Update on my Job and Language situation

My last few posts have all been attempts at making interesting observations about various things in Norway maybe with comparison to England. This will continue to be a big focus of this blog but I thought it was about time I wrote i slightly more personal post about how my employment and language situations are developing. So here it is.

Generally very little has changed in a long time employment wise, my temporary job was extended to an open contract which had several interesting implications. Originally as I only had a temporary contract I was only given a temporary birth number (NI number or social security number equivalent). This made getting a bank and several other things rather tedious so I'm now very pleased to have a proper perminant one which I will keep forever.  It certainly helps with the whole "feeling of belonging" thing. I should also say however that although I have no official end date, my hours are very irratic and inconsitent and I could be told at any time that I am no longer needed. Not exactly the nicest way to live I must say and also very restricting as we cant commit to buying a house or anything. I am still tirelessly searching for something new, perminant and maybe actually using some of my skills, but until such a time I must just be greatful for this oportunity to make some money.

This is an example of a Norwegian Birth number. The first six letters are your date of birth (day/month/year) and then random numbers. The English system involves letters too and there is talks of bringing that in in Norway as they are running low on combinations.

The language, that old chestnut. Well actually I have felt like I've been progressing really well recently. I have a textbook I read very regularly and I think has helped a lot. Its quite a hard one to get into as its an international book for anyone learning Norwegian not just English and therefore has no English in it just all Norwegian. I still have not had the finances to invest in a language course so practicing more and more with friends and at work etc.

I can often get very frustrated by others in their reaction to my learning and their opinoin on what is an acceptable amount I should know and what I should or shouldnt already understand. The truth is that although I still have a long long long way to go, I am actually progressing well and I understand so much more than people give me credit for. At the same time though I cant make too much of a point of this because then people will expect me to understand everything! Which I just cant yet! An example of this is a new work collegue who Ive spent a lot of time with recently started to notice how much I followed in Norwegian and decided (despite him speaking better English than most others I work with) that he would only talk to me in Norwegian so I can practice more. This has actually proved more successfull than I would have thought and Im often surprised by how comfortable I am. Other times though it can be incredibly tedious and I start to feel very stupid when I start to struggle several times in a short space of time and keep having to ask him to repeat or translate.

The thing here is no one can win really, people cant know exactly what it is I know so all the time they are going to assume I either dont or do understand certain things. Of course actually this is no ones fault really. In fact actually its my own because I can at times get very aggitated when someone translates something I understood and then equally aggitated when I cant follow something. Its very silly of me but I cant help hating looking stupid and this is going to happen constantly and I just have to accept it. Most of the time most people are very patient with me and are really helping me develop so Im incredibly greatful to them.

Speaking Norwegian is something I have to address entirly seperatly as I do this very rarely. Largely only to my girlfriend Marianne and her family (especially her young neices who I feel more comfortable making a muppet of myself in front of) and then in shops and restaurants and stuff. As a rule of thumb if I know what the conversastion is about, like ordering food or the little chit chat I know I have with Marianne then I can respond quickly as Im prepared. Its almost like a get the cheat sheet of words ready to construct a sentance in my head. When people at work or something though talk to me in Norwegian I have no idea what to expect and even though I might understand fine I naturally instantly reply in English. If I were to pause and translate a response then they would assume I didnt understand and then repeat the question in English, making it look is if I didnt understand when I did, which as I mentioned really bugs me. Does any of that make sense? who knows? I hope so.

Saffice to say I just need to keep going and be calm and patient. Given the iraticness of many other parts of my life here this is not always the easiest task but I am managing and must continue to do so.

This is the book I am using. I have not seen others so I can really compare and give a proper review but I would reccomend it.

Vinmonopolet - The insanity that is buying alcohol and its prices in Norway

The briefest possible guide on buying alcohol in Norway from bars and shops.

Ok so regular readers may already be away I'm big into my drink. Beer, wine, spirits I love it all for different reasons. Safe to say the drinking culture in Norway was one of my biggest culture shocks, which probably says more about me than Norway but still.

