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Funny Norwegian Words # 002

4/26/2014

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Today marks 1 month since we moved to Norway, and although I'm no closer to being a fluent Norwegian speaker than I was when I arrived, I have been paying close attention to the language and its peculiarities. I thought it was time for a second "Funny Norwegian Words" post - this time focusing on phrases I find interesting or funny rather than words that strike me as hilariously inappropriate.

1. "And them"

Norwegians have this interesting way of referring to groups of people using the term "and them", which strikes me as strange and inadvertently rude when they're talking about just two people. 

For example, while an English speaker might say, "I saw Homer and Marge today" or "I saw the Simpsons today", a Norwegian speaker might instead say, "I saw Homer and them today". Wait... what? Firstly, it seems strange to me that the singular "Marge" is being referred to as the plural "them". Secondly... wouldn't it be just as easy and more accurate to say "Marge"? Thirdly... does Marge not matter in this conversation? Maybe it's just a language thing that I don't understand, but if I overheard someone refer to my husband and me as "Gisle and them", I'd be pretty unhappy about my status as "them".

2. "Sånn"

To counterbalance the weirdness of this "and them" business, I will now introduce a very cute and prevalent Norwegian phrase: "Sånn".  It sounds a lot like the English word "son". If you look this word up on a translation service, you would find the word translated to mean "like that" or "like this", which frankly, does not match my perception of this word AT ALL. 

To the best of my understanding, sånn is a kind of filler word, used to help move a conversation from one topic to the next, or used to indicate that something is finished. For example, you might say sånn to indicate that you and the person you've been talking with have reached a consensus and are finished talking about whatever you were discussing, and would now like to do the next thing, e.g. say goodbye, or talk about something else, or do something else.
 
This is a word that I hear constantly, and I think I'm starting to understand the appropriate time to use it. People mutter it to themselves when they're working on something, like cooking a meal. When the eggs have been cracked, you might say "sånn" and then try to remember what you have to do next. When the quiche goes in the oven, you might say "sånn" to yourself and then set a timer. All in all, I think it's a diverse and useful word.

3. "Jeg er blåøyd" ("I'm a blue eyed person")  

In Norwegian, this phrase is taken to mean "I'm naively unaware" or just "I'm naive". This is extremely funny to me, given the high prevalence of blue-eyed native Norwegians. Where this phrase originated, I have no idea.

4. "Melkesyre i lårene" ("Thighs have gone sour")

I heard this phrase while making the short but steep hike up to the Løvstakken trail, which runs directly above our house. The incline is just steep and long enough to cause you to become a bit winded and a little wobbly in the knees by the time you've reached the top. While hiking up with my friend, she asked me if my thighs had gone sour. I admit, I found this question really amusing. 

Later, when I asked about the Norwegian term for this concept of the thighs going "sour", it made a little more sense. The word for lactic acid, (the chemical your body creates for quick energy production when the oxygen in your bloodstream is not enough to fuel your muscles during strenuous exercise) in Norwegian is "melkesyre" or literally "milk-acid". So, when you get the feeling of lactic acid flooding your muscles during brief, heavy exercise, your muscles feel like sour milk. Ha!

5. Being "The American" in a card game

Some friends came over and we played a pretty fun card game called "Americana", which is played with a standard deck of cards and involves some betting and hopefully total domination of your opponents. The game requires temporary alliances and lots of strategy. I heard some stories that the "consequences" of losing this game usually involve some kind of humiliation... like pretending to vacuum the sidewalk clad only in your underwear, but luckily no such things were at stake here. 


At any rate, the thing that struck me as most interesting about this game is this phrase "to be the American". In this game, you can only be the American if you get a perfect score in a single round, i.e. get ALL the points, while your opponents get none. This is very hard to do, apparently, and wasn't accomplished during our very long game. I got to thinking about what this term might mean though... is the winner "The American" because they're really awesome? Or, more likely, is the winner "The American" because of his or her ruthless ability to suck everyone else dry, and take all the winnings for themselves? Hmmmm... Either way, I think it's a funny/interesting commentary on Americanism. 

