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!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Destination: Seattle! Arrival
Our flight made excellent time and, even though we had left Iceland a little behind schedule, we landed in Seattle early. We were almost the last people off the plane, putting us essentially last in the line to go through customs. Since David obviously doesn't have an American passport, I waited with him in the 'everybody else' line. Things went pretty quickly and soon it was our turn.
We each went to our own custom's agent. Both of us answered the question, 'Are you travelling with anyone?' in the affirmative. Both of us then got the question, 'Are you thinking of getting married?' I wasn't prepared for that one! We got two reasonably similar lectures about making sure we followed all the rules if we were going to get married. Finally, we got past the first hurdle and headed down to pick up our bags.
After collecting our luggage, we headed through the gauntlet of various US Government Officials. The first guy also wanted to know if we were getting married. I thought he was the one that usually has the drug sniffing dog, so I was again surprised by this sudden interest in our relationship status. He made some marks on our papers and sent us on to the next line.
In that line there were two stops. First one guy looks at the papers, ask some of the questions on it (perhaps to check if our answers match), marks up the papers, and gives them back. The next guy basically just looks at all of the marks on the papers and sends us on our way. That last guy is also the one that can send you to the 'open all your suitcases and waste a bunch of time' security station, as I learned on my last trip. Fortunately, that didn't happen again.
One clearing all of customs and security, we delivered our luggage back to airport staff. I have never really understood this particular step in the process. Why can't we just take our bags with us on the shuttle train? Especially when there are so few people waiting in line to ride it. At least they don't seem to lose luggage in that step.
Once in the main terminal, we headed to pick up our luggage and meet the welcome party. Due to a misunderstanding (thanks Dad), there was no welcome party. Our bags arrived and I reluctantly used my Norwegian phone to call the family and organize getting picked up. Dad was waiting nearby and we were finally out of the airport!
Mom, Sonya, and Tyler were waiting for us at an Italian restaurant in West Seattle. There we engaged in sorely missed family conversational antics, including hilarious stories and imitating Dad. Somewhere in there we managed to order way too much food and had to pass on dessert. Mom was loaning us her car and had to catch a ferry, so we raced off to meet the boat.
Since Dad didn't want to shock us on the first night of our visit with the state of our house, he had decided to put us up in bed and breakfast. The bed there was a welcome sight and we were very appreciative that Dad made the effort for us. We crashed early, and woke up around 4am to watch a little cable TV (we found a Swedish cooking show, of all things). We got up again around 9:30 and enjoyed a pretty excellent breakfast.
Since Dad was still not quite ready for us after breakfast, we ditched our luggage at the house and headed for Southcenter. While we should have been studying, we wandered around the mall for several hours, drinking coffee, buying pants and a new computer, and acquiring a US cell phone for David. We got back to Dad's with just enough time to shower and head off to a much anticipated Hanukah dinner with Vicki and family. The following couple of days were filled with studying and avoiding studying for our mid-term test.
We each went to our own custom's agent. Both of us answered the question, 'Are you travelling with anyone?' in the affirmative. Both of us then got the question, 'Are you thinking of getting married?' I wasn't prepared for that one! We got two reasonably similar lectures about making sure we followed all the rules if we were going to get married. Finally, we got past the first hurdle and headed down to pick up our bags.
After collecting our luggage, we headed through the gauntlet of various US Government Officials. The first guy also wanted to know if we were getting married. I thought he was the one that usually has the drug sniffing dog, so I was again surprised by this sudden interest in our relationship status. He made some marks on our papers and sent us on to the next line.
In that line there were two stops. First one guy looks at the papers, ask some of the questions on it (perhaps to check if our answers match), marks up the papers, and gives them back. The next guy basically just looks at all of the marks on the papers and sends us on our way. That last guy is also the one that can send you to the 'open all your suitcases and waste a bunch of time' security station, as I learned on my last trip. Fortunately, that didn't happen again.
One clearing all of customs and security, we delivered our luggage back to airport staff. I have never really understood this particular step in the process. Why can't we just take our bags with us on the shuttle train? Especially when there are so few people waiting in line to ride it. At least they don't seem to lose luggage in that step.
Once in the main terminal, we headed to pick up our luggage and meet the welcome party. Due to a misunderstanding (thanks Dad), there was no welcome party. Our bags arrived and I reluctantly used my Norwegian phone to call the family and organize getting picked up. Dad was waiting nearby and we were finally out of the airport!
Mom, Sonya, and Tyler were waiting for us at an Italian restaurant in West Seattle. There we engaged in sorely missed family conversational antics, including hilarious stories and imitating Dad. Somewhere in there we managed to order way too much food and had to pass on dessert. Mom was loaning us her car and had to catch a ferry, so we raced off to meet the boat.
Since Dad didn't want to shock us on the first night of our visit with the state of our house, he had decided to put us up in bed and breakfast. The bed there was a welcome sight and we were very appreciative that Dad made the effort for us. We crashed early, and woke up around 4am to watch a little cable TV (we found a Swedish cooking show, of all things). We got up again around 9:30 and enjoyed a pretty excellent breakfast.
