You Say Goodbye I Say Hello

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my post yesterday. I felt much better after reading them. You are all so right - this is just the start of a new adventure, not the end of anything. Norway will still be there.

Following a manic last-minute packing session, we flew off yesterday afternoon after a slightly teary, but all in all fairly stoic goodbye with my family.

The boys were quiet and more subdued than usual in the airport, though their moods were livened somewhat by being told they could buy 'whatever they wanted' from the duty-free candy store (with higher prices than the local supermarkets - gah!).

B boy had taken one of the anti-sickness pills he so hates, and promptly fell asleep as the flight taxied out to the runway. He didn't wake up again until we were taxiing into our gate at London's Heathrow airport. Now that's the way to travel.

We had left a gloriously sunny spring day in Norway and arrived in England to -- rain. Probably the perfect reflection of my somber mood, but still...

On the upside, we were out of the airport in record speed - fortunately we did not have to deal with the luggage mess in the new terminal 5 - and the taxicab driver was jolly and friendly, and made us all laugh with his comments on London weather. The drive into town seemed to go much faster than we'd feared.

The boys were in awe of the hotel Mike's family has booked, and I have to admit - it is pretty swanky. We are staying close to Kensington, in a business hotel with apartments. Our apartment must be one of the biggest ones there, with three large bedrooms and attached washrooms, a new and well equipped kitchen, LCD TVs everywhere. Everything very nice looking and with high-end furnishings. Christopher went around in awe for a few minutes, commenting on this and that, and finally said "This is a suite!" I think my boy will be disappointed next time we check into a Holiday Inn :)

The boys were pretty tired after an emotional couple of days, so we decided to order food in, after which they hit the sack.

Today we are doing what Jen suggested, hopping on the double-decker bus to sightsee without listening to 'tired legs' stories from short people. Then we are off to the Tower of London, before ending the day with the boys' favourite musical of all times - Joseph and the Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat.

And guess what - despite the forecast - I am actully seeing sunshine peeking through the clouds as I write this. Cross fingers!

Top 5 Reasons It's Time To Leave Norway

The day has finally arrived. It's moving day. Leaving day. Goodbye day. We are off to England for three weeks with Mike's family. We fly out at 3 pm, and we are going to have a great time. First we are 'doing' London for about a week. Then we'll make a stopover in Cambridge, before we return to Ripon near Leeds in Yorkshire for a couple of weeks of family time.

I know it's going to be lots of fun.

But right now, nothing feels great. It's 5 am, and I'm wide awake. In between goodbye parties, packing, quality family time, farewell dinners and shopping, I've been handling this whole leaving business with aplomb. But this morning I woke up with a big, aching hole in my stomach. I feel so torn right now, between desperately wanting to stay and recognizing that our life is back in Canada - and that it is really a very good life.

A nagging voice at the back of my head keeps asking me how I can have a good life so far away from my family. Isn't family what life is all about? But I KNOW that once I come back to my old life, I will be happy to see all my wonderful friends, my house and the lovely weather that is Ontario in the summer.

Mike is being very good about this whole thing. During times where I've been excessively whiny about going back, he's even suggested that we could consider moving here permanently if, after spending some time back in Canada, we find life really is better for us here. But, in all seriousness, I couldn't do that to him. There's nothing for him here, except language barriers. He'd give it a try if I asked him to, but I am not that selfish (I hope).

So I know these next few hours are the last of 'living' in Norway, at least for the foreseeable future.

The boys and their cousins had a final sleepover last night. My nephews are skipping school today, and all four boys are currently snoozing away. I'm going to miss these weekend campouts as much as anything else. I've gotten used to have three or four boys, not just two. And this morning, these four boys are going to 'save' me from totally breaking down. They will keep me busy making breakfast and doling out washing and clothing instructions. Then we'll drop off the nephews at home, while we pack two cars with our luggage and head towards the airport.

In closing, and in a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood somewhat, I give you:

The Top 5 Reasons It's Time To Leave Norway

5. When your child complains that he's had a long school day after finishing at 1 pm.

How is he going to re-adjust to school ending at 3:30 pm every single day if we don't take him back now?

4. When you can no longer button your pants due to an overindulgence of rich and creamy Norwegian chocolate.

Although that's not really a good reason to leave -- why not just chuck your old pants and pick up new ones, with friendlier sizing and elastic waistband?

3. When your oldest child just received a cell phone, but isn't happy with the GPS-less model.

Seriously - kids in Norway are way too technologically endowed.

2. When you realize you just paid 6 dollars for 7 strawberries.

Or $20 for a glass of wine, $15 for a movie ticket, not to mention $200 dollars for a pizza dinner. And you didn't bat an eyelid.

1. When you know that if you stay here one more month, or even just one more day, you will never, ever agree to leave, and your husband will have to carry you, kicking and screaming, onto that airplane.

And that's all.

