Language Learning

I'm starting to learn Norwegian now - sorta. Last night I met with Knut Dale, who is the Norwegian teacher here at the high school in Odda. He specializes in NyNorsk, which is essentially a combined approximation of all the dialects in Norway so that when it is written everyone can recognize the word. The other written system in Norway (still spoken in some places, apparently) is Bukmål, which is much closer to Swedish. Sweden ruled Norway until ... Knut is actually from near Voss, further north of here, and so has a distinct dialect - a dialect which most of this area spoke at one time. Back when the factories in this area first opened up, workers came from all over Norway with many different dialect backgrounds, and so the sound of the language here changed.
The benefit for me of Norwegian (NyNorsk in particular) is that the characters are phonetic, so once I learn the right sounds to associate with each letter, it's just a matter of practicing and memorizing the words and meanings. Knut gave me a bible in NyNorsk which corresponds pretty closely to the NIV English translation, and I recorded him reading a passage of scripture. I'm going to listen to it while reading along, and practice repeating the words after him so that I can get the flow and intonation, and hopefully begin to recognize more words when people talk around me. There is still a strong local dialect that I will have to account for, but hopefully it won't be too hard.
The picture for today is of the 'Vasskraft Monument' which they built on the hill above the Slottet. It commemorates the 'waterworks' or hydro-electric plant based here in Tyssedal that powers most of this area and a large part of Norway as well. The monument is supposed to light up and play music while water flows out and along the channels. Then people can follow the path through the mounds in an ever-tightening spiral until they climb up to the rock itself. Apparently it only worked once and continues to break down. They finally got the water to run again, but the music never has worked since that first time.

The Slottet 2

I continued working on cleaning out the apartment today. Somehow cleaning and sorting just takes so much energy for me. On one hand it's kind of nice - my hands know what they're doing, so I have time to process and think. On the other hand I largely think about how dirty the place is and how it is possible that people could allow it to get so messy. And then I have to make decisions about where things go and what to do... It can get overwhelming. But like anything else, I find if I just begin and keep doing something, eventually the task gets done, and in this sort of task, the rooms get clean and start looking nicer.
Maybe it's the influence of my Mom, but I just don't like things to be dirty or unfinished. If I leave something and know I'm going to get to it later, that's one thing, but when things around me are messy, it's hard for me to focus on other things. Not that I can't cope in those kind of environments - it's just not my preference. And then there's the other side, where things slowly deteriorate around me because I'm really busy and don't take the time to fix them. So a month or two later I suddenly look around and realize the terrible condition things are in... I hope that doesn't happen too much, though.
This evening I'm going to Odda to visit Warren's friend Knut. He is a language teacher here, and specializes in Nunorsk - Norwegian dialect. He may be willing to teach me some true Norwegian, which, if I can master, would mean people would think I'm from around here. I'll catch the bus later this afternoon to get up to his place.

The Slottet

Today I went to work on the 'Slottet'. This is an apartment building that my uncle owns - when it was built it was probably one of the largest buildings around. It's still pretty big - about 14 apartments intended for single people or small families. Each one has a bathroom, kitchen, living room and a bedroom. And the views are pretty good - looking north and somewhat west along the fjord. These pictures are from the hill above the Slottet (which means 'castle' or 'palace' in Norwegian), which is what everyone around here calls it. The view is better from up here, but pretty similar to what you'd get out of one of the windows.
To get down to the Slottet you go down these stairs made of rocks from the mountain. They're pretty steep, so you might want to hold on to the steel rail as you go. You can see the building at the bottom.
I spent the afternoon working on apartment 6. The previous renter moved out in October, and since then no-one has been into it. He left a lot of his things around the apartment, which I guess he didn't want. Some of it was good, and some of it was just trash. So since then, Warren hasn't been able to rent it out. It's interesting what you can learn about someone by cleaning out their things. I found a few DVDs and video games, an old computer that had been pulled apart, about 15 jackets, 20 shirts, and 10 or so trousers, as well as a new suit and a bunch of trash. A good trade for losing the toaster, I guess. Apparently this guy moved out because he bought a house - I don't think it bodes very well for his house...
But I did manage to clean it out a bit. I have to go back and wash the floors tomorrow, and wash the dishes. And then I'll probably move in, and have some time and space to start mixing the album. After I do the laundry, that is.

