In a new place for the kids

The house is small enough for us to be bumping into each other rather regularly. With four people to a house this size it's rather unavoidable. In Miri we all have a room each, large enough for us not to be bothered to come outside to quietly sink into our own little world doing our own little things. With the bedroom size now reduced significantly, the kids spend a considerable time outside in the common room together.

And with the warm summer weather, it seemed opportune to just spend it outdoors. Slowly we are get cozy with the place, the schedule and mild temperatures (so far). With Ali and Aisya having not yet attend school, we have plenty of time to be with each other.

Breakfast starts when the children wake up, normally by that time Mommy has already gone off to work. They'll start the day with a few hours of online study before breaking up for lunch prepared by Daddy. After lunch, we'll either explore the neighbourhood or the yard or the shopping mall depending on the particular requirement of the day (Mommy makes the list). By this time, the day's normally quite warm for the likes of us.

Schedules differ depending on mood; lazy days meant most hours spent indoors, furthest we go would probably be the local supermart. On adventurous days, we venture further outside the confines of our island. On super optimistic days, we send Mommy to work and explore what's out there after dropping her off at the office.

The gravel road leading to our new domicile.

At the Schlumberger AS office in Risavika.

Enjoying the sun at Sandneset near our home.

Ali dipping his feet in 20 deg Norwegian Sea.

At the water's edge, marinelife looks surprisingly lively with kelps, jellyfish, and shellfish.

A pastoral scene along walking paths in Lundsvagen.

The siblings.

Ali on a rock in front of our doorway, getting his sunshine. Photo by Aisya Nazeri.

The siblings feeding birds at Mosvannet on a particularly chilly morning.

The kids are slowly adapting to the more relaxed schedules. With the summer sun and hopefully sustained warmer (25-26 deg) temperatures, they'll adjust to the weather too. There's plenty of outdoor exploring to do before they start school later in August. At the start we enjoyed checking out the different items on the local supermart shelves. 

We've progressed from supermart to exploring the neighbourhood. We should be pretty local by the end of summer, at least that's the plan anyways.

Short stop to Sverd i fjell

There's  nice lakeside stop just after Ampfi Mall in Hafrsfjord that proved to be popular with locals on weekends and off days. It's got a little beach too which must be packed on warm summer days with picnickers and sun worhsippers.

At Sverd i fjell, perhaps that what it meant literally "swords in rock", 3 swords were sculpted into the rock. They appeared as if they fell straight out of the sky to be embedded squarely into the landscape.

Ali and Aisya making their way up the little knolls towards the three Viking swords in the rock.

I only had my 400mm with me so was not able to take a more family friendly pictures but surely there'll be more visits to this place.

Birds around the house today

Woke up late this morning after having to deal with the time difference, by the time I walked out the front door it was already very bright. The chirping of local birds started much earlier.

There were a lot to be heard. There were patches of woods near the new house, this seemed the origin of all the rustling and chirping this morning.

First up was the Great Tit, first saw them in Rolde, Netherlands. Then saw it again at Kuala Selangor. It's nice to them here again, it seemed larger somehow. By the time I ran back into the house to pick up the 400mm, it was gone.

Got lucky with a Wood Pigeon which flew onto a branch nearby. Also got lucky with the House Sparrow as a pair came around foraging at the edge of the garden. A Black-bird perched nearby and then followed by a Magpie.

This morning's birds were not necessarily rare, they are common as dirt here but it's omehow nice to get to know the more common locals too. I think there's no point traipsing half-way across the continent for rarities if you haven't got properly acquainted to your local backyard birds.

A Wood Pigeon came resting on a branch, then a pair of House Sparrow stopped by in the yard for a quick forage.

We are now in Stavanger, Norway

We are in Norway! Stavanger, Norway to be exact. We left Miri 19th of May after formal handing over of Lot 582 Hilltop Selatan to it's owners the day before, the cleaners were still at it when we left the airport.

Almost eight years in Miri, we left many friends, two container loads of stuff, and equal amount of trash for the recycling centers among others.

We spent the following two nights with Clare's parents in PJ, for the kids to have their final catching up with the gramps and for us to get our final fill or curry me and yong-tau foo at the nearby hangout at Section 17.

We planned originally to also complete some final last minute shopping, however that was scratched off the list in the end. Just a touch before midnite on the 23rd, we flew MAS to Amsterdam with a connection to Stavanger after a 2 hr lay over at Schiphol. By noontime Wednesday, we are at home in Hundvag, a quiet water surrounded suburb north of Stavanger, 30 mins from Sola Airport by taxi. We are home away from home, again.

The house is smaller by Miri standards, but we are getting used to it slowly. Perched on a tiny hill, the kitchen on the second level commands a sweeping few of the neighbourhood. There's an old barn at the back of the house now disused. The ex-farmer landowner lives in the lot next to use separated by a short walk on earthen path through a small piece of wooded patch of a backyard. Hoping that all the 150+ boxes shipped over fit in once it arrives.

The weather has been most forgiving in getting us slowly slide into the transition, temperature's hitting 25deg daily for the past few days; the days have been bright and sunny, the skies deep blue till 10pm. Even Ali and Aisya are starting to complain that it's as hot as at home!

One big reminder that we are now in Norway is the inverse relationship between the grocery bill vs the groceries we are actually carting back home. The other reminder is perhaps everyone we met so far is lankier, fairer and more blonde than the three of us (Clare fits in better in the 1st two categories).

So far so good! Let's hope it's as smooth at the immigration office tomorrow, and the vehicles registration office the following days.