"home"

snowboarding changes the picture a lot for what i can willingly call "home"... haha.. but really, just as much and more, friendship and community, and scenery too, makes all the difference. i realized after the weekend that for the first time since i've been here, i was happy not just to be experiencing something novel and excitingly norwegian.. but i felt for the first time... at home.

and then i realized that half the time i have here is already up... and im leaving in just 2 1/2 months more, and that made me sad =(

my friend jon rash wrote this song that i really love... it really captures the moment

another few hours here
and im going to say goodbye
ill undoubtedly leave behind...
a piece of my heart

this is not my home
and neither is my hometown
my citizenship is in heaven
and i can't wait to get there

(you can try downloading it from here if the other link didnt work... http://www.purevolume.com/jonrash)

this summer living in quebec, i learned a lot about what it means that "home" is with God... and that God is with me where i am, so to commit heart, mind and soul to making where i was "home" even if half the time i was like "God... what the heck am i doing here?!!" Montreal was too much city, and Trois-Pistoles was pretty stretching and lonely most of the time... i never would've called either place "home", so i was really learning "wherever i am, to be all there" as an act of the will.

now im kinda learning the same lesson, but in an opposite way. i DO like it here, im really honestly enjoying it... it's not vancouver, it's not the same friends and family and the same beautiful mountains and beaches and everything i still love dearly about vancouver... but it's nice here too, and i feel comfortable and my heart is happy here. and so, even though this isn't really "my home" and i know im leaving, and it'll come quicker than i think, im not going to skimp out on letting this be "home" while i'm here. and that means investing in friendships even though i dont know if or when ill ever see them again, loving 'em deeply even though goodbyes suck, learning Norwegian even though i don't know when i'll ever speak it again, and yah... just making Norway home while i'm here.

ok... maybe now that i've gotten that out in words ill be able to focus on my paper! or at least i hope so!! im leaving tomorrow for another amazing ski weekend with debbie, karin and meredith (all vancouver girls!) and gudbjort from iceland... this time to a mountain called Hemsedal and from what i've heard, it is gonna be GRAND! =)

ha en fin helg og vi snakkes snart! have a nice weekend & we'll talk soon!

much love!
rainbow =)