EVS Vevelstad

07/04/2026

Volunteer Update - March

Winter is slowly but surely turning into spring in Vevelstad allowing for both snow-free hikes
and snowy adventures in the mountains! This month we had the chance to explore new parts of Norway, bring back parts of Vevelstads history and contribute to what we hope will
be new traditions!

1. In allhjørnet, it’s not only the volunteers who work. With the kindergarten next door, there are some parents working remotely from the same place as us. This has led to great, inspiring conversations at the lunch table and also gave us the chance to playtest the new game Simen is working on! 👾

2. The weather and the longer sun hours allowed us to go on more hikes into the mountains, with the reward of wonderful views and new encounters with incredibly friendly mountain goats :) 🐐

3. The Musikk Kafe in Visthus was a great success, with acts from places as far away as Gran Canaria, France and Mosjøen, it was a truly international event that we hope to repeat soon! 🎶

4. At Allidrett, we always try different sports and games, this months we built beautiful and mighty forts! 🏰

5. Higher up in the mountains there is still some snow left, so one Sunday Matthis went up exploring the heights of Hornstinden with mountain skis, it was a truly remarkable experience! 🏔️

6. The sauna here in Vevelstad is up and running again! It took a little crawling into small places, cleaning and setting up a new ventilation but now we are ready to go :) 🫧

7. Knitting is an absolute staple of handcrafting in Norway! After learning a little embroidery earlier this year, Matthis started to take his first clumsy steps in the world of knitting, in the Åpen Kafe he is getting some good tips every Wednesday. 🧶

8. Quentin went to Oslo to join some french friends so as to see Quentin Fillon-Maillet and the other french biathletes win all the GC globes in Holmenkollen. 🏅

9. At the end of March, Matthis went down to Lillehammer to help out as a Volunteer for the Downhill Skiing World Cup Finals, he met some new and old friends to go skiing with and had an overall great time ⛷️

03/04/2026

02/03/2026

Volunteer Update - February

February has greeted us with the coldest weather so far, -14 degrees made it possible to skate on the frozen lakes, go on icy winter hikes and sit inside with a warm coffee and watch the winter olympics, where Norway took all of the gold medals!

1. Skating the frozen lakes was an amazing experience, Matthis tried to learn some figure skating but it turns out, it is not as easy as they make it look on TV. ⛸️

2. The 2nd February, France celebrates Chandeleur, which consists in eating a lot of “Crepes” (thin pancakes), so we did it at the office.🥞

3. In Norway, we celebrate Mother’s day on the second sunday of February. We helped out at the dinner and concert organised here in Vevelstad. 🍽️

5. We went to Oslo for the midterm seminar and met all the volunteers again, Quentin has become an ambassador for french culture, showing norwegians how to have a proper french breakfast and recommending french books in Norli. Vevelstads n°1 french book critic recommends: Oscar et la dame rose. 🏙️

5. Upon returning from Oslo there was enough snow for Matthis to channel his inner Johannes Klæbo and put on the langrenn ski and explore snowy Vevelstad. 🎿

6. We began fixing the sauna that has been out of use for 15 years, fingers crossed we will get it done next month! 🔨

7. Four choirs of Vevelstad and the villages around gathered for a rehearsal week-end, to prepare a small tour where they will sing the songs of Trygve Hoff, a famous northern norwegian songwriter. As a member of the choir, Quentin joined. It is quite difficult to learn all these songs which are sometimes written in dialect, but the week-end was really fun ! 🎶

24/02/2026

Vi starter ukentlige jam-sesjoner i musikkbingen! Alle som ønsker å spille musikk er velkommne!

20/02/2026

Ny pubquiz den 6. mars!🍻Samle vennene dine og meld dere på – hvis du ikke har et lag, gi oss beskjed, så finner vi noen du kan bli med på!🙌🏼

02/02/2026

Volunteer Update - January

After returning to Vevelstad from the christmas break, we were greeted by northern lights and lots of snow, which delayed some of our flights but now we are back!

1. At the New Years Lunch, Quentin shared the french tradition of Galette des Rois (bilder lånt av Greta Karlsen) 👑
2. We had a beautiful winter hike up Grønnlihumpen to test our new spikes (on the way down we still slipped a lot but luckily the snow was soft) 🥾
3. The Sun has started to hit Vevelstad again, reason enough to put on some warm clothes, lie in the hammock and soak up the sunrays. ☀️
4. This month we started to visit the nursing home of Vevelstad once a week to play some music with them :) 🎸
5. A solar storm provided the most impressive northern lights so far, so we put on layers and layers to go outside and lie in the snow to watch the lights dance up in the sky.
6. On a cold but sunny Saturday, Matthis went exploring into the outer islands and enjoyed a nice sauna session right next to the sea.
7. We arranged the first Pub Quiz of the year !

25/01/2026

Vi trenger minst 1 lag til for at det blir pubquiz! Dersom vi ikke har 4 lag iløpet av morgendagen, så må vi avlyse 😒

Ny pubquiz den 30. januar!🍻Samle vennene dine og meld dere på – hvis du ikke har et lag, gi oss beskjed, så finner vi noen du kan bli med på!🙌🏼

16/01/2026

Ny pubquiz den 30. januar!🍻Samle vennene dine og meld dere på – hvis du ikke har et lag, gi oss beskjed, så finner vi noen du kan bli med på!🙌🏼

22/12/2025

Volunteer Update - December

Now December is here and the Christmas decorations everywhere are lighting up the dark period. Even though both of us are leaving to spend Christmas with our families, a lot happened in december:

1 - The last Pub Quiz of the year was a success, with a tight contest until the very end!
2 - Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlige klær - In Norway there is no such thing as bad weather, so we went on the last hike of the year in the rain and finished it off with a barbecue. 👟☔️
3 - Christmas means a choir concert in Vevelstad. Quentin was part of it and had a lot of fun, even if learning all these songs in Norwegian was challenging. 🎶
4 - The cold and the darkness may have weakened Matthis immune system, the Vevelstad’s flu epidemic took him down for a few days. 😷
5 - Quentin and Matthis were hired in the teacher’s team for the annual dodge-ball game tournament. Unfortunately they lost against the students. 🏐
6 - We arranged a baking session for the children and made a lot of Christmas cakes ! 🍪
7 - Sliding into Christmas Holidays
8 - The school had a big party to end the year. The school band we helped throughout these last months played “Last Christmas”
9 - Santa Clauss (or Quentin ?) visited the kindergarten to give some presents. 🎅🏼

See you next year !