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 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