Going to the land my Grandpa left in 1927

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  Vikebukt, Norway
Sunday, November 12, 2006

Well, in my last entry I told you that I missed the train, so ended up arriving 4 hours later, but I just sent Petter-Inge (my mom's first cousin) a text message, letting him know what had happened, and it turned out just fine. The train ride over was absolutely the most beautiful train ride i have ever taken. I didn't take any pictures because I wasn't sitting by the window, and since I left so much late, many of the views would have been too dark to capture anyway, but pictures really wouldn't do the place justice. Petter-Inge met me at the station with his old grey Volvo and drove me to his brother's house. On the way there, we drove past the school where he and his brother teach agriculture. He used to live on campus not too far from one of the barns...in fact, I think he lived there when my Mom, Dad and Grandpa Anders (mom's dad) came to visit. Petter Inge told me with a chuckle that he remembers my dad sitting on the porch tatting (sort of like making lace out of a string by knotting it with a shuttle) because he thought it was so funny to see such a big strong man doing such delicate work. That made me laugh too. Dad has tried to teach me 4 or 5 times, but I still haven't gotten the hang of it. It's hard!

After the little detour we continued on our way to Petter Inge's brother's house near Vikebukt...well, on a fjord near there, where I spent the night. His brother, Oddbjørn, was out shearing sheep when I arrived, but I met his wife, and his youngest daughter Solveig and her boyfriend. We had pizza for dinner when Oddbjørn got back, and chatted, and watched some TV. It was very very nice. I was a bit worried it would be awkward with me interrupting everything, but I felt like I fit right into their regular routine and enjoyed it very much. We watched "So you think you can dance" and tried to figure out exactly how we were all related. The conclusion was that Solveig and I are the same generation (she was born in 1987, so she's about the same age as Kristian), and have the same great-grandparents, Petter and Ingeranna Marken. Oh, and we also concluded that "So you think you can dance" is very entertaining, especially with all the little dramas that they work up amongst the couples.

We spoke Norwegian the whole time...and boy was their dialect funny. Well, not funny...just really different from anything I'd heard so far. It took me a while to adjust to several words. Solveig's boyfriend is from Molde (something like 12 miles away across the water) so his dialect is just a bit different (I couldn't tell the difference during my short stay). Then there was Gunvor, Oddbjørn's wife, who is from Stavanger, so her dialect is RADICALLY different from that of anywhere that I've been so far and includes the use of a sort of throaty "R". I felt slightly overwhelmed, but the challenge turned out to be really fun.

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