It was good to hear from you, as always. I don't have a WHOLE lot new to report for this week. The senior mission couple cooked us a Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, jello salad, pumpkin pie, rolls, the whole shebang. It was delish, esp cuz we dont eat a whole lot here. It was way nice to have a taste of home though. Who knows, maybe this time next year Ill be up in Alta and will have to eat a big mac for my thanksgiving dinner (big macs are 80 kroner, about 20 USD here) But the diner was good. Oh, when I say we dont eat a whole lot here, we get whats called MSF, which is like our monthly finance fund. Most of my MSF went to paying for transportation this month, so I ran out of food money real quick. Needless to say our meals have been very small, but we get by. Ill get reimbursed the money though. So our monthly funds are like 1400 kroner, but 900 of that went to transportation. but ill get 1400 next month and the 900 reimbursed on top of that. So itll be better next month.
I did have a neat experience the other night. So the last friday of November is when Norway brings in the advent. They had a Jule (yule) Konsert in the city. So they had a stage set up, then had a childrens choir (way cute), then they had some lady sing some Jule songs. They were very pretty, had a world music sound to them. Then they have this tradition where they light the Jule tree. They have a giant tree in the middle of the park as well as all the other trees have lights hung n them. They count down and then turn all the lights on. The tree this year was set on a raft in the pond in the middle of the park (the jule konsert was in the park in the city, sorry i forgot that detail) So they lit the lights and sent the tree out on the raft. then they all light these flare type things and another person sings more songs on the stage. There were thousands of people holding these flares, it was incredible. After the guys done singing they have a fireworks display. Its about 20 mins, and the whole thing is like a grand finale in the states. After the fireworks all the old churches ring their bells so you can hear them echoing all throughout the city. I got few pics of the stage, the flares, and the tree. Ill send them in a seperate email. But yeah, that was my adventure for the week. I forgot to mention it was POURING rain the whole time. I was soooo soaked afterwords.
I have been sick the past few days. Had a fever, felt all achy, and have had a terrible cough. Just a seasonal cold, but its been miserable, i think that after another nights sleep I should feel much better.
Alright, tats about it for this week. We wont get to go hike today cuz its cold and rainy here and cloudy in the mountains. Hopefully soon though. Ill send those pics.
November 23, 2011
Sorry that I was so abrupt yesterday. Another companionship called us because they were at the store and their card wasnt working so we had to walk over there and pay for their stuff. Then after we got a call from a ward member who was moving her friend in to a new place, but the moving truck couldn't fit up the road they live on so we were volenteered to go carrey everything up. So the house sits high on a hill that has a great view of the harbour. But the roads are really narrow and windey, a LOT like the Hollywood hills. This family was moving here fro the states so they had a ton of crap and the moving truck was HUGE. We ended up loading five to seven boxes in the back of a van, driving it up, unloading it, and repeating. It took all afternoon because we had to take public transportation down and it was about 45 mins to get there. So we didn't get our hike in. But we did get cleared to write emails again today because of that time that we lost.
I can't think of a whole lot of new mundane things to share this week. Norweigians are very fond of heated bathroom floors, so our hybol has one. Its nice in the mornings. The showers are all detatchable so you can hold them in your hand like a wand and wash yourself that way. The word for shower is douch here btw, lol, too funny. Also, all the toilets have a button on top that you use to flush it. They dont have the knob like the ones in the US. The houses themselves here are decent quality, maybe what we would consider a 1940s house to look like. All are small-medium by our standards. Very cozy, but takes getting used to.
They have a drink here thats kind of popular. Its called Soft. It comes in a 1.5 liter bottle, but you dillute it with water. So its usually 1 cup soft, 4 cups water. Tastes a lot like cool aid actually. It comes in different flavors. Theyre big on recycling here too. You can take all you bottles to any grocery store and exchange them for kroner. Its 1 or 2 krones a bottle, which is 20-40 cents USD. Not too bad, except one bottle of Coke here is 15 KR. Sooo expensive.
Also, the ladies here.... 98% of them are gorgeous. Its rediculous. I didnt think it was possible for girls to be so pretty, and for there to be so many of them. They're everywhere...and I cant do anything about it! Ugh, lol If I ever come back here alone I'll get myself in trouble. lol. The fashion with most of them is wither high top sneakers, or boots, sweat/sport pants or short skirts with leggings under, a frizzy top coat and hair in a pony tail. Most of them dress kind of the same. With the guys regular tennis shoes, jeans, shirts, and med length shaggy hair is the norm. But the clothes all look like sears or mervyns quality. Nothing HIGH high end, but definately decent.
The city is spotted with Narco-men, just like any other city. Drugs and alcohol are a problem here about the same as other places. They come up to us asking for money at least twice a week.
The Politi (police) cars only flash blue lights. Norweigians like it quiet, so they only actually turn on their siren if they need to get through a certain street and its crowded. you dont hear them very much.
Most people here drive Audis or Smart cars, but I see more Audis than anything. They're not cheap though. its 100% tax on cars here. So a 20 grand ford focus costs 40 grand here. Most ppl buy their cars from Sweeden where they are cheeper and the tax will be lower here, but its still 100%
So is there anything else you wnat to know?` Its a socialist country so the health care is free, but the medicine is expensive. Most people here will avid the sikkhus if they think they can tough it out, even if they have pneumonia.
They also still have cobbelstone streets here in sentrum (the city center) which is really pretty to look at. Ill send pictures.
Well I cant think of anything else. Cant wait to hear from you again.
The screen by the stage showing the children's choir
The stage
The tree in the pond
Everyone holding flares