6. "The Immigrant Shops"

My last observation has to do with this unusual position I have been finding myself in rather often. For my entire life, I have been part of the cultural and ethnic majority in my home country. Here in Norway, I am part of a cultural minority. And, although Norway seems to be quite a "western" country to me, there are some differences that continually surprise me, and most of them have to do with food.

Having spent the last decade in San Francisco, perhaps the foodie capital of the U.S., I may be an extreme case. But, I am accustomed to a variety and quality of food and ingredients being readily available at my local Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or farmer's market. When I'm in a grocery store here, or talking to anyone about food in general, and I inquire about where I can find something, the unvarying answer from every Norwegian person is that what I want is "the immigrant shops". The same phrase, every time. And each time, it surprises me, and then I think to myself, "Oh yeah! That's me!"  



Now, these kindly Norwegian advisors are not wrong. I have been to these "immigrant shops". I walked in warily for the first time, not knowing what to expect. And really, it was like a breath of fresh air. THERE'S the tofu!!!  Sånn!!
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I realized this week that the car we've been borrowing is "hella" 415.
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Now What?

4/24/2014

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Long before I moved to Norway, I'd thought about whether I should start a blog like this one to document my new experiences, and what the implications would be. In a time when social media has conditioned us to "put it all out there", I have my reservations. And as an archivist / records professional, I am always thinking about the long-term preservation and accessibility of modern records - and whether I want to publish words that, for better or worse, might be around for a long time.

The question in my mind has been: how much personal information is appropriate to share in an essentially public forum? And what constitutes personal information?

At length I've decided that an account of a new experience is only valuable if it's an honest one. In this context, that means giving balanced blogspace to the wide range of raw feelings, thoughts, and experiences that I find myself sifting through in the day-to-day effort to "settle" into a new place. I hope that doing so will be helpful in some way, either to myself in the future, as a chance to reflect back upon all the changes between now and then, or to someone else - maybe someone who is considering a move to another country, or someone who is on a path that is similar to mine. 

What I'm getting at with all this preamble is: this week has been a little hard. I'm feeling so out of sync with the people I love back home, so unsure of what I'm supposed to be doing here, and so strangely foreign. The months and weeks leading up to this move were probably the busiest and most "scheduled" of my life so far. All that planning, anxiety, and anticipation were a lot to cope with. But, I'm the kind of person who thrives when I'm being challenged. Now, suddenly, here we are. Just... here. Trying to find a new routine that feels right, trying to put down some roots, trying to get on with it. And, in a weird way, I'm left with a feeling of ... "now what?" What am I supposed to do now?

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on all this, and the thing is, I'm a bit angry with myself. You see, by all rights I must be one of the luckiest people on earth: to be loved, educated, and nurtured as I am, to have found a man who is truly my partner and friend, to be relatively healthy and able to take care of myself, and to live in a country both beautiful and humane. I have got it all, and have no reasons to complain. And yet, I can't deny these feelings of displacement, and these contradictory moments of pure happiness followed by incredible loneliness. So, I'm mad at my brain, and my body's stress responses, and I'm mad at my anxieties, because they're making this week hard on me, when I have no business complaining. 

I can't say I was unprepared for a down-swing. I was warned that there would be good days and bad days, and I was given sage advice from people I love and trust who've been through it themselves. So, I'll heed their wisdom and will just keep giving myself opportunities to grow new roots in this new place. 
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Central Bergen, photographed from Løvstakken walking trail.
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Northern Lights

4/21/2014

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PicturePhoto: Øystein Skålevik
My personal search for a Northern Lights sighting continues. Today, Gisle informed me that we missed an aurora borealis that was visible from our bedroom window last night.  


The photo pictured here was taken last night, and appears to have been photographed from a point not far from our house on Løvstakken. The very thought is maddening to me -- as I have dearly hoped to see the Northern Lights since childhood, and never have, despite trips to Alaska, Iceland, and Norway. 


So, diligent we will be! I've found several aurora forecasting services that I'm going to look at regularly. My next post regarding the Northern Lights will be a triumphant one!  

