Norwegian Cultural Evening

A team of four arrived from Norway yesterday in time to run a cultural night at EKC Ihtus. Literally, just in time! They took 8 hours to drive from Belgrade to Banja Luka (it usually takes 4-5 hours) as there were a lot of roadworks and different things which kept slowing them down. So, we were ordering Bosnian pie for dinner and frantically making waffle mixture in the hour before the program started:

Despite the torrential rain outside, there was still a nice turnout. The team put together a lovely program: including a drama about Norway and a power-point presentation. They also touched on the tragedy of the 22nd of July and shared how the Norwegians have responded. They shared how a young woman who survived the massacre on Utøya, in an interview said: ”If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show together”. And this has become the response of many Norwegians: showing love instead of hate.

Then it was time to enjoy the waffles with Norwegian brown cheese. Not everyone was convinced of the merits of brown cheese (including me!), but we did have a good time hanging out and enjoying the waffles at least.

Lastly, I got a picture of Suzana with one of the team (with the Norwegian flag on his shirt)...

...to show that she had painted a Norwegian flag on her nails: that is commitment!