My Norwegian Class

I have been going to a Norwegian language course for the past 3 weeks at Kongsberg Norsksenter, and I absolutely love it. I feel like we are learning so much already, and as much as I still have to learn it has made me so much more comfortable here. We have learned all about how to introduce ourselves, how to tell about our day, telling time, counting, about food/drink, how to ask questions/answer etc. It has also been a very eye opening experience for me, and has really gotten me out of my comfort zone (but just moving here did that, ha). It is a class of about 20 people, varies from day to day. We are all from so many different countries, it is hard to name them all.  For example, Russia, China, Brazil, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Thailand, Philippines, Somalia, Romania, India etc. There is one other girl from the USA, she is engaged to a guy who is from Kongsberg. They met in college in Minneapolis. I found it fascinating that we are all under one roof, and I get to meet all of these people....pretty amazing. There are some people whose spouses moved here for jobs, others that moved her to go to school, some are refugees etc. There are some people who speak no english or little english. It seems that most do, as that seems to be a very common second language. So with some classmates the the main way we can communicate is by the little Norwegian we know or through acting things out. This can be kind of difficult at times, and I never knew I could be so animated.   Two things that I've noticed that we all have in common is laughter and facial/body expressions. And there is a lot of laughter. :)

As most people reading this probably know, I love school. So I have really been enjoying it.  We have had homework and tests, and it has been a great way to keep me busy. I have really enjoyed being a part of it, and it has been a good way to meet people. I have difficulty with a lot of the pronunciation in Norwegian still. There are some letters that are not in the english language, some letters that are pronounced differently, and some English letters that are not used at all. Unfortunately, there are letters that have no equivalent to sounds we make in English...But I have been trying. Kevin has been practicing with me at home. I have most difficulty with "rolling my R's" so I've been practicing that a lot- no luck yet. I had trouble with that in Spanish in High school too. One day... ha.  I've been told I have a great American accent though. :)  Ha. I will hopefully make a post sometime that will include some of the many phrases I've learned, and If your lucky a video! So y'all can learn some too...

On a side note...It randomly snowed on Wednesday, and I woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland. It was so pretty. It has been so warm here though (30's to 40's) that most of the snow actually melted by afternoon. Similar to what we would expect in Louisiana. It was pretty while it lasted though!  Kevin was gone all this past week working on the west coast on a big upgrading project, very proud of him. So I was by myself all week...I survived :) I also went to have coffee with a girl I met when we went out last weekend, she is super nice and I am so happy to have made a friend.

We learned about food this week at school! On Wednesday we got to go to a grocery store that was close by with a partner! My partner and I had to get three ingredients, this was  an adventure as my partner and I did not both speak the same language, only the little Norwegian we know. So you can imagine how much we laughed and attempted gestures for what we were trying to say. But we got what we were suppose to, and spoke Norwegian to the person who checked us out.

Friday- We got to make "en vaffel" (waffle)- Plural form is "vafler"! (They do not use the letter W in the Norwegian language). This was so much fun. It is traditional to eat the waffles with jam and sour cream. This did not sound good at all, but I had to try it! I used strawberry jam and sour cream, and it was actually good :) It ended up tasting like a strawberry cream. The jam was not as tart, and it did not have a strong sour cream taste.  We got to put all of the tables together and eat family style. Speaking in Norwegian as much as possible. We used their vaffeljern (waffle irons), and made the recipe that was in our Norwegian books. We did a lot of laughing and it was fun to bond in that way.

Today, I did find out that we all have something else in common-- a liking/loving for Stevie Wonder and dancing. We found out today that Stevie Wonder will be performing in Kongsberg in July for the big Kongsberg Jazzfestival! Out teacher came in with the newspaper all excited, and then put youtube on with his songs! She made everyone dance....very funny. Everyone was humming/singing along, and it seemed that everyone was very excited! :) Happy Day.

Also, Kevin found out that he will have a lot of time around Easter off, so we are planning our first big trip! We have decided to go to England and Ireland. We are beyond excited! Any tips are welcome!

Check out the picks below :)

Lots of Valfer using the Vaffeljern

One of the tables set up and ready to go

Vaffel med sytletoy and romme (o with a line through it)
Translated: Waffle with jam and sour cream

The view from our apartment window on Wednesday morning

The view from our apartment window on Friday afternoon
Beautiful Weather :)

Biking and Sunny Days

Last weekend Kongsberg was able to show me how beautiful it can be when the SUN comes out. It was sunny all last weekend and most of this past week. We are thoroughly enjoying our main mode of transportation--Biking. Kevin bikes to work everyday and we have previously ridden our bikes at evening time, but what a different riding when there is beautiful sun shining down on you. We have taken some long bike rides through Kongsberg--up and DOWN many hills. So much fun! It was completely different than the flat terrain we are so use to. I have to admit I was more scared going down (yet again). You almost feel like you have no control, but I quickly got use to it. :) Kevin was already a pro, never seems to worry as much as I do. We have discovered a few biking trails and I'm sure there are many more we have yet to discover! One of our biggest biking trips was to pick up a package Kevin got in the mail. We got a picture of the package in the mailbox---and then we had to figure out where to go. It turns out it was at a post office further away from our apartment due to using a farther away code then we were suppose to use (oops). But the ride was lovely. There are many times I have to stop while we are riding just because the scenery looks so unreal and beautiful. I also have a tendency to want to snap pictures. I have often looked around and thought, "how did I end up here?…" We are happy. Pictures are below. Enjoy.

