Visual Impressions

 
View of Sarpsborg from Per        Per and Lill’s cabin in Hallingdal.
and Lill’s appartment.

 
                  Ragnhild, Katalin, Elise, me, Marthe, Ivar

           
              Jotenheim in the background.

2010-11 HQ Hans and Sindre          Valdres Folkehogskole

First Impressions

Norway. What a welcome! Upon approaching my new home, a ferry announcement proclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to welcome you to- our hotdogstand"? Per and Lill gave a much more appropriate and warming welcome. They recognized me right away, like my friend on the plane, by my red Montreal Canadiens hat. They have a very nice appartment and we enjoyed Friday night's fresh shrimp and white wine while taking in a panoramic view of Sarpsborg. After finding a new guitar, Per and I drove to their mountain cabin. There, we had a very relaxing evening as we "appreciated the silence and stillness of the mountains, the sweet fresh air, and the warmth of the fire" (my attempt at poetry in Per and Lill's guest book).


Since then, Per has generously completed the long drive to Valdres Folkehogskole. He stayed to take in the opening ceremonies (which I am quite sure he understood far better than I) and a cold lunch. From this moment on, I have been extremely busy. Meeting many new friends, including my room mate, Sundre, has taking up most of my spare time. It is impossible to remember all of their names, and in some cases, simply pronouncing them is a challenge. Sadly, the names are the easiest part, and as you may have read on facebook, I have learned to "laugh when they laugh, and pretend to understand" when bombarded with foriegn words of hidden meanings. On the other hand, nearing the end of my third day here, my vocabulary is consistently expanding (very slowly, but consistently).

With four meals a day, and a significant lack of sleep, I am leading a healthy just-started-living-on-your-own lifestyle. It's a pretty tight schedule, but we've been taking in a lot of information (some of us successfully) and doing typical beginning-of-the-year type things. After the next week, we start our regular programs and the routines should set in a little bit more. Then I can hopefully get back to the training which has somehow seemed to elapse for a certain undisclosed period of time. I have been playing ping pong but this exersion isn't quite keeping up to the counter-active endeavors in the cafeteria. A bit of fotball, volleyball, basketball, etc. as well. Far more exciting though, is playing Blip-Blop. But you pretty much have to be there, so maybe I'll put some pictures up later (it involves mouths full of water and a lot of laughter). It's the beginning of what I think will be many good times.

All for now. |(Sorry no pictures this time, I'm too busy to bother with a camera).
 
And for some live streaming, I just inhaled a significant portion of Norwegian ice cream and uncooked cake.

Denmark in a Nutshell

Location of the first Asfeldt home
in Herning. 

Sunday's mountain bike trek with the Danes was a blast. Biking with Aalborg's fastest cyclists was by no means a walk in the park, as suggested by the excursion's heart rate summary. I was impressed with the trails and it was a very good time. I have since travelled to Herning, along with Ruth, who showed me both her summer house and that of Hans and Marthe. We also stopped in and had a good visit with Niklas and Dorthe. Now staying at Vivian and Birthe's, I have been busy sight-seeing and Vivian has given me the complete tour of Denmark. We went over to "the wrong side of the tracks", where both he and Farfar (Johs) grew up. After the war, I am told they were part of a gang there, in order to stand up to the "enemy" on the other side of the train tracks. This along with other memories made number 31 an interesting place to see.

On Tuesday, it was back to school- and I thought I would never have to go back! This time, though, it was in Danish! I was invited by my cousin, Allette, to spend a day with her at school. It was great to talk to the young people of Denmark. Many things were different here from in Canada; the universal use of laptops, the absence of lockers and bells between classes, and the general atmosphere itself. I also got an impression of very positive staff-student interaction. For the most part, students seemed to be left to their own freedom, which, when not playing Tetris, appeared to be used quite efficiently. I attended a biology class and a physics class, both of which covered material I was already familiar with. This made the language barrier somewhat easier to cross. I even answered a question in physics! History and "Innovations" on the other hand... I was a little lost amid 70 minutes of Danish lecturing- although, Allette did give me the impression that she learned about as much as did. But overall it was a great day and dragging myself out of bed at 6:30 turned out to be very worth while.

Among the many road trips through the countryside of my ancestors, was a trip to Hodsager, the birth place of Johs, Vivian, and Holger. A walk through the meadow inspired stories of various Asfeldt adventures from years ago (about 70 years ago!). Although the farm was torn down, Vivian showed me their potato bunker (now a small museum) and the church. During their years at Hodsager, a nieghbor often let out her domestic doves. Unfortunately, the doves consistently chose to eat the chicken feed at the Asfeldt farm. My great-grandmother had had enough of this, and after futile complaints, she eventually trapped them. Vivian tells me this neighbor came by one day, inquiring as to the whereabouts of her doves, asking if they had been seen lately. "No, we haven't seen them." The dove keeper left, oblivious that her birds were right under her nose, sizzling on the stove.

