My wonderfull weekend (kinda) and FOOD!

So! I hope you guys (yes, you Zoë, Ve and Grandma...) had a WONDERFULL weekend! I did!

I got out of school at 13:35 but that's only because I didn't realize that my Friday bio class is every other week... :P oh well, I did my math HMWK, which made me happy. Math is the only class that the language barrier isn't so great, so I can do the work by myself :)

We went home and Odd (my host father) made a light dinner like thing... we had our real supper at the hytte! We picked up Tante Eilin (I have no idea how to spell her name) and headed out. We did stop to get some groceries and later we stopped for some softic! Which my friends is the VERY BEST soft serve in the world... something about being able to dip it in caramel, strawberry candy crunchies, or nesquick like chocolate powder! Which is my favorite... skjokolade... yum.

We picked berries at the hytte, there weren't many blueberries so we picked a different kind (I am blanking on the name) so Odd can make wine... Ugh I'm having a very difficult time remembering how to spell words in English that sound similar to Norwegian... I'm guessinf that's a good thing, but it's kinda annoying when I'm trying to write so other people can read and understand... In summary: in my journal is fine to switch between norsk og engelsk, on my blog... not so much.

I took alot of pics and would share them with you except that the school STILL HASN'T GIVEN ME MY COMPUTER BACK!!! I think I should just become a Norwegian citizen so I can get a social security number for Norway, then all the problems would be solved and I could live out my days in the frosty mountains of northern Norway. That would be fun :D

I also learned that there is a A-Ha/Ozzy Osbourn concert in Tromsø, and that my older host sister has an apartment right next to the soccer stadium where it will be held, so she can see everything going on in there without a ticket... lucky her huh? Well anyway, there was a slightly short lived hope that Karoline and I could take the ferry to Tromsø and see the concert and sleep over with another friend (family member) and come back home sometime the next day. I say shortlived because Karoline called Guro before dinner (which was really good tonight) and found out that we would not be able to see the concert from Guro's apartment for some reason or an other... oh well. Maybe we will go see Tove (the dean of Skogfjorden) at some point, since Marit seems to be friends with everybody in Nord Norge... lol :)

So now I want to talk about the food. We eat ALOT of bread... and alot of meat and atleast a salad if not more for veggies at dinner... Its all pretty good... though im still not convinced if i like Salmon and Whale yet... Yes, I have eaten whale, twice. My manners and training in the art of standing up for endangered species have been warring with each other ever since I learned that we were having whale. We had it 2 nights in a row and I'm still not convinced on it... Dang "Save the Whales" board game... Tonight we had Fiskboller... which are kinda like fish dumplings... really good when you mash a potato into the sauce and eat it all together... I am (have) gained some weight in this short time... 3 kgs... which is about 12 lbs I belive... Now I can give double reds!

But don't worry, according to AFS as soon as I get back to the states it will all melt off... and I dont think I look any different. I also think that gym will help turn some of the fat into muscle... or pain... which ever... we had to run(/walk) 3 km today... I managed with my friend Weronika (bizzare right?) to do it in under 20 min I think... not more that 22 min... my knees and hips were not happy after, but the læder said that it was a good time for someone that doesn't run on a regular basis... The best time was 10 min... that's a 10 min mile basically... wow, I wish I hadn't seen how far in miles that was... Now I feel like a wimp... but really, it was all up and down... so maybe not so much like a wimp am I (sorry for the yoda moment... but im to lazy to change it)

OH! and before we completly get off of wonderfull food there is my new favorite Prim! It's brown cheese (which is sweet) that had been whipped to the consistance of smooth peanutbutter... aka SNACKAGE!!!! Im not sure how im going to survive without it when I have to come back to the states... ugh.

alrighty, I should go back downstairs... I ordered my russdress and gave the picture people my adress so they can send my pictures, so Im gonna sign off.

ha det!

Hei Hei fra Norge!!!

Hallo!

Please exscuse my long absence from this blog... I know that there are a few people that want to read this! My computer (from school) is in the shop and has been all week... kansje Æ skal få det i morgen. Translation ('cause I'm using dialect and it wont translate in google) maybe I'll get it tomorrow...

SOOOOO! What's happening to Devyn?!?!
I actually slept on the plane over... it was the first time that I remember ever sleeping on a plane... granted it was in multipul periods of about 5-15 min in leangth but whatever! I was in the very middle seat for the 7 hour flight... the one over the atlantic, but one of my fellow AFS Norge-ers we'll call him N.L. sat on one side, and a very nice achitect student who I hope didn't get annoyed with us (me) was on the other. To the architect student: hope you're having fun in Denmark and I hope you found your hostel ok!

It was kinda embarrasing to arrive in Copenhagen with the Finns and Latvians in BRIGHT YELLOW SHIRTS!!!! And by yellow I mean YYYEEELLLLOOOOOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they're kinda horrible. But also it was kinda funny to see all of our fellow travlers staring at us in complete confusion. :)

I managed to switch seats for the Copenhagen-Oslo flight with N.L. and sat next to another AFS Norge-er W.P. :) It was fun talking about the minimal politics we knew about and watch our new home approach...

We had our 3 day orientation at a LOVELY hotel somwhere a half an hour from the Oslo airport. It was beside a BIG lake and the water was about the temp that the ocean was when I left! Unfortuanatly we were not allowed to swim... :P We played lots of games and learned some Norsk... okay, the others learned Norsk, I had a review. I had a great time then on Sunday we went back to the Airport to go to our respective homes.

