Ruminations

I have been having the hardest time getting myself to write a blog post. Too much on my mind, too much to do and too much news. I need to focus on preparing my presentation for a Fulbright seminar next Thursday and then all the Fulbrighters are going on a ski weekend to Lillehammer. The trip to Stockholm was fantastic and I want to write about that. Projects are proceeding and I want to write about that. BUT the biggest news is that we have decided to go back to the US on March 31st. That’s right, in less than two months.

My official time as a Fulbrighter ends on February 15. We were unable to get approval from Norwegian Immigration for me to stay through the summer (long story that involves much paperwork and bureaucracy) and on the other side, US Immigration will require that B apply for a re-entry visa if he stays out of the country past June 12. A’s passport expires in May, which means that we would have to make several trips to the US Embassy to take care of more paperwork and bureaucracy. We have actually been through enormous amounts of paperwork and bureaucracy just to get through the Fulbright application process and to live here in Norway - comparable to what we went through for B’s US resident alien status 15 years ago. We are completely burned out on it. We are homesick and often lonely. A is really longing for her old life and her old school. I think we have all gotten what we came for from the experience... It has been a damn hard decision to make and we are very disappointed that we won’t get to spend the summer here, but we will get to do new and different things this summer...

I’m going to start on the final Norway edition of PB’s Newsy News when we get back from Lillehammer, so I will go into more detail in the newsletter.

OK. Gotta get back to work now. The hour glass has broken and the sand is pouring out much faster than we anticipated...