A Canadian Exchange Student in Norway: BESØK FRA MAMMA (MARCH 10TH-19TH)

I know what you are probably thinking: "TWO BLOG POSTS IN JUST OVER ONE WEEK? WHAT IS HAPPENING?" Well, something big has happened to me and i figured that I should write about it mow when it is still fresh in my mind. For those of you who had not heard, my mamma came and visited me for 9 days.

DAY 1 (March 10th):
The school had given me the entire time off, so I had nothing to worry about there. My Rotary counselor, Marianne, picked me up at my new house and we drove the 1 and 1/2 hours to Gardemoen Airport. She walked out the exit doors with the rest of her flight. I was so excited to see her agian (I was antsy the entire morning). and it was amazing to hug her again. (It was somewhat strange to see her face-to-face after so long. Skype was a little bit friendlier to her.) Mamma was very excited during the car ride back to Gjøvik, asking all sorts of questions about Norway. After we were dropped off, Mamma unpacked all of the goodies from home that she brought form me (gum, magazines, chocolate,etc..). She thought it would be best if we went for a walk after this so that she wouldn't fall asleep. We went to the local Rimi (a grocery store) for her to see what a typical Norwegian grocery store looks like. We also took a look at my school. She had trouble walking up the massive hill back to the house (Tilbury has no hills whatsoever). Mamma met my host family (Wolfgang, Therese, Everten, Noa and Hanna) during supper. It was a relatively early night because Mamma was so tired.

DAY 2 (MARCH 11TH):
We spent Friday exploring Gjøvik. We first started looking through the shops downtown (chocolate factory, shoe store, book store). Mamma bought me a stove top waffle iron to use at home from a second hand shop. We continued our journey onto CC Shopping Centre where we bought (what would become our almost daily) lunch. After that we visited Gjøvik Glassverk and Gjøvik Gård. A hot chocolate break was then required. The town was having a performance in celebration of the new culture house opening. They had "wall dancers" (a man and woman attached to harnesses doing acrobatics) along the wall of the town buildings. The crown prince Håkon was there for the opening but we only caught a glimpse of him.

DAY 3 (MARCH 12TH):
Apparently, I slept talk in Norwegian (YES!!!!). My host family, Mamma and I drove to Lillehammer. My eldest host brother had a competition there with his school orchestra. They were playing at the Maihaugen Museum. We stayed for his orchestra's performance (Everten was playing the trumpet). We toured around the Maihaugen Museum after that. The museum had stuff about the history of Norway (the Danish and Swedish rules, independence, wartime,etc..). It was good because we don't learn much about Norway in our schools back home. We then explored the town of Lillehammer. Mamma bought a cheese slicer (which is a Norwegian invention). There was a performance by an older orchestra before the awards ceremony. Everten's orchestra received 3rd place. Mamma had her first experience with Norwegian shrimp.

DAY 4 (MARCH 13TH):
This was my 7th month anniversary for being in Norway. The host family and us (Mamma and me) loaded into the car and drove to Hafjell ( a ski resort that was used during the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer). We rented our equipment from the hill. I mistakenly took regular alpine skis instead of snow-blades (I was uncomfortable the entire time). Hafjell is set up as narrow at the bottom and it gets larger as you go higher up. It takes several lifts to get to the top. Mamma and I skied for the whole afternoon without taking a break. Mamma was looking somewhtat siff after having not skied for 2 years. We got the car stuck in a hole near the Children's School. It took another car to get us out.

DAY 5 (MARCH 14TH):
We hopped onto the train early in the morning to Oslo. Mamma spent the whole time looking out the window. Our first stop when we got into Oslo was the Opera House. We were not able to go all the way to the top because of the ice. Next, we got onto a bus out to Bygdøy. Once there, we visited the Norwegian Folk Museum. There were 2 sections of teh museum, an open-air section and indoor exhibits. The open-air museum had buildings from the last few hundred years from different regions around Norway. The indoor exhibits were a variety of things (Samis, Bastøy, bunads, etc...). We decided to make our way to our hotel. Along the way we passed the Ice Bar ( a bar which is completely made out of ice and open all year long). After dropping off some of our luggage, we back out. We did some shopping along Karl Johans Gate. Mamma finally replaced the boots that I have been wearing since October. We decided to have dinner out a Thai restaurant (only the 3rd time for me eating out since being in Norway). We went to the El Dorado cinema to see a film (with subtitles of course). The only option for us to see was "Just Go With It" (all the others were in Norwegian and Swedish).The movie was absolutely horrible. Mamma was surprised to see a lady walk into the theatre with skis.

DAY 6 (TUESDAY, MARCH 15TH):
Mamma was able to try Norwegian waffles with breakfast. We found a Catholic church that was close to the hotel. Mamma wanted to take a look (it was my first experience with religion in seven months). The graveyard where Edvard Munch is buried was close by so we decided to go and find his gravesite but to no avail. We went to the Royal Palace and Mamma got her photo taken with a Royal guard. On our way to meet Devin (an exchange student), we stopped at Akershus Fortress. Devin, Mamma and I took the tram to Vigelands Park. I t has many naked sculptures that were somewhat disturbing. One of the more famous ones is the Angry Baby. We took the tram to a rougher part of Oslo. We then navigated ourselves to the Munch Museum. There was very high security to get into the museum (almost like going into the airport). Suprisingly, the musuem was free. It was about the Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch. His most famous painting, The Scream was in another museum. We left Devin shortly afterwards. We walked around before catching the train home. We stopped at Steen & Strøm ( a department store that is comparable to Saks Fifth Avenue or Nordstrom). We left Oslo at 7 pm. Our train had to stop on the tracks because of an animal.

DAY 7 (WEDNESDAY MARCH 16TH):
This day was more laid back. Turid (a Rotarian) came and picked us up because we were staying with her and her husband for the next 2 nights. We visited Fredheim's Barneskole (Mamma was surprised to see the similarities between the school here and the schools back home). We also visited Fjellhallen. We had dinner with my second host family.

DAY 8 (THURSDAY, MARCH 17TH):
Mamma and I took the bus to Hafjell again. It was very cold outside. I was able to use snowblades today and was much more comfortable. The runs were not that busy, many people from other parts of Europe and young children. The sun finally came out in the afternoon but it didn't help. We took the bus back to Gjøvik in the late afternoon. Turid made Mamma Norwegian meatballs for supper. My host family came by for a goodbye coffe and cake.

DAY 9 (FRIDAY MARCH 18TH):
Mamma boarded the bus to Gardemoen.

Kate