David and I used our Thursday to drive leisurely north toward Östersund. For those interested in the route we took, we left Furudal and drove through Orsa, Sveg, and Vemdalen before arriving at our destination - Frösö Camping and Stugby. We had hoped to see a bear (from a distance), but they were not on the road. Instead, just outside of Vemdalen, we saw three reindeer! They crossed the highway in front of us and we turned around to take photos while they snacked on the roadside vegetation.
Due to the fact that Östersund hosts a big music festival the same weekend as Uppdansningen, there were no cabins available at the campground adjacent to the conference center (Folkets Hus) when we tried booking in April. Frösö, located only a 15 minute drive away, had a cabin with room for Larry and his mother, David and I, so we took it. Unfortunately, the beds at these cabins were well used and had never been as nice as the ones in Furudal. I don't think any of us slept well, but at least we were warm, dry, and not too far away.
Thursday night we made a respectable appearance at the dance. We said hello to lots of people we hadn't seen since last year and even got to dance with some of them. David and I hit the dance floor and had a pretty excellent time. We were tired, though, so after I got in a few practice dances with Larry, we headed back to the cabin and called it a night.
Larry and I danced on Friday afternoon. We all got up early and watched most of the dancers who were on before us. Watching folk dancing at this level, a person learns to appreciate different qualities that make folk dance beautiful. Dancers have the opportunity to choose which dances fit their style - smooth, bouncy, slow and controlled, fast and furious. Watching the same dancers over a number of years, gives the audience the opportunity to watch them progress as dancers. Watching a many dancers dance the same dances over the weekend allows the audience to experience a wide range of styles interpreting the same dance. When it was our turn to dance, Larry and a put on our performance smiles and contributed to the weekend's potpourri of dances and dancers.
Dancing on Friday gave us the opportunity to relax the rest of the weekend. We were invited to some friends' cabin for dinner. After the stress of dancing up, the good food and relaxed company made us too tired to go to the Friday dance. We headed back to the cabin and slept on the crummy mattresses until we woke up the next morning.
Saturday we took our time getting to the conference center. I had woken up in a rotten mood, and it didn't improve as the day went on. Fortunately, David is a genius at getting me to change directions from a bad mood to constant giggling. While we were waiting for the dancing to start up after lunch, one of the judges (Bengt Wittgren) found us sitting in the balcony above the judges table. He asked if we had fiddles with us and, when we answered yes, he asked us to play a half hour set at the evening dance! This helped tremendously on the improving my mood front. Who wouldn't be thrilled to be asked to share the bill with Mats and Ulf Andersson, Familien Westling, and three young Boda fiddlers!?
After securing a fiddle for David to play that evening, we decided to leave at the coffee break so we would have time to practice with the borrowed fiddle. Our stomachs and tourist-curiosity led us to the Jamtli cafe where we ate reindeer cold cuts on flat bread followed by dessert. This left little time for practicing, but was a nice way to relieve stress.
After dinner (fish balls, potatoes, and vegetables), we headed back to the dance hall. We got the word that the program had changed and we would instead be playing last. This was fine with us, but it meant that we needed to find a different fiddle for David. After securing a fiddle and dancing to the excellent music of the first two sets (Mats and Ulf, and the Boda kids), we took our coffee tickets and chose our tunes. We decided to play several Finnskogs pols and I would sing a couple polskor. We rounded out the set with a few reinlenders, a polka, and a waltz. The crowd was small by the time we played, but they all enjoyed our set!
Sunday we got up early, packed, and cleaned the cabin. After returning the keys to reception we headed in to watch the last round of dancers. The medal ceremony was immediately following lunch. I always find the award ceremony exciting and stressful at the same time. Regardless of how well I've danced, I can never be 100% certain that I've passed until I have the diploma in my hand. Larry and I both passed; he now has his big silver and I have two more tests before I get mine. The word on both of our diplomas is 'frejdigt' which Google translates to bold, spirited, or plucky. I like that description and I'm looking forward to next year. I've just got to find a partner!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Furudal
Where to start? My arrival in Furudal was filled both with a sense of anxiety about my dances and eagerness to get started working on them. Once we ran through the dances, I could tell that we didn't have any major obstacles. That was a good thing, but it also means that haven't worked on them hard enough to make them perfect. Regardless, Larry and I are both confident that Friday afternoon will be a passing day for us.
