Grant Dobbe

good morning. i’m writing from the lovely seaside/fjordside town of molde, where we delivered a joint concert last night. i just got back from a run and realized that i didn’t record the day’s events or any of my thoughts last night, so i’m going to do that now before getting in the shower.

yesterday, we woke up bright and early at the ungodly hour of 6:30, had a little breakfast, got back on the buses, left loen at 7:00, and fell right back asleep. well, most everyone slept. i nodded off a little bit, but i’ve never really been able to sleep on buses or planes for some reason. anyway, we enjoyed a nice, peaceful bus ride with scenery very similar to what we’ve been encountering for the first 3 hours of our ride.

once we got up into the mountains, however, the landscape changed a little bit. the deciduous trees started going away, and the snow started to be more prevalent. eventually, we were driving right through the snow, and although the roads were clear the snow was 8 to 10 feet thick in places. when we stopped for lunch at a little tourist-trap at the top of the mountain, i had my picture taken both next to and on top of 6-feet of snow that is about 15 feet thick.

after lunch, we did a little… adventuresome driving. there is a road on the route that we took that goes down the mountain in the only way one can go down this mountain: very steeply, with about 8 hairpin turns. i have video on my camera of a couple of these turns, and our bus driver working them marvelously. we sang the bus driver song at the bottom, because we were all happy to be alive and because ola deserved it.

we eventually got to molde, checked into the hotel, and rehearsed a little bit. after rehearsal, we had about an hour and a half of free time before the concert, so a few people decided to wander around and see what there was to see. i went to the grocery store, bought some resupply items for my little portable pantry, and came back to the hotel to watch some tv and relax a little bit before dinner.

the concert went well last night, and the church was absolutely positively packed to the rafters. after the concert, all 265 of us went on a ferry ride that showed us some absolutely beautiful country. when we returned, i fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

now, on to some observations (seeing as i haven’t recorded any of these in a while) these might be a little random, so just bear with me.

norwegians are an incredibly generous people. our ferry ride last night was on the largest passenger ferry i have seen yet, and they had more free food and drinks than i have ever seen anywhere at one time. the cool thing was that all of this was sponsored by the lutheran bishopric of molde and the municipal government. not bad for 45 minutes worth of work. now, the thing about norwegian generosity is that they will give you everything of what they have, but if they can’t afford it or don’t have it, they won’t kill themselves trying to give it to you. for example, because wine here costs in the neighborhood of $50 a bottle, most families don’t really buy it unless there is some sort of special occasion. therefore, for the average homestay, you won’t get offered wine. however, if the family can afford it, they might buy a bottle or two just to add to the atmosphere.

paprika-flavored potato chips have got to be the best damn things since sliced bread. honestly. they have just the right amount of spice and sweetness and they’re not dipped in some artificial flavoring agent. they rock my fuckin’ socks off.

norwegian/european soda is so much better than american soda. first off all, they use real sugar, which is less harsh than that high-fructose corn syrup shit the americans use. second, they don’t add 3 pounds of sweetener per bottle. third, there are a lot more mom and pop regional bottlers, which means that you have the chance of encountering a type of soda in one town or region that you might not see anywhere else in the world. if i can, i am going to bring back several bottles of it so that y’all can see what i mean.

anyway, i should get in the shower and pack my suitcase sometime before we have to load the bus for kristiansund. peace, and behave.

this is the URL for the new grouping of pictures. enjoy…

Norway, Volume 1
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMmTNo5ZtnDrQ&notag=1

Norway, Volume 2
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMmTNo5ZtnDpY&notag=1

if you don’t already have a shutterfly account, just sign up for one and then you can access the pictures. it’s definitely worth it.

greetings from loen, my new favorite small town.

loen basically consists of 3 hotels, 2 campgrounds, and the strongest wi-fi signal i have ever encounted. i’m sitting in the 3rd floor lounge of our hotel, and as far as i can tell, this signal is coming from across the street at the other hotel (which is about 800ft.). i’ve come up here to just relax, unwind, catch up with the world and post some pictures and things to the internet so that y’all can see what i saw today.

