The Busiest Week!

November 06, 2017

The Busiest Week!

I’m currently sitting on the train writing this, and realizing that Halloween was only this week. It feels like an eternity ago. And considering it feels as though so much time has passed since Halloween, I apologize in advance for a long post. But hey, what’s better then reading a blog post about your favorite American currently in Norway on this Monday (or whatever day it is when you’re reading this, I know I'm a day late posting this)? Since this week has been so crazy, it’s probably best to start from the beginning and keep this as uncomplicated as possible…

Monday was the most normal day of this week, and there’s not much to say about it except that on Monday night, we carved a pumpkin! My host family had never made a jack-o’-lantern before, so I took the kids through the whole process and showed them how to make one! Monday night I was also convinced by the Norwegian with the best hair I've ever seen to join the choir at Katta, Peblingene. Tuesday morning began a little more hectically than usual, as the t-bane was at a complete stop. This meant that I had to leave the house early to catch a bus then walk a half-hour from one part of the city to the other where my school is. While I don’t love feeling rushed, it turned out to be quite a calming morning, watching the sun rise over rich, Oslo neighborhoods and paint the sky in Majorstua. My calmness from the morning was completely gone by the time lunch came around, however, because then it was time to go to choir rehearsal. I enjoy singing if it’s alone with my ukulele, in the shower, or in the car. Please note that this list does not include singing in front of others. So the idea of voluntarily singing publicly made, and still makes, me pretty nervous. Luckily, I was greeted with such a warm welcome and felt accepted right away. I guess I'm a singer now...

Tuesday was also Halloween, which is celebrated by Norwegians, although maybe to a slightly smaller degree than Americans. I didn't do anything especially fun or scary this year, but I did hand out candy from our house with the scariest costume I could find... Homework. Our neighborhood has lots of young kids, so trick-or-treating (knask eller knep) was an early event. That doesn't take any of the fun away, however, considering it gets dark so early. One house went all-out with the decorations and was definitely the main attraction in the area, but our pumpkin was clearly a great addition to the Halloween mood:) Wednesday I ate dinner with my senior contact and her daughter and although it wasn't Friday, we had tacos which were so good!!

Once a year in Norway they have a day where kids (at least the older ones) all work for a day and the money they raise goes to one cause. It's called OD-dag (Operasjon Dagsverk/ Operation Day's Work Day) and the money this year went to the oil catastrophe in Nigeria. This year OD-dag was Thursday, November 2. Students at Katta who didn't have jobs could do other activities at school which I did as I wasn't sure where to work. That afternoon, I met my friend Sabrina from Austria that I haven't seen in over two years. She was visiting Oslo for her fall break and I showed her the Opera House, Karl Johans gate, and introduced her to Norwegian chocolate. It was so great to see her again and get to be a tour guide in my new city!! Friday I had a math test and choir rehearsal and then came home and talked with my best friend from home for quite a long time. It's pretty easy to get carried away with the time when there's so much to talk about!! That evening I also finished preparing for this weekend's excitement... a Model United Nations conference in Sandefjord!

This was my second MUN conference, both of which have been in Norway. For those of you who don't know what it is, I've included a link above:) It's sort of weird that I've discovered a new English hobby (MUN is in English all around the world) while spending a year trying to learn a new language, but I really enjoy it! This weekend I represented Libya and debated cyber security and Syrian refugees' rights. It was such a fun weekend with so much good food (you should have seen the dessert table!!!) and I got to get to know a bunch of new people from Norway and even a few from Sweden as well as getting to know people from Katta better. The weekend was packed with traveling (Sandefjord is a little less than two hours south of Oslo by train), debating, and a dinner on Saturday night so I didn't have much of a chance to explore the town, but I'll include the few pictures I got below! I didn't get back from the conference until late Sunday evening, so I apologize for this post coming out a day later than usual!

Word of the Post:
et gresskar = a pumpkin

Pictures (I finally have more than 2)!!!