God Jul og et Godt Nytt år

God Jul og et Godt Nytt år

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We’d like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our family and friends.  As most of you know we moved to Oslo, Norway this year so that Lucas can continue his work on a software project for ExxonMobil.  Getting prepared for the move and all of the logistics that followed was a fair amount of effort, but Lucas is enjoying his work and we are happy for the opportunity we have to experience another culture and travel.

We have a wonderful furnished apartment in Oslo and are currently renting out our home in Houston (all of our furniture is in storage).  The high prices in Norway continue to amaze us but with the language lessons we’ve been taking we at least have an idea about what we are purchasing in the grocery store.  Unfortunately, neither of us is a natural at Norwegian and we often struggle with pronunciation.  Fluency seems out of reach but this is okay as the vast majority of Norwegians speak perfect English.  In fact, much of the local TV is broadcast in English with Norwegian subtitles.

We’ve been able to take advantage of our proximity to the rest of Europe and have already traveled to Belgium for Jean’s birthday, Germany for Oktoberfest, Italy for Jean’s graduation this December, and next up is a trip to Spain with Lucas’s sister Erica and her husband Jud over New Year’s. We’ve also enjoyed exploring Oslo and through a random Florida Gator’s connection have met some other ExxonMobil expats in Houston with whom we have quickly become friends.  We’ve also enjoyed getting to know the members of our English speaking church here in Oslo.

As we hinted at above, Jean just graduated with honors from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.  She had to work very hard all year to take the necessary classes while we still lived in Houston so that she would only need 4 online classes this fall to finish her degree. She hasn’t yet decided whether or not to look for a job while we live in Norway. 

We certainly miss all our family and friends, but most of all we miss our dog Peanut.  We sadly left her in Florida with Lucas’s sister Heather where she is happily terrorized by our nephew Blake. If you’d like to see pictures or hear more about our time in Oslo you can go to our blog at: http://ljhilliard.blogspot.com/.  We are on Skype (search for us under Lucas and Jean Hilliard) often for free phone and video chats with family and friends.  Feel free to drop us a line. 

God’s Blessings and Merry Christmas!

Lucas and Jean Hilliard

MESSEPROMENADEN 7

Flat H0901

0279 Oslo, Norway