Since Dad was still not quite ready for us after breakfast, we ditched our luggage at the house and headed for Southcenter. While we should have been studying, we wandered around the mall for several hours, drinking coffee, buying pants and a new computer, and acquiring a US cell phone for David. We got back to Dad's with just enough time to shower and head off to a much anticipated Hanukah dinner with Vicki and family. The following couple of days were filled with studying and avoiding studying for our mid-term test.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Destination: Seattle! Getting There
David had driven the suitcases down to school and then returned with the car. I was madly trying to get the dishes done, so we didn't have to come back to them. We washed and hung up our sheets and blankets, we turned down the heat, we gave our landlords the poinsettia and the car key, we locked the door and hurried to the school.
We arrived at school in plenty of time (at least 10 minutes before the bus) and dragged all of our stuff out to the side of the road where the bus comes. Everything went smoothly from there. We piled into the first bus, transferred to the second in Åmot, and arrived with everything in the Oslo bus station five hours later. After a quick meal at a rather good (especially for mall food) Italian restaurant, we trudged down to the subway and headed out toward Alix Cordray's.
Alix met us at the subway station and we filled her car with what we considered to be packing light. She showed us around her cool old house and whipped up a little apple cobbler. We helped her finish off one of those pesky boxes of ice cream that seem to keep cropping up. After dessert, we tried playing some tunes together. Whether it was due to exhaustion or unfamiliarity, we didn't manage to come up with a very large common repertoire. By then it was late enough for us to go to sleep and Alix to get back to work. In the morning, she very kindly drove us to the bus stop where we boarded the airport bus and successfully arrived at Gardermoen with plenty of time to spare.
We checked in our luggage and went through security. David bought a few books for the trip. We found our gate and set up camp (fiddles, backpacks, and coats). As it was lunchtime, we treated ourselves to hot dogs and soda. I also purchased a couple of sandwiches for the flight. Finally, we got to board the plane.
Flying IcelandAir was a very pleasant experience. The seats were hard and we had to buy our own meals, but the in-flight entertainment included plenty of watchable movies and I had packed some serious snack food (the aforementioned sandwiches were supplemented with bread and roastbeef, boiled eggs, plus chips and a small meal we purchased in the air). The layover in Iceland was pleasant and short. There was some drama when the guy boarding the plane right before us fell on the escalator, but fortunately that was the most drama we had on the whole flight.
I have to say, I highly recommend IcelandAir. They fly direct to Seattle from Iceland. They cost less than pretty much any other carrier, at least the single stop carriers. Best of all, the total travel time is the shortest! Of course, they offer the possibility to spend a few days in Iceland at no extra ticket cost, which seems like an excellent deal and something to do in the future.
We arrived at school in plenty of time (at least 10 minutes before the bus) and dragged all of our stuff out to the side of the road where the bus comes. Everything went smoothly from there. We piled into the first bus, transferred to the second in Åmot, and arrived with everything in the Oslo bus station five hours later. After a quick meal at a rather good (especially for mall food) Italian restaurant, we trudged down to the subway and headed out toward Alix Cordray's.
Alix met us at the subway station and we filled her car with what we considered to be packing light. She showed us around her cool old house and whipped up a little apple cobbler. We helped her finish off one of those pesky boxes of ice cream that seem to keep cropping up. After dessert, we tried playing some tunes together. Whether it was due to exhaustion or unfamiliarity, we didn't manage to come up with a very large common repertoire. By then it was late enough for us to go to sleep and Alix to get back to work. In the morning, she very kindly drove us to the bus stop where we boarded the airport bus and successfully arrived at Gardermoen with plenty of time to spare.
We checked in our luggage and went through security. David bought a few books for the trip. We found our gate and set up camp (fiddles, backpacks, and coats). As it was lunchtime, we treated ourselves to hot dogs and soda. I also purchased a couple of sandwiches for the flight. Finally, we got to board the plane.
Flying IcelandAir was a very pleasant experience. The seats were hard and we had to buy our own meals, but the in-flight entertainment included plenty of watchable movies and I had packed some serious snack food (the aforementioned sandwiches were supplemented with bread and roastbeef, boiled eggs, plus chips and a small meal we purchased in the air). The layover in Iceland was pleasant and short. There was some drama when the guy boarding the plane right before us fell on the escalator, but fortunately that was the most drama we had on the whole flight.
I have to say, I highly recommend IcelandAir. They fly direct to Seattle from Iceland. They cost less than pretty much any other carrier, at least the single stop carriers. Best of all, the total travel time is the shortest! Of course, they offer the possibility to spend a few days in Iceland at no extra ticket cost, which seems like an excellent deal and something to do in the future.