Furudal and the training camp is more than just practicing. Most importantly, it is the opportunity to withdraw from the world and focus on the wonderful people who are also interested in dancing. Our evenings at the campfire are filled with entertaining discussions. On the rare occasion that the subject wanders to dancing, it is a discussion of past hijinks.
My first appearance at the campfire (we were too late the first night, so I didn't manage perfect attendance this year) was accompanied by foil packets of salmon. Since we took our time getting down to the lake, there was very little fire left and more wood had to be thrown on to cook our meal. When we finally got to eat, the fish was delicious, however I got to endure several days of teasing thanks to those pieces of fish. Not to be outdone, I announced that the following evening I would bring a moose roast. One night I even suggested that we catch a wolf to bbq and then we could make a new pair of pants for Larry, or a hat, or a couple purses. Regardless, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
This year we stayed in the youth hostel rooms attached to the Norwegian Veteran Museum. During WWII, Sweden wasn't allowed to host a foreign army, but the Norwegian 'police troops' were active in a number of towns throughout Sweden. When they built the rooms in the museum they went asking for money in Norway. The beds here are the nicest beds I have ever slept in; they are, in fact, the best beds you can buy in Norway.
Tonight, we have one last night in Furudal with only a few remaining dancers. Tomorrow, we drive to Östersund and Friday we dance up. Good luck to everyone!
Furudal and the training camp is more than just practicing. Most importantly, it is the opportunity to withdraw from the world and focus on the wonderful people who are also interested in dancing. Our evenings at the campfire are filled with entertaining discussions. On the rare occasion that the subject wanders to dancing, it is a discussion of past hijinks.
My first appearance at the campfire (we were too late the first night, so I didn't manage perfect attendance this year) was accompanied by foil packets of salmon. Since we took our time getting down to the lake, there was very little fire left and more wood had to be thrown on to cook our meal. When we finally got to eat, the fish was delicious, however I got to endure several days of teasing thanks to those pieces of fish. Not to be outdone, I announced that the following evening I would bring a moose roast. One night I even suggested that we catch a wolf to bbq and then we could make a new pair of pants for Larry, or a hat, or a couple purses. Regardless, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
This year we stayed in the youth hostel rooms attached to the Norwegian Veteran Museum. During WWII, Sweden wasn't allowed to host a foreign army, but the Norwegian 'police troops' were active in a number of towns throughout Sweden. When they built the rooms in the museum they went asking for money in Norway. The beds here are the nicest beds I have ever slept in; they are, in fact, the best beds you can buy in Norway.
Tonight, we have one last night in Furudal with only a few remaining dancers. Tomorrow, we drive to Östersund and Friday we dance up. Good luck to everyone!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Constant change
In our quest to get everything in the coffee shop just perfect, we did a lot of moving things around. In the beginning, I would move all of the tables and chairs into the art gallery in order to wash the floors. Later we switched out the tables, so that was no longer necessary. We moved around all of the cups, glasses, and bottles on our back wall, until we decided that we could take half of them out. In the interest of ergonomics and efficiency, we moved the coffee grinder to the other side of the espresso machine and moved the machine itself a few inches to the right and elevated it a few inches.
In the back of the house, we have moved our giant freezers around like puzzle pieces. Once we got our walk-in fridge working, we had to find suitable storage space for all of the random things that had been kept in there. Our motto has been, don't stop working until you get crabby. And even then, we usually only take a break.
Our menu has been the most stable with variations in daily specials and adjustments in prices. We have settled on several key winners - vegetable quiche, a pasta salad with roasted vegetables and feta, a smoked salmon plate. Initially we struggled with bread, but then we discovered that it was well worth the money to buy fresh bread from the stone oven bakery, open only during the summer, at Raulandsakademiet. Now we make sandwiches with that bread, too!
