It has been an interesting transition back to the United States of America. There are of course numerous minor things to get used to again- language, landscape, and culture- but the biggest epiphany has been with friends. I had an opportunity to travel to Minneapolis last weekend and see my best friends from college. It was an unusual experience. I was so excited to see all of them, but it felt weird to essentially step back into an old world. They have new lives, but in many ways it seems the same as college days. They live together, have the same personalities, the same quirks, and are the same fun, good people. I wonder if I am the reason that it seems like the old college days since they have lives in the moment that I don’t share with them. Essentially we all have our own pattern of living and when we get back together we revert back to our old way of living because that is a pattern that we share.
It was also a difficult weekend to realize that timing is enough to bring down some relationships. It is frustrating to know that there are amazing people that I can’t get to know, can’t spend time with, and can’t support simply because I am in a different time zone, in a different country, and in a different life. It seems to be the price of exploration or maybe just the logical effect of growing up. Fortunately, beneath all of these slightly depressing realizations is the fact that they are my friends. We will always have a shared history. I have spent formative years with them, and they know me. Even if I grow, they know at some level the roots of that growth. I have a lot of fun with them and am at peace knowing that I will always be able to randomly show up and be a part of their lives, regardless of how unfair it is to expect that. Whether making lunch, playing Smash Brothers, drinking wine, or helping to shave their backs, I have a lot of random experiences to share with my friends. And in that, I’m thankful.
“No Surprises” - Radiohead
A heart that's full up like a landfill,
a job that slowly kills you,
bruises that won't heal.
You look so tired-unhappy,
bring down the government,
they don't, they don't speak for us.
I'll take a quiet life,
a handshake of carbon monoxide,
with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
Silent silence.
This is my final fit,
my final bellyache,
with no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises please.
Such a pretty house
and such a pretty garden.
No alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises,
no alarms and no surprises, please.
I am back in Central Standard Time Zone and the thesis work has begun! I am researching a program run by the South Dakota Lutheran Church. I am trying to find out if South Dakota's partnership with the Lutheran church in Nicaragua is helping meet the needs of Nicaraguans or if it only gives the donors a warm feeling without making a change. I bought a new digital recorder and have started my research by interviewing a few of the key people involved, and it has been interesting already. They have all been changed by the program but seem to be very aware of the potential pitfalls of the program. My first impression is that it's a good program because they are working on building a long-term relationship instead of just handing out money. It is getting me very excited for the chance to visit Nicaragua and to meet the characters that I am already hearing about. Pieces seem to be falling in place. The bishop of Nicaragua is even coming to visit South Dakota next weekend so I'll be able to make contact with her before I travel to Nicaragua! I am also getting prepared thanks to a string of ridiculously hot days. I've been sweating in my sleep, getting ready to travel south. Off to watch some baseball. I feel so American.
I made it back to the green, flat, warm land of South Dakota. I had a smooth 22 hour day of travel. Sat by a lady who was born in Indonesia when it was under Dutch rule and spent 5 years in a Japanese internment camp which was interesting and met a flight attendant who had a job lead for my sister. It's crazy to be back to a place where I can say the city I am from instead of just generalizing that I am from Dakota or the middle of the United States. I miss Norway, but it is great to talk to the family and have a great breakfast made for me! So Koselig!
Today is the first official night with the midnight sun and my last official night in Norway for the next four months. What poor timing! It's been alright saying goodbye to most people because I know that I will come back and see them again (inshallah), but it was tough saying goodbye to my international friends who are only studying here for one year. I spent a few hours drinking tea and just chatting with Tony, Alex, Jesus, Cintia, Alessandra, Alberto, and Nere. We reflected on the year and talked about our future travel plans. I just hope that after 3 months in Nicaragua, I'll be able to visit Spain and survive with only Spanish. It's been a great year, and it's been fun to see the evolution of the international crowd since they were the first people I met and spent time with. It's supposed to be better to be the first one to leave, but I feel like I'm actually the last since I'll come back and they'll all be goneo. But it's been great and there are many more adventures ahead, quite possibly with the same crazy international friends. Ciao Norway. See you all Stateside.
