Last brunch: Crepes filled with fruit, cream and maple syrup. At 11 am we bid farewell to Don and Fran, they leave to return to Ottawa and Janice and Paul take us to the bus terminal. But before that, we ask Andrew, son of Paul and Janice, 26 years old, to take a picture of the six of us together. We have not seen much of Andrew because he works hard and is not much at home. We take the bus at 11.15 am and 20 minutes later we're at the airport, Terminal 1. We take an automatic train for terminal 3. No problem for customs clearance and emigration. We leave at 2 pm for Minneapolis. Two hours flight above a big lake still partly frozen and countryside. We must shift our clocks one hour back.
Arrived in Minneapolis, another automatic train and exit. We wonder if Pam will recognize us because we have not seen each other since 1981 and whether we will recognize her. No problem. A lady on a bench calls "Jens”! And Jens recognizes her too. She brought a friend with her to have company on the road. What a road. We thought it was one hour but actually it's two hours. And when we drive home it takes almost 4 hours. We are lost, at a moment we're on the right road but we are moving towards the west instead of going eastward. We see Minneapolis and St. Paul and are impressed by the line of skyscrapers.
Finally we arrived in Eau Claire, a pretty French name. The city has a population of 65,000 inhabitants.
Pam lives in an old house with a large garden. The whole neighborhood has many tall trees. Pam rents a room to a young woman and has plans to rent another one.
We discuss similarities and differences between Norway and the United States, especially the social security system. We heard about a woman who remains married only for fear of losing coverage by her husband, people who lose their coverage when they lose their job, people who do not go to the doctor even when sick by lack of resources. The American system is harsh and unfair.
We dine with a good soup and homemade cookies.
We go to bed at 11.30 pm (half past midnight for us) and heard the rain falling.
Arrived in Minneapolis, another automatic train and exit. We wonder if Pam will recognize us because we have not seen each other since 1981 and whether we will recognize her. No problem. A lady on a bench calls "Jens”! And Jens recognizes her too. She brought a friend with her to have company on the road. What a road. We thought it was one hour but actually it's two hours. And when we drive home it takes almost 4 hours. We are lost, at a moment we're on the right road but we are moving towards the west instead of going eastward. We see Minneapolis and St. Paul and are impressed by the line of skyscrapers.
Finally we arrived in Eau Claire, a pretty French name. The city has a population of 65,000 inhabitants.
Pam lives in an old house with a large garden. The whole neighborhood has many tall trees. Pam rents a room to a young woman and has plans to rent another one.
We discuss similarities and differences between Norway and the United States, especially the social security system. We heard about a woman who remains married only for fear of losing coverage by her husband, people who lose their coverage when they lose their job, people who do not go to the doctor even when sick by lack of resources. The American system is harsh and unfair.
We dine with a good soup and homemade cookies.
We go to bed at 11.30 pm (half past midnight for us) and heard the rain falling.
Jeannette, Don, Fran, Jens, Paul, Janice
Toronto
La maison de Pam, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Pam's house, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
La maison de Pam et la forêt derrière
Pam's house and the forest back
Crocus et jonquilles
Crocus and daffodils
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar