Off to España!

G and I are heading south to Spain for some much needed daylight and moderate temperatures, not to mention wine and tapas. So, posting will be light if existent until after the 4th.

Happy new year, a little early!

Christmas in Oslo: the same, but different

Christmas in the States has always been an 'experience,' both good and...let's say challenging. Not bad. Just challenging. Sure, it varied from year to year, but in general it followed the same pattern: enjoying some sort of start to the season such as the lighting of the Westlake Christmas tree; shopping with the hoards; wrapping presents until the wee hours of the morning; baking cookies or such; getting a stollen from my mom; traveling to one or more relatives' house(s) for Christmas Eve and/or Day, potluck item in hand, end enjoying the holiday with family. Add to that holiday work parties, get-togethers with the girlfriends, hunting down a tree, hauling out the five or so boxes of decorations and decorating the house, and crafting and mailing out Christmas cards, and that's about how it rounded out on a yearly basis.

This year was very different. Given our recent move, many things got dropped off the list. I made no cards this year, which is a first for me in many, many years. We left almost all of our decorations in cold storage in the States; I even forgot to bring our stockings. Cookie making was pretty unnecessary, given the surprise shipment of homemade almond roca and biscotti from my family. And holiday parties? Well, we shared a nice evening with our landlord and her husband, but with just the two of us here and the lack of the obligatory Work Party Christmas Culture found in the States, we found ourselves with a lack of social commitments during the holiday season.

As for shopping and presents, G and I decided to give ourselves a trip to Spain during the week after Christmas, and we didn't exchange presents for the most part with family, considering the seemingly daunting logistics of planning for Christmas presents amongst the chaos of our recent relocation.

Plus, to top it off, we were just plain busy. Unpacking boxes, organizing, shopping for new furniture, etc. It didn't really feel like there was time for Christmas this year. This year, we tried to focus on the experience and observance rather than so much of the stuff. In a nutshell, here’s what we did:

1. Celebrated Solstice on December 22 with a bottle of bubbly and dinner. It seemed appropriate to fête the longest night of the year…and then send it on its way.

2. Walked to the new opera house for sunset on Christmas Eve. Covered in snow, we walked on its sloping roof to take in a wonderful view of Oslofjord and downtown.

 
3. Wandered back from the opera house through downtown enjoying the stunning Christmas lights. Probably because it’s so darn dark here for so many hours of the day, those Norwegians definitely know how to hang Christmas lights. 

 

4. Marveled at the serious lack of people on the streets midday on Christmas Eve. Downtown was deserted and most restaurants and shops had long since closed for the day (see the above photos; I took them around 4:00 in the afternoon). What a difference! We are so used to the crazy last-minute shoppers and late-night shopping hours; it was a welcome change from our normal experience. Nothing is open here, grocery stores and restaurants included, from about mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve through annen juledag (second Christmas Day - 26 December), and most stores have limited hours until after New Years Day. No focus on after-Christmas bargain-hunting here. 

5. G surprised me while I was cooking most of Christmas day by unpacking the remainder of our household, recycling all the boxes, rearranging the living/dining room, and hanging some of our art. We actually had Christmas dinner at our dining room table. It finally feels like home.

6. Enjoyed three days of wonderful food, Skype calls with family, and simply lazing around on the couch watching Elf, eating Christmas cookies, doing laundry, and planning our upcoming Spain trip.

I think I’ll go make myself a hot toddy and munch on some more biscotti, and savor the remainder of the holiday weekend.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend of your own.

Thankful.

Okay, I know Thanksgiving was a few weeks back, but if the last few weeks have taught me anything, it's to be thankful for the little - and not so little - things. A tribute, then, to just a few things I am thankful for at this crazy time of year.

Skype. I know I've already waxed poetic about the benefits of Skype. But this week it gave me the opportunity to have a 'conversation' with the home security company that has been charging us for services even though we canceled our service back in October. Twice. Via fax and email.

Jacobs, the king of (Norwegian) grocery stores. From quinoa to baking soda, they stock what few, if any other, shops in town do. If they don't have it, then it's likely you aren't going to find it in Norway. I seriously almost cried when I spotted and snatched the box of Arm and Hammer baking soda off the shelf, not the questionable, Norwegian-brand natron off the shelf. No sir. Imported all the way from America. You may think I should just go with the flow, but not after my Weegie baking powder experience. Nei. God bless trade agreements. I missed my yellow box. Which brings me to my next item...

The lack of a trade embargo against Cuba. Just bought a bottle of Havana Club Anejo Especial rum. Cuban rum. We might go wild with the hot toddies just for the sake of enjoying something from Cuba. But probably not. Wait 'til cigar season. G + Cuban cigarillos = a whole different experience.

Hunter wellies. I have worn my new glossy, navy blue boots almost every day since I got here. They are even cozier with the fleece liners. Given the fact there's been some amount of snow on the ground for almost a month, it don't know what I would do without their traction. I saw these the other day, though...I am thinking of upgrading to some serious insulation. Did I mention it was -21 C here today?

My iPhone 4. Oh, did I mention? I'm sorry...I must have forgotten. NOT. Yes, I finally got an iPhone. Sure, it took moving to a foreign country to justify it, but lordy lordy. Its OS is smooth like buttah. Its free apps speak to my soul. fotopedia: seriously? My favorite. App. Ever. I wish I could photograph like that. And Trip Advisor in the palm of my hand. Sigh. Heaven. I feel technologically complete for the first time.

Care packages. Just got a doozy of a care package from the sister and the mom: homemade biscotti, English toffee, York peppermint patties, and mac and cheese. Not to mention gold Christmas garland. Did I already say God bless America yet? No? Well, there you go. God bless America. I love mac and cheese. And the U.S. Postal Service.

Weegie-isms spoken by G. You know you are getting immersed into a culture (okay, as much as you can without speaking the language) when you start comparing things in everyday life to local things rather than things from the States. Case in point: tonight, G was looking out the window at the rather large snowflakes coming down and said, "they're almost the size of the mini pannekaker!" Which is funny, because pannekaker are tiny pancakes sold in Norway. In the grocery store. Not in the States. Not funny? Okay. I guess you had to be there. (Lis, that's funny, right?) [Note to reader regarding the photo link: No, we did not eat these at Burger King. This was just the best available photograph of mini pannekaker I could find.]

Randomly unexpected, touching emails from friends. Thanks T. You made my day.

Hot water included in the rent. Sometimes no amount of down parkas or comforters will keep me warm. Hot shower = happy Colleen.

IKEA. I am not sure if I have posted yet without mentioning IKEA. I try, really. But last weekend when we were there after half a day of attempting to put together the last of our newly purchased furniture, we found Jule Sprig (photo above!). A Nordic spruce just over two feet tall, we adopted Sprig as our Christmas tree for the season. He's now decked out with ornaments from a certain giant Swedish furniture conglomerate and lights from the local dollar store. Thank you, IKEA, for enabling us to have a Christmas after all.

Recipes from home. We may not be home for Christmas this year, but home came to us. Three of the recipes for our Christmas celebrations are tried and true recipes we've enjoyed over the years at our home holidays. Thank you family. You will be here in spirit.

Super G. What's NOT to be thankful for? He's the best husband a girl could ask for.

Yours in Jule,

Colleen

Hospitality, Norwegian style

It's been a while since I posted. Among other things, we've been busy putting together the initially undaunting stack of stuff IKEA delivered on Monday. Over the week, the stack of cardboard boxes has somehow become...daunting. I am thinking it wouldn't have taken the crack assemblers at IKEA three four days to put it all together, but then again I think I am done with having delivery and/or assembly people tramp through our apartment for a while. You would be too if you saw how much gravel and general grime is on the streets and sidewalks after all the snow treatments. Considering all the grime, I am thankful that, in general, households in Norway are shoeless. Unless you're a delivery person, in which case you wear your shoes to deliver. But I digress.

