SANMUN

First of all, Lauren Colby, if you see this, please leave a comment on my blog containing your contact information. I can’t seem to get ahold of you any way shape or form….and I have been trying to for the last month!!!!!!
This past week, a teacher from school heard me speaking English to another teacher who gives me Norwegian lessons every Tuesday. He informed me that he had a group of kids that would be attending a debate that weekend at another school and asked if I wouldn’t mind joining since he felt that his students had a slight disadvantage not knowing enough English as compared to the other students who would be going who recognize English as their first language and attend IB schools. Completely excited that I would be involved in an extra curricular activity, I a said yes…without quite thinking my answer completely through. Come to find out, this debate he spoke of was a world wide debate called SANMUN (Skagerak and Nesbru Model United Nations) in a town called Sandefjord, a couple of hours from home. (Oh…before all of this, I had attended ONE debate on Thursday to prepare me for SANMUN. We went to another school about half an hour from here.) For these debates there are four committees: 1. Disarm. Int. Sec, 2. Financial and Economical, 3. Social, Humanitarian and Cultural, and 4. Environmental comm (mineJ) There are delegates which represent a country and debate the issues presented according to their countries stance on the matter. I had found out that I would be representing Germany about an hour before we were to leave for the opposing school. So, while some delegates have had months to research their country and topics at hand, I was left two days. Saturday morning I woke up early to be at the bus stop by 6:45 a.m. Vilde (pictured below) lives on the same street as me, so we waiting for Kristian (the teacher) together. We picked up the others along the way. When we arrived I was clueless as to what was going on. We registered ourselves as present and entered into the General Assembly Hall which you can see in the first picture below. After the opening speeches, which I am giving in the third picture, the Chair split the delegates into their committees and separated us all into different rooms. It was in these rooms, with one delegate representing each country, that we were presented with our topics 1. Overfishing and 2. Biodiversity. All delegates were to work together with our allied countries to come up with resolutions to the problems. First, the issue of Overfishing was discussed. After around three resolutions were submitted to the Panel, the debates began. The Environmental Committee then voted on one of the resolutions to pass onto the General Assembly (GA) where all committees would be able to question and debate the operative clauses agreed upon. The GA would only be in session on Sunday afternoon however, so that left the remainder of the day to discuses Biodiversity and to come up with resolutions for that topic. I made the mistake of actually proposing many well thought off operative clauses that the delegates nominated Germany to be the Main Submitter of the resolution. Although I should have been jumping for joy that Germany would be submitting a resolution that could very well prevent the destruction of natural habitats in order to protect biodiversity….the delegate of Germany was shaking in her shoes as she walked to lunch. Argh, speaking in front of crowds is completely fin with me, but the fact that I would have to answer questions about our resolution completely unprepared and impromptu, scared the crap out of me. Myself, along with my co-submitters, sent our resolution into the Panel to be approved…shortly after lunch. After a few more debates on Overfishing, we were dismissed to our hotels, to prepare for the GA the next day. Keeping in mind that the GA is every delegate (4) from each country in the United Nations ( 192....so do the math) you will recognize the anxiety and nervousness I would have been going through. It was hard to know what to pray for….1. That the resolution passes and I speak in front of the GA and answer completely unknown questions possibly leading to a real solution to the problem at hand or 2. The resolution fails, therefore leaving me in the GA’s audience to simply question the main submitter on their resolution, which was accepted to appear in the GA, and hope that their resolution was truly better than the one submitted by Germany. Ha, it was tough. Back at the hotel that night (after the dinner and dance)I skyped my sister, who happened to be on the phone with Vincent, one of my brothers friends back home. This was a fantastic, for many of the points brought up in the original resolution submitted by Germany came from comments made by Vincent earlier Friday evening. I completed the speech I was to give so other countries would vote in favor of the resolution. After my roommate, a fellow delegate to Germany, arrived and talked for a bit, I was tucked into bed around 1ish. Sunday morning, I woke up at 6, got ready, went downstairs to get some breakfast (which was quite delicious I might add) and then head on out to the bus which took us over to the debates around 8. This was my big day. After speaking with Germanys co- submitters, I was walked over to a different building to speak with the Judging Panel to see if my resolution passed. YUP! Ahhhh. Back with our committee again, the debate began. I took the floor, read off the operative clauses, and the speech I had prepared. Right away, Italy was recognized to a Point of Information. As a co-submitter of this resolution, my shaking was at ease.....for a bit, until the U.S.A. was recognized for a Point of Information. The shaking commenced. Ha. He did not like Germanys answer to the question of operative clause 3 which reads, “Suggests that all member nations limit forestry by the use of quotas.” Once I had taken my seat and yielded the floor to the IUCN, a note passing debate began between the delegate of the U.S.A. and myself. Ha. This was quite interesting, and am a little confused as to why some of our comments were not screened by the admin staff, as was earlier warned. Although some comments made the hair on the back of my neck stand, I think it is safe to say that we both had fun…all in all. Well, now it was time for GA. All committees were re-united and the final four debates (one representing an issue discussed by each committee) began. I still have the resolutions for the topics discussed: 1. Measures to reduce the damage caused to civilians by cluster munitions, 2. Measures to Equalize the Uneven Trade between LEDC’s by MEDC’s, 3. Measures to prevent human trafficking an the sex trade through global cooperation, and 4. Measures to prevent overfishing. If you would like any of them, just send me an e-mail or post a comments saying so. Anyway, the GA was closed, and SANMUN 2009 adjourned (after a nomination to impeach the chair...ha). I was so nervous the whole time, never knowing what to expect next, but hindsight is 20\20, and I really enjoyed myself. If there was ever the opportunity to do it again, I would take it in a heartbeat. I even went to a Chair workshop while I was there, and really found it quite appealing. :) We will see what happens. Anyway, enjoy the pictures. Some may seem unecesary to post, however, this makes it funnier for those who know them personaly. :)

