Snø!

After being shut up in my room for the last 4 days typing this paper, I am ALMOST done. I've got 18 pages of pure genius, I just have to come up with a brilliant conclusion and create the 'works cited' page.
But I've decided to take a break, because honestly, I feel bad about neglecting my avid readers. And I was feeling rather inspired by the beautiful blanket of SNOW outside!!

Today we had our final lecture of the semester, that ended ...bittersweetly, to say the least. No, really.
The final lecture was supposed to be yesterday, but our lecturer, Steinar, from the Nansen Academy was in Yugoslavia the past several days and couldn't get back because of weather. However, he was back today, so we met with him at noon. Well, he lectured for about 15 minutes, before he decided he really couldn't go on, and we ended up having to call an ambulance to come get him because he was having some sort of problem with his throat.
Kind of frightening...SO, we waited until the situation was taken care of, finished up what we had been discussing, and went outside and had a HUGE snow fight!!!
It was a blast!!! Our Namibian friends who have never really seen snow in their lives were out playing with us as well, that was pretty exciting.


After we were all worn out and smothered in snow, we decided to walk down the the Kebab shop for Kebabs and burgers. It was a fabulous afternoon--especially after having been cooped up in my apartment or the library for the last week or so type-type-typing away at this paper.
I have to say, despite the tediousness of this job, I am quite proud of myself for having produced a full twenty page case study. Well, almost, anyway. Tomorrow at 15:00 I won't have to look at it again for a long time. Oh the anticipation!

Well, I should probably get back to that. A solid hour or two and I shall be finished!!

BTW: Sunday afternoon is the start of the Christmas season here in Hamar, and there is a big celebration going on down town. So be prepared on Sunday to read a bit about that!

Thanksgiving i Norge?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!


We had a nice group get-together yesterday for Thanksgiving. It was the perfect day for it, too. We woke up to a nice blanket of snow over everything. It felt just like a holiday break - except all the stores were open.

We decided to get together at one of the apartments where 3 members of the group are staying. I headed over around 11 to help with the dinner preparations and to hang out with whoever happened to be there. Julie, Nacole and I were the only ones there. So we got to do the honors of stuffing the turkey and sticking it in the oven. I am quite proud of how we did. Our turkey not only looked delicious, it tasted fabulous, too! (I should mention that it was a 7kg turkey (15lbs) and it cost an equivalent of $75 US dollars. Nacole's mother informed us over Skype that she bought a 16lb turkey for about $16 dollars in Washington.)

I also made cranberry sauce (technically it was Lingonberry sauce. That gave it a little Norwegian flair.) We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits, rolls, and apple pie for desert. As more people arrived, so did more food. We had SOOO much food, it was ridiculous. But it was worth it. It was delicious, and the night was a lot of fun.


We were planning to have dinner around 7PM, because some of our group had traveled to Copenhagen/Amsterdam/Hamburg and missed a connection back to Oslo, and instead of arriving on Wednesday, they didn't arrive back until Thursday night.
Always an adventure.


It was a lot of fun to have a holiday, when no one else was having one. It still feels like Thanksgiving break, so I'm using that as an excuse not to work on my 20 page case study, which is becoming more and more daunting by the day.

In less than two weeks, I will be completely finished with my projects and finals, and free to roam about the continent! On December 10, we were scheduled to attend the Nobel Peace Prize torch light parade and press conference with the recipient in Oslo. Although, since Al Gore was the recipient this year, no one can get tickets to the press conference anymore except people with a close relationship to Al Gore. We are all a little bit upset about this, since the students on this program have been attending every year. Now, just because its some American politician we can't get in. We are still planning on attending the torch light parade, even if we can't get tickets into the press conference.

And that will be the last event of our program! On December 12, I am flying to Hamburg to spend the holidays with my host family from the year I spent in Germany.

It's all coming so soon! I can hardly believe it.

Dialogue, anyone?

The weather today is utterly dismal.
The sun has now reached the point where sunrise fades directly into sunset within about 2-3 hours. It's a very interesting experience; kind of fun, to be perfectly honest.
However, there are days like today when the clouds take over, and it's as if the sun never rises and it remains gray and dismal for a few hours before shifting into darkness. Kind of like Tacoma, actually, only colder.

Today, while I was walking home it seemed to grow colder and colder. By the time I reached my apartment, my I couldn't feel my face or wiggle my nose. I had to smile, because it reminded me of being in Iowa again.

Anyway, the reason I was writing, is because we had a very interesting lecture today, that I thought I would share. I think it gives some good insight to the "Norwegianapproach"...

Our lecturer was Steinar Bryn from the Nansen Dialogue Academy in Lillehammer, Norway. The Nansen Dialogue Network consists of Dialogue centers in the Balkans and in Norway, that are supposed to act as places for people who are involved in conflict in the Balkans to meet each other, hear each other, and have meaningful dialogue about their side of the conflict.

It was really interesting to hear Steinar talk about conflict in general, and the purpose or role of dialogue in creating sustainable peace. He used Kosovo and Albania as the main examples of his case, but he even related using dialogue in relationships between friends or spouses.

Now, I'm not the kind of person who listens to a lecturer and takes everything they say and makes it my own. I very much believe in critical thinking and weighing the arguments. However, in doing so with Steinar's presentation, I discovered that his arguments were simply the articulation of ways of approaching life in general that I have valued and tried to come to terms with on my own throughout my teenage years. He talked about a lot of examples and situations where dialogue can/could be an effective and positive approach, and it made a whole lot of sense to me.