we’re here in loen simply because after 8 hours of driving, it’s a good place to stop before another 8 hours of driving. regardless of the reason, loen is absolutely beautiful. we’re less that 100ft from the mouth of a glacier-fed river which feeds into the fjord, and we’re surrounded by mountains which just absolutely take your breath away.

tonight’s dinner was fabulous. it was a buffet that had pretty much everything that everyone has been craving over the last 12 days: fresh vegetables, pasta, french fries, potato salad – you name it, it was there. i ate my fill, came up here, and got a fantastic wireless signal.

i then went out to take some pictures and just revel in the beauty that surrounded me. i came in to discover a hardanger fiddle player and norwegian folk dancers, and enjoyed that very greatly.

after the dancing was done, i went and jumped into the fjord with 5 other people and got the breath shocked out of me. it was cold as hell, but i’m glad i did it. after all, how often do you get to say that you jumped into a glacier-fed fjord?

this town is absolutely stunning. bj did good by us in stopping here for the night. i for one am quite pleased. too bad i have to load the bus at 7:00 tomorrow morning.

anyway, i’m going to go call my girlfriend and go to bed. peace, and behave.

(note: this post was done 24 hours after the events in question had actually taken place. caveat emptor.)

hi there. let’s start with the morning.

rehearsal was quite good, surprisingly. we weren’t cranky or tired, and the music actually started to come together today. we rehearsed in a lobby at the concert hall, but other than that quirk, everything else went as well as could be expected.

after the rehearsal, i went back to the hotel, had a quick sandwich, and climbed back on my rented bike to explore the city and get some good pictures. i rode out to the edge of the city and took a picture of the harbor looking in, and then rode back to the harbor again to take a picture from the harbor looking out. it was quite nice.

i am so glad i rented that bike. there is absolutely nothing like being on a bicycle. the feeling of flight and the freedom one has of being under one’s own power is absolutely incredible. it also gave me the ability to do something i haven’t really felt on this tour: it allowed me to stretch out and go as fast or as slow as i wanted to go, exactly when i wanted to do it. if you’re ever in bergen, bicycle is the way to get around.

i returned the bike, bought myself a cucumber to resupply my traveling pantry, and then went back to the hotel to change for the concert. that rehearsal went well, and dinner was awesome. there was actually a vegetarian meal this time.

my one gripe about the concert tonight was one i’ve never complained about before: we got a standing ovation. this may seem odd, but i’m actually a bigger fan of the unified clap. i think the reason we got a standing ovation tonight was because there were a lot of americans in the audience.

anyway, that’s all i’ve got for bergen. peace, and behave.

i’m here in my hotel room, watching bbc world and digesting my dinner of fresh shrimp and irish beer. today was a very, very good day, and here’s why:

today started out with a bit of exercise at 7:30, followed by breakfast, the folding of my dry laundry, and a shower. then, i (along with the rest of the band, choir, and orchestra) went on a tour that took us to troldhaugen and a stave church.

troldhaugen – the home of, museum about, and concert hall dedicated to edvard grieg – was absolutely amazing. i could have spent the entire day there, if not more time. the composer’s cabin was probably my favorite part, but i also loved being surrounded by all of the natural life and just walking through all of the thick forestry. i did grab a small flower from along the path, which is now being pressed in my computer science textbook.

the stave church was beautiful, but i wasn’t nearly as impressed by it as i was by troldhaugen. the architecture was very beautiful, and seemed very similar to asian architecture and design in my mind.

anyway, after the guided tour was over, i sat around for a little bit and put some clothing back into my suitcase before trying to find a bicycle rental shop. i found one, rented a bike, and covered quite a bit of ground before going to the other hotel (the bandies, orchies, and some of the la-las are in another hotel about 10-12 blocks away from the one i’m in) to spend some time with lauren and catch up with my friends in the other organizations. i also managed to visit a grocery store to obtain more bread, buy a new phone card and an extra plug adapter, and get my hands on some fresh shrimp.

after coming back here to add some songs to my iPod, i went back to the other hotel to visit with lauren, and ended going out to a pub to have a couple of beers with a few friends before coming back here. i returned, had some shrimp, and i’m now getting ready for bed.

well, i’m going to brush my teeth and go to sleep now; after all, i have a rehearsal tomorrow morning at 10am and that comes awfully early. peace, and behave.