Of Ice and (Snow)Men

A lot has happened since I last wrote, but long story short is my flight to Paris was cancelled BUT thanks to the Brunvolls I managed to get a direct flight to Belgium just two days after my original flight. During my last days in Norway I did koselig things like grocery shopping, cooking dinner, and even driving! In Norway! That’s one thing I definitely didn’t think I’d get to do in Europe, but I got to take Frida to swim practice. I forgot how freeing it is to be able to drive. Food shopping is extremely interesting in different countries because the products are so different. Sometimes it’s more fun to walk into a super market than visit another cathedral or museum. In one of the Norwegian grocery stores there was an aisle dedicated to Americans: Skippy peanut butter, Hershey’s syrup, marshmallow fluff and Macaroni & Cheese.

On one of the days it snowed! In April! Marte and I weren’t about to let that bog us down so we threw on some warm clothes and went outside to have a snowball fight, make snow angles and build a snowman. Our snowman turned out a little creepy, but it was “the doing” and creativity that mattered. Afterwards we ate porridge, nachos, guacamole, hot chocolate and popsicles (but not at the same time). A couple days later all the snow melted in the warmth of the sun.

Here are some random observations:

>In Norwegian schools, they call their teachers by their first names.

>For lunch they eat open faced sandwiches and they don’t take brown paper bags to school with them. They wrap the sandwiches in wax paper and put pieces of wax paper between each slice of bread and topping.

>You’re not supposed to mix the cinnamon, sugar, butter and raisins in porridge like you would oatmeal, though it’s permissible.

>In Norway most second year high schoolers study abroad to improve their language skills. (For example, Frida will be staying with my family and attend my old high school in the fall.) I wish there was more of this in the US because studying abroad vastly expands one’s world view and encourages one to get out of one’s comfort zone and speak another language.

>TV shows and movies are NOT dubbed (unless it’s a cartoon film like Ice Age, Shrek or Disney). There’s simply Norwegian subtitles which is excellent for improving one’s language skills.

>In my very humble opinion, the Molde panorama is at its best during sunrise or sunset because of the pink glow the sun casts across the snow caps. But it looks good at all times, except when there’s fog or a snowstorm—then you can’t see anything.

>Norwegian sounds more like Chinese or Japanese than it does German.

>“Takk” means “thank you,” “nie” is “no,” “ja” is “yes,” "Norge" is " Norway," “melde” is “milk,” “ost” is “cheese,” “sjokolade” is “chocolate,” “hei” or “hallo” is “hi” and “ha det” or “ha det bra” is “goodbye” (even though you’re actually saying “Have it” or “Have it good”).

>There is only one verb construction for pronouns. So instead of saying “I am,” You are,” and “She is,” you say “I is,” “You is,” and “She is.” This makes grammar a heck of a lot easier to learn.

>The Troll Forests are named so because the rocks and trees drip with moss and lichen. They aren’t in a particular place, it’s just what the forests are called. I count myself lucky not to have come across any trolls.

>The back page of the Molde newspaper prints a sort of gossip column where inhabitants can argue about all sorts of things: whether cats should be put on leashes, complaints about hikers on ski trails and skiers on hiking trails (what happened to sharing?), and lost M & Ms.

>It’s hard to avoid knowing something about basketball if you live in the US, but most people have never played basketball or know what it is. During P.E. class they were just learning how to do to lay-ups. Teachers are very chill here so I got to play too and after a couple lay-ups the teacher turned to the other girls waiting in line and “She’s done that before.” When I found out what she said I started cracking up because I’m absolutely horrible at basketball and lay-ups especially.

Saying goodbye was strange. I’d been living in Norway for about two weeks and it really came to feel like home. I’m so glad I got to spend as much time there as I did. I can’t wait to visit again in the summertime! But on to Belgium.

Tally ho!
Heidi