Alrighty, this picture was mentioned in the ginormous book I wrote above. You can see the podieum there to the right, and all of the empty chairs which were once filled by the GA. Keep in mind while looking at this picture, that the camera is not completely on the left side of the room. :) OH, and this is Kristian's (the teacher) daughter, Lilie Alice, who was a chair in a differnt commission than my own. Not so sure which one.

This would be Fredrikke Woxmyhr (representative of the Financial and Economical committie for Germany) and myself (Ambassador to Germany as well as the representative of the Environmental Comm). We are preparing my opening speach to the GA which will be given in a few minutes. Behind us, you will see the delegates representing Idia. However, two of these individuals are from Sweden, one from China, and one from India itself.

There are 192 Member States of the United Nations (UN) and many of the delegates representing these countries flew, drove, or boated to Norway to participate in this debate concerning eight very disputed topics. From this picture you are able to see me as the Amassador to Germany, giving the welcoming speach. I also still have that with me, if you wanted a copy. On the floor with me you can see the Ambasador to Iceland to my right, A to India to my immediate left, A to Indonesia next, and followed by the Ambassador to Iran at my far left. Five countries were recognized to take the floor at one time, give their speaches and then sit again, before the GA was split into committions. Below, you will see me returning to my seat, followed by the A to India, and the A to Iran.

Once the day was over and we returned to the hotel, my name were on the T.V., so I took a picture of it. Appariently, the Hotel is able to know our names and enter them into a system to be placed on the t.v. Neat? Heck yeah!

All the girls getting ready for the dinner and dance that evening (No, I am not in it..hehe, I don't like to dress up....but yes, I did anyway.) This is Hanne Marie in the black (delegat of Japan involved in the Financial and Economical commission), Fredrikke Woxmyhr (fellow delegate of Germany involved in the Financial and Economical commission as well), and in the pink we have Marie Hoff (delegate of Saudi-Arabia involved in Social, Hunamitarian and Cultural commission).

The dinner! You already know all on the left hand side except for Martin Thrane, who is in the back there and is the delegate to Japan involved in Disarm. Int. Sec along with Vilde Heggum seated directly accross from him. She also was a delegate to Japan, however she was involved in Social, Humanitarian and Cultural commission. To the left of Vilde, we have Mohammed al-Hayek who was a delegate of Saudi- Arabia involved in Disarm. Int. Sec. To his left, were two guests from another school. Come to find out, the young lady in white, attends the same school as Lucas (an exchange student and fellow friend here in Norway, from South Dakotah living only minutes from where Lucas, my brother, lives in North Dakotah) The lady to the left of her is half Indian, however, is representing Peru. You can not tell from the picture, but she is a vegatarian. (How is that for details Katie?...hehe)

This is Malin!!!! She was my roommate and arived Saturnday evening on the train at around midnight. She was also a delegate of Germany involved in teh commission of Sosial, Humanitarian and Cultural. She wasn't in any of our other pictures before, because she had arrived late. :( So now, the following pictures are of each individual delegate which comes from Røyken Vidregående. Well, Malin above and....

Mohammed al-Hayek

Vilde Heggum

Martin Thrane

Sorry Marie...( ha, but kinda a funny creepy picture...and the only one I had of just you..hehe) But yes, this is Marie Hoff in her greatest moment. :)

Hanne Marie Morberg (søt!)

....and last but not least, Fredrikke Woxkmyhr with her normal everyday face. hehe.

A more serious picture of the two...Fredrikke og Hanne Marie

The most amaizing desert of all time. An ice creem ball! Very creamy, very delicious, and very amaizing. I may have taken more than my fair share.

Marie og Vilde

Cute little outfits of the girls...hehe...Marie is still in there dancing.

So, this is the Ambasador of Iran. He is Canadia, and I think it's safe to say that he was the only one wearing a bowtie...ha. I had to take a picture.

Pimp.

BAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! Martin.....how do I subtitle this one? hehe Were you having fun? Ha!

Nice group picture......

Crazy group picture.

Hanne Marie, Lily Alice, and me. For some reason....overly excited

Hei!

