The first time I came to Mundheim, over ten years ago, I was enchanted. I could feel the land in my blood. My great grandparents lived here. My grandmother grew up here. Her brother, my great uncle, still lives here. His daughter Ingebjørg and her family live here as well.
It's truly a part of me.
The town itself has a population of about 40 people. A lot of the houses here are just summer homes these days. People live in the city and come out to the country for the summer. It's a quiet place. You can actually see the stars at night.
If you need food, you can cross the street, take your boat out on the fjord, and catch your dinner fresh. The first time I tried fishing here, the fish practically jumped onto my hook.
We're currently nine time zones ahead of our normal PST. We've adjusted now. Things are normal. Our days right now consist of relaxing. It is vacation after all.
We've done a tiny road trip (all of a mile or two) out to my great uncle's hytte (hytte is basically a summer house, cabin in Norsk). That was an interesting day. My great uncle doesn't speak any English. Plus, he wasn't expecting visitors that day, so he also didn't have his hearing aids in.
Communication was pretty funny.
I speak and understand some Norwegian. Much more than the first time I was here... So we are able to communicate somewhat with the older generation. It's always amusing to try. They appreciate it.
Hans' hytte is a thing of beauty. He started building it about nine years ago. Each time we've come to Norway there has been more to it. The second time I was here, the house itself had been built, but it was still quite rough inside. The third time I was here (Beth's first time), the inside was finished and he had started doing more outside. There was a dock and a dumb waiter that led from the water up to the house. He is always hard at work on this house. Pretty much every day he goes out and works more on it. Now there is a garage that wasn't here last time, a boathouse, trails all over the property, gardens for potatoes and beans, apple trees...
It's pretty amazing.
Beth also got to experience her first Norwegian Christmas tree hunt. Actually going up into the mountain, finding the right tree, picking it out, chopping it down...
I should point out for the record, it was me who chopped down the tree... It was a little one, and Beth will plant two more to replace it when we get home. ;)
We also got up to the old hytte, a cabin on the mountainside that I had actually never been to. My great uncle's first hytte. As the stories go, he was single when he made it... So it's small: one bed, a little table. Enough for the bachelor on the mountain side.
Let's just say that although the old hytte is very charming... and beautiful... the new hytte is definitely a step (or ten) up.
Beth also had the chance to go to a nearby bunad store/coffee house. A bunad is a traditional Norwegian costume worn on holidays, weddings and celebrations. Each area has their own particular style. Some villages have very specific variations. Beth has dreamed of making us both Hardanger bunad with the particular Mundheim bits, so on this trip, she got her first supplies to start them. On the female bunad, there is an embroidered patch under the vest called a bringklut. She found a design she liked and picked up all supplies. For me, she found the proper sock pattern and the right yarn. She'll be busy once we get home. Or more likely next summer after her graduation...
We also got our first snow. Friday morning we woke up and suddenly there was lots of snow on the ground. It's going to be a white Christmas in Mundheim! [Beth's note: YAY!!!]
So after nearly a week in Mundheim, we thought it was a good time to go to Rosendal and spend more time with other parts of the family. Ingebjørg's sister Gunvor lives in Rosendal with her family. So it's time to brave the snow and move on for a bit. We'll be back in Mundheim early next week and stay until Christmas. It's still early in the trip... but time seems to be moving quite quickly.
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