Life in Sunde and Husnes

Hello from Norway everyone!! The following are some pictures from Wednesday and Thursday of this past week. The first picture is of our office! It is actually the copy room but the headmaster and staff at Sunde skule were so worried about us having a work space that they rearranged the copy room! We have a nice view of the bay and the front entrance of the school. We get to watch the kids while they're at recess, if we're in our "office" at the time. As you can see our desks are pretty bare at the moment. We were still working on a final schedule as we are teaching more than one subject and in different grade levels. Jennifer is teaching 4th-7th grades and I'm teaching Kindergarten (Norwegian preschool) - 3rd grade. I will primarily teach English in each grade but get to spend a few weeks teaching music (all of my former music ed professors will be thrilled) as well as a unit on the USA. I will also help teach Math in 1st and 3rd grade. I even get to assist in Art and Norwegian (which is the most difficult for me). It's been a great first week at the school getting to participate in each classroom. Sunde skule has been so welcoming. I am not sure who is more excited the staff or myself! 

On Thursday three of the teachers took us out for a traditional Norwegian dish called Komle. They warned us that not all foreigners like this meal. I was a little worried but from how they explained it I figured it would be delicious. BOY WAS IT! The plate consisted of sweedish turnips, smoked ham, smoked, sausage, and the actual Komle, topped with bacon! The komle is a ball of flour, salt, and powdered potato. Some people put light syrup on top of the Komle. I ate it both ways and LOVED it!! Check out the next picture for proof!

Yea....it's safe to say I liked it....maybe loved it! Eating Komle is actually a Thursday tradition in Norway. Guess what I will be doing each Thursday? EATING KOMLE!!! One of the teachers also offered to teach us how to make it. I'm hoping to cook it when I get back to Iowa!

After eating Komle Thursday night we went to the shopping center in Husnes where we wait for the bus each day. We had about an hour to kill so we decided to walk around the larger shopping center. As we got upstairs we realized some of our students from Sunde skule were performing in a brass ensemble, pictured below. It was fun seeing the kids outside of school. They were very excited to see us!

It was a great week in Sunde and Husnes...stay tuned for another entry about my weekend! :)

Tusen takk!