Formal Greetings

Twenty-one years ago, when Kory and I were heading to Norway for the first time together, I knew only a few words of Norwegian.  I asked him to teach me the proper greeting, when being introduced to someone.  I wanted to make a good impression.  Even though we were only dating, I knew the relationship would be forever.

I wanted to know the Norwegian equivalent of, “So nice to meet you.”  He told me when I greet someone I must make direct eye contact, shake their hand and say, “Jeg er med barn.”  I practiced that over and over so I would get it just right. 

On the flight over, Kory took out a family tree to show me all the relatives we’d be meeting on the trip.  It was written in Norwegian, and I saw the word “barn.”   I instantly got suspicious of this greeting he had taught me, since I could see the word was used in reference to the children of each person listed.  I questioned him on this phrase he’d taught me and he just smirked.  I knew instantly he was up to something, so I pestered him enough until he finally confessed that he was going to have me tell everyone, “I am with child.”  This was not at all funny to me and not just because I would have been proclaiming a miraculous conception.  Kory thought it was hilarious.  Kory’s aunts and uncles were very religious and I didn’t think they would see the humor in this statement either.  I was so thankful his little scheme did not play out.

After we’d been in Norway a few days, I confided in a cousin about Kory’s mischievous plan.  She thought it was hysterical and began to tell others.

Later that week, we were invited to tag along to a New Year’s Eve party.  Norwegians are extremely formal when they meet one another for the first time.  In fact, they are formal about a lot of things. Thankfully by then, I’d learned the proper greeting, which is, “Så hygelig å treffe deg.”

The party had been going on for hours before we arrived.  Once everyone saw us walk through the door, the Norwegians all quickly lined up across the room in a receiving line, somewhat like one would expect if they were waiting for royalty to arrive.  It was obvious the story of Kory’s mischievous practical joke on me had made its rounds.  Each person extended their hand to shake mine and greeted me with, “Jeg er med barn.”  

Others may think Norwegians are a bit prim and proper, but apparently some of them have a real warped sense of humor.

Strangers

Going for a walk in the neighborhood is a national pastime in Norway.  The term they use for this is “lufte seg” which literally translates as “airing myself.”  It’s funny when they say they are taking the dog out for a walk because the words translate as “airing the dog” as if it’s been stinking up the house.  I can’t help but laugh every time I hear someone say it. 

We were out walking with relatives one day and the first person we passed, my husband and I both greeted them with a “God dag”, which is a standard Norwegian greeting meaning “good day” but when pronounced sounds exactly like “good dog,” so that also cracks me up, since it’s something I often say to dogs.

After we’d passed them, Kory’s cousin asked us if we knew the people we had greeted.  We didn’t.  “Then why did you greet them?”  he asked.  We told him it’s because it’s just what we do – we greet people we pass on trails or in the street.  “We don’t do that in Norway,” he said.  “We only greet people we know.”  In fact, they don’t even make eye contact with people they don’t know.  The conversation went on from there about how Norwegians pretty much just keep to themselves and aren’t that welcoming to strangers. 

The foreign women in my Norwegian class often complained about how cold and uncaring Norwegians seemed to them and how hard it was to make friends with the locals.  I’ve even met Norwegians that have moved to America for that very reason – they hated how “closed” Norwegians are with their emotions.  Ironically though, that whole dynamic changes if there’s any common ancestry.

I have found the friendliest people in Norway when I have knocked on a complete stranger’s door, holding up a copy of the family tree, looking for a farm where one of my ancestors lived hundreds of years ago.  If there’s even a hint that I might be related to someone, they drop what they are doing, the door swings open wide, the coffee starts brewing in the pot, and I’m invited in for a good long chat.  Family is everything in Norway.

Based on my experience with doing family research on my husband’s side, if I go back far enough, he’s related to hundreds of people we know in Norway and thousands we don’t.  I guess that justifies us greeting strangers we meet when we’re out “airing ourselves.” 

I’m sure if every Norwegian had a copy of their pedigree, they’d realize they are all related, and perhaps then, they’d start saying, “good dog” to each other.

Winter Solstice

Norway, being as far north as they are on the planet, is one of the few countries in the world that still pay close attention to the position of the sun throughout the year.  In fact, they price houses there based upon how much sun they get in the wintertime, like Americans would price houses based on their view.  In Norway, almost every house has a view. 

In the summer, way up north, the sun never sets, but in winter, it only briefly rises. Part of the excitement in Norway during the Advent season – the days leading up to Christmas – is anticipating December 21^st – when the sun turns and the days start growing longer again. It is a cause for much celebration.

Actually, it’s only been in the last few hundred years that the Winter Solstice was more accurately placed on the 21^st.  Decades before Jesus was even born, Julius Caesar decreed the Winter Solstice should be December 25^th and it has been celebrated on that date up until the 16^th century.  So it’s no coincidence that Christmas falls on December 25^th as well.  Newly converted Christians wanted to keep celebrating on that date, but they had to give up their pagan ways, so they just designated the 25^th as the day to celebrate the birth of their Savior instead.  Surprisingly though, many countries throughout the world celebrate Christmas on a different date altogether.

