Skype Sessions, Handball and 3 Foot Tall Norwegian Teachers

Hei alle sammen! So I guess I kinda broke my plan to blog every weekend, but my knitting needles needed some TLC so of course I had to tend to that...  Its been a good week though! Began this Sunday with the first Skype session with my family in The States since I left America, so that was great. :) You really do create a new appreciation for your family when not having talked for so long.

We decided to take the first three months and not talk at all because this is averagely the amount of time that it takes for a person to adapt to the new culture and to avoid future homesickness AFS usually suggests limited contact. I really think, although hard at times, it has definitely worked out for the best. It almost in a way, forces you to create a new life in your new country. Where there were difficult times that without our limited contact, I would have probably called my family back home and probably would have ended up missing them more, I talked to my family in Norway instead, which for me has always worked against the homesickness. But of course, I am so happy I can now talk with my family in America again. :)

So this last couple of days I have been thinking about it and I don't think I have really talked so much about just normal weekly stuff! Although my schedule largely consistent of school, as I am still 16 and sadly math is still important (blech)! I am playing Handball and as well volunteering at a Barnehagen (kindergarten) every week. This last week I also began a Swing Dancing class, which I am entirely horrible at, but hey, its a ton of fun. :)

For everyone back in America who are probably like me before I left the states and have never heard of Handball before, most simply explained, its kinda like if Football, Soccer and Basketball all had a baby. If that's understandably hard to understand, there is a link of a better explanation below, haha. Anyways, that as well is a ton of fun. I really don't have very much experience with sports, I've always found to be a bit on the little less athletic side? The only couple of sports I have attended outside of School PE (but lets face it, those rambunctious hours spent in a smelly gym, where even a game like Frisbee usually turns into a game of very intense dodge ball, does not count for anything more than just some extra time running), has been Volleyball and Slalom Ski Racing. Which correlates in no way to Handball so this has definitely been something new for me! Like I said though, I have really enjoyed learning and playing with the team.
HANDBALL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handball

Volunteering at the Barnehagen as well has been one of the highlights of the week for me, even if some days I wish I could come home with a little bit less dirt in my hair. They are some of the cutest kids ever. Also, they definitely help with learning Norwegian, there is no speaking English to a Norwegian five year old who's wondering why you don't want to eat the orange he just stuck in the dirt. They do however LOVE to count to ten in English for me, its pretty adorable. They also help me learn my colors and animals in Norwegian, it feels pretty funny to be learning from five year olds, but at this point they definitely know more than I do on the subject! Very strict teachers as well I have to say, "Nei Mary, Nei" seems to be the general response to a lot of what I say! Haha, but their little smiles and bright red cheeks from the Northern weather always make my Wednesdays so bright. :)

Other than that the rest of my week usually doesn't have very many set plans, but i'm not ever bored (unless I'm in math), it always seems like there are things to do.

I guess this sums it up! Hope everyone is well and is staying warm as this weather is changing! Hade!

Thought Trains, Awkward FE Student Moments, Halloween and Pie.

So, I sit down this evening with no specific bright ideas or subjects to write about. So I guess we will just see where this goes! Really trying my best at blogging every weekend and so far I think I'm doing fairly well? With my very easily distracted self, I do at times find it to be more of an uphill battle though. One second I'm writing about my day, when an email comes and suddenly I'm watching YouTube videos on how to apply make up to your legs (weird I know but seriously, its a thing). Oh and for my train of thought? Yeah, that left the station a long time ago.

Anyways, like always, life's good! I am understanding more and more Norwegian, so of course that is really great. Its usually a nice thing to be able to understand what people are saying around you, haha! Most importantly though I don't have to do the foreigner "Just smile, nod and pray to God that it wasn't a question" thing. It's always makes for an very awkward moment when someone asks something like, "Hi, how are you?" and your just standing there, smiling up to your ears, nodding away...

I'm really trying to force myself to speak more Norwegian though. It's incredibly easy to just speak to everyone in English, especially people my age. Everyone in Norway has an English course in school since they are in the fourth grade, so most can speak pretty fluently and I would say that the vast majority of Norway can at least understand most English. So as you can probably understand that's a good and bad thing. It's nice to always be able to get my point across, but it as well doesn't really force me to learn the language as fast as I could. So at this point I'm trying to speak a mix of Norwegian as much as I can with words I don't know in English. My family here has been so incredibly helpful with trying to help me learn as well, so that has been really nice to be able to talk to them and ask them questions. :)

Oh and Halloween was a couple days ago! In Norway it is not nearly as big of a deal as in the US though so a lot of people don't really do anything for it. Little kids still get all dressed up though and go trick or treating, so I met some very adorable Zombies and Witches. Adults and teenagers don't really too much special that day though, but I did carve a pumpkin! Taught my younger host brother the art of properly gutting and carving this orange fruit/veggie (actually, that's a really good question, is a pumpkin a fruit or a vegetable??) and he was a pro! We named them Bernard and Bernetta. Bernard though, rest his little seed filled heart, had his life cut short by a baseball bat and pavement. But he will always remain in our memories...

