Cultural differences...

Just a little picture of the beach, with Jen, Kelsey, Christen and Taylor.

Thought I could write a little about how it is to be married to an American, and being in an international relationship. I just read an article about my parents, and the challenges they had to face getting married to someone from a different culture. As you all probably know, my dad is British and my mom is Norwegian. Though the countries are close in distance, there are several differences between how the people live their lives. I don’t think it’s been a challenge for them, but I do think they’ve encountered things which people married to someone from their own counrty don’t have to go through.

Apparently my mom wanted us kids to marry someone from Norway. Sorry mamma. No can do. Despite his country of origin, Christen is the man for me. The biggest issues I guess we’ve faced so far, has to be with regards to food. Americans eat out every single day. And because their meals are so large, often people only eat once a day. This has been a struggle for me, as I am used to three meals a day, in which two of them include bread. I know I should be cooking a nice dinner every day for my husband, but he prefers to go out, and often it is the cheaper alternative. Life is set up here to eat out. If I want bread with any form of nutrition or food in it, I have to make my own. And the problem is that they don’t sell several of the ingredients I’d like to put in it. That is also a big issue over here. The foods I’m used to cooking, or used to eating, they can’t be found here. There’s no such thing as macarell, or even cod, which makes my life so much more difficult, as I have no idea how to prepear tilapia, which also always comes in breadcrumbs. Yurk.

A nice difference between Norway and America, is the way people treat you. Everyone is so friendly here. If you sit at a gas station with a map on your lap, trying to figure out where to go, someone will approach your car, ask you where you’re going, and then tell you the best way to get there. If you’re out biking, everyone will smile and wave, even say Hi, how are you? It is such a difference from Norway, where people look down when they pass each other. At our church, everyone is friendly. I mean, everyone. If you have a headache, and miss church one day, everyone asks about you, where you are and how you’re doing. And they make a point of asking if you’re feeling any better the next Sunday. They really do treat you like family here, and though most of the people in our church are over 40, we’ve made so many good friends.

Chruch is a big difference in cultural aspects. I don’t know if it’s just my church, but discussing with Christen, we’ve realized that people who go to church here are a lot more on fire for God. It is so amazing how everyone brings their Bibles, and everyone loves to go to church. Usually it’s a struggle to get up for church in the morning. But here, it seems like the most natural thing to do. As well, regular church goers here have issues and problems. I feel that in Norway, it’s the people who are “perfect” who go to church. They have a nice family, a nice house, and a generally good life. Here, the ones who go to church are the ones who have struggles, they’ve realized church is what they need. In Norway, people with struggles shy away from church, because they feel like they need to be perfect to come to Christ, beacue everyone in church is “perfect“. Absolutely not true. We need to get better at telling everyone about God, especially those with struggles.

A good thing about Christen and my marriage, is that we’re so young, and not set in our ways. If we had gotten married much later, we might clash on more ideas, whereas now, we learn and make decisions together, not based on one of our opinions. Marriage is wonderful, and being in an international marriage is great, because you don’t think that your country is the best, and everything revolving your country is great. I am learning so much about how there is no country that is best, because they all have their troubles and issues. I have learned that wherever you are, you need to try your best to be happy, and to get along with whoever you’re living next to. Openness is the key. If we weren’t open to each others cultures, we would never have made it this far. But by all means. Get married to who you know is right, don’t look at the culture or country they’re from. That’s just a tiny detail if you’re willing to live with their culture, and willing to give up a little of yours at times.

Think that’s all I had to say today. If anyone has a monologue for me that I should do at an audition, then by all means, please do send it to me! Thank you! Love you all! Kisses, mrs. marianne

life in the breeze

christen has as stated before started up a steak-selling company. he is very excited about it, and has finally ended his work at walmart. one day this week he managed to make more than 100 dollars an hour. if that doesn't beat walmart's 7.40, then i don't know what does. i am so impressed with him, and really admire his courage and strength to start something up by himself. good job christen!

also can say that we are thinking of moving in to a bigger apartment. this one bedroom is getting very small, we don't even have enough space to hang all our clothes up, which is very frustrating... they are leasing out a two bedroom, one bath, and so we thought we might just get that, and not have to worry about how we'll fit all our visitors in.. because of our wonderful location here in florida, people seem to want to come visit. i don't know if it's the beach or us they want to see... but it sure is nice with company! so anyone who wants to visit is more than welcome.

in other news, we're applying to two schools for the fall, one here, and one down by miami. the one in palm beach is a christian college, with acting and entrepreneurship, so christen and i would both love the courses! it's hard finding a school that has both business and acting, but this one does, as well as it being a christian university. so we HOPE to get in there. we recieved a dvd from them yesterday, and it looks like such an amazing school. only thing that is maybe a downside, is that it's private, meaning lots of money. but with scholarships and loans we'll be fine. if it's where God wants us...

these days i am working on the bulletin board at our church, as we are having a women's conference in a week. it needs to be full of info and pictures and everything by tomorrow, so i have a full night ahead of me. luckily christen loves helping me, so we enjoy working in church, for the church, together. and then tomorrow we are singing and playing on the worship team, as we usually do. last

ants bite!

christen and I have just had a huge war. with the ants in our house!!! EVen though the exterminator was here a month or so ago, yesterday we noticed the ants crawling EVERYWHERE by our hot water heater... It was so disgusting! but i guess we can just be thankful that they weren't snakes... right christina?