Tonight was the night: EuroVision. It was as cheesy and ridiculous as everyone warned me. The best way to describe it is the cheese of a Miss America Pageant combined with an Olympic version of Idol. 24 countries from Europe competed in the Finals and all of them perform a song written in their country. It ends up being basically 24 versions of love dance songs in English...often unique English combined with ridiculous dance numbers, wind machines, and costumes. There were some great anomalies though, including this year's winner: Finland! They had a monster rock band dressed in masks and make-up that looked like hideous monsters singing the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah." This masterpiece in song writing included lines like: The walls come down like thunder/ the rocks about to roll/ it's the arockalypse/ now bare your soul. The true believers/ thou shall be saved/ brothers and sisters keep strong in the faith/ on the day of rockoning/ it's who dares, wins/ you will see the jokers soon'll be the new kings. Poetic genius. What word play, what power. Just imagine monsters singing it, and it's so much more meaningful! Better yet, watch them do it here: Hard Rock Hallelujah
Well, Norway didn't do to well. We got 36 points I think. The way it works is that every European country has a call center where people from the country call in to. They cannot vote for their own country, but what happens is that the countries often vote for their neighbors. Sweden gave us a few points and Ireland gave the UK a few votes. Helping out the neighbors you know. Anyways, the top 10 get points and it's fun because they have the votes called in from the capitals around Europe and have a dramatic, pregnant pause as they announce who their great country voted for. Even Malta, at the very end of the night got one 10th place vote for their one and only point.
Well, beneath the complex voting system, dazzling costumes, cheesy music, and bad hosts, there was some entertainment value. I had fun eating shrimp sandwiches for three hours with a few Norwegian friends trying to find it.
(The view walking home at 12.30am. As I finish this blog I'm squinting at the sun coming through my window. Time for the curtains and some sleep.)
After having the best day of the year on the 17th, last night I enjoyed the best part of the year: Rachel and Danny's pizza fest! It was quite an event. There was over 40 people at the party, and it was the most diverse, interesting, fun, and beautiful group of Norwegian and international people assembled at a party this year.
The party started for me at 6pm when I went to help Rachel and Daniel, who is a Swedish friend who has worked as a baker, start preparing the pizzas. I brought my speakers and soon we were listening to "That's Amore" while we cut vegetables and starting making the dough from scratch. 
Danny was great at teaching us about making the dough and soon we had almost 2 kilos of dough rising. A little before 8pm our first guest arrived: another guy named Daniel who was appropriately enough from Italy! He told us what it would be like if we were making pizzas in Italy. He said we lacked underwear hanging from the balcony, noise in the streets, and the Napoli accent. But, we did have some great pizzas! Danny started making very thin, very Italian pizzas and soon people were streaming into the party and the queue was quickly formed for the pizzas which were made continuously for 4 straight hours.
I had a great time welcoming people, helping in the kitchen, and meeting lots of new people. It made me very excited to come back to Tromsø to get know all of my new acquaintances better next fall. 
The best part of the night was that I was on (or maybe it was when a Turkish guy's shirt caught on fire). It was one of those nights when I felt extremely social, comfortable, excited, energetic, flirtatious, and somehow nearly fluent in Norwegian...or at least I felt that way. The beer was tasting good, everyone was laughing, and the sun shined the entire night lighting up Rachel's flat.
After a while I was mixing gin and tonics and trying to learn how to open a bottle with a knife. (I was successful with the former and not the latter.) Eventually Rachel had to kick people out because of the apartment building's curfew, but I think everyone would have stayed all night (it felt like day!) if we could have.
We continued the party for a while at a bar, but soon I was headed open with the sun just behind the mountains. I had a smile thinking back on the evening. Great party, great pizza, great people.
When the moon (midnight sun) hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's amore!
