Well . . . . It's been 4 months since I last posted? Whoops. Oh well, let's review then:
December: Snow, Snow, Rain, Christmas, Rain, New Years!
January: Rain, NeujahrsBad!, Snow, Snow
February: Snow, Weimar, snowsnowsnowsnow
March: Snow, SUN!, snowsnowsnowsnowsnow, NORWAY!
So that was the last 4 months in detail :)
Now, maybe you've already guessed from the title of this Blog post that it will be about my amazingsuperawesomespectacular trip to Norway. For those of you who haven't figured it out, this Blog post is about my amazingsuperawesomespectacular trip to Norway.
So, I decided I wanted to go to Norway while I was in Germany because, wait for it, I'm part Norwegian! I know that might be surprising since I'm very dark-skinned, but trust me, my roots are from Norway ;)
So we got in contact with a distant cousin of mine through FB and asked if maybe he could help me out. Sten ended up being a gigantic help, and I am definitely very thankful for him for making my experience in Norway not only possible, but interesting and unforgettable :)
I left for Norway on March 24, flew first to Colpenhagen, Denmark, then to Haugesund, Norway; the closest big city to where most of my distant Norwegian family lives. Sten picked me up and took me out to a Buffet (or a Smorgesbord, as I like to call it) in which it was mostly food I could also find in Germany: Bread with toppings like pork, salami, smoked salmon, and other things. And dessert was 10 different kind of puddings, all very delicious. Then we drove up to where I would be staying, which was really really cool, because it was the house my great great grandmother grew up in! The people who now live there and allowed me to stay in their house during my trip, are very distant cousins of me and my Dad. There are 3 girls around my age that live there, Hilde, Anne Marte, and Malin. They were super nice and made me feel very welcome. Oh, and their English is perfect! Their parents, Rheadun and Asbjorn, were also very nice and would often try to speak English with me, even through their's wasn't as perfects as their daughter's ;)
We talked a lot about family history, naturally, and it is all very very confusing! I can't even begin to explain it, but it was very interesting to hear how I was realated to almost everyone living in the neighborhood. We also looked at many old pictures of grandparents and great grandparents and great great great grandparents. It's amazing how much they've mangaged to hold on to, through all the years.
The first day we went around Sten's town Etne. It has a lot of interesting history in the churches and land around it. There was even a man born in Etne who became King, whom they have memorialized. Although most of the land in Etne and surrounding areas are pastures, there aren't many people nowadays owning sheep, goats, or cows. The decrease has even been influencing the wilderness around the area. I should also mention, that for the whole of my stay it was very sunny, and about 40 degrees. There wasn't any snow, but there were many places still frozen. One of the things that I found really interesting, but was actually a normality in Norway, were the frozen water falls. Everywhere you looked, there was always frozen waterfalls or icicles along the stone walls or stacked rocks.
Afterwards we went driving around the Fjord, which was very beautiful, even now when most of the grass and trees are brown and dry. I would really really love to come back in Summer when everything is green and alive, but the Fjords were still a spectacular sight. When we got home we ate a traditional meal of Norwegian Meatballs served with potatoes, cranberry sauce and mashed peas. DELICIOUS. After that we played Ligretto, a card game I got to know in Germany, and also a game of BS, which took a long time, but Malin finally won :)
The next day we went skiing, my first time! It was cross country skiing, so I wasn't too worried, but I might have been if I had realized how difficult it is to walk UP a hill in skis!! It's impossible! And takes an extremely long time, for a beginner at least. I was just starting to get the hang of it, when we started going up a really really steep hill, in which I ended up taking off my skiis and walking. We stopped shortly after to rest and eat the traditional Norwegian skiing snacks : Kvikk Lunsj (a candy bar that tastes like KitKat), oranges, and hot chocolate. Then we finally made it to the downward part. I made it down one hill, was about to crash into a tree so I purposely fell in order to stop myself. It was a very useful trick. But I ended up walking the next two hills anyways. When it finally flattened out, I started skiing like a ROCK STAR! It was really cool and fun, even if I paid for it in bruises. For some reason I would only fall on my right side :/ But by the end, I could even brake with my skis instead of just laying down :) Skiing geschafft ;)
For dinner that night, we ate their traditional Christmas dinner: sheep meat, sausages, carrots, and another mashed vegetable I'd never seen before. It was also very good, and very salty. Norwegian food is typically very salty, which is good with me :) Afterwards we wanted to watch a troll movie because Norway is famous for their trolls, but unfortunately, not only could we not find the DVD but it didn't have English or German subtitles :( So we watched the Hangover instead ;)
Wow, this is getting to be a long post. Okay, so on my last full day we went shopping in Haugesund. Originally we wanted to look at this awesome looking Souvenir shop, but it was closed! Even though the sign said it was open, the door was locked. It was very disappointing. But we decided to look around in the shopping mall to try to find some small souvenirs maybe. In the book shop we had some success, a few post cards, some Easter cards, a children's Norwegian to English book which I bought for myself, and a potty book for my littlest cousin Taylor. It was adorable, okay? ;) We wandered around a little while, Anne Marte bought new fish for her fish tank, and I took pictures of the cool traditional dresses Norwegian people often wear to speacial events. Afterwards we went to the movies, which I thought was cool because they aren't dubbed like in Germany. It's just the original voices with Norwegian subtitles underneath. Finally we went to Sten's house for ice cream and watched really cool British shows like Would I Lie To You? And this other quiz show about things we think are true but really aren't.
And, on my very last day, I woke up early to say goodbye to Rheadun before she went to work, but then I went back to bed and overslept, so I was a little late packing and getting ready to leave. There was still enough time though to see Malin try on her traditional Norwegian dress. It was really interesting and beautfiul. A lot of it was hand made by her grandmother (who I had coffee with later that day) and there was also many silver accessories with it that took a lot of time to put on properly. I find it amazing that they still wear it to many special occasions such as graduation. We also had time to look at their photo album, which showed Rheadun and Asjborn's wedding pictures, and pictures of the girls when they were younger. But, after that I left with Sten, and I really hope I will one day have the chance to come back to Norway and visit this wonderful family again :)
After having a short coffee with Hilde, Anne Marte, and Malin's grandmother, who's husband was my great grandmother's cousin, Sten took me to an open souvenir shop. I LOVED it! A lot of it was handpainted traditional Norwegian designs, inspired by the Northern lights. Her talent for this is incredible! I am so happy I got to go there before I left. :)
So, yeah. That was my Norway adventure. Maybe if I go again, I'll make it more interesting by going bunjee jumping in the Fjords, but I think this was definitely a great experience and maybe my best so far. Thank you SO MUCH Mom, Dad, Sten, Hilde, Anne Marte, Malin, Rheadun, Asbjorn, and everybody else that made this trip possible for me!
