The best of both worlds

"The best of both worlds" is what came to mind earlier this evening when we enjoyed a good Norwegian supper with cured leg of lamb, potatoes, dark bread and at the same time caught up on the US baseball stats.

Yesterday, a couple of maintenance guys knocked on the door and wanted to upgrade our cable. Carl had only one question: ESPN?? So, thanks to the upgrade, I now have a choice of two channels: ESPN and Disney! The furniture needs an upgrade or two as well and the drain from the washing machine needs to be unclogged so that the bathroom floor does not flood again, but aside from that this is a great place. We are close to everything and even Benjamin is able to find his way to and from the bus, train and mall. There is an abundance of restaurants, theaters and malls in the area.

The kids seem to have settled in and Benjamin likes Norway, all though he still misses his friends back in Texas. Annika is just happy to get to ride the elevator, trains and to follow her older brother around. They haven't caught on to the language yet, all though we faithfully watch Mikke Mus speak Norsk every morning and Annika says "Vær så god", but we'll get there.

We also made the trip out to the sticks earlier this week. We wanted to see our house and the area. After one tram, one train an one bus ride, we were there. We stepped out of the bus with a mixture of "where on earth are we?" and "now what?". The bus driver must have thought we took a wrong turn somewhere, because he stalled the bus as if offering us to step back on and take us back to town. Behind us were a few houses and in front of us a hill with a paved path. We decided to take the path, determined to see our house. After a few minutes we found our street and then our house. Yeah!! At that moment, we decided that this house was a good choice after all. Yes, we are far far away from everything, but this is the perfect spot for kids. There is a little play area across the street, the area seems very quiet (but that is only until our kids move in), the view is great (with Oslo and the fjord in the back ground) and we have a lake right behind our back yard (and a 100ft drop down to that lake). Of course, we have not (in person) seen the house on the inside nor have we lived there during dead of winter, so I reserve the right to change my mind about any of the above mentioned positives:).