Day 12: Some Ways America Could Improve

I would like to preface this post by saying "Norwegian's and their love of nature is a wonderful thing!"
Today for science my teacher decided to go to the Tarzan park. I was confused about what it was, but she told me I would know when I saw it.
Apparently, the people at the mental health hospital across the street had some free time and build an obstacle  course in the middle of the forest.

My mom asked me to take pictures of my every day life, just the normal boring things. Honestly, most of my life is not that boring. I get to do things like this all the time! 

One of my students gave me a flower.

I also got to watch my scooperating teacher do some awesome teaching in the woods! It was amazing! Some good aspirations to live up to. 

I was thinking about all of the planning this little trip would have taken in the United States. There would be permission slips and chaperons and all sorts of hoops to jump through. Here, Hilde said "I think today we will go to the Tarzan park because I don't like the lesson I prepared." and so we did. 

I wish America could be a bit more like that!

Norway

Hi.

That is a deceptively simple world. that is what people say here in Norway as greeting. When you reply "Hi." back they assume you speak Norwegian. And that can create quite a problem.
It is a wonderful experience to be here in a country where everyone speaks a different language. I love being surrounded by the language. I sure hope that I will be able to understand at least a little bit by the time that I leave. Maybe even speak it.
We went grocery shopping yesterday and were able to find some great food, but it took a lot of guesswork. This was basically how all of our conversations went:
"Is this oatmeal?"
"It looks like oatmeal."
"What flavor is it?"
"Maybe apple and blueberry... that is what the picture is."

Rosendal Barony Rose Garden

"Sounds good to me, let's get it."

The start of the hike to the waterfall.

Yeah, it was great.

Waterfall trailhead. Hattebergfossen.

Today we went on a hike that lasted around 4 hours. Maybe a little more. Rosendal Barony and looked around. But we were really just walking past there to get to the trail head for the waterfall.

The waterfall. 

We went to the waterfall and it was so beautiful! Everywhere I looked there was something beautiful to look at. It was just like being in Southern Utah. Something to take your breath away with every blink. I think we saw the sun rise at least 3 times because we kept going deeper into the mountains. We did get to a spot in the mountains where the sun never actually hit.

The sheep.

While we were in a canyon between two mountains we got to see these two sheep being herded. There was a young woman who whistled at her dog and then the dog would change directions so that the sheep would stay on the road.
The waterfall looked pretty far away, but it turns out it was closer than I thought it was. The entire experience was awe-some. It put in perspective for me how small I am. I am just a small piece in this huge world. I am just a small piece in Norway. Together is how people are able to live.

Tomorrow we start teaching. I am going to Valen skule. (Yes, that is how you spell it) I am going to need so much help on the names. I cannot say the names of half of the people or places here. But I will be able to say a lot more by the time I go back to the states.

For now we can say that I love it here and am so excited to live here for the next while.  I already love the land and the people that I have met. I love the food (they put corn on pizza, salad, and tacos...It is surprisingly good.) and I love the view.
This picture about sums up how I feel about Norway.

A very soft, large tree.