Norway doesn't do very much with pumpkins though, so they're often not in stock, which the day after Halloween I came to an understanding of. This of course being because of Thanksgiving and to me its most necessary dish, Pumpkin Pie. After going into the three different shops we have in Bjugn, I have to regrettably report that it does not look like we will be having any pumpkin pie this year. But ya know, if anyone feels the need though to smuggle a can in from the states for a certain someone it would not be put to waste...just sayin...

Confessions of a Prior Veggie Eater

Halla Folkens (learned a new saying today *insert high five*)! So today's post will probably be one of the more odd ones for me to write. Only because I don't think I have ever really written about this kind of thing before, but hey there's a first time for everything!

So as you may or may not already know, I was a vegetarian for about the past two years and off and on for short periods before that. Sure, I will admit that I did enjoy a few In and Out cheeseburgers between that two years, but hey that's a very strong temptation. Now, of course, I'm most definitely not a vegetarian. 

Reason for my decision to go, veggies up, being to be able to enjoy awesome Norwegian food! Also, I didn't think it would be right to go into someone else home and demand a certain kind of eating when your purposely in this kind of situation to experience the culture and it would as well as it make unessesary work for my Norwegian family. 

Well anyways, to come to the point of all of this, I am pretty happy that I made this decision a few months back because my Norwegian family is as well hunting family. Now before the vegetarians I know that may be reading this begin to cringe, you must admit, it is a much better alternative then mass butchering corporations. In the past I have had one or two experiences with my father hunting in the states, but because of my age and lack of experience I really didn't take too much part in it as my family here does. 

Here my host Dad goes out hunting with a group of guys and sometimes members of the family go along as well. This last time they said they brought home eight moose. Then everyone gets together and divides it equally. My host mom and sister then take part in grinding up and packaging our share. Its actually a pretty cool thing. My family is pretty comfortable with all of it, seasoned pros! I have to say that personally I think that it is pretty awesome. True Vikings my friends, haha. :) 

So yes, that is this prior vegetarians experience so far with hunting! Whether or not I will decide to go back to being a vegetarian when I go back to USA is still a matter of question, but I have more than enough time to figure that one out and now I am more than happy to continue on in my meat eating ways. ;) 

To anyone planning on going on exchange in the future, I would definitely advise to not limit yourself when experiencing an new culture and to always keep an open mind. I think that is one of the things I have been the most happy with and have found so important on my exchange. In all the times that I have just made myself completely open to changes and new ways of doing things, I have never once been disappointed and have been happy that I can at least say I tried it. To really experience a culture you have to allow yourself to go out of your comfort zone and do it all. I never want to look back at my life and say, "Yeah, I could of, should of, but didn't." I always want to be able to say "Yeah, I did."
 

The Diaries of a Matpakke

In comparing Norway to America this week in a search to find a topic for a blog post, I realized that in the States, at least where I live, people normally don't bring a packed lunch to school, or well not like how Norwegians do it! I am still mastering the art of creating a matpakke. For example, the following lunch with cracker bread inside was more like a cracker salad by the time I pulled it out at lunch. It always baffles me how all the people around me can have such perfect looking boxes, and mine normally looks like a tornado suddenly had an  outbreak in it. But I have to say they are significantly better than the first few I created.

So to be defined, a "matpakke" basically just translated to, mat = food and pakke =  pack. So I bring a "food pack" to school everyday. My school has a cafeteria as well, and the food is so much better than in the average American schools. But it is as well is much more expensive, not outrageous of course because I believe the school only breaks even and does not turn a profit, but definitely not the kind of place you can eat everyday, especially not with a student budget.

So without further to do, here are THE DIARIES OF A MATPAKKE this week *Bum ba ba buuuuuummmm!*

Mondays Matpakke: Bread with Norwegian cheese, cucumbers and a box of raisins. This one is probably my favorite. 

Tuesdays Matpakke: Cracker bread with Norwegian cheese and a box of raisins.