Now, I'm on vacation. My wonderful employees are taking excellent care of the coffee shop while I'm away. I don't think we're done with changing things at Kaffibaren Rauland, but at least I'm getting time to recharge!
In the back of the house, we have moved our giant freezers around like puzzle pieces. Once we got our walk-in fridge working, we had to find suitable storage space for all of the random things that had been kept in there. Our motto has been, don't stop working until you get crabby. And even then, we usually only take a break.
Our menu has been the most stable with variations in daily specials and adjustments in prices. We have settled on several key winners - vegetable quiche, a pasta salad with roasted vegetables and feta, a smoked salmon plate. Initially we struggled with bread, but then we discovered that it was well worth the money to buy fresh bread from the stone oven bakery, open only during the summer, at Raulandsakademiet. Now we make sandwiches with that bread, too!
Now, I'm on vacation. My wonderful employees are taking excellent care of the coffee shop while I'm away. I don't think we're done with changing things at Kaffibaren Rauland, but at least I'm getting time to recharge!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Hard work, good coffee
The three days following our opening weekend we were closed. David spent his time painting shelves, fixing lighting, defrosting freezers, etc. Basically he figured out what worked and what didn't. If it worked, he tried to make it work better; if it didn't work, he figured out why and tried to fix it. For the things he couldn't fix himself, like the aforementioned plumbing, we called in the specialists.
I spent most of my time on the phone. I set up bank accounts and arranged for delivery of vegetables, coffee, and ice cream. I created spreadsheets to keep track of just about everything I could think of. I also spent a good chunk of time in the kitchen cooking up our new menu.
All this sounds highly organized and well thought out. What really happened was we would show up with a list of three things to get done, work for twelve to fourteen hours and then notice that we still had the same three things on our list. I don't mean to imply that we wasted time. Rather, we vastly underestimated the amount of work there was to be done!
For example, it took three weeks to finally get the bank card terminal switched to my name. First I asked at the bank how to do it. They said to call company A. Company A said to call company B - the people whose name was on the machine. This seemed reasonable, but nearly impossible to accomplish. After several long periods of time (20-30minutes each) on hold only to get dropped or have my phone sabotage me, I finally got through to a person at company B. That person said - you don't want to talk to us, you want to talk to company C. I said thank you, wrote down the phone number, hung up and redialed. That number was no longer in service, but their website offered an alternative. Relieved by the lack of a long wait on hold with company C, I explained to their operator that I had taken over this coffee shop effective three days ago and would like to switch over the bank account that was linked to the terminal. The man took all of my information and said he would call back when he got the new number. After a week, I hadn't heard from him, so I gave them a call. Oh, they said, we need all of that information in writing. So, I wrote it all down and sent them an email. This time I did get a phone call back within a half hour, but my phone (in the process of dying) just felt like ringing and not letting me answer. After I borrowed a cell phone and called them back, I spent roughly five minutes on the phone and the bank terminal was reprogrammed and funneling money in my bank account!
On Friday of our first week, we left the coffee shop in the trustworthy hands of the art gallery administrators, Ingerid and Ingebjørg. David and I, along with Inger and Claudia two of our employees, were headed for a barista class offered free of charge by our coffee supplier. Arranging the class was one of the first things I did when I started thinking about the coffee shop. I knew how the coffee should taste, but not necessarily how to get it to taste that way; I figured the people at Crema could help us with that. What we got in return for our 4 hour each way drive was lots and lots of interesting information about how the coffee is produced, from growing on a tree to putting it in the bag. We also learned about preparing coffee and tea, cleaning our machines, and some milk steaming theory. Saturday, we returned to the coffee shop and gave all of our coffee machines a thorough cleaning. By the time the customers arrived our coffee was tasting better than ever!
