Norway

Harry Potter has it good.

I arrived early Friday morning on the nightbus from Oslo. There were no beds, no talking heads, and of course, no wizards. The bus was jam-packed. I took my friend's advice and took the back seat so I could stretch out, but was informed by the african man who wanted to share my seat that there were no other open spots on the bus. Reluctantly, I moved my feet. It was hard to rest so cramped up. I got about 3 1/2 hours of fragmented sleep during the whole 8 hour ride from 10 until 6. My friend Kingdon and his mom Unni Marie came down to the docks to pick me up.

Balestrand is a small, quiet little town on the coast of one of Norway's many fjords. Kingdon's parents own a bed and breakfast overlooking the water, and have generously provided me with a room. This is a picture of Kingdon in front of the hotel.



Every morning we all get up and go downstairs to have a breakfast of delicious Norwegian jams on toast with a soft-voiled egg or two, and maybe some oatmeal as well. Then we do chores, like weed-whacking the edge of the lawn or making beds. When we are finished, we are free to do as we like for the rest of the day.

We can go swimming, fishing, or... or... throw a ball around. The fishing here is okay, mostly shakers with a few good sized fish thrown in. No really good fighters. Apparently all of the fish in the fjord have worms in them this time of the year so we cannot eat what we catch either. Here I am fishing off of one of the docks with the fjord in the background.


Unfortunately, I finished reading the book that I brought on the way here. However, I am getting a lot of work done on my college essays.

The seagulls here are a strange form of entertainment. Until today when Unni Marie moved the chicks, they were swooping down off of the roof and attacking anyone who tried to cross the courtyard. Pretty funny really.

Well, I will take the night bus back to Oslo on Thursday night, then wait in the airport for 7 hours before my plane takes off. It will be nice to be back in Deutschland again.