So I would say this is my first "real" winter here. I arrived so late in the season last year that I find it hard to count. There was snow piled everywhere here at the end of February, yet I wasn't really here for any of the snowing. It basically started melting after I arrived over a couple month period (ha). So now every day I stare outside and see snow, I can honestly say I love it more than I would have ever thought. Especially during the holiday season. There is something quite special about listening to Christmas music while the streets, houses, and trees are covered in glittering snow. For all those wondering, it is not that cold yet. Just mostly in the 20's and 30's pretty steadily now. And for those also wondering, I have survived so far. Did you know that its not that cold if you actually dress appropriately? Gloves come in handy, so does a hat, and an actual warm jacket. Something I often dismissed if it was ever cold back home. Haha. I know it is going to get colder, so I'll let you know how that goes but for right now I am truly enjoying the weather. My only NOT favorite part about this time of year is the daylight. I loved having the sun all day at summer....however right now the sun is pretty much rising around 9 AM and setting around 3:30ish. I am getting kind of use to it now, but at first it really messed with Kevin and I. I've always preferred the daylight. The snow does make it look less dark outside however. :) The winter season also brings the excitement of skiing to Norway. We would like to try cross country and downhill this year, so we will let you know how that goes! I think the ski center in Kongsberg will be opening up soon.
Jill, Warren, and the kids visited for the week of Thanksgiving and it was fantastic. I was actually truly worried before they came because the weather had been really rainy and dreary. We had one day of snow, but the rest of the time we had NO sun. It has been super cloudy and dreary in the valley we live in. It was like the "In between seasons" weather. The leaves had all fallen, and it was getting cold....but not cold enough for the rain to be snow. And the sun had completely gone on vacation. I made sure to purchase us some vitamin D when this started to occur. However, my prayers were answered! Although not every day was perfect while they were here, the 4 full days we were in Kongsberg were wonderful. We had two days with beautiful sun and completely clear skies that were perfect to take the kids up in the mountains for hikes. There were some snow and lots of frozen puddles etc. up there and the kids loved that along with the views. The last two days it snowed, which was perfect! We had a great Thanksgiving together. We had a roasted chicken and tynnribbe, and a lot of wonderful sides! Before we made it to Kongsberg, we showed them Oslo and took the cruise to Copenhagen. All was a giant successs, and all the travelers were troopers as I know they were exhausted. It was truly wonderful to have them here, and I think I got enough hugs to last me until we come home. Which we do OFFICIALLY know when we are coming home now...
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| Family of 5 made it to the King's Wall |
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| Kongsberg Sign :) |
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| Hiking, Hiking, and more Hiking |
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| At the Look-out point! |
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| Feeding the Ducks! |
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| Kids taking a hiking break! |
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| Beautiful View in Kongsberg |
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| Loving playing in the Snow |
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| Relaxing |
Kevin has had a few work meetings and they think he is trained and ready to return in March to the New Orleans office. So his last day in the Kongsberg office will be March 13th, we will then take a nice vacation to Italy :) On our way home we will visit New York and visit Kevin's relatives in New Jersey. We will finally make it back to Slidell on March 29th, and Kevin will start back in the New Orleans office on March 30th. It is bittersweet. We truly like it here, but we are also looking forward to being reunited with all our friends and family back at home. It has truly been an adventure so far, and we still have a few months to soak up the Norwegian air. We have a few more adventures planned in Europe as well. We will venture to Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam on December 26th. We will be able to experience the German Christmas Markets in Berlin and we will be in Paris to bring in the New Year. We will also be heading to Iceland in February to explore and hopefully see the Northern lights. We are excited about it all.
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| Kongsberg Sunset |
Christmas IN Norway...
I would say the Christmas celebrating started November 1st here. The day after Halloween, as they obviously don't have Thanksgiving here. I think one of the biggest things is the food. There are so many versions of Christmas foods. I feel like there is almost a Christmas version of everything. It is pretty entertaining. The most popular Christmas dishes seem to be: pinnekjøtt (lamb), lutefisk (cured white fish), ribbe (pork roast), and julekjøtt (Christmas meat/sausage). The ribbe is very good, the only one of the four I gave a true chance. Kevin has tried all of them, and ribbe is also his favorite. There are also so many cookies and sweets as well. Our favorite is the pepperkaker which are cookies that we think taste like cinnamon teddy grahams. In early November, Kongsberg added Christmas lights all around town. They are beautiful, and make the darkness better. :) Another big thing here is Julebrus (Christmas soda) which tons of companies make their own version of it. And it tastes like Red Cream soda, ha. Merry Christmas in Norwegian is "God Jul" and Santa is "Nissen." I know that they celebrate everything on Christmas Eve. I think our one and only Church service is at 2 because everyone has their festivities at night. They have big dinners, open all their presents etc. and many don't put their tree up until this day. We have truly enjoyed having the holiday here, and have loved the snow during the season. There is something truly special about listening to Christmas music when their is snow outside. Kongsberg also has been decorated beautifully since the beginning of November. That was a big perk when outside was so dark early on that month.
