The 27th Trip Around the Sun

I'll have to start by saying that I had one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time! My dear Mommo sent me a huge box with all sorts of junk food in it and that's exactly how I started my day. Here a pic of the load.....

I woke up an hour early just so I could open this box on my birthday...it had been sitting on my floor calling my name for the past couple days and I was so excited to open it that I just had to get up early. :) I believe it was well worth it, don't you??!! The only thing they have here in Norway that is in this box is one little can of Pringles that costs about fifty bucks!! (maybe not that much in real life...). I was so excited to get some American junk food! I had just gotten myself away from my cookie eating habit that I gained when coming here and I decided that I couldn't buy any more junk...and I was doing really well....no junk food was in my possession....until I got my birthday box. And so the cookie habit has reinstated inself...but at least I didn't do it by myself. :)

The rest of the day was as good as the start....big boxes of junk food can put anyone in a good mood I think. It wasn't anything spectacular because of class and working on my report...but it was a great day nonetheless. My roommate and some friends sang the Norwegian birthday song...which I might say....is WAY WAY better than the typical birthday song. I made them sing to me and I had no idea that there was dancing in it too! It was soooo great. I wish I would've remembered to video it. Here are some pics of some friends that were there. I think all should note that they are all blond. I'm surrounded by blonds.
They made me a cheesecake and a big ole gooey chocolate cake...mmmmm. I think this is the second year in a row that I've gotten two cakes. :) Another friend was going to get me a birthday muffin before class....but the little food place was closed....it's the thought that counts. :) Oh, and perhaps another great thing about my day was that my sister Jessica and her little family had a birthday party for me at their house all the way in Oregon!! How fabulous is that!! She even did a special post for me on her blog! I'm pretty much one of the luckiest girls on the planet. :) So that was my birthday yesterday. I'm a happy kid!

Now for the Norway stuff. I started my Norwegian class two weeks ago today and have had three classes so far. My teacher is a little kookie, but very fun. I'm learning the language bit by bit and having so much fun trying to say things. :) I've been told that I say things with an eastern Norway accent. :) That's really funny to me. This country is smaller than Texas and they have different accents and dialects within a 30 mile range. Who knows what type of dialect I'm learning...pretty much everyone I talk to speaks Norwegian differently...so I think I'll just combine them all and make my own.

My classes are getting a little more tough now because of two big reports due within the next 10 days....but I'll get through. I have to really start buckling down now because I leave in just over a month and I have to take exams early. Yuck.

I have recently begun to tell one friend that he should stop using "pirate chew." It may be quite a futile attempt, but I have to try. I think everyone should be healthier...and less pirate-like. Aside from the pirate chew, this same friend took me to see a bunch of sled dogs today. Dog-sledding is pretty popular here and he lives on this small property with a bunch of dogs that are used for sledding. It was so cool! I forgot my camera of course, but there were around 22 or so dogs and 6 puppies there. I got a little dirty because I got jumped on....but it was TOTALLY worth it. The dogs get trained when there isn't snow by pulling a go-kart type of thing with a guy standing on the back. The guys said I could come sometime....oh man....that sounds like I just won the lottery! I will put it on my next post if I get to go...

Included in my out in the middle of nowhere Norwegian experience is the fact that there isn't anyone to cut my hair....desperation for a haircut is not a good thing. I can now say that I have cut my own hair....and it's not quite even. It's not tooooo bad, but I wouldn't recommend a self haircut if you can help it. :)

Now for my favorite part of the blog post....time for the fun stuff....this is what has made me laugh recently. Most of these have come out of the mouth of my kookie Norwegian teacher that doesn't speak English soooo well. One of her favorite things to say is "if you do a job." This at first brought back memories of the infamous job lists that my mom would give all the kids on our days off of school. BUT, this is NOT what it is. "if you do a job" means if you work hard, you'll do fine. So, if I do a job on this blog thing....it'll eventually get done. Also, to go back to one of the former posts with replacing the v's with w's....here's a funny one that really made my try to keep back the not-so-silent laughs. She was talking about the word "Hva" which means 'what' and has a silent H, so it's pronounce 'va'. Well, she was explaining how the H was silent when she said "the H in front of the Wee is not pronounced." (Wee meaning "V"). I just about died with that one. Another one...As I have said before, they really like their booze here, so some conversations revolve around beer. Apparently when you get really drunk on homemade alcohol, you can't necessarily control your body so well and when "you have to make a pee" your body won't do what your mind tells it to and you may run into the wall on your way to the bathroom. So, "if you have to make a pee," please be careful. I believe that I was chuckling a little out loud with this one. And to top them all off....here's another one verbatim...."we can't take you all at once, because you won't have the opportunity to expose yourself." This is talking about the oral part of the exam.....personally....I think I'd rather stay home if we all have to expose ourselves.....

I have also recently corrupted a Norwegian friend, so now he listens to how some English words are pronounced and laughs with me. Bad influence. Now we both laugh. I know I shouldn't, but some things are sooooo funny....as you can see from the above post.

All is well in Norway! Thanks to everyone for making my life so grand! I truly appreciate all that everyone does and I can feel how much I'm loved....even 5000 miles away! :) I love you all!!

Gratulerer Med Dagen!!!!

When you have to make a pee, please do a job and don't pee on the seat. :)