Wednesdays Mattpakke: Pizza Swirls with cheese, pizza sauce and ham. Yumm

Thursdays Matpakke: None! I start school at 11:30! :)

Fridays Matpakke: Peanut butter and Nugatti (basically nutella) sandwich and a kiwi. This is a very dangerously good combination....

So yes! I believe that concludes Mattpakke Diarys for the week! Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their Autumn! 

Oh yes and random side note: we may get snow here soon (YAY!!). 

Trondheim Trip... and an elg!

Heja! Well in the beginning of all of this I had it set in mind that I - of course - would constantly update my blog. Regrettably though, I've found that has not been the case! I'm actually finding blogging to be like a McDonald Monopoly more than anything? You always start off with such high expectations for the little ticket on that very large soda and bag of fries. You know the chances are you didn't exactly win the lottery, but your still pretty happy with your free milkshake ticket. So this is me, being happy about my few blogging milkshake tickets.

Well now to stray away from my horrible McDonalds metaphor, this last week has been Hostferie! I spent the most of it in Trondheim with my family and a couple days with a friend and my contact family. Trondheim is a super beautiful city, whenever I'm there I feel like I could probably spend my entire stay with my camera up. Although, that would require me looking like even more of a tourist than I already do, so I keep my camera away... for some of the time. A picture is worth a thousand words (mind my cheesy saying), so here are a few of my favorite.

Niderosdomen, a large cathedral (and when I say large I mean absolutely huge) in central Trondheim built in the the 11th century.

Buildings built on the waterfront in Trondheim. Some portions of the buildings being homes, where as others are shops.

The last photo is of the bridge that goes over the water that these buildings are built by.

Overlooking the city.

My living situation really does work out perfectly for visiting. Just a 10 minute drive from where I live and then an hour and half boat to the city! Buses travel all around Trondheim throughout the day as well so it makes transportation easy. Although I'm finding that if my budget ever breaks, its usually due to travel. The boat costs almost 40 US dollars both ways, and then of course you have bus fees. So I'm quickly finding out that these trips can not be too frequent, especially not on a student budget with Christmas arriving! 

Oh so awesome thing that I have to share about today, I saw an elg (moose)! For the first time ever on a tur (English direct translation is trip but its equivalent to a hike). He even stayed for a quick photo shoot.

So on that awesome moose note, I should probably leave that blog post, its late and I start school again tomorrow! As always I hope everyone is doing well and thanks for taking the time to read. :) 

It's Life (and Rain!)

So I was right about the wind bringing the cold! Lately it has been from about mid 40 to about mid 50 degrees Fahrenheit with usually still some wind. I have found myself wearing definitely more than I normally do this time of year, but it's not quite so bad yet! The most necessary addition to my daily wear is a very warm wool scarf. Cold necks are not enjoyable.

We've also had a fairly good amount of rain lately! People here still think I'm a little bit crazy for enjoying it as much as I do, but seeing those big grey clouds make me more happy than a fat kid in a candy store.

Yeah, to an update on life! I'm doing good! Becoming more and more accustomed with Norwegian culture everyday, but that sadly includes that my time here is starting to go faster and faster. Here I am sitting on a Saturday evening, feeling as if it should still be a Tuesday. I'm doing well-ish in my school classes? Not exactly 6's (Norsk grades go from 1-6, 1 being bad, 6 being good!) but not 1's and failing either, so that's a very good thing!  

I have also taken on a couple new Norwegian sayings. 

~ Oii! = Whoops or surprised 

~ Ash = Oh Yuck! 

So, YAY FOR NORSK PROGRESSION! ;)

One Month in a Blink of an Eye

This last Friday marks the one month anniversary of my stay here in Norway. Honestly saying that seems surreal. A part of me feels as if I've been here my entire life, another part of me feels as if I still just arrived. The last month has been great though, of course it has had its ups and downs (downs mainly being the Norwegian mathematics, numbers are not my thing), but the large majority has been really positive! Because I have been so horrible at remembering and finding time to blog,these are a few random interesting moments that I have had since I set foot in Scandinavia!

~ Met a very interesting man with dreads that asked me if I knew what was happening to the unicorns in the arctic.
~ Met a group of Americans and abruptly walked up to them saying "Hi! I'm American too!" (not my best moment but hearing someone speak with your accent is incredibly exciting).
~ Had the BEST latte of my life (dark chocolate chili to be exact) thanks to the wonderful advice of my host brother.
~ Saw the only bike elevator in the world.
~ Got kinda sorta lost in Trondheim for 10 minutes and met a lady with a beard.
~ Swam in Norway in September (I thought my little toe was going to fall off from hypothermia).
~ Tried fish oil and didn't die.
~ Have eaten a massive amount of bread and cheese
~ Tried and acquired a taste for Brunost, a Norwegian cheese that is really good with jam.
~ Began drinking my coffee black, like a true viking.
~ Got a Norwegian flu bug.
~ Experienced a lot of sun for a Norwegian September.
~ Began knitting a pair of socks.
~ Ate extreme amounts of Norwegian chocolate.

