My New Norwegian Home

When I first met the man who'd later become my husband, I thought he had a tic or some little quirk with his speech. Of course by us just talking online and then Skype, I never caught on until I met him in person. That's when I thought he had a speech abnormality, tic, or something, but I didn't want to bring it up for fear of hurting his feelings. Anytime I'd say something, he'd inhale "yeah" in agreement with me. As it turns out, he just has a case of Norwegian-itis. The next time we met, he did this less, so I assumed he was just less nervous this time. I didn't notice it again until after I moved to Norway and it returned. Except this time every Norwegian did it! This is actually an ingressive sound Scandinavians make in which they inhale when they say "ja" sometimes. In some way it sounds as if they are startled or scared and gasp when saying "ja." Here is a Youtube video I found where you can listen to the  ingressive ...

Now that my husband and I have our daughter on a schedule that is finally functioning better, we can have the evenings to ourselves. Recently we have actually finished watching the first season of Welcome to Sweden which can be seen on Netflix, but it also aired on NBC this past fall. If you're into comedy and culture shock, this show is definitely for you. It's especially relatable for my husband and I as Sweden is very similar to Norway. We can also relate to finding both humor and frustrations in our cultural backgrounds just as the show's characters, Bruce and Emma have. Created by Greg Poehler (Amy Poehler's brother) who also stars as Bruce, a New Yorker moving to Sweden to be reunited with his Swedish girlfriend, many cultural aspects between Scandinavia and the United States are pointed out with fun humor.Cultural changes such as taking shoes off vs. leaving them on when inside a house, clothing and "dressing American" (which I am just now catching ...

My New Norwegian Home is now on Facebook! I've been a major procrastinator about making a Facebook page for this blog, but it is up and working now. Just follow and like the link  here  to start following whenever I post something new! Takk and god helg everyone! :-D

I've been living in Norway for nearly 3 years. I've now come to the conclusion the best times to shop in one of the most expensive countries in the world is in January and July. January because it's after Christmas and you can find some pretty nice deals and July well, I'm going to take an educated guess and assume it's to try to lure customers in since so many people go on vacation that month. After lunch with a friend last week, I stopped by the local shopping center and went into H&M. I found tons and tons of children's clothes for 30 kroner (about $3.95). I decided to stock up on bigger clothes for Pia to grow into later this year. I also found some clothes I know she will need for barnehage in the fall which were marked down quite a bit. The weekend before last my husband and I were told about a sale on carseats at Barnas Hus. Some car seats were 40% off. The normal price of the carseat we purchased was about 4600 kroner ($605 USD), but we paid 2600...

One of my 12 New Year's Resolutions is to waste less. Waste less money, time, energy, food and space.  When there's a 10 kroner sale (about $1.35 at today's currency rate) at either ICA or Spar, I tend to stock up on sale items like soap, fabric softner, napkins, canned vegetables and fruit.  Each item here cost 10 kroner. Pancakes, waffles, pasta, pizza dough, toothpaste, fabric softner, etc. I really look forward to scoping out the 10 kroner sales and stocking up on items and I'd like to think it saves money in the long run.

We had a game night Saturday night and tried out the game Brunost, langrenn og lusekofte. It is a game of questions to determine which player is the most Norwegian at heart. The game consists of a series of questions about how you'd react to a certain situation. Most questions can be answered with a yes or no and you are given positive or negative points depending on the answer. The player with the highest score wins and is deemed most Norwegian at heart.  Some question topics include manners, fashion, music, culture, and just every day norsk life. We had a lot of fun playing the game and the cultural discussions we had. I'd highly recommend it for a game night if anyone is interested in Norwegian culture! And on a side note, I CRUSHED my husband at being Norwegian! ;-) Arild had many negative points and a friend of ours was most Norwegian out of us all. I tied second place with my brother-in-law. 

When I get a craving for American products I can't satisfy from makeshift recipes, I usually order from iHerb.com. While I can't find EVERYTHING I'm looking for, I can usually find quite a bit and it's very helpful. At one point there was an 8 lb for $8 shipping deal.  These days, I usually use iHerb to just order snacks for my little girl. Occasionally I'll order food or other products for myself or the family. One of my favorite things to order are  Annie's graham cracker snacks  and of course,  chocolate chips . A favorite of my husband's is  microwavable macaroni and cheese. My first iHerb.com order.  They used to have a 4 pound for $4 shipping per box, but unfortunately they have changed their shipping rules. Now it is charged by weight (the more the box weighs, the more you're charged) as long as the box is still 4 pounds or under. The snack catcher. This is a genius invention and has come in very handy for the cheerios monster! ...

"Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it" - Charles Dudley Warner The weather is lovely, isn't it? This is my 3rd winter in Norway and so far I've been alright with it. (So far!) The darkness hasn't bothered me much like it usually does, the snow has come and gone, but I'm sure will return again, the cold hasn't bothered me much like it has in the previous winters.  However... we have ICE! Now, okay I'm still a little slow in learning how to dress in the proper attire for "dårlig vær", but HOW do you prepare for ice? Sure, there's the shoe spikes, but I'd like to think there's a hole in the Norwegians' "no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing" phrase.  Last winter we had a long period of darkness. The sun didn't peek out from behind the clouds for a couple of months and it was just miserable. I was desperately wanting to escape to Spain or Florida for the winter...

I love food. There is one thing I can promise you and that is if you're looking for a blog about dieting and fitness, well, you are at the WRONG place. Usually after spending some time with Norwegians I come back home and start eating like them too. After trips to Denmark with my hubs and his parents, I come back home and eat a bunch of bread. Open-faced sandwiches with butter all day long until I'm absolutely tired of it. Speaking of which, bread or brød. Brød. Brød. Brød. Norway eats A LOT of bread! Being stubborn in my American ways, I will eat a Norwegian pancake, which is more like a crepe compared to the fluffy, buttery pancakes in the U.S., but I usually eat them "the American way" with maple syrup and butter. Occasionally I'll give in and eat my pancakes "the Norwegian way" by mixing sour cream with jam to place on my pancake though. Disclaimer: Staged photo! Our table never looks this nice and organized. It always has tiny smudgy hand p...

Oh language why are you so difficult to learn? I feel like I am such a slow learner at this language. Some people are very good with language, some aren't. However, I have made a bet with my 15 month old daughter that I will become functionally fluent before she does. I'm in the lead... so far! While I am still continuing norskkurs, I unfortunately only go to the kveldskurs (evening course) and that is just a measly one night a week, 2,5 hour class. It's frustratingly slow, but that's ok. My time now is spent caring for my little one still and staying home with her is what I have chosen to do. It doesn't make learning the language any less difficult though. I do listen to a lot of Norwegian voice overs on Disney junior and I've even memorized the songs to the TV shows thanks to spending my days with a toddler. Possibly the most effective language learning technique I've been doing lately is buying a children's book. Partially because I like reading...