The calm before the KSB Norwegian storm!
Here at the Hostel where the staff is staying. Just checked flight status, and the gang will arrive on time. A good omen!
Last night I met our main contact with Solvguttene, Jonas. At 11:30pm! Broad day light! He’s done all the work in organizing the home stays. He says the Norwegian boys are excited to host their American guests. We will return the hospitality in early 2015, or the fall of 2015. Always nice with these sorts of collaborations come full circle.
Apparently two of our boys are going to Andrea Bocelli concert on Saturday night with their hosts. Lucky them. Always the luck of the drawl with the home stays. But every home stay is special in some way – sometimes in obvious ways, and sometimes in more subtle ways. You’ll hear all about it when your sons get home. Or not! Boys tend not to talk about tour right away. That’s why we insist they complete their tour journals. So that you can read all about the tour you made possible!
Off to the airport….
Re-cap of the day
Let’s cut to the chase. Your boys are all well, and are now safe and sound and delivered to their home stays. We had a wonderful time meeting our home stays. We sang for them in Norwegian, much to their delight. The boys were wisked away by their new (Norwegian) mothers and everyone was all smiles, albeit tired ones.
It was quite a full first day! Our first stop was Max Burgers. Thumbs up from the boys.
The Ambassador and the employees of the Embassy so enjoyed our mini-performance in the beautiful atrium. They smiled from ear to ear while we sang our National Anthem. Our Norwegian pieces were received especially well. When I turned to the Ambassador to ask him to comment on our Norwegian pronunciation, he replied, “I don’t speak Norwegian.” But, from the reactions of some in the room, it was clear that they were impressed. We presented the Ambassador with the symbol of our city, the LIberty Bell. The inscription on the bell referred to him as “His Excellency.” We weren’t sure that it the right title, and neither was he! But the Ambassador said, “I’ll take it.”
From the Embassy we went to the Nobel Center. As celebrities we were admitted gratis and given a VIP tour of the Center. We then did a concert outside the Center. Associated Press and the Chinese media filmed it. That means at least a billion people heard Weeping. Cool.
From the Nobel Center we headed to Vigeland Park. This required a little talk before arrival. All of the statues are nudes, and so we wanted the boys to prepared to react, observe, and enjoy in the way that sophisticated young men of the world would. The Park is truly stunning. I won’t try to describe it. Hopefully with the pictures you can get a sense of it. We took our fist group photo.
Our last stop of the day was the Opera House roof. A perfect way to end our fist day. Way too much fresh air on in the Park and the roof to allow the boys to fall asleep. But they certainly were hanging in there by a mere thread, as to be expected.
Opera House in Oslo
They mustered the energy to greet their home stay families with smiles. The very first thing we did was sing Ven Rondane for our hosts. That’s the best way to break the ice and earn some points – points no doubt the boys will need at some point during their stay 🙂
More later…
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