Morgan Family Travels - 20

Hello all!

Much better week this week - so good I'm actually writing early! ;-)

We spent Sunday afternoon on the phone with wonderful friends in Canada who gave us a good 'cheering up' by listening, praying with us and encouraging us that God was really still using us and working in us and guiding our thoughts, particularly given that some of the questions I mentioned last week are also being thought about by our church community back home (much to our surprise!) God is good, life can seem dark at times, and our christian communities are VITAL to our spiritual and emotional health (not to mention physical and provisional well-being, which we have also seen God provide for us at other times through our community). So, yeah God and yeah for community!

That conversation, coupled with some other factors have convinced us to try to settle down a bit for the next few months. Trevor has a contract job based in London starting Monday or Tuesday of next week, which he's very pleased to get. It may turn into a full-time, permanent, even-when-we're-back-in-Canada job, but for now its a good job, good learning experience and it will definitely help in paying for all of our galavanting!

Kaitlyn has been enrolled in a local school to begin on January 3rd. She's quite excited about it, as am I (though I'm a bit uncertain, too ... after all, I've never been to school in England, so I don't know what differences to expect). However, we've got part of her school uniform already, the rest should come by mid-week next week, and she is going to look very smart. She will also be taking school dinners, which is something we certainly didn't have, and I hope she will like. The school also participates in a program through the County I think that provides every child age 5 - 7 with a piece of fruit or vegetable every morning, which sounds like an excellent idea. I'll make sure that once I have her full uniform we take a few pictures so you can all see her decked out like a little Brit!

Hannah and I are also going to be making plans. I'm going to start taking Hannah to a playgroup once or twice a week so that she's getting some other 'kid' time, and am also going to look into a gym class for her, but that may or may not be feasible because of transportation. I've signed myself up for an on-line course on Street Photography through www.betterphoto.com. Its an 8-week course that's conducted entirely on-line, with weekly photo assignments, and Robin and Helen have graciously agreed to look after Hannah for me one day a week so that I can go into London to do the assignments. This will correspond almost completely with Kaitlyn's school term, so will be quite convenient. It will be an opportunity to do some learning with a guide, which I haven't really done very much of until now, and will be a bit of 'me' time and an opportunity to take advantage of living close to London while I have it by being in the city at least once a week. I'm hoping to choose a different bit of the city to explore each time so that I have a better idea of the city by the time its done.

This weekend we have things booked up Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night, so I'll try to update on Monday.

Morgan Family Travels - 19

Last week is a bit of a blur. Monday the girls and I spent down in Havant with Trevor's sister-in-law Kim and her children. The children actually spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa and Kim and I hemmed curtains for her lounge (living room).

Tuesday we had Hannah weighed and measured in anticipation of her Wednesday dietician's appointment. Neither appointment was wonderful, but nothing horrid either - just no real answers for the outstanding challenges, and as she'd been ill for a week and on antibiotics her system is still slightly confused and a little bit lighter as a result.

One afternoon last week we did a load of Christmas shopping, which was fun.

Over the weekend we participated in Moot weekend retreat. We were at a place called Carroty Wood and it was a very low-key relaxing sort of weekend. It gave us a good chance to see what the community was like, get a sense of their vision, successes and challenges, and have the chance to talk to each other some more in the continuing Trevor and Heather search for who we are, what we're doing, and what this trip means.

Some of the things we are thinking about include the following topics - anyone want to weigh in with their own ideas?

1. The question of 'How Do We Live By The Spirit?'
Some ideas include:
*it must be communal
*it includes the practice of the Spiritual Disciplines and the Rule of Life

2. The question of 'How Do WE Seek First The Kingdom?'
Some ideas include:
*it is communal at heart (therefore 'we' not 'I' in the question)
*God is triune, hence communal, and invites us to be part of that community
*communities have upper and lower maximums of effectiveness
*it can't be vague of half-hearted
*accepted, loved, not left where they are -- the Kingdom is a DYNAMIC SYSTEM
*always journeying
*the values of the system include: a place of system where those on the fringe are invited into the center; where the lost are sought at the expense of those whose position are known; it brings about inclusion; people have infinite value, even if we don't like them

3. The question of 'What Is The Purpose For The Community Of God?'
The only point we have written so far is:
*it expresses Kingdom values

Any additions, amendments, comments or lively debate are completely welcome!

