Norway Week 2

Our second week in Norway was an interesting one. We have learned that the work permit issues that we expected would be quickly resolved will likely be drawn out for quite a while. For those of you who may not know what is going on: My work permit was granted (really by mistake, but granted nonetheless) and Justin's was not. Because of this there are some issues with securing 'personal numbers' which are a big deal in Norway and allow you access to most all the goods and services you may need. We are working with the immigration offices and police, but it is a major bureaucratic nightmare. Also, because Justin's permit was denied the government has seen fit to deny Maarit's residence permit as well. This is simply because the law here does not permit one parent to immigrate with a child and therefore separate the child from the other parent (presuming that since his permit has been denied he will not be living here). Anyway, it's a mess, but it WILL work out--we just don't know when. We have both missed a bunch of school this week because we've needed to go to appointments at the immigration and police offices.

Speaking of school though, our school has been wonderful and we are both very happy with our positions. The culture of education is quite different here and the amount of care, support and respect we have received has been amazing. Not to mention that the head of our school cafeteria (if it can be called that) is a French chef so the meals are ...amazing. I can not even begin to describe how awesome the food is at our school, it's like going to a private restaurant every day for lunch (good thing I am hiking and biking to work or I'd be getting even fatter!) Another huge perk is that our school has an unlimited 'all things coffee' machine... so my mornings usually consist of trying to decide if I want an espresso, mocha or a latte for first coffee.

We have been secretly blessed by the whole work permit mess as well in a way. Because of the fact that Maarit is currently an illegal alien she can not attend the Norwegian preschool system (barnhagen), something we were really looking forward to for her. However, our school director has decided that Maarit will be able to attend the preschool program, free of charge, at our school. (She is actually about 1 month too young for the International School program, but the rules are being bent in this case because of the permit issues--we are so grateful!) This means that each morning she will be able to come to school with us and spend her time with kids from all different countries in a very spectacular preschool program. She will likely start this week. She is very excited for school and we have taken her to visit one of the best parts: the playground!



The city of Stavanger held a flower sculpture festival this past weekend:

Stavanger port with flower sculpture tents set up:

A view of town from the tower:

A view of the tower:

Looking over the port from the tower steps: The bridge leads to a fairly populated island off the coast.

Gardens beware! These are the slugs we see everyday. Justin used his cell phone to give some perspective. I have never really seen anything quite like this...they are everywhere, but the flowers and gardens appear to be very healthy and beautiful.

Oil port...Maarit enjoys the playground outside the oil museum. It is made up of old oil mining equipment modified for children and is pretty cool!

A fairly common oil ship in the port.

This is included because we always pass this gazebo and nearly every time we pass it there is a seagull on the top and pigeons on every tile. It is pretty comical in person and Maarit always likes to see the birds on the building.

I liked this little car, you see lots and lots of little tiny cars, but this one is funky green and is called a Buddy car- Maarit and I thought it was pretty cool.

The most colorful street in Stavanger.

A cruise ship comes to port: We have seen many cruise ships, but this one was the hugest! It took up several city blocks and was insanely large compared with the buildings and other ships in the harbor.

Old Stavanger: this area is some of the oldest wooden buildings in Norway. Many of these are from the 1600-1700s and are still inhabited. The cobblestone streets along this area are amazing and it is truly a quaint place to visit, worth the trek uphill pushing Maarit in her chariot.

I wanted to take a picture of the many rose gardens for my dad who loves roses. There are many beautiful rose gardens around Stavanger and in fact most everywhere residential has roses (along with many other beautiful flowers). There are even still lilac bushes blooming!

Inside the middle ages cathedral in Stavanger. Maarit wanted to sing and play so we only stayed a minute...
And finally....OUR NEW HOME!!!!!

This is the view from our living room. We are right on the fjord. Across the water is an island with a sheep and cattle farm. At night we can hear the baaing and mooing. It is quite picturesque Norway.

Our view again:

Our little outdoor deck. I will share inside pictures when our furniture comes in! We moved and have a new address, but I am not quite sure how to send it out as I need a Norwegian letter and do not have it on my American keyboard. I will see if I can google how to get the letter so I can share the address with all of you. Until then, we're getting settled and we are so glad to be in our real Norway home rather than the temporary housing.

Have a great week. I know this is the last week of summer for some of our friends who are teachers back home, enjoy it!