Destination: Seattle! Pre-Departure
In mid-December, David and I packed our suitcases, cleaned as much of the apartment as we could, and raced to the bus stop. We were on our way to Seattle and I was really excited. Life is great in Rauland, but nothing beats Seattle!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
The week before we were scheduled to leave we'd been on a class trip to Oslo to visit a variety of folk music organizations and archives. While it was a very interesting trip, the most memorable part for me is the phone call I received when we were almost home. A very nice sounding man had found my wallet, passport included, in the parking lot where we had stopped on the way home.
He said he'd mail it up here and that was a great relief. When it hadn't arrived several days later, I started to get nervous. I was grumpy, having trouble sleeping, and stressed about all the things we needed to get done before we left, plus I was really starting to worry that the passport wouldn't arrive in time. I went to the effort of checking online what I would need to do to get an emergency passport in Oslo (a fairly straightforward process, however, I was looking at needing to get the emergency passport the same day President Obama was visiting Oslo).
I tried a few times calling the number that the guy had called from - no answer and no response to voice messages. Then, I sent him a message explaining that I needed the passport before Friday and that we would happily drive to Kongsberg (a two hour drive) to pick it up if he still had it. He replied that he and his friend had been in his friend's car, and if we hadn't received it, it was probably still there. I got in touch with the friend, who had completely forgotten about the wallet and was very agreeable to meeting us whenever we could get to Kongsberg. We took off directly after school and successfully retrieved the wallet and the passport.
On the way back we drove through the beginning of the snow that would form the foundation for this year's winter sports. We had been in Fall mode since October with lots of ice and snow that melted into ice followed by rain that froze into ice. Everyone welcomed the arrival of real cold weather and a solid snowfall. In the three days left before we took off roughly 12 to 18 inches had fallen!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Concert Reviews
In Rauland we are home to one of the most active Folkemusikkscener (Folk Music Stages). This fall we have been more active than ever before and we have managed to have a concert almost every other week.
The school year started off with a concert by Ragnhild Furholt and Leiv Solberg. Their stage presence is highly entertaining, especially when joined by Ånon Egeland with a poly-rhythmic percussion solo played on the back of a ukulele. All three are instructors at the school and excellent musicians.
The following concert was the Fliflet/Hamre Kraftforening (Energy Association). These two play wild music on accordion and percussion with inspiration from modern and popular music to Norwegian and Hungarian folk. After the concert they explained to us some of their philosophies about playing music. Their goal is to be the host at a party with the audience as their guests; they hope to get us to laugh, relax, and have a good time while listening to them tell stories and play music.
Following Fliflet/Hamre was the moving music of Nils Økland. I wrote about his concert earlier, but I am still impressed by the music he created. It was soft and gentle and permeated the room; when it's empty, I think the walls probably play back his concert.
Moving right along, we were next treated to Kim Andre Rysstad, Lajla Renate Buer Storli, and Jon Ole Morken. They played from all three of their traditions (Setesdal, Hardanger, and Røros). They played solos, duets, and as a trio giving a varied texture to an excellent concert.
In the eyes of the traditionalists, nothing beats a concert of solo hardingfele. The house was packed two weeks ago when Valdres native Jan Beitohaugen Granli sailed in from a seminar in Oslo to share tunes and stories with us. The five time Landskappleiken winner kept us on the edge of our seats for nearly and hour. He entertained us with funny anecdotes about the music, instruments, and history and commanded our attention with his technical and musical expertise. Anyone who enjoys Valdres tunes or solo hardingfele should get a copy of his CD. To those on the fence about the potential for beauty in solo hardingfele, I also recommend giving his CD a listen.
Last night we took a tour to the land of springleik (or sprenglek). Going by the name Duo, Erlend Viken from Oppdal and Aslak Brimi from Lom are a powerful pair. The blend simple but elegant harmonies with phenomenal melodies (both well known and new) and impeccable dance pulse. Rivaling Jan Beitohaugen, their stories were personal and got us to laugh. As I listen to their CD now, I hope that everyone gets a chance to hear these two.
The school year started off with a concert by Ragnhild Furholt and Leiv Solberg. Their stage presence is highly entertaining, especially when joined by Ånon Egeland with a poly-rhythmic percussion solo played on the back of a ukulele. All three are instructors at the school and excellent musicians.
The following concert was the Fliflet/Hamre Kraftforening (Energy Association). These two play wild music on accordion and percussion with inspiration from modern and popular music to Norwegian and Hungarian folk. After the concert they explained to us some of their philosophies about playing music. Their goal is to be the host at a party with the audience as their guests; they hope to get us to laugh, relax, and have a good time while listening to them tell stories and play music.
Following Fliflet/Hamre was the moving music of Nils Økland. I wrote about his concert earlier, but I am still impressed by the music he created. It was soft and gentle and permeated the room; when it's empty, I think the walls probably play back his concert.
Moving right along, we were next treated to Kim Andre Rysstad, Lajla Renate Buer Storli, and Jon Ole Morken. They played from all three of their traditions (Setesdal, Hardanger, and Røros). They played solos, duets, and as a trio giving a varied texture to an excellent concert.
