Norway has a unique feature in its culture, and with it, a unique word: Matpakke. The word literally means “food package” and is the traditional Norwegian work lunch. Norwegians have traditionally had four meals a day – breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper – of which three are made up of very plain, open-faced sandwiches. Only […]
Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday In Norwegian: Nedre Hamburgersmauet
I have always been interested in Christianity. More specifically, I have always been interested in the answer to this question: Does Jesus save? I have always struggled with having a faith in Jesus. My own family is made up of theists, but nobody ever bothered with the traditional religions. Grandma couldn’t understand why anybody wanted […]
Comments here and there in the blog world, prompted the question about whether or not I had kept anything from childhood. The answer is no. Both times I left California (age 8 and age 20) for Norway, it never occurred to anyone in the family that it would be for an extended stay and so […]
Wordless Wednesday
…because at 5 am I had all kinds of great ideas for a blog post today, and had several paragraphs ready in my head. Can’t remember a thing – not even what the topic was. What’s the point of waking up way too early if you can’t use it for something good? I need to […]
Lately, Princess Märtha Louise has been in the news because of her new book about angels, co-written with Elisabeth Samnøy, with whom the princess also runs an angel school with. I kid you not. The funny part is that the usually staid Norwegians are flocking to hear her speak and to buy her book. Nothing […]
I have noticed that with things like Twitter and Facebook, getting something off one’s chest can be done in a few short sentences, and the immediacy and convenience (and lack of expectation of more than a paragraph) mean that more people “tweet” or post to Facebook rather than blog now. I was hunting for some […]
It wasn’t my night last night. The night belonged to two very nice co-workers who were both hired November 1 1984. 50 people enjoyed a lovely meal, speeches, entertainment, conversation, a bit of dancing and a lot of wine. But as their guest until about 2 am, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. And my outfit. […]
Hah! I’ll bet my blog post title made you take a second look! But I woudn’t give up sex. No, it’s the title of the song embedded below. In connection with the release this week of a rock-and-roll encyclopedia covering the last 50 years of music in Bergen (Bergen actually headed the rock-and-roll revolution in […]
Earlier this week, in a comment on my Halloween post, Protege asked me a question: Do I ever feel the urge to return to California for good, or do I feel Norwegian at this point? My answer was neither. Although many people believe I am Norwegian, I’m not. Not even by blood. I am a […]
Wordless Wednesday – see also Saturday’s post
A warm “fohn” wind blew yesterday morning. A cold and wet wind blew yesterday afternoon, and I – who didn’t have an umbrella – took the bus home. Typical November weather. The wind comes in hard and sideways and dumps huge amounts of rain on you, also sideways. And it makes the darkening evening even […]
I can barely remember childhood Christmases or Easters. One Christmas stands out because it was the last before I moved to Norway at age 8; one Easter stands out because we ended up spending the day in the ER getting stitches put into my sister’s forehead. The holiday I remember best is Halloween. I always […]
In an attempt to escape Halloween (I’ll talk about that later) yesterday, I went to a theater play. “Operasjon Almenrausch” (sorry, little info in English) was more like a live docudrama, and what a great way to tell a story! Extremely clever staging, with the action taking place all over and the audience seated in […]
A Roll in the Universe 