9/30/2009 Sandvikshornet 876 Meters Above Seal Level Tipp Topp

Today is Sept. 30th. Today I walked in over a foot of snow and made a snowman... (not shown in the photos) The tipp topp seminar hiked up Sandvikshornet which is 876meters above sea level. There was lots of snow, cold and wind. On our way down about half way, we build a fire and had some pigs in a blanket. I think we are going to start having fires the rest of the tipp topp seminars, it was alot of fun today. Enjoy the pics.



The minibus didnt start when we got tried to get off the ferrie so we had to jump start it.. we did get it running againt though.



Probably the best rainbow Ive ever seen... taken on the ferrie.



Halvard took a photo of me taking a photo of Sandvikshornet... the peak that we went to.



On our way up.




Still on our way up.





Messing around near the top. Spot Me?



The Tipp Topp group on the summit!




Ice and snow at the top.



View from the top.



That is me at the summit of Sandvikshornet... 876 meters above sea level. About a foot or foot and a half of snow up there, cold and windy as well.




On the way down we made a fire and had some pigs in a blanket... very very good.




Me rolling my blanket to put on my pig.

9/28/2009 First Snow

This is some hail that fell today... sounded like the sky was falling on the roof of my flat.




First snow up on the mountain peaks.

9/27/2009 Elevkveld Activities

Breakdown Elevkveld for ya... Elev = students, kveld = evening so StudentsEvening. The USA class put on a show or some activities for the rest of the students. We had the other classes dress up in American themes, "Supersized American", Native Americans, Amish, and Hippies. Everyone was extremely creative with their costumes. A few of the students also put together this hilarious video which we showed at the event. Mom, if you have questions about it, email me. Other than that, here are a few photos from the evening and it was alot of fun.







This is a video that the USA class did for the elevkveld. It`s a remake of the youtube video Obama Pling Plong. This is starring Thor Erik as President Obama, Anders as John McCain, and Jonas as Sarah Palin. The lyrics basically say, President Obama, President of the USA, he has relatives in Afrika, then came along a man named John McCain, but everyone voted for Obama, also there was a girl named Sarah Palin... but Obama is the President of the USA. We all found this extremely humorous.



President Barack Obama even made an appearance.










Guri, Joakim, and Vibeke dressed up as Amish.









Marlin and Halvard... Marlin is the Native American and Halvard is the hippy.








Andreas dressed up as a "supersized" American. He was dripping sweat by the end of the night.







The USA class were supposed to be celebrities so this is Sidney Crosby and Howie Mandel, or else Matthias and I.








This was a sign that I made for the USA class to tell them to meet for class in the gym at 8:30.... I purposely made this wrong, and for those of you that do not know any Norwegian this is probably not funny but its written in what I call "Norwenglish" This is how it is supposed to look. Møt i gymsalen kl. 8:30









Word of advice: never, ever feed a cat scrap food... he will follow you everywhere. This cat sits outside my door waiting for me to come out, then follows me up to the school. Damn cat.








Cornhole... or as most people call it, "bags". I made this out of a door that was thrown out and now Borgund has cornhole!








Ottar dressed up as Abraham Lincoln... he still needs the top hat.

9/24/2009 Subsitute Teacher

Today was the first day I got to "teach" the USA class. Ottar is out of town so I got to fill in. We had the gym in the morning session so we played some games and I taught them Kickball and related it to Amerikan baseball. In the afternoon session we worked on our elevkveld project for Saturday night. So pretty easy stuff actually.

Funny story though today... Andreas was telling me about when his family visited Pierre South Dakota, and I said, wow, South Dakota... that musta been really boring driving around. But he said he counted the dead animals on the side of the road to pass the time. ...... enough said.

