A New Group for the last week!

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I spent my first weekend here at the center this past weekend, and believe me had I known that brunch included WAFFLES and FRIED EGGS WITH BACON... I would have stayed here every weekend. You see, Norwegians like to eat cold things for breakfast - cold bread, cold meat, tomatoes and cucumbers, fruit, cheese, sometimes cereal and sometimes porridge... this may not seem like a big deal but when you go this long without big delicious eggs, waffles, bacon, toast or something hot other than coffee in the morning, you start to go a little crazy. Granted, I was a little sketched out when I saw them putting sour cream on the waffles, but, if you believe it.. if you mix the sour cream with jam it's glorious on waffles!!! - plus they're shaped like little hearts so they're just darling. For those of you who are wondering why I am talking this long about food I will ask: have we met?... continuing on the food subject.. another amazing thing about weekends here is that they actually serve dessert on weekends!!!!!!! Those of you who went to university with me.. or did any thing with me ever, may know that I have a bit of a sweet tooth. I have been starving a long sugarless death (minus blueberry jam) here without ma sweets. Needless to say, cake and caramel pudding were a gloriously welcome surprise this weekend. In other news, I tried to ski to Fauske on Saturday, but failed miserably because.. well, it was raining out and it was a stupid idea. I got about an hour out and realized that I had 2 giant pools of water in my shoes, there was no snow on the road and that my idea sucked.. so I had to go back that whole hour too.. my only consolation was that the Norwegians thought I was crazy as well so I wasn't just being a wimp. Finally, in the last of my breaking news from the weekend, I learned how to felt!!! "who cares" you might be thinking.. well not only is this a Norwegian Tradition (ya I just made that up.. it may or may not be I don't know).. but anyways it was pretty cool taking the raw wool and making it into felt, plus I made a little pattern so I feel super crafty. One of you is going to have to suffer the pains of accepting this as a gift probably so don't be laughing just yet.
this is the part that's actually relevant to the title
I got a little off topic there what with the food and the weekend adventures and such. I am now with the Green group! this group is very different from the blue group! The green group are all older adults with heart conditions. They still have activities every day between 9 and 3, but these are different than the blue group. There is less structure devoted to watching the kids and more effort put into motivating these people because ultimately they are here at the center to make a lifestyle change. I met with the doctor today and talked to him about recent (and kind of fascinating) research in interval training with heart patients, and he had a lot to say. These patients meet with the doctor a few times a week, he gives them lectures about anatomy of the heart, diet, exercise and the heart, and they get to ask questions. The activities we do are also different. The kid's group was a ski-focused group. The activities with this group are to both improve cardiac function and get them to be active once they leave the center as well. We do things like swimming activities, interval training, resistance training, individual time outside, rest periods etc. They also have their consultations with other contacts, meetings with the doctor and then their community time afterward. It's cool to be with a different group but once again I am facing the mealtime dilemma.
Here's a situation for you:
you walk into the cafeteria, it's not that big, and you try to go late so you have to avoid this ultimate dilemma, but usually there's lots of people there. First step: food. You have figured out where the trays are after some embarrassment in previous days, so you head on over. There's different sauces, something that looks like fish, or maybe potatoes, and some mushy thing that could be porridge? or dessert? or rice? but people seem to be putting it on their plates. You don't want to look like a weirdo.. oh and you don't speak their language, so you just put a bit of everything on there, and try to pick the sauce that has the most suitable colour.. still.. it feels like they're looking at you. step 2: seat.. now you know you want to just sit, but do you sit alone? then you look like a loner and antisocial, but if you sit down you can't make small talk other than "hei" (hi) or "hvordan gorde" (how are you) ... but then if they give an answer you won't be able to say it.. and you don't want to make them talk english because then everyone stares at you. Ultimately you decide to sit with them so they don't think you're unfriendly. Step 3: the meal. After saying "hei".. you put your head down and eat awkwardly. Lots of people look at you, you try to make small talk so in english you say "how long are you here?" "3 weeks." ..oh.. problem is they don't know much english.... AND SO THE CRUEL DANCE GOES ON AND ON EVERY MEAL TIME. it gets better throughout the week but this is my third time with a new group so pardon my anxiety.
THAT being said I am very excited to work with this new group of patients and new team of physiotherapists and doctors! It's a completely different program than the kids and i'm happy to get the chance to do both!

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Photos

Norwegian Waffles
I didn't take this but I thought some people might like to look at pictures AND words :)

Comments

[Mickey]

Cafeteria Anxiety
I feel your pain. That's what happens to me at company Christmas parties ! Only they all speak English!

[Carly]

Ouch, thats a new level of cafeteria anxiety. When I worked at the community care center heres a summary of the things I encountered: - I was accused of stealing someones newspaper...like accused to my face, right then. - I was told by someone who will remain un-named (however she was the mom of someone on the dan's soccer team), that her other daughter had a teen pregnancy and I didn't want to hear anymore, however in an effort to be polite and continue the conversation, I asked how the father was, to which I got the reply (oh he's a dud and I wish they werent together)....silence. -Just prior to lunch hour I sent a very raucous and inappropriate email to what I thought was just one friend cough andrea cough, however just as I was pressing send a name was added to the list who I talked to VERY infrequently, and had the utmost respect for....no reply. Then I proceeded to the cafeteria in a state of semi-delerium and panick, only to put my soup in the microwave for far too long and listen to it blow up in the microwave. (I swear to you this was the same day I was told about the pregnancy and it blew up just after the silence that encased the two of us after I asked the dumb question about the dad). So anywho. I didn't even acknowledge the whole soup sitch, and instead just left the conversation mid silence, cleaned the microwave for approximately 3 minutes, and sat down at a different table with some urine in my pants.