Moot

Sunday we went up to London again, this time to visit Moot, a church community in Westminster. They had a very nice service that was modelled around the concept of 'Godly Play'. There was around 10 kids and 20 adults, and we all sat on the floor around a sandbox set up in the middle, and were led through the story of the Exodus using the sand to represent the desert, and little cardboard characters as the Israelites. It was particapatory, in that the kids got to help move the characters through the 'Red Sea', and both kids and adults were asked which characters they identified with the most. It worked surprisingly well, and I think both kids and adults took something useful away from it. Afterwards parents were invited to go down to a local park with the kids.

Experiencing London

This week has been an opportunity for us to get up to London a couple of times. On Friday the grandparents babysat for us so we could have some time together. We took the train up to London and saw a bunch of the sights. First stop was the London Eye, which gives quite fantastic views over the city. I'm sure Heather will post a bunch of pictures soon. Then we took the tube and the Docklands Light Railway down to docklands. (The DLR is a driverless rapid transit system. One thing London has definitely got right is its transit. With one ticket, you can travel all day on the trains, subways, buses and light railway. We never had to wait for more than a couple of minutes for a train or a bus.)

Docklands used to be a run-down industrial area, but has now been re-invented as a commercial hub. We had lunch, looked at the architecture, and then headed back into town. From the tube station at St. Pauls we crossed the river on the Millenium Bridge, which is another amazing piece of architecture. Technically it's a suspension bridge, but the cables don't drop down from tall towers on either end of the bridge; rather they travel beside the bridge, and are tethered BENEATH it! It's really very clever.

Across the bridge is the Tate Modern, an art gallery. Some of it was closed, but we got to see some of the exhibits. Some were weird, some very good. I particularly liked embankment, a vast, immersive, strangely organic work that you can walk around, in and through.

We had supper on the Strand, and then I took Heather to see Chicago, which was great fun. We haven't had a chance to go to the theatre in nearly 2 years.

Morgan Family Travels - 17

I'm afraid week 17 was not the stuff that blogs are written of. We had a boring week at home sorting ourselves out from our trip and fighting off bugs that we have now, all four of us, succumbed to. But, for the record, week 17 has now been and gone.

We will try to add some pensing on the first third of our trip in the coming days.

Our Norwegian Phrases

Norge er et flott lande. - Norway is a beautiful country.

Hei - Hello

Mitt navn er ... - My name is ...

Jeg kommer fra Canada. - I come from Canada.

Jeg vil lare norsk. - I want to learn Norwegian.

Det er alt jeg kan si. - That is all I can say.

Takk for at du hørte på meg. - Thank you for listening.

Tall: Numbers:

1 - en

2 - to

3 - tre

4 - fire

5 - fem

6 - seks

7 - sju

8 - åtte

9 - ni

10 - ti

Our Swedish Phrases

ja - yes

nej (pronounced nay) - no

hej (pronounced hay) - hello

hejdå - goodbye

Jag heter _______. - my name is

tack - thank you

Tack så mycket – thanks very much

Jag bo i Kanada - I live in Canada

Lära mig Svenska – teach me Swedish

<>Jag lära Svenska – I learn Swedish

Inte – not (jag kan inte – I cannot)

Nej tack – no thanks

<>Kyrka (sheer-kah) – church

Vägen/gatan – road/street

Jag är på vag – I'm on my way

bil – car

Jag älskar dig – I love you

Duktig flicka – good girl

Kan jag få en ... - can I have a ...

Jag kan prata engelska – I can speak english

<>Jag här en ... - I have a ...

1 – en/ett

2 – två

3 – tre

4 – fyra

5 – fem

6 – sex

7 – sju (shoe)

8 – åtta

9 – nio

10 – tio

11 – elva

12 – tolv

13 – treton

14 – fyrton

15 – femton

16 – sexton

17 – sjutton

18 – artton

19 – nitton

20 – tjugo (shoogoh)

Bergen Pictures

The mouth of Bryggen harbour, with Haakon's Hall on the right-hand side (the stone building).










More of Bryggen Harbour.







Bryggen







A cruise ship leaving from the new harbour.











