We're now in our sixth and final visit: Drøbak. Astrid Urbye is one of our hosts, and she put together a great slide show chronicling our team's second day in this very charming town. We loved it so much that we asked her to provide this blog's first guest post.

Enjoy.

Public buildings in Norway are encouraged to set aside 2% of their budget for art.




Check out this mural from the Pediatric Wing of the Akershus University Hospital in Lørenskog. A little creepy, no?

We had a short visit in Oppegård last week, but it was full of great experiences. Here's a short list:

1. Saw viking ships (real ones)
2. Visited Roald Amundsen's home and even stood on his boat
3. Wandered around the Folke Museum
4. Tasted Kullinaris - ice cream produced at a local factory. It was mighty tasty.
5. Had a blast at the Rotary Meeting

In Norway there are hearts everywhere: blankets, cutting boards, floor mats, wall hooks, etc...

I asked a jeweler I met with why there are so many hearts around. He said it's because Norwegians are big lovers. I will say that the Norwegians I've met have big, beautiful, open hearts!

I love it. I want hearts all over my house. I want jewelry with hearts. Hearts hearts hearts. I want hearts.

Our last trip to Fredrickstad was a welcome respite after several weeks of heavy programming. Melissa, Kimberly, Bergen and I were placed with John Jones, a Norwegian-British architect who loves his boat and the Fredrickstad Football team. We got to stay in his summer house in Kirkeoy, the largest of the Hvaler islands.



He uses his boat as his car, and so we zipped around to our Rotary events on the mainland and to the Swedish Islands on his beautiful boat.


In the afternoons, we made our own fun. Here's what we did without our own internet, phones or transportation.

We've been playing for our dinner in Norway.

Jessica and I've been bringing our violins to each dinner for sing alongs with the Rotarians. If we're lucky, there'll be a keyboard/piano or guitar for Bergen, too. As a three-week old band, we prefer to take requests, and our repertoire is now pretty eclectic. Some of our top hits: Auld Lang Syne, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain, You Raise Me Up, Greensleeves, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Gabriel's Oboe from The Mission, My Favorite Things, and Edelweiss.

Our schedules are open for Chicago bookings in the second week in June.

Here's Jessica fiddlin' around.

In Oppegaard, we finally find a cow bell for Melissa.

Bergen and I cover some Dolly Parton. I had to travel all the way to Norway to discover that not only can Bergen play multiple instruments, she has a beautiful voice.

On my hunt for new Nordic plays (and general appreciation for Norwegian theatre), I've had the opportunity to meet with several theatres as well as see a handful of productions. Every theatre person I speak with here in Norway says I need to speak with Det Åpne Teater . I just heard from my last host family in Drøbak that they have been able to arrange a meeting. Hooray! Det Åpne Teater produced a storytelling festival last week that I was hoping to see. I made it to see Ben Haggarty (a British storyteller) who is known world-wide.

Another news-worthy theatre company, Brageteater located in Drammen, is the talk of the town for earning a grant from the EU for 2 million Euro. Brageteater, along with 14 other European theatre companies, will develop and exchange theatre for youth. With the help of Kjell and Morten from Lørenskog Rotary Klub, they pulled some strings to get me into a private showing of When the Trains Go By - a one act in English about rape, responsiblity, and when there is no excuse for cruel behavior. Sorry that many of these links are to Norwegian websites. I thought if you can't read Norwegian, it will at least give you an idea of what's going on.

Last night, my Oppegård host mother, Bente, took me to see The Jungle Book at Det Norske Teatret - one of Norway's biggest and best theatres with a focus on NyNorsk. The Jungle Book (Kipling's version) was adapted by a Norwegian and set to hip-hop and rock music. Mowgli, was played by Adil, one of the recent winners of Norway's So You Think You Can Dance. He certainly rocked it. See a trailer for Jungel Boka here. It's pretty rad.

This week I'll see The King is Coming in Fredrikstad, and next week the Norwegian version of Mamma Mia. Can't wait!