Farmor doesn’t use recipes so it is mighty hard to get any kind of standard from her.  For her pepperkaker recipe she gave me a little sheet of paper with primitive-Norwegian writing (Farmor is actually Finnish) with a real simple method:

It reads:
syrup, butter sugar and milk
bring to boil with spices
the dough stands until next day
roll [...]

I was at the movies with my Norwegian friend the other day and she asked me ‘Har du en bong med deg? (Have you a ‘bong’ with you?’)  I stopped ‘I didn’t think it was that kind of movie!’  A moment of ‘what the?’ passed.  In her sentence I knew every word except bong and [...]

After class I was chatting with some friends.  I was invited to a dance party.  I grabbed out my phone and said with my Australian laziness ‘Better write this down, have a brain like sieve’.  An awkward moment passed and I suddenly realised the girl right next to me was called Siv.  I quickly laughed [...]

Sometimes when learning about the Norwegian culture you are suddenly reminded how bizarre your own is.  I’ve been reminded how Australians tend to over exaggerate.  Everything is always bigger and better in Australia when an Australian talks about it.  The football match wasn’t good, it was awesome!  The the burger wasn’t big, it was mega! [...]

I never thought I would have a bilingual family. Language is never an issue when you marry one of your own countrymen. However, I married a Norwegian, and so language has become an everyday battle in my family’s life.
When raising children in a bilingual family you need to decide how you are going [...]

“Mamma. Ka du gjør? Ka du gjør?!” I couldn’t answer – I had no idea what Lilu was trying to say.
“Ka du gjøøøør?! Mamma!” I looked at Moose, feeling a little hopeless.
He said with a smirk, “She’s asking you what you’re doing.”
Had I missed something? I thought that to ask someone what they were doing you say [...]

I always hear, from Norwegians, Brazilians, Chinese – everyone – that English is very hard to learn.  They say it is because English is notorious for breaking all the rules.  For example: why does ‘heard’ and ‘beard’ have different vowel sounds when they have the same ending ‘-eard’?  Same with ‘great’, ‘treat’ and ‘threat’?  There [...]

Yes, we get In The Night Garden here: Drømmehagen.  We watch it religiously as Lilu loves to dance and mimic the characters.  My favourite character is the OCD-geriatric stone-stacker who gets around with the walker – Makka Pakka!  (We’re still trying to figure out what the circles are on his head and butt – are [...]

My understanding of languages was very minimal before I moved to Norway.  This has made it incredibly hard for me to learn Norwegian.  I had no idea where languages came from or how they developed.  As I started to learn Norwegian I found it harder than most to comprehend.  I couldn’t just take things ‘how [...]

Last Christmas the Norwegian film “Max Manus” premiered in cinemas across the country. The film is based on the true story of World War 2 resistance fighter and saboteur Max Manus (1914-1996). It received top ratings and was by many considered one of the greatest Norwegian films ever made. Even though the directors took some [...]