Norwegian Regions Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 30, 2012
When the current Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, was picking members for his regjering (government), a journalist [shoornaLIST] asked him how he went about. The PM joked that he had to hit the right balance between ”kjønnsdeler og landsdeler” (gender parts and country parts). This demonstrates how important likestilling (equality) is in Norway: Ideally, half…
Norway in red, white and blue Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 17, 2012
Today is syttende mai, the day when people all over Norway put on their best clothes (and smil 🙂 ), pick a hand-held flagg and gather in the streets to celebrate the Norwegian constitution, which was signed on May 17th, 1814 (and formally ended the union with Denmark). As Kari wrote, ”the whole country of…
New Look, New Blogger Posted by Bjørn A. Bojesen on May 15, 2012
Things are happening here at Transparent! The Norwegian blog has been moved from http://www.transparent.com/norwegian to http://blogs.transparent.com/norwegian. You may also have noticed that it’s got a brand new look. Well, at least it’s on its way to getting one… Hopefully the designers will find some neat solutions so that the blog will be even better than…
Forlovelse-Norwegian for Engagement Posted by kari on Dec 25, 2011
I did not become engaged when I resided in Norway, nor am I engaged to a Norwegian. Better yet, I just recently got engaged to a super great man from my hometown a few years older than me who is half Brazilian (mother is Brazilian) and half Norwegian (father comes from Norwegian descent). So there’s…
Butter Shortage in Norway Posted by kari on Dec 21, 2011
While there are clearly worse things, the recent smør (butter) shortage in Norway is certainly proving to be a big deal for a country that uses as much smør as Norway. There are seldom meals without a gob of smør in them. Smør is a typical ingredient in sauser (sauces) and in julebaking (Chistmas baking)…
Norwegian Wedding Preparation Posted by kari on Dec 21, 2011
There are few places more beautiful to hold a wedding than in the various beautiful and romantic landscapes of Norway. In Norway, the brudgrom (groom) traditionally wears a hand-made woolen suit known as a bunad. The bunad consists of a white silk shirt, short pants and stockings that come up to the calf, a vest…
Christmas in Tromsø Posted by kari on Dec 9, 2011
Although I have not had the pleasure to spend Christmas in Tromsø (or any place in Norway), I can imagine what the island must feel like. Even on nice summer nights, people would pack into the cafés, bars, and restaurants. It was always very cozy, whether it was a Tuesday evening or a Saturday…