We enjoyed our first invitation to a Norwegian home for dinner. Our landlord and her husband had us over for a lovely dinner on Tuesday. G and I took the tram there and were met in the snowy suburban neighborhood by her husband, who walked us back to their utterly charming house. One thing to note about Norway homes is their use of candlelight both inside and out. There were lit candles in a sconce on the porch and plenty more inside in the living area and in the dining room. Given the lack of daylight, I find candlelight the next best thing. (Sidenote: if you visit Norway outside of the summer months, you will find that stores and restaurants have lighted candles outside the doors in an array of displays, from simple dishes to giant lanterns. I love it, and I think it is one of the best parts of the winter season for me.) 

After taking off our shoes (see?), we enjoyed a glass of sherry in the living room before dinner and met their dog, a two-year old English springer spaniel, who took to G like a duck to water. No surprise there. Dinner was a "simple weeknight dinner" according to our hosts, but it was a multi-coursed affair with fish, elk from the fall hunt, and vegetables. Then another round of elk and vegetables, and then blue cheese with port, and finally tilslørte bondepiker, a traditional Norwegian dessert. The literal translation is veiled farm girls. Even Martha has a recipe for it. Check it out. It was really, really good. (Apologies for the lack of real-time dinner photos; I thought it might be a bit rude to whip out the camera at our first social dinner with such nice folks.)

 

After dinner, we traveled with our hosts in their Prius (and yes, the Prius handled quite well in the snow) to Frogner kirke (kirke = church) to attend a Julekonsert concert by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. I've not really been to many chamber orchestra concerts (okay, I haven't been to any), but this was a beautiful performance. Most of the evening was devoted to Bach with several soloists ranging from a flutist to an opera singer, but my favorite piece was The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams. If you've not heard this piece or are not a big classical music fan, I still think it's worth a listen of a clip on your favorite place to find music online.

In all, it was a very enjoyable evening. When we were turning in for the evening, G joked that all of our friends in Norway will end up being our parents' age (our landlord and her husband are that age or slightly older). To which I thought, if it means I can look forward to evenings of pleasant company, good conversation, and soul-filling entertainment, I am all for it. Photos below; enjoy.

 

Frogner kirke og konsert-goers.

Candles everywhere!

I am a sucker for good stained glass. Apse, where the orchestra would soon be playing. And some random guy's head.

Julemarked i Oslo

G and I had a busy weekend: we finally ordered this and this and this (with doors and a couple of pullout shelves) from IKEA on Saturday, and they are arriving today. I am so excited to actually have somewhere to put most everything that's still in boxes! We might also get this or this for the living room in the hopes of building our wine and spirits collection up again, and making more room for pantry items in the kitchen cabinets rather than wine glasses and barware. Time will tell. 


Other things we/I did this weekend included discovering the Norwegian Film Institute (more on that later) and going to the Christmas market (Julemarked) in Oslo. I made my way down to the market Friday afternoon for a second visit after G and I walked through it briefly earlier in the week. Rick Steves talks about the market in his European Christmas DVD and book (I have not seen or read either, but I am told they are well done). So, it was nice to experience something firsthand that I'd heard good things about.


The market is located in downtown Oslo, between city hall and the harbor (incidentally, city hall is where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held later that evening). There are 80 or so vendors selling everything from candles to woolen mittens. There are also plenty of food booths selling gifts items (anyone want a whole dried cod for Christmas?), and fun things to nosh on while you peruse the market, like vafels, lefser, pølser, and elgburger. Julenisse is even there for the little kids to visit and tell him their Christmas wishes. Oh, and one of the coolest things? A ski simulator you could try out, promoting the Nordic World Ski Championships that are in Oslo in February/March 2011. Lighted trees and a decorated entry gate surround the market, making it a little Christmas oasis on the waterfront.  It was beautiful and peaceful at dusk with all the snow on the ground, Christmas music playing in the background, and little fires burning in grates for warmth. 


