Week 5 in Norway

Exactly to the day, I have now been in Norway for five weeks.

On Monday, I helped out at the library where they had a reading competition over the summer, and certificates were handed out at a small celebration. Before that, there was a clown who even included me and spoke German. In the morning at school, there was a play (they left the stage in the gymnasium), based on James Bond, but I didn't really understand much, only that Bond was killed in the end. After that, there was a lecture by a professor about the development of the Norwegian language. The only statement I understood was: Promote your dialect before it dies out! And I think that can also be applied to Germany. During the afternoon, we took a walk in the surroundings.

On Tuesday, it was freezing cold, only 4°C when I left the house in the morning. When I walked home from physical education, I even saw snow on the mountains. In the evening, I went to play the accordion, where they got me an old accordion (the bass pulls in a bit too much air) and gave me sheet music so I can practice now.

Snow in Dale (on the mountain on the right)

We continued on Wednesday with regular classes, and during the lunch break, we had to give presentations about ourselves and our homeland. I showed a bit of the mountains and Schloss Zeil... and of course a picture of Keks.

Thursday was a very busy day. First, Norwegian lessons, then German lessons, helping out in the cafeteria, and later the after-school program. But because most students had a test on Friday and wanted to study, I visited another program, the open workshop. There, I was equipped with a suit, including safety glasses, earplugs, and a welding helmet/goggles. Then I watched a few boys and we talked about cars, the highway (again), and getting a driver's license. In the evening, we went dancing.

And on Friday, I was allowed to be alone in the cafeteria again. Once again, everything was eaten, so not much was left for me. Since I was alone, I could also take some pictures of my workplace.

Actually, we were supposed to go to a 'get-to-know-you party', but Bilal, the fourth roommate, arrived on Friday evening. Actually, I wanted to stay awake, but I fell asleep reading on the couch. The doorbell completely startled me. It was just after midnight... So I sat at the kitchen table like a zombie. First impression - I can handle it.

The weather for the weekend was predicted to be good with lots of sunshine (up to 20°C, like summer). So, what do you do in good Norwegian style? You go hiking!

On Saturday, we took Bilal on his first hike. We climbed Jøtelshaugen, one of the mountains near Dale. It was a somewhat difficult path - we swung like monkeys through a few trees because the stones were too slippery - and after a few kilometers of hiking, we reached the summit. Of course, I managed to slip and now I have a big bruise right on my knee, and I can only walk around in loose pants or my hiking pants. That will be funny at school on Monday :)

There, we signed the summit book that exists on almost every mountain. On the way back, Bilal managed to lose one of his shoes in the mud, and then we followed a path that ended somewhere in the forest, and we had to fight our way through the underbrush and a steep slope to get down. But it was fun!

Here are the pictures:

... summit book.

The 'You'll never walk alone' bench. Maybe you can't see it in the picture, but this inscription is engraved.

_____________________________________________________________

On Sunday, after some homesickness attacks, Ole Bjarne took us by boat across the fjord to Fossevikja. From there, we continued towards Nipebu, but we only walked halfway there, so we turned around at a large lake (see the map you can find in the menu here). From there, we continued to a large waterfall. We stood right in front of it and got little droplets of water on our clothes. We kept walking and came to a small bridge over the river that led away from the waterfall.

Ole Bjarne told us this wonderful story about this bridge:

Once upon a time, there was a grumpy troll living under the bridge. Three goats wanted to cross the bridge to get to the lush meadow in the mountains and fatten up. The smallest goat walked across the wooden planks and startled the troll with the noise. 'What are you doing here? I will eat you!', he growled. 'I am the smallest goat, after me comes a goat that is much bigger and fatter.' The troll replied, 'Alright, go ahead!'. When the second goat wanted to cross the bridge, the troll asked again, and the second goat convinced him with the prospect of an even bigger goat and crossed the bridge. Then came the biggest goat, and the troll threatened her again. The goat said, 'Then come!' and as the troll crawled up the bridge, she hit him with her horns and he fell into the river, which later merges with the fjord. He was never seen again.

As it turned out, we all knew the story (with different characters) from our home countries. After the hike, we were all very tired but also very happy. Additionally, my thighs hurt now from these two hikes, which were both not easy and lasted about 4 and 6 hours, respectively. The bruise also continued to hurt during the hike, so it looks like I'll be wearing my hiking pants tomorrow.

And here are the pictures from Sunday:

Old boat building by the lake

As you can see in the pictures, everything is still green in Norway, but Ole Bjarne told us that there will be something like an Indian Summer, especially visually. I'm really looking forward to that!