Alt for Norge Daily Journal: Day 19 - May 11, 2012 (Episode 3)

Today was a pretty boring day, up until the end!

It all got started a little later than usual with a get-together time of 10:30! With that, I decided it would be a good day to catch up on some sleep. By closing the curtains, Johnathan and I were able to escape Norway’s early sunrise and sleep in until 9:00. It felt great! At 10:30, we were off to a remote location to do our “reality day” interviews. Due to the remote location, there was nowhere to go, so we had to just hang out on the bus the whole time (about 3 hours), which wasn’t terrible since I used that time to catch up on some studying.

One of the interesting things that we had to do today involved Alf and a coconut. Yesterday, while we were waiting for our competition, we were hanging out, throwing rocks in the water. Interestingly enough, Alf discovered a random coconut floating along the shoreline. He scooped it up, gave it to Dana, who then opened it to discover that it was in pretty good shape. He shared it with all of us and it tasted great! Well, apparently the producers thought that was an interesting enough story to reenact. The problem was that Alf was having his “special day” and would be going off to see his Norwegian family’s area today, so we had to reenact the scene without him. That being the case, I was the one to discover the coconut! Honing in on all of my acting skills, I was able to pull off the scene. David Hasselhoff would have been proud!

Interviews and “reality” filming wrapped up around 2:00 and we headed back to the hotel to get changed for a filmed dinner. At about 4:30, we gathered to go to our filming/dinner location. We were all guessing it would probably be lutefisk and after an introduction by Henriette, we were right!! It looked nasty! However, we were given an incentive to eat it. Anyone who eats it all would get a Lusekofte, which is a traditional Norwegian sweater. They are very detailed and extremely expensive, but not exactly something I would wear. However, it would make a great present for my Mom, so I decided to go for it!

LUTEFISK! It tastes just as good as it looks!

Thankfully, Henriette also gave us a bottle of aquavit, which is a Norwegian alcohol. It was very good and definitely would help get the lutefisk down. We all dug in! (Okay, not all of us. Jessica, who was a pescatarian (doesn’t eat meat, except for fish), decided after yesterday’s events, that she couldn’t eat fish anymore, either.) In front of us was a plate with two large portions. One, was the lutefisk, in all of its glory. The other was a potato-looking thing covered with bacon pieces. I decided that I would power through the lutefisk and just get it over with.

I finished up my lutefisk and exclaimed, “Done! I just earned my sweater!” Quickly, everyone pointed out my error in judgment. That potato-looking portion was actually more lutefisk! Ugh! I got back to work.

The cast rocking their Lusekoftes! (Except for Jessica. However, she did
earn the pleasure of having a lutefisk-free stomache!)

Everything else went pretty smoothly. Amy and Tara were gagging through their portions, which was pretty funny. Jessica just had to sit and watch. Half of us, including myself, ate the skin of the fish, which we didn’t know not to, until the director told us. However, the best part was Johnathan! He was thoroughly enjoying his meal, so much so that I thought it would be a good time to dare him to eat a special treat! Using someone’s extra fish skin, some shredded brunost, and a ton of horseradish sauce, I created a special “sushi” roll! Without hesitation, Johnathan threw it in his mouth and almost swallowed it whole! He took it like a champ! I’m growing to like that guy! I didn’t know about him at first, but the more I hang out with him, the more I like him!

My lusekofte was a little small, but that didn't matter, since it was going
to be a present for my Mom! (Which, by the way, she loved!)

After dinner, we did some more interviews and eventually headed back. (Well we were each waiting for our interviews, we had a paper airplane contest in our holding room! It was pretty funny. Poor Mama Christine was in charge of keeping us quiet, but that was a tall order for a group of extroverted Americans!) On the bus ride back, I noticed Jessica looked pretty down, so I went up to cheer her up. It’s been a pretty tough episode for her. Between helping kill the fish in yesterday’s competition and being the focus of tons of interviews over it, based on her beliefs, she’s pretty worn out. In fact, I think several people are worn down and have given hints that they’ve enjoyed their time here, but could go home now and be content, if that’s the way it unfolded. Even for me, I found today was my first day to really hit hard that I need some time with my family! I miss you guys terribly! (Time to get refocused!)

