I'm jes goin' home..

I'm back to "work". After a lovely week with a visit from Monica.

She was lucky enough to come just in time to hear my favorite choir perform. I thought we sounded pretty good, and their Norwegian was flawless. But what els can you expect when I'm the teacher?

The real reason why we had the concert was because the Ultima Thule choir came all the way from Tromsø just to sing with us. Here we are on stage all of us; the Norwegian Ladies Chorus, The Norwegian Male Chorus and Ultima Thule.
Together with the ladies from Tromsø, we performed Going Home by Anonin Dvorak, and I felt kind of sad. "Mother's there expecting me, Father's waiting to. Lots of folks gathered there, all the friends I knew". I almost started crying, but I didn't. Though I think maybe the song is about dying in stead of going home..

The next day we visited Space Needle, I don't think you can go to Seattle and not visit Space Needle. The view was amazing. Even though there was some clouds we could still see Mount Rainier in the background. And of course, we had to take tourist pictures;

 

For the weekend, Julie the conductor of my favorite choir had invited me and Monica up to Norway park for midsummer. Norway Park is the place where the Norwegian American has their cabin. When we walked in, it was just like coming in to a typical Norwegian cabin. It was very nice. 

They had a HUGE bonfire 

Nice people;

(Because of my lack of photo taking skills I had to make this black and white so the weird colors would not show) This is Barb, Victoria, Julie and Kari. The nicest people ever!


And I was very happy because I found a string of lights to put around my neck. 

Anthropology is the science which tells us that people are the same the whole world over - except when they are different.

I'm OK now. Starting the interviews was just what I needed to start climbing the mountain again. I am so happy with the people I chose to interview. Even after just three interviews I already got information that I would never have discover if I didn't interview exactly those people. I must admit I was terribly nervous before the first interviews, but people love talking about themselves, so it really is no problem. I still need to work on my finding-the-right-question-at-the-right-time-skill, but I guess after a little practice that will come to. Now I'm just looking forward to doing more interviews!

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

“The way to do fieldwork is never to come up for air until it is all over.”

explodingdog

It is enough now. I'm bored. I want to go home. I want to stay here forever. The fieldwork feeling is not fun anymore. After Syttende Mai I haven't done much fieldwork. No field notes, no visits to the Leif Ericson Lodge, no nothing. I feel like all the energy has run out. It's the fieldwork ups and downs, and I think I'm in the bottom, it can just just go one way now I guess. I'm starting my interviews tomorrow. Finally. I'm scared. I find it to be a strange situation. It is a situation I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with, and I don't like that feeling. Luckily I'm starting with the director of my chorus, and it is good to start with some one I trust.

I've learned a lot about my self these past four months; that I'm not capable to work on my own, I need someone in the background pushing me; independent work is not for me, I need someone who expect med to be certain places at a certain time or I will not be there. I guess it is all things that I knew before, but didn't want to admit. Well there you have it!

I am Norway!

 explodingdog.com

I love how everything that is wrong with Norway is my fault. Just because I'm from Norway, that means that I am Norway. And therefor I have to answer to whatever any Norwegian ever have done wrong. Like how the Norwegians never do anything fast enough; "You slept when the Germans came to Norway in 1940 and you are sleeping now!" Social democracy is of course very wrong, and I have to answer to everything about it. The one winter when someone was stuck in Norway because the snow and no air plains was leaving the airport, that was of course my fault. I'm like the customer service of Norway and some of the customers have been thinking about this for a long time and  now it is boiling over. So while I'm here trying to restore Norway's glory, I hope Norway is having a good time.

Syttende Mai in Seattle

They say that the Syttende Mai parade in Ballard is the largest outside Norway, and actually the third largest in the world. Only Oslo and Bergen is bigger. I can imagine, the parade lasted for two and a half hour. The Norwegians have been celebrating 17. Mai here since 1889, which means that was a part of the 121th celebration of the Norwegian constitution day in here in Ballard. 

