Well I guess I better write on here since it's been a month and a half since my last post. It's been an amazing two plus months that I've had here (ahhh more than two months already...it's going too fast) and so much has happened! I'm sure I won't remember all of it but I'll try to fill you all in on the best stuff.
Here in Norway they have very few random days off (only in May) but instead we have different times when we have a week or so off. Our first one was a few weeks ago and called "Høstferie" (translates to "autumn break" basically). It went by too fast but it was nice to spend so much time with the family. For the first few days of the holiday I stayed in my family's cabin. This cabin is by a lake (once again I have no idea how to spell the city name) and has no electricity or running water. That means that you have to walk maybe 4 meters to the toilet (and avoid the bear!!) and its essentially a hole in a piece of wood. If you want to shower you have to warm the water on the (gas) stove and put it in this big jug to pour over yourself. I guess you could also go swimming in the lake but it's preeetty cold (more on that later..). The first night it was just me, Trygve, and mamma. We played lots of card games, ate food, laughed a lot, and had a such a fun time. I also went fishing for my kind of first time! The next day we went out on our little boat, that I'm still convinced is going to sink one day that I'm in it, and set the nets to catch some fish. (Honestly, though, I don't remember which days we did what so just pretend this is a super accurate description of my life when really it is just with the days jumbled up). That night mamma, Trygve, Simen (Silje's boyfriend), and I all sat around and played lots of card games. At one point I decided that the losers would have to go swimming in the lake (pretty sure I just wanted to be a viking and brag to the people back home, though). I ended up being one of the top two but took mom's cards so that she wouldn't have to go swimming (once again confirming the fact that I'm pretty sure I wanted to go swimming). I went swimming though (like a true viking!!!!) and I didn't die. Back to the fishing, though, the next day Silje, Simen, Trygve, and I went to collect the nets and fish we caught. I pretty much just sat there and avoided frostbite and falling out of the boat but I did help collect the net at times, too. We ended up getting quite a few fish which then needed to be cut and prepared to cook. I was slightly grossed out but Silje threatened to revoke my viking status if I didn't do it so I decided to bite the bullet and cut and gut the fish. The verdict was that it is pretty much as gross as I thought but now I have the valuable life skill of knowing how to prepare a freshly caught fish. I think pretty much every night can be summed up with lots of food, card games, and laughing so I'm going to skip to the next day. I, jokingly, said that Silje and I should go boat around the lake but mom and Trygve thought it was a good plan so before we knew it I was heading out in my 30000 layers of clothes to set the fishing nets again! With Silje as the driver we attempted-and pretty much failed- to set the nets. The first time we were trying to put out the net Silje gassed the boat a little too fast causing me to fall backwards onto the seat (don't worry it gets better) and tangling the first net. Then when we got a new net ready and I was about to start it out Silje gassed the boat way too fast again and next thing I knew I had fallen over the seat and into the water in the back of the boat tangling two more nets together.. GO ME. Silje was dying of laughter up in the front while I struggled to untangle myself from the net in the back of this tiny boat. I'm pretty sure that vikings don't fall down in boats and become entangled in fishing nets, though, so my viking status may have been revoked at that point. We got Trygve to come out and drive the boat-after untangling the mess we made- so that we could actually set out the nets without killing the American and we successfully caught some more fish (which we got the next day). After getting the fish the next day we had to go home because mom had work the next day and Silje and I had to go to water polo. That Thursday (I think) we went to visit Johnny (Trygve) in Jøa and hung out there for the rest of the break. Håvard and I went to a party on Saturday night and that was a lot of fun! Then home Sunday for water polo practice and back to the world of not understanding anything at school Monday... I had almost forgotten that school was in Norwegian until I got to class and was reminded pretty quickly that I had been wrong.
The next weekend (I think?) Silje and I went to Stavanger for the Junior Norwegian Water Polo Championships (that makes me sound a lot better than I actually am). After an issue with ALMOST not having permission to go from AFS, we were off to Stavanger! Lots of driving and waiting later (those of us that had the later flight basically set up camp in the airport) we were on the plane. I found out on this trip that my sister is not the biggest fan of flying which is actually quite an understatement. That made for lots of fun for me and not so much for her. Our plane stopped over in Bergen to let some people off/get some new people and then the take off again (Silje's favorite part..). Anyways, we made it to Stavanger in one piece and then bussed and walked to the school that we were staying at. Everybody from the team was staying on air mattresses in a big classroom (which meant that half of the air mattresses ended up deflating in the middle of the night) and then we would walk to the pool in the morning. We were all up bright and early to eat and leave for the tournament. We played two games the first day (I think the boys had three) and then Sunday we had one game before we had to catch our flight. The girls ended up getting 3rd place and the boys team 2nd. It was a fun, albeit tiring, weekend! After taking our plane from Stavanger to Trondheim, we had to then make the long drive back to Namsos where we made a pit-stop at McDonald's in Steinkjer (the closest one to Namsos) and learned that apparently Americans use significantly more ketchup than Norwegians... Back home after that, though, and then another week at the lovely Olav Dunn Videregående Skole.
I can't remember exactly what has happened after that but there was definitely a lot of school, failed attempts at understanding Norwegian, and amusing attempts at speaking Norwegian involved. I suppose this means I should update this blog more often but it requires a certain amount of motivation that I seem to be lacking. It's starting to get pretty cold here and we've even had quite a bit of snow (A LOT for me and not so much for them). Turns out snow is really slippery to walk on and I'm sure I look slightly reminiscient of Bambi in that one scene where he is attempting to walk on the ice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSh1eLrxiqs... This scene is actually me walking). I got my snow shoes (snow boots not like those tennis racket things), though, so at least I haven't fallen yet! After walking up and down hills on my way to and from school and almost falling countless times, I have seriously considered being that loser exchange student that wears those spike things on the front of your shoes to make it easier to walk (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhVJowf0w2aUA0nXQvfrN9tclNkGdStWAORPB7SGbOePh89NABERzvjXfPRETzKWPm95qG5U3ODaDkKx1x7IHbpm6xVqehcNAb2-o8YG2TkI-gfWOy9OwTRzQiuRxd1VrkIxhOKxJIdM/s1600/cleats.jpg) but I just can't quite bring myself to do that. Sometimes I miss the sun and warm a bit but it's so exciting to have a white, snowy winter for once in my life! They don't really celebrate Halloween here and Thanksgiving is non-existent (obviously) but Christmas is a big holiday. They have Julebrus (christmas soda), gingerbread-type cookies, and tons of other exclusively Christmas time food that is sold in the stores. It is all sooo good and I could drink Julebrus all day (it would probably make me sick, though, considering it's basically liquid sugar). My Norwegian is coming along-a lot slower than I wish- but I'm understanding a lot (as long as it is spoken slowly) and I can say some things (both helpful and random). I'm not sure what else to put here but I will try to update this blog more so that I can actually remember everything and write a more accurate post about my life here!
Hadet bra and until next time!
Rachael
