Friends and the Full Moon

Maybe I mentioned it before, I can't remember...
But March 18th was the closest the moon has been to the Earth in 19 years. And it happened to be a full moon. A rare occurence.
On the night of the event, Seth and I visited our German and Polish friends, Steffi, Sina, and Anna. Steffi and Sina made us "Fanta" cake, which was very delicious. We ate cake with the others in their house. They are doing a EVS (European Voluntary Service), which is young people all over Europe who come together and live and study the culture together. This house was in Narvik, so there were Russians, and a Serbian, and since Seth and I were there, Americans.
We drank some home-made Polish vodka, sang and danced the clouds away. About 11:30pm, the clouds cleared and the moon, whose light we could see beaming over the peak of the mountain, finally rose in a dramatic fashion. We howled like wolves at the moon. There was a building on the peak that was a silhouette against the moon and at the apex of the moon's position behind it, it looked as if the building were on the moon, and the moon was portal to the universe in the fabric of stars and space.

Later in the evening, we began to sing karaoke, and we had a dance party in the kitchen. Steffi insists that kitchen parties are the best. And I think she may be right. There is something so comfortable about standing in the kitchen around the oven or stove and having a cup of tea, or watching the water boil.

Seth and I have been in Norway for an entire month now. And although, in a lunar sense, it is not the full moon now, but for our time in Norway, it is. After a month, we have finished the first two destinations of the show. We have broken things, fixed things, packed and unpacked, and assembled the set. From March 7th-April 4th, we had one day off. Often we have worked 12 hour days in the theatres. Finally, the full moon of our time here has reached it's zenith, and now, we are calmly waning again. Change always happens, and while I enjoyed the heavy work and the long hours of before, it is nice to have a different type of work ahead of us. The tizzy excitenment and distracted sense of adventure of before has been replaced with a calm sense of exploration, and our surroundings, while no less fascinating, are more scrutinized with a knowledge of background.
I'm beginning to be able to read sign posts and menus in Norwegian, and I begin to understand what people say. Responding is difficult. Sometimes when they speak Norwegian, it sounds like a very strange accent in English. Which, I'm not sure if it is because Norwegian is similar to English, or if I am becoming accustomed to it. It's a bit of both, probably, but it's exciting to begin to understand what people say. Although, when I'm tired and unfocused, it's more difficult to understand.

Steffi was talking to me one day, "What do you call these?" and pointed to her rain boots.
"They are rain boots. Or Galoshes. Or Rubber boots."
"Gal-whaaaat?"
"Gal-osh-es."
"That is such a strange word. It's ugly."
"Well, that's what we call them. What do you call them?"
"I call them my Gummy Boots."

Gummy Boots. An excellent name for them. Much better and more creative than "galoshes" or "rain boots". To me, they are gummy boots they are for here ever after.
I bought a pair yesterday because it was raining so heavily, and I discovered that my work boots are only water proof below the laces. The puddles in the streets of Bodo were at least 6in. deep because of the slushy snow creating little dams for the melting water. So, it is needless to say, my feet got dunked in cold water several times. I bought a sensible black pair of gummy boots, and after just two days of having them, they have already proved their gummy integrity, keeping my feet dry and warm.

I apologize for writing in disjointed vignettes, but I find it easier to write about segments of my travels in short stories, rather than chronological accounts of all my activities. I find that short, isolated stories are easier to tell, and more enjoyable to read, because one does not have to digest too many facts all at once, and without context. I find that context is the key for understanding and explaining anything.

Anyway, back to my stories...

The other day, Friday, I think it was, between shows, we had about 3 hours off. Ellyn, the costumer lives in Bodo, and so she drove Sina, Seth, and I up to the lookout over Bodo. The mountains are amazing. It's unlike any landscape I've ever seen. They look like what I imagine the Himalayas to be like, but instead rise directly from the sea without ceremony. It's such a dramatic contrast between the flat nature of water, and the strong, daring peaks of the mountains.
Tomorrow we are leaving for Fredrikstad, which is famous for it's "Old City" architecture and art academy, where we will be taking a scenography workshop course for 10 days. On April 13th, we are travelling to the Nordland again to Tromso, where we will assemble and perform the last location of our Norwegian tour.

I will write more momentarily, I am now trying to organize my travel plans back to England, after Tromso, and my Summer travels in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

More later...

Hannah