Keene

Who knew that meeting someone for the first time could feel like you've known them forever?  Tor Stensrud is the type of person who, when we met, felt like we were being reunited after a long absense of each others' presence.  I went up to Rachel's house today in Keene to say goodbye to her and meet Tor for the first time. 

When Tor arrived at Rachel's house about twenty minutes after I pulled into her driveway, instead of shaking hands and having a very impersonal greeting, we ran to each other and gave each other a big hug.  Immediately, we began talking about Norway, USA, sports, food... everything!  It was really great.  Rachel, Tor and I drove down to a swimming hole and swam there for a while and went into town to get bagels, all the while Tor told us about everything Norwegian and about himself.  We exchanged pins and he gave me a great book all about Norway and Norwegians entitled, "norsk, ikke sant?"  which means "norwegian, right?" 

Ever since I was little growing up around Rotary Exchange Students, the blazers and pins have meant so much to me.  Tor ended up giving me SIX (seks) PINS in total!  Wow! 

Two of them read: "Skikkelige mannfolk vil ha kvinner med egne meninger" and "Snille piker kommer til himmelen, vi andre kommer dit vi vil!"  These are pins that only girls would wear or have.  The others have to do with nature conservation and one literally says, "STOPP NARKOTIKA".  He also gave me one with a Norwegian flag on it.

I hope that those of you involved in Rotary who are reading this will meet Tor while he is here in the United States on his exchange.  He is very funny and a great kid to be around. 

(Photos: Rachel going to Spain; Tor from Norway; and the three of us saying goodbye.)