I bought a few Christmas ornaments to mark our first Christmas in Norway, then settled in and enjoyed a cup of gløgg, a hot mulled wine served with nuts and dried fruit floating in it. Mmmm. I can say after having a cup of gløgg I was not as productive for the rest of the day, but I was definitely happy and relaxed. (I will leave the aqvavit for G to enjoy.)


Some julemarked photos below. Oh, and remember how I said in an earlier post that were was a bizarre number of people with luggage around at any one time? Proof below. Luggage-laden guy wheeling his carry-on through the Julemarked. Over the snow. 


God jul fra Oslo!


Julemarked; that's City Hall in the background.

The front gate of Julemarked. I love Christmas lights.

Elgburger anyone?

Simulator, baby. Get your wax on.

Mmm...gløgg (hic!).

Luggage. Will someone please provide some insight on the propensity for luggage in downtown Oslo. In the dead of winter.

The Trouble with Tenerife

As lovely as Norway is in the winter, G and I started to plan a little trip for the week after Christmas to somewhere a little...well, warmer, to put it bluntly. Okay, I know we would have to travel to coastal Africa or the Middle East in order to get really warm this time of the year, but at this point I'd even settle for 7 degrees Celsius and cloudy (I have a feeling it's going to be a long winter).

In our search for warmer climes, we were thinking of Madeira, or maybe the Canary Islands. We decided on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa. Several people recommended the islands, and I had heard it referred to as the "Hawaii of Europe." Tenerife is known for its great hiking around El Teide, the third largest volcano in the world (from its base) and a World Heritage Site. Getting there wasn't supposed to be a problem either. As long as we could get to Madrid, we were told, flights to the islands were bountiful and reasonably priced.

Excited about our adventure, I went to Nomaden yesterday, a cool travel shop in Oslo, and read through three or four Tenerife-specific guidebooks, and a hiking-specific guide for the island (note to readers: if you are planning to hike abroad in Europe, check out the Sunflower walking guides; these look excellent!). Satisfied with my purchases, I celebrated with lunch at Åpent Bakeri (yes, again) while reading about hiking on the island. I went home and researched flights for the third time, as well as hotels in Puerto de la Cruz, while I wait for G to get home so we could book our plane tickets. Enter the online ticket booking saga.

The trick was to book the two legs of the flight separately for the best deal. No problem, right? We found an unbelievably inexpensive flight to Madrid that didn't take 14 hours, and a seemingly perfect flight from Madrid to Tenerife that fit in well with our Oslo-Madrid flight. We booked the Oslo-Madrid flights with no problems. Then we tried to book the Madrid-Tenerife flights. The travel site did nothing. It kept refreshing every time we selected the flight we wanted, only showing more expensive flights. But, when we started from scratch with the search, the desired flight would show again. Weird, right? So we called them and...nada. Talk about a bait and switch. They said the flight was not available and tried to sell us one for almost ten times the amount we were trying to book.

So...as of this morning, we are going to Spain after Christmas. What we'll do after arriving is anyone's guess. Suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. We are thinking of going north to Barcelona and maybe trying to check out wine country around there. Sí? No? Will anything be open? Are there any awesome hotels or bodegas we should know about? Some hole in the wall restaurant we should check out? Do tell.

 My ill-fated planning lunch at Åpent. At least I got a killer brie sandwich out of the deal, and some great loose herbal tea to try from a nearby tea shop.

What's in the fridge?

Seriously, I think so far the grocery store provides me with the most Norwegian cultural experiences. Something new always catches my eye, or a recipe I am hankering to make requires me to buy something that either a) I have no idea if it exists in Norway (like, for example, vanilla extract. nope.), and/or b) I have no idea what the word for it is in Norwegian (thank you yet again, Google Translate, for working on my BlackBerry).


Don't get me wrong; I am not only looking for the familiar at the grocery store. Either by necessity or by curiosity, we have discovered a few things here so far that are relative mainstays in the fridge or cupboard. Let's take a tour, shall we?