I walked home from the town center, wearing a t-shirt and feeling a little cool as I walked to keep warm. Spring in Tromsø! I felt extra Norwegian as I carried my white plastic bag carrying 1 and a half kilos of shrimp for Stian and I to decapitate and eat tonight. It was such a picture perfect Tromsø day. The old lady near the soccer fields was sitting in a chair on her front steps to be in the sun while doing her Sudoko. Couples rode bikes and took their dogs for a walk. The even older lady four houses down from us was knitting in the sun while our neighbors were busy painting a new fence. I really enjoy my life here and am going to miss it when I leave Monday morning. Fortunately, I'll be back in the fall, ready to patiently wait for the sun to bring everyone outside again.
Yesterday was one of my favorite days I've had here in Norway: May 17th, the Norwegian Constitution Day known as Syttende Mai! It was great, a full day of fun with great friends, Norwegian traditions, lots of laughter, food, and parades a plenty.
The day started early. The night before the 17th is one of the biggest party days in Norway. We didn't put up a very good showing, but we did have fun watching drunk people walk by Rachel's Apartment late at night, getting caught in the courtyard outside her apartment building we aptly named the "Drunk Trap." We had a slumber party the night of the 16th and the next morning at 7am, the marching band started. Horns and drums woke everyone in the center up for the next two hours. We finally got up for good and walked over to a house near the center where a peace student from the second year class lives. There we had a great, traditional Norwegian 17th of May party! We started with coffee and rolls and all the Norwegians came in their traditional costumes called bunads. Almost all the Norwegians dress in their traditional clothing and everyone looks so regal and beautiful. 
We talked a lot and at about 10.30am made our way to the parade route. This was the barnetog which is the children's parade with kids marching along with their classmates, teachers, and some of the local politicians who lead the parade. There are also bands, baton twirlers, and other random groups. There is a sea of red Norwegian flags and everyone shout "Hip, Hip, Hurra!" 
It was very cute to see the little kids in their traditional costumes and see them so excited. The thing that stod out most to me was how many people are in the parade compared to the US. It seemed more like a protest march with a constant stream of people instead of floats. High on participation and energy.
After the first of many parades, we headed back to the house for a great meal of chicken soup (it warmed us up nicely from standing in the half snow, half sun weather), potatoes, salmon, eggs, and salad. The first round of desserts started after the meal and after digesting and chatting some more, we enjoyed a rousing round of national anthems! We had a very international crowd, so after singing all the verses of the Norwegian national anthem, we heard the anthems from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and the US. We couldn't convince Armenia to sing and Spain had the excuse that their anthem didn't have words. But, the score will be settled Saturday in the Eurovision song competition which is like Idol for all of Europe, except each country writes its own song and it is supposedly even cheesier than Idol and over 30 years old. ABBA even won it years ago with "Waterloo!" Well, after the singing we headed to Storgate for the Russtog, which is the parade of the 18 year old high schoolers. This one is much more vulgar with water guns. The kids like it because the Russ hand out personal cards with their photos to little kids. It was funny to see the 18-year old craziness. It's kind of like their coming out party, their transition from childhood to adulthood and it is the ending point of 17 days in May in which they dress in matching clothes and basically drink, do pranks, and are "rebellious." So, I was glad to see the end of parade and Russ craziness.
Rachel and I took a break after the Russ parade to watch a TV show that she was in! Two years ago at Luther a Norwegian film director made a movie about Norwegianism in the US and a lot of it took place in Decorah and at Luther. It was very funny to see the US version of 17th of May and how Norway portrayed Decorah. Lots of Vikings and trolls which we don't see here!
After the show, we headed back to the house for more cake and some fun games. We did the Potato Race where you have a potato on a spoon and have to run to the finish line without dropping it. 
I did the supersized version with an egg and won my heat! We had an added level of difficulty because we had been enjoying wine intermittenly throughout the day with all the cake we ate. It was great though to be outside once the sun came out for good and to see these Norwegians in these fancy clothes running with a potato on a spoon. The whole day was funny in a way. It really seemed like I could have been living in 1950 or maybe even 1850. 
The clothes were so traditional, the food, parade, and games were all like something out of Laura Ingels Wilder. Even the house we were in was an old tiny house with old furniture, old decorations, and traditional food. There is something very omforting and amazing to see traditions like this that are simple and powerful. Even though I'm not Norwegian, I felt a surge of Norwegian pride!
