Valle, Norway

“Chet, pull over.  Emily is getting sick.”  The contents of Emily’s stomach ended up in a ziplock bag and the side of the road.

We drove a VW van along a sinuous road making hairpin turns up a mountain and then back down again.  The views of mountain tops, lakes, rivers, and countless waterfalls were stunning but the route itself left most of us feeling queasy.  A steep road down the mountainside finally led us into the Setesdal valley, our desired destination.  We traveled a bit south along the Otra river and were happy to settle into a simple cabin in Valle. 

Valle, Norway has a population of about 1,300 and is part of the traditional district of Setesdal.  The Setesdal valley is separated from the neighboring valleys in the east and west by large mountain plateaus.  (Emily left her mark on the eastern mountain.)  The Otra river flows through the valley and south to the sea.  Setesdal valley is one of Norway’s most traditional and conservative regions.  Just like small towns in the US, the population is declining.  People are employed in government and community jobs.  A small hyrdro-power plant employs about a dozen people.  Farmers and herders must take on additional jobs to make ends meet.  In the global world, farm goods are not keeping up with the cost of living.  On the other hand, life appears to be good in Valle.  The air and water are clean.  The school kids have a trail up the hillside as part of their outdoor school.

Valle is infrequently visited by tourists; it’s not labeled in the guide books as a top destination.  However, my family was given a couple of books a while ago: Harstad Heritage and A Short Record of Some Familes from Saetersdal, Norway.  They include family trees, pictures and stories.  The family tree begins with Kittle Aanondson Harstad and Eli Espetvedt, born in Saetersdal, Norway (1834, 1837 respectively).  They emigrated and lived in Minnesota and North Dakota.  Their oldest son born in Minnesota, Oscar Andreas Harstad (1867-1929) married Carrie Fjeld (born in Valdres Norway 1874-1941).  Their son, Casper (1897-1978), is my great grandfather, the father of my dad’s mom.  Norwegian customs, traditions, and language may possibly have been followed for the first two generations but likely by the time Casper was growing up the Old World ways were forgotten; they were a new people, Americans. 

I feel it’s unfortunate that we American have few long-standing traditions.  I do like Thanksgiving.  It’s neither commercial nor religious.  Perfect for our family: celebrating a harvest festival with loads of yummy food.  I wish I would have asked my grandma more about her past.  I’ll at least have to start making the strudels she used to make.  Tomorrow we’ll celebrate Midsummer’s day with the Swedes.  They’ll have the traditional Midsummer pole, songs, dances, costumes, and food (strawberries and cream and pickled herring).  Now that I have a child (and another one coming) I ask myself what kinds of traditions I want to instill in our family.  We are not religious so we’ve been celebrating the seasons.  Doing art projects and crafts to reflect the changes of the year and putting nature based spins on the religious holidays. 

While living so close to Norway, I wanted to physically visit Valle.  I don’t know really why, I suppose it’s interesting to see an Old World connection even though I’m a mut.   Prior to our trip, I used Google Earth to fly around the Setesdal valley to locate and “see” the present landscape that matched the photos in the family books.  Upon arriving in Valle, I picked up a tourist pamphlet at Valle Motel and found a walk that began at the Valle church and went up the road to Harstad.  According to our family book Harstad was once a large farm several generations ago.  Over time it became subdivided and split among family members and now seems to be part of the town marked by a sign.  I asked the lady at the front desk for some directions to Harstad and mentioned my family connection.  She said she could call a Harstad in Harstad.  Even better.  He appeared at our cabin door excited and willing to tell us stories and give us a tour.  He led us up a hill and walked us around Gangshei, the farm where Kittil Harstad was born and lived with his family.  Five generations ago Kittil Harstad left Valle and immigrated to America to make a better life.  I looked around at the lush quiet valley and steep mountains and thought how wonderful it would be to live there.  I see the landscape and think about all the hikes, ski trips, and river trips I could do.  I have no way to really understand what life was like to survive off a small farm during years of famine. 

