My New Norwegian Home

How to fall in love with a Norwegian in 2 easy steps: 1) Find a Norwegian. 2) Fall in love. Simple as that. I love my Norwegian. Regardless of nationality, I'd love him just the same. God helg!!! :-)

With Norway's national day coming soon (May 17th) I thought it would be fitting to talk a bit about bunads. I just love old culture preserved in bunads! It's such a great dose of Norwegian culture to go to an event and be surrounded by people wearing bunads that in a way it kind of feels like you've stepped back in time a couple hundred years. In fact, it is what people wore a few centuries ago in Norway. Today the traditional clothing can be worn to weddings, folk festivals and church events like baptisms and confirmations, as well as on May 17th of course. What better way to celebrate nationalism than to wear traditional folk clothing from the 1800s? I'm absolutely excited to celebrate this holiday for the first time. It's tradition for there to be parades with small children and school kids, some of which are dressed in bunads. Afterwards, the day is celebrated with ice cream and waffles. I have been looking at baby bunads lately. I know it's too early to...

Well, today makes two special days, Thanksgiving in America and Hug A Norwegian Day. Thanksgiving is generally a time where Americans gather with family, eat a large meal and give thanks for everything they appreciate in their lives. It's really a great concept and such a shame Black Friday (the day where it's socially acceptable for people to forget all they're thankful for, trample one another in stores and shop and shop and shop mostly for things they don't need) follows after. I could so go on and on about Black Friday. I'm not a big fan, but this post isn't about my near-hate of Black Friday. :-) Anyways, since I'm not in America, I'm celebrating the best way I can here in Norway. I tried to make a very tiny meal for both of us, but I failed at that, though the chocolate cheesecake I make turned out good! I actually managed to mess up my mother's recipe for cheesy hashbrown casserole because I forgot to boil the potatoes before baking. No su...

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 ...

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...

Earlier last week language classes began. The night before I felt like I was about to start first grade all over again. I had everything prepared for the upcoming day, my clothes laid out on my dresser, I was reciting the Norwegian alphabet, words, phrases, whatever in my head. I even told my husband, "I am determined to make a friend!" It was exciting anticipating the upcoming day.  The first day was a bit overwhelming as only Norwegian is spoken. Really that's a good thing as it immerses you in the language and I am far too dependent on English (and good body language) to get by. It's also considerate of other students in the class as some speak fluent English, others broken English and some very little to no English at all. For those people living in Norway knowing very little Norwegian or English, I couldn't begin to imagine what it is like for them being in Norway or how overwhelming living here may be. Before going into class I was in hopes of if not fin...