'Norway is the best country to live.' (UNDP 2009)

That’s the way I do it!

2010-06-30T23:17:00.020+02:00

In purpose to crown the end of my study I have organized the bicycle tour throughout

Norway

. My goal was to see Kjeragbolten, which a big rock that has fallen into a crack in the mountain and there it has been wedged into the crack. Kjeragbolten is located near Stavanger, but I was in Oslo, so I wanted to make my tour more exciting and that’s why I decided to arrange a bicycle tour. I invited my friend Lukasz who is as adventurous as I am and together we climbed Rysy (2 499 m above sea level, the highest Polish peak) last year. Wikipedia says that bicycle touring is a form of cycling where rider travel long distances and he prioritizes pleasure and endurance over utility or speed. That’s what I expected from my tour – pleasure and endurance.

However, we had a limit of time and resource such as food and money, so my tour became a real project to deal with and I was promoted to project manager. We have chosen the cheapest form of bicycle touring – self-supporting touring i.e. apart from two bicycles carrying everything we need including:

- two bike bags 35l.

- bicycle tools in case of emergency such as hex keys, pump, cone wrench, peanut butter wrench, spare tubes etc.

- clothing such as cycling shirts, helmet, shorts, jacket, sunglasses etc.

- lightweight tent and sleeping bags

- food such as Kaviar, brunost, crispy bread, pate, pølse, chocolate, energetic bars and vitamins etc.

- accessories such as map, camera, credit cards, insurance policy, lighter etc.

Bicycle touring has almost 150 years history and it’s started in 1869 when John Mayall with Charles Spencer and Rowley Turner rode on their velocipedes from Trafalgar Square, London to Brighton in 15 hours for 85,30 km. Since that tour many daredevils was setting off from places around the world enhancing the potential distance of the bicycle tour. John Foster Fraser, Edward Lunn and F.H. Lowe were the first who set off round the world on safety bicycles in July 1896. They rode 30 958,95 km through 17 countries in two years and two months. An interesting is story of Jaques Sirat who felt very proud riding round the world for five years – until the met an Australian who had been on the road for 27 years. Nowadays bicycle touring can be of any distance and time. One famous German Heinz Stücke who left his job as a die-maker in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1962 when he was 22. He has never been home since. By 2006 he had cycled more than 539 000 km and visited 192 countries. He pays his way by selling photographs to magazines.

My and my friend’s bicycle tour started in my Studenthouse’s cellar Oslo on 19 June 2010 at around 7 am. First we had prepare our bicycles for a long journey i.e. install two bike bags and fulfill them with all the heavy staff necessary to survive. We set off around 11 am and since that we continuously cycling for next 10 days with several stops for nature and landscapes contemplating. Each day was different not only because of places we saw and slopes we dealt with but also because of food we ate, kilometers we made and weather conditions we experienced. Places are displayed on the map, the most beautiful in my opinion was fjord near Larvik.

The coast on this fjord was covered by huge rocks and the water transparently clean and terribly cold. We were experiencing for our bivouacs such places usually close to water (fjords, lakes, rivers and sea) due to beautiful views and hygienic reasons. Twice we rent a place on the camping, because of heavy rain that wet us to the skin and deprived us from hot meal and tea. We were diversifying everyday food, but breakfasts usually were similar – crispy bread with Kaviar, brunost or paté. We always were waiting for dinner under pressure and we always ate it in the evening after setting up a bivouac. We took a disposable grill or light a bonfire and cooked a salmon, chicken or other meat.
The weather conditions are difficult in

Norway

. During nights it was cold and during the sunny day it was rather hot, but the worst was heavy rain that we met in the mountains. More obstacles with had to cope with include bloodthirsty midges, fatigue, muscle & ass pain, sunburn on the hands, knees and ears, thirst & hunger and high exposure of the roads.

I’m not going to describe my tour in details, just have a glimpse at the movie I made.

To sum up, we rode 750 km and enjoyed Kjeragbolten. The average speed was 22 km/h, hence the maximum was around 72 km/h and the average distance per day we made was 83 km. This bicycle tour as my previous experiences just strengthened my desire for more spectacular adventures.

Time to sum up…

2010-06-11T20:47:00.000+02:00

It took exactly 6 months since I had posted first time on this blog. I have just written my last exam and before I leave Oslo I want to say thank you and goodbye to You, my reader.

This 6 months was extremely amazing time that I will remember for the rest of my life. I met wonderful people, visited gorgeous places and experienced a fantastic time here, in

Norway

. For sure I will keep in touch with my friends found here and for sure I will come back sooner then I expect. Well, answering for the question if

Norway

is the best to live, there is no clear answer. I personally believe that the best place to live wherever I am, because my happiness depends mainly on me. In case of

Norway

I am sure that with respect of social life, health care system and education benefits this country is absolutely the best place to live for Norwegians, who really love their king and their country.

Furthermore, the claim of UNDP that

Norway

is the best country to live depends on the instrument they used – HDI index. This index has been criticized on a number of grounds, including:

- failure to include any ecological considerations (which of course not worsen

Norway

’s position),

- focusing exclusively on national performance and ranking, and not paying much attention to development from a global perspective,

- having inappropriate treatment of income

- lacking year-to-year comparability,

- assessing development differently in different groups of countries,

- it is redundant measure that adds little to the value of the individual measures composing it i.e. means to provide legitimacy to arbitrary weighting of a few aspects of social development,

- the scores on each of the three included in the HDI (GDP per capita, life expectancy, and education) are bounded between 0 and 1 and they are equally weighted,

- it should embrace both material and moral development, e.g. a high suicide rate would bring the index down.

Some economists claim that human development reports “have lost touch with their original vision and the index fails to capture the essence of the world it seeks to portray”. Bryan Caplan argues, “Scandinavia comes out on top according to the HDI because the HDI is basically a measure of how Scandinavian your country is”.

Are there any problems in Norway?

2010-06-01T20:25:00.008+02:00

Norway

is often referred to as among the world’s wealthiest, and the best place to live, but let’s consider some demerits and problems appearing in this “pink” country. First of all, Norwegian industry and actually whole economy is dependent on oil and gas. What if oil and gas will be gone? The country income from that source is a lot higher than the national budget. The excess money Norwegians keep in Oljefundet to save money for future generations when the oil won’t last anymore. On the other hand, a lot of the jobs and services are currently related to the offshore industry, what about them?

Next point is the perfect Health Care System I have described recently. It is free for everyone, but this commonness makes problems with cutbacks. There is never-ending waiting list for non-emergent operations and some hospitals have to little capacity and are forced to place patients in the corridors. Furthermore, there is a sickness absence among Norwegian employees. Recently the rate of absence due to sickness has been very high in

Norway

. Almost 10% of the total work force was absent due to sickness last year.

Maybe this absence is not caused by convenient Health Care benefits, but by mentally illness. It is said that 25% of the adult population in

Norway

falls mentally ill every year.

Norway

seems to be offering libing proof that money can’t buy happiness. Maybe this horrible sickness such as depression happens due to long, dark winters or just living without a social network.

Fourth problem raised in

Norway

recently is integration of immigrants. This occurs not only between Norwegians and immigrants, but also between immigrants themselves. Try to image Palestinians and Israelis living together in the same street or even building. That tensions are the soil for social malaise and protests.

One Norwegian told me that the cruise tourism causes a lot of pollution in fjords and cities. He concluded that there is a lot of black smoke coming out from the chimneys and leaving a haze around the whole area as the mountains block it from getting out. Well, I haven’t seen any haze, but I saw the movie and pictures from the BP catastrophe and that makes a difference.

Health Care System in Norway

2010-05-31T20:11:00.002+02:00

All Norwegians are insured by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). This is a universal, tax-funded, single-payer health system. Compared to

Poland

France

Italy

Spain

and

Japan

Norway

has the most centralized system and all citizens and residents are covered.

The NIS is funded by general tax revenues. There is no earmarked tax for health care. The Norwegian tax burden is 45% of GDP. The government sets a global budget limiting overall health expenditures and capital investment. However, Norwegians can opt out of the government system and pay out-of-pocket. Many pay ou-of-pocket and travel to a foreign country for medical care when waiting lists are long. There are significant waiting times for many procedures. Many Norwegians go abroad for medical treatments. Also, care can be denied if it is not deemed to be cost-effective.

To conclude, Norwegian Health Care System is very generous. The program also provides sick pay and may even pay for “spa treatments” in some cases.

Social life in Norway

2010-05-24T21:40:00.003+02:00

To continue previous post, let’s concentrate on the facts. The Norwegian Welfare State is being kept by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service (NAV) handling unemployment benefit, national insurance pensions, family benefits and a range of other social insurance benefits. All persons working and paying taxes in Norway are automatically members of the social insurance scheme. Premiums are paid as part of tax deductions and amount to 7.8% of tax deducted. The employer deducts employer’s premium from his salary. What is more, persons who are not working in Norway, but who hold a residence permit for a year or more are also automatically covered by the social insurance scheme. The benefits of social insurance include retirement pension, disability pension, rehabilitation, occupational injury compensation, single parent benefit, child benefit and paid maternity leave etc. Family related benefits consist of:

(1) Pregnancy, birth and adoption:

- pregnancy benefit – for healthy pregnant women who are unable to continue at work during pregnancy because this might cause risk of injury to the unborn child,

- parental benefit on birth – is paying until children reach the age of 3 years,

- parental benefit on adoption.

