Week 16: Norwegian Thanksgiving and Lutefisk

Happy Week after Thanksgiving! Now you would probably guess that I did not have Thanksgiving this year, because I'm not in the US. But if you guessed that you would be wrong. My host family told me they wanted me to show them how to do Thanksgiving, which is funny to anyone that knows me because I generally can't cook anything except for maybe cereal. But we found some old recipe and went on a few scavenger hunts for ingredients (because they don't have a lot of the stuff we have in the US), which resulted in buying a giant pumpkin for pumpkin pie, going to the next town to stock up on cranberries, and running around the largest grocery store in town (which is probably half the size of the grocery we use in Florida) and Google translating things like "cinnamon" into Norwegian and literally cheering when we finally found pecans.
We celebrated on Friday, rather than Thursday, because that was just easier for everyone. So since I didn't have school on Friday (or most of this week because of exams) and my host mom was off work, we spent the whole day cooking. Starting with cutting up pumpkin on the floor at 10 AM and working until the turkey was carved around 6. But surprisingly, nothing went wrong. My host family had a few guests over and they all loved Thanksgiving. I think they're even considering making it an annual thing for them. Even my "host grandma" (?), who I was told is super picky, liked it. And they decided we're making the cranberry sauce and pecan pie for Christmas. So all in all, it was a good experience.
The next day I went with this family to my first host families house for a lutefisk party, which literally means gelatinous dried and re-hydrated in lye fish party. Sounds fun right? Well it actually was. Not really the actual lutefisk part because lutefisk grosses me out, no one should have ever told me how it is made. But we went over early and made bread in the basement, which I had only been in once when I lived there. And let me tell you, I had completely forgotten how Norwegian countrysidey my first host families host was. Especially the basement, it seriously looks like it came out of some kind of ancient folklore and while we were using a wooden shovel to push bread into a giant oven/fireplace I was expecting a troll or something to burst through the door. But the interesting part of this night was that there was very little English being spoken but I always understood what was being said and what was going on. In the beginning of the year when it was just Norwegian for a long period of time and I was expected to just sit for like an hour or two and not understand I would get anxious after a while, but now it's just fun because I can almost always understand when I want to, and even when people think I can't. But we ate a bunch of fresh bread and then later we had the lutefisk, which I did not finish... And then we hung out at there until like 2 AM. 
On Sunday I think I was supposed to do something but there was a huge storm so I didn't. And this week I only had to go to school for a few hours on Monday morning for a math test.
So now I'll answer some of the questions I was asked!


Was the movie in English or Norwegian? Also, tell us what new classes you are taking now.
Breaking Dawn was in English with Norwegian subtitles, like basically everything geared for kids over the age of 10. And I think I'm still taking the same classes as before. Math 2P, History, History & Philosophy, Sociology & Socio-Anthropology, Gym, Norwegian, Photography & Printing, and International English. 


Are you going to be fluent in Norwegian by the time you get home?
I hope...I can understand a lot now. And yesterday I told my host family I'm cutting off English as of today or else I'll keep kicking myself for not speaking enough Norwegian. And I think I'm expected to speak only Norwegian in my third family.


Are your classes similar to the ones at home in terms of content? Do Norwegian HS students do the same sort of extra-curricular activities that kids do here?
I'm not entirely sure because I just started understanding the lessons, and I still don't pay too much attention. But they same similar, but also easier. Most of my classes didn't have one test until these past few weeks, and there is barely any homework. And we don't do any extra-curriculars through the school, but I think people do a few through the community.


I would love to hear about the island Hisoy.
Well it's basically just a suburb of Arendal. People live all around it, and it has a few grocery stores and a church and an elementary school. It's small and  super close to land, so I take a bus to school. But there's also a ferry. I live closer to the middle of the island and it looks like a regular neighborhood, and the area on the water is very nice. Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His%C3%B8y


I haven't seen breaking dawn yet and looking forward to it, well tell me this, is the movie anything like the book.
Yes, it is exactly like the book. Which be a good thing if the plot line of the book didn't freak me out so much. But that part wasn't the movie-makers faults so I consider it a good movie because the acting has gotten much better and also the soundtrack is very good as always.


Are you going home for christmas? if not, what do you think christmas will be like in Norway? 
And also, what's your favorite thing to do when you don't have homework or any other plans?
No. And I think it will be nice and very busy. I have been told what we're doing for Christmas, but it's so much that I still really have no idea. Just a lot of Christmas parties and travelling. It already is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here. Except the snow is late this year. Hmpf. 
And I never have homework, so I go on my computer and either waste time or get a head start on things for college and scholarships and blah blah blah. Or I watch movies or TV with my host family. Or I sleep. Or go to the town to go to the gym. Or walk around if it's not pitch black outside. 


