Pictures From the Ridderrenn

Anne Berg. I love this woman! She made such efforts for the last couple weeks to make sure I had the best time in Norway! A superb host!
















Mattis. I stayed in his cabin for the week. He joked that I was the cook and he was the dishwasher. We had a great time together and I am very grateful for his generous hospitality!






















Ken. Good friend from Ski For Light from the UK.

















Anette. My ski partner for the week.






















There was 5 days straight worth of races. I was so impressed with the organization and professionalism of each event.

















A soldier showing off his impressive troll snow making ability.






















Run Run (her nickname since pretty much no American can say her name correctly). Serving herself some grub at my leftover dinner party.

















Deep thoughts over dinner.

















The soldiers waxing my skis baby! One of my favorite part of this event!






















An adorable birthday tree the girls made for Solvi's b-day.






















A ladies dinner! They prepared for me a traditional Norwegian dinner. The most central fare included boiled shrimp, on white bread with garlic mayonnaise. Also on the table included many different types of "tapas" such as olives, peppers, sausage balls etc.






















Solvi and Raydar. Friends from Ski For Light.






















Sylvia, me and Svein.

















At several of the races this goofy brass band appeared. They were incredibly entertaining each time!

















The Royal Band also performed at several of the events. This is the band from Norwegian's Royal Palace.


















The after party when everyone finished the last race for the week.





















Per, Anette, me and Anne. We skied (for the most part) the 20 kilometer race together. Although our highlight was the picnic we had at km 11. Anette had packed dried cranberries, dark chocolate, marsipan and more!

Stuck in Norway

I was optimistic that the volcanoes that erupted on Thursday in Iceland would not affect my travels, but when I went on line today it appears my flight has been canceled. My flight originally was on Monday, but the next available flight is on Saturday so I have 5 more days in Oslo.

I could think of worse places to stay, but at the same time, I am not looking forward to spending 5 more days in the most expensive city I am pretty sure in the world.

It was a pretty surreal moment to find myself in one minute thinking about what I will do when I get back to Texas, to the next minute of deciding how I would spend 5 more days in Oslo. I tried looking up bus or trains to get out of Norway, but since there have been 5 days of European flight canceled everything is pretty much booked at this point. I am grateful for the many friends I have in Norway that have offered a place for me to stay.

Norway - A Week In Beitostolen

I do not really have the motivation or interest to give a day by day account for my week in Beitostolen. Most days were typically the same generally speaking.

I woke up at a fairly relaxed time and met my friend Anette at her hotel. We walked with our skis about a mile to the ski area. We chose the walk over the bus because we had the time and it was a nice stroll. We skied during the morning, ate our packed picnic lunches, and then skied a bit in the afternoon. We of course chose to walk home in the afternoon as well.

Once I made it back to my cabin I made dinner for Mattis and I and we did enjoy a couple of small dinner parties. Later in the evening I found myself socializing at the hotel bar where hundreds of participants flocked to in the evening hours. On most nights I found myself dancing at some point which is of course one of my highlights! I get such a high from dancing, it really is one my favorite and simple pleasures in life.

I did love and enjoy this event immensely and I feel so fortunate I was able to be here. It is always inspiring for me to see athletes of all ages, and all disabilities compete in sports of all sorts. It brings even more joy to me that I see it happening in another country. I have had the chance to work in this environment all over America and I am just thrilled that the same opportunities exist all over the world.

Of course it was difficult to be here an not compare my week to the Ski For Light back in the States I am so involved with. I missed many of my friends that typically attend Ski For Light. I missed all of the hugging that is so prevalent. I missed the fellowship around meal times. I missed working the event and feeling as though I am contributing to the organization. I must confess though one of my favorite things offered at the Ridderrenn is volunteers waxing the skies each morning. What a treat because I loathe waxing, especially Klister if anyone knows what that is.

An interesting note about the Ridderrenn is the involvement of the military with the event. It is the 47th annual event and the military has been involved since the inaugural year in the 60's. They help with so many aspects of the event such as the waxing, transportation, setting up equipment for the races, preparing and manning the aid stations (including fresh fruit all week!), etc. the list goes on an on really.

