Archive for the year 2010
Norwegian last names-norske etternavn Posted by kari on Oct 21, 2010
You may wonder why so many people with Scandinavian heritage have an etternavn (last name or surname) that ends in ‘son’ or ‘sen.’ There is a very simple answer and you will be much less perplexed to know the story behind the billion Johnsons of Olsons you know. Ok, maybe you don’t know that many…
Kristiansand Posted by kari on Oct 18, 2010
I´ve focused a lot of my writing energy on northern Norway lately since I was recently living there. Thus, I feel called to hone in on southern Norway now that it´s starting to get real dark up north:) My good friend from college is currently living in Kristiansand. I was with her in Bergen right…
Alternative Healing and Medicine in Norway Posted by kari on Oct 15, 2010
In the last couple of decades, alternative medicine and healing has really taken off in Norway, and Scandinavia as a whole. As in all cultures, complementary medicinal treatment has existed in traditional Norwegian folk medicine, which the Samí people have practiced since the beginning of their existence. I will re-iterate what I wrote in my…
Samí Religion Posted by kari on Oct 13, 2010
I don´t recall ever learning about Samí Shamanism in any of my Norwegian classes at St. Olaf and it is certainly not a topic of conversation with non-Samí Norwegians. In fact, in my classes in college we learned very little about the Samí people in general. Furthermore, I have observed from personal experience that many…
Returning home from Norway Posted by kari on Oct 7, 2010
I just returned home to MN from Norway yesterday and boy was it a lang dag (long day), starting with the very first part of the reise (journey). My flight was scheduled to leave Bergen at 10:40 am en route to Amsterdam. Flesland, the flyplass in Bergen is only a 25 min. drive from the…
Norwegian words and phrases I use daily Posted by kari on Oct 5, 2010
I started thinking about all the ord (words) and fraser (phrases) I use daglig (daily) and came up with a list that I think would be useful for those learning norsk. Some of them are hilsener (greetings), some are uttrykker (expressions). den e god — sounds good (literally ´that is good´). One says this often…
Doing Norway Cheaply and non-touristy Posted by kari on Oct 1, 2010
My friend and I are currently in Bergen sitting in Burger King, not to eat American greasy food, but actually to use gratis trådløst internett (free wireless internet) because apparently it is not common for cafés to offer this. So here we are amongst the smells and American veggepynt (wall decorations). We are both slightly…