It rains a lot here in Norway. It rains a lot especially in Bergen. Megan, Julia and I were so blessed to have a warm, sunny Saturday in Bergen. It was amazing.
Today is Saturday and Megan, Julia and I
went to Bergen. Bergen is about 2 hours
north of Rosendal by fastboat. It was
great! We ended up on the same fastboat
as Sylvia and Donna. So on the way to
Bergen we had a nice talk. We also had
the opportunity to take a bunch of pictures of the fjord side. It was cool to be able to go upstairs on the
top deck of the fastboat and feel the wind in my face and also get a better
view of the scenery around. On the top
deck there was also this Norwegian flag and so I got a picture with that.
Once we were in Bergen then we just started to walk around. We found a nice little mall/shopping complex. We went inside but didn’t end up buying anything there. There was this cool elevator though. It was one of those elevators where you have to open the door in order to get to the elevator. Also the elevator was pretty small. But it was nice and smooth. I contemplated buying a pair of gloves that were 70% off so they were like 300 kr but then decided that I didn’t need them and therefore didn’t buy them. I also saw these very stylish shirts that were 249-450 kr and again I thought that they would be cool but again I didn’t buy them. At the top of this shopping center there was this café and it was really fancy looking with its china and napkins. We didn’t eat there.
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| View from the cafe on the third level |
After that paragraph you might wonder what
we actually did. We left that shopping
center and then started to roam the street again. We found way to the main street and started
walking towards this church. We found
this nice and wide street, similar to Arbat in Moscow and Chelyabinsk, and so
we walked down that walkway.
I saw that there were these people that
were making pancakes on the street and so we stopped and looked at them for a
little while. I wanted to see if I could
get a pancake but they were only for the kids.
I was a little disappointed but oh well.
I then went and talked to the people and found out that they were a
church organization that was out just to give pancakes to kids and balloon
animals. That is about when this guy
straight up gives a balloon dog to Julia.
She was flattered and then takes picture with him. She carried that dog around all day.
I saw a “Moods of Norway” store which is
really fancy but I was really excited to go inside. One of the first things that we saw inside
was a rack of those Norwegian sweaters that are a hit. The thing is that they hit the wallet pretty
hard as well. 1000 kr hard. I didn’t by one. Then I went upstairs because that is where
the men’s apparel is. I saw a couple
cool shirts but again they were really expensive. There was this long-sleeved shirt that had
tractors on top of the arms. It was cool
but expensive ($50). Then I went
downstairs to join Megan and Julia.
While Julia was trying on a sweater I was looking around and I commented
to Megan, “Don’t you think that those two girls look like models?” She replied that everybody in Scandinavia
looks good. I felt like that was a stereotype. But those two workers did
look really pretty. While Julia was
checking out because she bought a sweater Megan tried on a beanie that said,
“Kiss me I’m Norwegian.” That made me have
a really funny comment come to my mind that I didn’t share until later on in
the day. But it was essentially that I
should have had the really pretty workers put the beanie on and then I would
have had my invitation to give her a kiss.
In the moment it might have worked.
But now the moment is passed.
Maybe next time. (shucks!) Plus there was a large pink tractor in the store. Welcome to the Moods of Norway!
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| Lunch. Dinner looked very similar |
We left Moods and found a café/convenience
store where we had lunch. All of us had
calzones. Then Julia copied me and
bought a Fanta Exotic as well. Both were
very good. See the picture.
We ate off a cool table. It was one that was easily impressionable. It seemed like it was the thing to do to scratch your name in the table. Do you see my name?
Then walked along that center walkway a
ways further. Then I thought that the
road was closed off a little ways in front so that we couldn’t get to the
church that we were initially draw to.
So I made a little detour. Megan
was happy for the detour because she liked some of the buildings that we passed
and took pictures of them with them.
Eventually we walked around and got to the church. That was when Sarah called and needed some
reassurance about taking a bus from Rosendal to Odda and then a different bus
from Odda to Bergen. It took her a while
to be convinced but eventually I was able to help her feel better about
things. While I was doing that Megan and
Julia got kicked out of the private rehearsal that was going on. Lesson
learned” If you walk in like you should be there then the Norwegian people
won’t recognize that you don’t belong for a while.