In the eyes of the traditionalists, nothing beats a concert of solo hardingfele. The house was packed two weeks ago when Valdres native Jan Beitohaugen Granli sailed in from a seminar in Oslo to share tunes and stories with us. The five time Landskappleiken winner kept us on the edge of our seats for nearly and hour. He entertained us with funny anecdotes about the music, instruments, and history and commanded our attention with his technical and musical expertise. Anyone who enjoys Valdres tunes or solo hardingfele should get a copy of his CD. To those on the fence about the potential for beauty in solo hardingfele, I also recommend giving his CD a listen.
Last night we took a tour to the land of springleik (or sprenglek). Going by the name Duo, Erlend Viken from Oppdal and Aslak Brimi from Lom are a powerful pair. The blend simple but elegant harmonies with phenomenal melodies (both well known and new) and impeccable dance pulse. Rivaling Jan Beitohaugen, their stories were personal and got us to laugh. As I listen to their CD now, I hope that everyone gets a chance to hear these two.
Kitchen activities
David is an excellent baker. Mostly he bakes bread, but sometimes we get carried away and make cakes and muffins. I have contributed (thanks to a shipment from Mom) to the baking of corn bread and corn bread muffins. Tonight I'm planning to try out chocoloate creamcheese muffins. Yum!
We have also experimented with sour dough. After a few false starts (involving a fair amount of mold) we got our culture in high gear. We made several loaves of rye sour dough bread and rye sour dough rolls before we moved on to wheat sour dough bread. That was good! It was an excellent compliment to either turkey or cream cheese with tomato slices and (home-grown) alfalfa sprouts.
I have made a large number of dinners that stretch to lunch for several days. After about a month of various combinations of canned corn, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and ground beef, I moved on to more interesting food. We've have been eating pan-fried salmon, totally awesome orange chicken, various stir fry dishes, quiche, and last night was avgolimono soup.
Since we are both coffee connoisseurs, we made the decision at the beginning of the year (really over the summer) to grind our own beans. This takes time, but our coffee is definitely worth drinking, compared to pretty much everything else. Recently we received an order of loose-leaf tea and have been happily enjoying having options that suit all our warm beverage needs.
These culinary delights have led to a huge pile of dishes. Both of us are generally uninterested in washing them, so they stack up until we can't avoid them any longer. Our plan is to acquire a used dishwasher after the holidays to save us time and stress. I can't wait!
We have also experimented with sour dough. After a few false starts (involving a fair amount of mold) we got our culture in high gear. We made several loaves of rye sour dough bread and rye sour dough rolls before we moved on to wheat sour dough bread. That was good! It was an excellent compliment to either turkey or cream cheese with tomato slices and (home-grown) alfalfa sprouts.
I have made a large number of dinners that stretch to lunch for several days. After about a month of various combinations of canned corn, crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and ground beef, I moved on to more interesting food. We've have been eating pan-fried salmon, totally awesome orange chicken, various stir fry dishes, quiche, and last night was avgolimono soup.
Since we are both coffee connoisseurs, we made the decision at the beginning of the year (really over the summer) to grind our own beans. This takes time, but our coffee is definitely worth drinking, compared to pretty much everything else. Recently we received an order of loose-leaf tea and have been happily enjoying having options that suit all our warm beverage needs.
These culinary delights have led to a huge pile of dishes. Both of us are generally uninterested in washing them, so they stack up until we can't avoid them any longer. Our plan is to acquire a used dishwasher after the holidays to save us time and stress. I can't wait!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Work
I continue with my daily assignment at the Dentists' office. I wash the counters and floors, while David (my chauffeur) sits in the lobby and reads Science Illustrated. Occasionally I work a few hours at the Academy.
Things have started to pick up again at the hotel. I am one of two employees from last year that have stayed on in the restaurant. This makes for lots of training of new people and hoping that they stay more than one shift. This past Saturday, I working in the restaurant for three hours and then went downstairs and was the bartender for the next five hours. It was the first time I have been a bartender for a whole night and it went reasonable well. That is except for being completely exhausted on Sunday.
I'm off to the dentists' office now, future updates will include health, weather, and school!
Things have started to pick up again at the hotel. I am one of two employees from last year that have stayed on in the restaurant. This makes for lots of training of new people and hoping that they stay more than one shift. This past Saturday, I working in the restaurant for three hours and then went downstairs and was the bartender for the next five hours. It was the first time I have been a bartender for a whole night and it went reasonable well. That is except for being completely exhausted on Sunday.
I'm off to the dentists' office now, future updates will include health, weather, and school!
Sweden in the fall
For our fall vacation, we headed to Sweden. This started and ended with late night bus/train trips. On the way to Sweden, we got a ride to Åmot at 2:30am, took the bus to Oslo and the train to Uppsala. On the way back, we took the afternoon train (filled with drunk Korean businessmen) to Oslo, the night bus to Åmot, and shared a taxi home with 5 other tired students.
