Mumsie & Me: Stavanger

Hilsen fra Norge, everyone!
Things have been busy here for me as I was joined by my wonderful and beautiful mother in Bergen last Monday! Of course, she was greeted with lots of rain. I picked her up at the bus station, and after a coffee in town, I showed her my room. It was fun to show her where I live, my school and introduce her to my friends and floormates. As amazing as Skype is, it doesn't allow you to really show people back home what your life is like. I must admit, it has been quite entertaining to see my mom adjust to some little things over here in Europe. One of my favourite moments was when I was in the kitchen cooking dinner (yes, I was cooking. Believe it.) and someone asked where my mom was... I was expecting her to come out in five minutes, but ten minutes had gone by and she was still nowhere to be seen. THEN, I hear my door lock going CRAZY. It's just clicking and clicking and clicking and yet, the door is not being opened. I went to the door and discovered that my mom had been trying to get out of the room, but she didn't understand that here in Norway you PUSH the doors open instead of pulling them. She kept thinking that she couldn't unlock the door so...she was struggling for awhile. Meanwhile, I was laughing hysterically on the other side and waited awhile before showing her how to get out. Then, we had dinner together and made plans for the next few days we would be spending in Stavanger.

The next morning, we had to get up early to catch the 7:30 ferry to Stavanger. Although I had planned on going to Stavanger many times during my stay in Bergen, it is a four hour trip and because of school and other commitments on the weekends, I hadn't made it out there yet! For those of you who don't know about my connection to Stavanger, basically my mom's entire family is from the area and our main reason to visit was to see her cousins, aunts, uncles etc. My grandma was born in Hognestad and my grandpa was born in Aalgaard. These two towns are right next to each other and are just a half hour drive outside of Stavanger, so I got to see where my grandparents spent a lot of time when they were living in Norway. But let's start at the beginning of our first day AKA "The Day of Eternal Visiting".
If any of you know me, you know that I like to talk. I can talk all day and never get tired of it-or so I thought. The first day we got to Stavanger, we visited with relatives for literally 11 hours.
My Aunt Kitty and her husband Sigurd picked us up at the ferry terminal at noon. We immediately went to the town of Sandnes where they live. We quickly stopped at a popular tourist attraction where there is a very famous viking sword monument.
Before lunch, she took us to an interactive science museum. (SO random, but awesome at the same time). We were the only people that weren't there on a field trip, so we felt a little out of place but, that's the story of my life so it was fine. Mom captured some of our time there on film. (My mother has proven to me that you can literally take pictures of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. At this science center, she even went up to some kids and asked if she could take pictures. Only Debra...)




Back at Kitty's house, we had a very traditional Norwegian lunch (which was DELICIOUS!). Lots of bread, waffles, cheese and meat. And of course, more visiting. I will say that the trip to Stavanger helped me work on my Norwegian. Conversations would consist of my mom speaking in English, and then Kitty and Sigurd replying in Norwegian. I was surprised at how much of the conversation I could follow. It is definitely easier for me to understand Norwegian and reply in English than actually speak it. It's the same for my mom. Hopefully, I will get better at the speaking part soon, though!
After lunch we were joined by Terje, Kitty's son and thus, my mom's cousin. He hadn't seen me since I was nine so I don't think he really recognized me. I mean, not only do I look older but I also don't look like a little boy anymore. Or so I hope. Then, we got in the car to go visit more of Mom's cousins. We visited Asbjorn and his family, Morten and his, and Jack. We just "dropped in" unannounced and I was basically a stranger to these people so it was a little random for me, but it was nice to learn more about my mom's family and hear them talk about "the good old days". Then, Kitty took us out for dinner. I'm surprised we made it without getting into an accident. Kitty is wonderful, but her driving skills are definitely lacking. People say I am horrible at parking and now I know where I get it from. Anyway, dinner was great and at around 10:30, Kitty dropped us off at my cousin Siv Elise's house where she lives with her husband, Francesco and two kids, Marco and Thomas. We talked until 11, and then I passed out.
The next day, more visiting ensued...but it was a beautiful, sunny day so I was happy to be out with people! We started off the day by going to Siv Elise's and her mom's office. Siv Elise has her own fashion line, and along with her mom-she runs it from her mom's house just a two minute walk away. We had coffee and talked about her life as a designer (very exciting!). Then, my mom's cousin Ingrid picked us up and we made our way around my grandparent's home towns. I got to see where my grandma was born, the church where she was baptized, her school as well as my grandparents house and school.





Mom and I learned that it is at this time of the year that the sheep give birth. It is important for the farmer to be "on call" 24 hours a day, so Ingrid's husband is currently LIVING in the sheep barn. (see picture below). That is what I call devotion.



We made a quick stop at Ingrid's house and I played a little piano...for the first time in months! SUCCESS! We had to get back to Siv Elise's though so we could have a nap before dinner.
We went over to Ola's and Olaug's for dinner and had trout, boiled potatoes and cucumber salad (my favourite)! Again, it was great catching up with family and it was cool to see their house where I stayed over 11 years ago during my first visit to Norway. Here are just a few (of the MANY) picture of this wonderful family.




On our last day, I visited Siv Elise's outlet and bought some great sweaters and vests....!! We snapped a few pictures, and then headed back to the ferry!



It was a rainy ride back to Bergen, and we were tired from our busy days in Stavanger, but overall it was a very successful trip and I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to see so much family again! Although visiting does get tiring, it was so amazing to learn more about my grandparents from the people who actually knew them while they were in Norway.
The next stop for me and Mom was Prague, Czech Republic-stay tuned for a post on our adventures!
Sending love!!
A