From there we did some more walking
round. I also got a bunch of pictures of
famous people. We also found the central
park with its water feature which is like a big flection pool but not to
reflect on. There was another statue of
a famous person.
In the center there was a gazebo and in
that gazebo there was this band that was playing music. It was pretty cool. They were pretty good but I really couldn’t
understand the words that they were singing.
We found that public walkway again and
walked down it. It we got to the
crossroads at what I would call the very center and there were two rallies
happening there. There was a rally of
Christians. I think they were called
pixies. But they were singing songs to Jesus and offered to bless us or heal us
or pray for us. We all declined. The girl that talked to us was from Oregon
but just living in Bergen. That is about
all we found out about her.
At that same time there was another rally
that was like 5 meters away. It didn’t
seem so positive. I didn’t take a
picture of them because they seemed like they were upset. Something about people dying and don’t kill
more people.
Then also when we were at that spot
badda-bing badda-boom I spy the American missionaries from the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Megan and
Julia were really excited to go and talk to them. It was kind of funny that right after we
talked to the pixies we also talked to the missionaries. They were nice and told us how crazy the pixies
were. We also talked about how we were
coming to church with the Fieldings and they were excited. But then it was time to go because they had
stuff they needed to do.
There was also a parade of drummers that
had walked by. When we asked other
people why they were here or what they were doing they just said that because
of the beautiful weather that they were out.
Bergen doesn’t have that many sunny days so you really have to enjoy
them when they come. The parade and the
drums were going on for multiple hours.
We saw them multiple times but the people that made up the parade each
time were different. I remember one pass
through the kids were holding crosses and another time they were carrying
rifles (with the bolt removed). So it
will be interesting to see the pictures of that.
After walking
around the center some more we found a gift shop. It was a pretty good find because all three
of us found some souvenir to buy in the store.
We walked down
the main strip again and this time we walked past these people in animal
costumes that were giving out free samples.
I am a sucker for free samples so I stopped us to get what they were
giving out. It was a tiny piece of soap. It was to get us to go inside the store Lush
which has all sorts of soaps and body washes.
I ended up getting a vegan cookie that wasn’t too bad and having a
“tester” of two products. Both of the
products made my skin really soft and I thought it was weird. No, I don’t want my body to feel this
soft. This is girly. In the mall I needed to go to the bathroom
and unfortunately I had to pay 10 kr to get the door open for the
bathroom. Ridiculous! There were women walking in and out of their
bathroom and I wouldn’t have had to pay if I went in there but that wouldn’t be
acceptable.
It was at this
time that we found out that Sarah and Nate weren’t going to be able to come to
Bergen. The timing was going to be all
wrong and Nate wasn’t ready and Sarah was going to come herself but then she
forgot her wallet and it was just a mess.
We were all disappointed about it.
But that is life.
We explored that
mall for a while. That is where I bought
a compression shirt because it was 99 kr. (about $12) I had grabbed a m/l shirt and put it on and
it was way too tight! So then Julia was
nice and got me an xl/xxl and that fit me better so I bought it. It came in the nicest bag every. It was a biodegradable bag that had a
shoulder strap that seemed very durable.
The bag was really cool.
We left that
mall and traveled across city center and rode the tram up to the Floibanen
which is the mountain that overlooks Bergen.
It was really cool to overlook the whole city. It made me realize how big it actually was. We had been walking around the city center
and I was thinking that it wasn’t that big of a city. But then I saw the rest of the city and now I
believe it is a bigger city. I would say
that this place was similar to Ensign Peak in Salt
Lake because you can see the whole city.
Up at the top I
bought some souvenirs and those were cool.
We also got a waffle that Julia and I shared. Then, instead of riding the tram down, we
just walked down. It took us about 30
minutes to cover the space that the tram covered. But it was easy walking because it was all
downhill.
At the bottom we
walked along the wharf (the place where all the docks are) and where the
picturesque shops are. All of the shops
were closed but there was still some very nice window viewing that happened. We were able to see where we would want to go
to buy some souvenirs and stuff next time.
Then funny story
as we were walking along that street. We
were walking and then there were these two Norwegian guys that had their
iPhones out and asked the girls if they could take a selfie with them (but in Norwegian). Megan understood the body language and the
word selfie (because it was the same word) and agreed. Then Julia joined in once she picked up on
what was happening. So the guys took the
selfie and then the girls also took the selfies. The guys were talking about how they were
doing this as part of a bachelor party.
