Norsk 101: Immigration
Language Practice wtih Christie Ericson
Photo courtesy of Christie Ericson
Pettersen house in Herføl, Norway, 2019 – Pettersen hus i Herføl, Norway, 2019
Like other Norwegian-Americans (Som andre norskamerikanere), I have always been interested (har jeg alltid vært interessert) in my family history (i slektshistorien min). My great-grandparents (Oldeforeldrene mine), Jens and Olga Pettersen/Peterson, emigrated (emigrerte) from Norway (fra Norge) to the USA in (til USA i) 1912. They settled (De bosatte seg) in the Ballard neighborhood of (i bydelen Ballard i) Seattle and built a house (og bygde et hus), which is still there today (som fortsatt står der i dag). Athough I never knew (Selv om jeg aldri kjente) my great-grandparents (oldeforeldrene mine), I lived in the house (bodde jeg i huset) they built (de bygde) for the first few years of my life (de første årene av livet mitt) before my family moved to (før familien min flyttet til) Alaska.
When I visited Norway for the first time in (Da jeg besøkte Norge for første gang i) 2017, I was so excited (gledet jeg meg veldig til) to meet my Norwegian relatives (å hilse på de norske slektningene mine). They had a lot of information (De hadde mye informasjon) about their family history (om slektshistorien deres) including (inkludert) bygdebøker, old photo albums (gamle fotoalbum), and family trees (og stamtavler). They also took me to the island (De tok meg også med til øya) where Jens and Olga were from (hvor Jens og Olga kom fra) – Herføl, in Hvaler kommune. It was so amazing (Det var så fantastisk) to see the houses (å se husene) where they were born (der de var født).
This summer we went back to (I sommer dro vi tilbake til) Herføl, and this time (og denne gangen) I got to visit with the current owners (fikk jeg besøke de nåværende eierne) of both houses (av begge husene). While I was in Jens’ house (Mens jeg var i huset til Jens), I recognized photos on the wall (kjente jeg igjen bilder på veggen) and the owner and I discovered (og eieren og jeg oppdaget) that we were related (at vi var i slekt)! He showed me some old photo albums (Han viste meg noen gamle fotoalbum) and I was surprised (og jeg ble forbauset over) to find a picture (å finne et bilde) of Jens’ and Olga’s house in (av huset til Jens og Olga i) Ballard! It was a connection (Det var en tilknytning) to my great-grandparents (til oldeforeldrene mine) that I will never forget (jeg aldri kommer til å glemme).
This article originally appeared in the October 18, 2019, issue of The Norwegian American.