Okay, I was not looking forward to reconstituted tomato soup. I mean, how good can tomato powder mixed with water taste? Pretty good, actually. Like a good expat, I bypassed the tiny, expensive can of Campbell's tomato soup and went for the economical envelope of Toro tomatsuppe. With the temperature hovering around -11 C today and still recovering from a bad cold, I thought I'd try it out. Not bad, my friends. Sprinkled a little bit of parmigiano reggiano on it and it was even better than Campbell's, dare I say.

This yogurt is the bomb. There are several brands available on the market, but I am partial to Tine. There are two compartments; one with yogurt and one with some sort of crunchy goodness. The goodness varies depending on the yogurt flavor. Muesli with blueberry, but I think they have nuts with the melon (yes melon) yogurt. And, it comes with a tiny retractable spoon, see?

How cute can it get? These are my treat yogurts; I usually get a smaller variety sans crunchy goodness, but every once in a while I reward myself with one of these.

I should have known this would be good orange juice given it's from Spain. And it's fresh-pressed. Mmmm...this is also kind of a treat thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts making regular appearances in the fridge.

G had a head start on me getting "acclimated" to the beer/wine culture here. Enter Frydenlund, a truly Norwegian beer. He discovered it during one of his outings to Cafe Mono with friends from work. As far as we know, it has not been bought out by the Germans or the Belgians yet. And really, if you go to a upscale bar and order this they kind of look at you like you're ordering a Bud Light at the Pyramid Alehouse, or Charles Shaw at Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. But, I'll admit it's a tasty crisp beer we enjoy from time to time. I'll bet it'll be awesome with all those park BBQs we'll be doing this year.

That's right; we've forsaken Pellegrino for Farris. Farris is a Norwegian-produced sparking water and it's pretty darn tasty. We always have a bottle of lime in our fridge. Think: just squeezed a wedge of lime into your ice cold sparkling water. There you have it.

Okay, the person who invented this is a genius. Seriously. Squeezable mayonnaise? In a tube? That's right. We used to get a chili mayonnaise in Seattle for G's lunch wraps, so when I spied this in the store, I thought we'd try it. This is such a winner in every way I'd started buying our regular mayonnaise in tube form as well. Genius, I tell you.

Considering their exceptionally short growing season, I was not expecting Norwegians to be such jam people. I mean, where and when do they grow everything? Despite the challenges, I swear there must be a dozen different brands and scores of different types of jam at the grocery store. Their jam isn't all sweet and sticky, though. It's really just like crushed up (or in the case of G's blueberry jam, whole!) berries with a little bit of sweetness added. It's more of a spread than a gelatinous goo. So. Good. Especially on vaffels. But I digress.

Two months living alone in a hotel with no oven put G in search of, you guessed it,  pre-made brownies. He found these, and they are now a regular item in our pantry next to our 'treat' box. I am not the huge brownie fan that G is, but these are pretty darn good with a nice 10-year tawny port.

Hey, how'd this get in here?!? These definitely are not found in Norway. 

In search of kaffe in Norway.

Is it just me, or does this logo look strangely familiar?

As you would expect in a cosmopolitan city such as Oslo, a lot of businesses found in the States can also be found here. McDonald's, Burger King, 7-Eleven, and TGI Fridays all have a foothold here, as do Timberland, Benetton, The Body Shop, and Lush. However, one thing you will not find here, somewhat surprisingly, is Starbucks. I say surprising because Norwegians consume the most coffee per capita of any country on the planet. In the absence of one of the most ubiquitous mainstays of my former Seattle life, I search for coffee, or rather the experience I've associated with going for coffee.

The most common place to get coffee in Oslo are individual, family-owned, or small-business shops. These are not usually coffee houses per se; rather, they are bakeries or cafes. Based on my limited observations, Norwegians usually frequent them for a pastry and coffee for breakfast, an open-faced sandwich and coffee for lunch, a pastry and coffee for a midday snack, or a treat and coffee after work. Most of these places do not seem to be open in the evenings, so no dessert and coffee for them - they are missing out, man.