(2) Child benefit and cash benefit:

- child benefit – NOK 970 once a month per child,

- cash benefit for parents of infants – is paid for infant from the birth (NOK 3 303 monthly) up to the age of 32 (NOK 661 monthly),

- child benefit and cash benefit for foreign employees in Norway.

(3) Single mother/father:

- benefit for single mother/father – for unmarried, divorced or separated parent to ensure sufficient income to cover living expenses for single mothers/fathers who are the sole carer of a child

- transitional benefit – is granted for a limited period and varies according to the child’s age and needs, currently full transitional benefit is NOK 11 965 a month,

- child care benefit – to help a single parent pay for child minding so they can work, actively seek work or study, currently NOK 3 324 a month per child,

- educational benefit – for single parent who is taking necessary education or training e.g. NOK 54 590 for university studies,

- relocation grant – to help cover relocation costs if parent has to move to find work.

(4) Child support/advance support payment:

- advance support payment – to ensure that children receive money from state each month if the non-custodial parent does not pay enough child support ,

- appeals in maintenance support cases.

I’ve mentioned generally about the family related benefits that are many more of them e.g. children pension, benefits for surviving spouse etc.

A day off on May 17th, guess why?

2010-05-17T21:25:00.016+02:00

May 17th is the National Day of Norway and the day is referred to simply as syttende mai, meaning May Seventeenth. In the small municipality Eidsvoll, there the meeting of Norwegian patriots to draft and sign the Constitution of Norway on 17 May 1814. This constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation. This fact caused the wide celebration spontaneously among students and others from early on. However, Norway was at that time under Swedish rule and for some years Karl Johan, king of Sweden, was reluctant to allow the celebrations. After the Battle of the Square in 1829, an incident that resulted in such a commotion that Karl had to allow it. Indeed, Norway became independent nation in 1905.

A noteworthy aspect of the Norwegian Constitution Day is its very non-military nature. All over Norway, children’s parades with an abundance of flags and shouting “hip hip, hurray, hurray, hurray!” During the parade a marching band play and children sing lyrics about the celebration of the National Day, blowing whistles and shaking rattles. The parade concludes with the stationary singing of the national anthem “Ja, vi elsker dette landet” (in English “Yes, we love this country”) written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. This year I was an observer of the parade in Oslo and that was the longest parade I’ve ever seen. Parade was led by marching bands and children from schools and local choirs and music bands. In addition to flags, people typically wear red, white and blue ribbons. Although a long-standing tradition, it has lately become more popular for men, women, and children to wear traditional outfits, called bunad. This outfit is itching, makes people to look fat and is terribly expensive (approximately NOK 20 000). The parade took place in the morning throughout Karl Johan’s Gate and finished just in front of the Royal Palace, where king Harald V and his wife were waving to crowds.

Social life origins and a piece of contemporary history of Norway

2010-05-10T23:02:00.002+02:00

Norway had undoubtedly one of the best welfare systems in the world, making sure that people who are sick and unable to work, or who are unemployed for whatever reason are not left out in the cold, but are given support so that they are able to live with dignity. Norwegian values are rooted as in Sweden in egalitarian ideals. At the beginning of the 20^th century, they began enacting fairly radical welfare laws, culminating in the post-war years sweeping reforms that turned Norway into the progressive welfare state it is today. The welfare state is still the ideal for most Norwegian, not least because it seems to be doing quite well.

Well, sounds interesting? Let’s come back to the beginning of the process of building welfare. Norway declared its independence in 1905 when the union with Sweden was dissolved. The period from 1905 to 1914 was characterized by rapid economic expansion in Norway. The development of the merchant fleet, which begun in previous century, continued, and at the outbreak of World War I Norway’s merchant navy was the fourth largest in the world. From about beginning of the 20^th century Norway’s immense resources of waterpower provided a base for great industrial expansion. By 1906 three-fourth of all developed waterpower in Norway was owned by foreign concerns. Norwegian Labour Party (DNA) pressed for legislation to protect the natural resources of the country. By reforms in 1907 and 1913 the vote was extended to women. Once consequence of industrialization and the introduction of universal suffrage was the growing influence of the DNA. A number of social reforms were enacted: a factory act, which included protection for women and children, accident insurance for seafaring men, health insurance, a 10-hour working (in 1915) and a 48 workweek (in 1919). A 40-hour workweek was introduced in 1977.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, Norway, like Sweden and Denmark, issued a declaration of neutrality, but it was badly hurt by the war at sea by about half of Norwegian merchant shipping being lost. After the war the main aim during the 1920s was to guide the currency (the krone) back to its former value. Norway received only an insignificant share in improved world market conditions, and by 1927 the unemployment figures were as high as one-fifth of the workforce. The Great Depression in the early 1930s increased unemployment still further, and by 1933 at least one-third of the workforce, including many civil servants, was unemployed. Despite economic difficulties, the high rate of unemployment, and the many labour conflicts, the interwar years were a period of vigorous expansion, and the country’s industrial production was increased by 75% during the years 1913-38. With the second outbreak of hostilities in 1929, Norway again declared itself neutral. On April 9, 1940,German troops invaded the country and quickly occupied Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Narvik, despite being supported by Polish soldiers. Vidkun Quisling, a traitor and leader of the small Norwegian National Socialist party, proclaimed a “national government”, which aroused such strong resistance of Norwegians.

After World War II the liberation of Norway was followed by trials of collaborators, 25 Norwegians, including Quisling were sentenced to death and executed, and some 19 000 received prison sentenced. By a strict policy that gave priority to the reconstruction of productive capacity in preference to consumer goods, Norway quickly succeeded in repairing the ravages left by the war. By 1949 the merchant fleet had attained its pre-war size, and the figures for both industrial production and housing were greater than in the 1930s. Until the 1980s Norway had full or nearly full employment and swift rising standard of living.

Since the 1970s a central issue in Norway has been the exploitation of the rich natural gas and petroleum deposits in the Norwegian part of the North Sea. As the Norwegian petroleum industry grew in importance, the country became increasingly affected by fluctuations in the world petroleum market, but in the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries oil revenues played the dominant role in fueling a prosperous Norwegian economy and providing Norwegians with one of the world’s highest per capita incomes. The government, prudently preparing for a time when petroleum profits might not be so lucrative, began reinvesting those profits in the Government Pension Fund that I have already described in recent post. The Norwegians rejected membership of the Europan Economic Community in 1972, and of the European Union in1994,despite being urged by their governments to vote “yes”. Norway’ annual oil revenue amounts to around $40bn and more than half of its exports come from this sector. To counter inflation, there is cross-party agreement to restrict spending of oil revenue. Even as much of the rest of the world struggled in the wake of the international financial crisis that began in 2008, Norway continued to prosper, though the international holdings of the Government Pension Fund weakened. In recent decades, Norway has forged a stronger role for itself in international politics. It has mediated between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and from 2000 to 2009 was the chief mediator in the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatists.

The egalitarian values which are at the root of the welfare state also manifest themselves throughout Norwegian society in many ways e.g. in the field of gender equality. Because of this, and active government support of gender equality, women have been steadily climbing in standing over the past fifty years. Still, the goal of total equality remains a long way off: while forty percent of representatives on Parliament are female, only one in every ten company directors are women. But, on the other hand, gender equality changed the Norwegian male’s role as a father. Norway has a paternity leave quota, so that fathers can also take extended time off to be with their children. This has helped make the mixing of careers and family a lot easier. In Norway, it is more common for mothers of young children to be employed than in many Western European countries. With the large amount of young mothers in the workplace, it becomes necessary to deal with the issues of maternity leave. The government has therefore created a system meant to care for the families as they care for a new baby. Parents are allowed to choice of either taking 43 weeks off between themselves with full wage compensation, or 53 weeks off with 80% compensation. If they wish, the mother may take up to 12 weeks of their parental leave prior to the birth, so they can prepare for the baby or give themselves rest. 9 weeks of leave must be used by the mother, and 5 weeks by the father. The remaining weeks can be divided between the parents as they wish. In addition, in the case that a child must stay home sick from school when they reach school age, the state grants each parent 10 days of leave per year to spend taking care of the child.

The next story about adventures of famous Koala!

2010-05-03T22:04:00.003+02:00

Do you remember the famous Koala? I've heard another funny joke about him recently:

The Koala walks into a pub reads a menu above the table:
"Sandwich 2$
Beer 5$
Hand job 4$"

After that the Koala comes to the hot woman behind the table. The girl was very hot, more beautiful than the prostitute. The Koala asks her - Excuse me, are you the one who does the hand job?
She smiles at him and answers - Yes!
Then the Koala replies - Can you wash your hands? I'd like to buy a ham sandwich, please.

Bergen – the gateway to fjords

2010-04-30T22:09:00.005+02:00

Bergen is the kingdom’s second largest city and just after Oslo is the most important, with over 250 000 inhabitants only! Bergen is situated at the west coast of Norway where the Norwegian Sea meets the North Sea. The year of the foundation is estimated to be 1070 and it is a World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO. What is characteristic for Bergen? Rain! Almost 220 days in a year it is raining here. Once, I heard, it was raining continually from February to May. That's why in this city one set first in the world the umbrellas’ machine.

