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.
The daughters’ holidays began at the end of February, and they were planning a trip to Spain to their mother. Of course Ivan took all the expenses on himself. And I turned out to be a live witness of teenage girls packing for the road. For Ivan their trip was important because he was sending with them “the paper to sign” about the divorce. And their mother had also dictated what things they were to bring. That is when the most interesting part began — they could not find anything from the list.
Among the valuable things mentioned were a gold bracelet, 2 wooden icons, and Hugo Boss shorts. The mention of the gold bracelet embarrassed me a great deal. I will explain why. The house was a complete jumble of things. I had the impression that the girls put on everything “disposable” and then threw it “in a heap” onto the washing machine and under their feet. The cupboards and the storeroom were stuffed, and in their rooms, on the beds, things were scattered too. Perhaps someone would be impressed by the size of a two-storey house (I think 130 m²), but I was not very comfortable then.
I will not hide it: although I was a guest, I tried to clear some of the “jams.” I finally began my so-called domestic activity with the laundry. Since I had few of my own things, I tried to “capture” what was piled in a heap on the washing machine. A 10 kg load. Next to the washer stood a dryer. I took an interest in that too, studied it carefully, tried drying. It seemed quick and hot, but the processed air of the dry linen spread through the whole house. Unpleasant. (There was no special utility room in the house.) I had to set up a portable drying rack in the large room and hang the small things. And that is how I spent part of my free time: washed–dried–folded–sorted–carried round the rooms or handed into the hands of the “mistresses” 😻.
At some point I grew so “bold” that I proposed a “subbotnik” (I have already written), but they “did not understand” me. At last the things were gathered, the bracelet found in a large box with numerous bits of costume jewellery, but for the shorts one had to go into the garage and look in a container. Neither of them agreed to such “feats.” And I too decided “not to risk it,” or else, I thought, a broken leg might be added to the broken arm. (The garage was wooden, without lighting, “by coincidence,” so to speak, a shed, into which Ivan skilfully “squeezed” his car.)