- an uncomfortable moment of culture shock -

Today I had quite a bit of a culture shock.  I always knew that Europeans were more open about their bodies and were okay (to a certain extent) with nudity.  For example: my family and I took a vacation to France when I was seven years old.  We went to Marseilles to go to the Mediterranean Sea.  Most older women there were topless.  This is normal for them; it is not for us.

Today, I had a class called "Ergonomie og Bevegelse".  This translates to "gym".  Good thing I asked about it last night, because I thought it meant "Economy Class".  Boy, was I wrong!  My athletic shoes that I accidentally left at home have not arrived yet after a week or so, so I borrowed Merete's shoes for class.

The day started normally... no surprises.  AND THEN!  On the way to the gym, I was talking with Alice and I asked her if it was normal at this school to shower after gym class.  She looked at my shocked that I would even ask!  Of course they do.  This isn't quite normal for me because at Woodstock there are no curtains on the shower stalls so none of the girls will use them.  But, this is Norway!  Alice also told me that it is normal to "shower together".  There were six shower heads and no curtains.  This was going to be a change!  (But, I didn't bring a towel or soap, so I didn't have to...)

Gym class consisted of a type of running game where you stuck a rope down the back of your pants and someone would have to rip it away from you and you would go after another person's rope.  In gym class at Woodstock, we had belts with flags on them that we could pull without invading, what I would consider, my privacy.  haha.  After that we broke up into eight groups, four on either side of the gym, and we played soccer and floor hockey.

After class was over, we went back up to the girls' locker room, where there were already nude girls getting into the shower.  I had a hard enough time making sure no one could see me changing while all of these girls were totally fine walking around in the nude.  That was quite a culture shock for me!

Another class I took today, we began to write our compositions about the hands.  It went pretty well so far.

At dance class tonight, Solfrid and I wrote up some notecards from norsk - engelsk.

Quick silly thing: my host father jokingly asked me if I was pregnant LOL!  Not serious, of course.  I mispronounced the word for "tired" as in "I am tired" and he thought I said "I am pregnant" or something like that. . .  I can't quite remember...