Tiden Flyr

Wow! Time flies! It has been over three months since I was last in the homeland. If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that I’ve had a lot of different experiences in this time.

It’s been crazy here since my last post. I spent an unfortunately significant portion of the week before last in the kitchen doing dishes (each student has a one week duty to clean up after approx. 150 people after every meal for the entire week). Despite this setback, I still managed to get to Lillehammer for some indoor climbing with my class and then to Beitostølen for my first cross+country ski of the season! Climbing was a blast and it was definitely worth the blisters, which now, even after almost two weeks, remain as cracked, bleeding scabs, decorating my fingers. This reminds me of some recent news (involving more elaborately decorated fingers) which all the more emphasizes how quickly time passes. Congratulations Eziah and Alison on your engagement!

Working the dishwasher was apparently not enough. Last weekend was the Valdres Rakfisk Festival, involving 25 000 people crowding the streets of Fagernes (population 3000). I signed up to work amid a variety of odours emanating from fish which had been rotting in water since August (literally). I set up a number of tents on Thursday and then worked in the tasting tent Saturday morning. I started at 9:00 am and worked straight until 1:30 that night doing a bunch of different jobs. After taking down all the tents I had put up only two days earlier, I worked the rest of the night as a guard in the concert tent (basically listening to Norwegian music like the rest of the crowd, only I was wearing a bright yellow security vest and I was getting paid, not drunk). Oh, and I was backstage with Norway’s biggest bands…

 

Sunday morning was difficult- in part due to a late night after 16.5 hours of work, but mainly because I awoke to the news that I was apparently departing for a three day trip five minutes later! I was aware that the plan was to make skis last week but not a word had been mentioned about traveling anywhere to do this! I must say I was more than a little frustrated. After the fact, I discovered that the rest of the class had been provided with a sheet of paper disclosing this minor detail.
In any case, I ate, packed lunch and stuffed my bag in ten minutes and headed to Beitostølen to make my very own wooden skis. In light of the rough start, the rest of the trip went quite well. It was a lot of work but worth it to see the finished product.

 

This weekend was Beitosprinten 2010, or the Norwegian cross-country skiing and Biathlon opener, right here in Valdres. I was fortunate enough to join a group from the school to be forerunners at Friday’s free-technique 15km race. It was a great time, and we saw all the Norwegian big-shots (although the Russians took 5 of the top ten spots). As a volunteer, I received a “VIP” pass which I made use of for the rest of the weekend, sneaking into the lounge for hot soup and smoothies! I went again on Saturday fully equipped with a Canadian flag to watch and cheer (even though the Canadian team wasn’t there…). The cameras focused in on me and the group I was standing with more times than I can count; we were on the big screen in the stadium but also on hundreds of thousands of Norwegian television sets across the country!
 

On Friday, I was sitting in the cafeteria making my Canadian flag when one of my friends came in to tell me I had visitors wanting to see me?
”Hva?” (What?)
”Du få en besøk.” (You have visitors.)
”Hva?”
”Du få en besøk. They’re waiting for you upstairs.”
”But who would be visiting me?”

Turns out, Tor Loken, a Canadian from another Folkehogskole and whose brother I had been e-mailing, was passing through and he stopped to check out the school and say hi. It was nice to talk to a fellow Canadian again! We had a good chat and discovered that we had been having many of the same experiences:
-Gaining a lot of weight, likely due to a diet of bread and cheese.
-Finding it impossible to remember or pronounce even half of the names.
-Staring blankly into space while attempting to comprehend an indiscernible
Norwegian message. (These occasions are becoming much less frequent.)
I asked Tor what he missed most about home.
”The flat.”
He’s from Saskatoon.

I met up again with Tor at the races the next day. We then ran into, not one, not two, (not three) but four more Canadians! Norway just keeps getting better and better!

 

Sunday, I bit the bullet and put down some Kroner for gas and lift tickets in Hemsedal, an hour’s drive from here. It’s the only ski resort in the area that’s open as of yet and I was anxious to try out my new telemark skis!
As expensive as it was, I can’t say it wasn’t worth it. Det var kjempe gøy! The technique was difficult at first but by lunch time I felt pretty comfortable. I woke up this morning wanting to hit the slopes again! I guess I got hooked pretty quickly.

And before I go, I’d like you to meet my room mate!

We get along perfectly!