I'm back after a month hiatus due to being sick. I was laid low, but am gaining energy every day now. Watch out for those foreign viruses! That's a quote from sister Denise.
It's starting to be fall here. The trees haven't changed yet, and the roses haven't faded yet, but the skies are gray and the wind is playing with the umbrellas. There are no more street musicians or jugglers. Cruise ships? Only one this week. Tour busses are way down, but not out.
Ed and I have furnished our apartment now, all from IKEA. They have even better deals here than in the states. Our guest bedroom awaits you!
More success on the shopping front. We had several things on our grocery list that we just could not find. Vanilla - they have "vanilla sugar" which is granulated. Today we found a grocery store with a teensy vial of vanilla essence. Maple syrup - basically we couldn't find ANY pancake-type syrup. They put jam on their waffles, which they eat in the middle of the day, not at breakfast. The same grocery store with the vanilla essence had two - count them - two brands of maple syrup plus other syrups. Crushed red pepper - still no luck. Ed is dying for some hot-spicy flavors, but you can't even get hot-spicy when you order Thai food. You can ask them to bring you extra pepper to add to your Tom Yum Kung, though. The last thing on our "can't find" list was oatmeal. Well, we have figured out that "havre" means oats, and if you get havregryn, that's rolled oats, or havregrøt, that's oatmeal porridge. Woo Hoo!
On the eating front, as I mentioned, waffles are lunch/snack food. Lunchmeat and cheese on bread is breakfast food. You also get jelly and margarine for breakfast. People that are out and about don't carry bottles of cola, they carry cartons of juice, mostly orange juice. Cookies are rare, apples are commonly snacked upon. I'll bet this eating style helps account for the lack of obesity here. You can find Burger Kings, if you're dying for hamburger or chicken. But those foods are rare. It seems to me that chicken would be a profitable food industry here, but it is relatively scarce. What they do have is fish in so many forms it's unbelievable. On top of that, they sell Omega-3 vitamins all over the place. (?)
Bergen is having a tremendous baby boom. There are strollers everywhere, and toddlers, and pregnant women. There are two baby stores within sight of our apartment. The amazing thing to me, is that the toddlers are so well behaved. I have yet to see a temper tantrum. I've seen a little whining, but that is the worst. They definitely have the secret of happy children here.
The UiB, University in Bergen, is in session now. There were funny things happening when the kids first got back to town. Right down the middle of the pedestrian street over here, there was a competition between groups to make the longest silly string line. A line of toga-clad folks were trying to get into a Chinese restaurant.Then there was the group dressed as a chicken, a gorilla, and a bunch of pirates. The chicken had to get money from the ATM, so another person wore his head while he did that.
On the subject of ATMs, there are different underlying assumptions about debit cards here.
1. Your debit card is your ID. It has your picture and your personal number.
2. Every time you use it to buy something, the bank charges you for that! Opposite of the US, where you get air miles or cash back or something.
3. If you use the ATM of the bank with your account, it is going to cost you, unless you use it while they are open. Bizarre! I am sure using another bank's ATM is going to cost you, no matter what.
4. Depositing US dollars in my account here costs big time. Henceforth, I am mailing my US checks to BECU in the US. It'll save money, even if it takes forever.
I hope you are all weathering the financial problems okay. Norway has a national pension fund, called the oil fund, that is taking some heavy hits. They had investments in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Finance Minister, who usually disagrees with George W, congratulated him after his rescue of those two for his good socialist move. Then came the crash of Lehmann Brothers. The oil fund had over 17 million shares, fresh bought 2nd quarter of this year. Oops. And now WaMu. The oil fund may have about 8 billion US dollars exposure with WaMu. Just last year, the oil fund was being praised for what a good investment fund it was.
Continuing my random walk, I come to age and retirement here in Norway. People live longer here, and are active much longer. Just yesterday, I was reading about a man named Lie, who is 103 years old, and still a mover and shaker in the government. He just came out with a new book, "The Way I See It Now", wherein he talks about NATO and the US in much less favorable terms than he did before. Here in Norway, you don't get a senior discount until you're 65 or older. Early retirement is unheard of.
I think it's time to quit walking and take a rest. See you later!
It's starting to be fall here. The trees haven't changed yet, and the roses haven't faded yet, but the skies are gray and the wind is playing with the umbrellas. There are no more street musicians or jugglers. Cruise ships? Only one this week. Tour busses are way down, but not out.
Ed and I have furnished our apartment now, all from IKEA. They have even better deals here than in the states. Our guest bedroom awaits you!