Old Bergen is covered with these neighbourhoods of little windy alleys with cobbled streets and wooden houses. Its not surprising the cities been burnt to the ground several times over.


















The wharf at the end of Bryggen Harbour.







The view out the front of the Floi Banen








The view from the top of the mountain.







Kaitlyn with the troll.











Hannah and Trevor with the Troll.











Bergen at night - the view from our skylight.












On our way back to England.

Morgan Family Travels - 16

Thankfully for my now-tired fingers this week was the least busy. We spent the entire week wandering around Bergen and enjoying ourselves! ;-)

Tuesday morning we went up the side of the mountain on the Floi Banen, which was good fun. The views were slightly less than what they could be because of cloud-cover, but it didn't rain while we were up there, so that's saying something. There was a playground at the top, which the girls enjoyed, and the seven-minute ride up in and of itself is good fun! That afternoon we took the bus out to the suburbs of Bergen where they have a small-scale version of West Edmonton mall - complete with small-scale waterpark, shopping centre, bowling alley, etc. We went swimming for a couple of hours and had fast-food for supper before returning home.

Wednesday morning I took the girls and we went to the Hanseatic Museum in Bryggen and Haakon's Hall at the end of Bryggen and looked at St. Mary's Church (the oldest building in Bergen). The Hanseatic Museum explains about the commerce that has taken place from the area of Bergen known as Bryggen. These are the beautiful old wooden buildings right down by the harbour, and from here commerce travelled all over Europe trading dried fish for various other goods such as grain, cloth, etc.

Haakon's Hall was built by the Norwegian King in the 12th century (I think ... my dates are getting confused at this point). At any rate, it was a king's hall - the residence being separate - and underneath the hall was offices for the civil servants of the day.

St. Mary's Church was built in the 11th or 12th century and has definite architectural similarities to Norman churches we have seen with the square towers.

Thursday afternoon Kaitlyn and Hannah and I went off to the Permanenten, a museum of decorative arts.

Much time over the course of the week was spent to browsing through shops - design shops, souvenir shops, clothing shops, music shops, toy shops - all to the great enjoyment of the entirety of the party.

Friday evening to celebrate we went out to dinner at the pizza restaurant that is in one of the buildings in Bryggen. It had beautiful ambience, and the food was terrific - except for a piece of glass I found in my salad as I bit down on it. The restaurant in turn gave us our entire meal for free, and as that was at CN Tower restuarant prices, we gladly accepted! From there we went over to the Pentecostal Church (the second oldest one in the city, I think) for a portion of their Friday night youth service. The service draws young people from 15 - 28-ish from all over the city, and there were about 250 there that night.

Saturday we left Bergen about mid-day, took the bus to Fresland where the airport is, and were home in time for supper with Edward and Davita, and Trevor's parents, who had kindly picked us up from the airport.

Seim Fjord Pictures

Seim Fjord turn-off







The hamlet of Seim - population ~ 1000







The white house is the house where my great-grandfather Edvard Seim was born - the land behind it is the farm.






Seim Kirke







Inside Seim Kirke

























Seim Fjord
























Nils Karlsson Seim and his wife.







My third cousin Nils Seim with his parents.

Morgan Family Travels - 15

Sunday October 31st saw us at Laura and Daniel's church. Their service is in the evenings, and includes the Swedish equivalent to 'afternoon tea' - called Fika - which includes bread, cheese, Swedish cavier (very different from Russian cavier), eggs, vegetables, coffee, tea, juice. We loved the very Swedish elements that they had encorporated into their worship space - especially the pulpit that was made out of the bottom section of a large tree ... root humps and all! It was stunningly beautiful.

Monday November 1st we went to visit friends of Laura and Daniel's from their church. The wife is also a Swedish immigrant, and they have children just slightly older than Laura and Daniel's daughter, so it was wonderful to know that our friends have some good friends nearby. We had a wonderful time with them, and got to see the inside of another Swedish home, which is always helpful in understanding the culture.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty quiet days - mostly spent just talking and looking after the children. Oh, and battling a terrific head cold for Heather that turned into larengitis on Wednesday just for fun.

