God Jul!

the tree with all the loot

cooking with evan
norwegian dinner at the vestbostad's
the "fam:" mitch, evan, me

Merry Christmas! It's here and has been a great day. I'm celebrating the holidays with Evan and a friend of his, Mitchell, who is taking a DTS in France. We celebrated a Norwegian Christmas last night with the Vestbostads, and a North American Christmas this morning, complete with opening presents and cinnamon rolls. I am trying out my "maternal" (?) instincts and have made breakfast (cinnamon rolls, ham and egg casserole, fruit plate), dinner (ham, rolls, vegetables, mashed potatoes - which Evan really made), and dessert - a chocolate/caramel pie. It's hard work! It was really nice though - great presents and lots of fun. Evan's parents even sent gifts for me - Starbucks! It would be great to be home for the holidays, but Evan and Mitch are great to be with. The only thing that would be better is if my family would call me!! (hint, hint). My friend Amy from college is coming tomorrow night and will be here for New Year's, so I'm looking forward to that as well.
Happy Holidays!

a classic.

merry christmas from my family to yours

christmas is here. i'm sitting alone in my apartment, trying to watch "i dine sko" ("in her shoes") for the third time, and have just finished my first full day of break. it's been beautiful. i played with salome, bought a dress, made a very nice dinner, watched "friends," finished making chocolate balls with evan, and had a visit from my friend rachel (from norwegian class).

it's a bit difficult to have the christmas spirit being on my own here (and might i add for all of you non-norwegian readers, norway does not have snow year round, santa does not live here, and there are not polar bears walking on the streets). my mom has always created that atmosphere in our home, so i'm trying to do all the typical things in untypical, norwegian ways. the christmas tree is up, decorated, presents lining the base. in true lyndee fashion, the tree almost died, but i think it will last until christmas. i've baked for christmas, decorated with the two decorations i have (miniature starbucks city mug ornaments and two homemade star coasters), am listening to christmas music, have watched "white christmas." now it's just time to wait for the christmas feeling to come.

my roomates are gone and as much as i love them, it's wonderful to have the apartment to myself. a week of "me" time is here. norwegian class is done for the semester and no one expects anything from me. let freedom begin!

blogging the bible

for all of you dts students (and staff) that are reading this... you should be reading your Bible instead of checking blogs! but if you are just taking a break from reading, you should check out The Complete Blogging of the Bible by David Plotz, "a proud, but nonobservant Jew." he is reading through the Bible chapter by chapter and blogging as he goes. good to read and hear an outside perspective.

sitting at sitt ned, my favorite (one of the only) cafe in skien. i am spending the day here, reading "In the Beginning" by Chaim Potok. i began reading Mr. Potok's books in high school, at the prompting of my English teacher and still love them. they talk of the different aspects of Jewish life - great stories.
it's finally that Christmas feeling here. i never really, truly get into the Christmas spirit here. maybe that's because i still have a little love for the american Christmas - decorations up before Thanksgiving, lots of lights, Christmas music everywhere. and I love having the tree up all through December. this year i am getting my first Christmas tree as an adult. we don't get them until the week before Christmas, but the presents are wrapped and decorations bought.
... i'm going to india in march! i'm quite excited. i'll be leading a team there (Einar - coleader, Adrian, Sindre, Lise, Laila - all Norwegian, and Melissa and Katie - American) for two months. we will travel a bit and hopefully end the trip with an 8 day trek in the Himalayas. i look forward to wearing a sari, eating Indian food, being in hot weather. lots of expectations. before that, i will be leading a team to Scotland for 2 weeks. i'm really looking forward to leading the trip because i will be leading alone and the team is small. the main focus is evangelism, which is quite a stretch for me, but i'm really excited about it. and yes, there is a starbucks near where we will be. i really got a love for the uk during my first year here, when i spent Christmas in London. i've been back several times since and always enjoy it. i look forward to being in another part of the uk.
that's all for now. back to the Christmas music, chicken curry soup, and a good book.