It was rainy all day, but we needed groceries for the weekend. So, I put on the rain gear and walked to the store. The closest one has enough, but it doesn’t have the more affordable cheddar cheese and refried beans. I did venture out and bought a chunk of beef for the snappy beef barbecue I make (Montana rancher/farmer recipe). It wasn’t the most expensive cut, so I figured it was a roast. I put in the Norsk words from the package into my iPhone translate app and got “fierce cattle.” I’m speculating free range or something. Any suggestions? The barbecue beef turned out fine, better than my dinner rolls. I usually make bread, so I had an experience in learning how to make flat rolls (not what I intended).
On my walk to the store, I walked past part of the harbor and saw this interesting contraption on a ship.
I’m assuming that there is some special function, perhaps in support of the offshore oil drilling industry, which is big here. I’ll have to ask Kjell at church tomorrow, as he knows quite a bit about the ships. Every Sunday, their family routine is to drive past the harbor in Stavanger and see which ships are in.
Anya is Skyping with friends now. This is great joy for her to connect with friends she’s known since before kindergarten (Annaliese) or kindergarten (Grace). I’m so glad for the technology which helps her connect with her friends in the USA.
Anya is also doing the laundry today. This is her chore and opportunity to earn a bit of cash, as there aren’t many other ways here. Even if she had a better grasp of the language, it would be hard to babysit as we only know one family with kids, and the grandma lives two blocks away. She has typed up some notes for me, but not lately, as she’s been working hard on her online English course to finish on time. I’m grateful that I don’t have to micromanage this. She has a plan, developed with her online teacher, and she’s working the plan. She did a bit today to finish the week’s work, and then she got her Algebra 2 set up and is working on that independently. She actually enjoys math and can guide herself through a textbook (on her Kindle) to learn it. The plan is to work on her own to learn the concepts, because the online course methods are so boring and frustrating, it would kill her love of math. Her high school adviser has approved the skipping of the second semester under these circumstances. So, going her own pace, she can be prepared for pre-calculus in the fall.
The back story is that we were trying to find an algebra 2 text book in English. We couldn’t find one at any bookstore, even at the university. My email to the international school bounced back, but I’m not sure if they would have a book to sell anyway. So, we decided to get the Algebra II for Dummies, because it is streamlined, and available on Kindle–lighter for travel to Tanzania. Then, I bought the workbook online. It was actually slightly cheaper to buy it in England with shipping to the USA than the Amazon.com price for USA. Then, on the website, I was able to buy it in US dollars, so I don’t have an international exchange transaction fee.
I have a CapitalOne card for international travel with 0% international exchange rate, but I can’t make online purchases with it unless I set up something with MasterCard, which means a Skype (unsecure?) call arranged to adjust for the time zones. The online purchases are few, so I haven’t bothered yet. If I was her 7 more days and came under a different immigration status, then I’d have online banking with my Norwegian bank.
Probably TMI, but the challenges of living in another country for a bit.
Off to more writing, and later to take a break and make cookies for the potluck at church tomorrow. Without a car and new to the place, I don’t want to mess with warming things up or figuring out another kitchen with a bunch of others also warming things up.
With blessings,
Beth