Norwegians burn massive amounts of candles the whole month of December.  They say it’s to bring more light into their homes on the darkest month of the year, but I’m sure some of it harkens from their pre-Christian days of lighting bonfires and sacrificing animals and humans to the gods in hopes they’d end winter soon. 

There are no longer bonfires in Norway in December, but at the end of June, the night before the Summer Solstice, bonfires are a national obsession.  Neighborhoods all over Norway build huge bonfires and gather together with friends and family for Bar-B-Ques, games for the kids, and a night of socializing.  They carry on some of their pagan traditions with many locations still placing a dummy witch on top of the fire, which is then burned in effigy to ward off evil spirits that are thought to be lurking when the sun turns south. 

Since Norway is a Christian nation, this pagan ritual is problematic, but they solved the problem by wrapping Christianity into it.  The Bible says that Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, was born six months before Jesus, so conveniently now, the Summer Solstice is celebrated as John’s birthday, and the night before is called Santhansaften (Saint John’s Eve).  I’m sure, based on how they celebrate it, he would not be pleased.

Renting

Norway is short about 200,000 housing units.  Technically this means that about 4% of their population should be homeless, as they can’t build houses fast enough for their growing population.  Rental units are few and far between as well.

The newspapers always have more ads in the “wanting to rent” column than they do in the “for rent” column as people from around Europe are flocking to Norway for employment opportunities.

The weirdest thing about renting in Norway is that apartments don’t include heating elements or light fixtures.  The unit is stripped bare.  Most apartments don’t even include a stove or refrigerator.

The laws in Norway favor the renter, not the landlord.  Any place for rent must be made available for at least a three-year period or the landlord must pay the costs of relocating their tenant if they can’t go the distance.  The only exception is if the landlord will be using their place personally, then with three month’s notice, they can ask the tenant to leave.

Rentals are extremely expensive in Norway, as is everything.  A security deposit of three month’s rent is standard.  In our town, a tiny two-bedroom apartment starts at about $1,600 a month, and goes up from there.  But ironically, if a person can afford to pay that much in rent, chances are good they can afford to buy a house, assuming they can find one, because the government has a mortgage interest subsidy program in place for all its citizens.

When we moved to Norway for a year, it took several weeks and much prayer in order to find a place to live.  It all boiled down to who we knew. 

A cousin lived down the street from three duplexes that were sitting empty because the ground under them started sinking.  The builder’s insurance company bought them shortly after they were completed.  In America, that ground would have been considered wetlands, but in Norway, it was just a neighborhood bog.  All was fine until someone down the street blasted out some hillside rock, which acted as the plug for all the water in the bog, and the ground level went down rapidly.  The houses were built on stilts so they were fine, but the insurance company hadn’t yet decided what to do with them, so there they sat, empty.

Another cousin knew the attorney working for the insurance company, so he asked if we could rent one of those “Sinking Houses” for the year we’d be in Norway.  Because of all the regulations around renting out places, the attorney thought it was easier for him if we just became “caretakers” and lived there for free.  So we did.  Hallelujah!

Trespassing

One of the hardest things I’ve had to get used to in Norway is their “right to roam” law.  There is no such thing as “no trespassing”– all their land is open for anyone to traverse over, as long as no harm is done in the process.  Norway doesn’t have lawsuits like America does, so this works fine for them.

All shoreline is also open to absolutely everyone, and it’s illegal to put up a fence or other barrier to keep anyone from accessing it.  If a person builds a house two feet from the water, it’s perfectly legal for someone to stand in front of that house and go fishing, or even cozy up to their porch and have a picnic, if they want. 

Norwegians aren’t rude or inconsiderate, so I’m sure not many would impose on private property so much when the homeowners were present, but when they aren’t there – it’s a different story.

One time we were on a long road trip with some cousins and we stopped in a very quaint little fishing village for lunch.  There were no convenient spots in which to have a picnic because of the rocky shore, so the cousins just walked around until they spotted a nice house where no one seemed to be home.  They knocked, just to be sure, then took up residence on their back deck overlooking the harbor.  Both Kory and I gasped at such a daring move, as we sheepishly sat down on someone else’s picnic table, but apparently, it’s not that uncommon of an occurrence. 

When we’ve been up hiking in the mountains and have taken new trails back down, we often end up behind someone’s house.  My instincts are to go back up the trail and find another way out, but Norwegians just tromp on through the yard to get to the street out front.  It just seems so wrong. 

One time we couldn’t find the beginning of a trail to a popular destination we wanted to see, so we stopped to ask a local farmer where it might be.  He pointed in the direction and then led us to and through his barn and on in through the goat pen and up a steep hillside.  And that, honestly, is the way everyone must go.    

The only law in Norway protecting private property that I’m aware of, has something to do with not setting up a tent and camping overnight within about 35 feet of a building, but otherwise, camping for a night is allowed just about everywhere, even in someone’s goat pen.  And if you slip and hurt yourself on a pile of goat droppings, it’s your own darn fault, not theirs.