Christopher's Last Day

How To Plan A Goodbye Party for Grade 5 Students

In advance:
Buy cups, plates and napkins - check
Buy fruit and drinks - check
Buy present and flowers for teacher - check
Beg sister to bake famous chocolate cake for the second time in four days - check
Order pizzas for pickup at 10:45 am - check

Morning of:
Pop popcorn - check
Cut up fruit - check
Carry drinks, present, flowers and snacks to car - check
Pick up pizza - check

During:
Feverishly replenish drinks while marvelling at the amount of pop children can consume in 5 seconds flat - check
Make sure everyone has access to pizza and kick yourself because you ordered too many 'nacho' pizzas and not enough of the plain pepperoni pizzas - check
Prepare slices of chocolate cake without accidentally eating too much for the yummy frosting - check
Take tens of pictures of your boy wonder with his friends, amazed at how seamlessly and easily he fits in after only a few months in the class - check
Try hard not to cry when the class presents your son with an album of personal messages, photos and mementos for him to bring back home to Canada - check

After:
Shed a tear as you walk home again, relieved at how well everything has worked out, but sad that it is coming to an end - check
Wonder how come your son never mentioned any of the cute girls in the class, when they all seemed very taken with him - check

Change Is In The Air

For the last few weeks, I do not think I've slept past 6 am once. The sun wakes me up each morning by flooding the room with sunlight well before the alarm clock considers jumping into action.

It's a glorious way to wake up - in every sense of the word. I do not have to rush out of bed to prepare for the day. I have plenty of time to lie and think about everything and nothing, before I turn to the task of dragging two groggy boys to the breakfast table.

The evenings are equally light. Yesterday, Mike and I went out for a walk at 8:30 pm, and when we returned from an hour-long stroll around our neighbourhood, the sun was still high and bright in the sky.

These long days are one of the biggest benefits of being this far north. Sure, we pay for it during the winter, but it's a trade-off I'm happy to make.

Though there's still frost on the ground each morning, the sun quickly heats up the day and the trees, shrubs and plants are bursting to explode into full spring foliage. It won't be long now, until the last remnants of snow in the sun-deprived areas behind the garage are gone forever.

Posters made by the kids to Benjamin

Transition is in the cards everywhere, as B boy said goodbye to his Norwegian school class yesterday.

After a party day at school, with yummy food, speeches and presents, he came home with letters and drawings from every child in his class, a photo album of his months at the school, not to mention lots and lots of good memories.

The level of success Benjamin's had this year is more gratifying to me than almost anything else we've done, as he was my biggest concern when we embarked on this adventure.

Unlike his big brother who charmed his way through childhood with an easy smile and friendly demeanor, Benjamin can be a bit socially awkward.

While he is the most generous and caring boy I know, when he gets into a group setting, or feels insecure, he starts acting silly and goofy, forgetting any and all manners he may have picked up along the way.

To the uninitiated, he probably seems wild, restless and out of control, when the fact of the matter is that he's shy and unsure about how to handle those feelings of insecurity.

I was worried that coming to a different school, learning another language and having to make new friends would be too much for him. Mike and I had an 'emergency' plan of withdrawing him from school if things didn't work out for him, and simply home-schooling him instead.

But children are so resilient, aren't they? Not only has Benjamin done an excellent job learning a new language, he's also made more friends here than he made in three years of school in Canada.

These last few weeks have been chock-full of playdates for my B boy, eager to squeeze in every last minute of social time with his little buddies. Plans have been made to meet up next time we're in Norway. Email and MSN addresses have been exchanged.

While B boy still suffers from awkwardness and over-excitability in new settings, he really has come such a long way in learning to manage those feelings. He's changed a lot these last 10 months, and I couldn't be prouder of my baby boy.

Benjamin's Last Day

I guess progress is being made, packing-wise. Benjamin's closet is pretty empty at this point, and this morning he only had a couple of jeans and three or four shirts to last him until we leave on Tuesday. The rest had been packed in suitcases ready to go.

So don't ask me why I picked up more clothes for him today on my shopping quest.

The shorts were just too darn cute to pass up. And of course he needed a matching shirt to go with them. And a hat. And belt.

Of course he did.

Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment, and I don't feel like I've really packed until I'm jumping up and down on the suitcases to get them to close.

Yeah, that must be it.

Tomorrow is B boy's last day in the Norwegian school. His teacher has cancelled all lessons tomorrow, and they are having a party day in his honour. Today they decorated the classroom with posters and balloons in preparation for tomorrow.

It's touching to see how much effort they're putting into making his last day a good one. We are bringing in pizzas, fruit and drinks, and my sister has baked her famous chocolate cake for the big party.

It'll be difficult to say goodbye to the class, as Benjamin's had such a good time there. We always knew he'd only be there for a little while, but still...

Moving sucks.

Attached

I looked at the computer clock as I clicked Enter to see that it was 9:03 pm on Friday evening. Then I plonked myself on the couch to continue watching 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' (yes, the last person in the Universe to see it - and how come no one told me not to bother?).

10 minutes later, the first text message came in. Followed by another, and another and yet another. I checked my emails an hour later, and there were 5 replies. The landline rang at 10:30 pm.

Clearly we'd seriously underpriced the trampoline in the online ad.

The text messages, emails and calls kept coming all weekend long.