We spent most of our week off hanging out in Uppsala. David's brother is spending a year in Australia, so this was our last chance to see him for a while. We also got haircuts; mine is shorter, but not short and David's is definitely short. We visited the yarn store and coffee shops and an electronics store. We made a brief appearance at IKEA. We watched TV and movies. I got a new backpack (at a really good price) and David found new boots to replace the pair that disappeared from school last spring.
While in Uppsala, I got confirmation from the UW that we could take our December exam at the Scandinavian Dept. This lead to me purchasing our tickets back to Seattle for a rockin' good price on IcelandAir. We will be in Seattle from December 12th to January 10th, playing at both the third and first Friday dances while we are there! Whoohoo! I'm really looking forward to this trip home!
After a week relaxing with David's family, we packed our things and headed to the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. This year's highlights included a workshop in Polsdans fra Finnskogen and a partner to take it with (yay David!), meeting up with Irene, and lots of good concerts, notably Ralf Novak-Rosengren who is really worth checking out on YouTube.
David and I had decided to stay in a hotel after our less than pleasant experience sleeping on the floor in Geilo. The hotel was as nice as I remembered it being - nothing beats a hotel breakfast while you're at a festival. The only downside was that the room we got was only sort-of a double room. There was one single bed and a hide-a-bed. We opted for sharing the (very comfortable) single bed. It was not exactly spacious, but we could have been on a classroom floor.
We spent most of our week off hanging out in Uppsala. David's brother is spending a year in Australia, so this was our last chance to see him for a while. We also got haircuts; mine is shorter, but not short and David's is definitely short. We visited the yarn store and coffee shops and an electronics store. We made a brief appearance at IKEA. We watched TV and movies. I got a new backpack (at a really good price) and David found new boots to replace the pair that disappeared from school last spring.
While in Uppsala, I got confirmation from the UW that we could take our December exam at the Scandinavian Dept. This lead to me purchasing our tickets back to Seattle for a rockin' good price on IcelandAir. We will be in Seattle from December 12th to January 10th, playing at both the third and first Friday dances while we are there! Whoohoo! I'm really looking forward to this trip home!
After a week relaxing with David's family, we packed our things and headed to the Linköping Folkmusik Festival. This year's highlights included a workshop in Polsdans fra Finnskogen and a partner to take it with (yay David!), meeting up with Irene, and lots of good concerts, notably Ralf Novak-Rosengren who is really worth checking out on YouTube.
David and I had decided to stay in a hotel after our less than pleasant experience sleeping on the floor in Geilo. The hotel was as nice as I remembered it being - nothing beats a hotel breakfast while you're at a festival. The only downside was that the room we got was only sort-of a double room. There was one single bed and a hide-a-bed. We opted for sharing the (very comfortable) single bed. It was not exactly spacious, but we could have been on a classroom floor.
What happened to October?
Lots happened in October! Hopefully I will have time to write about it before too much of November slips away. I'm going to try to go with a thematic approach, rather than chronological, to see if that speeds up my output.
Starting with our last theme - the car. We waited with baited breath for the first three weeks of October to get a call from the guy in Rjukan saying he'd fixed the breaks and we could come pick it up. Eventually we gave in and David called him. Sadly, he reported the news to me that the guy was not going to fix the brakes. We opted out of buying it cheaply and fixing the brakes ourselves.
We continue to share a car with Sarah. This is working out much better than it did in the beginning, although it has some drawbacks. Mostly the car is too small to cram in four people plus instruments, so we will need to find another solution in February when our class goes on tour. As of the beginning of this month, Sarah does not have a valid driver's license in Norway; while she's working on that we get the car. We (that is David) also get to drive her places when she needs a ride. While not convenient, it's not nearly as inconvenient as it sounds.
Starting with our last theme - the car. We waited with baited breath for the first three weeks of October to get a call from the guy in Rjukan saying he'd fixed the breaks and we could come pick it up. Eventually we gave in and David called him. Sadly, he reported the news to me that the guy was not going to fix the brakes. We opted out of buying it cheaply and fixing the brakes ourselves.
We continue to share a car with Sarah. This is working out much better than it did in the beginning, although it has some drawbacks. Mostly the car is too small to cram in four people plus instruments, so we will need to find another solution in February when our class goes on tour. As of the beginning of this month, Sarah does not have a valid driver's license in Norway; while she's working on that we get the car. We (that is David) also get to drive her places when she needs a ride. While not convenient, it's not nearly as inconvenient as it sounds.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Fall adventures
Yesterday we made the semi-spur-of-the-moment decision to drive back to Rjukan in search of our own vehicle. We had located a VW stationwagon for sale at a pretty good price and decided to go look at it in the hopes that we would then have a our own car in Sweden next week.