I have visited Bergen with my beloved fiancé in May and it strikes me more than Oslo. First of all, Bergen is full of history and tradition of an international city with charming and small town atmosphere. Heritages such as Bryggen (Norwegian for the Wharf) or Bergen Fish Market and the possibility of trip to the fjords attract tourist, especially from Spain. I don’t know why, but I met many Spaniards there and there are many Spanish clerks in souvenirs shops. Furthermore, in Bergen nature blends with culture and city life is thrilling – every evening parties in the seaport lasting till morning. In May, there was light even at midnight, so the climate is specific, as it would be evening all the time. During the day, it is worth to see Bryggen, which is also displayed in the top of my blog, it is a series of Hanseatic commercial buildings lining the eastern side of the fjord.Bryggen was built thanks to the merchants from the Hanseatic League, who arrived here around 1360 and developed the town into an import ant trading centre. These warehouses were filled with foods such as fish from Norway and wheat from Europe (including Poland). Apart from Bryggen, I also recommend to do unusual shopping in the Torget i Bergen (Fishmarket In Bergen), where you can fresh seafood and seafish every morning. Furthermore, numerous wooden houses all-around the city from the 18th century and many amazing museums are the must-sees. Amongst many of the museums, the Old Bergen Museum is a place with more than 40 wooden buildings constructed in the style of the architecture of Bergen from the 18th and 19th century. Moreover, in this museum a beautiful guide will tell you interesting stories about the past inhabitants of these colourful houses. The latest attraction, we visited, is the Bergen Science Centre Vilvite. Vilvite is a centre of science and technology for tourists, where you can embark on a journey with almost 100 different instruments, perform experiments, to feel the force of gravity while riding in a large circle, to make a rig for oil, to stand behind the stairs of the ship or submarine or see yourself jumping very slowly as below.

As I mentioned in the title of this post, Bergen is truly a gateway to fjords. From here you can choose amongst many tours offers a unique experience both for those who have time only for short visit, and those who want to know precisely the region. We have chosen a short 4-hours trip to the closest fjord by MS White Lady and the views were breathtaking. If you want to see more spectacular landscapes from Norway I personally recommend a journey from Bergen to Oslo by train. In various rankings railway lines from Oslo to Bergen are considered the most beautiful and exciting route in the world. The American journalist-explorer Gary Warner writing for a newspaper The Chicago Tribune put in on his list of favourites rail routes. I have added as well! As a tittle-tattle I can tell you that it is possible to see snow on this route even in May, because its highest point is in the Finse peak 1222 meters above sea level. The whole journey takes approximately 7 hours, but it is absolutely pleasure to deal with it.

Can you name any famous Norwegian?

2010-04-27T19:27:00.010+02:00

It is surprising that such small country with nearly 5 million population and only 200 years history of independence would be a womb of 11 geniuses awarded by Nobel Prize Committee, huh? My country is famous from intelligent people and truly it is a womb of many geniuses, but many of them or their ancestors unfortunately left Poland and their output contributed in foreign countries e.g. physicians such as Józef Rotblat and Georges Charpak, chemists such as Maria Curie-Skłodowska, and Roald Hoffmann, biochemists such as Andrew Schally and Tadeusz Reichstein, writers such as Isaac Bashevis Singer, biologists such as Jack W. Szostak and Stanisław Kaczmarczyk, who recently invented a method to restrain cancer cells in our bodies and many many other brilliant people, who left my country for better life. Anyway, the topic of this post is to introduce the most famous Norwegians who had or have a significant impact on human thought within Norway as well as globally. To begin with, Nobel Prize Winners, they have an impact for sure.

Chronologically:

1903 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (Literature). Bjørnson is celebrated for his lyrics to the Norwegian National Anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet", which means "Yes, we love this country".
1920 - Knut Hamsun (Literature) – awarded for the epic “Growth of the soil”.
1921 - Christian Lous Lange (Peace Prize) – a noted pacifist.
1922 - Fridtjof Nansen (Peace Prize) - for his work as a League of Nations High Commissioner.
1928 - Sigrid Undset (Literature) - experimented with modernist tropes such as stream of consciousness in her novel.
1968 - Lars Onsager (Chemistry) – as many genius he went to the USA.
1969 - Odd Hassel (Chemistry) – he investigated the structure of charge-transfer compounds and set up rules for the geometry of this kind of compound.
1969 - Ragnar Frisch (Economics) – He was known for econometrics and formalized production theory.
1973 - Ivar Giaever (Physics) - for his discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in solids.
1989 - Trygve Haavelmo (Economics) – known from probability approach in econometrics and balanced budget multiplier.
2004 - Finn Erling Kydland (Economics) - for his contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles.

Three Nobel Prizes in Economics Sciences!? I’m impressed. Furthermore, those who study economics should know Veblen’s goods, so their inventor - Thorstein Bunde Veblen had Norwegian roots.

Let’s come back to the very beginning, to the Vikings’ age. One of the first Christian Norwegian, son of the Erik the Red, Leif Eriksson that became famous because of his virgin journey to the West, where he discovered a rocky and salmon-rich land, that is called nowadays Canada. According to Groenlendinga Saga he discovered the North America AD 1000. From that time for hundreds of years it has been doing nothing on the Norwegian land that was once in the Danish hands and once in the Swedish hands.

The state of inaction has been lasting in Norway until 1850 when Henrik Johan Ibsen moved to Christiania, where it was his stage debut – at Christiania Theater staged Kjæmpehøien (Tomb of the Huns). Ibsen is the most famous Norwegian dramaturg, the author od such masterpieces as Vilanden, Når vi døde Wagner or Peer Gynt. Peer Gynt contains philosophical Messager of criticism arising from the attitudes of Norwegians staring AT themselves and spirituals neuter. The title is the name of the main charakter – slothful and selfish peasant. Ibsen commisioned Grieg to compose music for Peer Gynt that Has made this work famous. Edvard Hagerup Grieg was the most famous Noregian composer, pianist and conductor with Scottish origin. Moreover, he was a founder of the Norwegian national music school. Apart from Ibsen, the next famous novelist and playwright was Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie. In his works, Jonas Lie often sought to reflect in his writings the nature, folk life, and social spirit of the nation of Norway. Jonas is considered to have been one of the Four Greats of 19th century Norwegian literature, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and Alexander Kielland. Among Kielland’s most famous Works are the trilogy Gift, Fortuna and St. Hans Fest. In this trilogy, Kielland satirizes the hypocrisy of Norway’s clergy including debate about the hunger for Latin chich Norwegian teachers had AT this period of time.

Let’s have a look at Norwegian artists. I know at least two of them – Edvard Munch and Gustav Vigeland. Munch was creating a symbolic figure compositions, giving vent to them in expressive erotic obsessions, feelings of loneliness, depression, fear of illness and death. He became a famous painter because of his picture The Scream. On the other hand, Vigeland, sculptor, whom building of park complex in Oslo brought a fame. Works on the Vigeland’s park started in 1907 and were continued after his death until the 1940s. Gustav was actually only a designer of sculptures placed in the park – all the sculptural work was performed by his team of hired masons, foundry and blacksmiths.

Before I’ll move on to the present times, I’d like mention about Roald Amundsen, another famous Norwegian. He was a polar explorer and the first winner of the South Pole. In my opinion he was also a hero, because in 1928 he went down to help Nobile Umberto, who disappeared during a zeppelin flight Italia in Arctic. Nobile was found, but Roald was never found. Now, in scope of my favourite contemporary Norwegian musicians are Jan Garbarek, Erlend Øye from Kings of Convenience band. Garbarek is a high class Norwegian jazzman with Polish roots and he is regarded as one of the most import ant contemporary jazz musicians as well as the father of Scandinavian jazz scene. Another Norwegian I like is a film direktor Joachim Trier who received several national awards for his debut film Reprise from 2006. Meanwhile, one Norwegian I admire is Erling Kagge, a lawyer, publisher and explorer. He is among Norway’s most acclaimed polar explorers and one of the greatest adventurers of our time. Erling was the first person to surmount the three poles – North, South and the summit of Mt Everest.

For more information about famous Norwegians go to wikipedia

Education in Norway

2010-04-20T15:17:00.010+02:00

In Norway the education system is divided into four parts:

(1) Elementary school (Barneskole, age 6-13)
(2) Lower secondary school (Ungdomsskole, age 13-16)
(3) Upper secondary school (Videregående skole, age 16-19)
(4) Higher education

First two parts are obligatory in Norway, so if upper secondary school is optional, but usually chooses by students due to recent changes to society – few jobs available for the age group. What is interesting in Norwegian education system is the lower age limit to start your school – 6 age and from this time basic English is introduced. Upper secondary school gives you a chance to apply for general studies (studiespesialisering) or a vocational studies (yrkesfag) path. Typical courses in this studies are Norwegian, mathematics, natural sciences, English, IT and social studies as well as the languages German, French and Spanish. In vocational studies there are more maths and physics. Students graduating general studies are called Russ in Norwegian. Most of them choose to celebrate with lots of parties and festivities, which, impractically, take place a few weeks before the final examinations of the final year. I blame them for making noise during the nights when it is a typical sleeping time for me! Anyway, they enjoy a lot of parties which socially accepted.

