Almost Christmas! We can hardly believe
that three of us are about to leave this weekend! And when we return, one third
of our time here will be over… But until then we will enjoy our life here;)
Like we are doing now. The weather differs between warm, windy and rainy, but
that cannot stop our Christmas mood. In the beginning of December we made an
advent wreath on our own, took the Christmas decoration out of the basement and
lit the first candle. And we are not the only ones. Especially in the center of
our beautiful small city of Stavanger there are lovingly attached decorations.
Stavanger does not really have Christmas markets as we might know them from
Germany, but we do have a big Christmas tree in front of H&M. And you can
here all the kitschy songs in the stores. Yey!
We even went to the Christmas market in Egersund on Saturday, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful markets in Norway, but to be honest: It was a bit disappointing. Not very big, crowded, ugly and not very nice things to buy. But maybe I am used to the German markets...
December also means a lot of work: Most of
us have Christmas parties, concerts or workshops in the youth clubs, which
means many extra hours of work for us. At Byhaugkaféen there is a Christmas
workshop for primary school children. So Jeanette and I help them preparing
some nice paper craft decorations for home. Quite exhausting, but really fun!
We also had the Julebord (Christmas party)
of Ungdom og Fritid, our organization, last Wednesday. First a big dinner at
Cradinal, a bar in the center, and then watching a play at the theatre: Femti
flotte år med Frode Kommedal – in Norwegian of course. In the beginning it was
very hard to understand – especially because of the dialect, but after some
time we got most of what the actors said. And it was a good play, indeed! When
it comes to theatre the culture in Stavanger is impressive. You cannot really
say that about the opera, which does more like not exist here. Proud we made
it, we returned to Cardinal after and spent there the rest of the night. The
other Julebord we attended was the one of Folken. 150 people, music, speeches,
Karaoke and a very long night full of joy was one of the highlights here so
far!
To summarize you can say that we are having
a very nice pre-Christmas time. It will be strange to return to our parents and
friends for a while now and even more strange to come back afterwards. We are
shocked, that the midterm seminar in Oslo will take place in February! So soon
after our return here. But he have time J
Merry Christmas to all of you!
December light at Hålandsvatn, the lake close to our house
