Hello, my name is KAPCTEH!
(I started this post the moment I got home from Finnmark, just so you know)
Back from the crash-course in Russian. Learned the alphabet by heart, a couple of catch-phrases and some "badwurdz". That's "bad words" for those of you who didn't catch that (I'm looking at you, Mari).
We were five Norwegians; Camilla(19), Alexander(16), Ane(18), Sindre(18) and myself. We arrived at the airport in Kirkenes (at the very end of Norway, up north) at about 23.45, and went outside to wait for Anastasia, the project-leader. We didn't say anything to eachother while we waited, but I guess we kind of assumed that we were going for the same thing. Anastasia arrived, we got introduced to one another, and we commenced our journey to Svanhovd Miljøsenter. After 30+ mins of driving we arrived at the "hotel", we signed in and everyone just went to bed. The Russian girls, Olga, Sveta, Sasha and Marina(all 17 except for Sasha who I think was 16) had arrived at 19.30 in the evening before us just so you know.
When I got up, I took a shower and headed into the dining-area. Of course everyone was up before me, the Russians at one table and the Norwegians at another, and I had to catch up. We started talking about the things that we'd forgotten to bring. I forgot to bring a towel, but lucky for me the hotel provided that. Alexander was kind of stand-offish at first because he sat at an empty table when there was plenty of room for all of us at the table. He had a headset which he blasted some hip-hop out of and he had kind of that gangsta-kid going for him, although he kinda looked more sporty or something? Anyways, after breakfast we got a briefing on this whole thang we're embarking on. But first we all had to stand up and introduce ourselves. This is were we all got a bit of a surprise because one of the girls, Olga who I mentioned earlier, could speak swedish fluently. It was mighty impressive. After that we got the briefing on the whole Barents-shindig. In PowerPoint of course. And then Anastasia told us about the phases that we would all go through.
Phase 1: Excitement. Everything is new, you try to take it all in at once, and you walk around being all "Omg, I can't believe I'm really here!"
Phase 2: Shock. Now, you start to miss your home, you're having difficulties making yourself understood, and everything seems to be at a standstill. This phase varied from person to person on how well you handle it. Only one person has had to abort the program during the shock phase.
And then there were some other phases, but I can't remember them right now.
Then came the teaching. We got a teacher named Alexandra. She was from Murmansk, and she didn't speak any Norwegian except from a few phrases. The first thing she said to us was "I don't envy you having to learn Russian". Rock on! We tried learning the alphabet. It had many weird noises, and about five "sch"-ones that sounded exactly the same at first. Everyone was eager to learn, except for Alexander. He was still a bit reluctant, and tried to act all cool when it was his turn to try and pronounce something. He'd say that the teacher should chill and stuff like that. At this point I wasn't exactly thrilled about having the guy there, but seeing as he was younger than the rest of us, and that it was his mom that had pushed him into signing up for the project, I cut him some slack. After the first day of learning had ended, I went to my room to relax a little, because later we would go BBQ'in and rowin' with boats. I got out of bed about 15mins before take-off. Got into my brand new raincoat and headed out. The place we were going to was within walking distance so we started to trot. Camilla sort of took Alexander under her wing, and started talking with him about all kinds of things, and tried to sneak in some "Come on, of course you're going to Russia. Don't chicken out", trying to encourage him ya know? After that he became slightly less obnoxious and more approachful. I was, as always, a bit more in the background. I talked to people when they talked to me, but I didn't go out of my way to be heard. At first I only talked to the teacher for the Russian girls. He was alright. He wanted to learn Russian, but felt that he had gotten too old.
After a bit of eating and rowing, which I didn't partake in (rowing), we started to head back. Now I started a conversation with Marina, the girl from Arkhangelsk to ask about the city and what I could expect. Ane who's also going to Arkhangelsk joined in as well. Marina was alright, but she almost seemed naive in the way she talked, and she was a bit pink, you know? A bit sugary. Got a bit weird talking to her after a while.
When we got back we could do whatever we wanted. I think I just went to my room and sat there reading. After a while I decided to go up and check my e-mail. I didn't see the others so I assumed they were all sitting in their rooms. I read my mail, and wrote a few. Went back down, didn't see the others, so I din't see any point in knocking on doors trying to socialize. Went back to my room, read some more, and turned off the lights.
The next morning it seemed like everyone knew each other better than at the BBQ. I knew that I'd missed out on something so I just tried making up for it by talking to the others, getting a bit more sociable.
That cocludes part 1 of my stay in Finnmark. Come back tomorrow for the conclusion.
Oh, and for the people I know that blog. Start updating! I want to know what's up. How's school? I'm very anxious to know this 'cause I'm missing out, so it's all of your's duty to tell me. Well? What are you waiting for? START TYPING!
Much love.