Higher education is broadly divided into:

(1) Universities, which concentrate on theoretical subjects (arts, humanities, natural science). Supplies bachelor (3 yrs), master (5 yrs) and PhD (8 yrs) titles. Universities also run a number of professional studies, including law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and psychology, but these are generally separate departments that have little to do with the rest of the university institution.
(2) University colleges (høyskole), which supply a wide range of educational choices, including university bachelor degrees, engineering degrees and professional vocations like teacher and nurse. The grade system is the same as it is for universities.
(3) Private schools, which tend to specialize in popular subjects with limited capacity in public schools, such as business management, marketing or fine arts. Private schools do not loom large on the horizon, although the fraction of students attending private schools is 10% in higher education, compared to 4% in secondary and 1.5% in primary education.

My school, BI Norwegian School of Management is the private university college and it was established in 1943 as a merchant school. Nowadays, it is the largest business school in Norway and the second largest in all of Europe (around 20 000 students). BI has a wide range of international activities both in Norway and abroad, this year around 300 foreign students are participating exchange studies. The School`s aim is to contribute to value creation and the growth of entrepreneurship by conducting high-quality research and offering educational programs of high quality and relevance. I can truly accept that they provide a high quality programs, especially in financial economics, which is a field I study here. I have taken a least five courses here, which is by most my colleagues here regarded as too much. However, I really appreciate the time spend with my professional teachers and good students on Multivariate Statistics and Econometrics, Applied Valuation, Multinational Financial Management, Investments and Advanced Corporate Finance. These courses give me a brilliant insight into financial economics, which is a bit different discipline from management and quantitative methods and IT systems I used to study in Poland. Fabulous teachers of these courses with their natural ability of efficient teaching encourage me to turn my career in financial direction and develop my skills through international certificates.

The things I like the most in Norwegian business studies:

(1) Professional teachers. I know I’m talking about this all the time, but this is truth. Most of the teachers in BI are foreigners with professional and academic background. Some of them are graduates from Harvard Business School.
(2) Something I call ‘Harvardian style’ of education. This means that final grade is basing not only on final or midterm exam, but also on participation in classes and what is the most time-consuming and provides the most fun – team working on cases. I’m not talking about simple and individual cases that I would solve in one or two evenings as it usually happened in my home university. First time, I experienced a real team working here and spent not hours but days together with other exchange students solving these, not really difficult, but time – consuming cases. I’d like say thank you especially for people working with me during this semester – Aminata Vanessa vel Lease, Bernadka, Carine, Citlali, Larisa and Aly, Franck, Gaspare, Michel, Marius from Germany and Marius from Ivory Coast, Sebastien, Mateusz and also for all people I met in the library during this hot period. You are very helpful and the work with you is a pleasure. Moving back on to the ‘Harvardian style’, the participation in classes is grading not for ‘airtime’, but for active attendance in discussions, which may develop your communication skills. Teachers have a habit to ‘cold call’ someone from the class and ask him some question, so every time I supposed to come prepared to the classes.
(3) Relationships between teachers and students. These are really informal and there is nothing bad or untactful if I say ‘Hallo Ulf!’, he responds me ‘Hallo Lukasz!’. Teachers are really open and always help whenever I ask about something and they treat me on the same level with Norwegian students and with themselves.
(4) Responsibility for all your activities. Every step you do in this school is depends on you, I mean I feel more responsible for my decision. The rules are clear here, so if I don’t participate in the course I may fail it. If I fail the course I will have to retake it in the next semester after fee payment. If I am late on classes I may not get inside and I will lose my presence during the course. People in Norwegian administration are very polite and helpful but restrictive, which is exactly opposite to Polish administration. So, I learnt a responsibility for my decisions easily.

The things I dislike the most in Norwegian business studies:

(1) Too much latitude among Norwegian students. In my opinion they are not serious during the classes, because they usually eat or chew snus, wear caps and place their legs wherever they want! When they have a presentation they keep their hands in the pockets and don’t restrict the rules of an excellent presentation. This was a bit shocking to me at the beginning, but later I just react with smiling, because I know that I have grown in different society and environment. Moreover, teachers never complain.
(2) Cost, cost, cost. Starting with xerocopies through cases and in books finishing. Yes, in Norway students buy books, which are very expensive (between 400 and 1000NOK). In library there are usually only three the same books including one you can borrow only for one day, ridiculous! Cases more often come from Harvard Business School, so in purpose to download them or just get an access, we are obliged to pay in dollars. At the beginning I was in even bigger shock, but finally we found an idea to share costs among team workers.
(3) Too much formalism. I’m considering mainly exams. Exams are conducted in different places located randomly in Oslo City, which is really inconvenient for exchange students, who don’t know Oslo at all. During the exam I am not allowed to use any other calculator than Texas calculator approved by BI. By the way, this calculator costs 500NOK, good luck! Finally, there aren’t retake exams, so if you fail or miss any exam, you will have to retake the whole course in the next semester, which obviously costs money.

At the end I want to mention about more differences between Polish and Norwegian education. In Norway it is quite popular to take a Master degree after gaining some working experience, so some students on my Master level are much older than me. In Poland it is not very popular and common, maybe because Bolonian system (distinction between Bachelor and Master level) is recent there. Grading system is absolutely different form system I know. In Norway we have grades from F (fail) through E, D, C (pass on average), B to A (excellent). There are often less courses during the semester, recommended is to take five of them, because in each course there is a hard workout. The classes last 3 hours each, which is enough to get bored ;)

What about Stockholm?

2010-04-12T20:50:00.002+02:00

There is a special relationship between Norway and Sweden. Sweet brothers or rather arch enemies? When I spoke to my Norwegian they answered me very similarly. They mentioned about Union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 in which Sweden treated Norway as its tributary and during this time there was the strongest Norwegian national movement. What is holy truth, Swedes are portrayed as the dumb ones, especially in jokes. I know one blunt joke:

Swedes are on holiday with a Norwegian guy who for some reason went missing. In the police office the two Swedes are asked to describe the Norwegian. The two Swedes think long and hard, then one of them says:
- "yeah I know - he's got two holes in his ass!"
The policeman, who thinks that was a somewhat unusual description ask:
- "and how do you know that then?!"
- "Because everytime we go somewhere, people are saying: There's that Norwegian with the two assholes!"

That’s obviously the Swedish stereotype in Norway. But I wonder to know why Norwegian make Swedes idiots, hence Danes should be ones to make out to be the stupid ones. As fa as I know period under Danish yoke was the worst for Norway, even called ‘400-Year Night’. Danes are not portrayed as dumb, but still not quite up to Norwegian intellectual level. Yes, Norwegians think they are the best nation on over the world. I think Swedes presence in Norwegian jokes is because of jealousy. Sweden in twice the size Norway, it was regional superpower in Vasa-era (1521-1654) and more successful in their industry e.g. IKEA, Saab, Ericsson, Scania and recently Volvo (now is Chinese, sic!). Let’s look inside the Swedish city, which is a home of 22% of Sweden’s population, I mean Stockholm!

This city is another Scandinavian spirit unveiling. I could have touched the difference on every corner of the street in Stockholm. First of all, city is built on 14 islands (Stockholm archipelago where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea) connected by 57 bridges and on the land there are steep rocky hills just next to the beautiful, full of ships coasts. Second, Swedes are more serious, elegant and polite than Norwegians. Third, rules. In Sweden you are obliged to restrict rules even more. There is no crazy and dangerous customs to cross the street even if it is red light! You can’t buy a normal 5% alcohol beer in shop, only light 3,5%, so if you want to go drink some normal alcohol you have to be over 21 and visit rare Systembolaget in restricted hours. However, Sweden is the next vodka-drinking country and even much drinking. Stockholm is supposed to be safety city, citizens really respect police and I haven’t seen druggies and dealers on the street as I used to do in Oslo. Still, there are many immigrants, the majority of them are Croats, Albanians, Arabic, Iraqi, Assyrians, Turks, Persians, Indians, Kurdians, Africans and of course Polish (as everywhere). One of the reason such huge diversity of immigrants in this country is fact, that Sweden has a history of providing refuge to asylum seekers.

Moving back to Stockholm, over 30% of the city area is made up of waterways and another 30% is made up of parks and green spaces; in 2009, Stockholm was awarded title of first European Green Capital by the European Commission. They landscape is forcing joggers to make use of these breathtaking areas. If you ask me what was the most impressing place in Stockholm it will take much time to mentions many places. The top of the list is absolutely the Old Town (Gamla Stan) with mysterious and narrow streets, and colorful walls of old tenement houses and enormous Royal Palace. Second place is reserved for Vasa Museum. Vasa as I have been taught is not only a crunchy bread or royal Swedish dynasty, but also the only preserved seventeenth-century warship in the world! The story of this ship is ridiculous, because this was the biggest ship in the world during these times (69 meter-long) and real proud of Sweden, but it sank on its maiden voyage in the middle of Stockholm in 1628. What a pity! But for Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania this history forecast a mercy during the ‘Swedish flood’ (1655-1660), because Swedish fleet was weaken by one really huge warship. So, City Hall, with its spire featuring the golden Three Crowns, is one of the most famous silhouettes in Stockholm. Every year the great Nobel banquet is also held there and this summer there will a royal wedding, Crown Princess Victoria and Mr. Daniel Westling are getting married. What is interesting, Westling is a personal trainer of the Princess and gym owner, he runs a company called Balance Training, which has three gyms in central Stockholm. Lucky guy! What is more in Stockholm that it is worth to take a boat sightseeing, visit rich museums (I recommend Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan) and taste an unique night life in one of crowded street in the city centre.

