Happy Sunday, everyone!
After a good night's sleep, we decided to visit one of the English-speaking churches in the area called the International Church of Stavanger. What a blessing it was! We were welcomed by several people and came to find out that one of the ladies is a high school teacher at the school the kids will be attending (International School of Stavanger.) We were able to get lots of information on where to purchase things like rain suits and school supplies and were given several phone numbers in case we needed any help. We ended up going to lunch with a couple who were here visiting (he is here for a couple weeks for work and his wife was visiting this weekend)but they lived here in Stavanger for about 9 years. She also was a teacher at ISS. They were a wealth of information and told us about a food festival (right up our alley) and several stores that I am sure will be favorites (one is called Obs and is similar to Target!) We also got the name of a barber for Spencer and Brendan! They had a map of the area and pointed out numerous places we should visit including a cannery and a candle-making factory! We thoroughly enjoyed lunch at Dolly Dimple's Pizza Pizza and making new friends!
We took a different route home from lunch and took in some amazing views of some of the fjords nearby and we are looking forward to taking a boat tour of some of these areas to get a closer look! We headed back to the apartment and the kids were invited down to the neighbors to watch a movie, but that didn't last long because we are lucky enough to be having another beautiful day here in Stavanger with lots of sunshine, so we headed out to the park and to feed the ducks at the lake and walk a bit. Dan and Sheila showed us this tire swing on the lake path and we took a little hike down some rocks to stand at the water's edge so the kids could toss rocks into the lake.
The one funny part...on the way back from our lake walk, we noticed a sign near where we feed the ducks...first time any of us have noticed it, but we are now pretty sure it says not to feed the birds and ducks...ooops! No one has bothered to tell us, so apparently we just look like silly Americans!
A few other things we have learned: 1) July is vacation month here and it is sometimes difficult to get things accomplished because many people/businesses drastically cut hours and such. 2) You should not look people in the eye and say "hello" - it bothers them greatly because it indicates you know them and they fret over who you are and why you said hello to them. 3) The bread here is fantastic and that includes the pizza crust - thick like pan pizza, but light so it is not so filling! Yum! and 4) Spencer discovered yesterday evening that there is a strict cut-off time for purchasing beer and he was seconds too late... and they do not sell beer on Sundays at all. As a matter of fact, most businesses and stores are closed on Sundays.
For those of you wondering about the "Midnight Sun" it is truly a strange thing! The sun starts to go down about 9:30 pm, but it stays bright/kind of dusk-like until about 11:30 pm. Then the sun comes back out about 3:15 am. You truly have to watch the clock because otherwise you lose track of time and it is really late before you even realize! We have all adjusted to the light better then we have the 7 hour time difference, I think!
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