I will have to leave my opinions on Norwegian drinking culture and attitude to drinking till another time and instead here stick mainly to the facts! I will give Norwegian prices and English conversion which is pretty accurate and also a vague approximation of Euros, sorry but I dont know dollar conversion off the top of my head. You may have heard alcohol is expensive in Norway, well whoever told you this wasnt lying, it is, very! It varies loads of course and student places exist where deals can be found but as a general rule in a not too expensive place I would say 60-70NOK (£7 / €9/10) is pretty standard for a beer or glass of wine. This is the average stuff we are talking here too! Any drink of good quality in a nice bar or restaurant is going to be 100NOK+(£10/€13) and bottles of wine in such places will be knocking around 400NOK.

It all sounds pretty bad right? Well yer it takes some getting used to, especially when these expensive beers are typically just 400ml. English standard is a pint (568ml) and a half litre (500ml) is pretty standard all over Europe. One can sit around complaining every time they buy a drink but frankly it gets boring, you just need to get used to it and cant always be comparing international prices as any seasoned traveller will tell you exchange rates only tell half the story, generally Norweignas make notable more than many other countries and this goes some way to providing some balance.

Whats really mental though is buying drink from the shops for a number of reasons, every one of these was completely alien to me when I first moved over. I'll give you the key five rules you must remember:
1. All alcoholic drinks are sold per unit. For example if you buy a six pack of beer you pay for six individual beers. It is illegal to offer discount for mass purchase.
2. Supermarkets only sell drinks under a certain percentage (about 5 but im not certain). Basically this means just beer and cider.
3. Supermarkets stop selling alcohol after 8pm on weekdays, 6pm on Saturdays and if you can find anyone actually open on Sunday, they will not sell you alchol either.
4. All alcohol over the 5% mark can ONLY be bought from the state owned and run organisation called the Vinmonopolet (The wine monopoly).
5. The Vinmonoloplet is open till 6pm weekdays and just 3pm Saturdays.

The alcohol in shops while not nearly as expensive as the bars and restaurants is still very pricey. Average quality beer is 40/50NOK(£5/€7) and for bottles of spirits such as a litre of vodka your talking 400/500(£50/€70). Wine by comparison is very reasonable, most pretty good bottles brush around the 100NOK (£10/€14) area and boxes of wine containing the equivalent of 4 bottles can be got for around 350NOK (£35/€42) which is beginning to sound reasonable even by English standards. Of course being wine loads of much more expensive stuff is available but the stuff around the prices I've mentioned is good wine for the price I can assure you.

So yer, thats buying drink in Norway. Sounds like a massive pain in the arse doesnt it? It may or may not surprise you to here you get used to it pretty quickly. I often still get burnt, realising its 7pm on a Saturday and I have no beer to take to a mates house or something like that for example but this is more rare than you may expect. The main trick of course is to always have a good stock pile for emergencies and those last many party arrangements. Also choosing what you drink it important, Im a big lover of many spirits but given the prices the only spirits I drink now are those I get from duty free (£24 for two litres of export strength Bombay Saphire for example, winning!) 

Finally I will just say for anyone moving to Norway, forget exchange rates and just look at it objectively from the Norwegian price. If you buy two drinks in a bar and see 200NOK or more come up on the card moniter whatever you do dont think "shit thats £20/€26" or whatever, its not! Its 200NOK and that is all that matters. For those visiting Norway of course you have to think of the exchange rates as you are living off that countries pay check and all that but all I ask is you keep all the freaking out to yourself as much as possible. If we say that 50NOK for a drink is a great deal, then just believe us and accept it. We are doing the best we can and there is nothing we can do about it.

Epilogue: All these factors have some very interesting impacts on drinking culture in my opinoin and I will without doubt be doing another post on that subject in the not too distant future.

Whats the clock? Telling the time in Norwegian

Norwegians have a fascinating way of telling the time that is incredibly different to English and is often very confusing to all so its very helpful to know how it works. First of all, not such a big deal but when they write the time they will ALWAYS use a 24hr clock system. So rather than writting 8pm they would write 20.00. Although in England we would probably never do this, we are very familiar with a 24 hour clock system so its not too strange. I was once told Americans use it very little or in some areas not at all and if that is the case for you, I advise you check it out to avoid confusion. The whole AM/PM thing confuses Norwegians and in my experience they nearly always guess wrong, assuming AM is after midday or a reference to afternoon. Perfectly reasonable assumtion but what I always tell them is that it goes in alphabetical order, I think this is the easiest way for those not used to it to remember. When talking, the 24 hour system is basically never used, apparently common sense can be used when talking but in text we must specify. I dont fully understand this either by the way.

