Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

I had quite the trip last week when I returned home for the holidays.

My journey started early as I left Tromsø at 7am. I thought it would be good to adjust early, (or maybe I decided that because I wasn't packed and ready until about 4am), so I stayed up almost all night and slept the whole way from Tromsø to Oslo and then Oslo to Amsterdam. Then the fun began. I waited for an hour and a half in Amsterdam to get through security and then talked to an American girl who worked in the UK for a year, married a Portuguese guy, and has not yet told her parents. Should be a fun Christmas for her.

I sat by a great plane partner who was a Swedish speaking Finn lady who was doing a master's programme in public health in Stockholm. We had some great conversations about feeling like an outsider, language, culture, public health, gender, and Minneapolis. Besides her, I felt surrounded by children. I guess it was time to go home and see Grandma.

I had my welcome home to the US in an ugly way. I landed after 9 hours and was waiting in line for customs and was right in front of a very large, very loud woman with two children. I was so mad at her because she was yelling at her kids for everything. First they were playing too far away then they were hanging on her too much. When one of her kids didn't want to come stand by her, she snapped, "Fine, I'll just leave you here and let someone else take you. I don't care. I'm too tired to care." Later she deftly said, "Look at mommy. Has mommy had a cigarette in 12 hours? No. Do you think that makes mommy happy? No." Oh good old USA. I then went to the gate and the first thing I heard was CNN talking about the former leader of the Crips who was executed in California, even though he became an author of children's books and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I was so frustrated at Wolf Blitzer constantly asking one witness of the execution questions like, "how did he look after he died?" The response the person had was, "He looked dead."

Fortunately, my frustration with the volume of Americans, both in terms of loudness and size, was relieved when I was sitting at the gate and heard something that was refreshingly familiar: Norwegian! A Norwegian family was traveling to where else but Vermillion, South Dakota to see their daughter/niece/grand daughter graduate from USD. I immediately introduced myself to them and had a great 20 minute conversation in Norwegian with them. It was a much appreciated transition between Norway and the US. I am very excited to spend some time at home and enjoy Christmas here, but I know I will be ready to go back to the increasingly familiar and comfortable Norway.

Merry Christmas to all! I will post updates from the US every once and a while to let everyone know how Christmas and New Year's is here in South Dakota!