After the potato racing, I headed to Tove and Curt's house who are professors at the University and friends of Rachel and I. They made us a nice light dinner which was much appreciated after hours of eating cake and drinking glasses of coffee and wine. We had a great conversation, played some monopoly, and finally at 11pm Rachel and I walked home from the Southern tip of the island, almost a 50 min walk home. It was great though. It was as light as it had been all day and the mountains were covered in snow and people were still out walking around in their bunads enjoying the light and Norway. A great day and a great country. I will be sad to leave this summer and happy to return to great friends and a great location. Happy Syttende Mai! Heia Norge!
A couple of weeks ago a collection of three signs convinced me to apply for a job at the local barnehage (pre-school). First, Curt Rice, a professor at the University and friend encouraged me to apply as a great way to practice Norwegian and get paid just by playing with kids. Then, the next day I was on the bus when a group of 25 barnehage kids came on the bus going on some type of field trip. They were very energetic and their teacher was an outdoors, young, very good looking girl. I thought, yeah, maybe I should consider this! Then, the day after the bus sign, Kjersti told me about her great experience at a barnehage in her home town. After the cock crowed three times, I decided to believe and applied. The lady sounded very interested and told me to call her back when I returned in October.
Well, at 7.30am on the 16th, after going to bed at 2.30am, my phone rang. I woke up and answered it and was surprised to find out it was the barnhage calling and asking if I could come work at 8.30am that day! I said yes in a sleepy state and made my way over to the pre-school.
And it was great! Even though I was extremely tired, I had so much fun with the kids and was happy to feel like I was doing something that not only paid, but also paid off. There were lots of funny memories from my first day. I arrived and started playing with the kids who in our class were 3-6 years old, jumping in with what would be 7 and a half hours of Norwegian. Fun stuff! Well, I let the kids find out that I liked to wrestle and throw kids around a little too soon I think! After about an hour, I was the climbing tree and over half of the 15 kids there were climbing on me and pulling on every limb and hair follicle I have. It was great though, even though they won the fight, I put up a good match.
There were two other teachers there if you could call us that. They were very nice and helped me out. The first sign I was a newcomer was at lunch. I was responsible for cutting the bread for the sandwiches and made the cardinal sin of cutting the bread the wrong way! It reminded me of being in the States and eating a sandwich made by someone else who cut the bread differently. The kids all looked at it kind of confused. The other teacher told them that it was good to try new things and that it would taste the same. Finally, they gave in and started eating. I thought it was funny too because a lot of them commented on how the bread looked like a sail boat, not just any boat, but specifically a sail boat. A good reminder that I was indeed in a fishing, sea-loving community.
Another highlight was going outside. It was the 16th of May, but we were still in the midst of two days of snow. The snow was coming down in huge flakes and it was just like winter. So, I had the pleasure of bundling up the kids in their snow suits! First the wool long underwear, both pants and top. Then the waterproof snowpant-like overalls with the matching water proof coat. Then the big rubber boots, hats, and mittens. They waddled out to the playground for some outside time...and when I say some, I mean Norwegian some. We were outside playing in the snow from 1.30-4pm with a 20 min break to eat carrots as a snack! It was crazy. Fortunately for me, Norway treats their workers well, and I have a half hour lunch and two mandatory 15 min breaks. I got to warm up inside and realize that the more I work at the barnehage, the more I will be addicted to coffee, every drinks it during breaks and almost forces it down you!
I had fun outside in the May snow. It tastes better than February snow! I played games with kids. I made a basketball hoop that I held out of some string and had contests throwing snowballs at trees. Of course, all the games seemed to end up with all the kids throwing snowballs at me. It was fun though. They don't have very good aim, so I was able to survive without too many injuries.
Again this morning, the barnehage called, but I couldn't work today and was too wiped out from Norway's Constitution Day, Syttende Mai (more on that soon!), to substitute today. I am very excited though to continue working all next year. It's a great way to learn Norwegian, I get paid well (about 150 bucks for the day), and it's just plain fun. I'm going to have to work out over the summer though so I can throw the kids around!
I headed to the Tromsø football game yesterday against the hated Rosenburg club from Trondheim. They are like the New York Yankees of Norwegian football. 