The following Monday-Wednesday we were closed again and once again we seized the opportunity to fix everything that needed fixing before we couldn't anymore. David, in his admirable and unending quest to locate and understand everything in the building, discovered an interesting drain pump under the stairs on Sunday evening. The waste water from our sink (not in the kitchen, but in the coffee bar) runs first into a bucket, containing the pump, and is then pumped up and out. Coffee grounds, milk, and other sediment like things hang around in the bottom of the bucket and should be cleaned out once a month or so. That cleaning had not happened in a long long long time. When the customers left and David was allowed to open the bucket, I thought I was going to pass out the smell was so horrible. David persevered and managed to clean off the pump and the bucket and get everything screwed back together. Fortunately we had those three days closed to let the building air out. Unfortunately, we were working in the building those three days. By the time that Thursday rolled around (July 1st) we were ready to be open every day for the rest of the summer.
I spent most of my time on the phone. I set up bank accounts and arranged for delivery of vegetables, coffee, and ice cream. I created spreadsheets to keep track of just about everything I could think of. I also spent a good chunk of time in the kitchen cooking up our new menu.
All this sounds highly organized and well thought out. What really happened was we would show up with a list of three things to get done, work for twelve to fourteen hours and then notice that we still had the same three things on our list. I don't mean to imply that we wasted time. Rather, we vastly underestimated the amount of work there was to be done!
For example, it took three weeks to finally get the bank card terminal switched to my name. First I asked at the bank how to do it. They said to call company A. Company A said to call company B - the people whose name was on the machine. This seemed reasonable, but nearly impossible to accomplish. After several long periods of time (20-30minutes each) on hold only to get dropped or have my phone sabotage me, I finally got through to a person at company B. That person said - you don't want to talk to us, you want to talk to company C. I said thank you, wrote down the phone number, hung up and redialed. That number was no longer in service, but their website offered an alternative. Relieved by the lack of a long wait on hold with company C, I explained to their operator that I had taken over this coffee shop effective three days ago and would like to switch over the bank account that was linked to the terminal. The man took all of my information and said he would call back when he got the new number. After a week, I hadn't heard from him, so I gave them a call. Oh, they said, we need all of that information in writing. So, I wrote it all down and sent them an email. This time I did get a phone call back within a half hour, but my phone (in the process of dying) just felt like ringing and not letting me answer. After I borrowed a cell phone and called them back, I spent roughly five minutes on the phone and the bank terminal was reprogrammed and funneling money in my bank account!
On Friday of our first week, we left the coffee shop in the trustworthy hands of the art gallery administrators, Ingerid and Ingebjørg. David and I, along with Inger and Claudia two of our employees, were headed for a barista class offered free of charge by our coffee supplier. Arranging the class was one of the first things I did when I started thinking about the coffee shop. I knew how the coffee should taste, but not necessarily how to get it to taste that way; I figured the people at Crema could help us with that. What we got in return for our 4 hour each way drive was lots and lots of interesting information about how the coffee is produced, from growing on a tree to putting it in the bag. We also learned about preparing coffee and tea, cleaning our machines, and some milk steaming theory. Saturday, we returned to the coffee shop and gave all of our coffee machines a thorough cleaning. By the time the customers arrived our coffee was tasting better than ever!
The following Monday-Wednesday we were closed again and once again we seized the opportunity to fix everything that needed fixing before we couldn't anymore. David, in his admirable and unending quest to locate and understand everything in the building, discovered an interesting drain pump under the stairs on Sunday evening. The waste water from our sink (not in the kitchen, but in the coffee bar) runs first into a bucket, containing the pump, and is then pumped up and out. Coffee grounds, milk, and other sediment like things hang around in the bottom of the bucket and should be cleaned out once a month or so. That cleaning had not happened in a long long long time. When the customers left and David was allowed to open the bucket, I thought I was going to pass out the smell was so horrible. David persevered and managed to clean off the pump and the bucket and get everything screwed back together. Fortunately we had those three days closed to let the building air out. Unfortunately, we were working in the building those three days. By the time that Thursday rolled around (July 1st) we were ready to be open every day for the rest of the summer.