Using the 'first come first serve' principle, the trampoline will be picked up this evening. I'm planning on keeping Christopher inside and safely ensconced in the basement, in front of his beloved computer.

The less he knows, the better for him. Judging from the teary drama he put on when I tried to get him to throw out the holey socks he was wearing the other day ("But these are my favourite socks"), I don't know how he'll react if he finds out his trampoline is gone.

Better to just leave him believing it's still safely stored in the garage. It's not like we'll be able to put it up before we leave anyway, what with all the snow that fell yesterday, and more in the forecast for this upcoming week.

But that knot in my tummy? It just grew another few centimeters.

Moving sucks.

Cranky

So I cracked open the first bag bright and early this morning, to get started on the monumental task of packing.

The bag's now sitting on the living room floor with one winter coat in it, two toques and four belts.

It took me six hours to get that far.

B boy is downstairs with a couple of buddies making lots of noise. Christopher is there, too, on MSN with some girl from class. They seem happy.

I'm not.

I loathe packing. And I've already pointed out to my husband the injustice of me doing all this work (above mentioned coat, toques and belts), and him doing nothing and being absolutely useless. Twice.

Good times...

I Have A Knot In My Tummy

....and it's growing bigger every day.

Tomorrow marks four weeks until we leave Norway and start our journey back to Canada, with a three week stopover in the UK.

The countdown has definitely begun.

Holy Moly, I am not ready for my gap year to end.

When we started this adventure, I knew there'd be ups and downs. I expected things to not always go as planned, and for there to be days when I'd wish we'd never set out to do this year abroad.

But y'all - there's not been enough downs! We've enjoyed this time much too much for me to want it to end.

And by enjoyed I don't just mean our trips to Copenhagen, Kiel, Cyprus, Prague, Berlin, Manchester or the Alps. Although they were wonderful, and served as great reminders of all the things Europe has to offer.

But as awesome as those trips were, they are not first and foremost in my mind, when I reflect on the past 8 months. Instead, it is clear to me that the most valuable lesson I will take with me from this trip is learning to appreciate the gift of time.

Time to just be. Either by myself, or with my boys. On a Cypriot beach or at the kitchen table.

Time to really look at the child, as he tells the same joke for the 10th time, and, instead of getting annoyed that he's not done eating yet so I can go do laundry, focus on the cheekiness that emanates from his eyes, watch the eyebrows bop up and down as he excitedly waits for his brother to collapse on the floor with laughter.

I belong to the school of living life in a mad scramble, always trying to squeeze as many things into the day as possible. Every moment is an opportunity to do. Whether it be host an extra dinner party or wash another load of laundry, no time should be left unused.

This transition to life in the slow lane has been quite the eye-opener to me, and I've come to the conclusion that I like it! I don't have a lot of patience to begin with, so anything that makes me more patient is really a benefit, especially for the boys. And slowing things down a notch or two does make me more patient.

As an extra bonus, Mike and I have survived 8 months together. And by together I mean every.single.day. And not only have we survived, we've thrived, rediscovering each other's quirks (well, his quirks, anyway - I am perfect of course. Except for the patience thing), going for walks when the boys are at school, watching movies.

Heck, we even grocery shop together now, and [voice gushing with pride] Mike has become a Champion Grocery Bagger! I'm sure he'd beat any Loblaws cashier blindfolded with an arm tied behind his back.

Of course one of the real highlights of this trip has been spending so much time with our family, both Mike's in the UK (whom we'll see more of shortly), and mine here in Scandinavia. All those trips to the cottage have rarely been unaccompanied, and the few weekends spent in the lowlands have usually included visiting cousins, parents or siblings.

So it's with very mixed feelings that we now start packing up our belongings to take with us back to North America.

But of course, it is not all bad. We are all excited to catch up with our friends, many of whom have done an exceptional job of keeping in touch with us while we've been away.

We are also looking forward to living in our own house again (despite B boy's claim that he doesn't remember it), and finally getting the much anticipated kitchen and floor reno completed. The boys can't wait to swim in the pool again, although I don't know if they realize they'll still have to wait a few weeks after our return for that to happen!

Personally, I am also looking forward to once again living in a country where you can actually go out to eat meals without bankrupting yourself. Daily cooking for the last 8 months has been a hard thing to get used to, Beck and Katie's awesome recipe blogs notwithstanding, and I'm ready for a bit of a break. Not to mention food slightly more exotic than Mexican. Dim sum, anyone?

I realize we've been living in a bit of a time-warp, with minimal external pressures or stresses, and while I fully expect us to slip back into the Autobahn of fast living, if we are able to maintain just a little bit of the zen-like calm of these past months, then we're already ahead of the game.

Many of you have expressed a wish to do a similar trip with your family. To those of you with such dreams, I can only in the strongest words possible encourage you to DO IT!

If you can swing the expenses (and I will not kid you - it is a very expensive investment in your quality of life) and are willing to risk the potential career hit, then I can almost guarantee that you will not regret it. It really is mind-altering to watch the rat race from the sidelines for a few months.

So much so, that I'm already planning our next break a few years down the line. How does six months to a year on the beaches of Hawaii sound to you?