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The Time Difference

4/15/2014

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Another week has passed here in Bergen, and I think we're both adjusting a little more each day. One inevitable consequence of moving half-way around the globe, though, is the time difference that is now between you and the people you left at home. Also, in my case, between me and my employer.

The time difference between Bergen, Norway and California, USA is 9 hours. Having been married to a Norwegian for a few years, I've gotten used to counting ahead or backwards, depending on where we are. But this week, I've caught myself gazing at that twilight-line on my maps application, and imagining what's going on in California.

The time difference means that I can "watch" the sun rise on my home state in the early evening hours here in Norway, when I'm just finishing up my work day and Gisle is coming home. It also means that when I find myself unable to sleep, late at night or early in the morning, it's perfectly acceptable to text a friend back home, knowing I won't disturb their sleep. Maybe my nocturnal habits are better suited to this time zone.

So, given how much the clock has affected me these last weeks, I thought I'd make a brief pro/con list about the 9-hour time difference:

Pros

  • If you're a night person like me, you can make most of your phone calls late at night...


  • You'll never have to have an early morning conference call...


  • People are happy to hear from you, and you'll get comments like, "Wow! We're communicating from half-way around the world, and it's instantaneous!"...


  • When you wake up in the morning, there are all kinds of new things to read on your social media and news feeds...

Cons

  • ...but only business calls, because most of your friends and family are probably at work.


  • ...but if there's a problem with anything or you need help, you'll have to wait until evening.


  • ...but people will be afraid to text or call you when they normally would, because they don't want to wake you up (even though it's actually early evening for you).


  • ...but then everything goes quiet and nobody updates all day long (because they're sleeping). 
Well, that's enough for now. It's 11pm, and my husband is just starting a conference call to the States. Meanwhile, I'm going to bed.

God natt / god dag, wherever you are!
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Unexpected Absences # 001

4/9/2014

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Today I learned that I have been mistakenly adding only fabric softener to our laundry loads, instead of actual detergent. *facepalm* 

This got me thinking. When you leave your home country, you start to realize that there are a lot of things you just
knew before, that suddenly you find you have to think about. Like what to put in the laundry machine.

We had a lovely BBQ in our yard with the neighbors this week, and I couldn't figure out why the "hamburger" patties looked like cardboard waffles. I also entirely missed the fact that we had mayonnaise available, because apparently in Norway mayo comes in weird medicinal tubes:

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But I digress. What I really meant to do was start a list of things I didn't know I'd miss. It's only been 10 days, and I've been out of the US for longer stretches, but somehow this 10 days is different because I know I'm here and have to get used to things. So, I expect this list will grow.

Unexpected Things I Miss

1. Stop lights

What?? No, really. This week I found myself missing good old red/yellow/green stop lights. Bergen has a seriously weird number of roundabouts, which I find slightly uncomfortable, since I feel all these people must know some roundabout rules that I am unaware of. Don't worry, Gisle is giving me driving lessons, and soon I will be a roundabout master.

2. Gas Stoves

Now, this may be more misinformation passed on to me by my dear husband, but apparently Norwegians don't really have gas ovens/stoves. I realized I've become spoiled by our gas burners in San Francisco, and cooking on an electric range is just not the same. My friends from the San Francisco Cooking School will share my pain.

And finally:

3. Iced Tea Dispensers

It sounds crazy, but I have been to every kitchen supply place Gisle could come up with, and nobody anywhere can point me in the direction of an iced tea dispenser. I am missing mine, oh so much. Making tiny batches of iced tea just doesn't cut it.
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Classic Hostess Glass Beverage Dispenser with Ice Insert - http://www.classichostess.com/beveragedispenserwithiceinsert.aspx
Can any Norwegian tell me where to find something like this?! Your help is needed! :)

Well, that is enough whining for one post.

Until next time, vi snakkes!
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Funny Norwegian Words # 001

4/9/2014

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I thought I'd make this a quick and light-hearted post about some of the product names that an English-speaker can't help but see as strange.