Opening Weekend
We opened for real the same day as the summer exhibition opened. In the week between commencement and the opening, we focused our efforts primarily on getting paperwork in order. I had foolishly assumed that everything would be in working order and that we would just show up and start running the shop. Fortunately for us, things were functional, just not optimally functional.
We opened the doors at six pm and were more or less ready. We had our case filled with cakes and our refrigerator filled with milk. My milk steaming skills needed work, but I had planned a trip to our coffee supplier the following week, so I just had to survive until I made it to the barista class. While there really wasn't much new that first evening people seemed positive to seeing us behind the counter.
The first sign of trouble popped up while we were trying to get some wax out of a candle holder. David filled up our main kitchen sink with hot water and in went the candle holder. Later, when I ran the dishwasher, the water didn't go down the drain - it came up in both sinks! As can be imagine, I was not particularly excited by this sight, but I was relieved that it didn't come cascading over the lip of the sinks and onto the floor (which we have now learned slopes away from the drain). To be fair, it must be mentioned that the wax was simply the last straw in a very long list of problems with the drain. The solution for the evening was, thankfully, David driving home, getting our emergency drain cleaner (the Norwegian equivalent of Drain-O) and pouring it down both drains.
Once we got the sinks functioning, I could get back to work on the dinner that I was preparing for the artists and board members. Things were rolling along, granted slightly behind schedule, when we discovered that we didn't have enough flatware for 19 people. Ingerid, one of the administrators, drove home and brought her own personal silverware to save the day. I served couscous with ground beef and vegetables and tzatziki in tomato boats. For dessert we had chocolate pudding with blackberry-ginger sauce topped with whipped cream. Dinner was a success.
The following day we were open regular hours, plus we hosted two concerts. As part of the Haukeliseter Festival, we had a concert with Ola Bäckström and Per Gudmundson. They were wonderful, the room was filled and people enjoyed the new tastes we had to offer. We started on a positive note building a reputation for good coffee, good food, and a good place to meet people.
The second group was a cowboy band from Oslo with some connection to the local population. The audience was considerably (and surprisingly) smaller - seven band members and fifteen audience members. As thoroughly accustomed to folk music concerts as I am, I was shocked when they announced that they would be taking a break and then playing a second set. I actually thought they were joking, so did David. So they played a second set and by the end of the evening they had earned enough money to pay for their food (but I was nice and gave them their coffee). One thing we have learned as music students is to always negotiate your contract beforehand - if you want a deal on food, let someone know that upfront so things don't get awkward when it's time to settle the bill.
We had survived the first weekend, now the real work was about to begin.
We opened the doors at six pm and were more or less ready. We had our case filled with cakes and our refrigerator filled with milk. My milk steaming skills needed work, but I had planned a trip to our coffee supplier the following week, so I just had to survive until I made it to the barista class. While there really wasn't much new that first evening people seemed positive to seeing us behind the counter.
The first sign of trouble popped up while we were trying to get some wax out of a candle holder. David filled up our main kitchen sink with hot water and in went the candle holder. Later, when I ran the dishwasher, the water didn't go down the drain - it came up in both sinks! As can be imagine, I was not particularly excited by this sight, but I was relieved that it didn't come cascading over the lip of the sinks and onto the floor (which we have now learned slopes away from the drain). To be fair, it must be mentioned that the wax was simply the last straw in a very long list of problems with the drain. The solution for the evening was, thankfully, David driving home, getting our emergency drain cleaner (the Norwegian equivalent of Drain-O) and pouring it down both drains.
Once we got the sinks functioning, I could get back to work on the dinner that I was preparing for the artists and board members. Things were rolling along, granted slightly behind schedule, when we discovered that we didn't have enough flatware for 19 people. Ingerid, one of the administrators, drove home and brought her own personal silverware to save the day. I served couscous with ground beef and vegetables and tzatziki in tomato boats. For dessert we had chocolate pudding with blackberry-ginger sauce topped with whipped cream. Dinner was a success.
