ei KOSELIG uke :D og ShelterBox

Let's see...  This week was quite normal (there's that word again).  Wednesday we only had last block and Thursday we didn't had school because the music teachers were in Oslo for a conference.  Wednesday, I slept in, but Thursday I went to school and then to the train station to meet up with Miki!  She lives in Sandefjord which is only 12 minutes by train from Larvik.  She came to my school to see how incredible it is, played guitar, piano and the drums and we chilled for a while.  I showed her all around town to give her a sense of Larvik, we got some pizza and then we made ourselves koselig at home for a few hours while missing the last train back to Sandefjord.  xD

A bit later that night, KATE ARRIVED!  Kate lives in Gjøvik and she came down to visit.  We went to the last two blocks of school on Friday (my guilt for skipping always catches up with me) which were quite boring for her, but then we walked all over town with Sondre and Martine.  We went to the beach, to Bølgen, etc. 

The next day I had to be with my district in Rotary to meet with the outbounds!  I think the number was 13 outbounds with only six inbounds in our district.  Hopefully they will have more inbounds next year!  It was quite uneventful, but we met a bunch of cool kids and one of them will be in St. Louis next year, so hopefully we can meet up while I'm at college!  Luckily, Tone, our district chairman, let us (the inbounds) go out for a walk so we weren't totally bored and we looked all around Porsgrunn.  It was quite small and we didn't find anything to do, so we bought some Norsk sweets and went back to the hotel to drink out sodas and have chocolate and gum. 

Kate and I generally spent the most of our time together KOS-ing.  We made our own meals, mostly, and watched a lot of movies.  It was so nice to just cuddle up on the couch with a fellow North American.  Cuddling in Norway doesn't seem to have the same meaning as at home because we are much closer at home when it comes to sitting on the couch with our friends.  That is definitely something that I miss!

 At the conference, Miki and I were the only ones who had to talk about our lives in Norway, but I realized that I understand so much more about Norway as well as Norwegian.  I remember Tone having me stand up and talk many times before, but it has been a few months since the last time I was with our district alone, so I forgot how difficult it was back then!  This time when she was asking me questions and having me answer them infront of everyone, I was at ease.  As most people know, I don't have too big of a problem talking to a group of people or performing for an audience, but when you throw in a language barrier, becoming flustered happens quite easily - but is also laughed off just as easily.  Tone was asking Miki many questions very quickly to where even I would have had to think a few extra seconds before answering (Tone has a different dialekt on top of it), and a few times I ended up translating it for her as she gave the Rotary smile...  (Rotary smile is "nod and smile even if you don't understand", essentially)  I was TRANSLATING for her!  How amazing is that?  I never would have guessed that I could (almost) accurately translate for someone after eight months in Norway.  Miki is very good at Norwegian for only being here a few months, but at the same time, spending only a couple of months in Norway doesn't make you fluent, especially when it comes to different dialects.  I felt very good about my presentation, even if my grammar wasn't perfect (unnskyld, Sondre) and I didn't have any hesitation.  We also talked about ShelterBox and what Miki, Nina and I are going to do to help. 



from http://www.staffordrotary.org/



For those of you in and around the Larvik - Sandefjord - Tønsberg area: Miki, Nina og jeg skal lage og selge vafler til å fordel Rotary med ShelterBox.  Hvis noen har forslag eller vil hjelpe oss, send meg en melding eller skriv en kommentar på dette inlegg.  Jeg har en venn som var i Japan som utvekslingsstudent i år så har jeg hørt mange historier om katastrofen at skjedde.  Egentlig, vi har alle hørte om katastrofen som skjedde i Japan for en måned siden, og nå har du sjansen å hjelp.  Hvis dere kan hjelpe oss og spise mange vafler, da kan vi hjelpe Rotary å lage Shelterboxes for ofrene i Japan.  Les her om dere ikke har hørt om Rotary International og hva de gjør. 

For those of you at home or around the world: please read about ShelterBox by clicking the link above or contact your local Rotary club to see what you can do to help!

the first spring flowers I've seen in Norway!

EXTRA NOTE:  While Kate and I were sitting around (thinking no one else had arrived to the conference yet, but were actually downstairs), we talked to an outbound boy, and he thought we were there for the orientation as outbounds as well!!  HE THOUGHT WE WERE NORWEGIAN!!! :D (Meaning, our Norwegian is that good) :):):)