July 22, 2010 North Norway

There is nothing in the world quite like waking up to the sound of rushing water on a crisp morning with the sun's rays dimly lighting the surrounding cloud covered sky. I went to sleep with the window open just a smidgen allowing the fresh air to circulate. I didn't quite realize the room would feel chilled in the morning as drizzle lightly covered the lawn below. My first conscious thought on Thursday morning was realizing for the first time since Monday morning, I was not going to even see an airport or hear the sound of a jet engine and I was not expected to be on a plane at all. Smiling with great anticipation of not being on a plane, I closed the window and quickly dressed for breakfast.

Jimmy heard me first and greeted me with his friendly barking while members of the house hold with valiant failure tried to hush him. I reminded him that I too was an American, it didn't seem to really make much of an impact on him and he continued to growl at me.

Helping set the breakfast table, we ate in the sun room. Jams, jellies, meats, cheeses, breads, muesli quickly filled the table leaving little room for the coffee pot and juices. My general idea is always to avoid breakfast or at least stir a spoon absentmindedly in a small ball of cereal as others munch, but here I kept finding food placed in front of me with the only option of eating it. My plate kept emptying and refilling with delectable morning treats, I've never eaten so much breakfast in my life as I continued to savor every breakfast offered to me.

Following breakfast The Finnish Holm family (including our ex-patriot Jimmy) and I piled back in the car for a drive to Finland. Before we took off, we stopped by the priests house to pick up his grocery list. Because Finland is on the Euro and prices are generally cheaper, when one neighbor makes a run to the other side of the border, neighbors will have you shop for them.

Along the drive to Kilpisjarvi, Finland we passed more mountains with water tumbling down. The road hug the curves lightly as we passed through the farmland. Near the border we saw our first reindeer. I am blind, it is an accepted fact as we scanned the road and everyone excitedly pointed. I blindly took photos hoping a reindeer was in some of them.

A mile down the road I saw my first reindeer up close. Reindeer are rather stupid, they're like Scottish sheep and American cows. The herd will stand in the middle of the road while people wait for them to figure out where they're going to. The deer are impressive with antlers and shaggy coat. A few of them even decided they would run along side our car.

Kilpisjarvi is a moderate sized town. A center for commercial trade, the town was more out of the old west then a modern city. No large skyscrapers dot the skyline or a huge boulevard with fast food restaurants taint the streets. A quiet place, it does have a shopping center.

The center is split into three main shops: the outdoor shop (much like an Academy or Cabela's), the grocery, and a restaurant. We spent some time shopping. The grocery was fascinating to me as it was half grocery and half gift shop. They had everything: an aisle devoted to toddler toys, games including Twister and 12 Euro Uno, knickknacks of all descriptions, and food. I was most captivated by the cactus, and while I had my photo taken with the cactus, I chose not to buy it for a souvenir. We bought some stamps and postcards for me to write out during lunch.

Rifling through t-shirts, I soon became confused when I realized I couldn't figure out how to tell the sizes. I didn't study, nor had a brought a European/American conversion chart. Luckily, sliding the packaging around enough, I was able to tell shirt size by the large "L", "M" or "S" found on the Hanes tag.

Finishing our shopping, we walked to the cafe portion where we ate reindeer stew and mashed potatoes and fruit as the radio played music from Air Supply and the Bee Gee's in the background. The stew was over salted but good. I discovered I liked reindeer stew more than straight reindeer meat. I must have been full from breakfast because although I valiantly tried, I couldn't finish it all and Jimmy would finish the rest later. There is always room for desert and today was no exception with a cream filled chocolate delight. Near the end of our meal, the power went out in the restaurant. Because of the warm light outside, inside the dining room everything was fine, the only problem was the bathrooms were closed, so we chose not to linger.

Returning to the car, we made our way back to Norway and the house with all our purchases tucked in the trunk. Along the Lapland roadside was a large Sami tent. We parked the car and the youngest Holm and I walked up to the tent. We soon ran into a language barrier as the woman did not speak English, Norwegian, or Finnish, and my friend scampered off to grab her dad who spoke many more languages.

We learned that she was Sami, she raised reindeer, and this was her tent (next to the tent was a truck with a small camper bed). I fingered the beautiful capes and clothing realizing the prices were well out my budget of the Norwegian money I carried. I found a knife for my husband back home - Although I liked the blade on one of them more, the sheath on the one I selected had a patch of reindeer fur making it much more interesting. I found a Sami doll for myself and was informed I needed a small reindeer pelt to keep me warm. I tried unsuccessfully to explain it never gets that cold in Texas, but was told it would fit on a chair and keep my butt warm. After already experiencing fish, whale, and reindeer - I concluded that owning a piece of reindeer pelt really wasn't that bad and added it to my growing pile. Before we left she was kind enough to let us get a photo of she and I wearing traditional hats outside her tent.

Back in the car, Birger said she spoke a very old form of Finnish that even he was had trouble deciphering. We all concluded I had met a real Sami woman and I now owned a reindeer pelt from a reindeer that had been part of her herd.

Summertime in Norway it is deceptively easy to loose track of time. Later in the afternoon, after we had dropped the priests groceries off and were back at the house, we decided to take a drive and show me Fredi and Birger's father's homeland.

Along the drive I learned how the German occupation affected this corner of Norway during the war. Blackouts weren't quite as common and many of the Germans posted to the land fell in love with it and her people. Several after the war would return or take new spouses back to Germany. The war and occupation was hard on the Norwegian people. They were among the first to fall victim to the Third Reich, right after Poland. The Norwegian King bartered for the safety of his people in the occupation documents.

We arrived in Tennes at the Balsfjord Lutheran church their grandfather had built across the road from a graveyard. The center of the graveyard held a large memorial for the citizens who fought and died for Norway from the county.

Crossing up a light path from the graveyard, the rocky trail changed to polished planks under our feet and signs of construction on either side of us. Hiking the trail, the fine mist drizzled around us already casting small pools of water on the plastic tarmacs scattered around. Our destination was the uncovered rock carvings along the path.

While some excavation work is being done on the carvings, those uncovered are left to the elements. There are so many prehistoric sites in Norway, the government is not valuing all of them. My hosts were shocked to learn many of the American sites have to be protected with little access because of vandals adding their own special graffiti to the carvings.

The carvings primarily represented animals and fish. Whales and reindeer carvings were easy to pick out. The daily life of people 5000 years ago took shape. The majority of the carvings were still red, but I wondered if left unprotected, how long they will last.

Making our way down the hill, Birger and his daughter drove the car around the church to the peer. Fredi and I walked around the church and crossed to the rocks butting against the fjord. We picked our way across the rocks. Fredi described the flowers and fish that lived on this beach. Blue shells dotted along the rocks most likely brought up from the birds to eat in peace. Carefully trending over the slick rocks we made it to the pier where fishing poles were out, worms were attached and we fished.

The rain still drizzled down and we decided not to fish for too long. The haul was rather small and the fish inside the plastic bag didn't seem too happy squirming around flapping its tale.

Back at the house, I was in the kitchen as the fish lost its head and other fish soon followed its path to being prepared for dinner.

Dinner once more was joyous, inviting, and relaxing as we related the day to the other family members. Following dinner we sat around talking more about Education and trying to figure out the new English textbook and how to make it work in a classroom. Finnish textbooks are just as silly as American textbooks.

Returning to my room for bed, I chose not to leave the window open again. But couldn't help staring out at the landscape before me. This really was a beautiful country.