This morning I stood waiting for the bus and the stereotypical Norwegian arrived wearing his "Skullcandy" headphones, tight jeans, and leaning casually on the bus stop. We both minded out own business of course, but we were briefly united as a car sped by splashing a big puddle of water across both of our legs. We simultaneously looked down at the damage, and then look at each other, and laughed. Then, back to the solitude, but for a brief moment, I think I bonded with a Norwegian.
Labels: puddles
I made an important discovery this weekend, that despite two years of studying peace studies, I am not a hippie. The big discovery came thanks to the Karlsøy music festival.
The Karlsøy music festival is a five day music/art/political festival that takes place on a small island about 1 and a half hour boat ride from Tromsø. Apparently in the 1960's, a group of people moved to the island to form a unique living community, or commune, in which the ideals of peace, love, and community would actually exist. These ideals are embodied in the festival which gives space for political demonstration, political films, political music groups, and a week of community in a wind-swept, small, isolated island only accessible by boat three times a day.
It sounded like a great chance to take part in a unique festival here in Norway, so Elisa (who has been visiting me from Spain!) and I decided to go a day before the music to enjoy three full days of community. We arrived and saw the small number of buildings painted with sunshines, rainbows, and doves. We walked by the large tents where the music events would take place and headed to the field to find a place to set up our tent. We had packed well for the trip with enough food for a week, even though we were staying three days, including: Spanish tortilla, pasta salad, meat and vegetables for grilling, a one time use grill, 6 litres of beers, a little tequilla, bread and peanut butter, and lots of salty snacks. Unfortunately, our outdoor skills paled in comparison to food abilities.
We arrived to a location that looked good to our untrained eyes, and as soon as we started setting up the tent, the storm arrived. Suddenly the wind started blowing it started to downpour, not in the typical vertical way, but in a horizontal, wind-driven rain that penetrated our gore-tex, getting our tent, our bags, and us completely wet. We got the tent set up and sought refugee inside (of course after helping another girl set up her tent in the name of community). Once inside we took off our wet clothes and realized that everything was wet, from our extra clothes to our tortilla. We ate our Spanish tortilla trying to stay positive, and went into a small building where they showed a documentary about the occupying/squatters movement in Copenhagen. We then went to the large tent where there was a fire and enjoyed a conversation about the medicinal power of red root before heading back to our little tent.
We then endured an extreme night of continuous rain and wind. A constant 30-40 mph wind with constant rain meant that we got little sleep and where constantly shivering. We thought that morning would bring new hope, but instead we awoke to the same strong wind with occasional downpours. One of the sticks of our tent that was facing the wind was starting to bend, and we were nervous that soon we would be blown away like Dorothy. We headed to "town," meaning the one building by the dock where the cafe and post office were connected, and had a cup of coffee with the locals. We started talking with one of the locals who said that there was a boat leaving at 12:15. We looked at each other and decided that was it.
We dashed back to our wet camp, tore everything down and shoved it in my backpack and did our typical dash to the boat just in time to come home. When we arrived from the boat we saw the huge line of people heading to Karlsøy. They looked a little curious wondering if we knew that the festival was just starting, and we just had to nod and admit that, no. We're not hippies.
We headed home to hot showers, movies, and began to eat our food that was already prepared. Pasta salad, grilling, and lots of great snacks. Not bad. Of course, today it is sunny and would have probably been a perfect day for a festival, but I think both Elisa and I are content to support alternative living from a distance. Peace and love from the couch.
Labels: hippies
