Norway #6 And finally the trip arrives. And we depart. This week is spend on an island chasing sheep, and on the boats getting there and back. Much happens, and as usual, I'll start somewhere else and then get to the beginning.
Inar: The boat building teacher. Friggin huge guy. I think he's like six six and 250 or 280 with hands twice the size of mine. He's been building boats for many many years, and it pretty amazing with axes, knives, saws, and other wood working type things. He also is the woodworking teacher.
'2 hours to 2 days'. That's the answer to the question 'how long does it take to get there?'. The island is about 40 or 80 miles (what's 3dB) away and we had to load up 4 sail boats to get the entire class over there. All the boats were the same design of varying sizes, and rightly so I was placed on the biggest one. Den Siste Viking II. The Last Viking 2. I love that name. It's a replica of the last working boat of this type, which lives in a museum now. This sucker is huge, OK.. big. Much bigger then the one we have used up till now. It's like 4000 kilos of wood, with 5000 kilos of iron ballast, about 50 feet or so. Plus us and our stuff. Sure would be bad to be stuck between this boat and a rock. The weather was shitty for sailing, which was great for sitting out on the boat and getting some sun. Winds of a few knots, no waves, no clouds, and the biggest one of all -no rain. Rain sucks like a Hover when you're on a sail boat with no cabin. The trip was very good, and we ended up stopping for the night before we got to the island. The weather was that nice. Karin had taken an oar to the head on her boat was not feeling all that well, so we took out the tent and camped on shore. Good thing we did, the wake from every passing big boat that night rocked our small wooden ships for several minutes. Fun when you're awake, not fun when your trying not to be. Food on these boat trips is pretty typical of the school. Oatmeal for breakfast with lots of additives (apple sauce, raisins, sugar, nuts, etc.), lunch is open face sandwiches with cheese and meats. We do pretty well. Oh! I almost forgot, and would you have been pissed if I had. We climbed the masts! With the light wind and calm seas, we tied up with another boat while sailing and chatted a bit. A few people climbed up the mast ropes and sat on top of the sail. And somebody even climbed the top sail, and on our boat that's quite an achievement. Østain was one of the climbers on our boat, which was fine until his boat untied from us and began to depart. He made the fastest side down the rope I've seen followed by the quickest jump over to the other boat at it pulled away. Quite exciting, really. Right around lunchtime we made it to the island.
We landed, tied up the boats to the shore and set about making camp. And tying up to shore is not as simple as that sentence makes it sound. 2 boats are tied directly to the rock cliff, and 2 more boats are tied onto one of these. So, getting off the outside boat means jumping over 3 boats, jumping off the last boat as it bounces in the water onto the cliff, then climbing up the cliff, sometimes with the aid of a rope sometimes not. Did I mention that my boots didn't stick to this wet rock? Yea, like ice. From the top of the cliff to the water is 50 feet or so, not something nice if you slip. And we did this stuff at night also. A few people slipped, but nobody got hurt. On the island a few tents went up, and work began on getting stuff off the boats.
Sheep Herders. That was our job for most of a day. It's suppose to take a few hours. Either the sheep are smarter this year or the class is dumber, but we took all day. The plan was to set up a fence funnel that led into a cage and chase them into the funnel. Easy. A crack team of Runners set out. A lazy team of Sitters set out. We (the Sitters) lined up on top of hill that would be one of 2 ways the sheep could go, the other being into the funnel. The Runners, true to their name, found the herd and chased them into the general direction of us and the funnel. Our job was to stand up and clap our hands if the sheep looked like they were going to go passed us, thereby scaring them into our funnel. Easy. We sat, and the runners ran for about 30 minutes. First time the Sitters aren't set right, and the sheep run through a hole. We sat again, and the runners ran for about 30 minutes. Second time the sheep outflank us. We sat again, and the runners ran for about 30 minutes. Third time the sheep go /right through/ us. I was there. We had a line of people clapping and trying to look Scary. However, the leader of the sheep was not impressed with our antics and ran between 2 of us. The whole herd squeezed through this 10 food chink, all 50 sheep. Quite a sight. We sat again, and the runners ran for about 30 minutes. This time slower. And it worked. We were much