This is what immature children do when their not being supervised....they try on random items they see at a gas station, display them, and take pictures...hehe...(in the moment, this was halarious...especially turning around and seeing Martin wearing a pink hat wayyyyy to small, girly, and Eastery for him.) Why there is toilet paper involved in the picture I am not so sure...ha. Just makes it all the funnier.

Drunk off Jul Brus

Ha, I uploaded the wrong picture. Martin, it was supposed to be that one of Vilde that is rediculous. Ha, but since it took forever to download all these pictures, its staying up for now, and I will just post it next time or something...ha, opps, sorry.

Apperiently we were taking a serious picture?...ha. I didnt get the message. Anyway, the three German delegates displaying their certificate for a debate well done! And just a reminder Fredrikke, the German flag consists of three colors, black, read, and yellow...hehe.

The view of the Chair from the seat of the Ambasidor of Germany.

Well, after a significantly long, blog post, I would like to thank you all for putting up with my rediculous spelling, jokes, and details that were requested by many...*cough* Katie. I finnally leave you with the last picture of the blog....a picture showing all the delegates which traveled to Sandefjord from Røyken! Ha det bra....and Tusen tacos (Italy)...hehe

Sverige

So, lets start with pictures first!

This would be my grandfathers second couzin Ann-Christin and me. :)

Ann-Christin, Trude, og Ivar.

On our way to the cemetary, we walked through a beautiful park. This is just one of the pictures that I took of the wonderful scenery.

This building in the background that looks like a tower in a castle or something...ha...regulates the water pressure (or something...hehe)

Also on the way to the cemetary. Just a cute path that I saw with the fall leaves falling and the "Maple City" lightpole. Can you see it, it kinda blends in with the back trees.

The picture above is of the Norwegian flag and below of the Swedish flag. :) My two countries.

Ann-Christin, Sture (her father), and me.

The grave of my "future" fourth cousins great grandpa. ha. Its a long chain...but I think this is the easiest to understand. Or, I could say that this is the grave of the father of my grandpas second cousin. Ha, even more confusing, yet the same thing. :)

So, in this particular cemetary, there are spots that have circles of graves. Sture is in one of these. If you look closely you will see that...there are two large stones nearest the camera. To the right of the stone on the right...is Sture's. Does this makes sence? Sorry so confusing. I'm not quite sure how else to explain it.

So, the church of the cemetary. Maybe the same size as Imacculate Conception.

The picture above and below are pictures I took of pictures. :) They aren't the best quality. I had figured out how to zoom in with my camera and make clear shots after the fact. I am still learning different ways to use my camera, maybe by the time I leave, I will know all the ins and outs. Anyway, so, above is a picture of Alice, my great grandmother, on the left with Floyd (?) and the mother of Alice, Anna Maria Nilson, and Oscar. I am not so sure if the story is correct though, because I knew who Floyd was. And as far as I remember, looked nothing like that. Ha. Either that or he changed a BUNCH after he got older. ha. The picture below though, is amaizing! It's my dad. Naw, not really, but as soon as they fliped the page in the album and I saw it....I was like "Whoa!" I dont think this picture of the picture (ha) does it any justice and now your probably gonna think I'm nuts. But if you were to have seen that photo in person, you would have had the same reaction. (Okay, not so sure who is reading this, ha, but if it is someone in my family back home......then THEY would have had the same reaction. ha.) Anyway, this picture is one my grandpas secound cousin.

Ivar, Elsy, and I. Elsy is the wife of Sture.

Different generations...somehow. ha. So, once more...Me (me, hehe) Ann-Christin (second cuzin of my grandfather), and Elsy (mother of Ann-Christin, wife of the cousin of Alice, my great grandmother)

This is the grave of Knute Hansen (Ivar's Father)

