A Busy Week

8:30 a. m. 1/25/86

Dear ones,

Just plugged in the coffee pot so that should give me about ½ hr. to write this. It is daylight, nearly sunrise, about 0℃  (32℉) so looks like it will be a nice day. We are going down to Sandvika this morning – it looks like a larger shopping place than our Senter and yet not the zoo that downtown is. This afternoon we are going cross-country skiing. There are large open spaces not too far from us, with ski trails, marked, some places even lighted.

Oslo has had a lot of snow even since we’ve come. They are running out of places to put it.

Thursday afternoon Jené and I went over to Jane Smith’s for coffee – she’s the one we met in the grocery store whose husband works for Esso. They have a lovely house a couple of blocks from here, with a spectacular view of those wide open spaces I mentioned, rented for them, or at least found, by Esso. She showed us how the ovens work and also converted some oven temperatures for us.

Wednesday Jené and I took the trikk (street car) downtown. We found the book store where she bought the text for her language class which starts on Monday. Then we walked around some – saw the Parliament building. Found the McDonald’s so had a hamburger. Walked some more. Went thru the City Hall (Rådhuset) – that is a prominent tourist point. The wall hangings and the murals painted on the walls were fascinating. Then we walked past the palace (Jene wants to see the King!) Next we walked blocks to Majorstua, a transfer point for the trikks – there we got on and went back home. That last part of the walk took us past a lot of small shops. We even went in a couple and looked.

Monday I washed a couple loads of clothes, and the same on Tues. It was so foggy on Tuesday, we could hardly see across the street.

Sunday when we went to church, the usher who was handing out hymn books said, “God morgen” – Jené answered, "Good morning." That started a conversation. Some Norwegians can’t speak English, but many others are anxious to practice it. So when the pastor shook our hands after the service, we greeted him in English. Then he was curious as to where we were from, etc. He invited us to stay for coffee, which we did even though we had dinner on the burner. He introduced us to his wife and 3-4 other people sat at our table. The gentleman who sat next to me was Odd Giving – he spoke good English, and was translating for me some of the announcements – they were welcoming the choir director, organist and youth director. I think they were “installed” during the service.

We went for a ride in the afternoon – out NW of Oslo – got your maps? We headed towards Hønefoss. It started getting dusk before we’d gotten that far. We drove along a beautiful fjord – it is different seeing them covered with snow. Took a few pictures – hope they turn out. With so much snow, there isn’t a lot of contrast.

Wednesday night we got a phone call from Oddvar Bjerke – inviting us down to Kråkstad for church this Sunday and to his place for [?]. That is where Vince’s great great grandfather is buried. Oddvar is a cousin thru both his father and his mother, with the common ancestor being 8 and 9 generations back. We are looking forward to that. Kråkstad is about an hour’s drive south of Oslo.

On Thursday afternoon the phone rang. I answered but heard only Norwegian, enough so I knew I was talking to Ottar Wardenær. He is a cousin on the Hoganson side. I said, “Jeg heter Verla Williams,” so he knew he was talking to me. I asked him if he spoke Norsk (English) – Nei. I told him in my little Norwegian that I spoke little Norsk, my husband was better and he wasn’t here. He rattled off something more – all I could say was, “Jeg ikke forsta.” (I don’t understand.) So he hung up. Boy, I wondered how we would get in touch again. He apparently doesn’t have a phone – he’s not in the phone book. But in a few minutes the phone rang again. It was a granddaughter of Ottar’s saying he wanted us to come for dinner on Feb. 2 at 2 p. m. Boy, do I have to study Norsk this week!

Our car (my car – did I tell you Vince put it in my name?) works fine, I think. Vince takes it to school. I still haven’t driven it – my choice. It is red, deep red with beige interior. I think the black would have been prettier, but probably hotter in Iowa’s summer. It has some nice features that are standard – we only got 2 added: a AM/FM radio and cassette player, and some good floor mats – an intermittent windshield wiper once every 7 seconds, I think, heaters in the front seat (bun warmers), good heat thrown to the back seat, all the doors are locked by the lock in the driver’s door, etc. Gas costs about $2.50 a gallon but think we get pretty good mileage.

We heard it takes 11 days for mail to get to the states from Scandinavia because the Postal authorities in N.Y. are inspecting it all for pornographic material. Did mine take that long? Think I must have given Dawn the wrong address or else she’s broken her arm.

If you don’t like my idea of this round robin style of letter, let me know. Just think you might hear oftener, even though the news will be older.

I’d better get dressed – breakfast is finished and we have to get going. Bright and sunny today, but a little windy. We don’t often have much wind.

Love, Verla and Vince