J. Loren and Wanda Yoder stand at the Russian border near Klrkenes, above the Artie Circle. Dairy Farmers Visit Land Of GAIL STROCK Mifflin Co. Correspondent BELLEVILLE (Mifflin Co.) The Land of the Midnight Sun reaches up through the Arctic Circle, over Sweden and Finland to touch the very northwestern tip of the Soviet Union. It’s cold in northern Norway. But not too cold to keep J. Loren and Wanda Yoder of Belleville, Mifflin County, from visiting their former exchange student’s homeland. Ingebjorg Olsen stayed with the Yoders on their 60-cow dairy farm as a 16-year-old exchange student in 1983. That Christmas, because she was a bit homesick, Ingebjorg jogged Mifflin County’s back roads in zero weather as the Yoders wondered how she could do it. Now they understand! “In Norway, we woke every morning to temperatures below zero,” J. Loren says of their experience. J. Loren and Wanda Yoder’s plane touched down in Oslo, Nor way, in March of 1996. Met at the airport by Ingebjorg’s sister, because Ingebjorg was living in the United States, the Belleville couple spent three weeks visiting Norway, Germany, Finland and the Soviet Union. After staying three days in Oslo, Norway’s capital city, they traveled to Lillehammer to visit “I’d go back to Norway Just for the hard rolls and yogurt,” Loren said. the Olympic sites. At Lillcham mer, they toured each Olympic event site and experienced the breathtaking view from atop the ski high jump. After that, they flew to the northern-most part of Norway to Kirkenes, Ingebjorg’s hometown. While waiting for their flight, Soviet Union Presi dent Yeltzin flew in, escorted at each wing tip by fighter aircraft. “They live three miles from the Soviet border. In Kirkenes, some people repair ships in the shipyard for a living. Some haul lumber into the Soviet Union. One day, we crossed the border to visit the town of Nikel in the Soviet Union. There’s a big nickel mine there. We fed to go through two sets of gates with armed guards at each one.” After being checked out by the guards, the group traveled on to the heavily polluted city of Nikel. “There were two huge smoke stacks from the factory. The trees around the city were small. Life expectancy for the people there wasn’t too high,” I. Loren remem bers. “No one ever smiled. There wasn’t much food in the grocery stores and the beef I saw looked black. I wouldn’t want to have eaten it! Even in Norway, they said what didn’t get eaten at a meal went back into the pot! We didn’t eat This storybook scene became part of the Yoder’s life during their trip to Norway. out at restaurants too much while we were there! We did eat a lot of seafood, like salmon, and meals prepared in their homes.” In Germany, J. Loren and Wan da were reunited with dairy farm friends who had lived with them in the United States. The Yoders had taken them to area farms, includ ing an Amish farm. One woman, a hog farmer at the time, sent pic tures of the Amish back to Ger many. Her family wondered where she had gotten all those “old” pictures of horsc-and buggies! The German dairy farm ers, the Yoders learned during their visit, each milk around 100 cows. J. Loren recalls an amusing story while eating at a German McDonald’s. “The one farmer with us had just sold a beef cow for 58 Deutsche mark. That was when the mad cow scare was going on in Europe. A few days later, we went to a McDonald’s. The bill came to 62 Deutsche mark. The farmer with us said, “We just ate the whole cow!” “They treated us like royalty,” Wanda exclaims. “I love to visit other countries, just to be with the families and to do the things they do and eat what they eat I enjoy At home, Wanda Yoder enjoys adding pieces to her china cupboard. Homestead NOTES The Midnight Sun having exchange students. There’s the farm chorse while they were so much we learn from them traveling, Wanda and J. Loren their different customs, what holi- were able to enjoy Norweigan days they celebrate. The Germans reindeer sleigh rides and, to a less havc close families and a lot of er degree, 140-mile-per-hour rides community pride. We couldn’t on the Autobahn. Traveling have gone if it wouldn’t have been abroad is their way of bringing the for our son Craig.” “exchange student experience” Because of Craig taking over full circle. Loren Yoder reviews pictures of his and his wife’s trip to Norway. The Yoders milk 60 Holsteins on their 125-acre home along Maple Grove Road in Belleville. I *
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