Friday, November 21, 2008

Norway


















On Wednesday afternoon I flew out to visit my cousin, Lisa, who is living in Norway. I landed in Oslo and then took an hour train ride north to a town called Hamar. Lars, Lisa's boyfriend, picked me up at the train station and then we met Lisa at work. When I got off the train I was so surprised because a fresh layer of snow had fallen earlier that day! The air was so cold and fresh there.

It was wonderful to see my cousin and I ended up working with her the whole night at the little cafe in which she works. It wasn't very busy so we just hung out, made some food, chatted, and enjoyed catching up. When we got home at 11:30 Wednesday night we fell into bed exhausted.

Thursday was a busy day. We decided before I got to Norway that it was essential to celebrate Thanksgiving together since we wouldn't be with family this year. We took a little walk around town and went shopping for our feast. It was difficult to find the right ingredients for all of the traditional foods that we are used to, but we did our best with what we found. We mashed potatoes by hand, slaved away making bean casserole, turkey, and my Auntie Jill's infamous fruit salad. We topped it off with a homemade apple pie for dessert. Lisa and I were pretty impressed with ourselves that we pulled off a delicious meal all by ourselves. We are pretty sure that Lars and his friend Martin thoroughly enjoyed the wonderfully authentic Thanksgiving dinner due to their sizable second-helpings and content faces.

Friday morning we had a slow start and enjoyed a long walk around Hamar. There's a huge lake near Lisa's apartment and the ice was already starting to build up on the rocks where the water splashed up. We bundled up and I had fun seeing Lisa's town.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

Wow! Your adventure and your cousin both sound so amazing! ;) Hehe, but seriously...I am glad you made it here...and glad it all worked out.