Confirmation

This morning we went in to Odda for a confirmation service. David and Liv-Marit picked us up and we drove to the pentecostal church that they are part of. This is not the state church (Lutheran) or the free church (Free Evangelical), but the Pentecostal, which believes more in the gifts of the spirit. From what I can gather, most of Norway practices a cultural Christianity somewhat like you would find in the US, but far fewer people believe in Jesus as their savior and have a personal relationship with him, also like the US. There are a large number of Congolese Christians that have been attending the pentecostal church recently, having just relocated here.
What is 'confirmation', you ask? Well, in the Lutheran state and free churches, they practice infant baptism, and so just like the Roman Catholic church, they have classes for young adults so that by the time they are 12 or 13 years of age, they should understand the Christian faith. For most people, this is just cultural - some view it as a way of assuring their salvation, others simply as a ceremony, and a few take the opportunity to commit their lives to Christ.
Confirmation, though, is probably the most important ceremony for a young person in Norway - almost like a coming-of-age. This is the time when they are made much of, when they are given expensive gifts like a car or money or clothes. Almost like high school graduation in the US - for some people at least.
It was a multi-ethnic service, and the music reflected it - some Congolese songs, some Norwegian songs, and they even asked me to share some songs. So I borrowed a guitar and sang "There is A God" from Ghana, and a gospel tune I wrote, "Jesus Christ is All I Know" - which I think was my first post ever on this blog. I got everyone to sing and clap along.I think this might be a church I can really plug into - maybe help out in the choir and on Sunday mornings with music. I think it will help me learn Norwegian as well, and interacting with some fellow Africans will be a lot of fun.

Tyssedal Hotell

Yesterday and today I've been doing some maintenance for my Uncle. As I mentioned before, he has a few apartments. One block is a set of four small townhomes, and one of the families that is living there had a few minor things that needed fixing. My Uncle claims to be all thumbs when it comes to that sort of thing, so he's hiring me to take care of them. It's good to be able to work with my hands on my own time.
The apartment/townhome I was working on, along with the bad board in the deck that I was replacing, is down the hill and across the way from where my uncle lives. I passed by the 'Hotell Tyssedal' as I made several trips with tools and other equipment, not having quite got a handle on where everything is. This hotel is a beautiful retreat spot. The art on the walls is all original, so it doubles as a gallery. I'll have to see if I can take some pictures inside. There are a few other great spots for tourists in the area, and my uncle thinks this place has great potential for tourism. Only time will tell, I guess.
Here's a shot (right) looking from the path behind the hotel as I come down from my uncle's house. The hotel is in the foreground, and we're looking north along the fjord. The picture on the left is of the 'festivitet' building, which is basically used for community events in the town of Tyssedal. I'll be trying to take some shots of these places as the lighting changes, just to see what works best. I'll also be exploring all the great tourist spots (and others not so well-known) while I'm here, so if you ever want to come to Norway...

Odda

The other day we went in to Odda to get a few groceries and take care of some business of Uncle Warren's. We also went by the library to sign me up for a library card and check out some Norwegian language books for speakers of English. Unfortunately they only had Somali and Russian versions on the shelf, but the librarian was very helpful and said the English version was due in a couple of weeks, so they're going to email me when they come in.
We had lunch at the "3K Cafe" (Kristian Kontakt Kafe), i.e. the 'Philadelphia' and met some cool folks. Roman, from Russia, and Blaise, from Burundi. The cafe is a place where street people can come and get a free meal, and where the more affluent people like myself (starving artist types) can get a good meal for a really good price (by Norwegian standards anyway). Did I mention that Norway is pretty expensive? Welcome to Europe, where the dollar isn't doing that well.

My uncle knows most of the street folks around here, and we said hi to a few as we met them. He's always telling them about Jesus and praying for them, which I'm not sure they appreciate terribly, but you never know what effect it might have...
Here are a few shots of the mountains and the town of Odda:

That last one is looking north towards Tyssedal, which is just on the other side of the mountain to the right.

