Eple Means Apple
"Hei. Hyggelig å se deg. Jeg snakker litt Norsk men ikke så mye." Just three of literally several Norwegian sentences I am now proficient in. Despite Thursday's disappointing lesson (I had cold, wet feet as the teacher announced an outbreak of lice at the school), the course is going pretty well. My teacher seems like she knows what she's doing and the classs is full of different nationalities - Brazilians, an Italian, a Sri Lankan, one from Congo - which is a refreshing change from generally monocultural Norway. I find it slightly offensive that even now I am "22 år gammel" I've still got homework to do but my skills are definitely increasing. I estimate I must be at least halfway fluent.
When the day comes that I speak Norwegian all the time I'll certainly miss the slightly bizarre Norwegian use of English. Example:
"Dan, what are you doing?"
"I'm plugging in this lamp."
"No, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"Oh, right. Er, I'm going apple-picking."
I was not joking. Yesterday I went with Kjellmartin's dad, Svein, to collect all the organic apples that will see him and his wife through to next May, plus one hundred litres of apple juice that the Juice Man made in front of us. It took about fifteen crates of apples; first they put them in one machine that crushed them into chunks and then into a tank that squeezed the juice out of them through a membrane. Svein is pretty serious about eating right - he's a man that favours sour milk and grinds his own cornflakes.
As fun as all the apple-related activities were, the primary reason for the ten hour day and one hundred mile round trip was to travel through the world's longest road tunnel, Lærdalstunnelen. It burrows 24.5km (just over fifteen miles) through a mountain two and a half hours away from Arna but, despite its length, Lærdalis unique among tunnels, thanks to the positive effort it makes in catering for claustrophobics. Driving through it, smaller tunnels appear to lead off to the left and the right but are actually dead ends, designed to keep the driver's mind active and the panic attacks at bay. Most impressive, though, are the three large rooms that open out at 6km intervals, lit by blue lights that make you feel a bit like you're back out in the open for a few seconds. Here are the facts, tunnel fans. I'd better do my homework now.
posted by Dan at 11:36 pm
10 Comments:
Hey Dan,
v exciting hearing about the tunnel. As the daughter of a bridge-designing engineer father, I must have an innate interest in things bridge-like, and tunnels are even better! Loved the 'facts' as well, I def believe that such a tunnel truly exists having seen for myself three like-cladded anoraked men (in the pic in front of the car) framing red-coat woman. Quite what part they played in the tunnel-creating I do not know, but they did catch my eye.
Love your work...
My favorites are the three near-identical, charmless, bald men cutting the ribbon. It's not so much their apparent lack of charisma but a genuine embarassment to be there that strikes me most.
Isn't one of those bald men your dad vicky?
As an engineer in a previous incarnation, I am very impressed with the tunnel. The big question on my lips is whether Marty McFly could reach critical velocity in order to travel back in time while driving through the tunnel?, and what would be the consequences for his geometry if successful?
That is too horrendous to speak of, Jon. The thought of getting to 88mph in the tunnel and going back to a time before it was dug would surely obliterate McFly in an instant!
On second thoughts maybe the abundance of jiggawatts powering the Delorean would slam him through the mountain and out the other side!
The unstoppable force! The immovable object! I've gone cross-eyed. Can God make a genuine five pound note?
hello from Norway!
You know, you shouldn't make fun of those three balded men. One of them is King Harald, king of Norway you see:)
Good to hear that you english people like tunnels. Me myself, can't really see the beauty of it. Guess it's because I'm used to 'em.
What else is, I'm pleased to tell you that Dan is behaveing very well and does his homework (at least he says he does). He's learning the Youth in church what music's good and what's not. He's got good taste.
Take care everyone!
She is not joking. 15 year-old man-mountain Øyvind confirmed that the slaphead in the middle is indeed the King of Norway. I think the other two are part of the pop trio he indulges in. They recently hit the top 20 with a cover of Craig David's "What's Your Flava".
Hellooo,
For starters Mr. Matthews, my name is quite clearly spelt V.I.K.K.I. that's Vikki to you (as is stated just above my comment) and if you hadn't made the cheeky remark about my dad I wouldn't have pulled you up on that! However, yes, I must confess I am in fact princess of Norway. I had been trying to keep my identity under wraps for reasons I cannot disclose (mainly bcoz of paparazzi) and now I'm very disgruntled to admit... you've blown my cover.
Marthe, it's greeat to hear from a genuine Norge and your english is very good, by the way! Good to know someone's checking up on young Daniel.
Dan, your last comment made me into one of those irritating office attention-seekers who laugh out loud at a hidden joke on their computer (a joke that may not even exist!) In this case it did exist and the vision of my dad (a.k.a. HRH) performing his own interpretation of Craig's top hit will be with me all day long!
Oh dear, I see now that I may be leading your young Norweigan friend astray, Dan.
Marthe, 'great' is in fact spelt as such - rather than 'greeat'. I wouldn't want to teach you wrongly now would I??
Vikki is officially Dan In Norways most prolific comment-maker. A special Norwegian prize will be yours upon my return. Perhaps some genuine defrosted snow in a bottle.
No of course you wouldn't! Thanks. Dan er litt rar av og til. But we still like him. A bit. Hope that you guys will visit us (or Daniel) soon or sometime next year. Thanks for your comment about my english, Vikki!
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