things occupying my mind lately

A smiling meatball.

A huge baby (born in Russia and weighed 17 lbs).

My new haircut (here with my friend Kristian who is like 7 feet tall).

the plan

Assuming my work permit comes through, I will be staying in Norway for a while longer. I got a job working for the organization I have been volunteering for since I moved to Tromsø - Save the Children. This is very exciting because I know the organization well and and have invested quite some time in it, too. My tasks are varied and I will be kept quite busy. I will also get to travel around a bit. A trip back to Murmansk, Russia is scheduled for October....again, assuming I have my work permit by then. But I will be back in MN for most of the month of December and I look forward to that a great deal.

In other news, I will be changing addresses yet again. I will not post the address here, but if you want the new one because you want to send me mix cds or peanutbutter cups or hilarious home-made t-shirts, just send me an email. The place I am moving into is just north of downtown and I will have one roommate (who I have yet to meet). He is apparently a busy, friendly, and laid-back dude. Sounds good to me.

There is snow on the mountains now. The end of August was very cold and it looks like it might stay that way for a while. But I love this time of year. It smells so good outside. I was down in southern Norway last weekend for the Save the Children national meeting in a place called Gjøvik, which is on the biggest lake in Norway (Mjøsa). I thought I had gotten so used to and comfortable with the smell of the sea, but when I got to the edge of the lake I took in a deep breath and thought: Home.
It smelled like home. Freshwater and pine trees. That smell fueled me through the weekend.