Thursday, December 22, 2011

Sorry for the delay....


First off let me apologize for the delay in not updating our blog.  Between school (me), work (both), and traveling we have had very little free time.  Also, information about our “Megan’s Birthday Trip” can be found in another post.

With that being said, what has all happened here….
One weekend we drove out to Brykedal, and the candle factory.  It was a beautiful drive in the mountains.  To get there you cruise through some of the most breathtaking U-shaped valleys and along some amazing lakes.  On the way out there the sun was trying to peak through the clouds but was struggling and on the way back there was a slight rain.  Once we got there we bought tons of candles and had a traditional Norwegian meal.  I had a meatball dish (I can’t remember the actually name) and Megan had a fish dish.

When we moved here we needed phones and we figured we wouldn’t be using them a whole lot.  At that time we decided to get pay-as-you-go phones.  The problem was they were unreliable at times.  So we decided to upgrade and broke down and bought iPhones.  After much research we discovered that if we buy them here unlocked we can use them even when we travel to other places (with a SIM card of course).  So, needless to say, birthday presents came early this year.

Since, most of the vacation time was used on the wedding we are staying here for Christmas.  While on “Megan’s Birthday Trip” we actually bought most of our gifts for each other, as it was slightly cheaper there.  We still bought things here but we won’t know what until Christmas.  We baked cookies that are familiar to us:  pizzelles, moons or Russian teacakes, peanut butter balls, and pfeffernusse. If we where to do a “typical” Norwegian Christmas we would decorate our tree on the 23rd, but we already bought and decorated ours from a boat that brings them into the harbor from up north.  On Christmas Eve we would open all of our presents with family and eat a dinner consisting of ribbe, julepølser, pinnekjøtt, lutefisk, kålrabi, potatoes, sauerkraut and more.  We actually had all that at Megan’s company Christmas party (minus the lutefisk).  Since my birthday is Christmas Eve instead of trying to fight for a reservation at a restaurant or try to cook some of these foods, we are celebrating my birthday a day early by going to a local restaurant where we can get such foods again. Here is a link to find out more about them Norwegian Christmas Food

Also if you want to come visit, right now all you need is a suitcase full of real butter and you could sell it to get your ticket paid for.  All joking aside, this is a problem here this year.  Norwegians in general started a low carb, high fat diet just before December.  Combine that with milk production decreasing in Norway, you get a butter shortage.  The country has tried to import butter, but no one will unless we lower our taxes.  So, we just have to deal without butter or we have to risk our lives against elderly women….

Just as a final side note, I passed my driving test as well.  So we are both licensed to drive until we are 100 in Norway!

Canons by the lookout tower.

The lookout tower.

Harbor at night.

The local school in Sentrum.

Having fun...

I want one...
Drive to Byrkedal.

Drive to Byrkedal.

Watching guard over the farm houses next to the candle factory.

One of the many beautiful lakes...wish the sun was shining...

One of the lakes.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

It's been a few months...

We have been keeping quite busy here in Stavanager. Since our last update quite a few significant things have occured.

First off, summer came to an end as Loren started his final year of grad school. As everyone knows, the first few weeks of school are usually more lax, but the pace soon quickened as Loren added not one, but two jobs to his plate. He has been coaching swimming for the British International School of Stavanger (BISS) and has also picked up private lessons for ConocoPhillips expat families. He's working his way up the company, one swim lesson at a time.

As for Megan, she has been keeping busying working and passing her driving test. That's right, she now can legally drive in Norway for the rest of her life, or at least the next 99 years! The main differences with driving here is that there are rarely any stop signs and traffic lights. Instead they are replaced by roundabouts galore and this thing called the "right rule." The "right rule" is applied when you are on certain roads you yield to the person to your right (just like if two people stop at a 4-way stop sign).

We've planned our first "honeymoon" for Thanksgiving weekend. We will be spending 3 days and 4 nights next to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark. During this time we will be exploring the capital of Denmark and attending the Christmas Market! You'll have to wait until after the trip to find out more!

One final note before we go get some dinner, we now have 2 modes of transportation. Our first big purchase were 2 mountain bikes, both on sale. Originally we thought that we could get by with just those and public transportation, but needless to say we were wrong. So instead, to celebrate Megan passing her driving test (also after multiple weeks searching online and riding bikes in the rain), we bought a car! It's a 2005 VW Golf (bright blue!!!)!

Pretty sunrise from our bedroom.

Gorgeous sunset from our balcony.

Three massive winter tankers in the harbor.

Unique architecture in Sandnes.

