Day 304: Things!

It's been awhile since I've written, but really, there's not a lot to talk about. It's raining a lot in Drammen so I don't get out much. Most of my time recently has been spent coordinating everything involved in getting to Russia. While I have purchased all of my airplane tickets, I'm still waiting for one to be delivered. Nerve-wracking. I'm also trying to arrange for a hotel in Yakutsk, where they INSIST that I fax a reservation form to them. This is a problem since I don't have a fax machine, and after some appreciated help from Katrine in Longyearbyen, Yakutsk doesn't seem to receive faxes. Phone conversations and email inquiries are...questionable. Yay Russia!

Once, long (about 13 days) ago, there was a holiday on May 17th that was a pretty big deal for Norwegians. Their independence day, from what I gather. I got to experience it in Drammen with the family I'm staying with. The following photos are out of date, but its what I have for now.

First we went to the town square and got places to stand to see the parade. Let me tell you, hanging on to crutches and standing on one foot in a crowd while using a 2-ton camera is not easy.







Joachim's little sister - a member of the family I'm staying with in Drammen:



Everyone was dressed up so nice! The Norwegian national outfit is very nice.







So...a lot of what I have here are pictures of random people gathered for the parade. Observe:







Another addition to the "children dubious about Laurel" series:





There was lots of Norwegian spirit everywhere:





On babies:





Twins:



My mini-Norwegian doppleganger #2:



After while the parade came around our part of the road - quite an extensive parade, I must say. A lot of bands and schools and kids.











Observing:





Sullen:



The politi come by to keep kiddos in line:



The mom and daughter I'm staying with - she's very kindly holding my crutches for me for a minute...



Then, a big fancy band:





And another...



And finally, a lot more kids:





A shot of the people I'm staying with, beautiful people (but missing a couple brothers, off in different places...)



After the parade we drove up a huuuuuge spiral tunnel inside a mountain! It was awesome! Up at the top we had ice cream, and I got to take this photo of DRAMMEN:



Norway's a pretty nice place, everywhere!