4th of July, Norwegian Style

This weekend we had a chance to celebrate. Not only was it American Independence Day, and the patriotic Norwegians take the opportunity to be patriotic for us as well, but Saturday was the last day of the heat wave. This last week it was around 90 Fahrenheit everyday for 10 days straight. It was also humid, and almost nothing here is air conditioned. The reason for this is that there are usually only a couple really hot days each summer and if there are more they come in short bursts followed quickly by rain and cool, so the Norwegians delight in the warm weather and take the opportunity to go outside to the beach and the parks. I agree with this mentality, but this last week there was just too much heat to know what to do with it. I was told that they hadn't had such a long heat wave since 1982. It was great, but by Saturday we were all excited for it to be cooler the next day.

So what did we do to celebrate Independence Day here? Go to a car show, of course. One of the suburbs of Oslo decks itself out in the red, white, and blue and pump American music through the streets. This suburb is also home to one of the larger parking lots at the Norwegian Trade Fair Center, so there were hundreds of American cars on display. We have made friends with a group of the street rodders here and have gone camping with them once already, so we spent the day hanging out with them. I have to say, it was the time I felt most at home since we left the states. I haven't really missed home and I don't feel much different here as I'm used to things and speak the language, but there are obviously differences. However, on Saturday the temperature was that perfect "it's really hot but it's okay because it's 4th of July and it should be," the speakers were pumping out American classic rock and country, and there were American cars everywhere. If the people around me hadn't been speaking Norwegian, I wouldn't have known we weren't at home, except I maybe would have thought we were in the South...

Which brings me to another topic, one I haven't been sure how to address. Culturally one of the biggest differences here from the states is that the notion of political correctness is very different here, in fact it's nonexistent. I won't go into details, but I have been in the presence of very well-educated and perfectly normal people here when they say things for which you could be a)beaten or b)arrested for saying back in the states, and in public, within earshot of the target of the comment, no less. It is uncomfortable to say the least, and we've found ourselves speechless and trying to figure out how to best continue the conversation without appearing awkward many a time. I've tried to put it in perspective that this is not America, a country where everyone except the Native Americans were once immigrants and so most people at some level understand that we are all different and have different cultures and backgrounds, or at least keep any comments to the contrary to themselves when in mixed company. I realize not all of the US is like this, but it has come a long way. Norway, on the other hand, has been a homogeneous population for a very long time and just started receiving large numbers of immigrants in the last 20 years. Also, many of the immigrants here are refugees from Africa and many of the women wear hijab, if not full burqa. As in many European countries, there is a resentment that the foreigners come to live off the system and take Norwegians' money, or that they do shabby work. Now not every Norwegian thinks and acts this way and the young people are definitely more open-minded, but it has been interesting to see how it all works out. We have now resided in many different parts of the city with different populations in each and to see the reactions of people when you tell them where you are staying has been quite interesting. I hope that didn't sound too negative as the people have been on the whole quite lovely. Anyways, I will leave you now with some pictures taken during the heat wave. Happy 4th everyone!

This is the view from the Summer house in Drøbak, 40 mins outside Oslo, where we got to go swimming in the ocean and escape the city heat for a day.

A view of the islands in the Oslofjord and people sunbathing on a very hot day.

The military museum, where we went one day to escape the heat. Very interesting chronicle of Norway's history and the military aspect of it.

Akershus Festning and an Island in the Sun

Thanks to the Norwegian Government's observance of all the Protestant Holy Days because every Norwegian is a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Church unless stated otherwise, we were lucky to have two three day weekends in a row, one to observe Ascension Day and the other for Pentecost. One of these weekends (I don't remember which) was really nice outside, so like good Scandinavians we spent a bunch of it outdoors. One day we spent a lot of time walking around Akershus Festning og Slott, which is the fortress and castle that were constructed in the 1290s to protect Oslo. It has been attacked many times, but never taken. You can see a picture of it from a distance here. It was constructed on a sliver of land that juts out into the sea that was in front of where the city used to be. It has been renovated many times all the monarchs that inhabited it, and expanded to include many more modern outbuildings, but is nonetheless quite impressive. You can tell by the variations in stone and brick which parts are older than others, and the place is absolutely huge. We were able to tour the castle, which has only been opened to the public as a museum recently. In it we saw the chambers of many monarchs, not the least of which was Christian IV. He was the guy who was responsible for renovating the place into a Renaissance Castle and adding the finer points to it. He was really the only Danish King who seemed to care much about Norway, and he spent a lot of time in Oslo. In fact, when the city burned to the ground he decided to move the city to its current location and rename it after himself. Thus Oslo was called Christiania until the 20th century when the Norwegians changed it back. Here is a view of the castle from the inner courtyard.One of the cooler things about this castle and fort is that it is still in use. It has cannons that are fired ceremoniously on 17. Mai, there is a Royal Guard that is stationed here and participates in a grand changing of the guard ceremony everyday, and the church and halls of the castle are used by the military and royal family. Members of the military can choose to be married in the chapel and there is a service for the military every Sunday. There is also a hall for receiving dignitaries and holding state banquets, although it is rarely used as the halls in the current palace downtown are a bit more hospitable. I think the only time this castle's hall has been used in modern times was for the wedding or rehearsal dinner for Crown Prince Haakon's marriage to the commoner (now Crown Princess) Mette-Marit.


