Hei! fra Norge

Having forgotten to change my clocks, I woke up this morning with no idea what time it was.  My cell phone has no reception, and my ipod has no GPS signal; twilight zone time.

Randi, my host “mother,” made traditional Norwegian breakfast: bread with goodies. I followed her lead and had geitost (semi-hard brown goat cheese) and butter,then smoked salmon and more butter.

We started the day meeting various government officials: the mayor, the county governor, sundry department heads. Most wore jeans and un-ironed shirts (the guv wore the only suit), and all were relaxed and low-key. One got the feeling that these people were about something beyond politics.  I asked how the government interacted with NGOs, and the environment official shook his head and said, “I wish they would speak out more. Then I would know how I’m doing.  Am I on track, or am I way off?”

Then we were whisked off to our respective vocational sites. Mine was the Agder University library. Kristiansand is proud that its current college is about to gain full-fledged “university” status (there are few actual universities in Norway).

My library host, Arthur Olsen, is Norwegian-American who moved back to the country at age 13. He’s the electronic services director, administering the digital collection. He was really impressed by the Alabama Virtual Library. In Norway, each institution has to fork out the cash for its online services. The idea of a state-wide, state-funded database collection, available to the general public, was inspiring to him. Then we had lattes with the Director of the library, who was previously director of the local public library. Both urged me to visit the public library in a town we’re not visiting. Maybe I’ll find a way to make it happen.

My host family is wonderful. Turenn, the elder daughter, just taught me to make lefse, the traditional Norwegian pancake. You have to pat the thick batter into rounds on the lefse griddle, flouring your fingers so you don’t stick to the batter. I stuck anyway. Later, Randi came in and played the Norwegian national anthem for me on her baritone tuba. They tell me I’ll be hearing it a lot on Constitution Day, May 17.

Eighteen hours later, we made it to Norway without a hitch.  We were greeted by a handful of enthusiastic hosts.  I said, “Nice to meet you” in Norwegian to one, and she exclaimed “How interesting!”  I don’t know if she meant my accent or my Norwegian or my attempt.

Typing is a little problemmatic, because Norwegian has a few extra letters in their alphabet, making for a lot of backspacing. There’s æ and ø and å.  They use these letters a lot, so they’ve put them in accessible places, and moved semicolons and apostrophes to hard-to-find areas.

 Yesterday was spent walking around the neighborhood, which is right on the coast.  (No photos right now, because I’ve got just a few minutes before the meeting the mayor.)  Randi and I went up a rocky hill, the crest of which was the site of witch-burning and criminal-hanging.  It doesn’t seem to have any heavy impact on the feel of the area.  We went to the water’s edge, which is equally rocky, and then to the beach, which is about 25 ft long.

 There were a group of younger people playing “cube,” in which players throw sticks at targets and try to knock them (the targets) over.  The women were winning by far.  Apparently, this is an old game, from the Viking age, that is making a comeback in Norway now.

 

The question everyone asks is: have you packed for Norway yet?  The answer ranges from sheepish to resounding, but is always "no."  Reece and I are still feverishly trying to settle our post-Rotary itinerary.  Everything sounds fascinating, beautiful, and/or fun, ... [Continue reading this entry]