When I was fourteen, just before entering the ninth grade, my grandma Pearl passed away. She was full blooded Norwegian and had the clothes to prove it. My mother ended up inheriting all her clothes as she was the only daughter. So, that meant we had plenty of traditional Norwegian garb floating around the house. Well, what do three bored teenagers do with such stuff? Let me tell you:
We (my older sister Sarah, cousin Kristina, and myself) decided one beautiful day the following spring to dress in those clothes and see if we could convince people that we were exchange students.
Our plan was flawed from the start as people from Scandinavia in 1994 did not dress in the costume-ish clothing that we donned. I mean, have you seen a native German walking around in lederhosen? NNNNo.
Well, to finish off the costumes we gave ourselves ridiculous hairdos and hopped on our bikes and headed for Wal-Mart. While in Wal-Mart we said a few “yahhs” and spoke no English whatsoever. It actually convinced people. Apparently it is not too tough to fake the accent. That, or Wal-Mart employees are bored and eager to be entertained. After buying something…probably flannels from the men’s department at 4.97 a pop, we pedaled back to Kristina’s house. I wonder where those outfits are now?
I actually wrote this entry awhile ago, in hopes that I could attatch to it the picture of the three of us in our stupid outfits, but that has proven to be more difficult than I had hoped. Sorry folks. Maybe at a later time I can re-acquire embarrassing photos of myself. Until then, here is a picture I found while googling Norwegian:
The Pilver 
This is funny! I liked how you went to Wal-Mart to pretend and be Norwegian.
Yes. Let me tell you, when you wear skirts like that, the boys, they come a running.
I love native garb. I just wish I was part of an ethnic group that had color. I’m British and Welsh. What would I wear to celebrate my ethnicity? Probably a big men’s Munsingwear golf shirt and a large white food stained napkin tied around my neck.
And maybe a tiara.
Have a great week,
LK
Our old neighbors used to take in foriegn exchange students. I thought you had to give to get but I guess that isn’t the case. Our school always had a lot of foriegn exchange students, I’m not sure why but it had to be above the national average. I saw a lot of different people from different countries. I don’t know if it’s the case everywhere but when I was in high school, the foriegn exchange students had “dibs called” on them by the abnoxious rich teens who would hudle around them and mold them into their liking. In the end, only one foriegn exchange student I can think of didn’t leave this country as a dick.
Once, Rudy And I went to Best Buy and donned Aussie accents. I don’t think we convinced anyone. But then again, this was like… 3 years ago. We really should have known better.
That…was….awesome! I need to do that now. i think tomorrow I will be a Bushman from Kenya. Think I can pull it off?
I would pay money to see a photo of you in these outfits. Not a lot of money, mind you, but some. Like, possibly up to a dollar. But no more.
Billy- Of course you could
tg- OR we could trade the viewing of those photos for the viewing of a certain home movie where a 4 year old gets stuck in the snow.
just surfing and found this site its neat keep up the good work!!!