Near our apartment and downtown

Kev on the bridge near our house

The look from a bridge near our apartment

Happy in our helmets

Ducks near the river

One of the Trails

The City of Kongsberg

At the end of one of our trails

Our First Hiking Trip

HIKING- On Wednesday night this week, I was peacefully making tacos for Kevin when he received a text. His friend, Arne, from work asked if he wanted to hike Langevannstoppen (Langevann Top). We did not know what this was...whether he was talking about in the future or tonight. It actually is a mountain here in Kongsberg, 497 m high. We decided to join…:) So our first hike in Kongsberg was at night in the snow (sounds perfect right?). We had no IDEA what we were getting into, but of course it turned out to be amazing.  When we got out of the car, he handed us some gear. The gear had one part that strapped around your waist which connects to a piece that you put on your head--Headlights-hah.  The battery was on the part that was strapped around our waist. We were instructed in the art of layering--which I think we did pretty well, unplanned of course. Within the first 10 minutes of the hike I was already ready to get rid of the heavy jacket, and was surprisingly never cold again until we reached the top.

Headlight ON :)

There was a trail that we followed (apparently there are tons you can choose to follow), but because of the snow and how it has been warmer lately the trail was about a foot wide. For example, if you stepped off the solid trail your feet would sink down into the snow---sometimes just a little, sometimes A LOT. Enough to make you completely fall at times. This made the hike up hard, and it was very steep at times--especially at the top. If at any point you would look up to see ahead with your headlight, you lost your footing. I fell A LOT.  So we jumped/climbed all the way up. I honestly didn't know if I would make it to the top at times (breathing in cold air, not being able to see the the top, legs wearing out). But of course when we got to the top it was beautiful. The pictures did not come out well or do it justice because of the fog but It was beyond lovely.

At the top there is a book that you sign and put how many times you have gone to the top in it (in a box near a tree). After soaking in the view at the top, I realized that somehow we were going to have to make it down… which ended up being the funniest part. I have never fallen more in my life. I ended making myself a human sled at some points..which was awesome! It was the best solution I could come up with since it was steep and icy at points. Kevin's advice was, "Just pretend like you are surfing..Just pretend like you are skateboarding." (I have done neither). Kevin attempts "surfing" his way down at times. Arne was able to just run down (no fear), but he did wait for us. Eventually we did make it down ( about 2.5 hours for the whole trip). Arne did say that it was very slushy, and the snow was not usually that soft this early. It apparently has been warmer than usual here for this time of year. Our theory is that if we can do that in those conditions, it should be no problem later! We will definitely be going back!

Views from the Top:

Drammen and an Unexpected Fun Filled Weekend

The first Monday I was in town, Kevin and I got to take the adventure of going to Drammen to get my Visa. It is a town that is about a 40 minute train ride away, and much bigger than Kongsberg where we live. Once we went to the police station to get my license, we got to go to the 3rd biggest mall in Norway...ha, that was all Kevin's idea. We did some browsing, and was able to get an idea of what prices are like here. We saw a McDonalds in the mall. It had some familiar items, but then somethings were completely different--a few burgers named after some U.S. states. It was packed of course. It has been the only chain restaurant I have noticed since being here. When leaving the mall, we were suppose to catch our train at 4:47.  We thought we were getting there early.... However we got there as a train that said Kongsberg had just pulled up. We ran and then the doors shut in Kevin's face! Ha. We barely missed it, but it turns out that was just an extra train that came by during rush hour! So we did catch the right train at the original time we had planned. But it was still scary to think we missed the train, and we were going to have to wait an hour until the next one. They keep to a schedule--no playing around with the train system. :) Drammen was a very pretty city from what we saw, and I'm sure we will be making a few trips back. 

Aass Brewery in Drammen- (The Beer Kevin LOVES)

Our FRIDAY night actually took a surprising turn of events. We initially had no plans, and were just going to go the Vinterfestival fair and beer tent to hang. Kevin ended up getting a call from a friend from work. We were invited to go to a house party and then to an Irish Folk Concert at the Quality Hotel Grand's nightclub, Argus, following. It was much to our surprise that most everyone at the party was International. There were people from Spain, Portugal, and Poland. It was someone's birthday, and I'm pretty sure we heard Happy Birthday in 5 different languages. It was wonderful, and so much fun. Some people are only in Kongsberg for a short period of time (training), and others have moved here from other countries permanently for now. They were all super nice. One funny thing is that in Norway because of all the slush/snow--everyone takes their shoes off before they walk in to someone's house. I of course was sporting lime green socks (I will take note for next time, ha). We went to the Irish folk concert around 11-12, the band was called- The Belfast Lads. There was TONS of dancing, mostly from the fun group of people we met. Videos are below. We had a great time, and the band was very entertaining. Lots of flutes and of course bagpipes! ha.

