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22 January 2024 - Adetswil
Travel can be great sometimes for shifting perspective, whether it's different places, different languages, different cultures, or different styles of life. I've took my kids camping on many roadtrips across the US for this reason. Once you've spent a week camping, a bed and a hot shower seem like incredible luxuries. You also know you could survive out in Nature if needs be, which is great for kids' confidence. Flying around Europe to experience other languages and cultures from hotels and trails pushes one in another sort of direction. Traveling to the hytte in Norway is something of both. Life is more Spartan and requires more work than at home, but it's also simpler and lets you drill down to what's important. The pipes from the well freeze in Winter, so water must be carried in. The same with firewood and food. With record snow in Bergen this was especially exciting, although it meant we could gather and melt snow & icicles for washing water. Saturday was meant to be a relaxing day after we were out late at Anette's Friday, and it started off so with coffee in bed. After lunch and a nap we to a walk to the park through the deep snow. The wind coming off the sea was cold, but I love watching the tide push up the ice as it fills the lagoon. Then we went to the sauna, which is also a good place to get a shower if one wants a change from washing with snow. Saturday meant there were plenty of kids there using the pool, and their joy brought vicarious smiles to our faces. Then it was back to the hytte to dine and pack ... or so we thought. While cutting a large icicle across the sink for washing water the icicle broke sooner that I thought it would, causing the knife to slice deep into my finger. So I became useless and had to wait an hour for the bus to Kleppestø, where the Norwegian version of an ER, called a legevakt, is. There I was treated by a med student who determined that I did not, in fact, need stitches. Well, at least I'll have a scar on my left index finger to match the right one. While I was there Iwona did some last minute gift shopping at the Kleppestø Senter, but when she went to catch the bus it drove right by her. Up until this point she had thought I was exaggerating about the unreliability of the buses. So we lost another hour waiting. Then is was back to the hytte where she made us a delicious spaghetti dinner while I packed. After dinner the electricity went out, which one doesn't notice at first when most of you light is coming from candles. Eventually we narrowed down the problem that was tripping the breaker to the kitchen, but didn't figure it out beyond that. It'll be a problem for the next trip to narrow it down further. Iwona ended up heating the icicles in the microwave to do the dishes rather than leave those as problem for next time too though. So much for a relaxing Saturday!
Sunday's travel went according to plan, but it was still twelve hours from when we left the hytte until we walked into into the house here. On the second flight I sat next to a very talkative Dutch woman which was quite enjoyable though. And then picking up Paula last night was wonderful as always. It's a good life despite (because of?) the travels and travails.
