Queen's Day pictures

As I promised, here are some pictures of the actual Queen's Day in Amsterdam. Most of these pictures are taken from atop a Ferris Wheel in the middle of the city. Notice all the people. The city was so crowded with orange-clad people that you could barely move! To make matters worse, the city cleaning crew had just gone on strike the previous week, so there was garbage EVERYWHERE! The streets were lined with flea markets--people selling everything from leather jackets (one of which I bought!) to every type of food imaginable to Amsterdam souvenirs. I had a blast (and spent too much money) :)

This last picture is actually one I took of the TV. We were watching the parade the royal family walks in. The royal family lives and this parade takes place in a city closer to Belgium.

Queen's Day in the Netherlands

This past weekend, I was in Amsterdam and the suburb of Utrecht, visiting my friend Myrthe, who is Dutch. This is my fourth trip to Amsterdam and my first Queen's Day! On April 30, the Dutch celebrate the Queen's birthday with a huge party and lots and lots of orange clothing (the national color). Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this actual celebration developed yet (yep, I used a disposable camera), but I will post them when I have them!

I do, however, have some pictures of Utrecht and some nature pictures (I was pretending I was shooting for National Geographic, I think!)

This was the first weekend since leaving for Norway, that I have had absolutely no idea what was going on around me. I can't read Dutch, understand Dutch and had to rely on my English for everything. Makes me realize how much I can do and how much I understand what is going on around me in Norway. What a great realization that was!

Violet Ann

My first niece has arrived! Sarah had Violet Ann on May 1st at 6:38PM. 8 pounds 15,5 oz and 22 inches long, dark brown hair and lots of it. Violet comes from an old name in my mom's family-- Viola. Ann is my late Grandma Feigum's middle name.

"She sounds like a baby lamb - according to Sarah!" -Mom on Violet's crying

I don't have a lot of the details but I am super excited it is a GIRL!! :) Congrats Sarah and Nick! We can officially call my parents Grandma and Grandpa! :)

Spring has sprung!

Spring is here, that means it's time to explore the southern region of Norway around Kristiansand. In the winter, with the snow, everything looks the same and really, the towns aren't up and running...so this is my first time exploring the surrounding small towns. The south is known for it's beaches, and it is where Norwegians, and others, go for summer vacation. I've never lived in a place that's a summer tourist destination!

Arendal:

Grimstad:

Mandal: known for it's white-washed houses.

Alt for Norge

There's a new tv series on TV Norge, "Alt for Norge". 10 Americans compete in Norway to win a chance to meet their Norwegian families. They compete in challenges every week, which are supposed to reflect things that Norwegians do/eat/etc. However, I'm pretty sure not all Norwegians do most of these things! But, the show wouldn't be interesting then, would it?! Every week, one contestant is sent home (which is completely devastating for them). I have found some good clips on YouTube..look up "Alt for Norge tv Norge" for more clips!

Here the contestants are taking a Norwegian class Norskkurs

Here they are asked to make what they think is a traditional Norwegian bag lunch, or matpakke.
Matpakke

I watch this every week with my Norwegian friend, and we laugh throughout the whole episode! I have friends in Oslo (who are American--most from St. Olaf) who watch it all together as a group on Thursdays. There are 4 contestants representing Minnesota..which I'm not sure is a good thing or not! There are also 2 contestants who graduated from St. Olaf!

Check it out, maybe you will get a laugh or two even if you don't know any Norwegian or anything about Norwegian culture!

Askefast

"Nye fenomener gir nye ord." -Aftenposten (newspaper)
(new phenomenons yields new words)

Add another word to the Norwegian dictionary:

Askefast: To be stuck and unable to fly because of volcanic ash clouds.
"aske" means "ash" and "fast" means "stuck"
Norwegians love to put two words together as one, hence, askefast.

By now, I'm sure you have all heard about the volcanic ash cloud that is covering (or was) most of Europe and halted many inter-continental and cross-continental flights. Because of this phenomenon, the Norwegians have created a new word: Askefast.

The cancellations and delays over the past week have not affected me personally, but have affected many of my friends and many important people in Norway. The Prime Minister, for instance, was stuck in New York until he eventually got a flight to Spain, and then by car up to Norway. The Crown Prince may or may not be still stuck in London. The King and Queen were supposed to have tea with the Queen of Denmark until the ash cloud forced them to cancel. They also had to drive from the west coast of Norway back to Oslo, instead of taking a plane. My friend Sally was supposed to go back to England for good last Monday, until her flight got canceled. She is rescheduled to fly on Sunday (keep your fingers crossed!). Two other friends took the train to Oslo to fly out to Italy (where one of them is from) last Wednesday, until they found out their flight was canceled and have been stuck in Oslo ever since.

The airport in Kristiansand has been closed, open, closed and open again.

In some parts of Norway, large flakes of ash could be seen on the ground, but nothing like that has happened here in Kristiansand. The only thing that happened was that it got cloudy and rained (and was told that it was acid rain? Or at least had a lot of ash particles in it).

Most of the airlines are back up and running now, since KLM's experiment (testing airplanes to see if the ash in the air does any damage to the engines) and thanks to the volcano emitting less ash.

For me, this is just one more reason to be apprehensive to fly. Not to mention the plane crash a few weeks ago which killed the Polish President and many other important people. I just hope by next Thursday, when I'm supposed to fly down to Amsterdam to visit a friend, that the ash is long gone along with my newly increased fear of flying.

Oh, and check this out:
Island joke
It's written in "messed up old Nordic", says my Norwegian friend, since it's supposed to be from Island...basically it is saying "Give us 30 billion Euros and we'll turn off the volcano! Don't call the police!" Get it? :)

In my own backyard

I continue to explore and come upon new things in the Kristiansand area, especially now that Spring has come to be (or so it seems).

Here are some pictures from a walk around Odderøya ("øya" here meaning "island"). Odderøya used to be a military island, so all the buildings are no longer in use, and no one inhabits the island. The dad here told me he was stationed on this island (since men are required to do one year of military service) when it was still up and functioning. Now, it's a great place to hike--and even has a volunteer run cabin you can hike back to on Sundays (remember, Sundays = nothing open in town/go out for a walk day). My friend Sally and I, and Sally's friend that was visiting from England went to check out this island about a week or so ago.