Thursday November 4th in the morning we left for the train station to head for Oslo. Just before the train arrived we realised that Hannah had taken her bottle out of the bag and left it somewhere in the house. We had thought it was packed, so we had it, and had left it behind. As we had confirmed seats on two trains that connected one to the other, we couldn't really go back to get it, so this particular 'comfort' for Hannah had to be abandoned. Much to her distress. Our first train was from Båstad to Gothenburg, a two-hour journey, and from there we got on another train to Oslo, which is a four-hour journey. It rained most of the day, but the visibility wasn't too bad. We got into Oslo just before five o'clock, finally found our hotel and we glad to get our things in and get settled. The challenge was to find some supper that Hannah could eat, and in the end we went with Burger King, which made the girls happy, and gave Hannah a salad. The hotel had a dry sauna in the basement and I spent most of the rest of the evening in there, and it made SUCH a difference to my lungs that I was actually able to talk some by the next day.

Friday November 5th we left on the 08:11 train from Oslo to Bergen. It is a stunning 7 hour trip from one end of Norway to the other, and it goes all the way up and all the way back down again! The land is beatiful - full of mountains and fjords, and lots of brightly coloured houses scattered all over the place, so nowhere feels completely barren and nowhere feels too crowded. We arrived in Bergen mid-afternoon and had an easy walk to our apartment - an 8th-floor penthouse one-bedroom apartment. The shock of grocery store prices was great, especially as we unwittingly went to about the most expensive store in town, but such is the life of the international traveller - not all cheap grocery stores are called 'no frills' nor are all expensive stores called 'marks and spencers'.

Saturday November 6th we walked around Bergen for an hour or so in the morning - it wasn't raining and we wanted to get some pictures while we had the chance! Then we caught the 11:00 bus to Knarvik, a 45-minute bus ride from down-town Bergen which goes along a windy road, through a tunnel, along another windy road, through another tunnel and up over a terrific bridge, down into another tunnel before hurtling across yet another stunning bridge. As Trevor says, not only did the Norwegians have cause to invent dynamite, but having done so they expect to be able to have fun using it. They also appear to be stunning bridge-engineers!

We were met at Knarvik bus station by Nils Seim, my third cousin, and taken the rest of the way by car to Seim Fjord. What a stunning experience.

I learned a lot about my Seim family that day. We had lunch in the house that my great-grandfather had been born in. We saw the farm as it was in 1903 when he left - it made a lot of sense then that the younger sons couldn't stay as the farm is not really enough for a livelihood even for one individual. The cousin who owns the farm (Olav Seim) right now uses it as a side-income, but its not enough for his family. He's a carpenter, and his brother works on the off-shore oil rig. Their father (also Nils Karlsson Seim) is an incredible cross between my grandpa Edward Seim and his brother Harvey Seim. Quite odd to find someone you've never met that looks so much like your own family. I learned that my father's knack of drinking extremely full cups of completely black, very strong coffee is not weird - its just Norwegian. That whether my parents knew it or not the tortilla dessert we grew up with as children of butter and cinnamon sugar is very similar to the Vestlands Lefsa with butter and suger I was served in Nils Karlsson Seim's house. I learned that a love of the mountains and lakes and trees in myself that I always thought was because I was born in BC actually goes a lot further back than that - Seim is surrounded by mountains and has a beautiful fjord at its base. I saw that having a carpentry hobby is a very Norwegian thing to do, as is making beautiful, colourful things with your hands - whether its knitting or sewing or beadwork or furtniture design, or anything really, it is all very beautiful.

We also spent some time at Seim Kirke. Although the hamlet of Seim has been around for almost a thousand years, the church has actually only been their since the early nineteenth century. Nevertheless, it was very cool to sit in it - it is covered with beautiful hand-painted designs and the accoustics are fantastic. This was the church my great-grandfather was baptised in as a baby, and where most of his family that remained in Norway was buried.

Before heading back for the evening Kaitlyn played with her Norwegian-speaking fourth-cousins, and we went down to the edge of the fjord and wondered whether Edvard had also come down here to say goodbye before he left. It must have been a very difficult place to leave.

Båstad, Sweden Pictures

Beach houses.







Kaitlyn and Hannah travelling by train











A horseback rider on the beach.








Hannah and Kaitlyn on the beach.











Trevor sunbathing by the beach.







Near the tide-pools.











Helsingborg











Helsingborg #2 and #3













Hannah and Amanda by the beach.