The day started with me, Ingrid and Iris having lunch at the Leif Ericson Lodge. We had salad, fish, potatoes, peas and cake, and of course wine and coffee. A typical Norwegian meal. The Norwegian politician Dagfinn Høybråten was the Grand Marshal, or guest of honor, which means that he was the main speaker at the lunch, marched in the front of the parade, and was the most popular person all day. He had a very nice speech about the relationship between the two countries, the history of Norway and he read a very nice poem that I'm not able to find, but that will look nice on the front page of my thesis. "Two Flags" I think it's name was.

Unfortunately I didn't have my bunad on me. But I had a new dress on, and the Norwegian flag in m hand, so life wasn't so bad after all.

Then the parade started:

They had Norwegian girls in the front carrying Norwegian flags

One of the duties that comes with being the Grand Marshal

The parade was a little bit different than I'm used to in Norway, not that many kids. But it was amazing!

this lady had to be from the northern part of Norway. She knew exactly how to use one of these outside the season and she had really good control over it too.

then some of my roommates cane and joined us. I had told them all about the Norwegian Syttende Mai, and I don't think they were disappointed.

then my frinds from the Norwegian Ladies Chorus walked by. I was going to march with them, but I decided to watch instead. Next time I will join them!

my friends from the Nordic Heritage Museum was there as well

we also met Leif. He is a Norwegian American who loves northern Norway, and my new friend. He had a t-shirt from Lofoten and a lusekofte.

Happy birthday Norway!

The three most important song to know when you are celebrating Norway's birthday!

The focus of my thesis

After three months working in the field, I have finally decided what the focus of my thesis will be. I'm going to focus how the Norwegian Americans show their heritage by being a part of different groups or clubs. My main focus will be the Norwegian Ladies Chorus of Seattle, Norwegian Commercial Club and Sons of Norway in Seattle. Sons of Norway is a very big organization, so I will have to narrow it down to a smaller group, I would have to talk to my teaching supervisor about that. I have some ideas, but I think I need some professional guidance on that one. 

The Norwegian Ladies Chorus of Seattle was founded in 1936 by Dr. August Werner, and they had their first concert September 4, 1936. Their goal is to "study and sing Norwegian folk music and compositions by Norwegian composers, as well as perform limited selections of other appropriate seasonal music".  To day the choir consist of about 25-30 (?) ladies, both of Norwegian descend, married to a Norwegian, “real Norwegian” or just interested in Norway. I was lucky enough to meet these ladies when they were singing at a talent show at Swedish Cultural Center. And they welcomed me with open arms, and they have been really nice to me. I think I will miss them when I go back to Norway!

The Norwegian Commercial Club "Since 1932, the Norwegian Commercial Club has provided Norwegians, Norwegian-Americans and others interested in the Norwegian culture with a place to meet and discuss business issues of the day"(from website). A I see it, this is a way for all the businessmen with Norwegian heritage to meet and create a network between themselves. Because of the big changes that Ballard has gone through the last 15-20 years, most of the Scandinavian companies and stores are gone or moved elsewhere, and many of the people is working in companies that doesn't have anything to do with the Scandinavian society. The Commercial club is a way for these people to connect, collaborate and create a network with each other, a network that normally would not exist to day. 

Sons of Norway is the largest Norwegian organization outside of Norway. It was founded in 1895 by eighteen workin-class Norwegians in North Minneapolis and soon grew to national propotians. Their mission is to "promote and preserve the heritage and culture of Norway, to celebrate our relationship with other Nordic countries, and provide quality insurance and financial products to our members" (from website). When the immigrants came from Norway to the new country it became important for them to meet other in the same situation, and speak the same language, to preserve their own culture, and at the same time be the best Americans. It was a way to make order in the new and different life. This is still the case, it is all about the Norwegian traditions and celebrate their Norwegian heritage.