My Pal Vestina was back in school today so the morning just flew by. Just hearing her voice makes me laugh, but she laughs at me when I get one of the problems wrong. She thinks I make mistakes on purpose just to make her laugh. Oh, how wrong she is. The class is so different now and I don’t really like it with all the new students and bouncing around different subjects, but with Vestina there, I’m happy to ride it out until the bitter end.
The last couple of days the waters that surround us have turned from a crystal clear blue to a murky emerald green, almost turquoise color. It’s the most amazing sight. It happens every year when the algae blooms. We had some blue skies yesterday and it almost looked like a freak of nature to have blue skies and green seas. This morning the skies were grey and the seas were still that murky green color. I noticed this afternoon however, there were just patches of green and by tonight, all the color was back to normal (see photo). I was bummed because Kory and I went for a walk so I could take a picture of the weird color, but it just disappeared as fast as it came. Turid said in a few days there will be a scum on the water and this algae bloom will release more carbon dioxide in the air than all the cars in Norway. So much for controlling global warming.
These last few weeks of school are just fun and games for Kaleb. I guess they want them to end on an up-note. Today they went on a bicycle field trip. Everyone in Norway has a bike, so the teachers just brought theirs to school. Kaleb’s class went over to Sula today, not far from where Kory’s mom was born. I was thankful it didn’t rain on them. Tomorrow they take a bus into the city to go to a museum, a church and a park. Thursday they have a big BBQ at the beach. Kaleb has hardly any homework this week too, so he’s liking that as he has more free time to play with his friends.
I walked over to Turid’s to find out about the plans for this weekend. Her daughter, Hege, has her Confirmation on Saturday and I’m sure, from the looks of it, a wedding has less preparation. I guess the whole Confirmation thing could be looked at like some kind of “Coming out” party or “Right of passage” thing that many countries have. People travel from all over the country, and often from outside Norway, just to attend the Confirmation – it’s such a big deal. In preparation for the big day, Turid has enlarged several photos of Hege at many different ages and will hang them up around the hall for decorations. There will be a Powerpoint presentation, custom made songs and poems, speeches and lots of food. When I was there today Hege was making a “How well do you know Hege?” test to give to all the guests. Just family and three friends are invited but that adds up to over 60 people in attendance. I offered to help make some of the food so I needed to find out just what it is I’m making. I’m thrilled we are invited and I’m happy to help out, but what I’m doing is a drop in the bucket compared to what Turid has on her plate. It’s a VERY big deal.
There are four times in a Norwegian’s life that call for this kind of huge event – baptism, confirmation, marriage and death. Each one of these events has been, for hundreds of years, a highly religious and formal celebration. The State church has been an integral part of them and beginning in the 1600s the Church kept meticulous records on all these things (which makes it pretty easy to trace Norwegian roots because of all the excellent documentation). I find it interesting now though, that these events are being “mimicked” by the Humanist movement here in Norway. The Humanists are a very fast growing “club” that take God out of everything, but because they are Norwegians, and traditions run deep, they just copy all the events and call them something else. Instead of “baptism” they have a “baby naming” ceremony complete with gifts and party. Then they have the Humanist Confirmation which celebrates the teenager becoming an adult. Weddings are done by judges and not in churches, and even funerals are handled by third party businesses that make no reference to God or the afterlife and are definitely NOT held in a church. What I find most interesting about all this is that it is just like in the early days of Christianity when all the pagan holidays and traditions were going on, the Christians decided to pick a day to celebrate the birth of Christ right near the Winter Solstice so the Christians wouldn’t feel like they were missing out on anything. It’s the same thing now, but in reverse with “pagans” copying Christian traditions. It’s come full circle. And I can also say, these four events are the only time I’m aware of that Norwegians send thank-you notes. They don’t send notes for birthday or Christmas gifts, being invited over for dinner… none of those things we are accustomed to, but they do send them out after these events. And the best Thank You of all is from a dead person. The way they do it is, in the obituary or on the headstone, they write “Takk for alt,” which means, “Thanks for everything.” Even in death, they can’t do away with that formality and no other time in a person's life can those words be said.
