My New Norwegian Home

So much of Norwegian culture is revolved around the outdoors. Generally speaking, the Norwegians are very outdoors-y people as they like to gå på tur (go on a hike), visit the coast, go camping in their hytte up in the mountains and of course, skiing. I think it is common for foreigners to kindly make fun of Norway and its regard to "curing" oneself with time in nature, or if you really want to get crazy, take a paracet and gå på tur . ;-) Norway's best medicine comes from the great outdoors - which it has a lot to offer as it's a very "wild" country. There's plenty of forests, cool, crisp, fresh air, mountains, nearly everyone takes advantage of good weather days and soaks up the sun, and the beaches are amazing in summer months - all the more reason to eat lots of ice cream in the summer! For me and part of my "feeling better" plan, I've been trying to do as the Norwegians do and spend some time with good ole Mother Nature. Evidence ...

May is usually a very busy month. There are several days to celebrate in the month of May. hence why I haven't posted in a few weeks. There has been 17. mai.... The beautiful daughter in her bunad.  Us together at the local school.  Mine and Arild's 3rd anniversary.... (WOO HOO!) My 26th birthday...... and I actually had a Kentucky Derby themed birthday party!  Apples made into roses. MMMM Food art.  Horse shaped Kentucky Hot Brown, rose apples and alcohol free mint juleps.  Centerpiece.  And me enjoying my mint julep. :-)  Very pleased with the gifts I received!  The 3rd anniversary of me living in Norway.... Strolling through Brekkeparken. Colorful tulips!  My Norskprøve 3 or A2/B1 exam...  which I hope I passed! study study study Because I like making various things in my free time, I've attempted to start selling my own homemade products. I have sta...

En koselig morgen. Norwegians are the kings and queens of koselig. What exactly is koselig , you ask? It is my favorite word in Norwegian. Possibly my favorite word that exists to my knowledge. And there's a lot of words I like, rumpetroll,rumpeballer, smilhull,bøtteballet, tjuesju and so on. Koselig  doesn't quite translate to English. It's a feeling. It's an action. It's the atmosphere. Koselig is a lot of things. It's warmth and comfort. It's being in the presence of loved ones in the evening. It's laughing in a pub with your closest friends. It's intimacy and love. It's warming your feet by the fireplace while wearing knitted woolen socks. It's candlelight on a dark night (or day). It's cuddling with your significant other under a blanket while sitting outside sipping hot chocolate - or cuddling on the couch with chocolate ice cream, watching Netflix, whatever your thing is. :-) It's something as simple as lighting candle...

Just a little tip for those interested! :-)  Mattilbud is an easy way to compare weekly sales each grocery store is having. All grocery stores are listed such as Kiwi, Rema 1000, Meny, Coop Prix, Spar, Rimi, Joker and many others. It's also a paper-free way of viewing what would already be in a paper ad you'd receive in the mail.  It can be downloaded as an app with iOS, Windows or Android. I find this comes in handy as it's always updated on Monday morning, so I just check the new sales and I know where to shop for the week. 

The sun is out. The sky is blue. Birds are singing. It's a nice 60 F degrees! Gardening. Ahhhh it's spring! Hens and chicks.  Dandelion. Løvetann. I didn't want to get too close as I suspected there was a bee hive nearby,but here are hviteis. Happy Friday! Hope you enjoy the wonderful weather! :-)

I have recently returned to Norway from a nice trip to Kentucky. In the meantime while I am working on a seperate, but longer post, I thought I'd share one of my experiences which generally speaking sums up a common stereotype between Newark and Kentucky. As a Kentuckian, I admittedly am a bit biased and take pride in being from a place that is generally known as very friendly and hospitable. The difference in Newark and Kentucky customer service (true story): Newark Welcome Center The employee is wearing earbuds and chewing gum sitting behind her desk. I walk up to the desk and ask for help and whether she can help me get in touch with a local hotel so my family and myself can stay the night. After waiting for a 5 hour layover, we were told our flight was going to be 3.5 hours late. We decided to rebook the flight for the next day and find a hotel. The employee behind the desk didn't make eye contact with me and just pointed to a phone about 30 feet away and said rudely, ...

One of my favorite luxuries in Norway are the heated bathroom floors. I call this a luxury because it's something I never grew up with, I don't know of anyone in Kentucky at least who has a heated floor in their bathroom and I think it really is a luxury to have one. To Norwegians, this is just a standard part of their housing. Without the heated flooring, the bathrooms are pretty cold, so it's actually a handy thing to have in the flooring and it's also comforting to start your day getting your toes toasty from a warm floor. Under the bathroom tiling lies a mat with coils, these coils are what heats the floor. It's a good investment as it doesn't take up any space unlike a heater in the bathroom as it's concealed under the flooring, it can be used to heat the entire bathroom and it doesn't use much power. Not that bathroom floors are particularly nice to look at or anything, but here's ours. Warm and toasty.