And A Bit About Gjovik

Before my trip up to Lofoten, I spent 3 days in Gjovik...there it is, nestled on the shore of Lake Mjosa:
And a view of the fields across Mjosa:

When I left in November, I was so thrilled to be moving back to the U.S. that I really didn't think that I would miss anything about Gjovik--I could not get out of there fast enough! I think spending a few days again in Gjovik was a good way for me to gain some new perspective on the 15 months I was there. I remember spending massive amounts of time by myself when I lived there. When Kevin was on a business trip, days would go by where the only person I talked to would be a cashier in the grocery store. Yet when I was back for 3 days, so many people were excited to see me again and I spent the entire time surrounded by friends...it's hard to reconcile this with the experience that I had remembered. I suppose that anytime you go back to visit somewhere you once lived, everyone comes out of the woodwork because there is such a limited time to see you, but I also think I was so depressed when I lived there that I completely stopped reaching out to anyone and I isolated myself. After feeling that in many ways, 15 months of my life had been wasted, it was incredible to go back and realize that no, I had actually managed to create a life for myself there, I had managed to make friendships...that the time, while not always well spent, was definitely not wasted!

I am still very grateful and happy to be back in New York, and that was definitely driven home on the Sunday I spent in Gjovik. My friend Heather from norskkurs drove up from her home in Nore to hang out with us for the day. Unfortunately, Sunday is not the best day of the week to spend in Gjovik--the streets of downtown were completely deserted, nothing was open anywhere. We ended up sitting by the lake for hours, eating ice cream from a kiosk and pistachios from the Asian market. Here is a picture of Kevin and Heather and their huge bag of pistachios:

At some point, we did finally find a Chinese restaurant that was open for lunch--yay for immigrants!

In addition to seeing Heather, I went for a long walk with my teenage friend (who used to catsit for us). His family is planning a vacation to the U.S. this fall and hasn't decided between New York or California, so he had tons of questions for me. He is quite obsessed with seeing celebrities, he also wants to see an impressive skyline, to visit a great beach and to enjoy some cheap shopping. I told him it's possible to see celebrities in either NYC or LA, but probably more likely in LA, NYC has the great skyline and the imposing skyscrapers, California has the beautiful beaches, and as for shopping, he's Norwegian, any shopping he does in the U.S. will be cheap for him!

Kevin and I also spent a day with Anders and Nina and their family, playing croquet in their garden:

I had another tiny epiphany during our croquet game...everyone kept pronouncing it "crockett," which I found very endearing. And it reminded me of all the times I was too inhibited to speak Norwegian because I was so embarrassed about my American accent and so fearful of making a grammatical error. (Hence why the best Norwegian conversations I ever had were after several glasses of wine--I probably slurred my words, but wow, was I ever uninhibited about talking!) I wish I had reached out more, that I had been braver and less cautious when I lived in Norway. I think it might have made my time there so much happier. Oh well, I learned, I grew, I'm better for it, yadda, yadda, yadda!

Nina and I also drove up to my old house. It has been sold (for an obscene amount, I'm still in sticker shock!) and the buyers plan to put another $400,000 in renovations into it. I was amazed at all the progress they have already made. There is a giant pile of rubble outside--obviously the hideous kitchen and bathrooms have been gutted. The outbuilding which was falling down has been lifted up onto a new foundation and reroofed. I was so happy to see this--it was a great old house in an idyllic location, and it was sad that no one had taken care of it for decades. I wonder if they will change the color of the fabulous violet guestroom?

Anyway, I spent 3 wonderful days in Gjovik followed by 4 fabulous days in Lofoten. It was a rejuvenating vacation, and absolutely what I needed. Now I'm back and very happy with life in New York, but without a lot to write about. I'll blog occasionally, but I'll try to refrain from posting every random thought that pops into my head or every cute cat picture I take!