Finally some work...

Hello again!
Unbelievable, but true… I’ve been working 4 days in a row! That was far more how I expected this job to be – 4 days, 4 different places and of course 4 different groups (two English-speaking and two German-speaking groups).
Last Friday I went to Ålesund to guide a citywalk – one of my favourites! We only had to leave at 10 am which is rather late and the people were very interested and had so many questions. Usually, they are more interested in your personal life and what you’re doing besides guiding and why you’re living abroad, etc., but this group had all those questions about Norwegian life and it felt really nice that I actually could answer most of those questions. Well, sometimes the answer might be true, but are more related to Sweden than to Norway, but who cares?!
On Saturday I went back to Trondhem. It was a nice group of British, North Americans and some people from the Netherlands or Belgium. Good mixture for the tip! It went pretty smoothly, considering that it was my second time in the city. We left at 4:30 am and arrived there just before the tour started at 9:30. The advantage of that early tour was that we had time to do some sightseeing for ourselves before going back home. There are some nice old parts where we can’t go in with the buses so we spent the afternoon at those places.
Sunday I guided a tour in Molde again in German. We always visit an open-air museum and the schoolchildren show some Norwegian folkdances. This time the weather was good so that they danced outside and taught some dances to the guests as well - which was fun! It’s a nice museum with houses from the 16th – 19th century and the guides there are really into it.
Yesterday I guided one of my other favorite tours: the tour to the Trollstigen. The group didn’t seem to be into it so much and they were already on their way back home so they’ve seen all the nice parts… but then they woke up when I read out a trollstory (which they already knew, but wanted to hear anyway…) – strange tourists!
Today, I was planning to go hiking, but it has been raining all morning and now it is so foggy that you won’t see anything. Just now I got the confirmation that I am going to Trondheim tomorrow again! Yipie! So, at least I am earning some money these two weeks…
Take care! Kram!

Briksdalsbreen

Since I started to learn for the guiding here and reading about the area I was planning to spend some time at the Jostedal National Park close to Geiranger. It’s a huge National Park with glaciers – the main glacier is the Jostedalsbreen with almost 500 km and there are huge glacier arms falling down from that one. A famous one is the so-called Briksdalsbreen and some ships are offering hiking tours for their groups. Yesterday, I was one of the lucky ones who went there to guide – so once again I guided at a place I’ve never been before, but I got to see sth I wanted to see anyways!! Well, I mainly had to talk on the way to the hiking path which was just a 45 minutes drive and they could walk up themselves. While we were up there we heard the cracking of the glacier three times and saw two small avalanches. It’s amazing that it looses ice a few times a day, but is still huge and the noise is incredible loud. So, I didn’t really mind the 10 hours drive for a 4 hour excursion…
Well, I was hoping to stay there for a night and do some more guiding today, but they only needed French-speaking guides… so I am waiting for the rain to stop and take a 45 min walk to do some shopping.
Take care!

???

Kristiansund II

Kristiansund

Since I am off for 5 days in a row I decided to make good use of my time and went to Kristiansund yesterday. First, we tried – without any success- to open a bank account in the morning. At least I didn’t have to walk to the bus stop that way… the bus went for about an hour and half way was the same way we take with the guests to the Atlantic Road. Which makes it even more difficult to understand why someone books a tour for 63 Euro instead of taking the local bus hihi
It was nice to see some other place and stroll around for a day. It took me a while to understand the city since I went completely unprepared and the tourist information is at the other side of town than where the ferry arrives… but after looking at some shops I started the sightseeing tour. Kristiansund exists out of 4 islands whereby one is the newest part with all the shops and a mall. This part is rather modern since it was destroyed during WWII. I walked over to the old part of town with houses from the 18th century and a viewpoint over all islands. From there I took a boat which belongs to the “world’s oldest public transport company in uninterrupted operation”. Hmm… I guess it sounds like they have nothing else to offer and I kind of agree since it was more about the atmosphere than about sights. I skipped the third island since there is only one Art Nouveau Church and went to the fishing island. There is a Klippfiskmuseum I really wanted to see, but of course it only opens next week. However, it was a nice part of town as well since they are repairing the big ships over there and it was nice mixture in the harbor of shiny white expensive sailing boats and lovely wooden boats.
At the end I supported my country-to-live and went shopping at h&m. It’s always the same there… I think I do not need to go in since they are everywhere with the same clothes in strange sizes and at the end I get two t-shirts for almost nothing. And talking about t-shirts: I don’t get why t-shirts out of biological cotton have to have the strangest pictures on it! And why is there only one motif each season?! Anyway, the Norwegian summer sale has just begun! (Fia – jag hoppas att du läser det här!!)

Cross your fingers that I am working more next week!

Trondheim

Remember that I wanted to go to Trondheim? It has been on my mind for the past 4 years and now I finally made it! Well… as a guide! The guideservice over there doesn’t have enough German guides so 4 of us went last Friday and guided the city tour whereby 3 of us had never been there before! Of course we prepared and everything went well, but it’s still kind of funny to show people around in a city which you only know from maps and the guidebook ;-) now the plan is to go back soon and look at those things I really wanna see.

I have also been guiding the famous Trollstigen again and the Atlantic Road – which I still hate!

And Christoph has been here! We met in Molde on Saturday and he got to experience that I am really living in the middle of nowhere for a few days. On Sunday we went hiking onto a hill (618 m) behind our house. You’ve got a great view over the fjord and the farms around here. And it is obviously a base for paragliding! I want to fly as well!!!! On Monday we went to Molde by bus and went hiking there as well. This time it was just about 400 m above sea level. It was actually sunny all those days he was here!

Now we’re at home again and it seems like it won’t change for the next few days. Somehow, I assumed I would be really busy this summer, but I start realizing the only thing that keeps me busy is hiking! Which is not too bad, but the dream about the Norwegian salary starts to disappear :-( We’ll see… at least we got our provisional "personnummer" and we can now try to fight our way through Norwegian bureaucracy to open a bank account.

Snowy Fairytale

Right now I can’t see the hills just a few miles away since it is so foggy and raining like crazy. When we drove to work this morning the peaks of the mountains were covered in new snow. I always promise my guests that the snow will have disappeared in July, but honestly, I doubt it at that point. I had a guided tour this morning and we came back to the harbor one hour early since people for some strange reason didn’t want to stay at the viewpoint for half an hour – enjoying the hail instead of the view.
In general I am feeling more and more comfortable guiding and it is fun! Last Sunday we went to Trollstigen again and I guided bilingual in English and German. It takes even more concentration but therefore I do not have to come up with so many topics since I have to tell everything twice. Yesterday I guided a city walk in Ålesund which went also fine and people are usually more interested in my personal life than in the history of the city. I guess it is hard to imagine for some people (especially at that age!) that one just moves from one country to another.
Now I am sitting at home waiting for a call re tmrw – we usually get to know between 2 pm and 9 pm if we’re working the next day! This is so against my culture!!!! But I am getting kind of used to it and there is not so much to do anyway.
Kram