My New Norwegian Home

Oh there is so much to learn about living in another country. Right when I think I have most things figured out, something else comes along and surprises the living daylights out of me. I was at my friend, Eirin's house today when she told me she had to bundle up her baby so she could sleep outside. At first I didn't pay too much attention until she began to literally bundle up her baby in thick clothing and that's when what she said dawned on me and I said, "HUH?" She began to laugh at me and asked, "You don't do that in America, do you?" She went on to explain babies and children in daycare and kindergarten will nap outside unless it gets too cold. Too cold meaning below -10 degrees Celsius - that's 14 degrees Fahrenheit! I was a bit surprised when I started to learn more about outdoor kindergarten in Norway, but I had no idea about this! I just HAD to follow her outside to see how this was done. Eirin explained to me the benefits of childr...

I'm a huge Disney fan. Who isn't? Everyone loves Disney or has at some point in time. For generations people have been growing up with Disney classics and some new coming Disney films. If you're ever in a pit of awkward silence in a conversation with someone of a different generation Disney is usually a great topic to bring up as anyone living generally knows and enjoys  the subject. Occasionally my husband and I will face some confusion when I bring up talking about a Disney character or I'll be minding my own business and singing a Disney song to myself, my husband will ask, "I've heard that before, where's that song from?" and that's where the confusion begins.... I'll give him the name of the Disney movie, or a character and he'll say, "Hæ!?!" It didn't take us long to figure out names are sometimes different in English and Norwegian when it comes to Disney characters. Because Donald Duck is so popular in Scandinavia ...

Denmark, the happiest country in the world who also gave the world Legos! Leaving the dock! One of the last sights of Norway! This past weekend my husband, his family, and myself went to Denmark. I think traveling to different countries in Europe is best compared to traveling to different states in America. We took a ferry to Denmark which was about a 3.5 hour ride - about the same length of time it takes to travel from some parts of Kentucky to Tennessee or North Carolina. My brother-in-law and I FREEZING on the deck of the boat! It was incredibly windy! Windmills. Windmills everywhere!  I'd love to go back and in fact we are - in November! Denmark is incredibly flat and windy and there are tons of windmills generating energy everywhere. When we were driving at a higher altitude (about 10 feet) - which wasn't much at all considering the entire country is flat and the largest "mountain" is about 300 feet- it was still flat, but from the landscape th...

I'm sure in times to come I'll update quite a bit about Norwegian courses. I really like being in the class. I love talking to people of different backgrounds in my class and a lot of my curiosity and questions get answered about other parts of the world. Not to mention I'm learning Norwegian at a fast pace and it wasn't until this week I've actually realized I've been progressing in Norwegian since my husband and I had our first, second and third ongoing conversations in Norwegian that didn't consist of the basics. Part of being in Norsk kurs is about helping us foreigners - that word sounds so strange to me - integrate into society. We recently took a hiking trip and the point of which was to teach us about mushrooms. Here in Norway, the early fall is a popular time to go into the forest and pluck mushrooms to eat. However, recently it's been in the news of people being hospitalized due to plucking the wrong mushrooms and consuming them. About 50% o...