Vilhelm Moberg’s The Emigrants series has allowed me to read about fictional Swedish settlers that immigrated to America during the same time period as Kittle Harstad.  I picked up the first book about six weeks ago and had a hard time putting all four of the books down until I read the entire story.  Vilhelm Moberg is such an amazing author that his written words allow me to abstractly feel and understand the history.  These books have given me a glimpse of what life may have been like for Kittle Harstad when he decided to emigrate and tells of the struggles and rewards of settling a new land.  Kittle Harstad must have been successful in America.  According to the family books, he was able to send money for his other family members to immigrate to America and even sent money to buy food for people remaining in Valle.  

I highly recommend The Emigrants series, especially if you like historical fiction.  Vilhelm Moberg is like the Howard Zen of Sweden.  He has also written A History of the Swedish People.

We left Valle, Norway after only two nights there.  I feel fortunate to have met Tjornliv (spelling ?) Harstad and to have seen the sights imprinted in our family book.  However, I hope that perhaps I’ll be able to visit again someday and stay a little longer to further explore the landscape and to learn the traditions and customs of the area.

Perhaps some of the nature loving culture has been passed down to me over the generations.  I am finding that my reserved somewhat aloof nature is similar to the Scandinavians I’ve met and observed here. And I do find it curious how much I love the mountains of Montana and feel at home there.  Valle, Norway is strikingly similar to a valley in Montana.  As we drove away from Oslo and towards the mountains Amelia asked, “Are we going to Montana?”  We’ll be living here in flat Sweden for another year but I will do what I can to settle us back in the mountains where I’ll start making Norwegian strudels.

Walpurgis Fires

April 30th

The celebration of Walpurgis Night, or Valborgsmässoafton in Swedish (“Valboree”) is so ancient, there are many reasons given as to why it appears on the calendar.  Some say that the tradition stems from rural communities as they would bring their animals out into the fields this time of year, and fires were lit to scare away predators.  Others claim it as an important spiritual holiday of fertility and rebirth, as it is the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice and the eve of the pagan holiday Beltane.  Of course, the early church authorities recognized this, and canonized Saint Walpurga, who is best known for fighting back the tide of witchcraft.  If the masses cannot be purged of their pagan rituals, just give the holiday some proper Christian context.

 Regardless of its origins, it is seems rather intuitive as to why it should be celebrated here in Umeå.  Once the snow had melted, it was time to light the fires ushering in the spring!  Old doors, broken chairs, and other wooden refuse were piled up, and multiple trees were stacked atop them to a height of about ~20 feet.  A choir was assembled (Swedes love to sing) and began to sing “Spring Songs”, like “Längtan till Landet” (“Longing for a country”):

 

The winter raged among our fjällar;
drift flowers melt down and die.
The sky smiles in the spring's bright nights,
sun kisses forests and lakes.
Soon it is summer here. In purple waves,
Gold plated, shades of blue,
lie the meadows in today's flames,
and in the grove dance källorne.

Yes, I come! Greet, happy winds,
Out to the country, out to fåglerne,
That I love them, birch and linden,
lake and mountain, I want to see them again,
see them as in my childhood,
follow the creek dancing to clarified lake,
thrush singing in the pine forest groves,
Water play around the bird's bay and oh…  

  

Thanks, Google translate!  Well, there were a few untranslated words (in bold) I’ll have to ask someone about, but the overall meaning should be clear.  Spring is finally here!  We’ve never been so excited to see a lawn.  We’ve also recently seen ducks pairing together, birds making nests, a few flowers, leaves beginning to emerge, baby lambs, and tadpoles.

PONIES!

Walpurgis Revelers (some well past their bedtime)

European coltsfolt - the first wildflower we’ve seen emerge!  Also called ‘son-before-the-father’, the flower emerges before the hoof-shaped leaves.  It has traditional medicinal use as an expectorant for coughs and bronchial infections.

spring at the 63rd parallel… the long thaw

Påsk (Easter)

Willow and birch branches are decorated with feathers during the Easter holidays.

  

Sweden has the highest candy consumption in the world and so the Easter bunny in Sweden brought Amelia lots of candy!

Saturday is Lördagsgodis (Saturday candy).  It’s custom to only eat candy on Saturday.  I think lots of candy is eaten on Saturday, and maybe only a little candy on other days.

