Potato, Tomato

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again -- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more. – Pico Iyer

 

 

student teachers with the cooperating teachers and ISU supervisors

So last week our supervisors from Iowa State were here, so we were pretty busy! On Wednesday we had a lunch with all of our cooperating teachers, supervisors, and other people from the education department.  They served deer meat and potatoes and it was delicious! The dinner was a ton of fun and we got to talk to some different people.  We also decorated the dinner table with Iowa State gear! The pictures above are from the dinner.

Last weekend was probably one of the most fun yet! Friday night, our principal's son and a couple of his friends came over and hung out with us for awhile. We played some cards and talked and then we all headed to the Snikkeriet for the night. (we're kind of regulars now) The night was a lot of fun and we saw a few of the teachers there.  We laughed a lot and met a few more people from around here.  Afterwards, we were invited to a  little jam session in the back.  We went there for a couple hours and talked with some more people and listened to a couple of them play guitar and sing.  Pretty good night!

Saturday I felt the need to wake all of my roommates up at 8:30 a.m....woops! They didn't mind too much though because it was one of the nicest days we have had so far! It was absolutely beautiful weather this weekend.  Aaron ran a half marathon in Bergen this weekend, so we had a little girl time.  First thing we woke up and made some waffles and eggs..yum. Then we decided we didn't want to waste the wonderful weather, so we went for a hike by the waterfall. It was great besides the part where my shoe got stuck in mud and came off my foot..haha. We've decided that anyone who sees us around town probably things we're a pretty weird group of Americans haha we're constantly cracking up or acting stupid.  For example, when we were on our hike we saw a huge rock so we had the great idea of getting up on it and just laying there in the sun for 20 min or so. We think we looked pretty funny.  After our walk we headed back to our cabin and laid out on our dock for awhile.  We laid out there in tank tops and took a nap while our neighbors sat outside in their winter jackets, we think they thought we were nuts. But we can't resist a little sun! That afternoon, we got to go to a bbq at one of the elementary school teacher's houses. We grilled some hot dogs over a fire and brought s'mores to share with everyone.  We were there for a few hours and had a great time. It's so cool how welcoming everyone is!

On Sunday, we had some great weather again.  Our principal showed up at 10:30 a.m. and asked if we wanted to go boating later..so of course we said yes! We spent a couple hours on the boat and got to go sailing for part of it.  I also got to drive the boat for awhile which was pretty cool J

 I have a ton of new pictures to add from the past couple weeks so I'll add a post with a bunch of them soon! Also..I have officially decided I MUST move to Norway. I honestly can't imagine never coming back here..it's pretty much the most amazing place in the world. I can't believe how much I'm going to miss it. Not only will I miss Rosendal, but I will really miss the people I got to share my time here with...they are absolutely amazing! I couldn't have asked for better. We keep telling everyone here that we want to move here and of course they keep saying "well do it then!" We then ask them if that's even a realistic possibility and they all say it would actually be pretty difficult.  We would have to learn Norwegian to be able to move here and especially to ever be able to teach. It seems like it would be a pretty hard language to learn, so I think that's probably out of the question. One of the elementary teachers told us we could move into her basement and cook/clean and live there for free...this seems like a more realistic option, might have to look into that! haha seriously though, this would be the most amazing place to live, but I suppose I have to come home. speaking of that...I leave in 3 weeks. We  already know that we're going to be a complete mess on the way home. L Jenni and I have already started looking for plane tickets to come back on June 1st..hahaha. I'm pretty sure if we came back in the summer we would really never want to go home..it's supposed to be even more beautiful. I told my students that I really wanted to move here and they all think this is a great idea too. They move to the high school in Husnes next year and they think it would be just great if I came and taught them there...hahaha.

Oh yah, and I finally planned my trip for Easter break! Neha and I are going to Dublin, Ireland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Helsinki, Finland!! We leave the 17th and I will get back to Norway the 24th. I am pretty excited!!! Should be an awesome week seeing some other countries and getting to hang out with her! Also, I hear that the shopping is a lot cheaper in Dublin so I am verrrry excited for that! I haven't been able to really buy anything in Norway yet since everything is so ridiculously expensive. I won't have internet at all next week though, so won't be able to update about the trip until I get back! I'm really looking forward to it but I'm actually kind of dreading leaving here for the week..how will I ever leave for good...ahhhhhh!

Tomorrow, we don't have school because we're having a ski day...how cool is that! The whole middle school is going to a montain nearby to go skiing! I'm pretty excited to watch all of the kids ski/snowboard and do a little myself. I'm sure they're all really good so that should be fun! I'm not looking forward to them seeing me fall on my butt every 5 min though...haha I'm sure they'll think it's hilarious! It's supposed to be really sunny, too, so I better wear a lot of sunscreen!

eg elske norge for alltid = I'll love Norway for always!