Just a quick holiday post, most of you will hopefully be preparing to say goodbye to 2010 in traditional style. Traditional of course having distinction dependant on where you are.
In Scotland, you buy enough booze for 30 people despite inviting only ten who will bring their own booze anyway... or go down the pub, drink until blindness sets in and do something/someone you will regret.
På Vest-norge however, you spend around £50 on fireworks and share some champagne with family. Alternatively, pay the same amount to visit an awful nightclub where they play 'We are the World, We are the Children' until you leave. If you are really lucky, you can find a house party where you can spend the £50 on 2 bottles of vodka and repeat the last step of the Scottish experience.
Norwegian Christmas food by the way, I officially love pinekjøtt(lamb rib), rødkal(red cabbage), surkål(pickled cabbage), medisterkake(meatloaf), ribbe(pork rib) and kalrabi(type of swede). Should any of you come visit, I will be sure to introduce you to this wonderful combination of flavours.
Past couple of months has been fun, had a Mexican come live with us following her having a none too pleasant experience with her host family. Their loss was our gain and we now have someone to say hello to when we get to the Americas.
Almost got all my ski equipment now, just need boots and skis. Prepare for pictures of me falling down a hill, damaging the equipment I saved so hard to buy.
In any case, I/we are still very much seduced by the life over here and having said a proper goodbye to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago, the new start is really gathering pace now with both of us having perm jobs, our own car and plans to buy/build a house perhaps in the summer.
Happy New Year, Godt Nyttår and all that jazz, I wish you all a happy 2011.
TTFN
Tony
xx
PS - Returning to Edinburgh just after Easter, seeing a new mummy and daddy.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Norway, an easy place to love
If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air... I suggest you steer clear of Western Norway during the winter. The weather here is much like it is in Scotland, only more so in every way. The hail storms sound like a thousand marbles on a spin cycle, the snow is relentless and the rain is never ending. In theory, given the associations between seasonal affective disorder and the cold dark winters in northern parts, you'd think everyone would be pretty miserable right about now.
So why is this not true? Well, Norway manages to makes everyone, be they inhabitant or visitor feel very good about themselves. I will try to explain this by describing a few things that make me feel as warm inside as it is cold outside:
Det norske folket - the people
For the past 5 months I have been learning the local language but I have managed to get by because of the confident manner in which most Norwegians speak English. Interestingly, in doing this I have discovered that Norwegians, like most other nationalities in Europe, are a touch more blunt than those of us from Britain. Saying 'please' is seldom outside of establishments and they have a curious inability to say 'excuse me' when the situation sees fit. In actual fact, they push... a lot. But I will talk about that next week.
Rather than put me off though, this has actually become one of the things I love most about Norway and Norwegians, their clear cut way of communicating. Calling a telephone helpline over here presents you with a truly un-robotic approach to customer service. They get straight to the point and the conversation has a very natural flow, rather than an intensely scripted experience like we would get from phoning BT or Virgin Media. It appears to boil down to one thing in my mind, that being honesty. I have never spoken to someone in the UK that really trusts their local bank, estate agent or even recruitment agency to do everything they say they will, where as over here it is completely the opposite. I get a boat every morning to get to work and the conductor who checks for tickets merely accepts my word that I have a monthly card. No check to see if I am pulling a fast one, just trust. Occasionally they ask for proof but in three months this has happened to me twice.
Den norske naturen - The Norwegian Outdoors
As you have probably seen by my almost daily posting of pictures on the book of face, I quite like the scenery over here. Come rain or shine there is a picturesque backdrop around every corner usually featuring the magnificent snow topped mountain ranges, wonderfully still fjords and if there has been some snow, the brightest landscape you will see outside of the Arctic. Thanks to the film 'TrollHunter' I firmly believe there are 100ft tall, human snacking ogres inside these beautiful mountains, but it didn't stop me visiting a log cabin last weekend.
The last picture is taken on board a speedboat on my way to work, so the sights make for a beautifully serene commute, which brings me nicely to my next subject.
Den norske arbeidsplassen - The Norwegian workplace
The horribly colonial buzz-term 'status-less environment' is applied everywhere, often in open plan offices to indicate no social or professional division, which actually just makes everyone feel a little less important than the people who do get their own office. Over here though, it is not uncommon to have coffee with your manager, managing director and so on so an open plan office is a bit of a non-existence, outside of the UK firms that are here that is. It is also possible I think this having met some absolutely wonderful people working here, both norges and non-norges. This brings me back to my first point about Norway, this country does not have just lovely norsk people but lovely visitors working for them too.
And a few more brief points about what makes Norway... Norway
Next time, I am going to take a different view on what I think of Norway. Not so much a 'what I hate' approach, more a 'I do not understand why this is worse than the UK' angle.