So thats the simple bit, now for the more confusing. 6:30 is said "six thirty" or more often "half passed six" in England. Even more often though the 'passed' is ommited and we just say "half six". This is all well and good however in Norway they do the opposite. 6:30 would be said "halv syv" or translated "half seven". As the word half is said to mean half way towards. This can cause a lot of complications, around my friends and family over here our rule is whichever language you say it in, you follow their rules. So if its 8:30 we can either say "half eight" or "halv ni". For anyone visiting Norway, always double check when someone says it to you, dont assume because they are talking English they are using the English system. I have had this problem more than once.

So they are the most common issues but for interests sake I will continue to explain the crazy Norwegian system as it confuses me greatly. 8:20, simply, "eight twenty" or "twenty past eight" in English yes? In Norwegian its "ti på halv ni" which translates as "ten to half nine". This is rather confusing if you ask me and made even more so when I first hear it as "på"typically translates as "on". So direcetly translated in my head I hear "ten on half nine". So first you must remember its half to nine not half past and then remember that for some stupid reason on in this instance means "towards" and not "on top of" which is how I would naturally inturprit itand therefore think they menat passed. I hope you are following this?

When you get used to it it really isnt all that mental but you really need a heads up or you can become very confused. Often to be safe I say it very clearly for example 6:30 I say "six thirty" and things like this as a safe way to avoid confusion. The theory when simplified is in a way actually very simple, the English clock has one divide line at half passed, everything upto that is refered to as "passed", everything after it as "to". Norwegian time telling has two dividing lines, as shown in the picture below which hopefully makes the whole thing quite simple.

So I hope after deliberatly confusing you so you understand slightly what I went through I hope it all makes a lot more sense. It is now "ti over halv fem"/"ten over half five" (16.40) and I must get be off.

Comparing English and Norwegian Christmas

Im aware this is rather late and as always I apologise, in my defence I actually wrote it about a month or so ago and I have been waiting to get hold of pictures to add. As I am still waiting I thought I would publish it now and I will hopefully add some pictures soon.

For many years I have not thought of myself as a big Chrismas guy. A mixture of working in retail and hopsitality around the insane season along with over played songs and forced happiness has always made me think the whole thing is rather over rated. In addition my Christmases have been very hectic and varied for many years and of course the horrible realisation of the older you get the more responsibility moves from having to look happy with even the dodgiest present to actually having to go out and by loads yourself.
In hindsight this was proberly largely the thoughts of an short sighted grumpy adalesant and I have come to realise their are loads of things I love about Christmas. The food is unparralled, more drink than you can possibly get through and spending loads of time with family and friends. Presents catchy music and corney films aside (all of which i must admit i do enjoy) the family, friends, food and drink is definatly the makers for me.

I would like to cover the whole Christmas period in one post from Early December to New years but alas I fear it would become a novel so I will just go for the 2 main Christmas days, December 24th,25th. To give some perspective I will first summarise what these days consist of in England in my family. Christmas eve, the 24th of December, traditionally this is a day for children to escape their parents and enjoy time with their friends before the harcore family time begins. By children I mean, 18 and up, and by enjoy time with friends I mean, hit the town. Typically this should not be a proper session of course as one must be able to take part in the following days festivities, however accedents do happen. Other traditions include the more casual option of hitting the local pub, or for the religeous families, of which their are many. Their is midnight mass.

Christmas day, 25th, when we were kids it was get up at 6am, kick Dad, make tea so my Mum would get up, convince her she doesnt have time to shower and do make up and then everyone would enter the living room which would have been filled with presents and spend the next hour or so opening them in our dressing gowns and pyjamas. Now adults, our morning begins with, bacon, smoked salmon and scrabled eggs with chamagne (hair of the dog) and then a slightly less hyperactive and shorter present opening session (we still dont let Mum shower and do make up before this, it just wouldnt be right).