Do they watch as much tv and sports as we do over here?
Yes to TV but not really much sports. Except for like the huge soccer games earlier in the year between Norway and Denmark and then Norway and Iceland. And actual Norwegian TV is really strange and random. Like the main Norwegian TV Station's primetime shows are documentary and reality shows about mentally handicapped people and one that literally translates to "Dogs at Work". The other day my whole family sat around the TV and watched a show about border control in New Zealand. But aside from Norwegian TV, we watch a lot of CSI Miami here and my last family watched a lot of Simpsons (which taught me lots of fun words in Norwegian).

Weeks 13-15: I don't have an actual title for this again.

So let me just say, I have started to write this about 10 times before. But every time I start and I just don't know what to write and so I never finish. I had one written about 2 weeks ago and it was almost done but I had to catch a bus and I never finished it...and then I went back to reread it and I didn't like it so I deleted it. BUT sorry this took so long. I'll make it up to you with pictures.

My Norway hat

Packing

My face in class everyday.

Before the Vegemite

After the Vegemite

So I guess I'll start with Halloween and work my way through the month. I moved families on the 30th of October. It was basically spending the day packing up my stuff,  a nice dinner with my host family, loading a ridiculous amount of my stuff into the car, and then all of us driving to my next families house. My two families had coffee together and talked, and then my first family left and BOOM I switched families.

The only bad side of the arrangement was really that I moved on Sunday night and didn't really have time to unpack until Monday after school. But to be honest, the changing family thing was way easier than I thought. I just kinda fell into a new routine after a few days, and I get along with this family great.

That Monday was Halloween, and it was basically just another day...except for the fact it was my first day with my new family I guess. I did see a few people walking around town in Halloween costumes...at 9 in the morning. And some kids were out trick-or-treating at night, but not many. One thing I did think was funny though was that there were trick-or-treaters on the Saturday before Halloween. First of all because I lived in the middle of countryside, and it's a pretty good walk to the nearest house. And secondly, it wasn't Halloween. I tried to explain to my host family why this was funny and they didn't get it.

But that week was pretty calm from what I remember. I was just getting used to taking the bus and my new routine. The week after that I was really frustrating because I barely had school. This shouldn't be frustrating though right? Wrong. See, we had all these tests in my classes that I didn't know about. So it was a lot of showing up for class, realizing I didn't have to be there, and then leaving. Also one of my classes was cancelled for two weeks straight. And then uncancelled, and then cancelled. One day I went to my first class, and it was a test so the teacher told me I could leave after 30 minutes. Then my next class was 4 hours later, and I would have taken the bus back home and then come back to school later, but I didn't have a bus card yet and I didn't want to pay. So I waited in the library. Did I mention I was waiting 4 hours to walk back up a hill to go to one 40 minute long class where I literally do nothing except have my name counted on the roll. Yeah well, when I got to class the teacher told us we could have a "study day" and go home. This happened about 3 more times that week, but with milder waits before class. 

Oh I also switched classes that week. Like the main class that I have Norwegian, History, Gym, and Math with. So now most of my classes are at the Barbu school and I don't have to walk back and forth as much.

And last week I barely had school too, but I timed it better so I didn't show up to class if it wasn't happening. The downside to having so many tests I can't take is all my friends have to study for them but I have nothing to do, and since my classes are cancelled or I don't have to show up I never get to see my friends or talk to anyone. But they're basically over now. Thursday, Friday, and all of next week is something like midterms, so I don't have to go to school for 5 days.

Last weekend I went to Tønsberg to visit my friend and roommate from Language Camp Marina. My host dad had to go up there so he dropped me off on Friday and I took a train to where he was staying in Sandelfjord on Saturday. Friday night was Nina's (another exchange student) birthday, so I went with Marina to her party and saw a few other exchange students. I also got to see Tønsberg a bit during the trip. I slept over at Marina's on Friday night and we watched Forest Gump. It was fun.

This past weekend I went to see Breaking Dawn with some friends from my classes. The movie was shown in the biggest theater the cinema has, and it's a little smaller than the smallest one at the Pompano Muvico. And it's assigned seating, so we have to buy tickets together. It was a bit depressing at the end though when I realized by the time the second half of the movie comes out I will be long gone and probably watching it back in the Pompano Muvico with the same friends I've been going to see the Twilight movies with since the first one came out in 2008. That's weird to think about.

