Last Weekend!

Friday was our last day of school here. It was so bittersweet. I have really enjoyed getting to know so many of the teachers and the students. They have all been so wonderful, outgoing, and accommodating to us Americans. I will never forget them! The elementary school had a short, school wide farewell assembly for us which was so nice. Everyone sang to us and presented us with a fish cookbook as well as a book of cards from the students. It was so cute and made me kinda sad because I have to now leave them.

This is what happens when a first grader is in charge of the camera...

My 1st grade cooperating teacher, Siv also made a cake for us to enjoy. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, enjoying coffee and cake, talking, and being with the students. It was really kind of sad that I had to say good-bye to everyone. I let the students play on my iPad (they LOVE it) and gave them each some American money. They were really excited and loved being able to choose from the various coins I had. It was so cute! It was hard to leave school that day. Very exciting as well but I am really going to miss it here. I have learned so much and am ready to bring it back to America :)

The weather this week has been so sad as well. Very rainy and cloudy. I was able to get some cool pictures though!

Saturday morning Maggie and I woke up and went to the bakery here. We have been wanting to eat there since we arrived so we had to make sure we fit it in before we left. We each got a cinnamon roll and a pastry to take with us for tomorrow. It was delicious and the picture is just a tease compared to the taste. Mmm :)

 Stein has not been in Rosendal because he is visiting the states but he promised us he would take us out on his boat before we left to go home. So his son Peter took us out fishing for the day. It was a beautiful day and probably the last sunny one we will have until we leave so we soaked it all up! It was really nice to be able to just relax and try to catch some fish all day. Sadly, we didn't get anything! We were out there for about 5 hours....not a single fish!!!! :(

Today I have spent my time enjoying some coffee and my extra pastry from the bakery. I then dove into packing. It is crazy how much stuff I am managing to fit into my suitcases! Now lets hope they are not overweight! It is really setting in that time here is up..one last day to spend in Rosendal tomorrow, hopefully it doesn't rain all day like it has today!

Salty & Smelly Times

Wednesday night after dinner it got a little bit sunny so Lindsey and Katlin suggested we did our fjord jump. The fjord jump is a tradition that the American students have been doing since they've arrived in Norway. All you have to do is just jump in..easier said than done. The water is freezing!! but we had to do it. How could I come all this way to Norway and not even make a tradition live on!?! We didn't know when and if we would get any other clear and sunny weather so we decided to just go for it. We quickly changed into our swimsuits and did it......oh boy.

It was SO frigidly cold and bitterly salty. As soon as we came afloat we started screaming! I think we were all in awe that we just jumped into freezing water..we quickly swam over to the ladder and raced up it. We ran inside and turned on the shower immediately to warm up and rinse off!

I actually even have a battle wound from the jump. I am not sure if this happened on the dock or trying to get out of the water so quickly that I might've caught it on the ladder..not sure!? but I definitely cut the bottom of my toe..

This picture doesn't give it justice. It was like half an inch deep and hurt!

Here is the link to the video Lindsey made of our jump.... http://youtu.be/ANC7mSBbf_k


Thursday was my last weekly Thursday trip with the first and second graders. We went to the second grade teachers sheep farm. It was actually quite fun to get to go inside the sheep barn and see all the different sizes and families of sheep. The students were so excited about seeing, holding, and petting them. I thought it was so cool how they were so interested-not even scared one bit!

Anxiously waiting to go in to see the sheep!

The loved it!

Inside the barn. There were so many!

..Not too excited about the sheep.

Oh just 1st and 2nd graders climbing down a huge cliff..pretty impressive.

Time is ticking away...

Sunday night we hosted a small BBQ at our cabin. We invited the elementary teachers and staff to come and hangout with us and celebrate Truda's pregnancy! We grilled out and enjoyed each others company! It was fun to get to talk to the staff outside of school and really get to know them. This was probably the last time we would really get to spend together aside from school before we leave. Sad.

(pictures should be coming soon. I forgot to take some so I am waiting to borrow from another girl)

Tuesday afternoon we got to tour the Barony. The Barony is a historic estate/ manor with beautiful rose gardens (not in bloom quite yet) where some very wealthy Norwegians lived. It is pretty important to Rosendal because the King was the one who gave the place to the people, so it was a big deal. Some people even call it the castle. It was really cool to be able to tour it because it's technically not open yet. Stein made it possible for us to get to see it which is very nice and lucky for us!

View of the Barony with the dead garden.

Entrance

Kitchen

Chest

Staircase. I put this up because of the painting. It was all through the house and quite lovely.

The study. I loved the bookshelf wall!

The beds were so cool. Small though! Apparently they slept sitting up.

There were chandeliers in almost every room!

Famous Norwegian painting by Edvard Munsch.

View of the rose gardens from inside the Barony.

Tuesday was also our last day of volleyball. Us girls have been playing almost every Tuesday since we have arrived. It has been really fun and really reminded me of how much I love to play volleyball!

The players. They were all SO good, one was even a prior professional.

Look at that form..haha yeah right.

Us Americans.

The weather this week has been so rainy and cold. Apparently this is what it is usually like here which would not be very pleasant. I am thankful that we have had such nice weather since we've arrived. I have loved the sunny weather!

Starting Farwells..

Last Wednesday night us girls hosted Stein and Elka (the high school principal and his wife) and their son Peter over for dinner. They have done so much for us all here in Norway and we thought we should do something nice for them, so we cooked them dinner!

Ranch chicken, potatoes, and salad. Yum!

Thursday night was our official farewell dinner with Asbjorn (the superintendent) Stein (high school principal), and Ingvill (elementary school principal). It was at the same hotel we had our dinner with Sylvia and Donna and it was so nice and delicious! I really enjoyed it-it was nice having real Norwegian food rather than the hotdogs and pasta we usually eat here in the cabin. We were able to talk a lot about the school system here in Norway compared to in the US. We discussed some things that we were unclear about but mostly we talked about how much we loved coming here to student teach.

 (Pictures of the dinner will be coming soon :))

The dinner really made it real that my time here is almost up. I have gotten to know such wonderful people and have been learning a lot from so many students and staff. I will really miss it here, but I am also ready to see my family and friends again!

Saturday we went to Bergen for the day. Bergen is about 2 hours by fast boat away from Rosendal. It is one of the larger cities in Norway. We were able to ride up the Flobanen Funicular. It is a tram that gives you a ride up the Floyen Mountain. When you get to the top you can see over the whole city. It was gorgeous and really cool! Then we walked down the mountain and did some shopping and wandering around the brick roads. It was a nice little day trip!

Riding up.....

We made it! There's Bergen from the top of the mountain!

Me chillin with a troll. They are kind of a big deal here.

Troll Park. Haha.

Walking down the mountain.

Shop with a whole room of trolls....creepy!

Cute little touristy shops.

Thought this was funny...and somewhat true..

City Center.

City Center

Waiting for the fast boat with the birds.

I usually hike up near the waterfall here in Rosendal about 2-3 times per week. I have enjoyed seeing it melt over my time here. It is almost all the way melted which makes me excited! I love seeing it and hiking past it!

The waterfall in the beginning...mostly ice.

The waterfall last Friday! Almost all melted :)

Each day looking out over the fjord is a new sight. The weather seems to be changing a lot here so I like to always glance out and see what the sea looks like. Some days it's really calm, others are windy and crazy. Some days there are no boats, other days there are tons. I really love the view and that will be one of the biggest things I miss when I leave.

A random cruise ship that sailed into Rosendal for the day.

 
Only 9 days until I am home!