A Fun Family Weekend

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         I had a wonderful time visiting my Norwegian family this weekend! Anne Tone picked me up on her way home from work Friday evening, and I spent Friday and Saturday night at her house. On Saturday, we  took a nice walking tour around Skrelia, a beautiful area that there used to be glaciers going through. It has been very rainy recently, so the water was high, but we wore our hiking boots and had a great time!


  

        We walked a short path around the area with Anne Tone's family, Gunlaug, Andreas, and his daughter, Signe. Signe surprised everybody when she came up to me and started peppering me with questions--in English! Apparently she has been learning from school, her parents, and the TV. (That was evident when she asked "What do you think of Mr. Biden?")


        I had so much fun hanging out with the kids over the weekend. Since I'm still only learning the basics of Norwegian, I get pretty self conscious about speaking with adults, but I have no problem practicing with the children. They mostly don't speak English, so we can work together to understand my bad Norwegian--repeating things over and over, and saying them in different ways until they make sense. Sara and Lea took it upon themselves to be my new teachers, and we had a great time talking and playing together. 

        We mostly played board games and hide and seek, but the first night they wanted to play a game about witches (since it's near Halloween), and we spent five minutes trying to understand each other and figure out the game. Eventually we did, and we had a lot of fun! We also watched some movies together--dubbed in Norwegian, and with Norwegian subtitles. Watching movies is a good way for me to practice my comprehension, and while I don't get everything, the gist is usually enough. 


        Sunday was pouring rain, but that didn't stop us from taking a walk up to the lake at Aurebekk. Because of the rain the mill, which is usually calm, had a huge waterfall-like stream coming from it. I didn't take any pictures, but it was pretty intense! Overall we had a wonderful weekend, and I'm so glad that we are close enough to spend time together like this. Anne Tone only works five minutes away from the school, so it's not difficult to connect. It's very strange going from living a 7 hour plane ride away, to a 30 minute drive. I'm definitely not complaining! 


Comments

  1. Sonja MerzOctober 6, 2020 at 7:35 AM

    Whoa--that video of crossing the rocks looks intense! But what a view at the top!! Sounds like a really fun weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoyceOctober 6, 2020 at 7:41 AM

    Beautiful pictures of the countryside

    ReplyDelete
  3. KevinOctober 8, 2020 at 11:53 AM

    How is it that everyone loves you Evelyn? You must of picked up that trait from your mother.

    ReplyDelete

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