I must give a shout out to some very special Norwegians that went out of their way to include me and make me feel very special all week. Anette, Anne, Goldfish, Run Run, Reidun, Mattis, Svein, and Sylvia. This group did everything they could to make sure I had something to do, something to eat and someone to make sure I was having a good time at all times. Thank you to a very special group of beautiful souls!

Norway - Day 7, Beitostolen

I woke up early and prepared myself for a long travel day. I made the trip that day from Oslo to Beitostolen where I would spent the remainder 7 days of my trip to Norway. I met up with three fellow Americans at their hotel and we waited for our chartered bus to take us on our 4 hour bus journey to a very small ski village.

We headed to Beitostolen to attend the Ridderenn event which is a weeklong event for people with all sorts of disabilities skiing downhill and cross country. The American version of this event is called Ski For Light. I was thrilled to sit next to a talkative and friendly Danish woman.

The impression of the ski town was what I expected: cabins strung about the mountain side, a grocery store, a couple of hotels, several restaurants and shops. I fortunately was invited by Mattis (whom I met at Ski For Light) to stay in his cabin that sits 1 minute walk away from the main hotel which is where all of the events are happening during the week. The ski lift is literally directly across the street and the ski area is about one mile away.

Once I arrived to Mattis' cabin, we walked across the street to the grocery store. As a way of thanking Mattis and showing him my appreciation for his hosting generosity I volunteered to cook for him for the week. After a yummy dinner together we went to the hotel and joined the evening social hours in the bar and live band.

The American version of this event (SFL) has only 300 whereas this one has 800 or so. Also, there are over 150 sports university volunteering and over 200 military soldiers supporting the event. The SFL event has a huge number of older participants with the average age of 55. On the first night here I noticed the massive difference in age of the participants and volunteers.

I had sooooo much fun dancing that night and reunited with some friends I had not seen in a while. All in all, it was a great day to a week full of fun!

Norway - Day 6, Scavenger Hunt in Oslo

The 6th morning proved to be quite sluggish and lathargic. I spent the morning finalizing the Oslo Urban Adventure Race I organized. Nearly one month before arriving I decided to put together an adventure race in Oslo. I thought it would be a good way for me to get to know Oslo in the week I spent there. During the week when I was walking about getting to know the town I took note of some interesting sites. I made a list of 20 tasks that requried a small group to run around all of Oslo taking pictures and videos.

Of the 20 questions half were tasks that were local realted tasks such as take a photo with a particular statue or take a group photo next to the gaurd at the Royal Palace. The other 10 questions were general fun things that could be accomplished in any city. Things such as videotape someone in your group giving a piggyback ride to a stranger, find and put on a pair of handcuffs, find a group of strangers and have them spell with their bodies "REBUS" (the Norwegian word for Scavenger Hunt), perform some sort of talent in the street in order to earn at least one coin from a stranger etc. I advertised the event on the couchsurfing website. When I showed up to the Musuem where we were to meet I thought maybe 10 or 15 people might show up. My jaw dropped when I counted and there were 50 people standing before me ready to give instructions. I was taken aback! I even had to run to a nearby hotel to ask if they would make photo copies because I ran out of forms.

I split the group into those who live in Oslo and those who were traveling that weekend. I was surprised to see it was nearly half and half. I asked the groups to join to make the teams 4 or 5 people. I stood on the wall of the landing and gave out the instructions. I handed the sheets to the group and then sent them on their way. I did not see any of the groups over the next 2.5 hours as I got in some last minute sight seeing. I took the bus to have a nice view of the fjord and enjoy the sunshine. It was the most brilliant weather anyone could ask for!

The groups had to meet at a particular pub at 6:00pm or they were disqualified. I had sooooo much fun looking at all of their photos, videotapes and hearing them tell of their adventures from the day. For many groups, the members did not know one another and by the time they were at the pub many had made some new friends. It was by far one of the happiest moment I felt during my time in Oslo. I was also very happy because it was such a big thrill and I did not have to spend any money :)

Another couchsurfer from Oslo organized a social event starting at 6:00pm at the pub where we ended the race so at one point we had nearly 70 couchsurfers in the pub. I spent the rest of the evening meeting couchsurfers from all over the world and hearing more stories from the adventures people enjoyed that day.

There was an Italian man, Nick, who made my day and helped me realize how much my efforts were appreciated. He said, "This was my first time in Oslo and it was only a short weekend. It was a last minute trip so I did not make many plans. Because of the event you organized I got to see all of Oslo in 3 hours and meet some amazing people." It was a proud moment.