Oh my goodnes!!!!! I got to go to Sweden yesterday and visit some old relatives of mine!!!! I was so excited, and it turned out to be a wonderful time. Let's start from the beggining. So, yesterday we woke up, had some breakfast, and left the house around eight oclock. We hopped in the car, and four and half hours later, and three stops, we were there. I was so excited. When we arived, we had a delicious dinner that they prepared for us. We talked, me in english, Ivar and Trude in Norwegain, and Elsy and Ann-Christin in Swedish.....somehow, we were able to understand each other. :) Quite well, if I might add. I never knew that Swedish was that similar. After we ate, Ann-Christin took us to the gravesite of her father, and that was really neat. We got to see the church too. Everything there reminded me of home. After we had been in Sweden for a while it started to look more and more like home. The fields got bigger, and the mountains got lower. ha. and the trees more scarce. It made me appreciate Norway so much more. Now I am glad that I was placed in Norway because it is soo different from the America. I dont think that it would have been as great to go to a country that is identicle to you home. I did this exchange to experience change in culture and lifestyle....and right now, in Norway, that is what I am getting. I love it. Actually, I can understand why Bishop Hill is Swedish, because its the same type of invironment. It was a great place for them to settle. Anyway, what else....k...so, after we got back from the cemetary we looked at photo albums for a while and it was awsome to be able to see all the people and who they were and match faces to stories. Elsy had said that she remebers going to America and seeing my grandpa and his family. :) It is neat when people can tell you stories of people that you know back home. It was really neat. I keep saying "neat". Opps, sorry, but I dont know any better word...thats what it was....it was "neat." :) Elsy had made some little deserts. So, after we looked throught the albums, we sat down once more and talked over coffie and Kula (?) cakes and other deserts. They were so kind to us!!!!! Thank you guys. And......THANK YOU IVAR AND TRUDE for driving that whole way for me! So, now for the real shocker. So, we were driving back home and right when we were about to pass back into Norway, I realized that I had forgoten my passport! So, Trude and I waited at the "customs" place or whatever, while Ivar drove two hours back home to get it and back. HAHA. Just kidding. Naw, nothing like that happened at all. Actually, it was quite shocking. Going into Sweden we just kept driving. No stop, no check points, no nothing. On the way back in I was asleap, so I am guessing that the same thing happened. :) It was kinda the same thing like when we go to Burlington. Differnt laws, differnt rules, yet....no problem. :) ha. Anyway, after we were in Norway for about half an hour or soish, we stoped at the grave of Ivar's father. I think it was nice to be able to share the same experience with them, that they just had with me. It was a day of cemetary visiting. :) hehe. By the time that we had gotten there though, it was dark. Many of the graves had candles next to them, so the whole entire cemetary was all lit up. I tried to take a picture of that too, ha, but it didnt work so well. All the lights show up, but the stones don't, so it just kinda looks like random lights everywhere....not so cool. :) The church for this cemetary appeared to be what I think Americans accosiate with the Russians. You know, those "onion" toped roofed buildings. (Whats funny is that in Norwegian, it is actually called løk lignende tak wich is onion look alike roof. ha.) Okay, we gotta speed this entery up...I gotta go to class. :) So, we drove the rest of the way home, I called my parents and told them about my trip....and then I went to bed. Later for now!

Gjøvik

So, I had the best possible time in Gjøvik this weekend. I went to school on Friday to find that I didn't have any classes, so I returned home....on the bus. Which, believe it or not, I managed to have another difficult time getting on, although there was only ONE bus. argh. Why is that part of life so difficult for me. :) Enough complaining, anyway, Trude got off of work early to take me to Røa, a town outside\in\a part of Oslo. ha. I was then picked up at around 3ish at a gas station called Esso by a man called Kjell. We had a wonderfull conversation while driving around trying to find Luke (from Washington) house. The three of us would then drive on to Gjøvik around 3ish hours away. The scenery was outsdanding! Never before, had it been that good. Ha. I think I say that in every post....but this time it is true. :) Again, MOUNTAINS, and farms, and sheep, and all the old buildings and barns. I absolutly love it. That is my favorite part of my stay here, that no matter where you go, it is beautifull. After 20 different topics covering anything from having to pay fines for carying a pocket knife, to jelly and cheese sandwitches....we arived at our destination. We were a bit late because we got help up by a three car terrible terrible accident for about 45 minutes or so. Actually I'm not so sure how long it was, but I know that it felt like a long time. :) The cars didnt look so great, so I can't complain. Anyway, we arived at a motel. We joked about it being a "motel" the whole weekend. One of the exchange students had asked "What do you call it when it is not a hotel, but you stay there, but its smaller than a hotel?" We were all like "Hmmm.... a Motel." Ha. It doesnt sound so funny, but it kinda was...somehow. :) Actually, our ideas of it being a motel were confirmed when we were handed keys for our rooms. They were keys....actual keys...keys you have to turn. Bahaha. I don't think I have stayed in a hotel\motel with REAL keys since forever. :) We had fun. Anyway, on from that ... ha ... we arived on Friday evening at the hotel, and waited for everyone to show up. Once the majority of the group was present, we walked about 10 minutes to a resteraunt called "Peppes Pizza." There weren't any plates, and you sit in a circle. It was sooo cool. So, four large pizzas later, we headed back to the motel. We had a meeting in the basement area with everyone and talked about what would be happening throughout the weekend. They split us up into groups devided by countries. Each country had to show a talent of some sort that represents where Some countries didnt have enought kids, so they grouped up....but as far as America goes. Well...there was a bunch of us, so they decided to split us up into two groups. I came up with the idea of spliting off into "City" kids and "Country" kids. So....everyone else flew with the idea, and thats what we did. Everyone went to seperate rooms, and started deciding on what talent they should do. Since I already knew that there was going to be this talent show type thing, I had previously sent an e-mail out to all students to practice a line dance. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQiwN1hcloo ) So, to make our talent a little longer we all decided since we were the "country" kids of America, that we should go with that theme. We ended up making up a skit about Cowboys and Indians. The indians had their own dance and then the cowboys did this line dance. I thought it looked quite well and was excited to present it to all the Rotarians of Norway. The plan was that on Saturday evening after lunch, we would present them, then....well, Ill get to that later on in the blog. Anyway, so, we were all in our rooms practicing. We had the volume up on a country song, starting to line dance, when another group came in. We ended up getting a little side tracked and started to Samba dance instead. The Brazilians took the "stage" and showed off their moves.