The drive to Rjukan was gorgeous. Here in Rauland we only have trees that turn yellow, maybe orange; between here and Rjukan are entire hillsides of red trees. The leaves on the birches are mostly falling off now (we had a big storm a couple days ago). We drove past the edge of Hardangervidda, the massive mountain plateau, where most of the trees had lost their leaves and the grasses were all various shades of brown and orange. The brown walls of the cabins blended in with the brown grass on their roofs and the surrounding landscape.
As we made our long descent into Rjukan, I was reminded of my thoughts from our previous trip. Rjukan is located at the bottom of a steep valley. The mountainsides have little vegetation but tons of waterfalls. Regardless of where you are in the town, you can hear running water from both the river and the waterfalls. It's pretty amazing.
We arrived at the car and checked out wheel that had been making noise. The man selling the car had determined that the brake cylinder was going bad and had a new one, but hadn't gotten around to fixing it. He put the wheel back on and we got in the car to go for a test drive. We made it about five feet before determining that the car had no brakes. We poured in brake fluid and watched as it came running out the back wheel. Sadly we were not able to head home with a new car, but hopefully we'll get to buy it soon after he gets the brakes replaced. Otherwise, the car was perfect - good engine, good tires, lots of cargo room, central locks, AC, four doors. I'm hoping it can get fixed soon!
The drive to Rjukan was gorgeous. Here in Rauland we only have trees that turn yellow, maybe orange; between here and Rjukan are entire hillsides of red trees. The leaves on the birches are mostly falling off now (we had a big storm a couple days ago). We drove past the edge of Hardangervidda, the massive mountain plateau, where most of the trees had lost their leaves and the grasses were all various shades of brown and orange. The brown walls of the cabins blended in with the brown grass on their roofs and the surrounding landscape.
As we made our long descent into Rjukan, I was reminded of my thoughts from our previous trip. Rjukan is located at the bottom of a steep valley. The mountainsides have little vegetation but tons of waterfalls. Regardless of where you are in the town, you can hear running water from both the river and the waterfalls. It's pretty amazing.
We arrived at the car and checked out wheel that had been making noise. The man selling the car had determined that the brake cylinder was going bad and had a new one, but hadn't gotten around to fixing it. He put the wheel back on and we got in the car to go for a test drive. We made it about five feet before determining that the car had no brakes. We poured in brake fluid and watched as it came running out the back wheel. Sadly we were not able to head home with a new car, but hopefully we'll get to buy it soon after he gets the brakes replaced. Otherwise, the car was perfect - good engine, good tires, lots of cargo room, central locks, AC, four doors. I'm hoping it can get fixed soon!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Finally caught up!
Yesterday and today I have been enjoying working at the art gallery again. It is quiet and calm here. One of the new artists, Ary Ketting, has created granite pillows, a sandstone Prada (which diplays JADA on the label), and a sweater carved in birch that looks just like a sweater hanging on a hook! This job is great not only because it is much more refined than washing floors or rooms or serving, but it also gives me time to catch up on my blog! My apologies to everyone who is waiting to hear from me and checked back faithfully during this hiatus. I hope I will have more time to write in the near future.
Tonight I work at the hotel. Next week we will be playing concerts for the school children. After that, David and I are off to Sweden for a week to enjoy our fall vacation!
Tonight I work at the hotel. Next week we will be playing concerts for the school children. After that, David and I are off to Sweden for a week to enjoy our fall vacation!
Forskningsdagane
Research Week is observed by all departments of Høgskolen i Telemark. Instructors and masters students present their recent research. Students have free from classes so we can listen to breaking news in our fields. The lectures tend to be very academic and intensly interesting - for those of us who are interested.
My class started the week off with a trip to Porsgrunn. We were to play two songs for the opening of Forskningsdagane down there. They paid for overnight accomodations and we paid for our gas. Not a bad deal. We drove down on Monday evening and arrived in Porsgrunn around 10:30, that is after all restaurants were closed. Starving, we reluctantly ate at the only convenience store that was open before we went to bed.
After breakfast, we navigated our way to the school. We parked about as far away from our destination as possible and trekked our instruments across campus. The performance itsself went well enough. We smiled and sang and played through our mistakes. Our contact seemed pleased with our performance, as did a good portion of the audience. Before we started home, we stopped for coffee and a quick visit to the local music store.
Wednesday was the start of presentations here in Rauland. First, Per Åsmund Omholt presented his Ph.D. thesis, which he completed last year. He analyzed 500 fiddle tunes in a variety of tunings and from different places throughout Norway. The paper focused on what defines dialects in Norwegian folk music. By classifying every note in the 500 tunes, he arrived at a number of interesting statistical conclusions regarding regional dialects in Norwegian music. He also very kindly presented them in a number of easy to read graphs and charts.
After Per Åsmund, Atle Lien Jenssen took the floor. He is in the process of a masters project relating to tungehorn. Tungehorn is an instrument made from the horn of (usually) a goat. It has three to seven finger holes and a reed fixed to the outside of the mouthpiece; the reed can be made of any number of materials from the traditional juniper to metal or even a yogurt lid! Atle's project is especially interesting because his research seems to indicate that this is an instrument that originated in Norway and spread outward, unlike most other instruments in Norway. Possible implications include that tungehorn is an ancestor of the modern clarinet.
