Who says Americans are prudes?

This was on the news in Norway today (not a big news-day obviously):
http://www.vgtv.no/?id=22530
(warning; naked people)

Where does he learn this stuff?

The other day when I came home Troy and Odin were in the living room drawing. Odin had written Troy's name on the paper, and Troy looks at me and points to the O and tells me that that is Dad's name. Odin then writes my name without saying anything. Troy points to the L and tells me that that is Mom's name. Odin and I look at eachother, and can just confirm that this is not anything we thaught him. The next day I asked at his school if it was something they had thaught him, but no one that was there had. Maybe another teacher that wasn't there at the time? Sometimes Troy really surprises the hell out of me with the stuff that he knows.

New Religion

A lot of things have changed in Norway since the last time I lived here. A lot of Norwegians do not believe in any kind of religion, arguing it is superstision, yet a lot of the same people believe in ghosts, clearvoyants etc. It is almost like a new religion amongst Norwegians, so much so that it affected me for a few seconds. A few days after I moved into this house, I woke up and heard something that sounded like footsteps downstairs. I thought someone had broken into the house, and was scared to death (I used to live in Houston, so to me that sounded like a reasonable explanation). Turns out that there was no one there, and when I told other people about it, there was an emormous agreement that there was a ghost in my house. A week later at the exact same time, there was a knocking on the bedroom wall. It was loud enough for Troy to wake up and ask me who was coming. Again a lot of people were sure it had to be a ghost. Some said it jokingly, while others were serious about it. For a while there I almost believed I had a ghost living here. I did however find the explanation though. We have a lot of moose walking around, peeking in the windows, and sometimes it sounds like they are inside. The knoking sounds turned out to be crows. So, so far I've yet to be converted to this new religion;)

Belgium

I am so happy. I'll be leaving for Belgium on June 16th. I am meeting with someone that I have wanted to meet for a long time. I don't know much about Belgium, but I am looking forward to seeing the country for the first time. I just hope it is a bit warmer than here. Yesterday it was about 32F, and we had snow in some areas. It is June for crying out loud. Can I take this for the rest of my life?

Layoffs

I started my new job as a temp for an insurance agency on May 18th. Yesterday they told us that 150 of 290 workers in Trondheim will be laid off. They have 100 temps, guess who will be among the first to go.

Potty training

I figured it's about to start potty training Troy. The weather was great over the weekend (for Norway). I pretty much let Troy run around without any clothes on, and told him that it was OK to pee outside and that he would have to use the toilet inside. He enjoyed the freedom, and was so proud when he used the toilet. The peeing went well, he stayed dry the entire weekend, but the pooping wasn't such a success. I spent the weekend at my sister's, and yesterday Celina came runing outside, telling me that Troy was pooping on the chair. One thing is changing a diaper, cleaning it off a chair is something else. Today Troy was in the bathtub, and when I went in to check on him, he held on to the changing table, with his butt hanging over the bath tub, using it as a toilet. He was so proud of himself for coming up with this solution, so what could I do.

Taco night

Troy is enjoying it. Don't think i will enjoy the clean up