The game was great, ending in a 1-1 tie, but the most shocking part was the weather: snow! Just when you thought it was safe to live above the Arctic Circle, you get snow...on May 14th! I am looking out the window right now as flurries* fall, somehow simultaneous with the sun shining. Not sure how it works, I just know that I'm staying inside.**
*Editor's note: I had to edit the blog because what was flurries are now near blizzard-like snow. What is going on?!
**Second Editor's Note: This picture was taken at 12.30am. Yes, the midnight sun (and snow?) is nearly upon us!
Last night I had a great adventure with my friends Rachel, Line, and Stian. We went on a mission to have a drink in all the pubs in Tromsø that we had never set foot in. We failed in the ultimate goal, but we had a great time and found a few interesting places.
The night started at Rachel's where we watched the Norwegian Idol. It is absolutely huge here and they are down to the final three. It must have been torch night because we heard Seal's "Kissed by a Rose," Sinead O'Conner's "Nothing Comes to You," and "No One Knows What It's Like" by a Creed-like band with a rough voice. Anyways, a good show with tension mounting for the final next week!
After hearing the art of Idol, we decided to make our first hop the Verdensteatre which is home to the old movie theatre in Tromsø. It is a beautiful old building and just this fall they added a bar on the bottom of the theatre that is very classy. They had fancy glasses, color changing table lights, and lots of 40 something artsy, smart people. Stian and I decided to talk about Nietzche, religion, and the difference between neo-liberal and Keynesian economic models in order to fit in with the crowd. A definite mac crowd, if only I would have had it I could have fit in.
We then headed to Le Mirage, which was like a more crowded, less modern Verdensteatre. Again, smart clientel and huge leather chairs. We continued our religion talk and Stian even had an "Old Danish," which is an old man's drink similar to Jægermeister.
From Le Mirage we headed to the most random stop of the night: G. The people there were all over 55 and all single. Kind of a weird mix. We sat in the corner and asked if they had a drink menu. Nope, only a couple types of beer and one type of wine. Well, at least the bathroom was clean. We sat in the corner and tried to avoid the waiter who was a little too anxious to speak English. A corona without lime and a 3 kroner water made this spot a "glad we've been there, not going back" type place.
Then to Meieriet, the best stop of the night. We'd been there before, but it was half price drinks and they have great strawberry daquiris as well as the best dj in Tromsø. The young crowd with students and young adults as well as dim lighting made it a fun spot to chat, dance, and people watch without getting caught. We stayed there for quite a while, maybe a little too long because afterwards we tried to go Solid, but didn't have the energy. Stian and I got distracted by a taxi with our name on it and went home, content with our night of adventure. Apparently Rachel tried to walk home and got distracted by a friend who "forced" her to continue hopping, so she represented for the peace kids in a few other pubs. I think we sufficiently left our mark on the night.
There are many more places to go in Tromsø. As the Lonely Planet says: "Simply put, Tromsø parties." Now I know how all the demographics of Tromsø party!
In Norway they typically eat a breakfast of cold open sandwiches when they first wake up, more sandwiches at around noon, and then the big meal, called middag, is served around 4.30pm. Although I rarely follow this schedule, it's great on days like today when I sleep in and eat breakfast at noon. That allows me the opportunity to eat again late afternoon when I'm hungry and claim that it's a "cultural experience." So, today it's a cultural day. Off to eat Cheerios!
I'm excited to say I'm moved into my new room on the top floor of the Peace House! (see pics below) I decided to move upstair for a little more space and a great view of the mountains. Plus, Stian will also be moving to the room across from me so we will have our own little bachelor pad corner of the house. And, the list of exciting things goes on. Our housemate Igor, who is known for getting drunk and destoying things, hanging up racist posters, and rarely leaving his room, will not be coming back next year! To make things even better, the constant pounding and explosions outside our house as they rebuild the street will be finished by the time we get back. It will be quite a place next fall!