To sum up, even though Norwegians make all kind of joke about Swedes, the relationship between two nations is harmonious and friendly, greatly helped by cultural and linguistic similarities. Below my favourite Swedish commercial ;)

Famous Koala and Prostitute joke!

2010-04-05T20:42:00.002+02:00

Let me tell a joke that I once heard during bus trip to Stockholm. It was a joke told by Italian guy with a special Italian accent. The joke is like that:

A koala enters a popular tavern in Melbourne and sits down at the bar. It isn't long after he's sipping on a martini when he's approached by a prostitute. She sits down next to him and asks him if he'd like to have sex with her in the back room. Being a typical male, the koala complies and follows the slut to the back room. He finishes and then returns to the bar. He grabs his coat and heads for the door.
Before he is to leave her the hooker had asks him where he is going and when he intended on paying her for the sex. He was surprised, so she tells him to look up the word "prostitute" in the dictionary.
He reads "prostitute - one who receives money for sex"
The koala then hands the dictionary to the prostitute in and tells her to look up "koala." She reads "koala - a member of the marsupial family who eats bush and leaves."

Thanks to Italian guy for made me laugh!

Oslo, Kristiania or Christiania – which one is capital of Norway?

2010-03-30T19:50:00.018+02:00

To begin with, the city was founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway. The medieval town was located below the Ekeberg hills and the most likely interpretations of the name Oslo would be either ‘the meadow beneath the ridge’ or ‘the meadow of the gods’. Håkon V was the first king to reside in the city permanently between 1299 and 1319 and he started the construction of the Akerhus Fortress. Then the population of Oslo was about 3000 inhabitants. One, ca easily be confused by capital’s different names through the years. Oslo was shattered several times by fires and after a dramatic fire in 1624, the Danish King Christian IV (because of Danish-Norway Union) decided to rebuild town and named it Christiania. But the town got growth after 1814. In this year as a consequence of the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark had to cede the territory of Norway to the Swedish King Karl Johan. In this year Norway got its own constitution on 17 May and Christiania got its official status as the capital of Norway. King Karl Johan initiated the building of the Royal Palace and the Parliament building as well as the University, National Theatre and the Stock Exchange. The industrial era started along the river Akerselva around 1850. Christiana overtook Bergen and became the most popular city and in 1878 it was renamed Kristiana. In the years between 1850 and 1900 the population of Kristiania increased from about 30 000 to 230 000 mainly due to an influx of workers from rural areas. At the beginning of XXth century the rural municipality was merged and city enlarged. Oslo, the original name, was re-established in 1925 and the population from this time was doubled up to 590 000 in 2010.

Nowadays, Oslo as a capital of Norway is its cultural, scientific, economic and governmental centre as well as is a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. The Oslo metropolitan area’s share of national GDP is 25%. What is not good for exchange students is the fact that in 2009 Oslo gained its status as the world’s most expensive city (sic!). Thus it has one of the highest regional GDP’s in Europe. Oslo contains an important maritime port with nearly 980 companies and 8500 workforces. Furthermore, some of the largest shipping companies, shipbrokers and insurance brokers are based in the city of Oslo. In employment sector, the service industry is dominant in Oslo accounting for more than 59% of jobs. Other employment areas include hotels and catering, trade, banking and insurance. The historical city has gone through big character changes as a result of fires and redevelopment. Most of the original town is lost in spite of some buildings built by Karl Johan and the more than 700-year-old Akerhus Fortress remains an important cultural monument. Here the memories of World War II also come out strongly. Many Norwegian patriot were executed here and after the war Vidkun Quisling – infamous traitor – was executed by firing squad. The term ‘quisling’ has become a synonym in many European languages for traitor. After war the period of construction of modernist concrete and glass low-rises was started. Now these buildings are regarded as embarrassing eyesores.

The variety in Oslo's architectural cityscape does however provide for some striking and often hauntingly beautiful sights. While most of the forests and lakes surrounding Oslo are in private hands, there is great public support for not developing those areas. Parts of Oslo suffer from congestion, yet it is one of the few European capitals where people live with the wilderness literally in their back yard, or with access to a suburban train line that allows the city's many hikers and cross-country skiers to simply step off the train and start walking or skiing. Vigelandsparken is one of Norway's most visited attractions with more than 1 million visitors every year. The unique sculpture park is the life work of the sculptor Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron. Vigeland was also responsible for the design and architectural outline of the park. A monumental artistic creation with a human message that is well worth seeing. Oslo has a large number of parks and green areas within the city core, as well as outside it. This is the biggest and most reputed park in Norway. Bygdøy is a huge and green area, famous also as "Museum Peninsula" of Oslo. The beautiful location, surrounded by the sea, makes it the most expensive Norwegian district next to Aker Brygge – a long commercial centre along the seaside. Oslo has a modern Oprahouse - Norway's biggest culture and stage institution. Oslo's new Opera House opened on 12 April 2008 and is now the home of the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. The spectacular building has a fabulous location by the seaside and was designed by renowned Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta. I watched a German play – ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’ and I realized that it was the last time went to see a random play. It was so boooring that I have almost fallen asleep! Especially when they sang in German and all my attention was focused on reading the English subtitles.

A glimpse of Oslo’s attractions you can watch in the short movie below. My favourite places are BI Campus, Domus Athletica Swimming pool, Aker Brygge and Karl Johan Gate where I’m spending the most of my time. Many of my friends as well as my lovely fiance expoited the opportunity and visited me in Oslo, for all of them thank you very much! We spent a gorgeous time together here.

How to obtain Norwegian citizenship?

2010-03-21T01:42:00.001+01:00

There are two main ways to obtain Norwegian citizenship:

(1) Descent from a Norwegian parent. A child (born in Norway or elsewhere) acquires Norwegian citizenship at birth if the father or the mother is a Norwegian citizen and it isn’t necessary the father to be married to the mother. Furthermore, a child under 18 adopted by Norwegian citizens acquires Norwegian citizenship automatically.

(2) Naturalisation as a Norwegian citizen. In principle, it is possible to naturalise as a Norwegian citizen after residing in Norway 7 years over the last 10 years. There are several additional rules to the naturalisation:
- it is necessary to not have a criminal record.
- citizen of the other Nordic Council countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Sweden) may naturalise after a two-year residence.
- a person married to a Norwegian citizen may naturalise after 3 years residence during the last 10 years, provided that the total period of time resident in Norway plus the total period of marriage equals at least 7 years. The time of residence and marriage may be earned at the same time e.g. foreigners married to Norwegian citizens can therefore obtain citizenship after 4 years if they have been residing in Norway for at least 3 years. What is more, this rule also applies to non-married cohabiting partners and homosexuals in civil unions.
- an applicant for Norwegian citizenship must also give evidence of proficiency in either the Norwegian or Sami language or give proof of having attended classes in Norwegian for 300 hours, or being proficient in one of the Scandinavian languages.
- persons becoming naturalised Norwegian citizens are after acquisition of citizenship generally expected to prove they have lost or renounced any foreign citizenship they have.

Why do people move to Norway?

2010-03-14T00:54:00.006+01:00

The reasons for people relocating over country borders are many and complex. It could be due to necessity as a result of escaping war, persecution and disasters. It can also be because there is a desire to find work or get an education. A large number of relocations are family related. Many seek to reunite with family members that have already left to find work or take up education, or who have fled. There are also those who marry abroad and seek to immigrate. There are 459 000 immigrants (approx. 9.4 per cent) and 93 000 (approx. 2 per cent) Norwegian-born persons with immigrant parents living in Norway. Together these two groups represent 11.4 per cent of Norway’s population. Immigrants and Norwegian-born persons with immigrant parents are represented in all Norwegian municipalities. Oslo has the largest proportion with 27 per cent, or 160 500 people. Almost half of all the immigrants come from Asia, Africa or Latin-America. 2 in 10 immigrants have lived in Norway for more than 20 years, and 4 in 10 have lived here for 4 years or less.The history of immigration to Norway started after oil resources discovery in 1969 and may be divided for following phases:
(1) Initially in the 1960s was only about 50 000 immigrants – mostly people from European and other Nordic countries.
(2) First wave of labour migrants arrived from Pakistan and they were significant that they caused the introduction of the so-called “immigration freeze” in 1975.
(3) Thereafter, family immigration increased considerably. Since 1970s, family immigration has been mostly Thai, Philippine and Russian women that migrate to Norway to marry Norwegian men.
(4) In the mid 1970s, refugees were accepted from developing countries, such as Vietnam and Chile initially.
(5) In the mid 1980s, there was an increase in the number of asylum-seekers from countries such as Iran and Sri Lanka.
(6) Due to favourable lending and scholarship schemes, there has been a degree of immigration for education purposes since 1980, including countries in Asia and Africa.
(7) In the 1990s, war refugees from the Balkans were the predominant immigrant group accepted in Norway – a large number of which have already returned to Kosovo.
(8) Since the end of the 1990s, asylum seekers from countries such as Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan arrived.
(9) Nowadays the main immigration wave is due to labour reasons and mainly comes from new EU members such Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Baltic countries. The structure of immigrants in Norway nowadays looks like this:Unfortunately, this statistics doesn’t mention about immigrants, who live illegally in Norway. These numbers would be much more bigger than presented above.
In April 2008, the Government presented a new report to the Storting on Labour Migration (Report no. 18 to the Storting (2007 – 2008) (AID 2007, Labour Migration). The basis of the report is that in light of the demographic development, Norway among others has a need for immigration in order to cover future labour needs. It provides a thorough review of this need and takes its basis in the fact that it can mainly be covered in Norway. Mobilisation of unused domestic capacity is central together with continued immigration from the EEA area, but some immigration from countries outside the EU/EEA area may be necessary. The criticism aimed at Norway is that the increase in the number of unskilled workers to the country since 1990 is small, and that the share of foreign students from developing countries is small. Norway is commended for giving students good economic conditions and for covering large amounts of refugees’ expenses. But I believe that unskilled workers in any country is therefore not a positive thing, neither for society nor for immigrants. In my opinion it is vital to prevent increased migration leading to social dumping and the development of a new and ethnic-based lower class in Norway. Really, with a huge respect to all nations I realized that in Oslo there are too many poor migrants without any job or occupation and that is bad situation. They just live, perhaps in families houses, they don’t know Norwegian and have problems to communicate in English and they hope for a better life here. Or I’m wrong, because I realized this only from my observations. But I reckon that the immigration of unskilled labour must therefore be regulated according to the situation in the labour market. Unfortunately, there are too many generous incentives for staying unemployed offered by the Norwegian welfare state and therefore it even increases poverty in this country instead. On the other hand the poverty in countries, where immigrants come from decreases due to this policy, which is one positive aspect.