Hannah pulling Kaitlyn in the wagon.







Our friends, Daniel, Laura and Amanda Larsson.







Kaitlyn.











Båstad beach.

Quick update from Sweden

Wé've spent the last week in Sweden at the house of Daniel and Laura, two friends of ours from Canada. We've had a nice time visiting, seeing a bit of the country and eating our fill of meatballs. We spent one night in Copenhagen on the way here, and are off to Oslo tomorrow. We'll write a proper report with pictures when we get back.

Morgan Family Travels - 14

Sunday 24^th October we went to New Haw Gospel Hall. This was Trevor's first experience of a Gospel Hall. After church we went out for lunch with a couple our age from the church.

Monday and Tuesday were spent in laundry and packing exercises.

Wednesday 27^th October we flew from London to Copenhagen, Denmark. The view from the plane was almost good enough to make up for the fact that we were all quite motion sick from being stuck right next to the engines at the very back of the plane. As we came into Copenhagen we were met by the sight of a huge row of windmills (like the single one by Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, for those of you there) out in the ocean. We took the train from the very nice, new airport into the city centre, where we had reservations for a hotel that was thankfully close to the station. Although we travelled pretty light for four people for two and a half weeks we still had two medium-sized suitcases, the girls' small suitcase, a backpack, camera case and for the purpose of handling various terrains, Hannah's small stroller and carry-backpack. We can shift it all on our own, but its nice if we don't have to go too far with it!

We ditched our bags at the hotel before going out in search of supper that Hannah could eat. Copenhagen is full of amazing bike lanes that are full of people riding bikes, surprisingly enough! They even have their own set of bike traffic lights. The streets are also full of street musicians – accordian players and violinists abound. Its quite pleasant. Unfortunately there is very little in the way of food that Hannah can eat out. We tried, but she definitely got some wheat in her that night, which is stressful for all of us.

Thursday 28^th October we got up and enjoyed a Scandinavian breakfast in the hotel – breads, yoghurt, muesli, fruit, chesses, fish, salami, etc. It was quite delicious, though I miss having something hot in the morning.

We packed and were out of the hotel before 11:00 to do some sight-seeing in Copenhagen. The city is built practically on a set of islands, and is full of canals that are still used today. We spent the morning walking around and then had lunch in the basement of the big department store in the centre of town. As it was (unsurprisingly) raining by that point, we went round the shop and admired the Danish design. We found one line of products (called Eva Solo) that we really liked the style of.

We were back at the train station fully kitted out again with all our suitcases for the 16:22, two-hour train to Båstad. We were quite glad to see our friend Daniel Larsson's face when we got off the train in a fairly dark, still-raining station! Daniel brought us back to their house where we settled in and enjoyed 'Swedish Pizza' for dinner.

Friday 29^th October was a quiet day at Laura and Daniel's. They live out in the country, in an area of holiday homes, about seven minute's walk from the beach. It was sunny almost the entire time we were there (except the last two days when I was trying to do laundry!) and the sun is so low in the sky that even at mid-day you get amazing shadows and the colour of the light is quite stunning.

Saturday 30^th October we went with Daniel and Laura up to the top of the ridge over Båstad in the morning. We had lovely views from there. We had lunch with Daniel's parents at a very new church plant in the town – enjoying Swedish sandwiches which are open-faced and in this case included meatballs and red beat salad, which is very pink, and VERY good! Then in the afternoon we headed to Helsingborg, the closest 'big' city and had supper together there (again, Swedish pizza, which seems to be the favourite out-eat, at least of Daniel and Laura).

Denmark Pictures

The Canal











The bike park outside the station







The Library Gardens







The McDonald's Bike-Thru - an idea I've always wanted to try on a regular drive-thru, but thought the fumes from other waiting vehicles would be less than helpful!









One of the main squares in Copenhagen

Greenwich and Heather Pictures

Between the Greenwich Maritime Museum and Queen's House.





The entrance to the footpath under the Thames.




The Cutty Sark.




More Cutty Sark.



Sally, Kaitlyn and Hannah by the Cutty Sark.





The sky over Greenwich.




The Greenwich Meridian.




General Wolfe (lost at the Plains of Abraham!)




Heather's new 'do'!