This photo was taken at a suburban hotel in Germany in the place Süderühlen. It was very cosy there, and on the way back from Spain we stopped there too. Happy New Year! It is I again, with thoughts of last summer. I will not weary readers with an artistic description of European sights. The thing is, I am a homebody, not a traveller and still less a tourist. But on trips my behaviour is always — exemplary. (as they once graded our behaviour in Soviet school) I try not to bother my Norwegian husband in any way when he is at the wheel and when he is not at the wheel either. ...

Inspired by the number of people reading me in many countries, I decided to continue my travel story. I hope many understood that tormenting title of a composition that many of us had to write at school. At once I remember my childhood and adolescence (teenagerhood), as it is called now. And then the first days of September at school… God grant one remember what there was in summer, in summer, what there was in the hot summer…. And now too, I remember that I was hot. I have grown unused to heat in 10 years in Norway. ...

Honestly, the first time I finally thought of putting a photo myself! The feet are not mine, but my husband’s, size 46. I think he will not take offence. The photo is “secret,” because photographing was forbidden in that place. And he was not photographing himself, but me! And only the feet came out! 🤓 Summer 2021…. Some had neither the possibilities nor the desire, some had the desire but not the possibilities; I this summer had possibilities, which I did after all make use of, but I had no desire…. to travel. I am not a tourist and not a traveller, I am a homebody. That is my vice, so to speak “I am a vicious woman.” 10 years already in Norway, and with this vice of mine I have been fighting hard for 10 years! If they propose that I go — I go. But myself — no initiative! I am even afraid to mention any place on the globe, because at once the question will come “do you want to?” and at once one must start planning a trip, and my taciturn husband starts looking for tickets for planes–ferries–ships. I try to keep quiet. ...

Part 9 “… AND FROM THIS MOMENT PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL.” So. I sorted out the dog. I had to sort myself out. After all, I arrived at a respectable age, with my own habits. The first-priority task was to learn Norwegian. I did not find any particular difficulties in studying; at home I continued to speak English, and for some time it turned out that I treated Norwegian as a subject of study, but not of practice. I will explain why I reason that way. I think that because of my age I could not fit two foreign languages in my head. Of course that is a funny thought, when you are abroad and feel that English is becoming “native,” while Norwegian, which you have to use in a Norwegian environment, just will not “switch on.” ...

Part 8 “…AND FROM THIS MOMENT PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL.” Usually I write in the evening. First I sit–sit–sit — staring at one point. Memories of my first five-year plan in Norway will not let me go. And how to set out more correctly what happened to me in that period is no simple task. There! I remembered! Who soothed me in hard minutes when I lost my peace of mind — it was the dog named Sami. The thing is, I had never had a dog, and here all at once — a husband, and a dog, and a cat, and daughters who are not-daughters. ...

Part 7 “…. AND FROM THIS MOMENT, PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL…”. Thoughts about today. Sunday, 11 April 2021. My Norwegian husband is ready to drive me anywhere. It is good that in Norway there is a lot of fresh air and natural beauty. Of course, I have grown used to it. “There lived an old man and an old woman by the very blue sea.” Almost like us, but we do not feel our age and try to go somewhere, not very far, well… to get some air. ...

Part 6 “….AND FROM THIS MOMENT, PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL.” Return to Kiev. After the tourist period I came home on 3 March 2011. The plaster was to come off in three weeks. The decision had already been taken that we would marry, and Ivan at once began collecting documents to open my 6-month fiancée visa. For that he prepared a list of documents. At that time the fiancé had to have a minimum of 240 thousand kroner a year in permanent income, have enough square metres of housing for a wife, and have no debts on that housing. And his documents and a filled-in form he submitted to UDI, paid 3,000 kroner for the visa, and sent me an official invitation and a form, with which I was able to get into the Norwegian embassy in Kiev only on 2 May. ...

Part 5 “….AND FROM THIS MOMENT, PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL.” Today is 23 February 2021. Exactly 10 years since I broke my arm! A “jubilee.” At this time in Norway the winter holidays are on. Those who have cabins in the mountains and forests go with their families to ski and do sport. I return to my memories, to the departure of Ivan’s daughters to Spain, and I still had to go to the hospital for a check of the plaster, and Ivan had been given an appointment for a consultation — help from a psychologist as a single father-guardian. First we stopped at the psychologist’s. I decided to wait in the cosy foyer while Ivan got the consultation. The consultation dragged on for a whole hour and a half. I was already quite “worn out” with waiting, and the arm in plaster also hurt, “ached.” At last we got to the hospital and there they put on another layer of strong plaster. ...

Part 4 “… AND FROM THIS MOMENT, PLEASE, IN MORE DETAIL”. I must admit that I never for a minute doubted Ivan’s reliability, so I firmly decided for myself to gather patience, study Norwegian, and prepare to move to the village and to further family life. I would have to build relations with the remaining members of the family….. I have already written that at the end of my tourist period, on 23 February, I broke my right arm, and my visa was until 6 March, the plane ticket 3 March. And getting used to “disability” turned out not to be the easiest thing. At the courses the winter holidays began, and I was already left at home alone; I had to get used to doing everything with my left hand, and in a week I still had to go to the hospital again for a check that the plaster had been put on correctly. ...

Part 3 “. .. AND FROM THIS MOMENT PLEASE IN MORE DETAIL”. Today is 7 February 2021. It turns out there is a holiday in Norway — Fire Extinguisher’s Birthday. I think it turned 150. In Norway every house has such a thing. Its place is in the corner of the hall, at the entrance. But it is terribly heavy! God forbid one should have to use it! All right, I will not think about that. ...