 

at the coast April 15th

 

Ostnäs Naturreservat, April 22nd

Our 20^th century tape-deck Volvo wagon drove us out for another adventure.  We were met with a snowy muddy road that was impassible.  (That’s the second time that’s happened this *spring*.)  Our 21^st century cell phone came to the rescue.  We plugged into the satellite map which showed us a little arrow of our location and gave us directions to another nature reserve further out along the coast.  The little arrow confirmed that we were taking the correct turns down muddy unmarked roads.  We reached the end of the road and could tell that water was nearby just a little beyond the trees.  We saw no signs and not even a sign of a trail at first but then spotted a path that someone else walked along pulling a sled.  The sky was filled with fog and gave a mysterious feeling to the place.  The birds were making a ruckus just up ahead.  We followed the sled path and discovered the cause for the commotion.  It appeared the sled had dumped off a LARGE pile of fish remains.  We didn’t get too close for fear that the multitude of crazy seagulls would attack us.  We continued on to walk along the sinuous rocky coastline.  As we headed for the shore we post-holed through slush.  The slush claimed one of Chris’s shoes.  (He doesn’t have proper snow boots.  He wears the same low hiking boot every day of the year.)  He pulled it out and dumped out ice water.  Apparently we were walking through a boggy area.  Amelia and I both laughed at the site but then I realized that water was indeed ice water and it might be bad for Chris’s foot and put an end to our day.  Good thing Chris is super tough in the cold (unlike me wearing snow boots and snow pants).  He continued on with frozen feet.  He did however say, “This is why all those people (that we passed on the country roads) are walking and running on the paved roads.”  He also added, “I’m going to have dry feet next weekend.”  It’s been a common theme (Chris’s wet feet) this spring since we’ve been walking instead of skiing.  I’m buying him snow boots for next year.

Chris’s feet got a break from the wet slush while we rock hopped along the coast.  The land and rocks reach out like fingers into the coast and create a curvy coast-line with inlets of calm water.  A moose disregarded the curves.  We followed tracks that came out of one inlet of water, straight through the snowy land and back into another inlet of water.  We didn’t see the moose (which is probably a good thing) but we did see a Grus grus! (Eurasian Crane: at 100–130 cm (40–52 in) long, with a 180–240 cm (71–96 in) wingspan (thanks Wikipedia!).  People walking along dry paved roads don’t get to listen to the waves of the sea or rock hop and might not see a Grus grus or check out moose tracks.  Although we do see lots of moose crossing signs along the side of the road.  Perhaps Chris’s feet would prefer road-side wildlife viewing, but we’ll see if he’s ready for another slushy adventure after spending a week in town. We are attempting to check out the nature reserves listed on the county page- there are lots of them!  I look forward to returning to them once the snow is gone to see how the landscapes change.   

green at last!

Chris got his wish.  The following two weekends his feet remained dry.  It’s a treat to see that the snow is melting away and we get to discover the GREEN plants that had been hidden away all winter long.

new plants to discover!

giant ant hill

I even got to lounge on the beach.

What we consider spring is finally here.  We’ve never been so excited to see a lawn!  We’ve also recently seen ducks pairing together, birds making nests, a few flowers, leafs beginning to emerge, baby lambs, tadpoles…

I understand why they wait until April 30th to celebrate spring rather than on Spring Equinox, March 20th.

More about Walpurgis Night (April 30th) on another blog.

Turdus pilaris and her nest outside our bedroom window.

Chris transplanting out at Turmalinen, where we are gardening.

pregnant in Sweden!

April 23, 2012

pregnant in Sweden!

A momma at the Ålidhem playgroup looked up the phone number for the Ålidhem hälsocentral for me.  She explained that I should call between 8:30 and 9:30 and leave a message on the voice mail and a midwife would call me back. 

            After I listened to a bunch of Swedish I thought I got to the point where I was supposed to leave a message.  I must have been successful, a midwife called me back.  I told her that I was pregnant and wanted to schedule an appointment. 