more organized this time, up till the end when 5 sheep broke away from the herd and took off. For about 3 or 4 hours Vegard and a gang chased them on foot, A task for which 'being good at American football is helpful', as Vegard put it. He tackled 2 of them, and carried them back to the pen over his shoulders. We got the other 3 by re-setting up the whole funnel and organizing the whole class again into Sitters and Runners. I sat. And it worked this time. We worked for several hours moving sheep from this pen down to the boat. The usual method was to stick your head under the sheep and lift it up with a pair of feet on your left shoulder, and a pair on your right. Worked pretty well. Vegard's wife was taking stool samples and giving the sheep parasite drugs. I mentioned she was pretty hard core also, and this is no exception. If the sheep didn't offer a sample, she reached in and took some. No flinch. Not something I've seen in San Diego. These sheep were loaded on to a small single-man row boat, and taken over to the big sail boat. Their fate was to be taken back to the school's farm and be slaughtered in the coming week. Imagine a sheep with it's feet tied deciding to escape while it's on the row boat. Some pretty funny stuff, including a few near capsizes.
The next morning we had the usual meating. I mean meeting. One of the Farmering Sudents carried down a sheep in the same fashion as before, so I figured we had missed one. Then I noticed the tarp on the ground, and the firewood in the corner of the clearing, and things began to make sense. That was dinner.
The Farm girl was trying to comfort the sheep who was, understandably, a bit nervous. Vegard changed to English for a few sentences: 'If you want to eat the meat, you have to watch the slaughtering'. At which point the vegetarians began walking to the tents, and the bucket, ax, and tarp were moved into position. Yea, that surprised me to. Ax. Vegard sat on the sheep and held it on the ground by the horns while leaning on it to keep it still. Inar the Giant stepped up with the ax and started the swing, on the way down the sheep squirmed, and the Ax missed it's mark. The back side of the ax hit it in the head and the sheep began to squirm much more earnestly. Inar hit it again, and it's kept moving, the third hit delivered a trickle of blood from it's nose but it was the fourth hit that finally stilled the animal. Within a few seconds, Inar had hoisted the sheep by the back feet and was holding it up and over a bucket. Vegard made a few quick moves and the blood ran out while Vegard's Wife quickly stirred the bucket to prevent clotting. That was it. The body was moved over the the tarps, and Inar and Vegard began cutting the skin. They slit open the legs, and pulled the skin off. The body cavity was slit and the intestines, heart, liver, and other bits were pulled out and tossed into a waiting bucket, still steaming. The process took a matter of minutes.
The animal was skewered onto a large stake, seasoned, and put near the fire, and cooked for 5 hours. And that was the best tasting lamb I have ever had. Kind of odd to remember when your dinner was alive, though. The captain of the Viking was soon to have some trouble. The waves were tossing the boat against the shore and the devices to prevent damage were not doing their job. Bent (that's his name) was leaning over the side adjusting ropes and pads and trying to time things right so he would lean down as the boat came away from the shore, and stand up before the boat was tossed into the rocks on the next wave. He missed. The next wave came a bit faster then he thought and the boat lurched into the rocks while he was between the two. Remember 12000 kilos? Yea, it wasn't good, I think everybody was happy to hear he only broke a rib. And the other injury! Østain fell off a cliff and landed on a sharp rock. The hole wasn't all that large, but several inches deep. Yea, inches. They took him to the nearest hospital and got sewn up. Scary thing is when he went to the doctors in his home town, they undid the stitches and filled the hole with cotton so the wound would close from the bottom. Sounds like the first doctors didn't do it right. Not encouraging.
The trip back was fairly uneventful. Oh! Northern Lights! Yes, a few night of clear sky on the island resulted in some of the most beautiful light shows I've yet seen. They move! I didn't know that. So, the trip back was fairly uneventful. We got back, unloaded the boat and headed back to the school. One of the pots I was carrying from the boat had the top blown off by the tremendous wind. Which was not so bad, but the missing top reveled sheep testicles bobbing in a gallon of blood. Not something I've done in San Diego.
That, finally is it. Hope it was worth the wait, and until next time, I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
-Byron