Norway - Day 5, Lillistrom

After a relaxing morning, Anette and I made our way to the train station, but we had one important stop on the way. I promised to share the recipe and some of the dressing I made out of the oranges the chef gave me. It was to return the favor for receving a HUGE bag of oranges!

I said goodbye to Anette and loaded a train to head to another town called Lillistrom. One week before I arrivedto Norway a man named Steve emailed me through couchsurfing and he wanted to hang out with a Texan. Steve and his son have an odd fascination and love for Texas. In their Norwegian country home, they have Texas adorned on their walls and pictures of their visit to Dallas from many years ago. I met his family including his 9 year old son, 5 month old twins and his girlfriend. We went for a lovely walk and had coffee sitting in the sunshine. When our short visit ended, Inger Anne drove me back to the train station.

When I arrived a friend, Anne, from Ski For Light met me at the train station. She took me to a lovely restaurant and again I sat in the sun soaking in the warm rays. After eating a delightful seafood salad we loaded up the train to head to Anne's house. One of my favorite things about Europe in general is the culture of walking everywhere. They have many small grocery stores so on our way home we grabbed ingredients for the evening party. That evening was perhaps my highlight of the week in Norway. We loaded up firewood, a wok, food, extra layers and some libations.

We hiked into the woods and found her group of 8 friends and a small fire. It was a magnificant evening. We sat in the woods away from the hustle and bustle of Oslo and at the same time we had the best view of the entire city. Beyond the buildings the fjord glistened in the bright sun. The group of friends seemed shy to speak with me at first because of their intimidation with english. By about glass 2 of wine, most everyone freely spoke with me. I must say that if was not engaged 1:1 with someone, the group naturally spoke their native norwegian language and I did feel lost. It was a good excuse for some moments to not feel obligated to conversate. Norwegian words danced around me and I throughly enjoyed hearing the constant laughter and excitement as they told their stories of which I had no clue what they were talking about. Several times a couple of friends would say, "we are supposed to be speaking english!" It was far too kind of them to constantly try to meet my needs and speak a foreign language. It should be me who is trying to speak Norwegian, not the entire group speak english for one person in the group.

This attitude to attempt to include me is congruent with how I have been treated as a guest in their country. Everyone of my host has gone above and beyond to welcome me and ensure that I am having a pleasent visit.

The fire took us well into the morning hours. It was a blast of an evening and thankfully everyone was able to walk home so there was not dangerous driving.

Norway - Day 4, Sandvika

Anette and I woke up in our warm hut and after all of the routine activities of mornings in a hut such as breakfast and putting the hut back together for the next group, we went on our merry way down the ski trail. We tried to extend our trip by a few kilometers in hopes to get a good view, but trumped by the clouds and the fact that the route simply did not take us high enough for a good vantage. We decided to at least enjoy a short picnic of asparagus soup before heading back to town.

This is where the story became amusing to me. When we made it back the tiny town, we walked nearly 1/2 a mile (and by this time in the rain) to reach the bus stop. In Norway, standing at a bus stop in the rain, with ski boots, ski pants and a ski bag in a tiny town ready to board the local bus is not an uncommon sight. We then had to take a train and then walk another 1/2 mile to her house. We spent more time walking, taking a bus and a train than we did skiing, but it was all worth it and so much fun!

After a well deserved warm shower to rid the chill out of our bones we walked back to town for a fantastic lunch. Anette was a regular at this small art gallery/cafe and I enjoyed chatting it up with the chef. After discussing his recipes and techniques I shared with him a new recipe I recently discovered. He asked if I needed any oranges because he had an excess that would be thrown out if not eaten soon. It just so happened that I was cooking dinner that night which required fresh squeezed oranges. I love it when I am aligned with the universe and oranges just fall from the sky!

Anette and I finished some errands in town and headed back up the hill to prepare for our small dinner party. I offered to cook for Anette for being such a great host and Reidun who is lending me her extra skis all week for the Ridderrent event. For my 4th night in Oslo I prepared zucchini salad with an orange and almond dressing, ratatouille, green onion polenta and chocolate quesadillas. I am hoping at some point I will get the traditional seafood they are known for, but it does not look likely since everything is well out of my budget. Just to give some perspective I spent $50 on the ingredients to feed three people. Also, on the way home Anette wanted to pick up a rose at the floral shop for her house. Thankfully she did not nearly have a heart attack when the clerk asked for 60 krowne ($10) for a single rose! Yikes!