ETL

9/23/2009 Just an Update

So this week has been pretty uneventful, except for the finding of the exact farm that my blood line came from... 6 generations ago so that was cool. We climbed Jonshorn or Ramoen Saturday, Sunday just relaxed finally, Monday did some marketing stuff for the possible future New Zealand trip, Tuesday and today were filled with seminars, Tuesday I helped Anders with volleyball in the morning, then the canoe seminar in the afternoon, it was extremely windy and rainy which makes canoeing kinda tough. It was fun though. Then today, I was with Matthias helping with Innebandy (floor hockey) and the teams were uneven so I had to step in and play... darn (not). Then in the afternoon I helped Anders with the ballspin seminar where we play games in the gym with balls... so yeah, we played dodgeball and some more innebandy. So nothing really exciting but still fun. I also had my first Good Morning Joggin Session this morning at 6:30am... I had one participant, Andreas Frafjord. But the whether was pretty crappy, pouring rain and windy but we still ran 5k or so? I am hoping for a better turn out for Friday morning. On Saturday the United States class is hosting an elevkveld (students evening) and I am helping them with that. It is all about America... the other 4 classes are dressing up in themes... Hippies, Native Americans, Cowboys, and Supersized Americans. I am hosting a jeopardy like quiz show with all questions about USA. There are also other events goin on that other students are doing. We are also watching a great American film.... National Lampoons Vacation to Walleyworld. So Saturday should be a good time. Other than that, 11 days until I depart for Switzerland. That is all.

ETL

9/19/2009 Ramoen Tipp Topp!!!! almost a mile high

So today for the tipp topp seminar we went to Ramoen, 1419 meters above sea level, it was an absolutely perfect day for a mountain climb. It took 4 hours to climb up and 3 to come back down. Here are some pics of the journey up and down.. Enjoy!






On our ferry ride to the bottom of the mountain, the ferry going in the opposite direction passed us in the sunrise and mountains... kinda a cool pic.



The highest point in this photo... on the left side is where we went.



This way to the top, follow me.



Just alittle scale for all you, look at the people compared to the rocks. Its hard to do these mountains justice with photos.



Nowhere really near the top, but still a cool pic I thought.



The tipp topp group meandering out way to the top.



This pic was pretty cool, kinda scary but cool feeling, it was straight down there on the other side of that and to the right, if I slipped, I definitely probably woulda died.



Almost to the peak.



The spectacular view from the top.



Ottar coming to the top... just celebrated his 58th birthday Sept. 17th by the way.
Lookin good!



Me hanging out in a little cave near the top.



Here is proof I made it to the top, in my had I hold the book to sign in at the peak, Jonshorn or Ramoen 1419 MOH which means Meters above sea level in Norwegian, meters ovenfor hav (meters above ocean)



Marlin and I at the Peak of Ramoen, 1419 meters above sea level... it was pretty windy or else I would have tried to stand up on that point.


ETL

9/18/2009 We found where we came from and some details from Pilgrims

So, I forgot to mention that on Monday and Tuesday night when the weather was perfect, we could see all the stars that were out. At 8:51pm on the NASA website it said we should be able to see the international space station... well Monday, Matthias and I missed it but on Tuesday night during Pipetime, at 8:51, we saw the international space station go by in the sky... one of the highlights of my trip so far. It was great!

Also, today, Ottar came back from Trondheim with some good news, great news actually. We found where my ancestors came from! Amund Larsen Syljuberge with his wife Agnette Larsen Syljuberge and 1/4 year old daughter Anne Marie Larsen Syljuberge took a ship called Angelo from Oslo to New York Harbor in 1875 and then headed on to La Crosse WI, and I have paper work from Church records, the census, and the ship manifest that they were coming from Ringsaker Norway, but Amund was born in Faaberg Norway and later moved to Ringsaker according the documents that I have.



On the left hand page you see the name Amund, with his parents names Lars and Christence to the right of that, then his birthdate Oct. 4th 1836. And then the date of his Baptism. And this record is from the Faaberg perish.


9 1 Lars Knuds. Huusfader Gaardbruger og Selveier g 63 m Faabergs Prgj. 1 8 11 2 1/6 1/3 2 2
3579 10 Kristense Haagensd. hans Kone g 65 k Faabergs Prgj.
3580 11 Amund Lars. deres Søn hjælper Faderen med Gaardsbruget ug 30 m Faabergs Prgj.
3581 12 Lars Lars. deres Søn hjælper Faderen med Gaardsbruget ug 26 m Ringsager Prgj.
3582 13 Christen Lars. deres Søn hjælper Faderen med Gaardsbruget ug 23 m Ringsager Prgj.
3583 14 Eli Larsd. deres Datter hjælper Moderen ug 35 k Faabergs Prgj.
3584 15 Mathias Lars. hendes Søn ug 11 m Ringsager Prgj.
3585 16 Eline Nielsd. hendes Datter ug 7 k Ringsager Prgj.