On another day on a long weekend we decided to take a boat to one of the islands in the Oslofjord. The boats, as I've said, are part of the public transit system so they are free to use with the monthly passes we purchase for around $80 per person for unlimited public transit travel (With gas at $2/liter and not having to pay for parking, it's a pretty good deal). The thing is there aren't even permanent residents on some of these islands, just cottages or no houses at all. The island we went to was entirely a nature preserve, so the city basically provides this boat service for the leisure of the people. The boats run roughly once an hour and are immensely popular on a summer day so we waited in line at the pier for a while before being driven over to an island called Gressholmen. It was a beautiful island that was mostly rocky but there was ample space in the grass to lay down towels in the sun and still be close to the water. I waded in up to my hips and the temperature was great, and this was in late May! Due to the currents and it being an ocean the water is quite warm. You had to wear shoes because it was almost entirely broken shells and barnacled rocks on the bottom, but it was nice. I saw jellyfish for the first time in my life so I got out, but I have since been reassured that these little ones are not dangerous.On other sunny days since then we have had the chance to explore more of downtown. One of the best things in Oslo is the churches. There are lots of churches built in many different styles. There aren't really any typical Norwegian Stavkirker here, they are more in the countryside, but the ones in Oslo are pretty spectacular and pretty much all in use. This isn't much of a church-going country, but all the churches have information about services and things posted outside. Here is one example, I think it's called Trinity Church. It is built in a typical style here, but the definition of typical is pretty broad. To emphasize how common churches are here, you can see that there is another one in the background of this picture. Another architecturally interesting building here is the parliament. I don't know much about it except that it's name in Norwegian is Stortinget which translates literally as "the big/grand thing." There are currently 169 seats in the parliament representing the 4.7 million people of Norway. The building it is housed in is pretty sweet, with big statues of lions outside. Here it is.
Finally, a moment of zen for any car or environmental enthusiasts reading this. Jordan and I were walking on one of the piers in the harbor looking at the big old ships and we happened upon this. Try and guess what it is.


We had no idea what it was until we looked closely at the emblems on the wheels. That my friends, is a Tesla Roadster, pretty much the fastest electric car for sale in the world. Only 500 had been sold as of last month and they retail for just over $100k. While the back end looks pretty funky, I wouldn't complain if someone gave me one. Peace.

17. Mai!

Our second weekend here was a great experience as it included that most Norwegian of festivals, the 17th of May. 17th of May is Norway's national celebration day on which the constitution was established in the 1800s. They didn't actually gain independence until several decades later, but they were on the path. On this day Norwegian's get all dressed up in their traditional Norwegian garb, known as bunader. The main event of the day is the parade in which every school parades in front of the dignitaries of their town. Being that we're in Oslo, the kids here get to parade in front of the highest of dignitaries, the royal family. Yes, Norway still has royalty. When they gained independence they chose to stay a monarchy and they invited one of the princes of Denmark to move to Norway to be their king. He of course did not pass up the offer to be king, but out of consideration for Norwegian tradition he took on the name of one of the Norwegian Kings of old, Haakon. This happened in 1905. Since then there have been only two more kings, the current one being Harald, shown on the balcony above with his family. Harald is actually the first Norwegian King to be born on Norwegian soil since the 1300s. They are just figureheads mostly, but are celebrities and the tabloids here cover the doings of all the royalty of Europe.

But enough about royalty, 17th of May is really considered the childrens' day. It is a day on which they are allowed to eat as much ice cream and junk food as they want. The kids we were staying with didn't take advantage of this with as much gusto as american kids would as they don't have the sugar capacity we do because they eat so healthy all the time. But anyway, it is a really great celebration of nationality and of the nation's future. There are currently debates about the role of the celebration as Norway has more and more immigrants, but the spirit of the childrens' day is something that I don't think will be changing anytime soon. Below is a picture of children dressed up in their national costumes, and if they don't have one they are in their Sunday best.



After the parade is over the partying begins. We went to the grandparents' house for a wonderful meal with grilled salmon, pate, chicken, and this amazing thing called blodtkake. It is a cake made with very fine layers of sponge cake and filled with whip cream and jam. Very rich, but awesome. We then went to a park and hung out with some of the Baha'i youth and had a picnic with them. We also managed to visit the new opera house, which is absolutely gorgeous. It is built right on the ocean and is meant to look like an iceberg. You can see it below.

