Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

Marianne and I picked up her three Norwegian friends yesterday and had a fun afternoon in Salt Lake. Anette is an exchange student here in Utah this year, and Martine and Berit flew out with Marianne for the week during their school break. It was nice of them to include me occasionally in their excited, giggle-filled Norwegian chatter as we flitted about the city.

The original plan was for me to drop them off at Temple Square and pick them up later, but Anette forgot her phone so I stayed with them for the most part. We took a driving tour of downtown (THAT was a big building!) and went up to Capitol Hill, which was a first for me as well. The girls (or should I say fine young ladies) were giddy and it was neat to have the near-deserted grounds to ourselves.

Aren’t they cute? There was a guy playing fetch with his little Yorkshire terrier who offered to take a photo of all of us together, but my camera was already tucked away. But about a million photos were snapped among all of our cameras, so I’ll get a copy at some point.

We enjoyed some beverages at Starbucks (though we had to go to two since the first one had closed shortly before we arrived) where I shared some Marianne-and-me tales from my year in Norway (Marianne was only 4 but she remembers a few things). I also introduced the fine young ladies to the largest JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store in Utah (to my knowledge). They all liked it, but Martine L-O-V-E-D it. And Marianne seriously considered how she could take a heavy welcome mat home with her. It had ladybugs. And was 30% off. We managed to escape the store without spending too much money—always an accomplishment.

We rounded out the evening with dinner at Buca di Beppo… where Marianne enjoyed the apple/cranberry/gorgonzola/walnut salad despite earlier protests and we all sang 2 birthday songs (one in Norwegian, the other in English) to Anette when they brought out a giant cupcake in celebration of her recent birthday.

This morning I saw Marianne onto a bus to meet up with her friends before I headed to class. I experienced a strange moment of reflection as she boarded the bus… related perhaps to waxing nostalgic yesterday at Starbucks about the first time I walked Marianne home from preschool—when I spoke very little Norwegian and she was shy and silently captivated by her new big sister from a distant land—and perhaps because I was her current age when I lived in Norway and starting navigating foreign public transportation systems on my own. Either way, we all grow up so fast.