After presents its all hands on deck for Dinner, and English Christmas dinner is a thing of beauty and requires a huge amount of, hands, time and effort to create all the dishes. Dinner will be served around 2/3pm and will consist of; Turkey, stuffing, pigs in blanket, roast potatoes, mashed swede, roast parsnips and carrots, brussel sprouts, coliflower cheese and other vegetables and huge quantaties of gravy. Different households vary on the details but I would consider that the ideal. This meal is looked forward to by most all year and rightly so, I love it!! Desert will traditionally be a Christmas pudding coverd in brandy and set light to, served with brandy cream idealy.

After dinner its the Queens speech followed by a flurry of other Christmas specials on TV/napping. The evening will then usually consist of a collection of overplayed games such as trivial persuit. One of what I consider to be the most important things throughout this day is the alcohol. My system is; chamapge breakfast, snowballs for a little while (these are an eggnog style drink, amazing and refreshing) couple of beers right before dinner, wine with dinner and then for a little while after followed by some light refreshing gin, port preferably or a very nice wine again for the evening cheeseboard, and finally ending the night on a good scotch. I have explained this system to several Norwegians all of which have found it mental. What one must realise is the idea here is not to get drunk (not until after the cheeseboard at least) but to stay merry, calm and refreshed all day and enjoy the drinks for their taste. All the alcohol served on the day will be of good quality, none of your Fosters/Hansa larger or cheap wine, its a day to enjoy the finer things.

Now we have covered England its on to Norwegian which I experienced for the first time this year. Firstly the 24th is the big day here and is called Julaften, the main meal, presents and all that malarky are all on the night of the 24th. Their are many reasons why this is good and bad in my opinion which hopefully Ill get into at some point but lets see how we get on. One must bare in mind that this is the way for nearly all of Europe, it seems only Britiain and America (maybe Australlia?) do the 25th as present day, but Im not certain.
So despite being the main day, the day itself of the 24th is a fairly relaxed affiar. Dinner prep is relively easy requiring few hands. The "kids therefore" spend the whole day in pyjamas watching TV until dinner. I could write a whole post about the traditional Norwegian Christmas TV is but I'll save that for another year.

So what is dinner I hear you cry, well there are different tradtions around Norway which I will get into another time but in Bergen it is Pinekjøtt (direct translation, stick meat). This is dried and very heavily salted sheep ribs that is then boiled, some can also be smoked. This is served with boiled potatoes and mashed swede. Yer thats it! I have a large amount of opinoins on this meal, firstly it is massively over rated, everyone looks forward to this like our Christmas dinner and quite frankly I see no comparison. But hype aside the taste is, ok. If it were a normal meal any other day of the week, I would say it was quite interesting, not great and not really want it again in all honesty. Its not bad by any means, I just really dont think its that good. Its also so dense and salted and without a green vegetable to be seen you will spend the rest of the night recovering from what you have done to yourself.
Traditionally to help break down the salt and help you forget about it pinekjøtt should be served with akevitt, the traditional Norwegian spirit, its a potato based spirit like Vodka I beleive containing some spices and often matured in oak casks. Now it sounds interesting and like whiskey it is translated to mean the water of life, however you will never get this and your glenfiddich confused that I can assure you. I actually dont mind the good quality stuff (the cheap is beyond dreadful), it can have some interesting flavours and I am a big spirit drinker, but in all honesty it lacks the clean, rounded quality of any good whiskey or vodka in my opinoin and a classic case of upholding tradition over common sense. Which is as good a reason to drink something as anything else I suppose.

Anyway moving swiftly on, after dinner its time for presents. Why you would open presents when you are tired after dinner and just before its getting time to put the kids to bed is beyond me but in a way its nice. Although you cant try any of the clothes you receieve on as your all dressed up in your best. After all that its a couple more drinks, and off to bed. So the 25th, with the special day out the way it goes back to all being very chilled with once again, nothing inparticular going on. Or atleast thats how it should be, I spent the whole day with intermitant assistnace from Marianne cooking a massive English style Christmas Turkey dinner with all the trimmings and I was very proud of the result and it went down a storm.

So their is one great thing about the Norwegians main day being the 24th, every year we can have pinekjøtt on their special day and we can have Turkey on mine, everyone gets their tradtions, although sadly I did have to massively tone down the drinking.