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So...since I can't upload pictures of Norway for my American people, I decided to put up some of Wenatchee for my Norwegian people, just so they have an idea of where I'm from.
The red dot marks the area where Wenatchee is located (I think). Yes, in that brown, dry looking area.


Again, red dot is Wenatchee






Ok, the big bright, white thing with the red running track next to it is my former school, Wenatchee High School, the town on the far side of the river is East Wenatchee (Not as cool as Wenatchee) ...just kidding.

Aw

AWW

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

k...sorry about the last 3. I couldn't resist.

So...I got Lost.

I remember my first couple days of school here in Norway, I remember thinking that everyone at school reminded me of someone back home. Now however, I look at people and think “oh, they look familiar…they look like…” And then I can never finish the sentence. And I realized today that the reason I can no longer finish it is because I have become so accustomed to these people, even the ones I have never spoken with are so familiar to me now and it’s strange. You would think that after 18 years of seeing the same people every day, it would take longer to get used to a situation like this. Somehow, I can no longer imagine what my life was like before I knew these people. I guess what I’m getting at is I really love it here, the kids, the teachers, everyone I’ve met has been so wonderful to me, a stranger, a person that perhaps shouldn’t even matter to them. It’s amazing.

Ok, sorry, I’ll stop with the emotional rant... Moving on.

Since coming to Norway I have discovered something about myself that I never knew. I am really, truly proud to be an American. I love my country. I know it has its faults but I love it regardless. No, I’m not trying to say “America is so much better than Norway” I am simply saying that…well…I don’t really know. Perhaps I’ve just started to see the better side of America, perhaps I’ve stopped focusing on all the negative aspects. I don’t really know…

Ok. That was kind of emotional too. Sorry, we’ll try on more time.

So this past week has been “høstferien” or Autumn holiday. In student terms, basically just a week off. Except it seems that people here don’t stay in town or even in country. Oh no. They go to Sweden (which really isn’t a big deal to people here, I think they were kind of confused as to why I thought it was so exciting), or Italy, I even had a friend go to America (She brought me back strawberry pop tarts, Christine you’re the BEST EVER!!!!!!!!!). My current host family in fact also went somewhere, they headed off to Greece for the week leaving me in the care of AnneLouise Hoen, a woman from the Oslo Rotary club. Before you start pitying me for not being able to go to Greece, let me assure you that I had an awesome week! I went shopping and sight-seeing and all that jazz but the highlight of my week was on Tuesday. Basically in an effort to get from Majorstue to National Theater by foot, I made a very, very wrong turn. Or actually several wrong turns. Basically I ended up wandering the streets of Oslo by myself for nearly 5 hours. Well done me. I’m sure you will all be happy to know however that the trip was not a lost cause. I got a really, really cute hat :D It has a bow on the side.

Let’s see…Oh! Language camp. That was about…one week ago? Basically it was 6 days and an accumulated 15 hours of sleep. Awesome. I think about 2/3 of the kids there were from the U.S. or Canada and regardless, everyone spoke English. But basically we got served really awesome food. I at an oyster, ummm…and we all practically lived off the free coffee. Also salty watermelon is kind of icky.

Also, the word "Marklar". That word is the devil. Which reminds me, mom I need you to send me my katana :D

I joke.

...but not really.

My mom told me that I needed to put up pictures so I promise the next post will be more of a picture blog of various things I’ve seen or done…however once again I am at school and my pictures or not on this computer.

sticky tape

I went running the other day. One of those weird car things that paints the white dashed lines on the ground went past me painting white lines (obviously). I thought it would be cool to step in the white stuff and leave my footprint on the pavement...proof that Kirsten Valaas was in Norway and all. Did you know that stuff is sticky? I left my foot on it for a while, hopping that I would have maximum amount of paint on my shoes. Definitely could not pick my foot up when I tried. That stuff is like human sticky tape. Finally I managed to lift my foot up...only half of the white line peeled up with it. Yay me! Needless to say I avoided all other white lines on the rest of my run.