Niklas came to Herning on Wednesday, and we spent a few hours at the mall, while the rain poured outside (it rained incessantly for more than two straight days). It was a good time, Niklas is very easy to talk to. He also accompanied us up to a lake, the name of which escapes me (names are hard to remember when you can't even pronounce them in the first place), and we then continued on toVivian and Birthe's summer house. We were finally lucky enough to have a day of sunshine, and the water was beautiful.

I must apologize because I have a failed to mention what may be the most important aspect of Denmark. You guessed it, the food! So far, I have eaten every day. I meant I have eaten LOTS every day. Pastries for breakfast, Danish butter and cheeses, etc. for lunch, and everything else for supper. Dad told me before I left that I would likely be eating potatoes every day. He was right. He also said that every time I eat potatoes, they will have a different sauce, or be cooked in a different dish. He was right. The food is great and I am not yet tired of potatoes. On Wednesday I went for a run around the lake to try and burn off some of the pastries. On Thursday, though, I ate as much as possible, partly because Torben's steaks and Helle's potatoes tasted so good, but also to heed Vivian's warning that I would likely starve in Norway, where they eat fish for breakfast, fish for lunch, and fish for supper (don't worry, I like fish). The post-dinner football and hockey games were a blast with young Holger. I did not realize there were such skilled hockey players in Denmark (not exacly the land of ice and snow).

My stay in Denmark was highly enjoyable, and I must thank everyone for their very generous hospitality. I am sure to return soon.

-written en route to Oslo (on the ferry, where it is very difficult to get around with four pieces of luggage, let alone use the washroom, or find something to eat)

A Great Welcome to Europe!

Riding through an area of Aalborg designated
for small cabins and gardens. Bylaws
prohibit people from staying here at night.
The concept originated in World War One
when citizens were required to grow most
of their own food.

Well, I made it! I caught a few winks between Iceland and Copenhagen and- actually that was all. The trip was long but it went much quicker with people to talk to. I celebrated my 18th with a man from Halifax on the first flight (I only had one). I met a Columbian from Montreal on a trip to Iceland and Norway who disagreed with supporting hockey and soccer teams due to the associated injustifiable depth of emotion? I asked him how Columbia did in the World Cup and it explained a lot. I also talked to a German who had spent 10 months in Canada, and, by coincidence, had left Germany on her birthday (for the record, Helena asked me to come home to Germany with her...). On the third flight I discovered an even more powerful symbol of Canadian identity than Tim Hortons; upon seeing my Montreal Canadians cap, a fellow traveller struck up some conversation, ending with the fact that he had bought a Habs jersey while "down under", in Australia. We "Canadiens" truly are respected around the globe. On the train, I made friends with a mother and her son, returning from Scotland, by kicking them out of my seat. After many futile attempts at sleep, we talked about various things for five hours on the way to Aalborg, but only when he wasn't blasting German Screamo for the entire car to hear (he said that there wasn't any good Danish music). My flights all went quite smoothly, there were no major problems and I managed to struggle my way onto the train somehow with four pieces of luggage. It was very interesting to talk to all of these people and it has made me even more excited for what is still to come.

I am currently with Hanne, Jørgen, Henrik, Henriette, and Ruth and we have been biking around Aalborg and to the docks, playing football, "geo-caching", and while not relaxing or enjoying delicious meals, throwing apples at each other in the backyard. It was also great to see Keld, Sanne and Stene who were also here today for much of the afternoon and evening. Tomorrow the plan is to take to the "mountains" of Denmark and storm through 23 kilometres of fresh singletrack with Kelt, Jørgen (who both returned from bike races today with gold medals; Kelt's road team was first of about 40 teams in a 250 km race while Jorgen tackled a checkpoint style mountain bike race on his own, easily coming out on top), and Henrik. They should be tired tomorrow so hopefully I can keep up. So far, it has been a very good time. Hei from Denmark!

The sunset from Jorgen and Hanne's backyard.

The Beginning of a New Chapter

Hey folks! Welcome to my blog. Some of you may be wondering what exactly to expect on this page. To prevent disappointment, keep your expectations low... However, I will do my best to make regular posts. In terms of expectations, I myself am not sure exactly what this experience will bring but I will tell you a little of what I know. I am spending ten months at a Norwegian Folkehogskule, registered in an outdoor education program. It's called Valdres Folkhogskule and it's just west of Lillehammer. You can check it out at http://www.vintereventyr.no/ if you like. Basically, I'm spending a year learning Norwegian, skiing, climbing and the like. I am staying in residence at the school but much of the time (over 100 nights) will be spent in tents or under the stars. That's about all I'll tell you for now, I'll fill you in as the year rolls out.

I am currently relaxing at Grandpa and Shirley's in Sechelt with the whole clan, and we are heading to Calgary from here for my flight to Norway on the 12th! Mom and Dad are kicking me out as soon as they can, I happen to be leaving on the day of my 18th birthday! My bags are packed- mostly, my plans are set to visit relatives in Denmark and Norway when I get there, and I think I'm ready to start school on the 22nd. My skis have been sent over with Great Uncle Vivian, from Denmark, and my bike is en route with Canada Post. All that's left to go is me! I'm not too nervous yet, I don't think, but I am waiting with anticipation. My next post will be from Europe!