Reidun came over and the three of us enjoyed such a lovely evening of food, stories and laughs!

Norway - Day 3, Oslo

I had an early start to the day and was on a bus to meet my friend Anette by 8:15am. I know Anette as she has traveled to the States for the last 5 years at the Ski For Light event. She was nice enough to arrange a free one week pass to her gym/spa. We arrived to her gym and began with a class of pilates. After the class we headed to the luxurious massage chairs. I usually HATE those things, but it honestly felt like real hands were working my back. We even jumped into the sauna, steam bath and hot showers before our next class of yoga began. After a wonderful yoga session we headed across town to eat at her favorite vegetarian restaurant. Anette is perhaps one of the most thoughtful individuals I have ever met. She gave me her completed frequent punch card and I enjoyed a free lunch. Good thing at a whopping $22 for a casual lunch.

After a series of public transportation and walking we made it to her apartment where we quickly transitioned from city girls to hut trip girls like Superwomen. Anette's dad generously picked us up to drop off us at the ski trail head. We lathered on a quick coat of klister wax on our skies (which is disgusting wax one must use during the spring season when the snow is not quite cold enough for typical wax) and off into the woods we went.

After only a short ski in, we found our abode for the evening. Cutest little hut one has ever seen! We spent the rest of the evening chatting away and I finished one of Chad and Angee's pot holders I have been meaning to work on! To answer the mysterious question of what I ate on my 3rd night in Oslo.....wait for it....Mexican! I suppose rice in tomato sauce with the slightest hint of chili could constitute as Mexican. It was such a peaceful, perfect and lovely night Anette and I had.

Norway - Day 2, Oslo

I thought I had somehow escaped jet lag until I woke up and asked my host what time it was. I am not sure if I should blame staying up until 3:00am typing on the computer or jet lag, but I definitely woke up by 12:00pm on my 2nd day in Oslo. I shared a quick "breakfast" with my host and hit the town. I walked around for a bit with the hopes to see the Nobel Prize museum. Unmotivated to spend a ton of money on a museum I was only half interested, I chose to walk around in the dreary rain and make my way back to an internet cafe.

I am organizing an urban adventure scavenger hunt so I am spending quite a bit of time emailing folks in order to get things organized so I do have some excuse. Additionally, when I am spending $6 per hour using the internet I am actually saving money as opposed to eating or going into a museum. I am still getting used to the culture shock of sticker shock and how weak our money is here in Norway land.

After fiddling on the computer for way too long I made my way across town and finally get my local cell phone connected. Ahhh, the feeling of being connected again! I love my cell phone and I am so glad I now have access to meet friends much easier. It feels so archaic telling someone, I will meet you at this plaza at this time. I am happy to admit my addiction to cell phones and am grateful for the existence.

At 5:00 I met up with Fuat, a local couchsurfer willing to cook dinner for me. When I arrived at his house I learned that he is originally from Turkey and has lived in Oslo for 10 years. I quickly put together the fact that Oslo is quite an international town. While there are a plethora of beautiful, blond-headed, blue eyed, skinny, fit men and women, quite a bit of diversity also exists.

For my 1st night my host cooked me a traditional Spanish dinner and on my 2nd night a couchsurfing host cooked me a traditional Turkish dinner. I cannot wait to see what dinner 3 brings me. Fuat prepared an ancient dish that was even accompanied with a tale about how the dish came about (courtesy of wikipedia due to inability to translate story into English I could understand). He worked the simple yet complexly flavored dish on his hands and knees for nearly an hour. It was delicious and I cannot wait to share it with my family when I return to the states!

After dinner we made our way to the Underwater Pub where they had up and coming young opera singers perform in a pub. It was a sight to be seen! It was such a unique experience! Although I have officially never been to the opera, I cannot imagine opera could get better than the ambiance of a pub!

