Friday 27 August 2010

Standing in the gym in my panties.

It's true. It wasn't a dream, and I did it voluntary. Well, before I say anything more, I should explain that I wasn't prancing around the whole gym in my underwear, me and two friends just tried on some pants in a corner. Still confused? I was trying on some pants that I need to order because I'm going to be a Russ this year. See explanation below. And, I mean, the gym was empty except for me and the two other girls I was there with, so no need to act all shocked :)

Russ (singular and plural) is a participant in the traditional Norwegian videregående skole (equivalent to high school or the British equivalent to sixth form) graduation ceremony known as russefeiring (russ celebration). Russ are easily recognized by their distinctive overalls and caps (russeluer) resembling student caps. Tradition dictates that they wear the overall and the cap from the 1st to the 17th of May

The Russ celebration is practically a big ole party that we 13th graders do in the middle of exams... Let me explain further by copying some more from wikipedia:

The russefeiring traditionally starts on the 1st of May and ends on the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day. Participants wear coloured overalls, drive matching cars, vans, or buses, and celebrate almost continually during this period.



Oh, and not only do we party, we also do something called "knots". The Russ committe (Yes there is a Russ comittee, we're pretty serious about this) makes a big list of things you can do, and if you do one of these things on the list, you'll get a knot or some symbolic "souvenir" tied in the string of your Russ hat. Examples of Russ knots:

Spending a night in a tree (earns a stick from the tree)
Eating a Big Mac in two bites (earns a piece of the wrapping)
Drinking a bottle of wine in 20 minutes (earns the wine cork)
Crawling through a super market while barking and biting customers' legs (earns a dog biscuit)
Spending a school day crawling on hands and knees (earns a toy shoe)
Spending the entire russ period sober (earns a fizzy drink cork)
Drinking 24 beers in 24 hours(girls) 12 hour (boys)
Go for a swim before the 1. of May (earns a popsicle)
Ask random people in a mall if they can lend you a condom (earns the condom)
Break up with a random 16 year old very public.
Sleep on school grounds for a whole night.
Run over a local bridge or from the school to the sentre or similar place naked.
Sit in a round about with a sign that says "We'll have drink if you honk your horn!"
Host an aerobic class at the local pub and get at least ten people to join.
It's common for every school to have about 100 knots.


I'm not planning on doing all these knots, but I think being a Russ is a great tradition, and I'm really looking forward to it! Go Russ of 2011!!

Wednesday 11 August 2010

what can I say...

Remember earlier this summer when I didn't have anything to write about? Well, thats not the case anymore. Our lodge burned down monday night. There was an accident with a lamp (you know those big industrial strenght ones that lumberjacks use) that we guess must have tipped over, and because the lodge is in the middle of the mountains, a fire truck could never get up there. So it burned down. All the way down. This happened monday night, and when I went to work tuesday morning we still didn't know how serious it was. It sucked being at work, not knowing. And I couldn't talk to anyone about it really, because I didn't know how bad it was. And how do you talk to people about that, anyways? Just bring it up in casual conversation "Oh and our lodge burned down last night...". I still havent mentioned it to the people at work, I just don't know how to bring it up. The insurance company has been great so far, theyre dealing with all the paper work. But we might not get permission to rebuild it, and then if we do, do we want to? It's never going to be the same.

So now 7 years of hard work fixing and repairing is gone. Seven summers where we could have went to Nepal or Germany or whatever, instead we spent it at our lodge painting, hammering, fixing. And we didn't want it any other way, we chose to spend our summers working on the lodge because we wanted to, my family really enjoys it. Or should I say enjoyed. That place had soul, and we gave it even more soul when we put our souls into it working on it.

I'm going to miss it so much. That lodge was our "thing". We have a normal house, a normal car, but that lodge was extraordinary.

Saturday 7 August 2010

REPORTING LIVE FROM...

This is Eli, reporting live from the Science Farm! Yes I am on my laptop at work, no need to go "SHAME ON YOU ELI" just yet. I'm working a wedding shift, I just sit here at the office in case something happens, but usually the wedding manages fine on its own, which means I'm on my own, sitting here in the office eating candy, watching movies and checking facebook. And to do so, I get payed overtime :) Life is good! No wait, scratch that. Life is not so good, my neighbour is in New Orleans, Louisiana, and I am SO jealous. I read on her blog about places she's going that I've been to, how much fun she's having, even the heat doesn't sound so bad, and it all just makes me want to come back! Good thing I'm getting payed overtime, so I'll be able to afford it.

Well, I can't come visit Louisiana just yet, my next trip goes to the south of France during fall break in October. We're staying in Nice, and Nice is truly a nice city, so I'm really looking forward to that.