It was a week of almost pure bliss from arriving at Oslo International on the 31st to leaving for Bergen on the 5th.
Other than the one evening where I had a severe headache accompanied by gas pain and John wasn't feeling too good ether (Lisa took good care of us both I think.) and the fact that the Widenhofers have been having problems with their water pump, I found last week to be just incredibly pleasant.
Here's a picture that pretty much displays that bliss in a nutshell.
Honestly, I forget which day, but my favorite day was Lisa & I going out to see
The Spiderwick Chronicles (
Spiderwick-krønikene på Norsk) and then to our favorite sushi place in the world, a place called
Sushi Asia run by a wonderful Vietnamese man who has come to like our family quite a bit, and whom we like to. It's the first place Lisa and I ever went out, back in February 2005. I must admit that I don't like their hot food so much (accept their
Miso Soup), their sushi and service is wonderful.
Another good day was when Lisa, Jan, and I went out with a 2nd gen French/Norsk-Korean blessed couple who are friends of ours, Irene Mønnesland & Song Bong Hong. Unfortunately Song Bong will soon enough be off on a two year stint in the South Korean military, drafted against his will and unable to get a definite excuse out of it. He told me between the two years he has about 1 month off on leave. I pray for their strength in enduring such a long time apart.
Lisa was able to bring back a bunch of souvenirs from Tanzania. I'd put up some pictures, but I believe we forgot to repack the camera to bring back to bergen, my MacBook (which has a camera built in) doesn't have the capability to connect to the internet here, and the PC won't read my iPod so I can't transfer photos from the Mac to the PC that way.
Also, she had problems with the camera I sent with her so she didn't get to take many pictures while she was there, but her friends did so either Lisa or myself will pit some pictures from the adventure up here some how or another.
Anyway, now we're back in Bergen, and while it's nice to be where we have a little more privacy and fully functional water, reality is starting to set in. Expenses in Tanzania were, while still ridiculously low(examples: 100 USD a month for rent, 50 cents to get your nails painted), it still ended up more expensive than we had thought, so basically if I'm not allowed to get a job by next month, we're going to be in deep financial trouble, more so than we have ever been before.
I have confidence, though, that we'll be alright. We have taken some measures to further ensure that I'll get my family immigration permit, thanks very much to the Widenhofers, again. It is unbelievable how helpful John, Berit, and even Jan have been over the past year and a half. I look forward to somehow repaying them some day - other than be a good husband to Lisa, for that is much too pleasant a task to be called payment.
Seeing that none state-side have seen where we live, I'll end this with a picture of where we are now.
Hopefully some day we'll get some better ones up, and in fact, hopefully at least some of you will get to see it for yourselves some day. We'll most probably be here until Summer 2009.
Hilse fra Chris i Bergen, Hordaland, Norge.
Happy fourty fourth birthday Uncle Roddy! I hope you stay feeiling young - just remember, you're still younger than any of your sisters!
