just another month.....

WOW!!! It has almost been one month since my last posting. Sorry about the delay but I figured that I would wait until after my Wintercamp to write again, that way I would have some photos to include in my posting.

I haven't been to school in a week, so it is somewhat differcult for me to remember what happened. I have basically just let myself go with the flow. If I do good or not, it doesn't really matter to me. In English class, we are reading "Animal Farm". Our teacher gave us 4 weeks to read the book. It took me one lunch period. I have also learned how to taxes for a Norwegian which will definitely come in handy when  I am back home (this is sacarsm if you didn't catch on). On 1st of February, my class went skating on the outdoor ice rink in town. I have to admit that I was so what of a show off. But it felt amazing to be on an outdoor rink again after just going skating in the indoor rink.

I am also having trouble remembering how hockey went before this week off...... I believe that I have had 3 games (I had 2 last weekend but I was gone). We had some mixed results. We won game 9-5 against Kongsberg. We tied a team 8-8 but I am not sure what they were called. And finally we lost 8-6. Thats all about I can remember. Sadly I haven't scored a goal yet.....

So now I can talk about my week away. (I am going to talk about this day by day because it is so much easier.) It was the Rotary Wintercamp in Nesbyen, Norway (if you are wondering where it is, it is simplar for you to just google it). It was hosted by the Nesbyen Rotary Club. (All of the names that I mention in this next section are fellow exchange students.)

DAY ONE ( FEBRUARY 5TH):
My host mom and dad had both went away for the weekend (Britt had a skinfell course in Oslo and Johs had went to Germany to watch some ski jumping). I had to make my way down to the bus station with the largest suitcase that I have (afterwards I relized that I had overpacked). It was not an easy feat. I boarded the bus that would take me to Dokka. I had to then change buses in Dokka and hoop onto the other one that would take me to Fagernes. After the stop in Fagernes, I boarded yet another bus that would take me to Gol. On that bus I seen some of the flatest land that I have see to date in Norway. I could have sworn that I was back in southwestern Ontario.  A member of the Rotary club in Nesbyen picked me up at the bus station and drove me to Nystølen (the place where the camp was happening). Only the old exchange students (the group of us who came in August) were there for the first day (the old exchange students were still at language camp). I was in a cabin with just Noellen and Jessica for the first day. Our cabin was significantly smaller than everyone  else's cabin. There was no internet where we were, to everyone's dismay. That first night I slept horribly because I thought that I was going to fall of the bunkbed (because it had no railing and was mabye 2 feet wide).

DAY TWO( FEBRUARY 6TH):
The "oldies" went for a cross country ski tour in the morning before the new students came. It was a short tour, just to get everyone used to the skis. We met up with the "newbies" and went on another trip. It was the first time that some of them had seen snow.

DAY THREE (FEBRUARY 7TH):
Noellen french-braided my hair almost every night, so in the morning I never had to worry about my hair. The North American (+ Monica) boarded the bus to Nesbyen Alpinsenter. We got our skis from Nystølen before we left. (I was using snow blades which are amazingly awesome). Instead of lift tickets here, you get cards that you put into your pocket and as you ski by a machine, it beeps you through to use the ski lift. The first few runs were on the easier hill. The lift was one of the ones that you pull down and put between your legs. It took forever to get up the hill. Almost all of us had been skiing before so there wasn't really no need for lessons. After lunch we moved onto the bigger hills. For these you had to use a T-bar lift. (The way that it works is 2 people stand beside each other and the bar comes up between them. Then you kind of rest your butt on the bar without sitting down.) It took maybe 15 minutes to get up the hill. We were basically the only ones on the slope that day because it was Monday.  After supper, the whole entire group went on a Moose hunt (driving around seeing if we could see a moose). It was unsuccessful but then Alyssa saw one as we were driving back into town. Before the Rotary meeting, we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on chocolate. We weren't sure what was going to happen at the Rotary meeting but we were basically there to entertain them.

DAY FOUR ( FEBRUARY 8TH):
My group went for an 11 kilometer cross country ski tour this day. Our trip took us to the top of the mountains (1100m above sea level). Our leader was 73-years old and never showed any sign of tiredness. After lunch, we had time to "play" in the snow. I tried to snow board but it was a massive fail. I just do not have the patience anymore. We had a movie party in me and Noellen's room and ended up breaking the bed (luckily it was one of the ones from Ikea that fall apart and can be fixed easily).

DAY FIVE (FEBRUARY 9TH):
We had another cross country ski tour. I went tobogganing in the afternoon. It was pretty dangerous. I ended up having to wear my ski helmet. I gave snowboarding one last shot but I wasn't able to master the turning. We had supper outside in the snow. It was "pølser" with "potetmos" (hot dogs and this instant potato stuff). Some people ended upp making mashed potato balls and were throwing them around. I managed to get some of the stuff into my eye. It was Connie's birthday, so there was a small celebration.

DAY SIX (FEBRUARY 10TH):
This was the day that the whole group went downhill skiing. All of the runs had fresh powder on them (which was ok in the morning but very sloppy in the afternoon). We weren't the only ones on the slopes because alot of Danes and Germans were there on their Winter Break. I only fell once the whole time. It was on the hill that had gotten sloppy early on in the day. My snowblade got stuck and I somehow managed to get flipped around. I ended up landing on my head (but thanks to my helmet (thanks Oma and Opa), I was fine). The rest of the day, I was somewhat cautious. I could compare the hill to Bolar Mountain (there was only 5 runs) but it was way steeper.

DAY SEVEN (FEBRUARY 11TH):
We were supposed to go on a cross country ski tour at 10am but the snow was coming down pretty heavily, so it was delayed for 1hr and 30min. This was our only really cold day. We ate our lunch outside and afterwards we were given free time until supper. We had a goodbye cake that night. The next day was just me taking the bus back home.

SUMMARY:
(So I thought that I would just include more info that I didnt put on yet)
Other things that happened:
-watched movies (Kick-ass, Young Einstein, Hangover, Sherlock Holmes, Meet the Spartans, Vampires Suck, How to train your Dragon, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Aviator, Me, myself and Irene, About a Boy)
- eating chocolate and pizza

By the way, if anyone is thinking of what to get me for my birthday (I know that it is in August) or Christmas next year, I want a pair of snow blades or cross country skis.

On another not, it has gotten cold here again. Right now, it is -25.

Klem,   Kate

me and Jessica before the first day of x-country skiing

the downhill ski place

The cafeteria where we ate most of our meals

view from the top

me, nina and noellen

me and my babies ( for those of you who dont know, they are snowblades)

our movie party!!!!