The following day we were open regular hours, plus we hosted two concerts. As part of the Haukeliseter Festival, we had a concert with Ola Bäckström and Per Gudmundson. They were wonderful, the room was filled and people enjoyed the new tastes we had to offer. We started on a positive note building a reputation for good coffee, good food, and a good place to meet people.
The second group was a cowboy band from Oslo with some connection to the local population. The audience was considerably (and surprisingly) smaller - seven band members and fifteen audience members. As thoroughly accustomed to folk music concerts as I am, I was shocked when they announced that they would be taking a break and then playing a second set. I actually thought they were joking, so did David. So they played a second set and by the end of the evening they had earned enough money to pay for their food (but I was nice and gave them their coffee). One thing we have learned as music students is to always negotiate your contract beforehand - if you want a deal on food, let someone know that upfront so things don't get awkward when it's time to settle the bill.
We had survived the first weekend, now the real work was about to begin.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Kaffibaren Rauland
After returning from Seattle in early May, I received the sad news that the coffee shop in town was once again looking for a new owner. The last time the coffee shop changed hands (in September), I was amongst those interested in taking it over, but that interest never got off the drawing board. I figured that I had way too much to do to run a coffee shop and take classes; we did a lot of traveling and had a heavy course load which would have made it impossible to juggle the coffee shop and school.
After serious consideration and discussion with David, I made my offer to take over the coffee shop starting in the fall. The response was positive, verging on overjoyed. A few days later, they asked if I couldn't get out of my summer job, and take over as soon as school was out. I said I would try.
It didn't take much for me to convince my summer employer to give the job to someone else. They weren't really excited to be losing me, but fortunately had a couple of other responsible, hard-working young people who were interested in summer jobs. Then I just had to worry about what I would do with this vacation I am currently taking.
Let me back up a little. Rauland Kunstforening, the art gallery I worked at last summer, is the home to this coffee shop. When the initial owner decided to get out of the business, the art gallery purchased all of the equipment, from the espresso machine to the tea spoons. So, I get to run the coffee shop using their equipment.
Up until school was out I had no extra energy or brainpower to devote to the coffee shop. This turns out to have been a good thing, because now all I do is think about the coffee shop. Starting to think about it before finals would have definitely detracted from my grades!
After serious consideration and discussion with David, I made my offer to take over the coffee shop starting in the fall. The response was positive, verging on overjoyed. A few days later, they asked if I couldn't get out of my summer job, and take over as soon as school was out. I said I would try.
It didn't take much for me to convince my summer employer to give the job to someone else. They weren't really excited to be losing me, but fortunately had a couple of other responsible, hard-working young people who were interested in summer jobs. Then I just had to worry about what I would do with this vacation I am currently taking.
Let me back up a little. Rauland Kunstforening, the art gallery I worked at last summer, is the home to this coffee shop. When the initial owner decided to get out of the business, the art gallery purchased all of the equipment, from the espresso machine to the tea spoons. So, I get to run the coffee shop using their equipment.
Up until school was out I had no extra energy or brainpower to devote to the coffee shop. This turns out to have been a good thing, because now all I do is think about the coffee shop. Starting to think about it before finals would have definitely detracted from my grades!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Whoah! an update
Ok, in brief. In the last five months I have had two fabulous trips to Seattle, including an extension tour to San Fran thanks to an Icelandic volcano. I went on tour with my classmates. David and I re-emerged on the Rauland party scene (that's what was missing in our lives!). I passed my exams and got pretty good grades for the year. David has made his own beer (it's bitter, but people seem to like it). Last, but absolutely not least, I have taken on running the coffee shop in town.
Now, after an adventurous start to business owning, I am back in Furudal training for my third year of testing. This is going to theoretically provide me with some extra time to write a few updates! Wish me luck!
Now, after an adventurous start to business owning, I am back in Furudal training for my third year of testing. This is going to theoretically provide me with some extra time to write a few updates! Wish me luck!
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