Norway #5 Ok kiddies. I'm using an old, tried and true method of maintaining readership. Cliff hanger. But this time it's with a twist. Last time I teased you with the sheep slaughtering but never actually got to it, and the conventional cliff hanger would fill you in on that now. But not me. Hehehehe..
This next week was between the farm and our big trip to the sheep island, so it was a fairly normal week for us. If the word normal could be applied to any of our experiences at this place.
Our week began with wood shop. Yes, I'm sure visions of middle school appear in you heads that the mention of those words, and your not too far off. Our first project is a wooden box. One piece of wood wrapped around and laced shut in the front with birch root. A top and bottom are added, and some carving is done for a final touch. The project isn't all that difficult. What makes it hard is we use a lot of hand tools. A band saw is the only power tool, really. So all the cutting and carving and fitting is done with chisels and knifes and hands. I'm not all that good yet, so mine has character. And our teacher is amazing. I'm working on cutting or kifeing something and thinking I'm clever and he comes over and shows me a better way to do and had it half done inside of 30 seconds. It's really impressive, and as usual, I'm realizing I have a lot to learn.
One of the ingredients for our box is roots of birch and eye of newt to simmer in a black cauldron of raven's blood.... OK, just root of birch. So we went and got some birch roots, which is a story I'm sure you are dying to hear. Tough, I'm gonna tell it anyway. Birch trees grow all over Norway, with some conveniently located just behind the school. Inconveniently it rained that day. All day. And all night before. And the area that the birch call home is conveniently, well, wet land. So we were slogging in the rain in a marsh digging up swamp crud to find Birch roots. Not something I've done in San Diego. Sometimes, if you stood still too long, the boot would sink into the swamp and get stuck. Which would be OK until you tried to walk. I spent several minutes unsticking a foot after nearly falling on my face when my first step didn't work.
The box is progressing well. The side is wrapped and glued, and the bottom has made it so far without any major defects. The side has one, it became asymmetrical when I glued it together. Oh well. Character, right?
The next two days were spend sailing. We took out the small boats, and I and Sara got into the small one and took off. Sara's spent some time sailing before,which is why we 'took off'. We tacked our way upwind to see the next town a little closer, which seemed like a cool goal. Sara and I were not really working hard, more like relaxing with some turns worked in when the land got too close. We chatted for most of the trip, and I have to say, she's a cool chick, for 20 years, she's got things more together then I do now. Our conversation turned to the school, and how she has done this kind of sailing at another school in Denmark. At some point I got the flavor that she may not be excited at doing this again in the cold Norwegian winter. We shall see if she hangs out or not. At one point in our journey, I looked out to find the other 2 boats, and they were way behind us. We later found out that they were 'aiming for the bubbles'. There is a machine that blows air into the lake to keep it from getting stagnant, and they were sailing back and forth over this froth point. Easily amused. And between us and them I could see a small kayak, heading our way. Vegard was catching up to us. His teaching method of the day was to take out his kayak, and cruise between the 3 boats and comment on our performance. He was now trying to catch us. We sailed on. And he climbed on board about 3 minutes later. Our best sailing wasn't that good, but it was good enough to warrant a 'stay near the other boats' comment. That was encouraging. Our big boat trip on the next day was very cool, very cold in fact. And raining. And big wind. We headed out into the fjord to go back and forth in easily the biggest wind we've seen yet. Sailing over the choppy waves with the wind pushing the boat sideways was an experience. Moving the sail is much harder, sometimes impossible, and the leaning effect of the boat resulted in the comment :'If the water starts coming in over the side, just let this rope out all the way' I got while working the back of the boat. It sure kept me focused. And the cold! It was near freezing with some ridiculous wind chill, and working with wet ropes. Good times.
Our last day was not sailing, but working on the boat house. It needed a rock wall fixed and extended, some boards nailed to the beach, and other fun stuff involving axes. The rock wall a bunch of large rocks stacked. No cement, no glue, just piled just right. Let me tell you, have respect next time you see a wall made of large rocks, it is much harder then it looks. Moving these things took 3 people with crowbars, and that was the easy part. Picking which rock to put in which hole to make the wall stable, that magic touch was far from obvious. We got most of the jobs done fairly quickly, which was good considering the above mentioned cold.
Stay tuned for next week's harrowing tail of Sheep Island!
Hope all is well in you neck of the woods,
-Byron

