Strange Things and Lessons Learned

Since I've been here 2.5 weeks I thought I would talk about differences between Norway and the U.S. and some things that are just plain weird. Of course they're only weird to me, but to the people who live here, everything we do back home is probably just as weird.

1. Paper or Plastic? First of all grocery stores here are very small compared to the U.S. and instead of a bag boy asking if you want paper or plastic, the cashier asks you if you want a bag, charges 70 øre for the bag (which is the equivalent of about $0.12), and then you bag the groceries yourself. It took me a about a week and half before I learned this one, so now I take my own bag when I go shopping.

2. Cars Of there are the normal brands: Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Honda, etc.. But who would have ever guessed that the U.S. made Ford, Jeep and Chevrolet in foreign countries? Not me! One thing you don't see here is big SUV, especially Hummers, and boy what a nice change of pace it is too.

3. 7-11 One thing that blew me away more than Ford and Chevy, is the amount of 7-11's here (there are approx. 200 7-11s in Oslo). It's almost like the amount of Starbucks or McDonald's that we have back home! The only difference is, they're expensive!! It cost about $5 for two taquitos...oh and here McDonald's doesn't have a dollar menu either (a $0.79 hamburger at home is $3.00 here!). :(

4. Taxi Please! Now I'm sure we're all familiar with the yellow taxis with advertisements plastered all over them. Well, not here. Norwegians go for the classier approach ... a ride in a Mercedes Benz. Now hows that for style! It's not just Norway either, London was the same way. Even the big 12-seater taxi buses are Mercedes!!!

5. Winter Time Now we all see (and laugh at) the girls in Southern California who wear big jackets, Ugg boots (or even flip flops), and mini-skirts (of all things) in the middle of winter, when its 50 degrees out, pouring rain and are complaining because they are freezing. Well, they wear skirts in Norway too, except here it really is freezing outside and they do it with a slightly different purpose, which isn't to draw attention to themselves. Most of the girls I've seen wearing this style clothing aren't wearing mini-skirts, rather knee length or a little shorter type of skirt (with some kind of thick tights or nylons) on a more professional basis, whether it be for work or special outing. Whatever the reason is it makes me feel like such a wimp, because here I am with my long pants, a double layer of socks, jacket, heavy coat, gloves and something on my head and still standing there shivering because its colder than I'd ever like to know about.

6. Education and Money Its funny because in the U.S. you usually hear parents saying that they should start putting money away for little Johnny's college tuition 5 years before he is ever born, right? Well, that's one thing that Norwegians don't have to worry about. Free education is the way for them, yes that means k-12, college, graduate school; you name it, the government pays for it. However, the higher you go in the education system, the more competative it gets. Now I'm only making a guess here, but it's probably something like the competition of getting into Yale or Harvard and could possibly be even higher. Hows that for a worry free life? You know I shouldn't forget to mention that taxes on regular stuff like laundry soap and clothing are a bit steep...hows 25% sound? But don't worry, its only 14% on food. A whole lot more than 7.75% in California isn't it? I'm guessing that's why Norway (and Scandinavia itself) come off to be so darn expensive. While we're on the subject of shopping and money, one thing I do like about their system is that when you see a price for something on the shelf, the tax is already included. You don't have to worry about adding in a couple of extra Kroner (the Norwegian currency) for tax like we do in the U.S.

7. Keeping Up With The Jones' A week ago I went to a church service led by the chaplains of the university in the Royal Palace Chapel and afterward we all went for coffee at a cafe near the Palace. While we were sitting there I was talking with one of the chaplains and she was telling me different things about Norway. We were talking about cars and I mentioned something about how nice it was not to see any a Hummers around, because at home Hummers are a symbol of how much money you have more than anything else. And she said that people here don't go around flaunting their money by buying fancy cars or big expensive boats, but maybe they live in the nicer part of town or own a cabin in some other part of Norway as a vacation house. They just don't go trowing their money around like they are king of the world and if they do, they pretty much get slapped in the face by their peers. So there really is no "keeping up with the Jones'" here in Norway and I think that's pretty cool. Basically, everybody is their own Jones' and they only have themselves to keep up with.

8. One last thing I want to add is about the sun. Every time I see the sun out I get so excited because I think that it won't be as cold outside and I don't have to wear my big coat, just a couple of small jackets will do. Well, I'm wrong, the sun means nothing!! Except the fact that there are no clouds in the sky. Even though the sun may be out shinning its bright sunny face, its really just out to get me, because then I go outside, with my less than usual protection against the cold, and end up coming home barely being able to move my bright red face nor my bright red fingers. So just remember, even though the sun is out in January and at home that means pants and a light jacket it is not the same for Norway. Also, it could be the fact that there is no more snow on the ground that is playing tricks on my mind, but that is a task to uncover tomorrow.