Week 12: In the bleak mid-winter. Spring is supposed to be here but it kept on snowing this week. Many roads were closed. On Marimesse (25 March-Annunciation) I bought skis. That should be a guarantee that spring will come next week. This week we began planning for the Easter Vigil service at Alstahaug Church. The Men's Chorus had concerts on Friday and Saturday (I played accompaniments for a couple pieces).
The Annunciation theme was prevalent for Sunday's service. It's a bit unusual for Protestant churches to give much attention to Mary, but the Lutheran Church broke with Rome over the papacy and selling indulgences, not over the importance of Mary.
On Sunday, the 27th of March the sun rose at 6:45 am and set at 7:45 pm. Length of day is 13 hours.
Daylight savings time began today (here it's simply called «summer time»).
At the beginning of the last week in March we got more snow. It snowed about 5-6 inches on each day. The total was about 1 ½ feet. At least the skiing was good. I bought a spark sled and was able to try it out a few times. I got my Norwegian tax return this week. I have to pay about $150. This was the week to spend money: I bought a spark sled, a year's subscription to the local paper, paid my Norwegian taxes and for an oil change/tune up for my old car.
Next week there is something called Påske vandring – Easter Journey. Kids from the local schools come to church for the half hour gathering. They begin with a short version of the Christmas story, go on to Palm Sunday, then Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and finally Easter. That reminds me of the joke about the (Catholic) priest who didn't know the Bible very well. He was called in to the bishop's office for a consulation. The bishop asked him, «what is Easter»? The priest said, «that's when Jesus died for our sins. He let himself be crucified. After he died he was taken to a stone tomb. Early on Sunday morning he awoke from the dead, came out of the tomb, and if he saw his shadow we would have 6 more weeks of winter.»
Two services on Sunday: 11 am in Tjøtta and 6:30 pm in Sandnessjøen. Sunrise is at 6:15 am, sunset at 8:15 pm. Length of day is 14 hours.
Week 14: Nothing unusual this week. We had påskevandring services for the 5 year-olds. Most of the snow is gone. On Friday afternoon/evening I flew to Oslo for the weekend. I saw my friends Harry and Bruce. I met more American friends: Roger and Norman. Sunday I met Marilyn (a classmate from Luther days) at Holmen Church and we had a nice lunch afterward. Sunday afternoon I took to train up to Jessheim to visit Turid and Gunnar. The weather was splendid. On Monday it was very warm in protected spots. It was great to feel the sun on your face. When I got back to Sandnessjøen I found that my car had a flat tire. It was too dark to change it so I walked the 2 km home. Fortunately it wasn't raining. An optimist would say it's only flat on the bottom.
On the 10th of April the sun rose at 5:50 am and set at 8:30 pm. Length of day is 14 hours, 40 minutes.
Week 15: the week before Palm Sunday. There were a few nice sunny intervals this week. Friday and Saturday were windy and rainy. I began listening to my Norwegian dialect recordings. At the staff meeting on Wednesday I followed everything that was said. That is great progress. All the services are planned for Easter week. Next week will be interesting, as far as seeing what stores are open. Thursday and Friday are holidays so very few stores will be open. I'm not sure about Saturday. Easter Sunday and Monday are also holidays and nothing will be open.
On the 17th of April the sun rose at 5:20 am and set at 9 pm. Length of day is 15 hours and 40 minutes. At 11:30 pm there is stll a little light in the north-west. At 4:30 am it is light outside.
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