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It's hot. We could use some overcast and rainy weather from Norway right now. Better yet, this is a great time for Skjold members to visit Norway and rediscover their roots.
At our June lodge meeting the theme and program was on the Norwegian language. If you know the language of a country, you can explore its culture in far greater depth than if you're just on a bus with American tourists. For our Norwegian language lessons we called on Skjold Lodge member Karen Aukland, whose parents were born in Norway. Karen emphasized conversational phrases that a traveler to Norway would use regularly.
For example, Hvor mye koster det? - How much does it cost?, Hva heter du? - What's your name, Hvor kommer du fra? - Where do you come from? And Tusen Takk - Thank you. Karen pronounced the words and phrases a few times and then had the members pronounce the phrases. Everyone seemed to do pretty well at picking up a little Norwegian and having fun in the process. Now when we visit that 5 acre farm our relatives left in 1887, we will at least be able to say a few things in Norwegian. Thank you very much, Karen, for helping us to snakke Norsk.
At the end of June we spent a few hours moving Skjold materials from the church
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in Mount Prospect to our new location at the church in Palatine. And some of these materials were heavy and hard to move, such as the Skjold library. I want to give a heartfelt thanks to those who took time out from their busy schedules and helped us move. They include: Gene and Tordis Kaczmarek, Bill Borndahl, Mike Hanson and his son Kjell, Jostein Bakken, Wendell Brenner, who took time off from work, Les and Lois Amack, and Jon Satrum. TUSEN TAKK!
Lynn Sove Maxson presented our program for the meeting on July 28th. Lynn received a scholarship from the Sons of Norway to attend the International Summer School at Oslo University in 2005. About 500 other students from over 90 different countries joined Lynn at the Summer School. Lynn focused on perfecting her Norwegian language skills and learning more about Norwegian culture.
While in Norway for the Summer School, Lynn also attended many festivities commemorating the dissolution of the Union with Sweden in 1905. Most of her talk focused on this. Lynn pointed out that, in some of the smaller towns, Norwegian independence from Sweden was hardly even celebrated. I think this came as a big surprise to most of our Skjold members. Most of the celebrations took place in Oslo. Lynn's friend, who is the fourth
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highest ranking member of the Norwegian Parliament, invited Lynn and her husband Tom to many of the important political events celebrating 1905. Lynn and Tom were at the Norwegian Parliament when the King and the royal family opened the ceremonies. It actually turned out to be a very Scandinavian event. There were more Swedes present than Norwegians, Lynn said, and speeches were given in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and English. Lynn also brought and put on display a lot of memorabilia from the occasion, which I found to be very interesting. Lynn's talk was informative - yes, she's a teacher - but she mixed in her great sense of humor to make it very entertaining as well. It was about what is going on in Norway today, and it was very well done. One of our best programs this year. Thank you very much, Lynn.
We have a lot going on in the lodge this fall. Some of you have even expressed concern how, along with other Scandinavian activities, you will fit it all in to your busy schedules. It probably is better to have so much to do that you may have to choose, than not enough. I especially encourage you to attend our Skjold News Benefit on September 22 and our Foundation Night banquet on November 4. Details on each are in this (Continued on page 6)
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