The end of Easter holiday!

During Easter in Norway, everyone takes a vacation and all the stores close for 10 days. It started last Saturday and yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day stores opened again and everyone returned to work. Some stores opened briefly on Saturday so people could the necessities, but other than that, there is nothing open and no one works for ten days. What a concept, actually allowing people to have vacation and spend time with their families! It's wonderful. Everyone in Bergen goes to the mountains for the whole time and skis, snowboards, and cross country skis all week. Fortunately my cousin was still in town but other than that it was practically empty here. It has been nice and left me time to get settled and do some things around our house and get to know the restaurant and help there. So, Sunday, I went for my first hike with my cousin/roommate Stian. It was fantastic! It was not very long, took about 2 and a half hours total, but was nice and steep and had a wonderful view at the top. There are pictures below from the hike. After the hike we stopped at a gas station for milk and bread and came home. We watched a Norwegian movie about a detective, it was pretty disturbing, but apparently one of a series of about ten all with this same detective. Watching Norwegian with English subtitles or vice versa is really helping me learn the language!

Monday was the last day of the vacation and Stian (my cousin) was busy all day finishing my room, which until now was not painted and did not have a floor... But, Monday he finished everything but the baseboard so now I have a wonderful room! It is great, with a nice huge
window that I leave open during the day for the sunlight and fresh air, it's great! I went for another hike on Monday by myself and got very happily lost. I ended up at the location of our family's old farm and first house in the area, pictures below. The house isn't there anymore but some of the stones from the foundation remain, so on the left is a picture of where the house used to be. It was a beautiful hike and I discovered miles and miles of hiking trails that are about five minutes walking from my house, very exciting development! After my hike I was supposed to paint this tank at the restaurant with my uncle because we are going to store live cod there to display, and eventually cook and serve. So we had this project, which turned into quite the day! We went with his new girlfriend and another one of my cousin's, Gitte, who is also my uncle's daughter and the artist whose paintings are all over the restaurant, in our house, and I am now so lucky to have a huge painting of hers in my room! Anyway, she and her husband joined us as well. So my uncle set me up to paint and it was really hard, a shallow cement tank that I had to paint the sides and bottom, my knees were killing me! Fortunately, I switched with my uncle for a bit and got to relax in beautiful weather and chat and have some great wine. Then I finished the bottom and we all started to cook dinner. We made really great beef tenderloin with a fennel, brown butter, white wine sauce, potatoes, and tomatoes with balsamic. It was so good, and we ate it at a table right next to the fjord, it was fantastic!

My uncle really lives for the moment, so at one point he opened a $170 bottle of Chablis from Burgundy because "it wasn't selling well, so we may as well drink it!" It was a wonderful dinner, and everyone was laughing the whole time. Most of it was in Norwegian, so I would have to wait for someone to translate before I could laugh along. My cousin's husband was telling the funniest story (I only knew that because everyone else was laughing) and he was acting like a crab with his arms pulled up near his head and bent and talking so fast. It seemed like the funniest thing they had ever heard and I was laughing just because he looked so silly. But, when they finally translated, it was so much funnier! On May 17th, Independence Day, everyone wears traditional Norwegian clothing. So, he was impersonating a kid whose parent was trying to get one more year out of their outfit without buying a new one, and it doesn't fit, so they are stuck in these clothes that are way too small and they can't move... it was hilarious! He said they couldn't eat ice cream or anything because they were like a bomb that would explode if they had anything to eat or drink. Very, very funny. Anyway, it was a great night and I came home and went to sleep.

Tuesday (yesterday) everything was finally open so I took the bus into town! I was so excited to fnally get some things done and be in downtown Bergen! I bought a much-needed English-Norwegian dictionary and then started on another hike, this time up Floyen, the mountain right next to downtown Bergen. There is an automatic tram up to the top, which I have done before, but as I am training for the 4 or 7 mountain hike, I wanted to challenge myself and hike up the mountain. It was really a challenge for which I was neither mentally nor physically prepared. First of all, I was wearing my cute, first-time-in-Bergen, outfit, which is not ideal for long, mountain hikes, but I wanted to make a good first impression. Second, I didn't realize how sore I was from the hikes the two previous days. So there I was, the ill-dressed American, dripping sweat on her favorite purse, struggling with every step, while these Norwegians literally ran past me, I am convinced they have some mountain goat in their lineage... Needless to say, I was ecstatic when I made it to the top, and relatively delirious. I bought a water and some postcards, took some pictures, sat for a bit, and walked back down, which was much easier!

Once back in Bergen I sat at the outside patio of a restaurant, had some wine, read, and then ate mussels and a roll of huge shrimp and scallop with a wonderful chili dipping sauce. I deserved it! I walked around a bit more, figured out how to take the bus back home, and got home exhausted and pretty much went straight to sleep. It was a wonderful day and I am really excited to spend more time downtown! However.... the seven mountain hike is looking less feasible everyday. Maybe I will do just the four, I think the family is counting on me at this point.

If you have made it this far in this blog post, you get the best news of all!!! My six-month work permit has gone through and I am official!! As soon as I sign the paper work and get the stamp at the police station, I can start working! I met the general manager yesterday and he is excited for me to start working. I may be training before the end of the week! Yay! So that means I will be here for at least the next six months!

More to come... here are a lot of pictures!

A spot along my first hike where I sat and read for a bit. Ulriken (mountain) in the background.














View from the top of my second hike to the left.
Below, me, with the North Sea in the background. On this hike, the North Sea was to one side, and the city of Bergen and inland, was on the other side.

















Downtown Bergen, in the city center, looking out at the fjord.


I made it to the top of Floyen!


View of the city from about halfway up the mountain.


My wonderful dinner group! From the left, Gitte, the artist and my third cousin, her husband who tells the hilarious stories, Eilidh, Alf Roald's girlfriend, and Alf Roald, my uncle (my dad's cousin really) and owner of the restaurant, and my boss!


Our table set for dinner right next to the fjord!

I think next I will do a post about my house and where I live, with some pictures!