There are a few coffee-specific chains here that are Scandinavian-based; one I often notice is Kaffebrenneriet. There's one around the corner from our apartment and is almost always busy. The other chain I can't help noticing for obvious reasons is Wayne's Coffee. Wayne's is actually a Swedish company (although I have a hard time believing there is any Swede named Wayne). They don't have the market saturation in Oslo that Starbucks has in Seattle, but apparently they are also seeking out world domination (well, they have a store in China, does that count?). G and I went to Wayne's Coffee today for the first time. It looks like a Starbucks, and they also have a wide variety of hot and cold espresso drinks, pastries, sandwiches, and salads. They have plush chairs and little tables, reminiscent of Starbucks. And they do bill themselves as an, "American-style oriented coffee shop." I did not have any coffee there, though; we just stopped for a snack for G. I will admit that even though the pastries looked irresistible, the sandwiches paled in comparison to the Seattle coffee giant's offerings.

With so many good little bakeries and cafes, does it matter if Starbucks is here or not? Probably not. Frankly, I spend my days trying to get back on the no-caffeine wagon I joined about two and a half years ago (it's hard to wake up without caffeine if the sun isn't even willing to roll above the horizon before 9 a.m., you know?). And I am sure Norwegians are satisfied even without Starbucks. In fact, some of them are wholeheartedly against the addition of yet another foreign company to their landscape of Norwegian-ism - and I applaud them for wanting to maintain their culture. Sure there are a few movements to try and get Starbucks in Norway, but as far as I know there are no plans to move into this market anytime soon. At least, no one's asked me about it. :-)

I think what I miss about Starbucks is the ritual and the familiarity of it. It was comforting to be able to walk in and order what I knew I liked. At work, we would often stop at Starbucks before heading out to the field. During the holidays, I delighted in the appearance of the red seasonal cups, and treated myself to a decaf eggnog latte and a slice of gingerbread on occasion. Not having those things as part of my day-to-day isn't horrible; it's just different. Should I just embrace the local culture and adopt a local shop? Of course. Starbucks is just a little piece of Americana I'm not ashamed to admit missing as I settle into my new life.

Maybe I should see what this Kaffebrenneriet place is all about. Or just head back to Åpent Bakeri...mmm...raisin roll...

Har det.

A day of hemming and hawing. And art.

We are spending a quiet evening at home after a long afternoon of hemming and hawing over this and this and this at IKEA (if you’re keeping a tally, that’s five IKEA visits in four weeks, a new record).

G appears to be coming down with the cold I am just getting over, so we’ll probably lay low for the rest of the weekend. I thought I’d share with you some photos I took a couple of weeks ago at Vigelandsparken (also called Frognerparken) in Oslo. This sculpture park is only a block from our apartment and was the creation of Gustav Vigeland, a Norwegian artist.  The park has over 200 bronze and granite sculptures, most of which are part of certain installations. Wikipedia has a decent write-up about the park.  It was constructed between the late 1920s and 1944, part of which was done while the Nazis occupied Oslo. I love the expression and movement of the sculptures. This was one of the first places G and I visited when we came here in May to check out Oslo. I’ve included some of those photos as well (guess which photos were taken when?). Enjoy.

Bronze sculptures line the bridge leading to the monolith plateau (it was very icy). 

One of the bridge bronzes; this is one of my favorites.

The fountain with bronze sculptures is very...interesting. Babies fill some of the trees.

Ornate metal gates guard the entrances to the monolith.

Dozens of figures lead up the stairs to the base of the monolith.

The wheel of life overlooks the far end of the park.

 

Another awesome thing about the park: during the summer, it is the perfect place to have a picnic lunch or dinner. Put this park on your must-see list if and/or when your travels ever take you to Oslo. 

As American as...

Apologies for the somewhat blurry photo; I think my hands were trembling with anticipation. Sometimes you just need a little slice of heaven. Truly, one of the best decisions I made was taking all of our cookbooks (over 30) and recipe binders (three so far) with us to Norway. Limited storage be damned! Sure, I probably won't be able to find half of the ingredients needed for the recipes, but it is completely worth it even if it means finding one that knocks your socks off. Case in point: Martha Stewart's Classic Apple Pie from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. Baked at 8:00 p.m. last night. First slice at 9:30 p.m. Half gone at 9:00 a.m. today. Ja, baby.