I think it was best summed up in the model he gave us at the end of the lecture, a comparison of dialogue vs. debate (which is so popular in our society, I think.):

Characteristics of Debate:
-Purpose is to convince the other that you are right.
-in order to achieve this, you talk
-You act as a hunter: looking for and pointing out the weak arguments. This makes the other feel insecure
-You act as a moral judge: looking for mistakes, pointing out that the other is wrong. ( I really liked the example he gave for this one: Person A says: "I'm afraid of dogs." Person B: "Oh that's ridiculous, dogs are so friendly." [End dialog]
Versus: Person A: "I'm afraid of dogs." Person B: "Really? All dogs? Or just big dogs? Or Barking dogs? etc.[dialog continues..])
-You defend your position against everything; he pointed out how we have a culture where we don't allow for mistakes, so its more common for people to try to defend themselves, rather than saying "I screwed up."

Characteristics of Dialogue:
-Purpose is to understand the other.
-in order to achieve this you must actively listen, asking good questions to help the person open up.
-you have to have self-discipline to bite your tongue if you hear a weak argument, something wrong, or if they are lying. It's not about them telling the correct truth; its about hearing what they say and understanding why they would say it.
(The example he gave was: A woman from 'Group A' says, "well 'Group B' soldiers came and said if we didn't get out they'd kill us, so we fled." When perhaps 'Group B' soldiers didn't come and threaten them, rather in truth 'Group A' just felt afraid that the next day they would come, or she wanted to make the 'B' side seem more vicious than her side, etc. )
-In the end, you should come to a point of tolerance--but REAL tolerance. Tolerance, as Steinar described it, is when you actually oppose someone or their views, actions, etc., but you recognize their right to be as they are.
-In the end, change of your stance or opinion can be a positive thing.


I thought that was really relevant and practical. Feel free to disagree or call me naive, but I think it is the way to achieve sustainable peace/good relations. I mean, it does take more time than just coming up with a solution. But if both parties feel very strongly that they are RIGHT, then debate doesn't really do any good--they just walk away hating each other more, rather than having heard, understood and appreciating the other side.
Which I guess is ok, if it doesn't effect anyone but you. But what if its a couple with children? Or two entire countries that have to live next to each other?

Another thing that struck me during the lecture:

I had to chuckle when he said "If you treat people according to how they are, you will only make them worse, if you treat them according to their potential, they will act according to their potential." He was talking about how you can apply that to students, and to countries who are trying to achieve peace.

I'm quite certain I've heard the same thing from my mother several times.
I think one day I will write a book about how the worlds problems can be solved by my mother's wise little lectures.

I actually thought of an example of where this worked: for those of you who have seen the film "Freedom Writers" or heard of the Freedom Writers Foundation..I think Erin Gruwell used this philosophy as well.

It was a really superb lecture, in my opinion. I was very intrigued, and just had to share!

I think you must admit...this is more interesting than pictures, right? It's the heart of something very unique to Norway...Think about it...

November...

Hei Everyone!
I really MUST apologize. I can't believe it's been over a week; this is really quite inexcusable, but I hope you can forgive me!

Bergen was a beautiful city! The drive there was very miserable, because I got sick on the bus about two hours in, leaving a good six hours of suffering. Once we arrived, and I crashed in the hostel, I was fine. No problems.





(Sorry the pictures are tiny, I got them from a friend...silly me forgot to pack the camera...)

Saturday was really the only day we got to walk around and such. We went to the aquarium and the Edvard Grieg Museum. (He was a famous Norwegian Composer from the late 19th century). The museum was located at his house, which was REALLY cool. When he built it, it was out in the countryside on a quiet fjord. Today there have been many many houses built up around that area. It was a mixture of very fancy furniture and natural looking walls and surroundings. I wanted it. The view and the water front were especially appealing.

The aquarium as pretty sad. I've DEFINITELY seen better (Seattle, Vancouver, etc.)
We watched the penguins fight over nests for a good three quarters of an hour. It was moderately entertaining.

After that, we went into the city and had a bite to eat, and walked around the down-town area. We went into a shopping center and some little gift stores, you know, the usual.

Then we all went and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and stopped and had coffee at a little shop after dinner.

To end the evening, we went back to the hostel, where a bunch of us played some word games and just hung out like the bunch of kids that we are.

The trip back the next day was INCREDIBLE. I bought some motion-sickness meds before we left, so I felt much better on the way back. I think the amazing scenery would have distracted me anyway. There were mountains and tunnels and cute little towns...well...just look at the pictures:








In the mean time, I've been work, work, working! I took care of registering for classes next semester: Human Rights, the Anthropology of Development, Global Perspectives, and Archeology. (I've decided to try and squeeze in the Anthropology major as my compliment to Global Studies)


I've been working on my case study on the Ondao Mobile Schools quit vehemently, in addition to keeping up with my class on Conflict and Dialogue and working at NAMAS. Today Joe and I filled, addressed, and stamped a HUGE pile of envelops.

The weather here in Norway is also starting to show symptoms of winter. In Eleverum as we were walking to the Namibiahuset, it started to snow. And surprisingly enough as we left there was a nice layer of white frosting the ground.

The last few evenings, around 3:00pm, I've caught glimpses of lovely winter sunsets out my window. Yesterday, I got fed up with just seeing them out my window and decided to take a break from homework and go down to the lake to see just how beautiful they are. Definitely did NOT regret that decision. I think I'll be taking breaks every afternoon for that from now on!






It's surprising and saddening to realize that we've only got one month left here in Hamar. Today I finally submitted myself to the fact that I will have to leave eventually, and purchased my ticket to Hamburg for December 12...which will be another grand adventure of it's own!

Until then, though, I am going to slow down and take time to drink in the afternoon sunsets, and the clear night skies, fellowship with my friends, and the Norwegian lifestyle altogether.