Tyssedal

Here are a couple pictures from just outside my Uncle Warren's house. He lives in Tyssedal, north of Odda on the eastern side of the fjord, and the views are stunning. I'll try to flesh out the rest of the town as time goes on.

The first picture there is looking south along the fjord to Odda. Odda is at the very end of the fjord, where the rivers from the mountains come down to meet it. The harbor here is deep enough to accommodate cruisers and other deep ships, and at one time people used to come here often on vacation - back before technology ruined the world, and people actually enjoyed physical exercise.
I'm going to try to post every day from now on, the last few days being pretty full with getting situated and learning the lay of the land. Uncle Warren is quite a talker, and I'm more of a listener, so we get along pretty well. I'll probably move in to one of his apartments in the next few days, so will have more time to myself - at the moment I'm staying at his house and helping him organize some of his things. He has only recently arrived back from the US himself, and there are lots of things for him to deal with regarding bills and tenants.

Bus to Odda

Monday I woke up early and caught the bus to Odda. Helen dropped me off after dropping off Hannah at school, and we had quite a good conversation along the way. The bus driver punched me in and I bought a ticket for the whole journey, he making sure I understood that I had to change at Seljord. (names unfortunately are not in the proper characters - there are sounds that the english characters simply can't represent - i'll try to address that in later blogs)

Here are a few pictures out the bus window along the journey:

As you can see, the terrain was more covered in snow as we went over the high pass (and through a long tunnel) until we finally emerged on the other side near where Odda is, nestled on the end of a long fjord at sea level.

Island Prison

Here is the island of Bastoy, from the ferry. Bastoy is actually a prison, but if you watch Micheal Moore's documentary Sicko (or rather, this YouTube clip that was ripped off of the extra bits of the DVD) you will discover that it is not an ordinary prison.

My friend Sara plays piano for the church on this island, and she invited me to play some music, after okaying it with the pastor. So I came and played a few songs, and they seemed to be well received. It's hard to know when you don't speak the language. Here's a shot of me playing on the ferry on the way back.

Here I Am In Norway

So I've made it to Norway! I flew into Torp (about an hour from Oslo), which happens to be near Tonsberg where some friends of my Uncle live. I've spent the last few days with them and really enjoyed myself. Here's a picture of me outside their house, which we cleaned up yesterday - what a great day for yardwork and spring cleaning!

So I'm enjoying my time here so far. =) Friday night I played a concert for their youth group, and this morning I played in church. This afternoon I'm going to play some songs at the service in Bastoy prison - a prison on an island that was featured in Micheal Moore's 'documentary' Sicko. More about that later.
I'm getting some great responses from people on the songs, and having fun relating to folks here. Still working on learning some of the language, and they're impressed with my ability to pronounce things so far.

The second Beginning

4/14 So... I'm sitting in the Toronto International Airport (Pearson, just in case there is more than one int'l airport here in Toronto - notice the annoying TV behind me that chatters endlessly), and think I have managed to figure out how to blog from my computer without having to log in to a bunch of different sites.

My friend Ethan Demme told me about this cool program called ecto that lets you publish to a blog from your desktop, and i imported my blogspot to my Facebook notes page, so hopefully this will work... I still have to try to figure out how to make it update my Myspace blog, but no luck so far.

I am about to embark on an exciting journey to Norway via London. =) It should be lots of fun! I'll be there for three months after spending a couple days in England, where I'll reconnect with some friends.

The reason this is called 'the second beginning' is because I began this blog back in 2006. February 2006. I have only just now made a second post. So really, it's just the first post of what will hopefully be many fun and interesting posts.

People of note that I have met: Julia Barry, fellow singer-songwriter who lives in London by way of NJ.

Random things: I forgot to get my guitar from the gate check area when I got off the plane here in Toronto - the stewardess had to chase me down on the bus. Whew - that was close! My computer is working great - I'm the only one who can get internet access via wi-fi here in the airport.

EDIT 4/19: I figured out how to get the picture to display.