get up this week, but other things are a priority right now like finding a bed, and next week getting a job. We are pretty jet-lagged... when does that end? It is also confusing because right now the sun rises around 5 am and sets at 10:30pm. Yep. We are 9 hours ahead of Victoria, 8 hours ahead of Idaho. Hopefully we can set Skype up soon, just hyjacking some wireless connection we found right now. Love to all.

Last week in Victoria

Wow. I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life (at least not that I remember, trying to live in the moment here). This post is going to be very random because that is how my thoughts are.
- A few weeks ago I took all these pictures of the village (area of town I live in) to post because all the trees are blooming and it is so beautiful here. I haven't had a chance to go through them yet.
- Dom and I went sailing for Easter weekend with my aunt and uncle here in the gulf islands which was fantastic and I have some cool pics from that and keep meaning to do a write up.
- The car sold! Yeah!
- Did a crazy, very emotional two day road trip to Seattle to drop Maya off at the airport to be shipped to my parents. Just got back last night and already miss her immensely. I wish she could be our buddy on the start of this adventure.
- Got to see my sister Naomi in Seattle yesterday with her adorable family. They are soooo awesome and make the best parents. I love them so much. Even though I only got to spend a couple hours with them, it was really special to me.
- My great friend Laurie drove us to Seattle and even though she was the first to start crying as Maya was going in her crate to leave, I don't think I could have done it without her. She always knows what to say, and is a beautiful positive person.
- I am getting really, REALLY excited to go. I am really proud of Dom and I for being able to make this happen.
- My body hurts. all over. (most likely from stress, emotions and hormones all at once)
- Don't know if I'll be able to post again before we leave... so if not, stay tuned for Norway!!! Ahhhh!!!

Last minute buys

Well, down to one roll of toilet paper and two weeks to go. This means I have to go get toilet paper which we will never use all of in time, add to the list of things I need to buy now but we can't take with us: plastic wrap, hot sauce (although maybe I should take this, not sure about Norwegian hot sauce availability), dog food, laundry detergent.

Sarah's Visit

Sisters :) Here we are on a hike, love the rain forest background.

My beautiful sister Sarah at the dog park with Maya

Shopping in Canada

One of the cultural differences I have noticed in Canada vs. the US is shopping. I grew up in the States where there is a certain shopping mentality that I never noticed until I decided to have a garage sale a few years ago here in BC. Now, those Americans reading will recognize a good ol' garage sale, where I set up everything marked slightly higher to leave room for bartering, and had homemade cookies and brownies for sale.

Not one person that came asked for a lower price. Seriously. I would even try to offer less to them when they looked at something and then smiled and walked away. Canadians are really extremely polite. Not that I think bartering is 'impolite' (and I hardly sold any baked goods, these always went so fast in the states). A month or so ago I was trying on a shirt at a store and when the sales associate asked me what I thought, I said "no, I don't think so... it makes me look pregnant." She looked appalled that I would say such a thing, and reacted like I just said SHE looked pregnant. People here just don't talk like that I guess. I was able to barter with a guy in Chinatown the other day though that spoke not one word of English (I wrote down the numbers).

SO, I have had my car up for sale, and in the ad it clearly states OBO (or best offer). A couple came to look at it yesterday, and we took it out for a test drive. The entire time, there was not one negative comment at all about the car. I was waiting for these as negotiation points! They were just so polite and friendly and then said "Okay, we'll talk about it and let you know." With no money talk at all! At this point, I told them that I was extremely motivated because we are leaving in 2 weeks, and still nothing. Come on! If someone out there wants a good deal and is willing to negotiate, I have got the car for you.

Photos!

Happy Couple

Hope you enjoy!

Great Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend. The weather here is just beautiful and warm. Our really good friend (that is a pro photographer on the side) took some pics of us on Saturday which I will post in the next few days after sifting through the hundreds. I am so happy with how they turned out though. Really stunning work. We went out for photos at sunrise which kind of sucked because the ground was all frosty and it was really cold, and no sleeping in on a Sat. But, I am so glad we did because the light was great and it really shows.

This same amazing friend then went luggage shopping with me and we found a killer deal, so that part is all taken care of. Yeah! One more thing off the list. What else is on that list that is stressing me out?
- Sell the car... I have posted and listed it everywhere I can think of, and still no bites over the last week. :(
- Find someone to take over our cell phone contract or we have to pay $350 in cancellation fees.
- Find a place to live in Kristiansand. I thought we could stay in a hostel for a bit while we got to know the neighborhoods, but it is seriously 3X the price of renting!
- Finalize all the dog info for shipping: this is seriously frustrating as each site seems to say something different. Even the Norwegian official site has conflicting info. I'm waiting for an email response from them, and will try calling tomorrow.
- Plan our going-away party that is in 2 weeks
- Everything else :)

Space Bags

Got some of these yesterday and condensed two boxes into one! It doesn't work as great as the picture or videos show, but still helps. I'm on the lookout for the kind where you roll the air out, kind of like a sleeping pad, that way we can fit all our clothes into our carry-ons and have the checked luggage for shoes! Right? or books...

Life Lessons

Pretty cool lessons to reflect on. Shamelessly stolen from SwissMiss. Thanks!