Day 1 In Norway

Picture 1: Ski jump outside of Angel (my host`s house)
Picture 2: Mansion house with grass on top (explained below)
Picture 3: Traveling friend Nick (lives in Norway, from Atlanta)
Picture 4: Angel my host on left, Nick behind him, Joakim on right (host for 2nd and 3rd night) and his girlfriend Monica
Picture 5: Angel who is orginally from Spain cooked a beutiful dinner for us

My first full day in Norway started with a generous breakfast prepared by my host Angel. He then took me on a brisk walk throughout his neighborhood. He happens to live in the wealthiest neighborhood of Oslo (he rents a small part of a huge house). It was a steep climb and along the way we saw Oslo`s Nordic ski jump that sits just outside his backdoor. Along the way we saw tons of seriously fit people jogging along and many bikers as well. Mind you, it was 30 degrees out! These people are nuts and serious about their exercises. These extremely fit people were in the 50`s 60`and sometimes even in their 70`s. I also learned later that day that being fit is viewed as status.

The house you see in the photo has grass on top of the roof. Angel told me the reason but I am still not quite sure I completely understand the reasoning behind it. It was an old tradition and very few houses have this today and I suppose it is seen as status as well. They used to have goats on their roofs and they would eat the grass. It also served as a insulator during the winter months.

I met up with a fellow traveling couchsurfer, Nick, in Oslo`s largest statue park. The park has more than 212 statues depicting human beings in everyday emotions and embraces. We also saw the Royal Palace which was quite unimpressive. Although the decorative live soldiers "guarding" this Palace were cute and entertaining. Nick now lives in Norway outside of Oslo and wanted to check out the town for a couple of days. Nick is originally from Atlanta. We spent the entire day roaming around Oslo chatting up a storm and having very little purpose with which direction we went. It was much more enjoyabe exploring the city with someone rather than on my own.

Nick and I purchased some ingrdients to prepare hummus for our dinner party at Angels house. When we arrived we saw that Angel had made mounds of traditional Spanish food. Joakim (my couchsurfing host for my 2nd and 3rd evening) and Monica (his girlfriend) joined us as well. Joakim is a home brewing beer nerd and brought several bottles of his home brew. They were out of his world amaizing! The 5 of us sat at the table for nearly 4 hours and had such interesting conversations! It was an end to a wonderful day in Oslo!

Getting to Norway

I arrived to the Houston airport on Saturday night to find that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. This did not disappoint as I had a 9 hour layover in London. I suppose I had to wait somewhere regardless of whether it was in Houston or in London. The plane was only 20% full so I had my own row of 4 seats and I slept very well on the overnight flight.

When I landed in London I had 7 hours to kill. I felt very disconnected as I did not have my laptop or my cell phone. A huge feeling of disconnect and for me also boredom. I am grateful at least that it was a beautiful airport with lots of people, food and things to look at. I love airports for many reasons. The anticipation of going somwhere, wondering about the stories of those around me, watching people greet loved ones as well as the long good byes. I love being in the international terminal listening to the sounds of the foreign languges signing all around me and looking at the array of fashion.

The second short flight from London to Norway was short and uneventful. I arrived to Oslo at 10:30pm which only gave me 1.5 hours to take a subway to Oslo, then another subway in order to catch the bus before it finished its route by 12:00am. I found a kind friend (a gorgeous Norwegian man at that) who helped me figure out which track I needed to take (I am a bit notorious for getting lost and taking the wrong trains, so I have learned by experience to ask people to double check myself). I approached him because he was carrying a ski bag (OK, and also because he was hot) and that sent us into a fascinating conversation. It was too bad the train trip only lasted 19 minutes. He has walked from the south to the north of Norway and then bicycled back! We shared adventure stories back and forth. When I told him it was my birthday he offered to buy my bus ticket once we departed the train. He followed through and even escorted me to the next subway. He gave a quick hug and warm wishes for my holiday in Oslo. What a great start to my trip!

I took the next subway with no problems and I had to go into a 7-11 (they really do have conveience stores called 7-11) to buy my bus ticket for the final leg of my journey. I asked the girl standing in line behind me which bus I needed to take in order to reach my final destination. She responded, "I am going in the same place, you can just follow me." Perfect! I grabbed the bus with a meager 20 minutes before the bus lines shut down to reach my host by 12:00am.

It was a perfect travel day!

I would like to give a huge shoutout to all of the Norwegians who must take english in school. They make it to easy to travel here because everyone speaks nearly perfect english!