On Sunday, my friend Synnøve and I went by the water on Hisøy (the island where I live now) and took pictures.

Well I can't think of anything else to say, except for it's getting colder and darker and I haven't really minded until today. Today I just woke up cold and tired, and it's 1 PM and I still haven't woken up. Yesterday I took the bus at 4:30 and walked home from my stop in the pitch black, with ice on the road. That should give you an idea of what I mean by 'dark'.

If you want me to talk about something in particular then leave a comment and let me know. If I have ideas of what to write, or any feedback at all *hint hint* than it might encourage me to update more often...just saying.

Weeks 11-12: Ungdomskole visits and Opersjon Dagsverk

I guess it's about time I sat down and wrote this. Let me just say that I sat down to write this about 10 different times and by the time I published it I had had parts of it opened on my browser for over a week). For some reason it was so hard to just sit down and write. And when I did it just didn't feel natural. I wasn't planning on waiting over two (and a half by the time I publish it) weeks to update this, but it just happened when last Sunday rolled around and I didn't have much to say. But now since it's been two (+) weeks, I feel like I should have more to say. And I do, I just have to fish it out of my brain.

Well let's start with two weeks ago, Week 11. 

I visited Aase's school on that Tuesday to help with the English classes. I talked to her class (7-8 year olds) and told them about myself and Florida in both English and Norwegian, and then I followed the school's English teacher around and talked to some of the older kids (10-12 year olds). I was impressed by how much the 11 year old could understand me, that kids that young can understand English probably just the same or more than I can understand Norwegian. And I've been living surrounded by Norwegian for almost 3 months, I took Spanish like they're taking English starting when I was 5 and I can't say anything past "Hola!" But anyways, of course I got asked a bunch of questions by Aase's friends. So I answered basically everything from "Have you ever gotten attacked by a shark?" to "What color is your house in Florida?" The fun part was they were asking and I was answering in Norwegian.

Then on Thursday and Friday I didn't have class, so I caught up on some sleep and attempted to start packing to move the following weekend. So other than that, that week I found out that Arendal has Chinese food, went to a barbecue on the rocky beaches of Tromøya with my host family, and learned how to knit.

Now onto this past week. This was my last week on the countryside and with my first host family. I feel like I did something really cool or important but I honestly don't remember. On Thursday there was this thing at school called Operasjon Dagsverk where you get a job for the day and all the money you earn goes to some kind of charity having to do with Africa. I think. I've never had it fully explained to me. But anyways I thought I couldn't participate because I don't speak Norwegian and I thought I signed something agreeing not to work while I'm here and I wasn't sure if this counted. But it turns out I was allowed to participate because it was charity, and one of my friends in my class offered me a job and kind of talked me into taking it. So I worked at the brewery sorting bottles for a few hours with about 10 other students and raised some money for charity. It was one of those things that would only work in a place like Norway because there are so few people. Like, majority of all the teenagers in Arendal were able to find jobs. There are just too many people in South Florida for something like this to work. But all in all, I think I did pretty well organizing bottle at the brewery. I guess that means I could be capable of having a factory job, but I have to admit I have higher ambition than that...

Now lets talk about the weather, because Norwegians seem to really love to do that. It's obviously gotten colder here, and then not so cold, and then just gray, and at the moment it's not so bad, just dark starting at 4:30 in the afternoon. Everyone loves to tell me about how cold it's going to get or that Norway is cold in general, like I didn't know this before I came here. Believe it or not Norwegians, Norway was pretty high on my list when I applied to do this and it was right beside countries like Sweden and Denmark. And while there are Americans who think that Norway is a city in Sweden or located somewhere in the Middle East, I consider myself both not an idiot and pretty good with geography. I have known since I checked off the little boxes next to the Scandinavian countries on my Youth Exchange application that I was going to be cold this year. The fact that it gets cold and snows in Norway is not news to me. I know in about 2 months it will be terribly cold, and wanna know what I have to say to that? Bring. It. On.

Welp, other than that this weekend I went to a Halloween party that my friend invited me to, it was fun and I made some new friends. Oh and I forgot to mention I had to cancel my Halloween weekend with the other exchange students, we forgot to figure in the fact that a bus ticket is $75+ and most of the time exchange students don't have money at the end of the month. But in the end it was way easier to just spend the weekend packing and preparing to move families. WHICH I will talk about in my next post, along with "Norwegian Halloween".