Ad*just |əˈjəstˈ| . To adapt or become used to a new situation. ex : she must be allowed to adjust to living with only five hours of daylight.

Today marks one month that I’ve been living in Oslo. One month seems like a long time, and then not so much, especially when I think of how much I am still adjusting to living here. It’s strange, because it’s really not that different from living in the States. People still go to work, shop, drive, eat, socialize, etc. But when you dig just a little deeper, that’s when the necessary adjustments start to add up. Some are good, so very, very good. Others…well, I am guessing in the long run they will all work out. Right? Here, in no particular order are some of the adjustments I’ve made in the past 30 days:

1.     Sleeping in. Okay, I know, you’re sitting there rolling your eyes. Let me be clear: this is an adjustment that I am not necessarily pooh-poohing. But going from getting up at 4:30 or 5:30 a.m. on a regular basis to maybe having G’s alarm go off at 6:30 – and then promptly sleeping through that most of time – is a bit strange. Have you met me? I mean, yeah. I am not a laze around and pick lint off my sweater kind of person. I am a doer. So, sleeping in until the ungodly hour of 8:00 or (gasp!) 9:00 is totally bizarre. I think it might have to do with the next adjustment…

2.     Six hours of daylight. That’s right, friends. These days the sun supposedly rises around 9:00 a.m. and sets at 3:20 p.m. You know how the sun rises where you are, and it’s actually light out when it comes up? Not really the case here. The sun is so low on the horizon it doesn’t get light until at least an hour after that. Case in point:

      this photo? I took this at 2:20 this afternoon. Looks like sunset to me. That is hard to get used to, even for someone from the 47th parallel. You can understand why it’s so easy to sleep in then, right? Right?

3.     The size of milk and juice cartons. Norway is like the antithesis of, say, Costco. There, you can buy the gallon or half-gallon container of milk or juice at the store, but here…you can buy a one-liter container. That’s it. One liter. I wish I had a U.S. milk carton to put next to the ones here, but seriously, you’ve got to trust me on this. It’s tiny. And I’ve never seen anyone buy two at a time. So, I can't bring myself to buy two. It seems so...gluttonous. I know Americans are kind of milk-crazy, but wow. Just an adjustment. Getting there.

4.     Plastic-wrapped vegetables. Here’s an example: 

      Granted, these aren’t that terrible; we’ve seen bags of carrots and bundles of green onions, etc. But I wish you could have seen the cucumber I bought today. Individually shrink-wrapped. Or the red pepper. Also individually shrink-wrapped. Apples? Shrink-wrapped in a box of six. Avocados? Shrink-wrapped in containers of two. I am not sure I understand the logic behind it. I mean, what if I only want one apple or avocado? It seems to conflict with the fact that they recycle like mad here and you have to pay extra if you want a plastic bag at the checkout. Jus’ sayin’.

5.     Public transit/not driving. Can you hear the choir of angels? Feel the glow of satisfaction through the computer screen? I gloat. I’m sorry. I’m from Seattle, where their idea of public transit is a bus system that takes three transfers and two hours to commute 14 miles one way. Oslo? Buses, an extensive tram system (think: SLU Streetcar, but effective and wide-spread), and an underground metro. One monthly card gets me on any of them, unlimited. Yes, that is all well and good, but you know the best thing? There are these displays at every single stop that tells you in real time when the next tram or bus or train is arriving. And not just the next one, but the next several. In real time. Did I mention it’s in real time? (Can you hear the choir of angels again?) Do I miss my car? Yes. Do I miss driving? Not so much. Especially not commuting. But maybe that’s because I haven’t found anywhere I want to go yet that I have to drive to. More to come on this, I am sure.

So many adjustments, so little time...What about you? Have you had any major changes in your life where you had some unexpected or unusual or just plain funny adjustments you had to make? Do tell.

Ja, I speak Grocery Store...you?