As we walked
away Megan realized that she had missed her chance. Earlier she had said that her new goal was
that before she left Norway she wanted to get a picture of a Norwegian guy giving
her a kiss on the check. That could have
been that guy. But the moment was
gone. Julia suggested that she could go
back but Megan didn’t. I didn’t voice my
opinion then but I wouldn’t have let her do that. Or at least strongly discouraged it.
We walked back
to the café/convenience store and had dinner there. I had another calzone. Last time I had ham and cheese. This time I had chicken and pesto. I didn’t realize but pesto is really big here
in Norway. Or with the Americans that I came with. I also noticed that almost
everybody has the same headphones. I
think that that is pretty funny.
The eating place
is upstairs in that café and so we went up there and ate. After eating we were just sitting there and
so I took a little nap. Then Julia woke
me up and said that they were going somewhere (bathroom maybe) and I said that
I would just stay there and watch all the stuff. While they were gone I did some reflection on
the day. What had I spent money on? How much did I spend? What were we going to do? What were those teenagers that were also in
the café doing? How many back rubs is
that one teen boy going to give? (the answer was 3 to 3 different girls). Then the girls came back and talked about how
they just had the most awkward experience. (link to Megan’s blog)
By this time it
had gotten dark and time to find out way to the house that we were going to be
staying the night at. We go to the
central park which is where the Bybaren (light rail train) goes. We bought our tickets and then had to wait
like 7 or 8 minutes because the train left after only Megan bought her
ticket. It was no big deal. We just waited a little bit and then got on
the train. On the train I enjoyed
wi--fi. So I updated my snapchat story
and my other snapchats. I also looked on
Facebook and email. It was all very good
and very timely because I was finished (or at a good place to stop really)
about 2 minutes before we got off the train.
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| Neighbors house |
After getting
off the train we looked at the board and saw that the bus 60 was pulling up and
that was the one that we needed. So we
jumped on that bus and talked to the bus driver about getting to where we
needed. It reminded me a lot of when
Julia and I had first gotten to Rosendal.
We had directions of where to go and what to do. But hadn’t done it before. It is exciting but also kind of scary
because what if you get on the wrong bus.
But I didn’t really think about that (thankfully). We had ridden the train to the last stop and
then we rode the bus to the last stop and met the mom Hallie at the Kwik market
(a little grocery store) across the street.
Hallie had
walked in right after Julia and picked up some eggs. When she was checking out she asked, “Are you
the Americans looking for a ride.” Julia
said, “Yeah. How could you tell?” Then we went with her to her house. I was excited to see what it looks like in
the daytime because everything was so dark when we drove up. There isn’t very much light pollution here In
Norway so it is fairly dark at night, though you can’t see stars. I am not sure why.
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| Backyard |
The house that
the Fieldings live is beautiful and decorate like an American house. They were having a surprise birthday party
for their daughter and so we came after the party was over. Or just about over. There were still a couple friends over but
the party was mostly done. Hallie was so
nice to let us have food and was so generous at making sure that we were taken
care of. It was all so very nice.
The girls slept
in one room and then I was given Braden’s room (the 14 year old son). He was so nice to let me sleep in his
bed. Boy was that a good nice
sleep! It was a very nice bed. It was because I had my own room that I was
able to write the first day because I wrote before going to sleep and then
again once I woke up.
Sunday was a
pretty great day. It was nice to have a
family meal where the whole family was there.
We had egg hash because Hallie didn’t realize that she didn’t have any
more tortillas. It was still really as
well. I ended up taking seconds. When asked if I wanted anything else I asked
for toast and unfortunately that is something that they didn’t have. I felt bad that I had asked for something
that they didn’t have. But I ended up
having strawberries and those were really good.
Once breakfast
was over then we drove with Brian (dad) to church and had a good conversation
with him about our perceptions of Norway and his perceptions. That was really interesting because we are on
different sides of the education fence.
Educator vs parents of pupils.