I appologize again to my group even though I doubt you know I have this blog... I'm sorry my snowboard meant that we had to go to the airport 6 hours early... but I got my softic! :D

I met my wonderful hostfamily after my almost 2 hr flight (that I slept through :D )! My little sister recognised me! And I her, but my host mom thought that I was too tall to be me... lol. We claimed my bags and made for the car with Tante Eilin where Kazan (the dog) was waiting.

The house is beautiful, and very cozy! I only got a little homesick when I saw the picture of my natural family sitting on the small coffee table in the living room. I'm okay with it now, but I still can't quite look at it. :/ I have my own room! I unpacked my two bags that night and felt a little better, eventhough I found the letter mum wrote for me and cried again when I read it again... oh well.

I had school the next morning, which was interesting to say the least. I had to wait until the middle of the second class to get my schedual, so I didn't go to my first day's Norsk and Math class. I did go to gym, only to leave after I got the year schedual because I didn't have any gym clothes... Next Monday. I have Biologi at the end of the day so I did go to that, and met a few of my class mates and the lærer. She's nice, but after I finish this and eat middag (supper) I need to go do her HMWK. I have Biology, Sociology and the lowest math class available. Which I think might be my easiest class for a while, the language barrier isn't so big in math. Those are the classes I chose, I'm also taking Norsk, Religion and History... I enjoy them because they are with my klass... Æ er RUSS!!! Russ is the last year in Norwegian schools... not college. They get some really cool clothes (here's the link to my options: www.Russedress.no ) I like the Amundsen bukser, the Sko Norge, the shirt that says SKÅL (cheers) and the ... sweater! thats the word... it was only coming to me på norsk... the sweater that says RUSSEN ER LØSE! and it has a ball and chain with the ball labled SKOLE (which if you didn't guess means school). There is a great sale that if I order before the 17 of september I can get 369 nok off of a total of 1471 nok... which is really good i Norge. I will also get a free Norge Flag bag if I order more than 1500 nok worth... so with that sale and the genser... SWEATER! I can get another bag to carry it all home in!

We got the catalog yesterday... So I'm kinda REALLY excited!!! XD ( {- thats a face for those who dont know... Mum.)

We had klass pictures today... and singles (which I didn't know about so I'm Not sharing that one ;P) and my klass decided that we all needed to dress up like Cowboys... I'm Kinda in shock about how many Cowboy hats there were... I mean, really. Only 2 people didn't have them, and this was after people went home to get all the ones they had at home... Now for the big question... Why do the Norwegians all have more cowboy hats then most americans? I don't quite understand... LOL makes for a good laugh!

So, Marit (my host mom) went to Oslo today... and Ole-P is woking, Guro is in Tromsø, and Odd and Karoline are on their way to håndball practice... So I will try to get some HMWK done before everybody comes home... And I have to call AT & T to get my phone unblocked... My to do list is growing...

I will post pictures on Flickr when I get my school laptop... until next time!

Ha det! Vi sees!

The Countdown can be done on 2 hands now!!!

SO!

Only nine days left 'till departure! I have finished working at Subway (eat fresh :P ) and have enjoyed a quiet weekend with the family on the shore. Saturday was interesting, I'm not sure if it is the imminent departure that is making my emotions feel like they have been turned up to full or if it is some hormonal imbalance... both are probable.

So Saturday I tried to go sailing but my inexplicable fear of getting hit on the head with the boom whenever we heel. So that was a bummer... But after making it safely home with only a little emotional trauma I took a nice hot shower which turned my hands from bright purple to a warm pink. Then I went Contra Dancing for the last time.

Contra Dance is a type of folk dance that is slightly like line dancing and square dancing... but mostly its fun. Twirly skirts are the best, unfortunately none of the men that were there were wearing a skirt or a kilt... oh well.

Sunday was good, I got about a hour and a half of driving, and didn't crash! And I only started drifting into the other lane once, but we were all going the same way and nobody was around to get hit... so no harm no foul. It was a relatively quiet day, the most eventful things being the moving of a picnic table, my 4 year old cousin practicing swimming for his next triathlon (yes he has already done a triathlon... amazing, right?) and my great-uncle Charlie's boat sank... again.

So now it is Monday, and I am waiting for mum to get out of class so we can go get dad's 50th Birthday presents!!! His Birthday is tomorrow, and the airhead that I am didn't manage to order the shirt I wanted to get for him... sigh... maybe for Christmas!

I am not really sure if I am ready to leave, seeing that my summer began only 2 days ago, but somehow I'll manage... Mum keeps asking me what i want to do before I leave, and the only things I can think of besides getting more piercings and/or a tattoo is Funtown Splashtown, and Fatboys! So I'm still thinking...

ttyl

Flickr Account!

If you saw the post I deleted it had a different URL than the one I'm posting now, but its because i wanted something mildly creative... :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfuzz1111ooo1111/

Look familiar? :)

(I would like to note how proud I am at typing this, because I am doing so on my dad's computer. This might not seem so important, but my keyboard is in Norwegian, and his is not... which means that when I want " ' " I'm actually getting " \" among other differences... I also would note that I am not always the most observant person in the world so the fact that I noticed these things is pretty good too :) )

ttyl!