So yeah! I probably missed a lot of stuff  but other than that my life has mainly included school, meeting a lot of people and attempting to pronounce their names, lotta sleep, lotta new language confusion and a lot of, now looking back, pretty funny foreigner mistakes.

I am pretty sure my Norsk is getting better and my English is getting worse. I have also began confusing Spanish with my Norsk and have began mentally speaking "Sporsk." I will be giving lessons on this new found language if anyone is interested, pay only valid in Kvikk Lunsj, Stratos or Smash (This is Norwegian chocolate of course if anyone from America was wondering!).

On my morning jog I found myself being blown over to the opposite side of the road so I believe Autumn and the cold are now coming with it!! I gotta say, I'm pretty stoked!

Hope everyone is doing well and I will try and be better about blogging now that I'm more settled into my new life! <3

Hei fra Norge!

Hei! Today, I have been in Norge for a week and 1 day! I was going to post earlier but "Say Yes to the Dress" with Norwegian subtitles came on, so ya know I had to study hard ;). But yeah! I can tell this will be a long post so if your in a hurry, i'll just sum this post up into one sentence.

Norway is simply amazing.

Flew into the country this this Friday and can I just say international flights are amazing?! NY to Berlin I was surrounded by beverages, blankets, two full meals, movies, German chocolate and Pink Floyd. My eight hour flight seemed like an hour. Air Berlin sadly lost all of the American AFS students bags and I spent my first few hours in Oslo filling out paperwork and talking in the airport. Later on our stay in Oslo they were all found and most of us received all of our bags in Oslo airport on our flight to our host families. The whole situation ended up being for the better, my bag ended up weighing 20 kilos in a large duffel, so it pretty much just played out that I didn't have to drag my  heavy bag through the streets of Oslo, the airport took it for me!

< Filling in the time in Oslo airport

We had orientation in rural Oslo from Friday to Sunday morning. The place was absolutely packed with AFS students and my gosh was it loud! The three days were filled with Norwegian, AFS guidelines, awesome people from all over the world and FOOD, I cannot forget the food. Norwegian food is kinda amazing and always contains some kind of bread, usually with the exception of dinner. After the orientation all of us got on buses and went back to Oslo airport where we then flew off to our separate regions (there are 5 in Norway), I am in region 4 which is Trondheim area, the regional groups join up multiple times in a year for different activity's and orientations. After landing in Trondheim we met up with our host families (and I gotta say, I probably have the best host family on the planet!) and headed home! Before however, we picked up some food, I can now say my first meal in Norway with my Norwegian family was.....................wait for it............. McDonalds! Although, I gotta say Norwegian McDonalds does taste different then in the states.

The Monday after I arrived I began school! I have never been so tired and wanted to sleep so bad in my life. With a nine hour jet leg weighing on me, waking up and functioning was difficult, but I of course managed! School in Norway is so great though, school starts and ends at different times depending on the classes that you take and the entire system is basically set up more like a college in which you are responsible for your own learning and getting to and from school. There are buses available and teachers willing to help, but in the week that I have been in school I have not seen a teacher "coach" a student once into schoolwork. Basically, compared to my previous school you are treated more maturely and in my opinion many of the students act that way as well.

Norway is super beautiful as well.... even in the rain :)
The hottest its gotten here is about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, which for me is perfect, hot weather has never really suited me... Here are a couple of pictures I've taken in the last few days that I have been here.

Well I could probably go on but my laptop battery is almost dead and it's getting late! God Natt, hope everyone is doing well! :)

Keep calm and go to Norway

I keep on having to remind myself to breathe... This is crazy amazing! I leave my tiny town in TWO days, I will have my feet in Norway in FIVE and meet my host family in SEVEN! Honestly, I can't believe how fast this is all happening.

In just a few days I will be leaving the only country I have ever known to completely start over in a foreign country I have never been to. I am leaving my home to go to another home, I am leaving my friends to make new friends, I am leaving my family to join another. I must admit, I'm scared! Probably more excited and anxious, but still the concept is daunting! Thankfully though, I was lucky to have an amazing host family that I am so excited to meet and be a part of! Having them definitely takes a LOT of the stress and fears away.