This is Genly and Camila, possible the best dancers in the world.( I now see the picture didnt show up...I will try to load it again some time and include it in the next post...about the banquet.) Anyway, GemGem (Genly) tried to teach me....needless to say, that didn't go so well. :) Well, after the tone of the music changed yet again...to some sort of pop\rap crap, I went to bed....at 4 in the morning! ahhh. I didn't have an alarm clock or a cell phone to use as one, so I opened a word document on my computer and wrote "Please wake me up at 7!" and set it on the floor in front of the door where the next person to walk in would see it, then hopped into bed. At around 7:30, Nichole, one of my room mates, shook me and said that she had just came into the room and hadent slept all night, so she didnt see my note that I left. ha. Kirsten, my other room mate also didnt sleap that night. :) So, although I waited until 4, I guess you could still say that I was the "good" kid. ha. Okay, so, I got up to go take a shower to find out that so many people had used it the bathroom was flooded, probably around 2 or 3 inches. argh. :( discusting....so, instead of using it, I knocked on Emily's door and asked if I could take a shower in her room. (Every other room in the motel had a bathroom....and hers was one of them...mine was not) Breakfast started at 8 and then we practiced our talents until 11. We walked to a huge amaizingly awsome hotel around 10-15ish minutes away, had a large lunch, practiced our talents some more, presented them, and then walked back to our motel where we got ready to go to the place where the Olympics were held in '94 to skate. It was amaizing. I absolutely loved it. There was like a door, and then you walk in....and the whole entire building is inside the mountain. :) So, we put on our skates and helmets, and hit the ice for a nice brutal game of hockey. What a magnificent time I had, and to think it was at such an "important" place. I really did love it.

So, this is a spectacualar :) view of the "dug out" (sorry about the baseball terms, I'm not so sure what it is called in hockey) Just think....'94 Olympic people were here!!!!!

So, start to feel famous....this is what you would see when comming out to the rink to play. It makes me feel so "cool." hehe

Okay so..Lucas stole my stick.

Our spectacular team. Woot Woot- Go "Texas Rangers" (Emily, I am still wearing my badge..ha)

Senior picture!

Here comes a goal!! yeeeahhh. (ha...not really, cuz Lucas stole my stick, and now I have to use a left handed one.....idiot! We could have one.)

No cheating allowed Braulio. :)

Nobody is getting past me....okay, maybe just a few of em.

WATCH OUT!

So, I went straight from saying that we presented our skits to saying we went skating, but I never elaberated on the talent part of the evening. So, we walked to the hotel, and did a "dress rehersal" of our show to see how long it would take. Since we had been informed that our Cowboys and Indians skit makes America look bad, all of our work went down the drain in 5 seconds. So...we pondered for a bit, and decided to do a re-enactment of "The Wizard of OZ"...only becase we were the "Country" American group and somehow this topic came up and we were able to fit it in by saying that Dorthy lived on a farm in Kansas. :) Anyway, we practiced it in the hallway once, then infront of the other kids once. By this time, we were all ready to leave and go and present all of our talents in front of THOUSANDS!!! of Rotarians. (maybe I exagurated a bit....but not too much. ha. ) The plan was that everyone lines up behind their countys flag and then walk like a pirade throughout all of the chairs in the audience and then up on stage all whilst a lady played the accordian magnificently well. Now, I want to play the acordian. hehehe. Okay, not so fast......seconds before we enter the room, our group is told that our skit has too much English and is not acceptible....so, we ended up doing (uhhhhh) the Hockie Pockie. So Embarassin! THE HOCKIE POCKIE! ahhhh. Out of all things, why that one? It was terrible. Nobody knew the order in which we would be saying the body parts, and the hole group was lost. We even decided to bring Rotarians up on stage with us out of the crowd to make us look a little less terrible. ha. Anyway, I taped bits and pieces of everyone elses talent and they are up on youtube now, where all of you can see them. (All of them except for ours..ha.)

The following are links to the sites where you can see the talents:

BRAZIL: The video is quite short...and the ending. What happened was that there was a small soccer game between Brazil and Argentina. A girl dances onto the field and distracts the boy, when "Argentina" makes a goal. Come to find out, the Argentinian girl is actaully playing for Brazil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjOaDuZqC4

TAIWAN\ CANADA\ FRANCE: There was very few people from each of these countries, so they grouped together and did one big skit featuring each country. Each country did a song, weather it was acting it out or singing it. They were all good though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wcWwPbrPEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAts8TkVXZ0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1D-B_oo258

AUSTRALIA: I taped two videos of this group even though it was only one country. They did a skit and then sang a song as well. The skit used words that can be found in Norwegain, England English, and Australian English... yet all mean different things. From the clip that I have of their skit, you can't tell that i what it is at all. Sorry about that...but the second one, the one of the song, is quite good I think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J36a31PQsTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbttvpYy7yQ

GROUP: So, all of the exchange student got together and sang a song called "Heg gikk en tur på stien" We sang it in three diffenet rounds, except the "rounds" didnt stand together. There is a part in the song where you bob up and down, so, since the rounds weren't next to eachother, it was kinda funny because random people were bobbing up and down throughout the group and it looked halarious. :) See for yourelf.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8NuvB9YeW4