Norway #4

I a bit rushed, so just ignore any typo.es It's been a long day.

We've had some interesting adventures in the last three weeks, starting with picking potatoes, and ending with killing sheep. Perhaps I shall begin with the beginning.

No, on second thought, I'll begin with some characters that follow me along my tale.

Vegard: Our sailing teacher. Thin, tall, and pretty quiet. One of the most hard core men I have met. Ever. Some of the stories I've heard include - sailing a wooden square sail boat from Maine down to the Norwegian exhibit in Epcot center (I think). During a hurricane. They hit speeds of 25 knots. Sailing a viking boat from the great lakes out to Norway. That took 3 months. Remember the night sailing that so impressed me? Yea, I think he referred to it as the boring part. He also slaughtered and cleaned the sheep, during which he would wipe his hands on his clothes. And you'd think his wife would kill him for that. Nope.

Vegard's wife: Short, thin, and the most hard core women I have ever met. She was stirring the blood of the lamb as it drained into the bucket. I don't think she cares about some guts on her husbands clothes.

Østain: Another student in the sailing class. He's almost as funny as I am.

Sara: Shaved head, 10 ear rings, nose and lip piercing. She's done this sailing thing before, and is no end of help to us on the boat. And a very nice, smart, friendly type, Karin and I may join her for out vacation when she's goes back to Denmark. As she put it, 'Vegard's so fucking hard core'.

Farm Week.

To keep it short, we worked on a farm for a week. The first two days were chopping wood, building a log cabin, building a cow fence, and other assorted stuff the farm needed. I ended up chopping wood for most of it, which is always a good stress reliever. The 3rd day was pretty much us playing around, I think we finished off most of the work that was to be done, and the rest of it needed it not to rain. Yes, that means it was raining for the fist 2 days. Showers off and on. Not so much fun and not so warm.. This playing was centered around teaching us how to do things 'right', you know, how to lift, how to carry heavy loads, yea I thought I had seen most of this in Work and Safety videos at various places of employment. I was not ready for how much fun we were going to have. First, we had to lift 80 gallons of water from a pulley in the ceiling, and tie it off to a cleat in the floor. It weights more then I do. I managed. Then Vegard's Wife comes over and does is faster then I did. She's maybe 130 pounds. Next we carried 40 kilo bags of grain around. No video here, just a demo and then we go to it. Then we lifted 40 gallon jugs onto a truck bed. I think they weighed about 40 pounds and that was pretty easy. The tossing hay bales up one floor was fun, and not to challenging. The next station was pretty cool. We had to lift a backpack and put it on. Vegard was straining a bit. That worried me. Then he demonstrated how to get to something that is too high off the ground. You get somebody else to stand on. He climbed up on the shoulders of this other guy and showed that you can reach pretty high. So we tried. We had the chicks climb on us, and then we tried the backpack. At least 60 pounds. I couldn't lift it with less then 2 arms and a good grunt. Good times. All these things had 'tricks' to them, and they made everything from easy to possible. I was quite surprised at how much I didn't know, which I'm sure will not surprise you.

Potatoes. We picked potatoes for 2 days. Cool for the first 2 hours. The horses pulled the plow around and dug up the potatoes. This part of the farm is run on grass power, it's all horse done. That was need. But, man, after 2 hours it was no fun. I'm glad I'm not working the fields for a living. I think we found 6000 kilos of spuds in that field. Most will be eaten by the school. I was glad to be done with potatoes.

Tune in for more adventures next week, same bat channel, same bat time!
-Byron