One of my favorite things is to see Alf and the European
portions that are set in front of him. (Typically, not Alf-sized portions.)

Due to eating early and not the greatest food, Mama Brita offered to take us out for another dinner. We all went out around 8:00 to a local restaurant. I had a small appetizer for my meal. I also was going to abstain from beer and try to be healthier, but they had a dark one that I wanted to try, so that mindset changed pretty quickly. (When beers are about $12 to $17 per pint, I’m having a hard time turning down a free one!)

This is when things took a turn for the crazy! Alf decided he wanted to go to a karaoke bar! Everyone, including the Mamas, decided to join him! (Except for Austin. He wanted to go back to the hotel and study. He’s definitely the most focused on the game at hand and has incredible will power, avoiding all temptations that wouldn’t help win!)

There must have been something about Johnathan's
singing that influenced Mary Caryl to start dancing
on him! (Okay, that's not true. If there was ever music
of any kind, Mary Caryl would find someone to dance on!)

At the other side of Stavanger, we found a basement bar that was doing karaoke that night. We were the first ones there (around 10:00), but had no problem getting the party started! Alf got us kicked off and the dude can sing! Really, the guy is extremely well rounded and likeable. There’s not much that may stop him in this show, other than maybe his age. After Alf, CJ did a song, which was pretty good. Barbara performed her first ever karaoke song, which was Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.” It was possibly the worst song I’ve ever heard, but she knew it was bad and just went for it! I was really proud of her and we all cheered her on! Tara and Dana did a song together (surprise!), followed by Johnathan doing a song that involved him singing in a falsetto voice throughout the whole song. For him, it was much like Barbara. He knew that it wasn’t what the bar wanted to hear, but he just went for it and stayed confident in himself! Good for him! Jessica did a really funny song while she knowingly was awful and sober, but didn’t care. Then, for the first time in front of these people, I let it all loose and did my thing, singing Madonna’s “Material Girl.” I had several comments about how funny it was and how they didn’t know I had that side. Felt good to let loose!

A local......and Mary Caryl.

By this point, the bar was starting to fill in with a crazy assortment of different people! Barbara and Jessica headed out after we all had a turn at Karaoke, Mary Caryl was taken home by one of the Mama’s, after doing some of her “special dancing” in front of all of the locals. (At this point, she had several guys eyeing her and trying to bring her drinks. It was best that she headed home and had an escort.) Tara and Dana headed to the hotel around 1:00, but not before Dana almost started a fight with a guy. However, he was quickly talked down and knew that it was best to leave. The last ones standing were C.J. (who is in the elimination challenge tomorrow), Johnathan, Alf, Amy and myself. We took off around 2:00 A.M. and had a great time. There would be some great stories to be told the next day. (Example: At one point, some drunk guy was hitting on Amy, so I stepped in and played her husband so he’d move on. That was pretty fun. It was also pretty funny to watch all the 30’s and 40’s women checking out Alf and his dangly goatee! Then, there was the less-than-best story that involved a giant! Amy and Tara were out dancing on the dance floor, when some 7 foot, beast of a man (think Andre the Giant, only Norwegian!), who was also very drunk, started trying to dance with them. They looked uncomfortable, so I decided to step in, by way of dancing with him! This was a brilliant idea, until I realized the pure strength of this ox! We were ballroom-style dancing, when this monster-of-a-man grabbed me by my shoulders, flipped me around, and started “freaking” my backside, along with trying to put both giant paws on my “front side”! That was the end of the dancing and the end of the night for us! It was time to go!)

Andre the Giant! This guy was huge and this photo must have been taken
right before I ran screaming after getting man-handled!

That was it for the day. A slow start to the day, but an absolutely hilarious ending! Good times! Time for bed and a full night’s sleep. Those not competing don’t have to meet until 1:00!!

Day 19 Over!