Drivers side view of the electric bullet. (That is not our parking spot so don't critic the parking job)

Front view of the electric bullet. (Loren is grabbing his iPod after reversing into our parking space.)

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Another Update

So what have we been up to...

Since the last update there has been two different "festivals" here in Stavanger.  The first was the food festival, otherwise known as Gladmat.  There was just about any type of food you wanted, mainly from local vendors.  We bought two fresh cheeses a smoke cow milk and a specialty goats milks and one sausage that had mustard seeds, dried tomatoes, and bell peppers on the outside.  While we were there with some of the other expats we decided to go to Lervig beer tent.   After I talked to one of the brewers, who happened to be from Jackson, Wyoming, our friend got a text about the bombing.  After that Megan and I split about 10 sample plates from different tents and walked home stuffed to the brim.  Luckily we went that night because due to the tragedy in Oslo, the festival was cut short by a day.

Last weekend was the Tall Ship Races.  The harbor was just PACKED with what I heard someone say were "old school sailing ships."  The ships started to arrive on Wednesday and stayed in the harbor until Sunday.  During that time some of the ships "open" and allow people to tour them.  Just like you might expect the biggest and neatest ships had the longest lines so Megan and I went to the smaller of the large ships and got to walk on two of the decks!  Sunday when the tall ships left, we were fortunate enough to take a ship out to watch them go out to sea.  On the boat we were served a lunch buffet and drinks, which made the trip even better.  Some the ships had the crews line up and sing sea shanties.  It is kind of hard to describe exactly what it is like so I hope the pictures give you a good idea.


Besides the festivals we have just been living life!

Picture I took of the memorial for the victims of the Olso tragedy.  This was on the cathedrals steps.


One of the ships for the Tall Ship Races.

Another one of the ships.

Mural on the back side of a ship.

Who ever said that the a doesn't have courage?  He is on front of the ship!

The large Russian ship on the way out to sea.

Some of the ships on their way out sea.  They had to watch out for the 'pedestrians.'

The only ship with sails that are not white.

The coolest ship here!  Possibly the only all wooden one too!

The intricate detail on the back of the coolest ship!

Just handing around waiting to go out to sea.

East side of the harbor.  I have the other side but am having problems uploading it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

First Update

Well I finally got around to updating this thing...

Megan and I have been staying fairly busy here in Stavanger.  We have been getting logistics figured out slowly but surely.  We are both starting to know where all the important stores/shops are located and about how long it takes to walk or ride the bus to them.  One of the greatest finds in Megan's opinion is Hersey's Chocolate Chips while mine is regular processed peanut butter, JIFF (sorry the organic isn't as good).

The first weekend we were in town the FIVB Beach Volley Ball World Tour.  Through Megan's work we received two tickets to the Men's Championship Match.  However we were able to watch the second semi-final and third-place game with our tickets.  The Norwegian team made the second semi-finals and lost so they ended up playing in the third place game, which they lost to Germany.  The Final was Brazil versus Poland, and Brazil won the whole shin-dig. 

Next weekend is the Tall Ships Festival/Race is next weekend (http://www.tallships.no/).  One fascinating thing about this is that Megan entered us into a drawing to board a ship that will take us out to the start of the race.  Well as it turns out we won!!!  So, on June 31st we will board a ship (******) and have dinner and drinks on our way out to the start of the race!  Once there we will witness the start of the race and then return home.  Should be a blast!!!

Lets see what else is happening...  We joined the local gym because its hard to stay motivated by ourselves.  The gym is very unique because it is located in an old bank!  Some of the workout room are located in the old vaults, which is pretty neat.  But besides that it is just a normal gym in a bank.  This weekend is the food festival so there will be more on that in the future...

Ship that we will be for the Tall Ship Races.

One of the wooden ships that was in the harbor the other day.
A few of the sail boats that are usually docked in the harbor.
Night view into Old Town Stavanger from our balcony.

Just a rainbow with no leprechaun.

On the side of the SHIT shop (don't worry it is a t-shirt shop)

One of the numerous statues that around town.
Megan and I waiting between the semi-final game and the third-place game.

The Brazilian Team starting to celebrate!

Award ceremony where the German and Polish Teams received mugs and the Brazilians received swords!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Hi Everybody

We are in the process of setting up this blog so friends and family can stay updated on our adventures.

For those who are unaware, Megan and I (Loren) are married and now live in Stavanger, Norway.  The reason we moved here is because she got transferred with her job (ConocoPhillips).  I will still be working on my Master's of Education while we are over here.

This blog is for us to track our adventures while we are over here.  So be patient and enjoy!!!