More strange and weird things about Norway

2010-03-07T19:46:00.008+01:00

Since January, when I posted about a bunch of strange and weird things about Norway, I’ve discovered more stuff like this:

(1) To begin with, social life. It is very common and socially approved that families are breaking apart, people divorce and remarry. Many live together while not married, they are called samboere (i.e. concubines). Samboere is legally equivalent to marriage. It is next prove for individualistic society: only you cont, not the group (family, friends).

(2) Studies. Much different from my school and I will develop this topic in the following posts. Good thing is, that teachers generally treat me as if I were on the same ‘level’ with them. Norwegian students seldom have and even show an awful lot of respect for their teachers. Every time when the course is finished the teacher receives a ovation. That is beautiful thing which is lacking in my country.

(3) Attitude towards foreigners. I mentioned that they are polite. It was just a first delusion. Never expect them to talk to you first, expect a lot of prejudice and ignorance about you, your country and your culture instead. That sad truth, but I have to write about it, because I experienced and witnessed many cases of Norwegian’s ignorance towards foreigners. They are ok with you when you speak Norwegian, even English is sometimes not enough. English revealed that you are temporarily in Norway and they feel like you are stealing their education or workplace. They are some exceptions towards low-qualified workers, which are necessary in this country and share respect. Generally, Norwegians are rather closed society and don’t want to anybody to intervene in their culture. They are several levels of closeness in a friendship. It might take a while before you get deep friendship with Norwegian. I recommend to be sensitive as to how much time both of you want to spend together. Remember, Norwegian men very rarely shake hands, unless they are gays. Interesting situation I experienced is when Norwegian woman looks straight in my eyes and talks to me without wanting anything else than a chat. That’s nice and unexpected. In Norway a woman can do everything that a man can do, going out alone, talking to strangers, having male friends in addition to her husband. Some woman will be insulted if you open the door for them, check it out!

(4) Politeness and manners. First of all, remember about directness, the polite form De (i.e. You) isn’t polite anymore. The prime minister is referred to as ‘Jens’. Say ‘yes’ if you want to come and ‘no, I’m sorry, I’ve got other plans’ if you don’t. Never say ‘yes’ and then not show up. Anyway, you are not required to refuse the first time to be polite. Most things in Norway similarly as in Germany begin exactly at the time given. Don’t be more than ten minutes late to a party. If you are late on classes, you will kiss a handle of the door (the Polish proverb!). What a irony when the bus and metro drivers are always late in this country, for f…’s sake!

(5) Sports. Norwegians have a craving for, which I like very much! When you are in Norway try to experience skiing, ice skating, cycling, running to Bergen or just throwing snowball. If it is so cold you have to move a lot, I’m not talking about your fingers and toes, I’m talking about whole body. I use swimming pool and gym very often and I appreciate this time. When I decided to rent skis for cross-country, it was too late and there were no more skis to rent. That’s a pity!

(6) Dress code. Imagine jeans and t-shirts in work. In Norway is possible, except jobs which require uniforms or suits. On the other hand, you should be more formal at parties. That’s ridiculous, totally different than in my country. Once, I felt really bad when I went to a party with jeans and my favourite polo t-shirt.

(7) Savoir vivre. Sometimes I really believe that Norwegians have a barbarian Vikings as their ancestors. For example famuous Norwegian Reach, which means just grab what you want on the table. They often serve alcohol in a Norwegian home – and definitely at a party – but it is okay to refuse. Alcohol is very expensive here, so they don’t be angry in case of refusal. Never expect that Norwegian buy you a beer in the pub, it’s expensive even to him. Otherwise you can expect that someone will steal you a beer if you don’t protect it.

(8) Norwegian sarcasm. Norwegians often say the exact opposite of what they mean, you have to listen to the intonation to get true meaning. That’s annoying, I would never know how it is, because usually I’m sarcastic.

(9) Special social skills. It’s good to say ‘ja’ while inhaling air instead of simple ‘yes’. I was forced to learn saying ‘mhm’ at the right places.

Finally, I must say that both me and my country have already changed with respect to my exchange programme.

Copenhagen – capital of Norway?

2010-03-01T20:58:00.007+01:00

Currently not, but between 1536 and 1814, during Norwegian tributary to Denmark, it was a capital of Norway as well. In this period all the kingdom’s royal, intellectual and administrative power was centered in Copenhagen. Both, Kalmar Union and Denmark-Norway Union were called by Norwegian national romanticism’s officials “400-Year Night”.

By the way, Copenhagen is one of Europe’s oldest capitals with a royal touch – the monarchy in Denmark is the oldest in the world. I totally agree with quote from ‘Hamlet’ that ‘there’s something modern in the state of Denmark’, because somehow it encapsulates the spirit of the youthful dynamism present in this city. First impression, after arrived to Copenhagen’s harbor, was like cycling & jogging. Copenhagians really love to move even though it is Ferbruary and temperature is below 0 degrees of Celsius, they all year long have a passion for jogging and cycling even with children. Copenhagen is known as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world. Every day nearly 37% of all citizens (who are 1,2 million in urban area of Copenhagen) commute to work, school, shopping or just commute by bicycle and this causes bicycle rush hours and traffic jams!The government was forced to develop well bicycle lanes and paths system in and around the city. What is more, bicycle paths are mostly separated from the main traffic and have their own signal systems. For those who don’t have own bike the city provide public bicycles which can be found throughout the downtown area and used with a returnable deposit of 20 kroner. Now, I know why urbanists use term ‘copenhagenize’ to describe the practice of adopting Copenhagen-style lanes and bicycle infrastructure.

Copenhagen is sometimes called ‘City of Spires’, because vainly is looking for skyscrapers and high business buildings there. ‘City of Spires' is known for its horizontal skyline, only broken by spires at churches and castles e.g The Marble Church or Rosenborg Castle. Recent years have seen a tremendous boom in modern architecture in Copenhagen. Indeed, a political majority has decided to keep the historical centre free of high-rises, but several areas will see or have already seen massive urban development of modern buildings e.g. Royal Danish Playhouse, Black Diamond, Scandinavian malls and hotels. An ambitious regeneration project will create a new Carlsberg District, at the historical premises of the Carslberg Breweries that has moved the production of beer to Frederica, leaving a worth-to-see Carlsberg museum.

Another a must-see in Copenhagen is Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue). This sculpture was commissioned in 1909 by the Carlsberg brewer Carl Jacobsen, impressed by a ballet ‘The little Mermaid’ based on a fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. From Little Mermaid is better to go ahead to Gefion Fountain and then go through channel coast just cross the Royal Danish Playhouse and Black Diamond, by the way see Royal Castle Amalienborg and Operahouse up to Nyhavn. These are truly exciting, cool and very enjoyable places to visit. In Nyhavn, it is worth to stay for a moment and taste Danish specialties like smørrebrød (open sandwiches) or pølser (boiled sausage) all perfect to match a cold beer Carlsberg. Smørrebrød tradition goes back to the birth of industrialism in Denmark. When people started to work outside their farms they brought leftovers to have for lunch at work and so it is: a piece of buttered rye dark brown bread and homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat, fish, cheese or spreads as an on-lay. Pølser is usually made of 60-75% very finely ground pork, very sparsely spiced with pepper, nutmeg or sweet spices. The most noticeable aspect is that its skin often contains a traditional red dye making it goudy red. Pølser is always served with mustard or ketchup or both and a roll, without cutlery!