The highlight of the presentations came Thursday morning when Mats Johansson present the doctoral thesis he has nearly finished (it's in the editing stage). The paper focuses on assymmetrical rhythm in pols and springar. What I found most fascinating was his presentation of the variation of lengths of beats. He showed that variation exists within a regional style, between fiddlers, from one performance to the next as played by the same fiddler, and (most interestingly) from one measure to the next in the same performance of the same tune based on the melodic context. He presented examples that some melodic elements (particularly decorative trills) occupy a fixed period of time (relative to the performer) and that other elements are shortened or lengthened based on their relation to the fixed elements and their function in the melody (e.g. a triplet can be shorter when it leads to a continuation of the melody in the next beat and longer when it leads to the conclusion of a melodic phrase).
Of course, research can also manifest in the form of performance, so we at Rauland are treated to a concert each year in connection with Forskningsdagane. This year Nils Økland played on a variety of violin-like instruments. In addition to a standard violin, he played hardingfele and viola d'amour (a massive instrument with seven melody strings and seven understrings, I think). I was most impressed by the first piece he played, inspired by darkness - it really sounded like moths fluttering around in the night. He also uses all gut strings and light weight baroque style bows. If only I had a pile of money to play with, I could have gut strings and new bows as well!
My class started the week off with a trip to Porsgrunn. We were to play two songs for the opening of Forskningsdagane down there. They paid for overnight accomodations and we paid for our gas. Not a bad deal. We drove down on Monday evening and arrived in Porsgrunn around 10:30, that is after all restaurants were closed. Starving, we reluctantly ate at the only convenience store that was open before we went to bed.
After breakfast, we navigated our way to the school. We parked about as far away from our destination as possible and trekked our instruments across campus. The performance itsself went well enough. We smiled and sang and played through our mistakes. Our contact seemed pleased with our performance, as did a good portion of the audience. Before we started home, we stopped for coffee and a quick visit to the local music store.
Wednesday was the start of presentations here in Rauland. First, Per Åsmund Omholt presented his Ph.D. thesis, which he completed last year. He analyzed 500 fiddle tunes in a variety of tunings and from different places throughout Norway. The paper focused on what defines dialects in Norwegian folk music. By classifying every note in the 500 tunes, he arrived at a number of interesting statistical conclusions regarding regional dialects in Norwegian music. He also very kindly presented them in a number of easy to read graphs and charts.
After Per Åsmund, Atle Lien Jenssen took the floor. He is in the process of a masters project relating to tungehorn. Tungehorn is an instrument made from the horn of (usually) a goat. It has three to seven finger holes and a reed fixed to the outside of the mouthpiece; the reed can be made of any number of materials from the traditional juniper to metal or even a yogurt lid! Atle's project is especially interesting because his research seems to indicate that this is an instrument that originated in Norway and spread outward, unlike most other instruments in Norway. Possible implications include that tungehorn is an ancestor of the modern clarinet.
The highlight of the presentations came Thursday morning when Mats Johansson present the doctoral thesis he has nearly finished (it's in the editing stage). The paper focuses on assymmetrical rhythm in pols and springar. What I found most fascinating was his presentation of the variation of lengths of beats. He showed that variation exists within a regional style, between fiddlers, from one performance to the next as played by the same fiddler, and (most interestingly) from one measure to the next in the same performance of the same tune based on the melodic context. He presented examples that some melodic elements (particularly decorative trills) occupy a fixed period of time (relative to the performer) and that other elements are shortened or lengthened based on their relation to the fixed elements and their function in the melody (e.g. a triplet can be shorter when it leads to a continuation of the melody in the next beat and longer when it leads to the conclusion of a melodic phrase).
Of course, research can also manifest in the form of performance, so we at Rauland are treated to a concert each year in connection with Forskningsdagane. This year Nils Økland played on a variety of violin-like instruments. In addition to a standard violin, he played hardingfele and viola d'amour (a massive instrument with seven melody strings and seven understrings, I think). I was most impressed by the first piece he played, inspired by darkness - it really sounded like moths fluttering around in the night. He also uses all gut strings and light weight baroque style bows. If only I had a pile of money to play with, I could have gut strings and new bows as well!
A free weekend!
David and I decided not to go to FolkeLarm this year. While the tickets to the festival were cheaper, hotel rooms, food, and travel are certainly not inexpensive. Plus we were exhausted from three weeks of constant rehearsing and travel. Finally, we had a weekend at home!
I had originally told all of my employers that I wasn't available and I stuck to that story. Instead of working like crazy and spending all of my free time at school or asleep, I got to relax at home with David. Friday we had free from school, so we cleaned the house and went for a walk to town. Saturday we got a last minute invitation to play at the gallery opening, so we used the afternoon to rehearse and then played that evening.