As you can see the architecture is very interesting. The inside is also really beautiful. You can walk up the roof and see the whole city from up there. The city is currently working on constructing another tunnel (they're very common and very impressive here) to actually make the freeway that runs between the train station and the opera house go underground so the entire waterfront can be a pedestrian zone. There are only 8 parking spots at the opera house, so it's location next to the central station is ideal. Currently the only way to get to the opera is via a pedestrian bridge over the freeway from the train station. These big projects are a little controversial, as is the fact that the government spent millions on the Italian marble used on the exterior of the opera house when Norway has so much nice stone of it's own.


One last thing about 17. Mai is the Russ. Russ is the word for high school students that are just about to graduate. These kids are 18 and on their 18th birthday have been given the right to drive a car, smoke, and drink, all at once. So what do they do with these freedoms and their impending graduation? They party of course! In the picture above you can see two kids wearing red pants with all sorts of spots on them. That is the mark of the Russ. They wear these overalls constantly from the 1st to the 17th of May without washing them. The color of the overalls denote which kind of high school they went to, be it regular, business, environmental, medical, or vocational. The spots on the overalls denote the name of the student, the school attended, and any other silly or lewd things that get put on them by the kids. The kids collect patches by staying up all night or consuming a specific amount of alcohol. They have mock business cards that they hand out to each other and to little kids like trading cards. They also have busses. Above you can see that there is a colorfully painted bus with two boys on top of it. The kids save up money to buy a bus for their group of friends and they basically live in it. They outfit it with huge speakers and there is a contest for the loudest stereo system, and they congregate in parks and parking lots at night to party. Sounds like a good way to graduate, no? I forgot to mention one thing though, they are supposed to be studying for their final exams during this period as exams are the last week and the following week after 17th of May. Somehow they pull it off.

One interesting thing that was really nice about this year's 17. Mai was that Norway got a little present the day or two before. Every year there is a thing called the Eurovision Melodi Grand Prix Song Contest in which all the countries in Europe submit a song and artist that gets performed on tv and then the citizens of Europe vote for the winner. They are not able to vote for their own country so it's a thing of European camaraderie. This year a Norwegian kid won the Grand Prix right before 17. Mai. He was maybe not the best performer in the contest but his song was really catchy and Europe fell in love with him and the song and he had an uncontested victory. This song, Fairytale (performed by Alexander Rybak), became an unofficial national song and was pumped through the streets by the Russ and stores all day on 17. Mai. The boys standing on the bus in the picture above are singing along and dancing to this song before they go and parade in front of the king. All in all, it was a really fun day of national unity in this unique country.

Arrival

So what does any good open-minded, worldly, American couple do three days after arriving in a foreign country? Go to an American car show, of course! Through my work at RockAuto I had found out that the largest show to happen in Oslo would be going on right after we arrived. Jordan and I decided to go for some fun and maybe make connections with the car world there. It sure was an experience. There were a lot of American cars there, and the fact that they were American was what made them show-worthy. There was everything from an 80s Woody Dodge Caravan to a large club for Continentals of all years, and even some true street rods and muscle cars. Behind me you can see two of the offerings at the Mopar club, these two being special because they are new and therefore very expensive to import into the country. The Challenger cost nearly $200k just to import due to the taxes on new cars. Cars over 30 years old are much cheaper to import, just one of Norway's funny automotive laws. We did end up meeting some very nice people from the NSRA; no, not the National Street Rod Association, but the Norwegian Street Rod Association. They gave us some T-shirts and the name of someone who they thought might need help at his rod shop.




These two pictures just demonstrate a little bit of Norwegian life. Behind Jordan is Even and Siri's house, where we stayed the first two weeks. It is rather large for Norwegian standards, but would be considered on par with the larger houses in subdivisions back home. It is really nice, and is typical in that almost all Norwegian houses are built out of wood and have metal roofs. It was built in the 1930s I think. The other picture says a little bit about transportation here. The big blue thing in the background is a "trikke" or trolley. They are all electric and are an integral part of the public transit here. You can get anywhere with public transit, even in the countryside. Oslo has about 600,000 people and there are 6 Subway lines, 6 Trolley lines, and 60+ bus lines. Not to mention there are also 5 boat lines to the islands and peninsulae in the fjord, 3 trains going from the city center to surrounding cities, and tons more bus lines going from the city to the surrounding areas. In terms of cars it is probably the most like the US in that people drive a lot and their cars are not very small, but in general people drive smaller cars. A big car is a CUV and they go all the way down to things like this blue Reva above and the green Buddy next to it. They are pint-sized electric cars that are good for driving around town and are fairly common here.

Now I will leave you with two pictures of beautiful Oslo. The picture on the left is the City Hall, and is one of the tallest buildings here. It sits in the old harbor right next to the bustling wharf of Aker Brygge, one of the most popular hangouts in town, in the othe picture. It is a beautiful area where you can eat a meal outside on the pier or on a boat, go shopping in the mall in the old warehouse buildings, and finish it off with ice cream on the boardwalk.

Introduction

Hello everyone,

We've now been in Norway for over five weeks, and even though we aren't yet positive we are staying, I thought I would take the time to write up some blog posts to share pictures and experiences with you. I hope you enjoy them and that all is well.

Love,

Natasha and Jordan