The last couple of days the waters that surround us have turned from a crystal clear blue to a murky emerald green, almost turquoise color. It’s the most amazing sight. It happens every year when the algae blooms. We had some blue skies yesterday and it almost looked like a freak of nature to have blue skies and green seas. This morning the skies were grey and the seas were still that murky green color. I noticed this afternoon however, there were just patches of green and by tonight, all the color was back to normal (see photo). I was bummed because Kory and I went for a walk so I could take a picture of the weird color, but it just disappeared as fast as it came. Turid said in a few days there will be a scum on the water and this algae bloom will release more carbon dioxide in the air than all the cars in Norway. So much for controlling global warming.
These last few weeks of school are just fun and games for Kaleb. I guess they want them to end on an up-note. Today they went on a bicycle field trip. Everyone in Norway has a bike, so the teachers just brought theirs to school. Kaleb’s class went over to Sula today, not far from where Kory’s mom was born. I was thankful it didn’t rain on them. Tomorrow they take a bus into the city to go to a museum, a church and a park. Thursday they have a big BBQ at the beach. Kaleb has hardly any homework this week too, so he’s liking that as he has more free time to play with his friends.
I walked over to Turid’s to find out about the plans for this weekend. Her daughter, Hege, has her Confirmation on Saturday and I’m sure, from the looks of it, a wedding has less preparation. I guess the whole Confirmation thing could be looked at like some kind of “Coming out” party or “Right of passage” thing that many countries have. People travel from all over the country, and often from outside Norway, just to attend the Confirmation – it’s such a big deal. In preparation for the big day, Turid has enlarged several photos of Hege at many different ages and will hang them up around the hall for decorations. There will be a Powerpoint presentation, custom made songs and poems, speeches and lots of food. When I was there today Hege was making a “How well do you know Hege?” test to give to all the guests. Just family and three friends are invited but that adds up to over 60 people in attendance. I offered to help make some of the food so I needed to find out just what it is I’m making. I’m thrilled we are invited and I’m happy to help out, but what I’m doing is a drop in the bucket compared to what Turid has on her plate. It’s a VERY big deal.
There are four times in a Norwegian’s life that call for this kind of huge event – baptism, confirmation, marriage and death. Each one of these events has been, for hundreds of years, a highly religious and formal celebration. The State church has been an integral part of them and beginning in the 1600s the Church kept meticulous records on all these things (which makes it pretty easy to trace Norwegian roots because of all the excellent documentation). I find it interesting now though, that these events are being “mimicked” by the Humanist movement here in Norway. The Humanists are a very fast growing “club” that take God out of everything, but because they are Norwegians, and traditions run deep, they just copy all the events and call them something else. Instead of “baptism” they have a “baby naming” ceremony complete with gifts and party. Then they have the Humanist Confirmation which celebrates the teenager becoming an adult. Weddings are done by judges and not in churches, and even funerals are handled by third party businesses that make no reference to God or the afterlife and are definitely NOT held in a church. What I find most interesting about all this is that it is just like in the early days of Christianity when all the pagan holidays and traditions were going on, the Christians decided to pick a day to celebrate the birth of Christ right near the Winter Solstice so the Christians wouldn’t feel like they were missing out on anything. It’s the same thing now, but in reverse with “pagans” copying Christian traditions. It’s come full circle. And I can also say, these four events are the only time I’m aware of that Norwegians send thank-you notes. They don’t send notes for birthday or Christmas gifts, being invited over for dinner… none of those things we are accustomed to, but they do send them out after these events. And the best Thank You of all is from a dead person. The way they do it is, in the obituary or on the headstone, they write “Takk for alt,” which means, “Thanks for everything.” Even in death, they can’t do away with that formality and no other time in a person's life can those words be said.
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