On a totally different tangent, I read the most interesting article today about the Nukak people in eastern Colombia. They are an Amazonian Indian group that has had virtually no contact with the outside world. Apparently in March, 80 of them walked out of the forest and declared themselves ready to join the modern world. A fascinating story (accompanied with a photoslide show and audio commentary) in the New York Times for anyone interested in anthropology or politics.
Off to write about globalization and use my new fascination with the Nukak as a case study in my paper.
Room Pics:
The bed with collage of randomness...hopefully photos will be added soon.
The huge desk. Notice the border around the ceiling of Barcelona pics and my bookshelf strategically shown in the mirror.
The great view out my window. Notice the hole to China they are digging in front of our drive way.
I just got home after seeing Mission Impossible III. It was the first time in months that I've gone to a movie, let alone a high action, "American" film. It was a great mindless break from all this peace thinking! The best part however, is that after seeing Tom Cruise jump off buildings, crawl through elevator shafts, and save beautiful women I felt like my mundane tasks that have felt impossible were suddenly possible. I cam home and took out the trash. Mission Possible! I carried some boards outside to the shed. Mission Possible! Tonight I am the epitome of a domestic super hero. I guess I should go to action movies more often.
Today was the police auction in Tromsø! It is the time when they sell all the stuff (mostly bikes) that have been found. It was quite an event. We were in a small garage and they would quickly hold up an item and start the bidding. They even had mystery items like a black bag that supposedly contained a GPS system, mp3 player, digital camera, and "gold stuff." Not sure how good the items were, but it excited the crowd.
I went with Line and Stian to the auction and Stian was ready to buy himself a cheap bike. After a few bikes were sold, he starting getting the auction itch to just buy something. With a little pressure from me, he threw in his hat on an older looking bike. We figured that it would be cheap, but also functional. At 500 kroner we almost had it. Then someone else put it up to 550kr. At that point I was done encouraging Stian, but he shot up his hand and shouted "700!" Well, the crowd looked at him and there was silence. The bike was his!
Stian picked up the bike (after borrowing the majority of the money from Line and I) and brought the "Intruder" as it was called to the back of the garage. We started checking it out and suddenly realized: it didn't have any brakes!! What a rip off! Well, we tried to look at the brightside...that of course being that the Intruder had a sticker on the side of it that said "Fuck Off!" Oh what a find.
Well, at this point I had to go to the city, but I came home 3 hours later to find Stian and Line on the front lawn with two dismantled bikes. 
Apparently, Stian had bought a braking system for 500 kroner (almost as much as the bike) and Line had at the same time found a new bike on sale that you put together yourself for 500 kroner. So, the construction/reconstruction began at our house, Line with her brand new bike and Stian with his brown, rusted Intruder telling the world and apparently the braking system to fuck off.
We did our best to add the brakes. It felt like the ultimate battle between man and machine. We nearly won too. After combining the efforts of Line, Stian, Kjersti, and I we were able to almost get the brakes and tires fixed. 
(How many masters students does it take to fix a bike?) We have some tightening to do, but I think there is hope for a second life for the Intruder. Just remember the lesson we learned today: you can't trust the police.
The sun is out and we are savoring every second. Another beautiful day today that inspired a run, a walk, a picnic on our veranda, and a beer while watching people walk by. Good stuff. (Don't be blinded by the picture, it's just the Caucasians emerging from hibernation)
I even managed to put a new shelf up in my new room. OK, well, Kjersti actually did it after I failed, but I helped!
Enjoy Spring!
Labor Day i Norge or Moving on Up to the East Side
3 comments Another adventure for Scott D. Meyer at 2:46 PMYesterday was everyone's favorite holiday: Labor Day! Many nations celebrate May 1st as Labor Day, the anniversary of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago, and I was almost going to say that the US was one of the few that doesn't (apparently because of a strong anti-communist history), but I guess I can't say that after reading about the demonstrations held yesterday in the US.
Well, in Norway, Labor Day is celebrated in two ways. People who are on the left go the city center and join in a demonstration for a wide variety of causes. It's interesting because it is like a parade, except instead of watching, people join in the march behind whatever banner they support. Not one to miss a cultural event or demonstration, I headed downtown and joined the ATTAC banner, which protests against tax havens the power of financial institutions under the slogan "The World is Not For Sale." 
