Mountain Cabin

A few weeks ago, we spent the weekend at a friend's charming, traditional cabin, or "hytte," in the beautiful mountains a few hours east of Oslo.  As you can see from the progression of photos, we had a big surprise waiting for us outside when we woke up Sunday morning....

We're looking forward to spending another weekend there in a month or two so that we can practice our cross-country skiing skills, and impress our Norwegian friends!

Forest Day Celebration

What better way to celebrate moving to Norway than to attend a Forest Day fair, complete with reindeer skins and elk eating?

Elk on a Spit! (the signs says "Forest Company")

Amazing Coffee with Spruce

A Teepee... Not very Norwegian, perhaps

Lunch

Norwegian Woods

Deer Stew, Burgers, and Hotdogs!

Roasting Curled Bread (marshmallow roasting is relatively new here)

Dining in Style

A Day in the Life

Now that we've been living in Oslo for 5 weeks, I've fallen into a comfortable routine.  Here's a little photo story about my typical weekday.

Hmm, which muesli should I have for breakfast today?

Walk the dogs past the local daycare

And past the pretty horse barn

Take the train to downtown Oslo

Go to my language class from 9 am - noon

Snacktime!

Head back home (usually after exploring some tidbit in the Oslo center)

Home Sweet Home

Take the dogs for a walk on the trail

Buy a few things at our local shopping center

Make dinner

Admire the sunset together

Street Art Tour

Last weekend I went on a fantastic street art tour of Oslo.  Torrential rain fell the day before the tour, but the weather on Saturday was perfect for spending two hours wandering in search of these half-hidden goodies.  

The first photo is my favorite: the only way to make a little red "Posten" box any cuter is to add an adorable girl-with-straw stencil to the side!

WWW

Finally: we have internet!  It has been a blissful couple of days full of reading the news, watching Netflix, and typing Norwegian words and phrases into Google Translate every 5 minutes.  Since our furniture has yet to arrive, we have officially named this: The Internet Room.  Cozy, isn't it?

Rommet Med Internett

Summer Storms

Bad weather and a continued lack of internet have made this past week a bit frustrating.
But I met with the American Chamber of Commerce last week about my job search and started intensive Norwegian classes on Monday, so I'm feeling cheerful about the future despite the rain and hail pummeling our terrace!

Life in the Suburbs

So far I love living a bit outside of Oslo.  After all, it's difficult to get a view like this from a terrace in the city: