Norsk Guests

By the Numbers:

What I’ve learned so far this week from hosting 15 Norwegians between the ages of 3 and 74…

1 trip per day to Costco is highly recommended.

2 toilets in the house isn’t enough and calls for a spare five-gallon bucket for those who can’t wait.

3 events in one day will even wipe out the energy level of the teenagers (car show in Lyman in the morning, air show in Arlington in the afternoon and truck races in Alger in the evening equals pure exhaustion.)

4 pounds of bacon for breakfast nearly every morning never provides leftovers.

5 rolls of Costco size toilet paper per day is about average usage.

6 cups of sour cream almost lasts one day when serving baked potatoes or tacos.

7 users is the maximum number of connections our internet can handle before it comes to a screeching halt.

8 pairs of shoes purchased so far by one person is just the beginning of the total number of shoes they plan to buy because everything is so much cheaper in America.

9 people talking in Norwegian at the same time at the dinner table makes it impossible for me to understand even a single one of them.

10-year-old twin boys have a lot of energy.

11 things so far I can’t find in my kitchen because they are being incredibly helpful in washing up and putting things away.

12 mosquito bites around one ankle is more than I can bear.  It comes from sitting outside all evening after dinner because that’s just what Norwegians do in the summertime - no matter what.

15 people, consisting of four generations of the same family, are easier to have around than just one family of four people.

17 beers their first evening at our house was only a drop in the bucket of the total number of alcoholic beverages consumed so far.

18 year olds in Norway can legally drink alcohol so they think they can here in America, too.

20 minutes in the car going anywhere is considered “terribly long.”

27 minutes is the average amount of time it takes for everyone to get loaded up in the vehicles once the word is out it’s time to go, even if we are just driving for three minutes to get ice cream at Snow Goose Produce.

36 cups of coffee in the morning isn’t enough.

48 eggs will not fill all the hungry tummies at breakfast when the menu is just bacon, toast and scrambled eggs.

60 minutes is about as long as any Norwegian can go while on vacation until they need to stop and rest and have a cup of coffee or eat a little ice cream.

$1,349 spent for a single dinner for all of us at the Space Needle didn’t even cause them to bat an eye.

Such valuable things I’ve learned… and I’m not even half way through their visit!