This weekend, about 30 students and staff from both the SOI and the IBC took a trip to a famous Norwegian landmark: Preikestolen. In English, Preikestolen means "Pulpit Rock," and it is a sheer cliff that drops more than 500 meters down to the narrow fjord below. We left Friday afternoon and drove about 4 hours northwest to a Bedehus (prayer house/meeting hall) where we slept. Even that was an adventure, as we lost one of our students during the ferry ride and didn't find him again until several hours later. But by 10pm that evening, all was well. I wish I had taken pictures of the area around the Bedehus (I kept thinking, "I can do it later."). Right across the street was farmland surrounded by beautiful mountains. There were sheep and horses grazing, and we even got one of the horses to come eat grass from our hands. It was perfectly idyllic!
On Saturday morning we headed out to begin the hike up to Preikestolen. Someone once said that Norway is like Yosemite times ten, and I think I'd have to disagree. Yosemite times fifty would be more accurate. I was awestruck by the beauty as we drove to the trailhead. It took about an hour and a half to hike up to the top, where there was a gorgeous view (see pictures below). After spending a few hours enjoying the scenery and daring to dangle our feet off the edge of the cliff, we hiked back down and enjoyed ice-cream at the bottom! That night we had a BBQ on a nearby beach (I still miss American hamburgers...) before heading back to the Bedehus for a rousing game of THUNDER! It's impossible to explain the game in just a few sentences, but suffice it to say it involves animal noises, dramatic body movements, and some of the funniest facial expressions you've ever seen. For those of you who have played "Big Booty," it is very similar. I'm proud to say that I was leading the game by the end, probably based in large part on my Big Booty skills. So I guess I've got you to thank, Jesse :-). Anyway, I don't think I've laughed that hard in a very long time.
Another quite interesting aspect of our trip was that the Bedehus where we stayed didn't have any smoke alarms, so we had to have "fire guards" take shifts staying awake throughout the night. Something about that just struck me as incredibly funny. At first when they told us, I thought it was a big joke, because it just sounds so ridiculous, don't you think? But no, it wasn't a joke, so I took the third watch on Saturday night, from 3-5am. I was on guard with Peter, one of our school leaders (also our speaker last week), so despite the fact that 3am is definitely not my finest hour, we had a good time talking together.
Sunday we packed up and drove back home, but took the "scenic route" this time (as if there is anything other than the scenic route in Norway). Again, it was absolutely breathtaking. We stopped at a couple landmarks along the way, one of which is "Two Houses Under a Rock." That's not its real name, but that's all I heard people calling it. Basically, someone built these two small houses under a very large cliff nearly 200 years ago, and they are still there in relatively good condition because the cliff has protected them from sun, rain and wind. It was pretty funny to see these tiny little houses under this huge rock cliff in the middle of nowhere in Norway. All in all, it was a very fun weekend, and I'm glad I was able to see some other parts of this beautiful nation. I know I'm a little behind on my posting, but I hope to write some reflections on last week's teaching in the next day or two. It's been a bit busy with us being out of town and all, but I will catch up! :-) Until then...
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