            “What’s your personnummer?”  With that she has all my information.  “You have been assigned to the downtown health center but you are welcome to come here.” 

            I went to a 10 week appointment at the nearby health center and met Ann-Cathrine, the midwife that will be seeing me for my prenatal care.  She’ll care for me during my pregnancy but when it’s time for labor and delivery I’ll go to the hospital and be in the care of a midwife (whom I’ve never met) that happens to be working that day, or a doctor if there are complications.  That’s the standard way for pregnancy and birth.  Everything seems fine so far with me and Iggy Piggy (our baby’s name so far).  Unfortunately, I’ve experienced more pregnancy symptoms this time around.  I was able to ask Ann-Cathrine more about Sweden’s system, most of which I had already learned about prior to this visit. 

            There is a Home Birth Group in Sweden.  They are mostly active in a few cities further south, although there are a couple of people here in Umeå.  There are only a few home-births a year in Umeå and only 1 in 1000 in Sweden.  Water births are illegal in Sweden.  A baby died in a water birth at home about 20 years ago and they have been illegal since.  I did talk to the one midwife in town that will do home births.  She works at the hospital and is very proud of the space they have there.  She said that they have ONE water tub that is available for laboring in with candles and music… and if the baby is born in the water, accidents happen.  However, there is just one, so there is no guarantee that it will be available.  She suggested that I visit the hospital in August or September and decide if I want to labor and deliver there.  If not she’ll meet us at our apartment in the fall.  I’ll likely decide on the hospital.  We live in a tiny apartment with no tub.  The thing that I think is odd is that you have a different midwife for the prenatal care and the labor and delivery.  I was so comforted when Stacy (midwife for Amelia) arrived at our home.  I’ve talked to one other local, who is part of the Home Birth Group, who also thinks it’s odd.  Overall, pregnancy and birth are taken more lightly here than in the US, which does have its pros.  Although I am looking forward to my next appointment (May 28^th) which is at 18 weeks – TWO MONTHS – from my last, where we’ll have an ultrasound and use the doppler for the first time to hear the baby’s heart beat.  I’m feeling great now at 13 weeks pregnant, nearing the end of the first trimester.  I’m looking more pregnant but Chris says that people wouldn’t assume that I’m pregnant because I’m in that in between phase of looking pregnant and looking like I have a big tummy.  ;)

            I’m thankful for the health care coverage here.  There was a typo in my immigration paperwork so it took longer than normal for me to get into the system.  However, I did get into the system just in time to schedule a 10 week pregnancy appointment.  Apparently as soon as a woman becomes part of the system they also get scheduled for a womanly check-up.  I also received a letter from the downtown health clinic stating a day and time for an appointment.  It was scheduled a couple of weeks after my visit to Ålidhem hälsocentral.  Ann-Cathrine asked me if I had received mail regarding an appointment since she knew that I had just recently entered the Swedish health care system.  I told her that I did from the downtown clinic and it was scheduled in the next couple of weeks.  I didn’t need to go to it since I was seeing her.  She had me sign some papers that I was switching to Ålidhem.  I kind of assumed that took care of my downtown appointment and I kind of dropped the ball by not calling and canceling my appointment downtown.  I received mail from the downtown clinic a few days after my proposed appointment.  It was a bill of 150 kroner ($22) for NOT SHOWING UP.  This got me to call and explain (and they dropped the charge).  People don’t slip through the cracks here, especially if they are frugal like me.  I was told that I won’t have to call for an appointment for Amelia’s annual check-up.  She’s in the system so we’ll get a letter with a day and time for her appointment… at the downtown clinic…unless I fill out some paperwork.