AMERICA: This was the "towns" people of America. Their skit was by far the BEST ever. It is tittled "American History in About 5 Minutes." Absolutely halarious! It kinda makes America look bad though, so I'm not so sure why we wern't allowed to do our "Cowboys and Indians" skit. Anyway, thats besides the point. They deserve all the glory on this one...its amaizing. Seriously, if your going to watch any of these talents, this would be the one. And....better yet, I got the whole entire thing on video! (If you want to know what "My son has a website." is...just ask, but I dont think I should put it on here for the world to see. hehehe.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJsZGYjjHRA

Okay, so, after the whole skating scenario, we walked back to the motel to get ready for our big "District Governor's Banquet." It was supposed to be supper fancy, so everyone was getting into their dreses and suites. I have written so much I think the file might be too large to post....so, I will do that now, and then follow up on the banquet some other time.

Anita's Diary

Norway!!! Made it perfectly and my flight was special b/c it was the first Ryanair flight to Oslo I believe and so a red carpet was laid out when we arrived to walk down the plane on!!! Woot woot! And there was cake and fake flamenco dancers (norweagen haha) for the party in the lobby!!! Pretty neat. The cakes in Norway have a weird frosting…its like a layer of rubber and it is all made out with words and all from a computer it seems and printed out and just laid and pressed around the cake…it’s cool! Sara and her dad, Ivar, picked me up! Sara brought me a present and it was a cute cute bag with an avocado and Norwegian chocolate inside!!!! Soooo sweet!!!! She is so loving and generous!!! Then when we got to the house, Sara showed me to her room where I would be sleeping in as well in the extra bed/couch on the upper deck part (neat layout of the room!) and there on my pillow (where I my bed was made perfectly with the blankets pulled diagonally back and everything next to the pillow) was a white rose!!!! All wrapped with green tissue and green and white ribbons!!!!! Sooooo thoughtful!!!! Wow! I felt so special!!! We ate a great supper and apple cake desert made especially for me with Ivar and Trude, her mom!!! The house was sooo absolutely amazing. It was so neat, clean, cute, cozy decorations, good view, lookes like a log cabin inside, and the layout is soo cool—it has different levels for everything with lots of wooden stairs!! And the town, Slemmestad!!!!...amazing!!! Everything was super cute, all the houses, the roads, the mailboxes, the stores, the sidewalks, the nice people—it seems so countryish and laid back where everybody just waved and talked! The next day I woke up to look out the windows to the beautiful mountains with changing colors of trees!!! My fall for the year…oh how I love the fall!!! I couldn’t have gone to Norway at a better time of year…BEAUTIFUL! Then we went on a long hike through the mountains with John and Anne-Maret the couple who is her “director” I believe and help her with learning the language. The two of them are so cute together, so loving, and love taking part in nature together—it’s adorable! We stopped and had lunch (ham sandwiches on great bread Anne-Maret made, hot tea and Norwegian chocolate for desert) on a mountain overlooking a pretty lake down below (or maybe it was part of the ocean I don’t remember) with trees all around it….so beautiful!!! I want to live there! Then we went back to their house, showered, and ate a Norwegian supper—salty fish, mashed potatoes, beats, and cooked cabbage…really good. Later that night, Ivar and Trude came and we all sat around their little cocktail table, next to the fire and had Norway’s famous waffles and coffee!!! So great, cute, and cozy! I didn’t know what they were saying but it was neat to just have people talking and looking up information in an encyclopedia—it was seemed so laid back like old times! I felt so comfortable! We walked a little the next day down by the harbor right along the ocean!!! Sara and I had kabobs next to all the boats that were tied up and then hiked through the mountains that are right on the ocean…we lost the trail a bit and had to climb some to find our way back!! Haha That night we were invited to the musical, Mamma Mia by Ivar and Trude which was in Oslo!!!! It was in Norwegian and the ONLY words I understood the whole time were “tussen takk” (which were the first words I learned..”thousand thanks”) but it was THE BEST musical I have ever seen EVER!!! It was awesome to not understand the words. Because then you could just listen to the sounds and see their reactions and voice inflections (I think that’s the right word??) and it made it so fun! Also, I had seen the movie before and so I knew what was going on and so it made it neat to watch!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome!! Saturday, we went to the Viking museum and got to see the ships...awesome and we went to the Folk museum which was a bunch of houses and buildings you could walk through that were like old times in Norway…super cool as well! It felt like Laura Ingalls times!!! Neat! I’d live there too! haha On Sunday we got to have a nice tour of Oslo with Sara’s “cousin” Tur and his friend Heidi. They were so much fun. We went all over the city, to different little festivals, markets, places, and ended at the top of a hotel in a bar that overlooked the city…super pretty! Then Sara and I went to the English mass they had on Sundays in Oslo. It was PACKED!!! We stood in the back of the entrance room and listened through some speakers…very neat though, I liked it a lot. Afterwards, we went to catch the bus to get back to Slemmestad and got on to find that we didn’t have enough money and got kicked out …no cell phone, no money—kinda scared, I said a short prayer and right then, at that very second, a silver car drove by, honked, and quickly swooped in and it was the one only Ivar!!!! It was like an angel dropped from the sky haha! He is soooo amazing. He took us really quickly to catch the bus on its next stop and we missed it again, on the third try we caught it and were on our way. It was still in shock as it was the weirdest thing to be saved by Ivar on that exact moment! When we made it to Slemmestad we were walking up the cute road with beautiful houses and trees all around to get to her house and we passed Sara’s future house and her host mom, Laila, and sister, Therese, happened to be out on the deck so I got to meet them! Everybody is just so nice there, it is unbelievable! I know Sara will enjoy her whole stay twice as much because of the great families she was blessed with! On the last day Sara and I went to the mini mall in Slemmestad to get some presents to take back. I got the famous Norwegian Brown Goat Cheese to take back to my “family” that Peter, a kid from the program, had told me about and I got two smaller versions of the chocolate bars that Sara got me. Then I packed up and was on my way back to España to start school!!!