More success on the shopping front. We had several things on our grocery list that we just could not find. Vanilla - they have "vanilla sugar" which is granulated. Today we found a grocery store with a teensy vial of vanilla essence. Maple syrup - basically we couldn't find ANY pancake-type syrup. They put jam on their waffles, which they eat in the middle of the day, not at breakfast. The same grocery store with the vanilla essence had two - count them - two brands of maple syrup plus other syrups. Crushed red pepper - still no luck. Ed is dying for some hot-spicy flavors, but you can't even get hot-spicy when you order Thai food. You can ask them to bring you extra pepper to add to your Tom Yum Kung, though. The last thing on our "can't find" list was oatmeal. Well, we have figured out that "havre" means oats, and if you get havregryn, that's rolled oats, or havregrøt, that's oatmeal porridge. Woo Hoo!
On the eating front, as I mentioned, waffles are lunch/snack food. Lunchmeat and cheese on bread is breakfast food. You also get jelly and margarine for breakfast. People that are out and about don't carry bottles of cola, they carry cartons of juice, mostly orange juice. Cookies are rare, apples are commonly snacked upon. I'll bet this eating style helps account for the lack of obesity here. You can find Burger Kings, if you're dying for hamburger or chicken. But those foods are rare. It seems to me that chicken would be a profitable food industry here, but it is relatively scarce. What they do have is fish in so many forms it's unbelievable. On top of that, they sell Omega-3 vitamins all over the place. (?)
Bergen is having a tremendous baby boom. There are strollers everywhere, and toddlers, and pregnant women. There are two baby stores within sight of our apartment. The amazing thing to me, is that the toddlers are so well behaved. I have yet to see a temper tantrum. I've seen a little whining, but that is the worst. They definitely have the secret of happy children here.
A couple of weeks ago, there was a flock of antique fire trucks out across the street. The kids were having a blast climbing in them and riding in them!
The UiB, University in Bergen, is in session now. There were funny things happening when the kids first got back to town. Right down the middle of the pedestrian street over here, there was a competition between groups to make the longest silly string line. A line of toga-clad folks were trying to get into a Chinese restaurant.Then there was the group dressed as a chicken, a gorilla, and a bunch of pirates. The chicken had to get money from the ATM, so another person wore his head while he did that.
On the subject of ATMs, there are different underlying assumptions about debit cards here.
1. Your debit card is your ID. It has your picture and your personal number.
2. Every time you use it to buy something, the bank charges you for that! Opposite of the US, where you get air miles or cash back or something.
3. If you use the ATM of the bank with your account, it is going to cost you, unless you use it while they are open. Bizarre! I am sure using another bank's ATM is going to cost you, no matter what.
4. Depositing US dollars in my account here costs big time. Henceforth, I am mailing my US checks to BECU in the US. It'll save money, even if it takes forever.
I hope you are all weathering the financial problems okay. Norway has a national pension fund, called the oil fund, that is taking some heavy hits. They had investments in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The Finance Minister, who usually disagrees with George W, congratulated him after his rescue of those two for his good socialist move. Then came the crash of Lehmann Brothers. The oil fund had over 17 million shares, fresh bought 2nd quarter of this year. Oops. And now WaMu. The oil fund may have about 8 billion US dollars exposure with WaMu. Just last year, the oil fund was being praised for what a good investment fund it was.
Continuing my random walk, I come to age and retirement here in Norway. People live longer here, and are active much longer. Just yesterday, I was reading about a man named Lie, who is 103 years old, and still a mover and shaker in the government. He just came out with a new book, "The Way I See It Now", wherein he talks about NATO and the US in much less favorable terms than he did before. Here in Norway, you don't get a senior discount until you're 65 or older. Early retirement is unheard of.
I think it's time to quit walking and take a rest. See you later!
Glad to hear you are feeling better Pilla!
ReplyDeleteWe found in our years in england and travels abroad to look for ATMs with the "Plus" network symbol. They weren't always free, but they usually were the cheapest and they also gave the best exchange rate.
Hot and spicy food and Scandinavian cannot be legally used in the same sentence. That was also true in England, where white, bland, and tasteless come to mind. Highly seasoned was salt and pepper. Mexican restaurants would give you a bottle of Tabasco if you asked, and then the waiter would watch in horror if you put more than a drop on the food. Funny thing was how the Brits loved to chow down on curry in the Indian restaurants though, and some of that stuff would make your ears curl. You will learn that many "US" things can't be found, and amazingly the locals do not care about that, much to the disdain of the ugly Americans.
You will also learn to like a lot of the local stuff, and then in later years discover you simply must have them. The last trip I made to England, I was carefully instructed exactly which aisle to go down in Sainsbury's to find some "essence" or something for Claudia -- and amazingly it was right where it used to be in 1998!
When you've had all of the Norwegian forms of fish, pop over to Sweden and try the Surstromming. I understand you buy it buy selecting the can that is bulging the most, because that will be the most tasty -- and I've heard you will walk on your knees back to Bergen to have normal food like lutefisk. I understand the Norwegian version is rakfisk. Let us know...