Blogs from Bodø, Northern Norway, Norway, Europe
November 30th 2011
This I will miss. The country, yes. The View, yes. But mostly, I will miss the people. because the people are what make everything work. and sometimes not work. but the not working always give s way to coziness. and everything is restored and beautiful and cozy. whether we are sitting aro... read more
November 27th 2011
Mini Outreach Mini Outreach is defined here as "5 days (but we really mean 7) in which all leadership is not present, and the students are thrown out of the school to go out to random islands off the coast of Norway to do stuff." It should be noted that we were put onto teams of 3 (which we did not pick ourselves) and were not given a choice of location. The island of Traena, here we come. We begin on Sunday, November 13th, on a boat (more precisely a ferry). In the middle of a storm. The worst storm. Ever. ON A M*THR ****ING BOAT (ahhhchem. Ferry.) This storm had been storming for a couple of days, but as we waited for the ferry I had this sinking feeling of "DO NOT GET ON THE ... read more
October 30th 2011
Caving. Never done it. But it seems pretty cool, doesn't it? I mean, who wouldn't want to dive into the depths of the earth, away from sunshine and everything living? Our motley crew set out on Monday, October 24 at the predawn hour of 8 AM. I say predawn, only because it was completely dark whilst we drove away from school. Guess that's what you get for living above the Arctic Circle. Still, a bit depressing, no? Stop one, Ferry. Stop two caves. The drive was fairly uneventful, lasting a meandering 4 hours in which we were privy to the breathtaking landscape of the northern snow covered peaks. We arrived about 1300 and spent the next half hour suiting up (no, not cool suiting up, but rather donning our most disgusting clothes and putting on helmets ... read more
October 11th 2011
October 1st to 10th ALRIGHT. So, I am now renowned in Norway as an international Grease Monkey, the greatest seller of red white-board-marker pens, and mad knitting genius. Confused? Ya, me too. After returning from Local Ministry on the 1st we had to get ready for our week long road trip. On this trip we all were traveling to YWAM's northern most base called Borgen, which is by the city Tromso. It is very very north. It sits about 70 degrees north, 21 more degrees than I am used to, and WAYYY above the Arctic Circle. It is also about a 10 hour drive from Engavaagen. Awesome. However, before we could depart on this splendid adventure we had to do a couple of chores. Boring right? WRONG. One of our base leaders (number 1, and I ... read more
October 10th 2011
So, it's been a while. The while-it's-been is because I have been trying to decide whether to write this blog or not. See, my last 6 have been on the funnier side... filled with rainbows and sunshine. This blog, however, needs to dip into the unfortunate breaking point that was experienced on my last outdoor trip. We will start 3 weeks ago on September 19th... It was a Tuesday that would lead to a Wednesday, just like ever other week. Early I got up and finished up packing my trusty 60L backpack... camping equipment, CHECK, tent, CHECK, sleeping bag, CHECK... quickly realizing that I didn't have enough room for my extra clothes. Ah well, I thought, one camping for 4 days is supposed to be dirty and smelly. I DID find some extra space to stuff ... read more
October 10th 2011
Second Teaching Week Here is the account of September 25th to October 1st Our second teaching week was brought to us by one Mary Jean Powers, who spoke on the Word of God. She was also American. This is by far the best 5 days of school for the only reason that for 5 days I got to listen to North American idioms, jokes, and words. It was awesome. In her American way Mary Jean challenged all of us, but it was the delivered in an accent that sounds like home, so I didn't mind. The very first day of teaching I piped up about something in class- she turned to me and asked "where are you from?" "Canada", I answered. "Whereabouts?" "Vancouver" "Ahh, it's beautiful there. The 3 days of the year that you can ... read more
"Driving with Lars", a Canadians Tale
Published: September 18th 2011Europe » Norway » Northern Norway » Bodø
September 18th 2011
We are going to start off with today, because it is a great day, and I wish to start off this entry with greatness. This morning I woke up to skies where the rain and stormyness were finally banished. Bright blue, with golden sunshine; the world of 8:30 was still and calm and BEAUTIFUL. Breathtakingly so. All I wanted to do the moment that I glimpsed the gorgeous landscape was go and lay in the sun. And that is exactly what I did. After breakfast of course. The food on the weekends the best here. Not that it's not good any other days of the week... but on the weekends, it is dam good. Saturday we get spoiled with Rice Pudding for lunch (and the Norwegians REALLY know how to make Rice Pudding), and then Sunday ... read more
September 16th 2011
Classroom Week One, Brought to us by Darryl Our teacher was this cool TALL Australian dude whose main message was getting to know Gods character, and our own identity... and what it looks like if we put those two together. My brain got confused really really fast. It didn't help that I had an awful ROTTEN day on Monday (the first day of teaching). I was in a mood to SMASH something... but unfortunately that kind of behaviour is highly inappropriate, so I settled for ranting to one Jonas, and another two Rach and AJ. Ranting definitely helped, and the smashing feeling subsided. However, between feeling rotten and wanting to smash shit, I had missed a lot of the message on Monday. Hence the confusion. But it was ok. I jumped back on the horse and ... read more
September 11th 2011
This morning I woke up earlier than expected. While doing the wonderfully cat-like morning stretch I decided to open my window just behind my bed. As I pushed aside the curtains, I realized that the world was hidden behind a wave of condensation on my window pane. Negotiating the window latching with ease, I was awe struck at the beauty that was outside. Gone were the grey clouds and stormy seas, leaving behind brilliant blue sky's, happy birds and an inhuman stillness that took my breathe away. For a minute I felt like the only person to be experiencing this calmness and I reveled in the worlds brilliance. Shower. Tea. Breakfast. Reading. Tea. Snacks. Reading. Tea. Journaling. Tea. Snack. Tea. Lunch. Reading. Tea. Movie. Tea. Dinner. Tea. Skype. Shower. This day was filled to the brim ... read more
I am from CANADA (School week 1)
Published: September 10th 2011Europe » Norway » Northern Norway » Bodø
September 10th 2011
School Week One Well. If I thought Iceland was nuts... Upon arriving in the Oslo Airport I realized 2 things about Norwegians. 1. They are the most polite people I have encountered in a REALLY long time. Exemplified by the wonderful elderly couple I encountered at baggage claim. and 2. Food is VERY expensive. So are books. After spending an unreasonable amount of money to feed myself, I sat around in the airport to wait for my train to show up. When it did, point number 1 was again shown by the not one, but 2 Norwegians who offered to help me carry my unreasonably large and heavy suitcases onto the train. My 18 1/2 hour train ride from Oslo to Bodo was quite uneventful. It was uncomfortable and slightly smelly (as all train rides must ... read more
