Teaching in Norway...Uff da!: If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad

“Abroad is the place where we stay up late, follow impulse and find ourselves wide open" -Pico Iyer

Friday night we went to one of the teacher’s house for pizza…and it was absolutely delicious! He made homemade pizza and one of the kinds had a garlic pesto sauce with bacon on it and it was awesome. Afterwards, we went with two of the teachers to the Snikkeriet (pub) and it was karaoke night. It was a lot of fun to watch different people sing and we may or may not have sang a couple songs ourselves. Also, we have gotten to know a singer who is there every week and he is great and so fun to watch. One of the songs that he sings every week is The Story by Brandy Carlile and it’s a great song, I recommend looking it up! Although I'll be honest I think it is better when sung by our Snikkeriet friend on Friday nights. We told him he should get a record because he can play multiple instruments and is a great singer….way better than some famous singers.

Saturday we went with Georg (Stein's son) to visit Husnes. It is about 30 minutes from Rosendal by car (29 km). This is the town where the "high school" is located so all the older students in Rosendal take the bus 30 min to Husnes and back each M-F for school. We met up with Georg's friend Puso and did some shopping at their shopping center. I couldn't believe Norway actually had such a thing. We felt bad for the guys who just waited while we shopped…I’m not sure that they understand that shopping doesn’t always consist of buying things, sometimes it just means going in 30 stores and looking around for 3 hours. J When we got home Saturday night we spent 8:30-9:30 by candlelight for Earth hour because I had been teaching about it to one of my English classes. Sunday we went for a nice hike around past the church and then back up by the waterfalls. It was a rainy day but Norwegians say "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing" and I’m definitely starting to agree with that! I used to hate rain, but here I actually kind of like it. Also, I swear they don’t have worms…which is about 85% of the reason why I usually don’t like rain.

Sunday night, Kristina and I went to play soccer at the lit up field by our cabin. When I say play soccer, I mean kick the ball around and pretend we're good. And when I say we pretend we're good...well, we know we're not…but it’s still a lot of fun! Anyways, we got totally spooked by some guys doing donuts in the parking lot and couldn't decide whether we should stay or go, then the lights shut off. That helped us decide pretty quick! We ran through the field arm in arm in complete darkness hoping we wouldn't trip on anything and nervously/awkwardly laughing but scared out of our minds. I think we've seen too many scary movies.

Monday we took another 6 mile walk to Seimsfoss and back because it was nice outside. Basically we try to spend as much time outside as possible. Everyone keeps saying that it’s way better here in the summer because it’s nice outside and everything is green...looks like I’ll just have to come back sometime! (or move here...who knows right?)

Also, I seriously think my roommates are the funniest people I have ever met. We started making a list of PYP moments (mostly comments from Ashley and Kristina…Kristina because shes seriously the most optimistic/naiive person I have ever met who randomly says “uff da” or “I don’t get it”, and Ashley because shes the wittiest person with the most one-liners) but seriously, I don’t think I have ever laughed so often. I’m pretty sure I will end up peeing my pants from laughing at some point before I leave. Also, Kristina and Jenni have started a war of scaring each other (I’m not involved yet) but Kristina got Jenni pretty good a couple times last week. One time, Kristina got back from a run and saw that Jenni was doing dishes with the window above the sink open and she popped up from below and said hi and I thought Jenni was going to throw the pan that she was holding in the air because she jumped so far. Then another time, Jenni was in the bathroom (in the dark…Earth Hour) and Ashley and Kristina went outside and knocked on the window and she screamed so loud and actually started crying a little because she got so scared. I’m trying to stay out of this battle, but I enjoy watching. J

Also don’t be surprised if my blogs start sounding like someone else wrote them. I’m getting sick of blogging, but trying to keep up with it, but I may just start copying Kristina’s, who sometimes copies Jenni’s who sometimes copies Ashley’s. Because let’s face it, Ashley is the funniest one and she writes the best blog. So we may all just start copying hers every day. Also, she does the best keeping up with it. So just a heads up J

Here are some more pictures from the last week.