Sometimes life takes you in extrodinay directions.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be sitting at a sewing machine making Samba costumes for a Samba Parade above the Arctic Circle in Norway.
I am currently production managing the world’s most northern Samba Parade.  This year we have incorporated many Brazilian parade traditions like [...]

Eli is the wife of a prominent politician in Norway.  One day (in 2001) she had to drop off her husband at the royal palace in Oslo for a government dinner.  She had been to the palace grounds many times before but had never driven.  Not sure where to go, Eli headed straight for the [...]

As an Australian, it is common courtesy to bring a gift to give to the person or family you are visiting.  You never visit empty handed.  However, in Norway this custom is not recognised unless it has been pre-arranged for a party or event.  This has put me in an unusual position.  I want to [...]

There is a running joke amongst Norwegians that they eat anything and everything, so when Moose said the family in Alta ate the horse I thought he was just horsing around.  Nope.  I didn’t believe at first because of his casualness or the Norwegian thrill to shock outlanders with their own outlandish habits, but it [...]

I had the opportunity to be in Oslo the day Obama left.  I arrived early in the morning and when I reached the city the streets were filled with police and their automatic weapons.  They completely outnumbered the pedestrians.  It was hard to get around as the footpaths were still lined with steel fences.  There [...]

Sometimes English-speaking movie titles don’t translate well into Norwegian so the titlists have to get creative.  Sometimes they just don’t bother and other times they put in a little too much effort.  Here are some of the more common changes in titles:
Movie Title: The Pacifier
Norwegian Title: Opperasjon barnevakt
English Translation: Operation Babysitter
Movie Title: Enchanted
Norwegian Title: Eventyr [...]

One thing you may notice when traveling or comminucating internationally is that every country has their own way of placing dots, commas and other symbols. Norway certainly is no exception. Here is a short list of “the Norwegian Way” of writing:
Thousands separators:
Norway does not use commas to separate thousands, millions etc. Instead, they use spaces:
5 [...]

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 always hear from other immigrants that Norwegians are rude as they don’t talk to you on the street.  However, this is always due to the misunderstanding of Norwegian culture and character.
The Norwegian language is about saying something with as little fuss as possible.  In English, to be polite when you meet a friend you’d [...]