Friday

It is Syttendemai today.

The whole Norway is worried about the weather. It rains so much. And everybody wants it to be nice for this special day. The sun was shining. It was warm and nice. The Norwegians got their constitution on this day in 1814.

We got up at 8:00 a.m. as we have to leave to watch the parade at 9:00 . We only had 4 hours sleep after partying hard the night before. Anne Marit had the table laid for a nice breakfast. I couldn’t eat much and then we got ready fast as we had to soon leave. Everybody dresses formally for this day. Most women and some e men wear the Norwegian National costume. Kjetil wore his new suit. I wore the dress that I had borrowed from Kanako. Then we drove to a spot where everybody in Kjetil’s family get together and watch the parade. I met the rest of the relatives that I hadn’t met so far. I met Kjell’s twin brother Rolf and his wife tante Laila and uncle Arild and tante Aud and Kjetil’s cousins Ingvild and Brit and her husband Arild.

Everybody was dressed up and most people had their Norwegian National costume on. It was a long parade and I was too tired to enjoy it. Then we walked around downtown with Are and Mari and Sissel and Kenneth and also met Kjetil’s friend Linda whom we hadn’t met so far. Then we went to Kristine’s place and she had made traditional Roemmegroet. We also met Steinar there. He is a good friend of Kjetil whom we had not met since we got here for some reason or the other. He came with his girlfriend Beate and their son Ruben Christoffer. Trond made a joke about rubbing him and using the static to hang him up on the celing. The whole gang was there. Then we went to Alvoeen where everybody gets together and they have activities for children. Steinar gave us a ride to Alvoeen. We ate ice creams.

Kjetil won a fruit basket.

I was too tired to enjoy these festivities. We soon came home and then Anette and her family visited us. She had not come top the town as she lives in Sotra and was involved in some children’s activities for 17th of May.

They left after a few hours and we again went out and the whole gang was there at Kristina’s place. Everybody just sat and drank and talked. Kjetil and his friends are very close and just sit and talk and enjoy each other’s company. They spoke Norwegian and Kjetil translated to me. We came home around 2:00 am