To sum up, Copenhagen is the economical and financial centre not only of Denmark but also for Scandinavian-Baltic region. This city is rich in companies and institutions with a focus on R&D within biotechnology and life sciences sectors as well as IT and shipping industry. Since 1995 the Zealand region in Denmark with Skåne region in Sweden have been branded as the Medicon Valley in a Danish-Swedish cooperation.

How will pension be worth in Norway?

2010-02-21T19:02:00.011+01:00

In order to safeguard and build financial wealth for future generations Stortinget (Norwegian Parliament) resolved the National Insurance Act (Folketrygdloven) in 1967, which established National Insurance Scheme Fund (Folketrygdfondet). This fund has been supporting governmental savings for financing national insurance pension expenditures since establishment and follows until nowadays. Meanwhile, in 1990 Stortinget adopted the Act relating to the Government Petroleum Fund (Oljefondet), which gathers income generated by Norwegian petroleum sector and its main purpose was to counter the effect of the forthcoming decline in income and smooth out the disrupting effects of highly fluctuating oil prices. The petroleum income comes from taxes of companies related to petroleum sector as well as payment for license to explore, State’s Direct Financial Interest (About SDFI)and dividends from partly state-owned and the biggest offshore oil and gas company in the world - Statoil (About Statoil). In January 2006 both funds were combined and one Government Pension Fund of Norway has been existing since that year. This is sovereign wealth fund (About SWF), which means that it is a state-owned investment fund composed of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate and other financial instruments funded by forex assets. The Government Pension Fund comprises two separate funds right now:

- The Government Pension Fund - Global (Statens pensjonsfond utland - SPU, formerly Petroleum Fund)
- The Government Pension Fund – Norway (Statens pensjonsfond Norge – SPN, formerly The National Insurance Scheme Fund)

The unified purpose of The Government Pension Fund is to facilitate government savings to meet the rapid rise in public pension expenditures in the coming years and to support a long – term management of petroleum revenues. From this moment the total income of new Fund consist of not only petroleum activities but also of the return on the Fund’s investments. The investments decisions are made by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which is a part of the Norwegian Central Bank on behalf of regulations laid down by the Ministry of Finance. NBIM manages the Fund partly internally and partly by engaging external managers and whole responsibility is taken by Ministry of Finance. Every morning goatee-bearded chief executive Yngve Slyngstad (About Yngve Slyngstad) heads to his office at the top floor of Norwegian Central Bank and checks how his Fund is doing. It’s doing very well! In 2009 the Fund had a record return of 25,6% and is the largest Fund in Europe (1,78% of listed European companies) and second in the world (1% of the world’s shares) just after the largest pension fund in the USA (California Public Employees’ Retirement System – CaIPERS). In 31 December 2009 the total value of the Fund was NOK 2.640 trillion ($457 billion), which is enough to cover 25 times polish budget deficit for 2010.

Why does it look so good?

First of all, petroleum sector income – Norway is third exporter of oil and gas (after Saudi Arabia and Russia) in the world. Second, active management. This means long-term investments (30-year horizon), stressed markets, risk-return trade-off as well as economies of scale, targeted strategies and high quality Norwegian organisation. Within active management they use three main strategies: ensure efficient market exposure, create value through fundamental analysis and management of systematic risk. In 2009 equities made up 62.4% of the Fund’s total investments and fixed income instruments constituted 37.6%. This 62.4% is a high level of exposure to the highly volatile and therefore risky non-Norwegian stock and money market, because they don’t want to overheat their domestic economy. Since 2009 they have presented also in Poland (one of the 46 developed and emerging equity market), which makes me feel better, because I support their policy carried out among companies they own stakes (more than 8 300 companies):

- Equal treatment of shareholders
- Shareholders influence and board accountability
- Well-functioning, legitimate and efficient markets

And what sounds paradoxically for a fund based on oil and gas revenues they care about green issues such as climate change, water management and even children’s rights. Although their activism is limited to encourage better social and environmental standards at companies by publication of number of documents explaining how companies should manage, their ideas is honorable in my opinion. Another issue, which makes me feel better is the Fund’s ethical stance. Since 2006 they haven't invested in companies involved child labour, violation of human rights, the production of tobacco, nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In year mentioned above they kicked out nearly 30 companies, which met these criteria e.g. US retail giant Wal-Mart, because of its labour policies.
The last question I would ask is why they need so much money for almost 4,9 million Norwegians? Whether government should use some part of the petroleum revenues for e.g. the state budget instead of the funds for the future? They speculate this would increase inflation, so they should discuss what degree of these revenues they may use for government spending. In 2009 the government used 5% of GDP from Oljefondet to boost the economy by the state’s national budget. In February 2010 CPI in Norway was about 2,959% and it was increase from about 2,544% last year.
For more performance of the Government Pension Fund – Global see this report.

You are what you eat

2010-02-14T15:34:00.007+01:00

That means that if you want to feel like Norwegian, eat Norwegian food! What is this Norwegian cuisine actually? How do these dishes taste, prepared from raw materials available in Norwegian mountains, wilderness and coast? Some cuisine specialists reckon that Norwegians have lack of savor. Truly, their sources of raw materials are very limited and their cuisine bears the marks of globalization such as pastas, pizzas, meatballs etc. But, I disagree that they have lack of savor. From fish, sea fruits, potatoes as well as reindeer and elk meat, you can make a masterpiece of delicious cuisine. Of course, you can add some global ingredients such pasta, sauces from Poland (a must in my cooking), onion from Netherlands etc., just to improve your dish.
I usually start my day with cup of coffee or tea and something light like cornflakes with milk or scrambled eggs with pieces of røkt laks (smoked salmon). When I don’t have a time or milk then I often eat Wasabröd (creasp bread, well-known in Poland) with a fish paste from tube called “Kaviar” or with slice of brunost (brown cheese made from goat’s milk). Believe me, I usually don’t have time, so scrambled eggs are occasional.
Lunch. I often do it between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. This time a have more time to prepare something valuable. It’s all depends on my imagination and fancy. Sometimes I do something simple such as smørrebrød, which is nothing like open sandwich consisted of bread with spread mayonnaise and whatever you want on the top. Originally smørrebrød was born during industrialism in Denmark. When people started to work outside their farms and brought leftovers with bread to have for lunch at work. My “leftovers”, which I put on Wasabröd, include fish or reke (shrimp) paste, salami or paté from Poland, brunost or gourmet reindsyr (sausage from reindeer) and the spicy ketchup on the very top. Yummy! If I want something warm to eat for lunch and I don’t expect later kisses with my beloved fiancé Monika, I'll eat fried reke (shrimps) with garlic sauce and garlic self-baked rolls (bought ready to bake), using only my fingers.
Diner. I very often eat with my Dutch roommate Barend at Dutch time somewhere in the region of 6 p.m. Diner always supply our stomachs with heavy load of food. We like surprise each other but the longer we live together the more we know about our surprises. He knows very well how taste luscious fried laks (salmon) with French fries and boiled carrot prepared by me. There is also no more surprise if I prepare own invented food - penne (famous Italian pasta) with broccolis, appetizing surimi fingers and Carbonara sauce. Yum – yum!

Snakker du norsk?

2010-02-07T11:01:00.007+01:00

As I mentioned before, you can hear three official languages in Norway at once. The Norwegian Language Council approved two languages - Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk. Sámi is a language of indigenous Sámi people, which are protected by law. While Bokmål and Nynorsk are regarded as Scandinavian Languages, Sámi is a group of Uralic languages. To make the life for foreigners more difficult, the most Norwegians speak their own dialect in all circumstances. But if you have a good command of Norwegian, you will be able to understand Danish, Swedish or even Icelandic. Great! I wish I could understand my Czech, Slovakian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian or even one of these: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian and Serbian fellows. The life in Slavic world not suppose to be as easy.
Move on, back to Norwegian, for Norwegians the dialect makes up an important part of their identity, and by listening to a person's dialect they can in most cases determine with good accuracy from which part of the country he or she is from. Scandinavian Languages developed from Old Norse language. Vikings were the ones who spread this language across the Europe and even into far Iceland and farer Greenland as well as deep Russia, making Old Norse one of the most widespread languages for that time. Christianity’s contribution into Old Norse around 1030 was Latin alphabet. Almost 150 years Norway was unified with Denmark and Sweden under Kalmar Union established in 1397, which means that the language in this union didn’t varied very much. Furthermore, between 1536 and 1814 Norway was subordinated under the Kingdom of Denmark – Norway, so Danish was commonly used by Norway’s literate class. After the end of this Kingdom the Dano-Norwegian koiné (About koiné language) had became the mother tongue of Norwegian elites. In short time Norway was forced to enter a personal union with Sweden. This time Norwegians wanted to declare their independence, they even proclaimed a constitution in Syttende Mai (17 May 1814), which day is now called Norwegian Constitution Day and is celebrated every year.
In order to show Norwegian sovereign the nationalist movement started to exist and its action was directed, among others, towards the development of independent Norwegian language. The movers had to choose one of three paths due to develop independent language:
(1) Do nothing (remained with Danish, which was already different from Swedish)
(2) Norwegianise Danish language
(3) Build a new national language based on local dialects.
They went through all three paths. Some movers did nothing, Knud Knudsen (About Knud Knudsen) tried to Norwegianise Danish using Dano-Norwegian koiné and Ivar Aasen began to create a new Norwegian language. Ivar was the most stout-harted, he traveled around the country and spoke with locals, examined Icelandic as well and the fruit of his labor was Landsmål (About Landsmål), meaning national language. Nowadays, Landsmål is interpreted as farmers language, which wasn’t Ivar’s previous intention. As an effect of Knud Knudsen work Riksmål (About Riksmål) did borned, which means state language. In 1929 Riksmål was officially renamed to Bokmål (Book Language) and Landsmål to Nynorsk (New Norwegian).

