OK OK ... reasons ... not excuses

Ok,

Well we havent posted for some time and certainly havent posted any pics lately. Reasons ... well basically just because we have been slack! Yes we have been very busy with house renovations getting our spare room replastered, building a new deck, doing new batches of home brew, etc etc, but basically we have just been too slack to sit down in front of the computer and write a blog update. So here goes in pictures and words.

Firstly - Stavanger European Capital of Culture:



















Only in Norway would there be a float of little children dressed up in the State owned oil company's clothing on an oil rig on wheels!













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We have pretty big prawns in Stavanger. They are actually tiny. Not so sure what this parade is about ....



















As evidenced by this thing????



















They did put on a pretty cool fireworks display. We went with our good friends Mari and Kev.


























Also it has been snowing a bit in Stavanger over the past month. Quite late seasonal snow. This was just a light fall but we had a good dump the other day. I cycled to work through the snow a couple of mornings which put a big smile on my face. Its just so very cool doing that - not something that happens in oz. It was minus 9 and cycling through snow - i was happy.



















Coobs loves the snow. And you can see behind us that there is a temporary sign that the families put out ont he road between two big grassy slopes just behind our house. This is where the kids go nuts on their sledges and have a ball. It is very cool to see.
























I also went on a teambuilding (yes another one) to Sauda. We caught a chartered ferry through the fjords and had to break through the ice at the end of the fjord to get there. This w




















Usual team building activities. Thor-Erik from work took over the bar at the hotel and gave us some Gammel-Dansk (Old Danish). A drink not to be messed with.



















Anyway we went skiing the next day ... and yes that is powder snow all over me from many still drunken falls. Pretty awesome conditions though. About 2 foot of light powder snow. I had never skied in snow like that before and it was practically a different sport and so much fun. We were required to wear helmets as part of the "safety" thing at work - which was just as well as we were all still VERY under the influence.






















We also got some other skiing trips in to Sirdal a few times. Here I am with Regina anUlf.



















And with the lovely Emma as I threaten to push her off the cliff.



















Also had Australia day triple J hottest 100 in there somewhere as well.



















Cooba enjoying the Norwegian beer we all despise!

















Even Cooba gets hangovers from the Norwegian beer!


















Me disguised under all old plastic, pulled off walls, insulation, facemask, and headtorch. This is the new renovation. What do you think?

























Its always nice to admire your handiwork as you progress.
























Getting there.



















Also spent easter getting our deck on its way.



















Getting there. Despite the sun, it was about 0 degrees whilst doing all of this. Not the most ideal outdoor conditions.



















Still ... not cold enough not to have the first beer on the uncompleted deck.

The spare bedroom is all done now, as is the deck, so we'll post some pics of that soon.

Emma's 30th birthday comes up soon (12th April) so don't forget to send your wishes and thoughts. Her mobile number to text is +4790964837

I promise we will update again soon.

Mvh,
Joel

Cabins, Parties, Travel, Soccer and Home Renovations

It has been great few weeks here in Stavanger. Despite some bad weather (will it ever stop raining??) we have been as busy as ever. We had a fantastic couple of weekends skiing in Sirdal with friends. I’m going to be a bit lazy here and recommend you take a look at Regina’s and Mari & Kev’s blogs (links on the right hand side) for some pics and a description. We are really making the most of the opportunity to use company cabins, we rented the SS7 cabin the first weekend then Kev rented his company’s cabin for the second weekend. For about $40 per night it really is fantastic.

 

We have had a couple of great evenings at Ryan’s new house. He has invested in a fantastic dining table and served up some beautiful meals, a roast dinner with reindeer, and most recently baked Salmon on mash with asparagus and salad. Yum. We returned the favour last night with roast lamb with gravy and veggies, and chocolate self saucing pudding for dessert. Last weekend Ryan hosted his housewarming party. What a party! I think the final stayers stumbled out the door at about 4am. Ryan has really put us to shame as nearly 10 months on we still haven’t had an official housewarming party, but I think we’ll just take the easy route and combine that with my 30^th birthday, which is coming up very soon (scary)!

 

I have had a couple of trips recently with work, I had 24 hours in Lyon, France to do some training with colleagues in our sales company there. It was a very hectic visit and unfortunately it was just work work work. I also attended a training course last week in London. Fortunately this time I did have some leisure time and loved being able to catch up with Pooja, my girlfriend from Uni, and Laura my cousin (3^rd) for dinner. I really love London, especially during this visit as the sun was shining which was a welcome change from dreary Stavanger in winter. I brought home some Cadbury cream eggs, 2 packets of crumpets, some golden syrup and loads of magazines, all of which have been devoured and enjoyed. Especially the crumpets. It’s the small things you miss sometimes!

 

The last couple of weeks have seen us get started with our first indoor renovation – we have torn down all the walls in our guest bedroom and installed new halogen down lights. Everything is a complete mess at the moment but soon we’ll start installing new gyp boards (plasterboards) and then paint. We’re experimenting with the guest room first and assuming that goes well, we’ll work on our bedroom next. We have a deadline for completion ahead of us as Joel’s mum Bernadette and her friend Helen will visit us in May for a week. We’re really looking forward to their visit and hope they enjoy the shiny new walls in their bedroom! We have been taking some photos so we can have some ‘before and after’ evidence, and I will try to upload them soon.

 

Joel played football (aka soccer) on Saturday with the SS7 team. The tournament involved teams from loads of companies around this area. They played 3 games, 15 minutes each. The guys didn’t have particularly high aspirations and doubted they would make it to the finals on Sunday, but to their surprise a win and two draws plus a lucky coin toss saw them through to the next day. On Sunday they won their first game in the penalty shootout, then unfortunately lost the second game, also in penalties. I think by then the quality of the opposition had improved significantly, and notably I was a bit over the whole thing having watched about 6 or 7 games, so we were ready to call it a day.

 

This week we will continue with the renovations and try to make some real progress with that. Joel is on a mission and its so great to see him emerging from the spare room after a few hours of hammering and drilling covered in sawdust and glass fibres from the insulation but with a very determined expression, keen to get back in there. If it were up to me I think the project would drag on for months! After all there’s always friends to visit and something good on telly to watch! But I’m taking my lead from him and expect to be dragged in for sparkling (a bit like plaster ‘rendering’) and painting very soon, hopefully once most of the hard labour is finished J.

 

We are really looking forward to this weekend in Sauda with Mari, Kev and Ryan staying with Mari’s family. There is a big event for the Stavanger 2008 (European Capital of Culture) at the snow fields, so we’re thrilled that Mari was able to get us some tickets. More on that next week!

 

Take care,
Emma.