Row, row, row your skis

  Sandnes, Norway
Friday, April 13, 2007

The SAS flight to Europe was actually pretty nice. I used some soon-to-expire frequent flier miles to upgrade to Economy Flex and enjoyed the better service and only half full flight with no annoying passengers anywhere to be found. My kinda flight. Doyle is stuck at work for another two weeks but will meet me in Copenhagen in a couple weeks for our flight to Barcelona.

As always, my dad generously offered me a room in his downtown Sandnes apartment, something my limited student budget certainly appreciates with today's exchange rate.

The day after I arrived, I packed my bags again, this time to join my brother and his family in their recently remodeled cabin, cabin v3.0 I think it is. Asle, my brother in law, bravely handed over the keys to his dear Audi and I headed for the mountains. All of Europe has suffered from the lack of snow this year, and Sirdal was no exception unfortunately. I have never seen that little snow, even though Easter typically is at the tail end of winter. But hey, you have to make the best out of it, which I think my brother Kjell proved by inventing new ways to get to the cross country tracks. A wide river separates the cabin from the tracks and we had to take a rowboat to get where we wanted. I have to admit I quite liked to be rowed, skis in hand, to go skiing. My only complaint is that there were no bar services on board.

Although skiing was somewhat limited due to the lack of snow, it was great to get to meet everyone again. The cabin now has running water, a shower and a flush toilet, all of which we only fantasized about over a brief 35 years or so. Constantly. Every day. No big deal really. Back in my "hairy-days", heating water on the stove to then struggle to wash your hair in a small sink, was not my idea of fun exactly. Not everything was better in the old days if you ask me. On top of the cabin upgrades, Wenche's cooking skills are excellent and her turkey dinner was a winner for sure.

One afternoon, my whole family was invited to a BBQ at the cabin, and pretty much the whole bunch showed up, driving hours to get there. Very impressive!

After a few days at the mountain cabin, I headed towards the coast where my sister Ingrid and Asle have their newly built cabin in Revøy. The sun even peaked out when I arrived. Too many excellent meals and chocolates later, we settled down for a round or two of Texas Hold'em poker. Let's just say I didn't get rich this time around either. The cabin is now as good as finished, one of the latest additions being a sauna which we tried out with authentic sauna wool hats from Russia! Highly recommended ... if you want to look like a dork that is.... Warning: do not bring hat to job interview.

Back in Sandnes again, I've gone from one delicious home-cooked meal to another and I sure am glad that 24-Hour Fitness doesn't have any spies in Sandnes... or do they?? I now only have two more days in Norway before I fly to Copenhagen, and tonight all my closest friends here in Sandnes and I are meeting up for a glass of water and to talk about Doyle, I mean, discuss politics or something. Should be fun!