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).