In phase, out of phase...

Kes and I have a "rule": We're not allowed to both be sick at the same time - that way one of us is always able to look after the other one. Of course, this doesn't always work (for instance, Kes had a terrible bout with the 'flu while I was in the hospital having my knee looked after just before we left to come here), but we always tell ourselves that we're doing our best to follow it.

I think the same needs to apply to "homesickness", or culture shock, or whatever you want to call it. Unfortunately, today we both hit "I don't want to be here" moments at the same time this afternoon after I got off work, and really reinforced our own negativity. It was pretty crappy. Now, we realized what was going on, and we were fine by supper (Kes's cooking usually puts me in a better mood, anyway), but it did go to show us how important it is to remain positive.

There wasn't any specific incident or anything, that put us off, it was just a bit of a "blah" feeling. The challenge here is that it is really easy to blame any negative feeling on the fact that we're in the middle of this big adventure. ("God, this place makes me sick to my stomach! ... wait... Oh, nope. It was just gas.") For example, we were kind of bored tonight, and ended up watching TV and surfing the internet. Our initial reaction was to say "there's nothing do here". Still, the idea that our lack of stimulation was Norway's fault is ridiculous - everyone has those nights, no matter where you live.

So, we have plans to go to a movie tomorrow night (there's an English one on at the Sjøborg hall), and have a "double date" with our Venezualan/German expat friends to go bowling (Yep, they've got a 10-pin bowling alley here) on Thursday, then on Friday we're renting a car (still can't buy one, because I still don't have a tax number), and driving to Trondheim for the weekend. We really can't complain - life is pretty good.

The company gave me a cell phone today. For those who have a desire for large phone bills (or who want to call me through Skype), the number is +47 (Norway country code) 991 20 844. I would love a phone call, or even a text message, but please do a time-zone check, first, if you're going to call! You can find out what time it is here right now from this webpage: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=288

The sun is already setting really late, even though we're only two weeks after the equinox. Sunset today was 8:42 pm, and by next week, it will be past 9:00pm. Sunsets here are wonderful, as the sun goes down over the Atlantic, looking west from our hillside vantage point.

The wine is burbling along in the bathroom (we're keeping it in the bathroom, because it's the smallest space to heat it up to the 22-24 degrees that we're trying to keep it at.) I wonder
how it will turn out!

Off to bed now - maybe tomorrow will bring a D-number!