Today, the majority of the people in Norway are using Bokmål (85-90% of the population in Norway). But in areas in the Northwestern part of Norway and in the very south, Nynorsk is used (above 10% Norwegians use it as their primary written language). However, it should be noted that Bokmål and Nynorsk are not classified as two different languages where you have to learn the other as a foreign language. In short one could say that they are more two different written norms. Thus, text written in Bokmål is perfectly understandable for a person using Nynorsk, and vice versa. What is more, it exists also a conservative version of Nynorsk called Høgnorsk (High Norwegian) and in Norwegian language courses they taught foreign students Standard Østnorsk (Standard East Norwegian). Great! If you really want to develop on the languages field, come to Norway!

Let’s have a good start, here you can find survival phrases with pronunciation (just click on the word, it's working in IE):

(1) Total basic for dummers:
Ja. Yes.
Nei. No.
Vær så snill. Please.
Takk. Thank you.
Vær så god. You're welcome.
Unnskyld. Excuse me.
Beklager. I am sorry.
God morgen. Good morning.
God kveld. Good evening.
God natt. Good night.
For greetings they usually say: Hei or Hei hei.

(2) A bit more for advanced students:
Snakker du engelsk? Do you speak English?
Finnes det noen her som snakker engelsk? Does anyone here speak English?
Jeg snakker bare litt norsk. I only speak a little Norwegian.
Hva heter du? What is your name?
Jeg heter Kari. My name is Kari.
Hvordan har du det? How are you?
Takk, jeg har det bra. I'm fine, thank you.
Det er så hyggelig å treffe deg. I am very glad to meet you.
Jeg forstår ikke. I don't understand.

For Norwegian courses visit e.g. NorskCarolina.

Try to find your car in Norway

2010-02-01T20:22:00.005+01:00

Ole and Lena were sitting down to their usual cup of morning coffee listening to the weather report coming over the radio:
- There will be 3 to 5 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the odd numbered side of the streets.
Ole got up from his coffee and replies - Jeez, OK.
Two days later, again they both are sitting down with their cups of morning coffee and the weather forecast is:
There will be 2 to 4 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the even numbered side of the streets."
Ole got up from his coffee and replies - Jeez, OK.
Three days later, again they both are sitting down with their cups of coffee and the weather forecast is:
There will be 6 to 8 inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the... and then the power went out and Ole didn`t get the rest of the instructions. He says to Lena:
- Jeez, what am I going to do now, Lena?
Lena replies: - Aw, Ole, just leave the car in the garage.

Wanna be a Snusmumriken?

2010-01-29T20:56:00.003+01:00

One of the artefacts of Norwegian pretty boys with gelled hair is snus. Snus is simply a moist powder tobacco product, which is consumed by placing it under the lip for extended periods of time in purpose of get high with nicotine. To begin with, in the 16th century Snuff – pulverized tobacco - was invented by Jean Nicot as a migraine remedy. Later in the 19th century Swedish producers began to manufacture local brands of moist snuff placed under the upper lip which did not require spitting, and became known as snus. The sale of snus is illegal in the European Union (Euro-Lex), but due to exemptions, it is still manufactured and consumed primarily in Sweden and Norway, although it is now available in the United States. As I noticed it is commonly consumed in Norway also during the classes in the university. What is more, I don’t really know what intentions Tove Jansson had – Swedish-speaking Finnish novelist – placing SNUSmumriken (Snusmumriken) as one of the creature in Moominvalley. One thing I know about Snusmumriken is that he wears old green clothes and a wide brimmed hat he's had since birth. He lives in a tent, SMOKES A PIPE, plays the harmonica and Tove based him on her friend and one-time fiancé, Atos Wirtanen (Atos Wirtanen).

While snus is returning to favor there is a public debate whether it is safer for human life than cigarettes or not. As far as I am concerned the nicotine is one of the most toxic and addicting of all chemical substances I know. Since I gave up smoking I’m in loyal opposition against any form of nicotine consumption. Snus is actually one of this ways and it contains nicotine as well. Otherwise, there are some advantages of using snus. First, it obviously doesn’t cause lung cancer, because it isn’t been smoked. Second, it doesn’t make surrounding inhale the destructive smoke. On the other hand, snus still remains a stimulant containing a nicotine, which is unnecessary for human life. Moreover, it is horrible for teeth and still rip-off.
Finally, I want to congratulate Swedish and Norwegian governments that men in these both countries have the lowest rate of lung cancer in Europe (according to WHO).

Joke related to Norwegian poker face :I

2010-01-25T17:32:00.001+01:00

Ole and Lena went to a fair. Ole was fascinated by the airplanes and asked a pilot how much a ride would cost.
- $10 for 3 minutes. - replied the pilot.
- That's too much. - said Ole.
The pilot thought for a second and then said:
- I'll make you a deal. If you and your wife ride for 3 minutes without uttering a sound, the ride will be free. But if you make a sound, you'll have to pay $10.
Ole and Lena agreed and went for a wild ride. After they landed, the pilot said to Ole:
- I want to congratulate you for not making a sound. You are a brave man.
- Maybe so. - said Ole - but I gotta tell ya, I almost screamed when my wife fell out.

A bunch of strange and weird things about Norway

2010-01-18T19:01:00.022+01:00

The most commonly used words by me in the first days in Oslo were strange and weird associated with behaviour, food and rules. I mean strange and weird in a positive sense, sometimes funny. I’ve listed some of the strangest and weirdest things in Norway. Let’s see how it looks:

(1) People. In Norway in 2009 lived 508 000 immigrants (Statistics of Norway), which means 10,6 percent of the whole population. I wasn’t surprised when I transferred it to reality, because 1 per 10 citizens in Norway truly comes from Africa, Asia, Americas or other European country. The most apparent amongst them are Black Africans and Indians. Just imagine them living in this snowy and cold country. Surely, they must be attracted by something here, what let them live in this climatic conditions.

And now, focus on Norwegians. Norwegians are friendly, they smiling very often and are happy all the time like in Truman Show, but reserved, while in my country they would be seen as simply retarded. However, you will often get a rational and positive response if taking initiative. By taking initiative you must remember that they seems to be easy going and informal. If you want to see how they show astonishment, just call one male Norwegian Mr. and try to shake hand with him. In response to him don’t show your astonishment because of their directness, they usually say what they think without unnecessary words. One more advice, be discrete when looking at Norwegian and don’t stare. To sum up, Norwegian don’t seem to have a craving for blood, fire, pillage and conquest as their famous ancestors – Vikings.

Why aren't they plundering now? Maybe the answer lies in their wealth. How did Norway become a rich country? Mostly due to petrol and natural gas from the North Sea, but other industries connected with the sea or water make up an important part of the income. Before Phillips Petroleum Company discovered petroleum resources at the Ekofisk field in 1969 (About this discovery) Norway was poor fish & ship seller.

(2) Prices. Incredibly high. Especially alcohol, while wine (bottle of good Spanish wine costs ca 100NOK) and hard drinks (vodka costs ca 300NOK) may be only bought in state-owned Vinmonopolet when you are 20 or more. That's why Norway is called "dry" country. I think Norwegians don’t matter about prices, because they average yearly income is somewhere in the region of 220000NOK (USD36 600). Income tax is somewhere from 28% to 49% with more tax paid if you earn more money (health care and pension funds make up a flat 7.8% of your tax) (About incomes in Norway). So it still left enough money to deal with high prices. One special thing is that service and tax are included in all prices you see (What You See Is What You Pay), so tips are not expected here.

(3) Food. There will be separate post about it.

(4) Language. Sounds absolutely strange for me, like a jabber. It is quite similar to German, but in writing to Danish. Norwegian language has three special letters:

Æ as in mad, Ø as in blurt, Å as in hall

Norway has three official languages: Bokmål, Nynorsk and Sami. Bokmål stems from the written Danish introduced during the Union of Denmark and Norway. On the other hand, Nynorsk was created as a written language by the language scholar Ivar Aasen (About Ivar Aaasen). Sami, a member of the Finno-Ugric of languages is a minority language used by the indigenous Sami people. Two famous words Norwegian has exported to other languages: ski and fjord. While fjord is simply a sea intrusion into the land, formed by glaciers, skiing is their national sport. Norwegians will actually get orgasmic telling you how much they love cross country skiing and they will encourage you to try this. They absolutely love it!

The good thing for foreigners is that every Norwegian independently of age have a very good command of English.

(5) Drivers’ politeness on the street. It’s not a joke, what is unbelievable in Poland comes true in Norway. Drivers in Oslo drive their vehicles like they were made of porcelain. Maybe it wouldn’t be as surprising as I had known fines ranks. What is more shocking, they always let the pedestrian cross the street on the pedestrian crossing.

(6) The next, but not last weird thing I've noticed in Norway are slippers of my Norwegian roommate.Well, I think these are traditional Norwegian slippers and suppose they’re itching and I’m sure they’re stinking.