I recently said goodbye to most of my friends here in The Dalles. We had a hilariously fun Napoleon Dynamite themed party, hosted (of course) by my mom. Goodbyes are always bittersweet, saying goodbye to the people I basically grew up with was never meant to be easy, but of course, I will see them again! 

PROJECT PACK FOR A YEAR has basically taken over my room (to the point that I now have to sleep on the couch...). This monster of a project has been packed, unpacked and then repacked probably four times already and I still don't think it's right! I have decided to stick to my plan of one checked luggage bag and one carry on, so this will take some very creative thinking! I recently got some great advice just wear everything I will need in layers on the plane! Looking like a Pillsbury dough boy has never seemed more tempting...

Well god dag! Hope everyone is doing well, the next time I post I will be in NORWAY!! 

Packing, School and Google relationships.

One month and twenty one days until departure (or something like that).

I can not believe that in less that two months I will be traveling out of The States for the first time in my life, it seriously seems just too good to be true, but here I am!

Anyways, life has been pretty busy. At this time I am still working my normal two part time job schedule and getting everything ready and together for the trip. Packing is turning into a job all in itself, as I am going to try and bring the one bag with a maximum of 40 lbs. weight (holy crap) for an entire year. I'm pretty sure I'll end up giving in and buying a second bag... but at this point I'm staying strong! Haha.

School recently ended a couple weeks ago which takes a load of the stress away in itself, but leaving was still bittersweet. It's hard when you have to look around at a school, teachers, friends and memories that come along with them, all of which have sculpted and molded you over the years and think, "I'm not going to be a part of ANY of this for a year..." After living in such a small town, that you know pretty much everyone in, as they know you, it kinda becomes hard to imagine yourself without it. 

But, although sad to leave my tiny little town that has grown enormously on me over the years, I am BEYOND excited to explore a new country and see and experience things that I have never encountered ever before in my life. Basically, holy crap... I finally get to travel! :)

 Since I've talked so much about my town today, I thought I would post a picture. So below is a photo of The Dalles Oregon. The entire town sits pretty much on a hillside with orchards on the highest hills (to the left of this photo). It makes for some gorgeous scenery, but it's a killer if you have allergies like mine.

Oh! I've been practicing my Norwegian (or well trying to). I've found that good old Google translate is becoming my worst enemy... although he (yes my Google account is a he) is great for translating Norwegian to English, I find that his skills on translating English to Norwegian are often very tragically wrong... and for this reason our relationship is in a constant imbalance. But, on a more positive note, Google's language flaws have allowed me to meet my second language love, www.sofn.com (Sons of Norway.com). Because of this new found friend, I've been creating many flashcards and annoying the crud out of my poor family with my poor pronunciation.

Well I believe that will be the end of my post for now, I am headed off to the movies with my little sister. Woooooh for matinee cheap prices! Thanks for reading! :)

Poker Night was a success! Takk!

Takk to the participants and all the people that donated, I was able to pay off the remainder of my  tuition!!!
 I am so very grateful for Hi-Way House and for all the work they put into it to make the evening a success, you all have truly blessed me so much (again yes, cheesy but it definitely sums it up). Although I'm happy that I have completed my payment, I am sad that my fundraising journey is now closing. I have met so many amazing people, shared and received so many great stories, and have had so many amazing experiences that I probably would have never encountered without climbing this financial mountain, and although it was at times very difficult I am happy I did it. Thank you everyone for making this all possible, without your support I would not be where I am today and be able to accomplish what I have accomplished so far.

The Dalles Sunset

I felt like I should share a little bit of what my towns sunsets look like.

This photo was taken right off my back porch today when I got home.

An Update!

Advertised for the poker fundraiser today! I was so incredibly nervous (as well as very hyped up on caffeine), but it actually turned out to be a ton of fun.

A big thanks to Randy and Shannon for making it all possible! 

Two months and twenty seven days until departure! :D

Getting ready

Four months and thirteen days till departure and I'm counting the seconds... 

I still find it so surreal that I will be going abroad this summer. It still seems like just yesterday  I picked up the phone and dialed my local AFS volunteer and to see how I could become involved in AFS, but here I am now, and my departure is right around the corner! As my little brother James says "Oh yeah!." :)

So far everything has gone smoothly, I am officially accepted by AFS USA as well as AFS Norway (YAY!!). I have my passport, as well as the necessary requirements but most importantly I have the support of my awesome family (yes, yes, I am aware of how cheesy that sounds). 

I have a large portion of my AFS tuition paid off, but I still have a ways to go! I will be having a Poker Tournament-fundraiser May 18th to help cover it.  Comment with your information if your interested or have any questions!