 Amelia got the chicken pox!  I thought the outfit she picked out was kind of funny.   At first she wasn’t phased by them but then spent a day an a half with a fever.  We had lots of snuggle and reading time.  She quickly got back to her silly self.

barnbidrag/child support

We got notice in the mail today that our first monthly ‘barnbidrag’ deposit was made into our bank account. Google Translate translates barnbidrag to child support. It’s a different kind of child support than what we think of in the States. Chris is indeed Amelia’s dad and yes we are still living together. Barnbidrag is coming from the Swedish government. Even though they didn’t have any part in the birth of Amelia they are kindly going to help pay for some of her expenses. I think it is absolutely amazing that the government provides financial assistance to families raising children: 1050 kronor a month per child which is about $150. It’s helpful, but then I also remember that Chris is paying at least 40% of his income to taxes, so it’s nice to get some of that money back. Everything is so expensive here too that any little bit of financial assistance is helpful so that we can get out and do things. I just spent 100 kronor/ $15 for Amelia and me to play in the little indoor kiddie pool down the road, and the pool isn’t even a hot spring.

Other tax money goes to day care and maternity leave. Once the 18 month paid maternity leave is over then free daycare, including meals, starts up at 18 months until kiddos start kindergarten at age 6. However, there is a long waiting list (up to 6 months) for the free daycare. This is yet another way in which the government is family friendly. Or is it family friendly? I haven’t met a Swedish stay at home mom or dad beyond the maternity leave. I wonder if the deal is so good – having free daycare and a two income family – that it is too good to pass up or maybe it is so expensive to live here that you need two incomes. ?? I have noticed that Swedes have a way of doing things (very little diversity) so perhaps the work and day care system is just the way it is, just because.

In any case, from an out-sider's perspective their system seems to be working. People dress nicely; have lots of vacation time; the downtown shopping area is large and bustling; all schools including Universities are free; and everyone has health care. I'll try to dig deeper and get the in-siders' point of view.

our first adventure in our *new* old car

We bought a Volvo wagon! I couldn’t go any longer without a car. The longer and warmer days are making me stir crazy to get out of the city! Today the Volvo took us out to the coast to the Strömbäck-Knot nature reserve. We did some walking and playing in the snow at the shore’s edge and some skiing.

Amelia has become a really good skier already. Today she figured out how to kick and add some glide to her step.

icy coast...




snow waves

spring is in the air

The short winter days are over. We’ll revisit them again along with the beautiful soft winter light next year. Lately the sun has been bright and gets high in the sky. Today the sun rose at 5:49 am and set at 5:46 pm. It’s hard to believe that in a few days we’ll have more light than darkness. We still have at least a foot of snow in town and there are no flowers popping up or trees budding, so it seems hard to believe that the first day of spring is next week, but we are enjoying the sunshine.

Here are some pictures of our winter life:

This is outside our front door. Amelia is getting more brave lately. There are 20+ foot piles of snow all around town and she has been enjoying climbing them and making slides down them. Yes, we wear snow pants every day!

We are fortunate to be able to ski from our front door into the forest near our home.

Amelia is enjoying taking a dance class and wants to play dance class just about every day. I add a little yoga so I get to do some yoga ;)

We've spent many hours doing arts and crafts. She particularly likes making fairies. She's drawn them, painted them, made play-dough fairies, and even fairies out of pipe cleaners.

In this picture she's sewing a bear. Thanks Grandma Cindy, Grandpa Klatt, and Emily! He is stuffed, has a bow tie, eyes, a smily face and has been named Sewy.

Thankfully there are indoor play areas. There has been lots of jumping on the coach and bed too.

There are several neighborhood centers around town and churches that have a space for children, young and old. The spaces are very nice with toys and kitchens and gyms. Amelia and I have been consistently going to two playgroups. The öppna förskolor/playgroups are for parents and children to attend. However, most of the children are under a year and half. Families are given 18 months of paid leave to be with the little ones. The time is split between both parents and I think it is required that the dad spends at least two months with the baby while the mom goes back to work. The 18 months do seem flexible though. The family can spread these 18 months paid leave time and work part time or postpone them. Once that paid time is over it seems very common that both parents are back to work and children go to förskolan/daycare, which is free. It seems very uncommon to be a stay-at-home parent beyond this paid leave. (There isn’t a lot of diversity in ways of doing things here in Sweden). The only older kids we see at playgroups are the siblings of the babies. The parents tend to reduce the older children’s time at the daycare to be with them during their paid leave with the new baby.

We have made some friends and learned about Swedish culture by going to the öppna förskolor. Amelia has learned some Swedish! Can you tell which song it is?