Work Week - Tangvall Bibliotek

         Each year, the NLC students spend one week working at a local business, doing tasks and practicing their Norwegian. We were unsure if we'd be able to have our språkpraksisuke this year due to covid, but luckily it worked out for most of us! While some people went to work in Kristiansand, Ananda and I stuck a little closer to home and worked in Tangvall. I was placed at the small library there, and Ananda worked at the second hand store. 

        We had rather short days, since the second hand store didn't open until 11, and we had to leave at 2 to get back in time for dinner. Marianne drove the other students to Kristiansand each morning--Valeria worked in another second hand store, Tommaso at the library, Sofia at a different library, Alina at a vegan cafe, and Tomimaru at a gardening store. Not wanting to sit on the bus for an hour while we dropped people off, Ananda and I walked there most days, about 50 minutes from the school. 

        At work, I had to wear a mask the whole time. I started the week by getting introduced to the layout of the library, and I was given a recommended schedule with the different tasks I could do. I worked with a very nice woman who helped me a lot, and showed me the ropes. She was also rather new so sometimes we learned together. I rearranged shelves, checked the drop off boxes and checked in books, loaned out books to people, and worked on a large audiobook project that the library has going. Here's an audiobook I found, read by our favorite På Vei Textbook guy:

        While I was very nervous at the start, it was way more fun than I had anticipated. They spoke to me exclusively in Norwegian, and while I picked up most of it, it was easy to ask when I was confused. I spoke mostly Norwegian as well, though there were a few times when I wasn't sure how to explain myself and used a rather funny amount of "Norwenglish". Sometimes it was difficult to understand the customers and the people I was working with because of their masks. Overall, I'm quite proud of myself, and while I was there I really felt that if I had to, I could totally work in that Norwegian library and be completely fine! 

        On my last day, I was tasked with creating a display for the library. In Kristiansand, Tommaso was making an Italian themed one, and Sofia a German themed display, but they told me I could do whatever I wanted. I decided to do "Books Evelyn Recommends" which was essentially my excuse to roam around the library and pick out every book I'd read and enjoyed. There were not as many as I'd hoped, but it's a small library, so I made do. The end result was a rather random collection of books, but I had a really fun time making it!

        Each day when we got out of work, Ananda and I had the idea to get softis (Norwegian soft serve ice cream). There was a little window right next to where we were getting picked up, so before Marianne arrived, we went to order. The girl was on the phone, and took forever, while we anxiously watched for the bus. Right when we gave our order, the minibus pulled in, and we had to awkwardly bolt, apologizing as we ran. The next day, we were standing in line when the bus came. We had a running joke with Marianne that we'd never get our ice cream. On the last day, I was working a different shift, but took my break when Ananda got out of work. We ran to the window and quickly ordered, and were standing at the bus stop happily waiting with our softis when the minibus came!