Extreme weekend!

When each weekend here in Norway ends, I always think that whatever we did was the best weekend of the trip. Well, this weekend is the new winner. Since Friday, I have hiked up rocky mountains above the tree line, jumped off a bridge, and rafted down the rapids of the River Sjoa!

To get to Sjoa, we took a 5 hour bus ride into the mountains on Friday afternoon. We passed through the city of Lillehamer, where the 1994 Winter Olympics were held. For this trip, we were accompanied by our Norwegian friends Caroline and Kristin. From the beginning, they made sure we were happy the entire time. Caroline had even prepared sandwiches for us to eat on the bus.

We stayed at a farm called Nordre Ekre, which we were told was around 900 years old. It was really nice. The buildings were old fashioned, but also modern. The beds were perfect. Several of the men in the group stayed in an old storehouse loft. There was a big barrel in the room as a decoration, and they played pranks on everyone by luring them upstairs to the room and then jumping out of the barrel and scaring the victim. I fell for it completely. The owners of the farm cooked supper for us and it was great. It was stew with rice and I chowed down two whole plates of it. Afterward, we were told that it was moose meat! So I guess I like moose meat. After supper, we made a fire and sat around –what else-drinking. The smell of the fire and the cabin-like rooms definitely brought back nostalgic feelings of going to camp in the summer! Below is a view of the farm.

Saturday morning, a bus picked us up and drove us high into the mountains. We were dropped off above the tree line and we hiked around for hours. It was really fun but definitely a lot of work! Fortunately, it wasn’t too hot or sunny out. We had packed sandwiches and we ate lunch on the top of a mountain peak! Caroline and Kristin even surprised us with some candy bars that they said many families take as snacks when they go hiking. My favorite part of the hike was when we filled our water bottles with water from mountain springs! It looked just as clean as tap water and tasted icy cold and perfectly watery! It felt weird at first, but I don’t have any diseases yet! When the hike was over, we grilled hot dogs while we waited to be picked up in the bus. Even though it was warm up there, there were a few patches of snow around, so we played around in it. Someone even made a little snowman.

After the hike, my legs were burning like never before. But it wasn’t over yet! The bus dropped us off at a bridge over the river, where the rafting company provides an activity that allows people to jump off the bridge and swing around while connected to a rope. The bridge was 18 meters high, and the rope was 16 meters. Everyone joked that our friends were jumping off a bridge, so we were doing it too. It was so scary! The worst part was climbing over the railing and just plunging down! It was so fun-most people’s feet and legs dipped into the river. After the swinging stopped, the other people in the group had to help pull the person back up again. The two guys working there were understandably getting bored after a day of helping people jump of bridges, so they were making jokes and trying to make everyone more scared! I am in the bottom right corner flying through the air.
When we finally made it back to the farm, everyone was feeling the need to shower, eat, and drink. (The only problem was that there was only 2 showers for 15 people!) There was a delicious meal of grilled pork chops, chicken, and salad, followed by some World Cup Soccer viewing (USA tied with Italy-that’s about all I know about it!) and a game of yahtzee. The national "spirit" of Norway is Akevitt (water of life). It is distilled from potatoes and is very strong. Many Norwegians drink at traditional or special occasions such as Christmas. Caroline brought a bottle for us to share. It was served in the amount of a shot but is meant to be sipped. After each sip, I could feel the heat spreading through me and making my face flush! It tasted like pure alcohol to me-I tolerated it as opposed to savoring it! It was like a big family dinner-we were all eating around a long table and saying "Skul!" every time we had a sip. Skul means "cheers!". Then we went outside for a large group card game involving truth, dare, singing, and drinking. Anyone along the River Sjoa could probably hear the laughter Saturday night.

Sunday was the day I was waiting for-rafting day! We arrived at the rafting company on Sunday morning, where we were issued wet suits, life jackets, and helmets. Then we were dropped off at the starting point where a guide discussed some safety issues. Then we met our guides. Our guide was named Mitch (not his real name-his real name is French, so apparently he just calls himself Mitch so people can understand it better.) As Mitch started discussing what to do in various situations, I started to get slightly nervous. There was a rope around the raft that he called the “Oh sheet line” (Oh shit line). We went into a calm pool off of the river and practiced following his commands. We even tipped over purposely to practice getting back into the raft! The water was FREEZING cold, but the wetsuits helped a lot so it didn’t feel bad at all.

Finally, we were in the rapids. Look at those excited faces! I am in the red helmet behind Jeremy in the white helmet. The other people in the boat are Kristin (in yellow), Rob (in yellow) and Kara (In red).

There is a technique called “surfing” where the raft sort of surfs on an area where there is a big rapid. While attempting this maneuver was where our boat tipped for the first time! It is a crazy feeling-you feel so disoriented and the water moves so fast! As soon as my head came above the water I grabbed onto the boat. The surfing is usually done near a “heady” which is a calm area on the edge of the river. While one raft tries it, several others are there to retrieve any “swimmers” and flying equipment. This picture is hilarious-everyone is flying off the raft and Mitch is smiling at the camera! He doesn't look too worried. The second time we tipped, I lost my paddle. They tell you to start swimming to the heady as soon as you can. It sounds crazy, but no one was (seriously) injured and it is so much fun! The rapids were huge (as far as I know anyway-I don’t really have anything to compare it to) and the guides were very cool and patient. The rapid areas have comforting names like "Bye Bye Baby" (the sight of our first flip) and "China Hole" (it's so deep it ends and China!) and they really built up the tension before each area! After a tip or a flip, they made sure everything was under control as soon as possible. They joked that the first person to have a flip has to buy beer for the others that night. It wasn’t our raft today-we had the second flip! In this picture I actually managed to stay on the raft while several others fell off!

I love the pictures where the raft is about to capsize! It was a great day and I'm so glad I went! The water is so clear and clean-no green residue left on your skin! There were photographers along the banks so I have great pictures of the rafting experience.

The weekend was great. I think I will be pretty bored with life the next few days after a few days of extreme sports and nights on an ancient farm where people cook me huge meals and provide me with the "water of life" to drink! (all I eat in Oslo is hot dogs, sandwiches and chips-and that's on a good day!)