A Good Uneventful Flight

Saturday, 11 January 1986

Dear ones,

The others are still in bed so maybe I can get this started. What would you think about passing my letter on after you have read it? The news may be a little old that way but you may hear oftener.

We had a good uneventful flight. The tedious part was waiting in airports for our next flight. Luckily, we stuck in Dawn’s portable luggage cart. Our carry-ons were heavy, and we would have worn ourselves out going from one terminal to the next. We were bused to our plane at O’Hare Chicago, and in London we were bused to the next terminal. The security was beefed up at London airport – we saw military in “camouflage” suits, carrying a rifle, patrolling the area. Vince was frisked there at a metal detector site. Jené and I weren’t but I saw some women that were.

We had supper on our flight to London – about 9:30 our time. When we finished with that we watched a movie – saw Cocoon. By then it was about 1 a.m. our time and the pilot announced it was now 7 o’clock London time and we would be having breakfast in an hour. We landed in London about 10 a.m. and our flight to Goteburg left at 3:15. We sat and napped, watched people, etc. We got to Goteburg about 6:30, but we had lost another hour. We picked up our luggage and went thru customs. We had nothing to declare so that didn’t take long. One of Jené’s suitcases didn’t come in – she was devastated. Her curling iron was in it, or was it her shampoo. We took a taxi to this hotel – with our 5 large suitcases, and 3 carry-ons. The reservation clerk kept calling the airport for us to check on Jene’s suitcase – no luck yet.

The Volvo Co. limosine picked us up at 11, and took us to the Tourist Delivery service. The driver gave us a mini tour of Goteburg on the way. So we got the car – got everything situated and left for Oslo. It was a pretty drive – Sweden had had a big snowfall about a week before and it still lay thick on all the trees. We stopped for supper just outside of Oslo. Our map wasn’t very good so it took some doing to find our spot. But after asking at a Texaco station, and then having a fellow customer offer to show us the way, we made it.

Our apartment is in a complex of apartments. Think there are 24 apt in our building. There is a shopping center just next door. Our bedroom is good sized, has lot of drawer space, good closet space, large desk-writing area. Jené is kind of in the other 2 sleeping rooms – the one is just a small bedroom – the other one has a lounge chair, a large desk, and built-in bunks. The bottom one is fixed up like a lounging area. The kitchen is big enough for a tale to eat at – has an electric dish washer, apt. size stove and refrigerator. We already have had boiled fish. The other room is good sized also – has a couple of seating areas, one kind of for TV watching, the other by the book cases.

We met an American lady at the grocery store on Thursday – her husband works for Esso. Guess there are a lot of Americans living in this area – both with oil companies and with the military (Nato). She offered to help us whenever we need it; and offered to take me to the American Women’s Club which meets at the American Lutheran Church. Last night, a knock at our door – it was a fellow from the apt. 2 floors below (Oh, I forgot – we are on the 3rd floor – what an effort to lug the suitcases!) – he is on a Fulbright from Indiana University; he invited us down for coffee so we met his wife, who teaches at a small private college outside of Bloomington, Ind., and their 8 yr. old daughter. They have entered their little girl in regular Norwegian school – she says its easier. Their school days aren’t as long. Yesterday she got out at 1 p.m. Jene may take a Norwegian class at the same time as Jill (the Mrs.)

We are going to find out about her classes on Monday. Thursday we opened a bank account. Yesterday we bought snow tires – last night we had 3-4 inches of snow. It was 4 below 0℉ yesterday so is cold. Tonight we are invited over for dinner to the Koppang’s - Rolf and Hanna – they are the couple who were in Iowa City for 6 months 4 or 5 years ago.

Think we will look up the church today and find out what time services are. There is one here in Osteras so it shouldn’t be far.

Monday we also have to report in to some office, so they will know we are here. Anyone staying longer than 3 months has to do that. We aren’t tourists but we aren’t permanent residents.

Jené’s suitcase was located and delivered right to our door – that helped the situation, but we either have to find a converter or buy a curling iron. The electric cycles are 60 here, well, anyway they are different so our appliances can’t be used without a converter or transformer.

We got such a giggle out of Katie, the little girl downstairs, last night. She said it's against the law to strike a child. Vince asked if that was at school. And her father said it included parents, too. It’s against the law to use corporal punishment. I don’t think she’s one who has been beat a lot. But she thought that was a neat law.

Guess we will have to start using a clock - we are still sleeping by Iowa time, I think.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the bathroom. The shower stall, the stool stall, a sink are in a room between the entry way and the kitchen. There is also a washer and a dryer in there. The washer has an agitator and a separate spin-dry section. The dryer is a floor-to-ceiling ‘closet’ with an electric heater on the floor and rods at various heights on which to hang the clothes. The clothes get dry in a day. There is a mangle in the basement. I haven’t been down to see it yet. There is an iron and board up here. There is a garbage drop to the basement. However, bottles or glass have to be hand delivered. So far we haven’t found a coffee pot. Think they drank tea more and used instant coffee.

Guess I’ll get this ready to mail, and find the post office. Think it is at the shopping center.

Love, Verla and Vince