Cutest Family :)

So, I still haven't gotten the paper from my sister summing up her stay here, and I dont have time to load pictures from her time here either....and I have a new topic to talk about now. So.....All of that is just going to have to wait for another time. :) Okay, today I had no classes at school. I usually have Medie, but the teacher had a meeting to go to, and instead of hireing a sub, he just gave us homework to turn in over the internet.....and then we didnt have to go to class. After that I always have one hour of "free time" (sounds like kindergarden or something. ha.) After that is usually Spanish, where today a there was a test. So, instead of wasting my time, I worked in my Norwegian workbook instead. After all, I am hear to learn Norwegain, not to brush up on my Spanish. The teacher agreed, and she helped me work on my When, Where, What, Who, and Why's....in Norwegain. We joked about how she was teaching me Norwegain, in Spanish, as I wrote in English....ha. Anyway, after this class, I went home because I was tired of school by that time..ha. I usually would have had Trykk og Foto after Spanish class, but also didnt have to go to class. We were supposed to just go around and take pictures of what reminds of us fall. So.....I went home instead...ha. Opps. But, I have the whole weekend to do that, I dont think anything at school reminds me of fall anyway. :) So, I got home early, right after lunch. I walked to the bus stop with Martin and Maiken. When we got about a minute away, we could see the buss was at the stop already. We started to run....me with my backpack full and both arms busy. ha. We cought it in time though. ha. Once I got home, I got a quick bite to eat since it was around Lunch time, and then relaxed for a bit. I am supposed to be teaching the other exchange students how to line dance next weekend, so I watched a video real quick, to try and find the best coreography. I think I'm gonna try to teach them one to a John Denver song....Take me Home. Some of the exchange students who arived last december are starting to go home now, so this should be apropriat for them. Also, two other girls and myself are going to attempt to simotaniously dance the Cowboys Country Dance. We'll see how that one goes. Its a tough one, let alone trying to do together with others. :( If we pull it off though, it should look amaizing. I will try to see if someone wont be available to tape it...then I can put it on here....hopefully. Once I got tired of trying to figure out the dance, I looked up a movie on the internet and just relaxed, and watched. It was nice to just not worry about homework for a change, or laundry, or anything.....I enjoyed my time alone for a bit. Ivar came up and said that he was taking Trude to a friends. Once he returned, we both went to a different friends. I hadn't met them yet, but they were so cute and amaizing. I love them! I didnt get to meet the whole family...not the 21ish year old daughter or the 19ish year old twin boys. I did get to meet little Vegard though. He is sooo cute. Aww. Oh, and dont forget the kitten Torres. Ha. Gena and Jan got it once the twins and their daughter moved out. Ha. It's addorible too. It is Tigerish, with white paws and underbelly. We all enjoyed a good laugh while watching Torres jump around and try to catch things. He seemed to enjoy hidding under the couch while only sticking his two front paws out and snatching peoples ankles and such. So addorible. We had a cup of coffee, tried "Bris" ha....some sort of special water....good, but quite unusual I thought. :) (Something new....along with eating shredded carrots the other day...as part of the meal. ha) Anyway, we had a mixture of differnt types of chocolate...which were delicious, I might add. Gina showed me some dresses she made HER SELF! They were addorible, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy one from her sometime. They really are cute....I don't see why she doesn't try to make a big deal out of em, because I'm sure others would like them as well. No, I'm no fashion police, but theres no way anyone else could disagree with me on this one. :) Vegard went to bed....and the kitten followed. Also adorible. ha. It had its own little spot on his bed where it sleaps all currled up, with his motor running. It was starting to get late, so after one more chocolate and a few more minutes of conversation, Ivar and I were out the door. We walked home, with the stars overhead....it was so dark out. Peacefull as could be. We walked down the trail, across the road, hopped the fence, and took a few more steps until we reached the front door. It's amaizing how close everything here is. Slowly but surely, I'm starting to get used to city life. Once we got home, I got a bite to eat, and talked to some of the other exchange students in a group conversation on skype. It was nice to hear familiar voices again. Emily and Maria talked about our dance we are doing at the talent show in Gjøvik next weekend, while Luke played the guitar....deciding what song he should perform. I had thought about playing the guitar, but I think that might already be quite a popular talent....so I'm gonna stick to line dancing. It was late, so after everyone hung up...I practiced the dance some more, and then got on here to update my blog and introduce the cutest family in the world. :) I enjoyed spending time with them and hopefully will be able to do so again in the future. My plans for tomorrow are unknown. I might go to another Håndball game at 3:30ish....I think. Besides that though, I'm not so sure. I know that on Sunday Vegard has a Hocky practicy game thingy... but its at fivish and Mass is at 6 about half an hour from there. Soooo, I'm not so sure what will happen then. Only time can tell. Ha det bra.

