We are back from our vacation, and settled back into our cozy apartment. It has been gorgeous weather here since we have gotten back, mostly in the 60's and sunny. All the of large blocks of frozen snow still left on the ground had magically disappeared by the time we made it back. Oh happy day! Last weekend it actually got up to 70 degrees. :) Kevin and I got to wear shorts outside last weekend, and I not sure if that was ever going to be possible. We got to spend some time outside running, throwing the football (american), laying out in the sun. This weekend it is about in the 50's, nothing a jacket and scarf can't fix! Ha. I decided I would update on Norway life first and then designate a post to just our wonderful vacation since it may be long! We had a beyond great time though!
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| Throwing the American football near the river :) |
I restarted school again this past week. I did decide to skip ahead two months in my Norwegian class. Wish me luck! There are five of us that moved up from my other class, so the rest of the class is new. More people to meet! It is going well so far. De snakker ikke englesk i nytt kurset. (They don't speak English in the new course.) It has definitely been a challenge, but I like that. The teachers talk faster and there is not as much animation when they speak. Hopefully it will improve my listening skills. Also, happy to say that I feel like I'm really making some friends through my classes. I am very excited about this :) I got to hang out with my friend, Breanne (from Minnesota) a couple times this week! She came over one night this week and we made tacos and hung out! (Kevin was out of town again this week). On Friday, I got together with about 6 girls from class. We went and got sandwiches and coffee after class and then played UNO on the grass in a sunny spot near the river. Too fun. I think we plan to get together next weekend to possibly go out, which of course I will love. It was a good week!
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| Some of my friends from my Norwegian Class |
Kevin got go to on a field trip to Oslo last Friday. They took a nice bus to Oslo from work, to play CURLING. They had a member of the Norwegian Olympic team (who just won the World Championship) instruct them! He was beside himself. Of course the instruction was in Norwegian, but Kevin said he gave Kevin his own few minute run down (ha). They had to wear the proper shoes as well (like you do in bowling), and then got to practice and formed teams to play each other. The shoes had different soles on each. One was slick so you can slide on the ice, and the other had grips on the bottom. His team went 1-1-1. He had a blast. Afterwards, they all went to TGI Fridays (funny) for a nice meal. He got wings (in heaven) ha. I was happy he had such a wonderful time! Pictures and an awesome video below:
Last Friday, there was a big ground breaking ceremony for a cultural center that will be opening in 2015. They were basically putting a time capsule in the ground, and it was a big celebration. They had some music and a couple performances. It also had the BIGGEST cake I've ever seen! Check it out. The picture does not do the cake justice. I went with a lot of my classmates after class that day. Who can pass up free coffee and cake?
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| Giant Cake |
Last Saturday, I got the most wonderful package in the mail...an Easter care package from my parents! It was amazing! Including all of our favorites...Goldfish, Starburst jelly beans, Twizzlers, confetti cake ingredients, chocolate! It was fabulous! It feels like home :) We were just bursting at the seems!
We also finally got library cards last Saturday :) The library in Kongsberg is really great. I can see myself spending many hours there. They have an English section, and many English books throughout depending on the section. There are also recent movies, games, and CD's you can rent. We were so excited. I even spoke a little Norsk to the librarian. :)
It seems that a lot of stuff is starting up now that winter is long gone. I was able to sign up with my school to do a 5K in Drammen ( a city about 40 min away). We will get to take the bus all together from Kongsberg, get a T-shirt (awesome), and get to eat pizza after--you have no idea how exciting this sounds. It looks like a really awesome event. It is called Jentebolgen- which translates to Girl Wave. It happens every year, for girls only. I'm so pumped.
Here is the link to the website: http://www.jentebolgendrammen.no/
If you have google chrome it will automatically translate to English....if not then try to read it in Norwegian ;) or use Google translate. There is also a Hiking club I heard about at school. They go to a new hiking trail every Tuesday, and provide free transportation to each place. Kevin and I will definitely be joining this :) Can't wait to tell about it! There is also a group that gets together once a week for basketball, volleyball, football pick-up games at a local school, which we of course LOVE. So I will update you on that once we join that as well!
This past Thursday was a Norwegian holiday, so there was no work or school. May 1st I think is the equivalent to Labor day. There was a band outside my window that morning at 8:30, and it came by again around 12 (by then I was awake enough to take pics). Then when I went outside later there were Norwegian flags everywhere! It was quite a site! They know how to celebrate :) Ha.
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| The Band outside our apartment window |
We have been going to a church here in Kongsberg, it has been in all Norwegian so we usually bring our own Bible and translate as best we can. It is a nice church and beautiful, and we have enjoyed going. I will post some pics of it soon. However, today we went to a different church that I found out about through two of my classmates from Nigeria. It was so wonderful. We were greeted at door by one of pastors and were immediately introduced to many people. There are many international people there as well as Norwegians. They sang in Norwegian and English and also had a headset that you could put on during the service which had someone translating everything into English. They had coffee and cake afterwards, and you got visit with everyone. There were so many welcoming people, and we actually met some other people from the U.S. I think someone mentioned to us that there are people from about 13 different countries that attend the church. We really enjoyed it :) Very happy.
We are also officially coming home for Grayton Beach at the end of May. We are beyond excited, and can't wait to see our families! I will post about our vacation very soon! Still need to go through all the pictures we took! Miss everyone!