Sooo classes. Still don't understand much. Like in math for example. Supposedly a universal language. Well we had a test last week. The teacher wrote like 2 lines and a couple numbers on the board, rambled on for about five minutes in norwegan about what the task was and then everyone went to work. Kind of didn't understand the instructions. So....this was my answer:

Basically it says...

Given: heart=star+clover, and clover=rainbow(lightning cloud)

When: candle is cherry

Find: the integral of bomb to goldfish of harry potter(pinetree squared + cat)+2pie

Therefore: watermelon slice times the integral of cross + (norwegian flag + pineapple+ Leprechaun with pot of gold) - (triforce to the epona power + eiffel tower + viking)cubed

Final Answer: Gandalf the Grey w/ black hair

Update on strange things I've seen, heard, or done here... I've been asked some pretty strange questions in my stay here, but I think quite easily my favorite one has been "Do they have trees in America?" Hahahahaaaaa... My answer? "No. ...And we eat cars." (I want people to know that the person who asked this is the most awesome person in the world :) hun er superkul!) Also the other night My host dad made blood pudding. I think it took me about half an hour to get the courage to eat it. By the time I did, Leif and Anne-Beth had both finished.

I also recently was at språkkurs (I think that's how you spell it) until wednesday and I was able to meet a bunch of the other students. However as I am currently in class and I really need to get this health care essay done asap, I'll write about that at a later time.

Politics, Stavern, and the school library

So know how WHS has a library where you can check out movies...but the only movies they have are like movie versions of famous books or historically important films? Right now I'm in the library of my new school looking at their movie selection which consists of Superbad, The Dark Knight, Casino Royale, Everything is Illuminated, The Ring, The Bourne Identity, and The Shinning...among others. And these are all free to borrow. AWESOME.


Apart from that I spent the weekend in Stavern. Can anyone say 'most beautiful place EVER'??? Leif took me to a park that I can't remember the name of.... But it had the most beautiful view of the ocean EVER and there were Viking graves. I got to stand on one :) I probably could have stayed there forever if we hadn't been having steak that night. ...ah steak.



Currently in Norway there is some sort of parliament election. Here in Norway politics are done quite differently. They have over ten major parties, for example. TEN!!! We only have two. So yeah. Election. Last week the school had one representative from each school come in to talk to us all at once and have a 'little' debate. It would have been really interesting if I could understand what the hell they were saying. Unfortunately, all I could understand was 'America', 'Afghanistan', and 'Taliban'. And occasionally someone would mention Obama. Today the school is holding what I think might be a mock election...maybe...not entirely sure. Maybe they are actually voting, I don't know.



And while we're on the topic of school...I get to write an essay on the American healthcare system and Obama's reform plan. This is for my Norwegian class and yes, it is in context...apparently. I also get to write an essay on the history of my family in Norway for, well, history class obviously. Both of these topics I actually find quite interesting...I'm just not looking forward to translating them to english.

In regards to the last post about the tarzan kid, I was in math yesterday, not sitting near the window this time, but I did hear a little kid scream or something...maybe they're going to recreate Lord of the Flies...sick. But in reality there probably is just a kindergarten near by...I swear the have them everywhere.



And now I have a question for all of you, what is the difference between a moose and an elk? The American ones I mean.

Skole

First of all I would like to make this very, very clear. I will not be updating this often all the time. I just consider this very ehm...important. I was sitting in math class, bored out of my mind as usual so I thought 'why not stare out the window for a bit, that might entertain me.' As soon as I do this little kid comes running out of the bushes and trees next to the school. He looked around wildly before turning around and bolting back into the bushes.

...ummmmmm ok?

There are a million questions that could be asked in regards to this situation but I feel that the most important one is, 'why wasn't he dressed as Tarzan?'

Just so you know...

