My Uncle Jens (Onkel Jens)

Hello?

Hello!

Akam?

Akam, dear.

Hello, who's this?

Open the door, dear.

Who are you?

I'm your uncle. Your father's brother.

You don't remember?

Uncle ...

Uncle Khdr, you silly boy!

- Uncle Khdr? - That's right!

- You're not in Kurdistan? - No, I'm outside your door.

In Norway.

Akam?

- Hello, uncle. - Hello, my dear.

Are you doing well?

- How are you doing? - Thanks.

- I'm happy to see you. - Welcome.

Thank you.

So, Akam ...

- How are you? - Thanks.

I never thought I'd see you again.

Are you doing well, dear?

Where should we go?

- In here. - This room?

Yes.

The last time I saw you, you were this small.

Now you're all grown up.

How did you find my address, uncle?

It wasn't easy.

I've got my eyes on you, even though you never reach out to us.

But why didn't you tell me before? I could've picked you up at the "flyplass"

- Where? - The "airport". It's like ...

- Frokakhana? - Yes.

Check your phone. I called you a hundred times.

You are probably busy with these yellow-haired people.

You obviously don't have time to answer me.

What do you mean by "yellow-haired"?

I'm talking about these blondies. Do you have a girlfriend?

No.

Tell me the truth.

No, no.

When I was you age, I had five or six of them.

I swear.

Thanks.

My family wanted me to get married...

Sugar cubes?

My mother and father kept pressuring me.

"Get married, get married, get married!"

We don't have cubes, only regular sugar. Is that okay?

No problem.

"Get married, get married!" But none of them were right for me.

Am I supposed to stir with my finger?

Spoon?

No matter what they told me, I didn't care.

I told them: "Leave me alone, I don't have time for that."

Why are you standing?

Come and sit down, you flagpole.

Why are you so thin and weak, Akam?

I'm not thin.

You don't have food here?

Are you hungry?

- I can ... - No, dear.

I mean, don't you have food in this country?

Aha, yes.

We do have food in this country.

Good to hear.

You look like your father when you laugh.

- Have you talked to my mother? - No.

- No? - Does she still live in the same city?

Yes, in Bergen.

Take care of her. She's been through a lot.

Are you going to visit her?

Well, for now I'm here. Let's see how it goes.

So, you're going to stay here?

Where else am I going to stay?

Hopefully, I won't be sleeping in a Mosque.

Enough about that!

How are you? What's up? What are you up to these days?

Uncle, can you please lower your voice?

Who knocked on the door?

I don't live here alone. I live in a "kollektiv" .

- You live in a what? - Other people also live here.

Tell them I'm here, that you've got company.

I'll tell them tomorrow. They're sleeping now.

That's a nice watch.

It's peshkesh.

- It's what? - Peshkesh .

What's peshkesh?

It means it's from me to you.

Free of charge. You can have it.

Oh, no thank you.

No need to thank me.

If you like it,

you can have it.

So if I say yes, it's mine?

You can take it, or you can leave it.

And what if you don't want to give it away?

It doesn't matter what I want.

It's our culture.

No, thank you.

What's your plan now, uncle?

I need to rest, give me a floor to sleep on.

I'll tell you everything later.

- Uncle, you can have the bed. - No, there's no need.

Give me a blanket, and I'll sleep on the floor.

No, uncle. Take the bed.

No, please. I'm so tired I can sleep anywhere.

Uncle, it's peshkesh.

No.

Peshkesh doesn't work that way.

Sorry.

Akam, I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep tonight.

Don't say that, uncle. This is your home too.

- Good night. - Good night.

As I said to the others before you came, Marko,

I'm giving you all an assignment.

You're going to pick a fairy tale, and modernize it.

You can use the literary devices we talked about, alright?

Do you remember them?

Metaphor, humor, repetition.

And then place the story in the present.

Are there any current topics you find interesting?

How can your fairy tale affect the ...

I didn't know phones were allowed in class.

Sorry about that.

Yes, Ylva.

Are we supposed to incorporate something personal into the story?

What do you mean?

For example, I'm very interested in existential dread these days.

Listen to her, bro. "Existential dread ".

Yeah, this might be news to you,

but it's basically a school of philosophy that says

- life essentially has no meaning. - I know what it means, bro.

Isn't that what "The Matrix" is all about?

Basically.

Ylva.

"Basically?"

Oh, my bad . I just don't know how to say it in Norwegian.

You can say "egentlig " or "i utgangspunktet ".

Let's not resort to English all the time, guys.

This is after all a Norwegian class.

Right, so in a way, I feel there should be something gnawing.

And I don't know which fairy tale I'm going to choose,

but I think the title should be "Gnaw".

For now , at least.

- Yes, Stian? - What the hell is going on?

Relax, Stian, it's just my uncle. He needs a place to stay...

It's normal procedure to ask your roommates first.

I understand, but I left a note on the door.

Yeah, but the note ...

Okay, what's going on here?

Sorry, I left a note on the door. I thought you'd see it.

I'm fine, but she got scared to death.

Oh shit! I wasn't scared to death.

I got surprised.

He came in the middle of the night, I didn't want to wake you.

Right, but he didn't tell you he was coming?

No, or ...

Yes.

You know what, come with me for a moment.

I just wonder how long he's going to stay.

Actually, I don't know.

You could ask?

You don't ask about things like that.

Yes.

I think...

It's a pretty legitimate question. It's about...

- Yes, but... - What's up?

He doesn't want to ask his uncle how long he's staying.

No, it's not that, it's just a bit rude to ask.

- Rude? - Yes.

- Is it a cultural thing? - Yes.

Okay, but then we'll have to respect that.

- Yes. - Yes.

But ...

Communication is really important anyway.

It's not like he's moving in ...

Tell them I'm only staying for a few days.

But if they don't want me here, I can go somewhere else.

No, no, why do you say that?

He's only staying for a couple of days.

Good heavens!

- A couple of days. - That's okay.

It'll be nice!

Just tell him not to smoke inside.

She says...

I understood what she said, no smoking inside.

- Tell Jens that he's very welcome. - Yeah.

Who is Jens?

Akam.

Khdr was hard to pronounce, so I told them my name is Jens,

don't disclose me.

As you know, Jens is common in this country.

Is it written with A or with E?

"Jans"?

My hero.

- Your hero? - Yes, you are.

I'm your hero?