Church was
good. Megan comment, “The church is so
true.” After realizing that she had Wi-Fi at church. I thought that that was pretty funny but I
would be lying if I said that I wasn’t glad that I had Wi-Fi as well. The first meeting was Priesthood and that was
nice. There was an elder that translated
for me. I was particularly touched by
the opening Hymn. I like Hymns in
general and singing that one really helped me feel the Spirit. Sunday school was taught by Sister Fielding
and it was good. We talked about the
Atonement. We read a bunch of scriptures
and a bunch of people shared really good thoughts. Then there was sacrament meeting. We had these nice little headset things that
allowed us to have the English translation of the speaker. All throughout church everybody was really
nice and very welcoming. I think part of
it was that I really stuck out. I was
the only one there in a colored shirt so I was pretty hard to miss. But in general people are really nice and
welcoming as well.
After church we went home with the Fieldings. While dinner was being made Hallie told me
about how I could use the phone to call my parents and it wouldn’t cost a
bunch. So I took her up on the offer and
called home. Nobody answered initially
which is what I expected. So I just
started talking to the answering machine because then mom would hear the
message and then she would be able to pick up.
That worked out. I was then able
to talk to mom, dad and Katie for like 30 minutes while dinner was being
prepared. The family had started to eat
by the time that I got off the phone but it was chill. I was able to get my food and not have to
wait for other people to also get their food.
The food was great! It was this
chicken casserole with rice. I loved
it. I wish I could have had seconds but then
it was time to go.
The family was sad to see us go but we had
to leave in order to catch our bus, in order to catch our light rail train in
order to catch our fast boat to get home.
We had a long journey ahead of us.
It was a really good thing that we got dinner from the family because
once we got back into the city center then there was like nothing open. We had a hard time finding anything that was
open in order to get out of the rain.
Saturday was beautiful weather but Sunday was the normal Bergen rainy
weather. Because of that, we had to seek
refuge from the storm. We ended up
finding this semi-large glass building that sells fish and we were able to stay
in there for about an hour before our fast boat left. I passed the time by watching an episode of
Boy Meets World. I tend to do that a lot
recently. Pass the time by watching Boy
Meets World.
There were a bunch of people on the
fastboat and there were a bunch that got off at Rosendal. The boat ride was nothing of confidence. I forgot how loud a herd of carry-on luggage
sounds. I would guess that there is some
convention here in Rosendal this week because there were a ton of people that
all had suitcases and were all heading to the Fjordhotel. Then on Monday I looked in a window and saw a
lot of posters that validated my assumption.
Prague was beautiful in the morning. The one nice thing about that first room was
that it had a beautiful view of Prague in the morning. Love it!
Now I don’t think that that sort of thing happens very often
but this is what I got from the experience.
There are certain times when you can “let your hair hang down.” The last day before a long break (such as a
week-long Easter Break) is one of those days that they may not even remember
what you taught them anyways. That as
long as the students don’t get the idea that they don’t have to work at other
times then it would be perfectly fine to do such a thing. We were also going out to something that was
very active in soccer so that was good as well.
Today was an interesting experience being
able to go visit the upper high school.
The 9th graders were given a tour of the upper high
school. It is pretty nice that all of
the schools are really close together so they could just walk over but it was
good to experience. The premise for visit
was to get them acquainted to the school and get to know the opportunities that
they will have at high school. By this
time pupils are able to specialize a bit more.
They are able to pick tracks that will lead them to doctors or nursing
or factory production and management of a building. There are a variety of options that the
pupils will be able to choose from when they get to high ungdomskule. Once a
path is taken then there are papers that help you remember the class that you
are to take some year.
Then as we were getting a little bite to eat (juice and sweet bread) the fire alarm went off. So, everybody filled out in a calm and ordinary fashion. We weren't outside for very long be ore we were let back in the school.
After school I decided that I wanted to go on a bike ride. So then I decided that I hadn't been to the Barony yet so I should go there. So I rode the bike there. On the way there I had to cross a river. Obviously I decided to stop and take a picture. I mean pictures will last longer than a memory and pictures can be used to remember memories. The barony was pretty cool to see. It doesn't open until May so I couldn't go inside but I still went to see it.
I love Tuesdays because we play volleyball for a couple hours. Last weekend I bought a gym shirt at a store in Bergen and I tried it out today. It was weird. Don't get me wrong. I felt cool in my shirt but it was still weird. I played pretty good though.
