First Look Review

I've been in Norway for 2.5 months now so thought I'd treat you to a First Look Review of my time here so far! It's been an interesting time, and, while I don't envisage my blog turning into a guide for other people looking to move here, I thought some of you might be interested to find out how I've been getting on.

On arrival I found that the research I had done didn't really prepare me for the amount of mis-information or basic conflicting information that I was to find, and that includes live information provided within the same organisation! Nor did I anticipate the amount of queuing I'd have to do, or the penchant there seems to be for ticket machines, whether in the post office, tax office, deli counter (well, that is more like the UK) or at the employment office. I felt like using the line from The Prisoner; "I am not a number"!

In actual fact though, I am a number with the issuing of my "D nummer", a temporary number until I start work. I guess this is equivalent to the UK National Insurance Number but it is fundamental to even basic things like getting a library card, a mobile phone SIM or opening a bank account. I received my number in person on a post it note as the skatteetaten (tax office) hadn't included the address I'd written on my application form...I was rather surprised as I'd expected Norway to be super efficient. Time will tell though and it has made me wonder about how people migrating to the UK find it there.

A great advancement is starting a language course. I am just over half way through the first level of Norwegian 1 with Alfaskolen, marking my progress from knowing fewer words than a 3 year old (an incredibly humbling experience!) to now approaching someone who is almost 4...
I spent the first few sessions learning how to say my name, where I live, where I am from and am gradually increasing my vocabulary, reminding me very much of the French I took at school and that back to basics level. Hopefully soon I will be able to say things in the future and past tense rather than just "I am drinking..." or "I am reading..."! Right now I have started to learn different nouns in conjunction with definite and indefinite articles for singular and plural forms, and how the word 'the' is appended to the noun rather than being separate which I find intriguing! Like French, nouns have gender so I am trying to learn which sex glasses and tables and chairs are. Best of all is that I can be nosy and can now eavesdrop on conversations on the T-bane and maybe catch the odd word, rather than it being white noise, as Thomas puts it!

As far as the actual culture and feel of Norway goes, I have to say that it does feel like a slightly more civilised version of the UK (sorry guys!). There is a lot of commonality with the UK from being Northern European, and it delights me to find how we share children's fairy tales and stories. It's been interesting to find out more about Trolls (see Troll Hunter if you haven't already!) and I'm looking forward to seeing evidence of them (though not necessarily power lines) when we go to the Rondane in June. But I've found almost everyone to be friendly, I don't feel for my safety when I travel back on the T-bane late at night after my course, and I enjoy the cosmopolitan feeling that Oslo has. Meeting Joe and Odd in Bergen just over a week ago gave me a different view of Norway, maybe more provincial in some ways, in that this being the second city is half the size of Oslo at 250k people! I love this, and how shops are shut on Sundays and even not being able to buy alcohol after 8pm doesn't feel so bad...

The weather this year hasn't been as bad as recent years, something which I think is shared with the UK too. It's just that it's several degrees colder; we haven't see temperatures above freezing for a few weeks now (in Oslo anyway; in Bergen it's warmer), but generally when I follow the weather reports for the UK or talk to my parents, it just seems as if we get a slightly more extreme or intense version of what the UK has, maybe 12+ hours afterwards. Yes, this is a massive generalisation but I wanted to give an idea of my impressions although I know it wouldn't stand up to meteorological scrutiny!

Finally I thought I would share some special words which when I hear them make me laugh!

- mange ganger, meaning many times. It has a pleasant way of forming in the mouth and makes me smile when our teacher says it!

- siste; meaning last but I always think of Darth Vader in his deep James L. Jones voice saying "Sister"...
- åtti ni; Norwegian for 89 but makes me laugh because it reminds me of "Utini"!

In due course I will write more, but hopefully this answers some questions my friends have had and now that I have resumed blogging I shall hopefully start writing more about my experiences outdoors. Stay posted!

Dusting

We wander into the local woods, a matter of a few meters from the door step. The air is refreshing and my nose and cheeks quickly start to tingle with cold. Crunching and squeaking, my feet are reassured on the snow and ice with the spikes I'm wearing. Rather than hesitant foot placement (I've fallen over a lot), now there is a confidence which makes walking a joy again.



The dusting of snow creates exaggerated forms out of the trees, the Norway Spruces of Christmas abound here and the scene is almost from a Dickensian BBC special. Scots Pines curve sinuous forms until I come across trees fallen by recent winds. Here they abruptly point jaggedly at the sky, aborted in their ambition. Snow tries to cling to the broken growth rings, accentuating them, highlighting the pattern, the dark trunks in counterchange with the lightness of the ground and sky.

In Norway snowshoes are called 'Truge', but with the spikes it doesn't feel like trudging, just freedom. Ice and snow covered rocks are easily managed and I feel liberated. A different footpath; they're still new to me and in snow another landscape and environment has emerged.

The sun breaks through into a clearing above us. Curious lollipop shapes of teasel heads are topped with snow helmets, light bouncing off them, the novelty delighting me. Snow nestles in the crook of branches, covers the ground in a broken pattern; the snow isn't deep enough to blanket the world yet. Bald raspberry canes show promise for next year, blåbær lost their leaves long ago and are now just green stalks which swathe the woodland floor like thin branches of coral.

Stopping to absorb the feeling of space, everything quietens down. For a while anyway, until the noise of the outside world goes away to replaced with an irregular drumming. Coming from above I see movement revealing a Great Spotted Woodpecker, moving about in the trees, trying to find nourishment. Awareness spreads and over there is a Nuthatch, negotiating a tree and performing daredevil stunts of walking down the trunk. Great Tits chatter amongst themselves, flitting between the Willows and Birches, are they annoyed at us making a brew beneath their home?

I feel glad to go to another place and look forward to more snow and more hills, but to escape for an hour of two and to be absorbed into this other kingdom; this feels so vital in every sense of the word.