Christmas time

Soon it's time, tomorrow I will make my way to Germany and at the same time tomorrow is also the fourth Sunday of Advent.

Time to tell you what happened to me:

- On December 13th, I participated in a concert at the church with the local music group. For this, I learned two songs by heart and accordions and Hardanger violins played together, which sounded really great.

- I tried to bake cookies here. Ground nuts are not available here, which made it a little more difficult, but in the end, a few cookies did not burn :)

- Yesterday was the last day of school:

In school, there was a big volleyball tournament in which all classes played against each other and against the teachers. They built fancy costumes especially for that, and in the end, the Sushi team won.

Afterwards, all 200 students went to the foyer, where the teachers (dressed in dresses and suits) served rice pudding to the students. Afterwards, we all sang Christmas carols. We sang "Silent Night" in English, German, Spanish, and Norwegian. In the end, everyone cleaned up together and went to an old barn with all the teachers.

There we celebrated our Christmas party. For dinner, we had Ribbe, which is salted meat with visible bones, and there was another meat that was almost entirely fat. But I tried everything. Norwegian Christmas parties are usually infamous for getting out of hand, but mine a) with teachers and b) without alcohol stayed within limits. Together, we solved a quiz that was supposed to test our general knowledge. But the questions were in Norwegian and mostly about English football, so my team didn't stand a chance. But the conversations were still worth it.

- Today I finally packed all the presents (and they take up half of my suitcase...)

- The photos from the gingerbread baking were published. You can find them here https://www.dale.vgs.no/gratis-kveldsmat-leik-og-moro.6268167-367066.html

- And there are more pictures of the last day of school here: https://www.dale.vgs.no/god-jul.6268524-367066.html

5 things that are essential during Christmas in Norway:

- Julebrus (a red Christmas soda)

- Krumekaker (a kind of ice cream cone)

- the dance around the Christmas tree

- the Ribbe and sometimes a sheep's head

- the almond in rice pudding (whoever finds it gets a small gift)

There is an interesting story about this: I was invited to the music group's Christmas party and there was rice pudding. I was already wondering why there was an almond in it, until I found out afterwards that I would have been the lucky one. Because the people were already looking during the rice pudding, who would find something...

See you!