My Taste of Winter

IT IS COLD!

Mind you, that I am used to southern California "winters" where the coldest I have Ever seen it get is 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius). Here the coldest it has been is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (-15 degrees Celsius). That is cold, especially when it is windy and snow is blowing in your face. I am very proud of myself, I have only fallen on the ice once. It happened on the way home from the city tree lighting when I was telling my friend how I had almost slipped there the day before, then as soon as I said that I fell. Then I was kind of in a little pain, a little bit in shock, and I thought it was really funny. SO I just kind of laid there for the next couple minutes laughing at myself. Walking to school is a great way to wake up, but it is not always fun. Especially when it is in snowy rain. Here they call that "slud", it is basically just cold rain. It is awful. It looks like snow when it is falling, then turns into water as soon as it hits something. That only happens when it is around 0 degrees Celsius. Now it is colder, so I don't really have to worry about that :)

Me...In the snow...On top of a mountain (very Norwegian)

A view of the Sandefjord Fjord in the winter

Our house in the snow

 On December 1st there was a Christmas parade and a tree lighting in the town square. So I went down with one of my friends, we did some Christmas shopping, had a coffee and a cupcake, then walked in the parade. It was so cozy. The whole downtown was decorated with trees and lights. Then there was a Norwegian Santa Claus, called "Nissen", leading the parade. When we got to the main tow square the Nisse gave a speech and the mayor gave a speech also. Then a local choir sang and the band played as everyone danced traditional Norwegian dances around the Christmas tree. I felt like I was in a movie. It was snowing, there was Christmas music, everyone was smiling and having a good time, we were dancing around an enormous Christmas tree and singing to the carols. It was an indescribable experience that I will never forget.

The mayor giving a speech, wishing everyone "God Jul" or Merry Christmas

Nissen giving a speech.

The local choir singing as everyone goes to dance around the Christmas tree.

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping, I am so proud. I had to send my family in the US presents and that box needed to be out by November 26th, so I had finished nearly all my Christmas shopping for everyone by that point. I am super excited for Christmas. In Norway it seems like there are so many traditions around the holidays and I am excited to participate in them.

I am not really missing home at all. I am really enjoying being in Norway, the one thing I really miss is the shopping. You need so many more clothes here to stay warm, but everything is extremely expensive. And there is not much variety either, because there are not that many people. I also have realized that I am only going to be here for 10 months. I will get to celebrate an American Christmas for the rest of my life, but I only get to celebrate a Norwegian Christmas once. I only get to experience this year once and I don't want to waste it thinking about or talking to the people and things at home. All of that will be there when I return in June.

My English is getting worse as my Norwegian gets better, but my Norwegian is still not good. I have started speaking Norwegian a lot with my family and friends, but English is always there in case I don't know how to say a word. Thank goodness there is spell check on this because my English spelling is getting awful. I used to be great in English, my best subject in school, and now I just tried to spell English as "Inglish" and speech as "speach". Help me! Then don't even ask me about Spanish, when I try and write Spanish it just comes out Norwegian  the teacher said he will try and grade me a little differently than all of the other students because I am trying to learn two languages at one time. Jeg skal snakker bare Norsk nå!