1. Fagmøbler

I'm still trying to get a coherent explanation of what the word fag (pronounced "fahhhg") actually means. Gisle translates the furniture store Fagmøbler to mean "we're the best at furniture!" This is just one example--the word is used all over the place in advertising & brand names, including Gisle's company. Someday I will understand what it means. Until then, I think I'm always gonna be giving it the side-eye.

Edit: Now Gisle says the word means "feel" and also means the classes you take at University. I am becoming more confused.

Second Edit: Gisle says "Nooo not FEEL... It's FIELD". I wonder how many of my misconceptions are based on my bad hearing combined with his english-speaking accent.

Third Edit: My sister-in-law translates Fagmøbler to mean "we are serious about furniture!"

2. Servix

Every fixture in this public bathroom I visited was labeled with the "Servix" logo, and silly me couldn't help but see a mis-spelled female body part stamped all over the ladies room.

3. Snøre

The Norwegian language doesn't really use the silent "E", so this candy is pronounced (approximately) "snou-re", but I can't help but look at that huge elephant trunk and think of how loudly he must snore.

4. i farta

This means "on the go" in Norwegian, which I find somewhat hilarious. The more I think about it, the funnier it gets. Somehow, I don't really want to buy a product promising "i farta", especially on-the-go.

There are a lot of other funny examples of the word "fart" used on road signs, and at my next opportunity I will take a picture.

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Misinformation # 001

4/9/2014

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I have decided to start documenting the misinformation & misconceptions about Norway and Norwegian life that I come across and/or realize as I get used to life here.

Being new the to the country, Gisle and I still have not purchased many of the "essential" products that we need to cook and generally get things done at home. Last night at the grocery store, I wanted to pick up a bag of ice so we could have some gin & juice on the rocks (our household cocktail of choice), and we have not yet acquired any icecube trays for the freezer.

Gisle informed me that they simply do not sell ICE in Norway. 

I think my jaw dropped. In my frustration, I may have said something about this being a stupid country. I just wanted a cold cocktail, okay? 

Come to find out, these days there are some grocery markets that sell bags of ice, according to my new neighbor and friend. However, I'm told that only college students throwing huge parties bother to buy them. And to Gisle's credit, it's only been a couple of years since frozen water could be purchased in stores here, and he's been in the US all that time.

My neighbor introduced me to a strange and wonderful Norwegian product tonight, which she brought home for me:
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Say hello to Isterninger Selvlukkende poser -- a disposable plastic icecube bag that you fill with water, freeze, and then break off the ice cubes one-by-one. These puppies run about 10¢ a bag, and though they are not very ecological, sure solve a problem in a country where bags of ice are not really a thing (and you haven't bought a proper icecube tray yet) (and you really want a cold cocktail).
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Getting Started

4/2/2014

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Tonight is the fifth night in our new house in Bergen, Norway. I'm having a little trouble adjusting my sleep schedule to this new place and timezone, and am currently wide awake in bed, at nearly 2am.

The decision to move here with my husband from San Francisco, California, was not an easy one or a quick one. Of course, leaving one's home, job, family, friends, language, & country would not be easy for most people. However, we have been fortunate enough to have supportive families to help us transition, a strong faith in one-another, and a lot of luck.

Once the decision was finally made, I was astounded by how quickly some of our biggest concerns were answered: my husband secured a job with his former employer in no time flat. I connected with my previous employer as well, and was extremely fortunate to secure a position working remotely. And finally, during a Skype call with one of his closest friends, my husband learned about a beautiful condo in our price range, in the right location, and directly adjacent to our friends. A month later, escrow closed and the keys were ours.

Two jobs. A house purchased sight unseen. A leap of faith. Boom, boom, boom!

Although all this sounds like a fairytale, I know there will be ups and downs here just like anywhere else. I thought I'd start this blog in the hopes of documenting my experience adjusting to life here in Norway, so that I can look back on this time and remember what it was like. If my observations are useful or entertaining to anyone else in some way, all the better.

Ha Det!

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    About

    Laura made the move from San Francisco, California, to Bergen, Norway in March, 2014, with her husband. This blog is intended mostly for family and friends, but also for anyone who may be interested in life in Norway from an American's perspective.

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