Yesterday we were specifically protesting an EU law that allows EU nations to employ workers with the same pay and benefits as in their home country. This thus allows businesses in Denmark, for example, to hire foreigners and pay them significantly less and avoid giving them the health benefits that are supposed to be guarenteed by Danish and EU law. So, we marched with flags to the rhythm of a small marching band, and it was great to see so many people out to demonstrate. There were a lot of pro Palestinean and anti-Iraq war demonstrators as well as demonstrators marching for gay rights in the church, the rights of unions in Norway, and against the privatization of electricity. It was a very colorful affair that ended with speeches and nice sense of democratic power.
People on the right side of the political spectrum celebrate Labor Day a little differently, usually doing yard and house work as kind of a spring cleaning day. Well, not to show favoritism, I also did some spontaneous spring cleaning. I was moving a mattress from Berit's old room upstairs when I realized: wow, this room is so much better than mine! With a big window towards the mountains, a little more space, and a lot quieter place in the house, I was suddenly struck with an idea. I should switch rooms. So that's what I did! Stian and I started moving furniture, taking it out to the deck and around the house to the shed. And of course when I got to the shed it was a bit messy, so I cleaned that and in the process realized I needed to clean our inside storage room. So, three hours later and three trash bags later, the shed, storage room, and my new room were all clean. I moved my bedding and clothes upstairs and already slept there last night. It should be a great spot next year because Stian is moving across the hall and Marijaana is down the hall, so the three stalwarts can hold court on the top floor. I'm not sure how Marjaana feels about having her bathroom change into a boys room, but we'll do our best to be clean!
Another beautiful day today. We're going to celebrate with an evening of grilling and eating root beer floats made from my home-made root beer. It turned out edible...not 1919 quality, but good when you need a fix.
Yesterday was Sunday in Norway which of course means...you go hiking in the mountains! The mountains are sort of an outdoor cathedral for Norwegians, and yesterday it was a beautiful, so I joined Line and Stian for a hike into the mountains across the bridge on mainland Norway. 
We had a great hike, reaching the top in an hour and a half and even finding snow on the top! Line brought pancakes and coffee and I had cold pasta (not exactly Norwegian) and a Hershey's chocolate bar that First Lutheran Church had sent me.
I thought it was appropriate to eat it on a Sunday during a mountain top experience in Norway. Line and Stian also enjoyed it and commented on how sugary it was!
Friday I had a more traditional religious experience. It was the choir concert for the community choir I sing in: Ultima Thule! It is a mixed choir of 24 voices and we put on a great show. We had a small crowd of maybe 70 people, but we got to sing in the Ishavskatedral (the Ice Cathedral), which is a triangular church made to look like the mountains. It is a landmark in Tromsø, and it has great acoustics! According to our program directly translated from Norwegian: "Ultima Thule is plucking the prettiest flowers from their repertoire." We went with the spring theme and had mostly sacred music (a la Luther College), finally ending with appropriately enough "Våren" (spring) by Grieg. My other favorites were the traditional Norwegian song: "Jeg Lagde Meg Så Silde" and two Rachmaninoff songs "Ave Maria" and "Hexapsalmos." 
For any music lovers, I'm listing the program so you can see what the prettiest flowers in Tromsø look like.
"Graduale. (Locus iste)" - Anton Bruckner
"Komm Süsser Tod" - H.S. Bach/ K. Nystedt
"Kyrie" - Johs. Røde
"Sanctus" - Jan Sandström
"Ave Maria" - Rachmaninoff
"Hexapsalmos" Rachmaninoff
"Ave Maria" - Francesco Paolo Neglia
"Ave Maria" - Verdi (we had a lot of singing to Mary)
"Ave Maris Stella" Trond Kverno
"Jeg Lagde Meg Så Silde" - Folktune
"Frühlingsrauschen" - Chr. Sinding (A piano solo that was incredible)
"Ave Verum Corpus" - Mozart
"Cantique de Jean Racine" - Fauré
"Worthy is the Lamb - Amen" - Händel
"Våren" - Grieg