G and I have started looking for a Norwegian language class to take.  We went to a website sponsored by the Oslo Kommune (I am guessing that is something akin to a county), and they had a number of links to organizations that offer classes.  I will just say at this point that I wholeheartedly miss the efficiency and affordability of the U.S. community college system.  More to come on our adventures in finding a good class to take.

In the meantime, we have learned the language of Grocery Store, i.e., the limited Norwegian we have learned necessary to navigate the grocery store.

Pose, or poser (poh-SAH): This means bag or bags in Norwegian. This word is usually very easy to pick out. Timing-wise, the checker says it either right after he or she starts checking out the groceries, or when you’re paying. (Note, as in most European countries, checkers in grocery stores sit at their register, and you bag your own groceries. This has become a spatial relations challenge for me every time I go to the store.) Oftentimes, it is uttered as a single word, “poser?” But, sometimes it’s mentioned as part of a sentence of other indistinguishable (for now) words, wherein the ‘p’ and the ‘s’ sounds make it easy to pick out. Yay.

Kvittering (shVIT-ring, or something like that): Receipt. Interestingly, I’ve observed that most Norwegians do not collect their receipts. I do not know if that’s because they don’t really WANT to know how much they have just spent on the fiskekakke or salat or frozen pizza they just bought (I almost don’t want to know either). In fact, I have been I some places where the checker has actually taken my receipt and, instead of handing it to me, crumpled into a ball and thrown it on the floor. Um, okay. Anyway, this word is a little harder to pick out. It is almost always used in a full sentence which I am sure is something like, “would you like your receipt?” But, since I don’t (yet) know how to say “would you like your” in Norwegian, I listen very closely for the VIT-ring part of the word. There’s something in the pronunciation going on with the first part of the word, and I guarantee you it’s not really like how it’s written, and probably not a lot like what I’ve phonetically written above either.

Ja (YAH): Yes. This one I’ve got, although admittedly my first few times at the store I said “si” instead of “ja.” Apparently I switch into Italian anytime anyone is speaking to me in a foreign language. I guess it’s only understandable given the fact G and I took five months of Italian last year.

Nei (NIGH [like ‘high’]): No. No problems here, unless I have no idea what they’ve asked me and say nei just because I’m wary of the consequences of saying ja.

Hei (hi): hi/hello. This one I’ve got in the bag. I mean, totally. Sometimes people say “hei hei!” instead of just “hei.” Kinda cute. I half expect to get kissed on both cheeks after that greeting, but so far it hasn’t happened yet.

Har det bra/har det (HAH DUH bra/HAH DUH): Goodbye/bye.  I feel so cool when I abbreviate it and just say “bye.” Like I can actually speak Norwegian.  That lasts for about five seconds.

Here’s a typical grocery store conversation:

Checker: Hei! Hei!

Me: Hei.

Checker: Du [something something] poser?

Me: Nei (halfheartedly smiling while holding up my reusable Whole Foods shopping bag).

Now, at this point in the checker-checkee relationship, sometimes they’ll throw something else in. Like, do you want to join the shoppers club? Or, do you know what kind of fruit this is? But, of course, I have no idea what they’re saying because they ask all these questions in Norwegian. So I say, in English mind you, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Norwegian yet.” [I should really learn to say that in Norwegian.] I try to look helpless yet understanding with any frustration they may have when I say it. The reaction changes depending on the checker. Sometimes when I’m smart and choose the line with the younger checker, they are more understanding and even somewhat interested in why I am buying eggs or a head of broccoli at the store. It can even end up in a conversation about where I’m from, how long I’ve been here, and how long I will be here. Other times, they just say oh, and repeat that they said in English, and move me on my way.

Checker: Du [something something] kvittering? (Or, sometimes at this point it’s devolved into English if they’ve found me out.]

Me: Ya, takk (takk is thanks).

Checker: Har det bra!

Me: Har det.

Speaking of which, I need to head to the grocery store. Wish me luck! I should probably dust off those Teach Yourself Norwegian CDs now…