Assassin.

So the following days have been used for not so very much. There was a long weekend followed by a normal week at school. I've started having selected courses on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Monday we have ballgames, which is basically just having fun with ball games. And apparently "snow ball" is in our arsenal later this year (this is partially why I signed up *cough*). Tuesdays I have language training. Well, technically I'm not training any language, except maybe English (which I've heard I talk like a native... And a prick) and a bit German. What I do is I've been chosen to help Vikki with her Norwegian. And she doesn't really need much help yet =) On Wednesdays we have volleyball. Also fun.

We have a lot of spare time outside of classes. This time is usually consumed by playing games. Card games, board games and other games. I've been playing Magic with my neighbors, and a board game called "Arkham Horror", which is insanely complex and required about 9 hours to play the first time we played it... We didn't even finish it.

Every day we discover new people who play Magic. Or at least that is how it feels, and we're considering organizing Magic lessons, to teach people how to play and eventually have a large tournament later. A lot of people here have an inner nerd it seems.

The coolest thing is perhaps the game we play called Assassin. It's not a card or a board game. It's a game that we play all the time, and about half the school is involved with. In short we go around and try to kill each other. With spoons and rolled up newspapers that is. Everyone playing Assassin gets a target and their goal is to "kill" their targets and avoid being "killed" back. The only permitted weapons... I mean "weapons", is spoons, rolled up magazines or papers, "poison" which involves simply spicing someones meal or drink so that they can taste that it has been "poisoned" (putting salt in someones tea for example). Bombs are also allowed. You just have to hide a cell phone in a box or something and set the alarm to go of when your mark is in the vicinity.

The first round of Assassin is already over. I failed. Miserably. Will do better in the next round though.

I feel like we're back to kindergarten when it comes to playing. I've never played so much in my entire life. And the Saturday two weeks ago (the 11.) only goes to show. We had what we call "Agderlørdag". Agderlørdag is set in stage by one of the classes on the school. What they do is make dinner for everyone and an activity or two to fill the evening. The jazz class arranged it this time. They made it a 1920s kind of dinner. Everyone was supposed to dress like they did in the 20s. If they could obviously (I couldn't. Closest I got was like the 1990s or something...). Then there was a dinner. And then there was a murder; which I managed to sniff out already when the "Lord Ilkana" left for his study with a glass of gin or whatnot (it was actually Earl Grey tea, we found out later).

Yes, the activity for the evening was solving the murder of the lord. It was really fun and I'm amazed of the creativity and originality in their group. They made a really tricky puzzle, and the acting of the group was really good, come to think of how only a quarter of everyone there actually took them seriously. So after a while I ditched the blockheads of my class (yes, I know you can read this too >:( ), who were trailing of in a completely contradictory line of thought and solved the mystery. On my own! Would you look at that. All those hours of playing Phoenix Wright on my DS wasn't completely wasted after all. After solving the mystery we had dessert - ice cream.

Thanks Jazz =)

That is all.

Last week.

Monday 06.09.2010: We went on a mountain trip. We drove in the schools mini-bus to a place called Hovden. The ride took about 4 hours... Or would have taken four hours if it had been completely uneventful. What's the first thing that happens?

Tire blew... So we try to elevate the buss with the jack, which we find is way too short... While others set out to find something to elevate the jack with, some of us try to loosen the spare tire from under the bus. This proved to be difficult because it was a lot of rust and dirt in the picture. When we finally manage to get it out we find that the tire is rusted beyond recognition, and besides is a good few centimeters wider than the old tire. Every attempt to jack the bus had also failed, so after about 40-50 minutes of fiddling with the bus we drive back to a repair shop. Luckily this is also the last thing that happens. After about one and a half hours we're back where we should've been.

 We arrive at Hovden and unload all our stuff. Fully equipped with tents, heavy backpacks and warm clothes, we begin our trip up into the mountains. There's a slight chilly wind and a damp feeling in the air. We get a quick briefing about our heading, and get a map over the area each. We walk for about one and a half hours before we set camp for the night.

From the left: Tent, tent, Morten, Einar, tent, Vanja and Rasmus.

This year is a lemming year, which for us meant one thing: The ground was littered with dead lemming bodies. We stopped counting after we reached about 20...

The next day we would venture over this hill, and further into the mountain where there are no trails to follow.

After we had set up camp, some of us went fishing while others prepared the dinner or did whatever they pleased. When night fell we made a camp fire and talked until the fires went out and one couldn't even see the tip of ones nose.

The next day we packed everything up and walked further into the mountains. I'm not entirely sure, but I think we walked 15 kilometers that day. The trail we followed ended halfway to our destination. We walked for about 2-3 hours, with a slight but constant ascent and a sour wind blowing from the south.

Morten, waiting for someone lagging behind... Far behind. We've already lost the track, it seems.

A quick stop while we're waiting for the slowpokes =)

And then some lunatic ran ahead to take this picture (it was me).

This is where we were headed. Into this... Somewhere.

Another quick stop to adjust the heading, and onwards!

Everyone is exhausted when we finally reach our destination by a lake. A constant harsh wind keeps blowing from the south, so we quickly whip up the tents so we don't grow too cold.

Strong wind doesn't really show in a photo.

The lake.

 Here we had a quick lunch and... Well, we stayed mostly in our tents because we were pretty beat, and the winds didn't really let anyone stay warm for very long.

The road back... Is somewhere out there. Also a stone ward which is marked on the map. Nifty for finding your location and bearings =)

We played cards and talked before we ate dinner and started to shamble out of the tents later in the evening.

Brilliant sunlight and fishing.

More mountains.

Espen is still fishing.

The campfire we made that night was incredibly social and wanted to jump out and hug anyone sitting to close to it. Stupid winds... We talked for a bit until the cold got the better of us and we went to bed.

The next morning no one seemed too keen to stay much longer. The tents literally vanished and everything seemed to get packed down and tucked into backpacks faster than you could say "strong winds today too, hi-ho". Or shout it; so anyone could hear you over the strong winds. According to Morten the trip back would take another three hours, but 2 hours later we were unloading heavy backpacks and relocating shoulders down at the schools cabin. The journey was rather uneventful except for more lemming (some alive too!) and this:

Sweet jebus!

 No one fell in =(

We took a quick trip to the local food store and bought dinner. Taco!

Yum.

And then we sung a birthday song for Morten, since it was his birthday :D And later he also got cake (small brownies with lights on them). We watched movies until the middle of the night before going to sleep.

And that was all from that trip. All in all I must say it was an exciting trip. I've always wanted to go into the mountains and see what's beyond the first few tops. And I would do it again. Exhausting as it might be, it was an experience worth keeping. Home again on Thursday 09.09.2010.


Later!