Camp Trollfjorden, Day 2

At this camp, Day 1 is about getting oriented, Day 4 is about wrapping things up, and Days 2 and 3 are about learning and experiencing Norwegian "stuff."  We eat Norwegian food, sing songs in Norwegian, take Norwegian language classes, create Norwegian crafts, learn Norwegian folk dances, and experience programs on various aspects of Norwegian culture.

First, because I'm all about the food, here is what we ate:

• For frukost ["breakfast"], we ate kokte egg ["hard-boiled eggs"], fresh frukt ["fruit"], knekkebrød ["crisp bread"] topped with gjetost ["goat cheese," also called brunost or "brown cheese"] and Jarlsberg ost [a mild white cheese similar to Swiss] and bringebær syltetøy ["raspberry jam"], and vanilje yoghurt ["vanilla yogurt"] topped with our choice of fruit and granola.
• For middag ["dinner"], we ate brennende kjærlighet ["burning love," also called potetstappe med pølse or "mashed potatoes with sausage"], salat, raw grønnsaker ["vegetables"], lefse, and vestlandslefse [a prettily patterned hard flatbread that is moistened until soft and then smeared with mandelkrem or sweet almond butter].
• For lunsj ["lunch"] in the afternoon, we ate crackers, cheese, and summer sausage.
• For kveldsmat ["supper"], we ate kjøttkaker ["meatballs"], poteter, mais ["corn"], and bløttkake ["soft cake," a sponge cake with whipped cream and fruit between the layers and on top as decoration].

For language class, Grete and I were in a beginners' class with other adults to review the basics of Norwegian and practice some simple phrases (e.g., Jeg heter Kevin, og jeg har to søstere ["My name is Kevin, and I have two sisters"]).  Grete and I soaked it all up and did our best to duplicate the pronunciations demonstrated by our instructor.  However, there were a few adults in the class who insisted on (mis)pronouncing Norwegian words according to English rules and who were visibly stressed out when called upon even just to repeat something the instructor had just said.  Uff da!

Here is what we chose for our Norwegian crafts: Grete og Signe took a class on rosemaling [decorative painting with scrolling flower designs], Anna did a project using Hardanger [counted-thread embroidery using white thread on white cloth], Kaia joined the other youngest children to do a variety of crafts and to create personalized memory books to hold them all, and I took a class on treskjæring [wood carving].

There were other fun tidbits throughout the day.

• Before frukost, the camp sykepleier ["nurse"] led us on a helse tur ["health walk"] on the hiking trails through the trees along the shore of Lake Metigoshe, an experience both physically invigorating and mentally calming.
• After each meal, we sang Norske sanger ["Norwegian songs"] together.  A television news crew from Minot came to do a story on Trollfjorden (to air tomorrow night), and after middag they filmed the children singing in Norwegian!
• In late afternoon, the butikk ["shop"] was open for us to buy Trollfjorden T-shirts, Norwegian candy, and Scandinavian knickknacks.  While that is open, Kari--a Norwegian immigrant who was camp director for years--does a cooking demonstration in the kjøkken ["kitchen"].  Today she made the bløttkake that was served for dessert at kveldsmat.
• Signe [Suzanna], Anna [Abigail, who--like Susan and me--chose a different Norwegian name from the one she used last year], Kaia [Hillary], and all the other children were in an entry-level language class taught by Rolf, who used that time, too, to prepare the kids to put on a program in the evening.  They did a dramatic reading of a poem about Askeladden ["The Ash Lad"] and acted out De Tre Bukkene Bruse ["The Three Billy Goats Gruff"].  Rolf is a pleasant, gregarious man who interacts well with the children and got them thoroughly "into" their performances!
• It rained most of the day, but it had died down to a mist by evening, so we went on a troll tur ["troll walk"], walking on a (muddy) path through trees on whose trunks little troll faces (carved out of wood) have been posted and seeing if we could find all the hidden trolls along the way.
• The night ended with dancing and then the singing of Aftensolen ["Evening Sun"] around the Norwegian flag.  This happened outdoors last summer, and the children took turns lowering and properly folding the flag as we sang.  However, this summer a landscaping project at the retreat center has removed the flag pole!

These are the bløttkaker that Kari made.  The one decorated with mandarin oranges and kiwi has a vanilla custard and mixed fruit between the layers.  The other one has raspberry jam between the layers and on top.

Here is the crew for the evening's program.  To the left is Rolf in the white shirt.  Kaia is in a green sweatshirt to his left, Anna is in the second row behind the girl in the blue tie-dyed T-shirt, and Signe is in the second row behind the boy in the black T-shirt with orange on his shorts.

 One of the trolls along the hiking trail!

P.S.  Compare the second day of camp this summer to last year's Day 2.