Anitas Arival \ Opera

So, the week that we got back from the North, my sister came. Yup....that was the big suprise that was talking about in my newsletter. It has taken me forever to write about it, I have just been supper busy. I will also write why...ha...but that might not be for another two weeks either. Anyway. Lets start from Wednesday morning. K. Well, since I was still on my fall break then, I didnt have school during the day. Anita needed picked up at around 6ish, so Ivar and I drove to the Rygge Moss airport together to get her. She was coming in on the first flight from Spain to this new airport, so their was a big deal. It had been on the news erlier, and when we got to the ariport, there were ladys in fancy flaminco dresses, cakes for the crows, coffe on tables, it was awsome. Before the plane arived, camera men were setting up outside in a pinned in area where the airport had alowed the spectators and family and friends of those arriving to stand. it was like a corral for humans. ha. The plane finaly flew in...we were so close to the runway! When it stoped, the flight attendance outside (wearing viking hats) unfolded a red carpet up to the stairway where the passengers all were comming out. Anita was one of the first ones, and I got some pictures of it. Quite neat. There was only one problem....when she got off the plane, they had to keep walking down the carpet and into the building. No time for stoping to talk. :) They wouldnt let anyone out of the "corral" and so we were just stuck there. ha. Fiiiiiiinaly we got out, ha, and went back inside where we met up with Anita. We got a quick bite of cake and a nice warm cup of cofee while we watched the dancers...then headed for home. It had already started to get dark, so Anita couldnt completely see the beauty of the place from right away. When we got home, Trude was waiting with a delicous meal and an apple cake. Yum! By this time, it was a little late, so we played a quick game of cards, just the two of us, and then hit the sack. In the morning, I woke up early, took a shower, read for a bit, ate some breakfast.....all while waiting for Anita to get up. Finally, the bear awoke, and we went for a quick jogg\walk up and around some of the houses, down the streats and then back to the house where John and Anne-Marit were waiting for us. We did some introductions, ha, because John didn't know she was comming, and then we left for a hike together. It was fantastic...I also have pictures of that (hopefully I get the time to get them on here...argh.) I've got some good ones, but sometimes a picture just isnt good enough to capture the beauty of the scenery. We started out at the head of a golf course, and made our way up, around, and then back again, in one huge giants beutiful amaising circle. :) I loved it and I know Anita did too. I asked her to write a small sumery of her stay here, and hopefuly I will be able to add that entry to my blog as well...so you can see Norway from her point of view. I hope Anita will be able to write more in detail about her stay. I will leave that up to her. But, before I leave...TUSEN TAKK to Tor and Heidi for giving us the most wonderful tour ever, ha....and to Ivar and Trude for taking us to the most awsome meuseums....and to John and Anne-Marit for taking us out...and to everyone who was able to help us during Anitas stay here. I will stop talking about this for now though...because there is so much more that we have done since then. So....Anita, its your job to fill them in from here, about your stay. Do a good job!

Anyway...so, on to more recent afairs. Yesterday, We all....and yes I mean we all, went to the Opera house in Oslo. It was newly built nearly one year and a half ago. (Hopefully Anita talks about this....but we went there when we were with Tor.) Anyway, It was amaizing inside! Earlier, we only were able to walk around outside, which is amaizing in itself. The roof on it slopes so you can walk on it. Very cool, and the view is great too. Anyway, this time I got to go inside it....and it was just as spectacular. I loved it. Quite hard to explain though. The walls are glass, so you can see outside to the water, the outside is all white, and the inside is mostly white and a like barky brown color. Its gorgeous. Trude said that some of her fellow workers had built the wall on the back side of the big "display room." Can you call it that? Like the theater part. Anyway, on to the show. We watched an Italian opera called Don . There were little screens on the back of the seats in front of us with translations of the words. It was a cute production. During half time Ivar filled me in on what was happeing though...ha. I thought I had understood it all, but aperiently I had one major detail wrong....the main girl had gotten married and I missed that part. oops. ha. I am almost positive I understood the second half. :) I really did enjoy myself though. I have never been to an opera before. I am able to experience so so many new things, its quite incredible. I think that is it for now, I should probably be getting ready for bed, and hopefully Anita writes that report soon, and I will post it as soon as I get it. Ha det bra for now!
p.s. The bathrooms were just soo colorfull....not. ha.