Crime

I must give a shout out to the policeforce of Gulf Breeze. I have never ever experienced police being so attentative. The other night Christen and I were out for a walk, around 11 pm, after he'd come home from work. We thought it would be nice with some fresh air, maybe walk down to the ocean and relax. On our way back from our walk, we got stopped by a police officer, who got out of his car and started interrogating us about what we were doing, why we were out so late, where were we going, etc. He did not believe we simply wanted a walk. It was crazy. He thought we were suspicios! And all we did was walk! Even though it wasn't too comfortable for us to be spoken to by police, it gave us a sense of security, that no matter how small or insignificant something looks, the police will check it out, to keep Gulf Breeze safe. That's great.

But then again. Last night, Christen and I went shopping. It was late, because we shop after Christen's home from work, around 10:30. But anyway, we got in the car, and noticed police cars in our street. We knew some neighbours had previously had an under-age party, and so we didn't think anymore of it, until we drove a little further, and saw the police running behind a house with flashlights. And this is like, three houses away from our house. But we drove on, to get our shopping done. On the way there, we realized we'd forgot a coupon, so we decided to go back home, which meant passing the house with the police outside. There were four police cars in total. And right when we passed up the house with the fashlight search, we see a guy in handcuffs, getting put into the police car! I've never ever seen anyone get arrested, and it was pretty freaky, especially knowing it was right down the road. The police get my respect, but that also comes with my fear. Yikes. Police= crime.

Never really thought I'd see what the US is so famous for. But last night, I was a witness of what Christen says was a drugbust. Just to make it clear, these are new neighbours. Our apartment complex is leasing, which means new neighbours, new stories.... Hmm.. Maybe more blogs to come...

The beach

The beach on Sunday made me want to write a blog.
The water was crystal clear, people were laughing and having water and sand fights, people were sunbathing, and we were even graced by the presence of a dolphin! It was a beautiful day, which Christen and I got to spend with Taylor and Kelsey, two young girls from our church.
Their parents let us have them for the day,
and we took them to the beach to play.
We dove in the water fully dressed,
and a dolphin diving made us mighty impressed.
Taylor threw sand at Christen who was dry
And he threw sand back, almost making her cry
She had to go back in the water to clean off
and by that time we'd all had enough.
We went back to the church where their parents were shocked,
they'd said not to get wet, and there they were,
not even dried off.
But since we'd had so much fun, and played around
Their parents didn't seem to manage to frown!
Haha! Children are great, can't imagine how much fun it will be to have our own!(don't worry, we're not planning on them yet!)

On to something totally different...
God works in strange ways. I was wondering why he made me go through a very rough period a while ago, but come to realize now, it's made my marriage a whole lot stronger. So don't think God has abandoned you if you feel down. He's there, making sure you'll live through it, and He'll turn it to something good! He works differently from how we think He should, but afterall, He is God, and we are only people... So just trust He has a plan for you, cause there's a purpose to your life! Why would He create you if you didn't have a purpose? :)

last but not least today, I'd like to wish Neil a happy birthday today, and Inki a happy birthday tomorrow! Good luck on your driving test, inks!
Kisses, Mrs. Marianne

Fat Tuesday

Well, today is the start of lent, and yesterday was fat Tuesday. I was going to continue the tradition of my mom, and make pancakes, which also is a famous tradition in Norway, but I realized we had no eggs. I had to find out what else I could make, but we didn't really have anything "fattening" to have for dinner in our fridge. We therefore decided to go out for dinner, and Christen chose Taco Bell. When will he ever not choose Taco Bell.... So we ate till we were full and now feel like we can fast for a month or two. However, since we're not Catholic, I guess we don't really have to fast. So we just took advantage of fat Tuesday, that's more fun! :)
Also yesterday, I did something very amazing. I must say, I was pretty proud of myself. We bought a new stereo, cause we haven't had a radio or CD player ever since we've been here. While Christen was at work, I set it up ALL BY MYSELF! And they didn't even have the normal plug this into that, I had to like do stuff with the little wires... I was so proud. :) And, check out this picture, this is our new remote! I am so shocked! Isn't that the coolest little thing you've ever seen??
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful beginning of lent, and remember that you don't really need to sacrifice anything, cause Jesus sacrificed everything for us on the cross. Just remember to live as living sacrifices, live for Jesus!
Kisses, mrs. marianne