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| Kongsberg Main street Christmas Decorations |
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| Tynnribbe before Kevin cooked it! |
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| Julebrus! |
Christmas tree lighting
On November 30th they had a Christmas tree lighting here in town. It encompassed more than just the main Christmas tree lighting as there were tons of activities for kids to do earlier in the day. There were also a lot of Christmas songs performed on stage by a variety of people. Kevin and I just went for the main purpose of the Christmas tree lighting although we were there for other things too :) We saw a few performances that were enjoyable. There was a count down for the lighting of the tree. Afterwards, there were a couple songs played where seriously everyone held hands around the tree and started to move around it. I felt like I was the Grinch playing one of the Whos. We enjoyed it, although it kind of felt so surreal that I could not stop laughing. It was rally nice to be here in a smaller town, where things like that occur but you are not overwhelmed with the amount of people. It was at the church square and it was really nice.
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| Stage set up at the Church square and Christmas Tree below :) |
Kevin took me on a day date to Oslo to shop at the Christmas Market (Julemarked) and go Ice Skating. The Christmas Market was open in November so Jill, Warren, and the kids were able to stroll through that while they were here. The ice skating was not up yet though. It was a sweet day he planned for us. The Christmas Market was great, and really fun to walk through. They were selling all kinds of things, I think Kevin's favorite part was the food however (ha). He was able to indulge in an Elk Burger, which I have to say was very good. I tried a famous Christmas food called risgrøt (rice porriage) which they put cinnamon, butter, and sugar in. It as pretty delicious, but way filling. We did find a norwegian Christmas wreath from one of the booths. It is cute! There was one place that was selling moose and reindeer heads--the moose was HUGE. Both Kevin and I were nervous to try the ice skating. There were lots of people on the ice showing off, and some of them were kids. ha. I had been once in my life in 7th grade at the Galleria in Houston. I never let go of the wall that day (ha). Kevin got on the ice and of course took to it naturally. He said he was "channeling his inner Gordon Bombay." I have to say he looked pretty good doing it. At first I thought, "there is NO WAY I'll be able to let go of the wall." However, I feel holding onto the wall turned out to be more difficult then just letting go and going. Kevin helped me off the wall, and after that it just came naturally. We truly loved it. It was so much fun. We want to try to find a place to do it every year around Christmas when we head back home. Afterwards, Kevin treated himself with a Juleøl (Christmas Beer) and I got Gløgg (mulled wine). Both were delicious. The city is so beautifully decorated right now, and with it getting dark so early you get to enjoy them even more.
Kevin was invited to small dinner at one of the restaurants here in town for work after a completion of a project. All of the restaurants now have Jule meny (Christmas Menu), so it was basically a Christmas dinner. Let's just say it was an eating and drinking feast. We walked in and the waiter says that we had to get champagne, which they continued to fill your glass regardless of how much has been drank out of it...so you really aren't clear how much you have had to drink. We listened to everything the waiter told us to drink with our food, and it was a lot of mixing. Then before the appetizers we were given a shot of warm aquavit to sip, which we did enjoy. We were told to have the Juleøl (christmas beer) with our appetizers. I had a goat cheese salad (tasted way better than it sounds), and Kevin had lefse with different sauces and lamb. We were given loads of red wine with our main dishes. I had reindeer, and Kevin had a Jule dish with ribbe and julekjøtt. The were both delicious (I know, I would have never thought I would enjoy any of that before moving here). And for all who are wondering, the reindeer tasted like steak. We were then given the choice of Cognac or Porto with dessert, and we had some yummy dishes :) And then after the people near us were ordering whiskey... Kevin and I switched back to beer quick. All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and the restuarant was so cute! It had Christmas decorations everywhere and the waiter was so nice. We went to a bar called Privat's afterwards. It really was a great time, and Kevin and I were both very thankful for the experience
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| The Restaurant we went to! |
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| Champagne, Juleøl, and Aquavit all before the appetizers |
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| Lefse with Lamb |
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| Goat Cheese Salad |
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| Reindeer! :) |
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| Ribbe, Julekjøtt |
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| Porto and Cognac |
We definitely miss being home during this special time of year, but it is a great experience and see how other parts of the world celebrate. I will continue to share as the season continues. Merry Christmas To all!
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| Our beautiful river through town |
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| My favorite Ducks taking a swim |
We also did a little decorating in our apartment. The presents are courtesy of our lovely parents! We decided we had to have a tree so we found lights at a nearby second hand shop and bought a small tree at another shop in town! It is perfect :)
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| Our International Ornament Tree |
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| Our Cute Stockings from my Mom |