This could be a bit confusing but it has Lars Knuds, Amunds father and Kristense Haagensd which is Amunds mother. Amund had 3 siblings, Lars, Christen, Eli, and Mathias, Lars and Mathias were two younger brothers both born in Ringsaker and Eli his older sister and Amund were both born in Faaberg.


Oslo 0377A 1875 Mai 21 Amund Larsen Syljibjerge m G Gaardbr. 38 Ringsaker Pr. La Crosse Wisc. 3908 Norge 74.00 Angelo
35222 Oslo 0377B 1875 Mai 21 Agnette Larsen Syljibjerge f G Hustru 27 Ringsaker Pr. La Crosse Wisc. 3909 Norge 74.00 Angelo
35223 Oslo 0377C 1875 Mai 21 Anne Marie Larsen Syljibjerge f u Datter 1/4 åR Ringsaker Pr. La Crosse Wisc. 3910 Norge 74.00 Angelo

Again, this is a bit confusing but on May 21st Amund Larsen Syljibjerge, his wife Agnette Larsen Sjljibjere and his 1/4 year old daughter Anne Marie Larsen Syljibjerge, all from Ringsaker sailed from Oslo to New York then to La Crosse on the ship named Angelo. They brought 74 kilos of stuff for the journey. I HAIL FROM FRAABERG NORWAY!!!!!! and this is all proof!

ETL

9/18/2009 Pilgrims Tur 4 Day Hike to Trondheim

The Pilgrims Tur is a trip that Pilgrims took in the 15 and 16 Centuries. Pilgrims from all over Europe would travel to Trondheim to the giant Cathedral. We walked about 25-30 miles in the 4 days and walked on the same path the Pilgrims used. We also walked in silence for 30 minutes each day to reflect on things. When we got to Trondheim, we had a ceremony for the entire group in the Cathedral. As you can see we had beautiful weather, it rained 21 straight days before we left, but on Monday when we left, it was perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It was like that for the first 2 days. Then slight rain on Wednesday and Thursday but nothing too bad. My favorite parts of the trip were, just being out in the high mountains hiking, pipe time, and then just the history behind what we were doing. The mountains were beautiful but in the high plateaus where we were, the leaves were changing colors which added to the beauty. Pipe time is something that all the male teachers do on trips like this. Each night after it was dark and everything was set up at camp, they go away from all the students and smoke tabacco out of a pipe. I was asked to join and it felt good. It is just like smoking a cigar but to be included in that "group" was kinda cool. When I go to Switzerland I will be buying a pipe. The history behind the Pilgrims Tur is interesting as well.

There is nothing like being out in nature, not showering for 3 days and not having to worry about a whole lot. So far this was my favorite part of working over here. Enjoy the pictures!




Only in Europe do you see a sign like this... this is how I know if I go into the correct bathroom... instead of trying to translate Herrer (male) and Damer (female), I can just look to see if the little man on the door has a penis or not, makes it alot easier for foreigners like me.



A tree... all by its lonesome... with the mountains in the background.



And we are off... this is just the start of the hike. We are now starting a half hour of silent walking to use as reflection time.



The Pilgrims symbol.



Panoramic view of the high plateaus in Norway near Dombas.



College super senior pic.



An American wearing Devold (Norwegian Brand), and a Canadian Ranger hat.



Matthias, Willy, Ottar and I taking a short rest on our journey.



All the lavvos, each lavvo sleeps about 10 people.



The sun is leaving for the day. And when the sun goes over that mountain, it gets cold fast!



And thats the last I saw of the sun this night. Getting colder.



Pipe time.... Something that all the male teachers do each night while on the Pilgrims Tur. Matthias had an extra pipe. I was inspired to buy one, so when I go to Switzerland here in a few weeks I will be purchasing a pipe. Those were special moments. Notice the beautiful sunset as well.



Sunset on night 1 camping.



Ummmm.. yeah, Ato and I.



3 Nations.. starting from left to right... Norway, U.S., Ghana



Fall foliage along the path... notice the long line of students, I think there were about 90 of us hiking/camping for the 4 days.



Some beautiful fall foliage.



This is the first time we could see our goal of the Cathedral in Trondheim.



This was the goal of our trip... destination, giant Cathedral in the center of Trondheim.