Yesterday, as you all know, was the last day of August. August is summer. Summer is hot. Therefore August should be hot. Apparently not here. Yesterday felt like a day in late November. I don't think I'm going to survive this winter. Just thought you should know.

School, Food, and the "Three Fs"

A few days ago I attended a family reunion of sorts. Reunions with your own family can sometimes prove a little awkward. Now imagine about 100 people that you don’t know all speaking Norwegian. Yeah. Thankfully I had my host sister with me. Seriously.

The food at this massive family gathering was pretty good, although I’m still not sure what I was eating the whole time. One dish in particular. I know what it was but I have yet to figure out who the hell thought of it. It consisted of clear, tasteless gelatin full of peas, carrots, corn, and shrimp. I took a tiny bit, figured I may as well try a little of everything…and then someone told me that the reason people made it was because it would last in the fridge for a year. Needless to say that part of my plate remained untouched (it was a very small portion, like two peas and a carrot). My favorite part about the gathering, (aside from discussing Norwegian and American cultural differences with Ingrid :D) was seeing all the different national costumes. It’s amazing how much they vary!

As for school, I still find it insanely confusing. Today for example. I arrived 15 minutes before the normal school start time of 8am only to discover that my first class wasn’t until 50 minutes after 8. …Really? At least on Thursday I get out at half past 10…I think. So every day I sit in class and make a very valiant attempt to figure out what is going. But after about 15 minutes of sitting and listening to someone ramble on in a foreign language from which you can only comprehend words like ‘and’, ‘source’, and ‘cheese hot dog’ (Ostepolse for those wondering, don’t lie I know you were) anyway moral of the story is I have spent the last week of school sitting in a chair for hours staring at walls and thinking about how all the people here remind me of someone back home. As for differences between the school here and WHS (which I actually kind of miss at this point) there are many, more than I expected at least. First of all, they have no clocks. I never ever know what time it is. Secondly, each student here gets their own personal laptop. This would be really cool if I knew how to use windows. Unfortunately…I don’t. But at least the fact that everyone is always on facebook (usually playing Farmville) during lectures makes me feel better about not understanding since they aren’t listening anyway. And finally (for now) the teachers. All my teachers in America would joke, laugh and generally have fun in class. The teachers here seem set on being really, really boring. They usually use some sort of powerpoint presentation and then talk for like 3 hours. It’s great fun. cough cough. And I know they aren’t boring people, I’ve talked to all of them outside of class and they all seem really nice and at least a little fun…but apparently fun and learning can’t go together. Mr . Benner I have never appreciated your in class activities more than now. Maybe it’s a blessing I can’t understand… The one class I can actually stay awake in is, unsurprisingly, my english lit class. It's taught completely in English.


In regards to food. I have now eaten liverpaste, reindeer (I haven't seen any yet Hannah, but eating one could kind of count...right?) and little shrimp with their heads and legs and tails still on which we had to remove-the worst part was their eyes, staring up at me as I broke off their heads...It was tough. My parents told me before I came here that I would be eating fish and potatoes every night. While it is true that I have eaten quite a bit of fish and potatoes, I would just like to mention that I have also eaten tacos, hamburgers, pizza, etc. It turns out American dishes are quite popular here. That said, I would also like to mention that if anyone has goldfish, strawberry pop-tarts, or funfetti cake mix that they don’t want, it would be greatly appreciated over here.

And before I forget. The bus system. I have started to realize that in America we take much for granted. Like dryers and the fact that pretty much everyone has their own cars. I have now missed the bus a total of 7 times. I'm sure most of you know I can never get anywhere on time so trying to catch a bus at 7:30 in the morning....so false. Quite possibly the worst bus experience I've had to date was last thursday. I fell asleep on the bus. And when I woke I had no idea where I was. So instead of staying on until the bus went back around like a smart person, I decided to get off at the next stop. I think I wandered around for about 2 hours until I found a familiar road...