In any case, I am here to stay.
TTFN
So why is this not true? Well, Norway manages to makes everyone, be they inhabitant or visitor feel very good about themselves. I will try to explain this by describing a few things that make me feel as warm inside as it is cold outside:
Det norske folket - the people
For the past 5 months I have been learning the local language but I have managed to get by because of the confident manner in which most Norwegians speak English. Interestingly, in doing this I have discovered that Norwegians, like most other nationalities in Europe, are a touch more blunt than those of us from Britain. Saying 'please' is seldom outside of establishments and they have a curious inability to say 'excuse me' when the situation sees fit. In actual fact, they push... a lot. But I will talk about that next week.
Rather than put me off though, this has actually become one of the things I love most about Norway and Norwegians, their clear cut way of communicating. Calling a telephone helpline over here presents you with a truly un-robotic approach to customer service. They get straight to the point and the conversation has a very natural flow, rather than an intensely scripted experience like we would get from phoning BT or Virgin Media. It appears to boil down to one thing in my mind, that being honesty. I have never spoken to someone in the UK that really trusts their local bank, estate agent or even recruitment agency to do everything they say they will, where as over here it is completely the opposite. I get a boat every morning to get to work and the conductor who checks for tickets merely accepts my word that I have a monthly card. No check to see if I am pulling a fast one, just trust. Occasionally they ask for proof but in three months this has happened to me twice.
Den norske naturen - The Norwegian Outdoors
As you have probably seen by my almost daily posting of pictures on the book of face, I quite like the scenery over here. Come rain or shine there is a picturesque backdrop around every corner usually featuring the magnificent snow topped mountain ranges, wonderfully still fjords and if there has been some snow, the brightest landscape you will see outside of the Arctic. Thanks to the film 'TrollHunter' I firmly believe there are 100ft tall, human snacking ogres inside these beautiful mountains, but it didn't stop me visiting a log cabin last weekend.
The Rolls Royce cabin - Stryn
A frozen river - Stryn Fjell
My commute
The last picture is taken on board a speedboat on my way to work, so the sights make for a beautifully serene commute, which brings me nicely to my next subject.
Den norske arbeidsplassen - The Norwegian workplace
The horribly colonial buzz-term 'status-less environment' is applied everywhere, often in open plan offices to indicate no social or professional division, which actually just makes everyone feel a little less important than the people who do get their own office. Over here though, it is not uncommon to have coffee with your manager, managing director and so on so an open plan office is a bit of a non-existence, outside of the UK firms that are here that is. It is also possible I think this having met some absolutely wonderful people working here, both norges and non-norges. This brings me back to my first point about Norway, this country does not have just lovely norsk people but lovely visitors working for them too.
And a few more brief points about what makes Norway... Norway
- The women. They do not need FHM magazine, the mums in the supermarket are better looking.
- The country does not shut when it snows.
- Hot dogs are available everywhere.
- Log Cabins. Frick'n awesome.
- Skiing is for everyone, not just the kids who go to private school and do summer in the Alps.
- Forspill, and consequently nachspill.
- The alluring way in which they speak English.
- The intelligent way they speak English.
- The government wants you to have children and grow old.
- 5 weeks holiday in June/July, like a school holiday for adults.
Next time, I am going to take a different view on what I think of Norway. Not so much a 'what I hate' approach, more a 'I do not understand why this is worse than the UK' angle.
In any case, I am here to stay.
TTFN
Thursday, October 28, 2010
A new beginning...
If you were to ask Anita or myself what we miss most about the UK, by the UK, I mean Scotland; it is the friends that we would usually bump into in the street, the friends on nights of boozy dinners, cheesy nightclubs and stanley casino climaxes, deep, topical and sometimes emotional discussion after far too many jagerbombs, BBQs where the weather is always slightly too windy and being able to walk into a chippy and ask for a half pizza supper - the phenomena that is donor pizza and deep-fried haggis has not made its way over to Nordic lands as yet.
Anyway, rather than reminisce about all of the friends I used to paint the town of Edinburgh with like some soppy romantic novel, I thought I would share my experiences of this quaint little country with you all so see if what I made of it rings true with any of you. Experiences good and bad, frustrating and fantastic will all be shared in glorious erm, black and white text. And perhaps the odd picture, I am known to sometimes take my camera places.
I'll do my best to update this once a week to give you an idea of what this strange little rich country is like to live in. Comments and critique appreciated, one day I want to do this for a living.
Lots of love,
Tony
I'll do my best to update this once a week to give you an idea of what this strange little rich country is like to live in. Comments and critique appreciated, one day I want to do this for a living.
Lots of love,
Tony
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