Theater Festival in Fjaler

How to rob yourself of a weekend and any free time? You work as a volunteer! (Although the voluntary part is defined differently...)

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It all started on Monday, when the barn where the parties took place was cleared out, cleaned, and decorated. Every day after school, I was allowed to help. In the library, we searched for books and movies related to the theaters that were being performed. It feels like the whole town of Dale is focused on this festival. In addition, we have now started our first Norwegian lessons. Considering the fact that we have almost no free time at the moment, this is probably not the best combination, because we can't do our homework and we're not really learning vocabulary....

Nevertheless, on Friday evening we had some time to watch a performance of Henrik Ibsen's 'An Enemy of the People'. We only understood a little bit, and when it came time to vote on who should be condemned, we looked to our neighbors for guidance. Nevertheless, it was interesting to listen to.

But the real action didn't start until Saturday:

Early in the morning, my path led me to the kitchen. An hour later, I had made a bowl of Kaiserschmarrn without a working mixer. I then took this bowl to the Jakob Sande House by bike. From there, I picked up more food with Alba in the car. All for the 'International Café'. People from many different countries like Thailand, Syria, Greece, or Nepal made typical dishes. We laid them all out on the living room table of the birthplace of the poet Jacob Sande.

On the courtyard/the meadow in front, there was a market. A few people then came into the living room, bought a plate, and loaded it up. Afterwards, we had interesting conversations. It was quite nice.

The market at the beginning

Only half an hour later... in the end, all the meadows were soaked

Afterwards, we got a little break, only to be able to help again later. This time, we were assistants to the cooks who were serving at the big party in the evening. They had set up grills and a lot of salads in one tent. In another tent, homemade (and, as I was told, very strong) beer was being served. In yet another tent, people were supposed to be able to sit.

That was the plan, but the reality looked a bit different: The remnants of Hurricane Dorian swept across Norway. Since Friday, there have been warnings of heavy rainfall and gusts of wind (up to 110 km/h). The peak was expected on Saturday evening/night. Exactly the time of the party! This required a small transformation of my job from kitchen assistant to doorman/tent support. I had to hold the tarp of the kitchen tent so that it wouldn't tear. A tiring job. But later, I got some time off and we were allowed to eat something. Later, we saw a polonaise of Norwegians. It was mixed with traditional dances and looked very strange. Together with Alba, we watched the Norwegians as they were having fun, probably also under the influence of alcohol. Later, there was waltz music and we danced a bit. After that, a DJ started playing. The music was still acceptable, but the DJ and two female dancers danced in women's clothes with stockings over their faces. Eventually, the music switched to electro. Many Norwegians really let loose, including the head of culture, which was a bit strange. Due to the weather, everyone here wears rain pants, which is not a problem for Norwegians even when going to a party! They party in outdoor clothing, something new!

At midnight, I went home in pouring rain. After a few hours of sleep, I continued in the morning. I was assigned to make breakfast. First, I had to crack 40 eggs into a bowl and make omelettes out of them. Later, I had a cake for breakfast. By 12 o'clock, everyone was done with breakfast and my area of responsibility was expanded: I was allowed to clean chairs in pouring rain and strong gusts of wind. The tents had been destroyed by the wind, which is why the chairs got dirty as well. Later on, my shoes were soaked and I was allowed to go home for a few hours. There, I dried my things on the heater. After watching a movie, we went to lunch or rather the leftovers of this meal. We had venison stew with mashed potatoes. Very tasty! And of course, cake. After that, I drove some volunteers from the nearby UWC College back to their boarding school. Now we can take a little break and tonight there will be a leftover food party. So a meal with leftovers! I will definitely bring a Tupperware container :)

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But even outside of the festival activities, a lot has happened this week:

After a long day, on Tuesday I went to the meeting of the music group here in town. They play traditional music, i.e. accordions with Hardanger violins. I also tried playing the accordion, but here, the button system is mainly used, so they are still looking for an accordion with a piano system for me.

On Thursday, a Welcome Day was held. They explained to all the students from the upper secondary school (the German Gymnasium equivalent) who are not from Dale what they can do in Dale. Things like soccer, etc. We volunteers were allowed to grill hot dogs. But my roommates Alex and Alba are vegans, so I grilled the sausages and they prepared the buns. In the end, it turned a bit chaotic, but it was fun. Thanks to our poor planning, I had to eat a total of 5 hot dogs, including a ketchup accident, because multitasking didn't really work (I was trying to eat, turn the sausages, and talk to people...).

Friday went even better: It was my first time alone in the cafeteria because Trude, who usually works there, is on vacation in Spain. My cooking skills are getting better and better! The students ate everything, which doesn't happen very often. Early in the morning, I also got to sit in on a math class and had a discussion with a few boys about mathematics (in English, which was a challenge for all parties involved). The misunderstandings were all the more funny.

In general, I am starting to practice my Norwegian a bit with the Norwegians. This often leads to misunderstandings, but we can laugh about it together.

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Here are a few impressions from noon today that show the effects of the weather:

Everything under water...

... on both sides of the river that flows into the fjord.

There were big waves on the otherwise calm fjord... which you can't really see in the picture.

View from the sofa