Saturday night we had time to visit with friends. First Marco and Victor came to us and then we went out to Victor's cabin. We drove there with the plan of walking home. Around 4am we were all tired enough to end the party so the three of us walked and arrived at our homes around 5. Marco and David kept the conversation going, mostly about all of the dangerous animals a person can meet in the dark on a road like the one we were walking on and what a person should do when one meets a bear or moose or beaver. When we were almost home, we ran into a few very drunk and entertaining locals; they figured that we must be from Oslo and were out on a training tour. As tired as we were, we managed to walk considerable faster then them!
Sunday we slept in late and walked back to the car in the afternoon. The road was much less terrifying in the daylight. The scenery was fantastic. Fall is making its brief appearance before winter sets in and the trees are displaying beautiful yellows and oranges. The conditions here aren't right to get red leaves, so the mountains are covered with tapestries of evergreens and golden birches.
That evening we made dinner and watched a movie. We went to sleep early in an attempt to start the next week well rested. We were headed into Research Week and even the most interesting lectures are difficult to stay awake through while suffering from sleep deprivation.
I had originally told all of my employers that I wasn't available and I stuck to that story. Instead of working like crazy and spending all of my free time at school or asleep, I got to relax at home with David. Friday we had free from school, so we cleaned the house and went for a walk to town. Saturday we got a last minute invitation to play at the gallery opening, so we used the afternoon to rehearse and then played that evening.
Saturday night we had time to visit with friends. First Marco and Victor came to us and then we went out to Victor's cabin. We drove there with the plan of walking home. Around 4am we were all tired enough to end the party so the three of us walked and arrived at our homes around 5. Marco and David kept the conversation going, mostly about all of the dangerous animals a person can meet in the dark on a road like the one we were walking on and what a person should do when one meets a bear or moose or beaver. When we were almost home, we ran into a few very drunk and entertaining locals; they figured that we must be from Oslo and were out on a training tour. As tired as we were, we managed to walk considerable faster then them!
Sunday we slept in late and walked back to the car in the afternoon. The road was much less terrifying in the daylight. The scenery was fantastic. Fall is making its brief appearance before winter sets in and the trees are displaying beautiful yellows and oranges. The conditions here aren't right to get red leaves, so the mountains are covered with tapestries of evergreens and golden birches.
That evening we made dinner and watched a movie. We went to sleep early in an attempt to start the next week well rested. We were headed into Research Week and even the most interesting lectures are difficult to stay awake through while suffering from sleep deprivation.
Dyrsku'n
Dyrsku'n is what Americans would recognize as a country fair. There are booths selling everything imaginable from wool socks, belts, and used household items to sausages and tea. They also have large things available for sale, such as home appliances and farm equipment.
Like Farsund, Dyrsku'n also involves a set of obligatory performances. The perks are: 1) the festival pays for our travel and parking, 2) we get food vouchers and 3) we are allowed to have a fiddle case open for donations. The downside is that we have to play outside in varied weather a program that is rather patched together for an audience that for the most part could care less about our music.
We were required to play with the two students taking the half year program. They are both very talented musicians, but it was a challenge to come up with a common repertoire in such a short time. Adding to the stress was the fact that three of us had rehearsals and the performance in Rjukan the previous weekend which cut into the available time to rehearse for Dyrsku'n.
In the end things went well. It was hot and sunny in the morning with more and more clouds as the day wore on. We played our last set just before it started to rain. Some of the audiences were more generous than others and we wound up with about $15 each to take home.
Our earnings from the day did not make it home in the form of cash, however. After we put our instruments back in the car, we had an hour to wander around the fair before we needed to leave. Somehow we managed to not spend all of our money; $15 doesn't last very long in Norway. Now, I have wool socks and David has a new belt; we also have fresh loose-leaf tea and a cast iron pan for small pancakes.
Like Farsund, Dyrsku'n also involves a set of obligatory performances. The perks are: 1) the festival pays for our travel and parking, 2) we get food vouchers and 3) we are allowed to have a fiddle case open for donations. The downside is that we have to play outside in varied weather a program that is rather patched together for an audience that for the most part could care less about our music.
We were required to play with the two students taking the half year program. They are both very talented musicians, but it was a challenge to come up with a common repertoire in such a short time. Adding to the stress was the fact that three of us had rehearsals and the performance in Rjukan the previous weekend which cut into the available time to rehearse for Dyrsku'n.
In the end things went well. It was hot and sunny in the morning with more and more clouds as the day wore on. We played our last set just before it started to rain. Some of the audiences were more generous than others and we wound up with about $15 each to take home.
Our earnings from the day did not make it home in the form of cash, however. After we put our instruments back in the car, we had an hour to wander around the fair before we needed to leave. Somehow we managed to not spend all of our money; $15 doesn't last very long in Norway. Now, I have wool socks and David has a new belt; we also have fresh loose-leaf tea and a cast iron pan for small pancakes.
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