Again, it’s been a long time. Here are your prescribed background tunes:
Since I last wrote, I’ve had some really good times and experienced some old Norwegian traditions.
December 13th was Santa Lucia Day. I’m not really sure why it is celebrated but all the kids get dressed up like angels and sing some songs at their schools. We celebrated in the evening by heading over to our neighbors’ house to make a type of bread/bun specific to the holiday. The buns have saffron in them so they turn out bright yellow. They are SO delicious. Little swirly buns of fluffy yellow heaven with raisins on top. Mmm.
The next day, in Norwegian class (norskkurs), my friend Vasilis thought it’d be a good idea to feed bread to the pigeons from our classroom window during our break. Eventually they started coming up onto the actual window and windowsill to get food. THENNN he decided it’d be a really, really good idea to catch one and bring it in the room! This story has no importance, I was just laughing hysterically for way too long. I’m even snickering just reflecting back on that day. Our class is all sorts of ridiculous.
And the day after that, on the 15th, I celebrated my 1 year anniversary since knee surgery. My new ACL and I are still going steady. The nasty meniscus tries to make my life difficult sometimes, but so far so good. Although it was a majorly busy day, I made time to go on a run, since I figured that was the ultimate way to pay thanks to the modern medicine that made me mobile. (ßtoo many m’s right there? I think not.)
Nothing notable really happened for about a week there.
Then a few days ago, it snowed. That wasn’t too notable in itself, but what blew me away was that the next morning, I wanted to throw a rock at a puddle in the front yard to see if I could break the ice…but I literally could not pry a pebble loose from the ground. It was THAT frozen! I was mighty impressed! I had to resort to using my heel to try to break through the deep little flooded crevasse puddle…epic fail because I then realized it was frozen all the way through. Then I was even more impressed!
The only real story I have to tell within this blog is about yesterday (22 December). It was the shortest day I will likely ever experience in my life. The technical sunrise and sunset times you can find online don’t seem very right because it feels like the sun makes it’s real appearance around 10:15 and set around 3:15. SO SHORT. Anyway, yesterday Cato, Maria-Elena, and I made the trek through the fjords and across the mountains to their small hometown of Kongsberg. The drive actually took longer than the sun shone so it felt like the drive took foreeever…but holy smokes it was beautiful!!! The drive was pitch black for the first two hours and when the sun finally came up it was still foggy and damp…until about halfway across the mountains, when it suddenly cleared. I couldn’t stop saying, “IT’S PERFECT” all throughout the drive. Sorry, Cato and Maria-Elena, for my annoying and repetitive comments. The road was terrifying in a few spots but the sights were crazy cool – along the very top, it was a semi-flat snow-covered plateau so it looked just like the arctic tundra. Also, the wind created the most amazing riffles as it blew loose snow along the top of the snowpack. I wish I were creative enough with words to portray this accurately since my camera also failed to capture worthy photographic documentation.
We finally made it to Kongsberg by about 4:30ish and we were all so tired. BUT, the 22nd of December marks a very old tradition within this town, called Drekkedagsnatta. The translation is technically “drinking day night” and it’s a tradition dating back to the 1600s. The silver miners of Kongsberg would begin their short Christmas breaks starting on December 22nd, and they would head down from the mines in the mountains carrying torches as they walked to the city center. They also received their salaries when they joined the rest of the townspeople in the city for the Christmas parade…so then they would celebrate! The tradition has evolved to all of the townspeople (“all” is an overstatement, mainly the younger generations with some rad older folk) head into the mountains near the mines and start lots and lots of bonfires, then groups of friends sit around, get drunk, sing Kongsberg songs, socialize, and have an excellent time. Also, many of the guys dress in traditional Kongsberg skiing attire which includes a very old style sweatshirt, capri-length poofy mounain pants (just found out they are called knikkers), and old looking socks knitted in very classic Norwegian prints. I really can’t describe this accurately….nor could I find a single picture combining all aspects of the guys’ outfits. Use your imagination, I guess.
Anyway, Maria-Elena brought me along, seeing as this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She introduced me to a big group of her friends and it was sø gøy!...So fun. I met so many incredibly nice people. Not to mention, Norwegian guys are wildly handsome. Whewwww, really though.…..moving on….so towards the end of the night, I managed to sit down next to the one person within the group who was not fluent in English…and since I’m terrible at Norwegian, you can imagine our hilarious attempt to converse. Despite the huge language barrier, we managed to talk for about 45 minutes! It was soo entertaining, we were both struggling but having a good time anyway. Norwegians may be rather reserved in day-to-day life, but they are FUN partiers.
So, my new plan in life: eventually, I want to marry a Kongsberg engineer (lots of engineers in this town) and live here. I love this place. Cato’s mom, Bjorg, has agreed to go in on a cookie bakery business with me. Set Town – population: me.
Some other news in my life: my mom is coming to visit in May! I’m kiiinda excited. The plan, as of now, is to meet some family in Italy, explore the Dolomites a little bit, then head back to Bergen to celebrate the 17th of May, thennn go on a long cruise through the fjords. Yesss. Also, a dear friend of mine will be visiting me in March! I can’t wait!!! He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m planning on making him hike Troll’s Tongue with me. I think he’ll be game for it though…
And Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Christmas Eve in Norway is basically like our Christmas day in the US…kind of. We will have a big dinner then “Santa” will come and deliver the gifts, which are opened that night. Seems kinda weird to someone who has experienced a lifetime of Santa coming at night to deliver the gifts for Christmas morning. But this year, Santa will be making a legitimate guest appearance, and yes, I’m pretty sure we booked the REAL Santa for tomorrow’s visit. Anyway, I’m going to miss my family and our traditions, but this will be a good experience that I’ll always remember.
God Jul and I’ll probably write again after I return from New Year’s in Berlin with Lauren Magill! Wooooo life is good.
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