Here is some examples of the awesome dancing that occurred!

Saturday night we also went out to a place called Kare Maloney, a cafe by day and bar at night, where their was a DJ playing (happened to be a Polish guy, AKA "The Routine," who we met the night prior and works at Kevin's office). He was playing all 60's, 70's, and 80's music on vinyl records. He does this once a month, and that Saturday was his one year anniversary of starting it. My mom would have loved it! For example, Michael Jackson and Earth Wind and fire played.. A lot of the people we had met the night prior were there so that was fun. :) There were lots of fun beers to try and we had a fantastic time!

Just a small glimpse of what it was like...

Sunday was our one year wedding anniversary! Can't believe it has already been a year :) So many blessings and things to be happy about! Definitely didn't imagine spending our first anniversary in Norway :) Like I have mentioned before, most everything is closed on Sunday...so we decided to make gumbo from scratch (turned out awesome--but any southern food would at this point, ha) and just enjoy the day together. 

Here are videos from my last post that i loaded wrong so you can actually watch them! 

Kongsberg Vinterfestival- Part 2

The Kongsberg Vinterfestival lasted all last week through Saturday! We were able to go a couple nights and also were able to make it to the Skisenter on Saturday to watch more competitions. Part of the town was set up like a fair (I pictured St. Margaret Mary Fair in Slidell. Ha). There were a lot of games set up, rides, ferris wheels, small roller coasters, fun foods etc. They also had a street full of many vendors selling a multitude of various items which was fun to look at. Kevin was super close to buying some sweatpants with the Norwegian flag on them.  There was also of course a beer tent where you could go to beer tastings. We did not pass up on that opportunity. We were able to try 5 different beers that are listed below. I liked the Rosa Kinn (Pale Ale) and the Kongsberg Pale Ale beer---Kevin just flat out likes the Aass beer (ha), which is a local beer. 

The Vinterfestival week events

Beer Tasting= Happy Husband

Kongsberg Pale Ale, Belgisk Pale Ale, Vestkyst, Rosa Kinn, and Aass Beer

Beer Tent

Game where you can win a GIANT box of chocolates

Long street of vendors

On Saturday we were able to go to the Kongsberg Skisenter where there were various competitions going on during the day, of course it decided to SNOW most of the day. So we got to experience being outside for a few hours with Snow coming down on us :). Let's just say, I was never more happy to have a cup of hot chocolate. Thank goodness for boots, hats, and gloves--however after about two hours my fingers and toes were starting to tell me that they miss home! The Skisenter was huge, I think it made Kevin want to try skiing even more. Hopefully we will get to do that soon. We got to see the Ski Big Air competition- they were getting extremely high and we got to see some really awesome tricks. We also saw the snowmobile slope distance jumping competition, which was actually how far they could get the snow mobiles to jump off the slope--video attached. That was pretty entertaining! There was an announcer and they played music (unedited) the entire time. Great day! 

Bundled up for the snow

Part of the center- where the competitions were held

Snow laid out at night on a main road for cross country skiing

Daytime view

Big Air Ski Competition

Snowmobile Distance Jump Competition

Things I've Learned/Observed Here So Far...

Here is a small list of things I have learned/observed here so far, I will continue this list throughout my stay here in Norway!

Things I’ve learned/observed so far:

1. You actually CAN survive without a dryer for your clothes.

2. It is perfectly acceptable for boys to wear Faux Fur.

3. The most popular car by far is a Station Wagon.

4. The Trains wait for no one--even if the doors shut in your face. (We learned this by experience of course)

5. “Checks are from the 1900’s.”

6. Public Music is never sensored! All words at any time it seems!

7. Sunday is a true day of rest here. Most everything is closed, and they start shutting things down early on Saturday. (Which is probably how it should be…)

8. Cross Country Skiing is extremely popular in Norway. Actually skiing in general! Ha

9. Your beer ALWAYS  stays cold.
10. Pre-gaming like you use to do in college is the norm. Gatherings start at 9...Going out around 11-12 :)
11. We were told from a friend that walking around the streets with an open container is against the law. As Kevin said it, "We aren't in New Orleans anymore.." Ha.

To be continued…

We had a very eventful past three days…Vinterfestival, Irish Folk Concert, Celebrating our 1 year Anniversary…etc. I will fill you in when I have some time this week. I start my beginner's Norwegian Course tomorrow. I will be going three days a week for three hours! Exciting!