Immigration

Historically, Norway has had a very balanced population growth.  In centuries past, it was common for women to birth over a dozen babies.  Only a fraction of them survived to adulthood, however, so there never was a population explosion problem - until the 1800s.

One of the biggest killers of Norwegian children back then was small pox.  Early in the 19^th century the small pox vaccine was introduced to Norway and given to every child over the age of one.  Survival of the fittest had reigned supreme and “nature” took care of keeping the population balanced, but when modern medicine intervened, it upset that balance.

Between food from the sea and food from the land, Norwegians were able to feed their own, but once the small pox vaccine came into play, everything changed.  Each family that would otherwise just be feeding four or five kids to adulthood, now had to feed 13 or 14.   Many went hungry. 

On smaller farms, once a child reached the age of 10, they were often sent to work on larger farms just so they could eat.  This population explosion was unforeseen and had dramatic affects on the country.  It’s what precipitated the mass exodus to America, where land was plentiful and the promise of food awaited them.

In the years between 1825 and 1925, Norway lost over 800,000 of it’s citizens, - about one third of their population - to America.  When they boarded the ship to sail away, the family grieved as if they were dying because they knew, more often than not, they would never see them again.  It was common then to refer to America as Norway’s “graveyard.”  There are now about 4.5 million Norwegian-American’s living in America, which is about how many Norwegians are living in Norway. 

I was looking at a website that gave global statistics projecting where countries will be 50 years from now.  It showed huge population explosions in many places, but for Norway, their population is expected to be about what it is today.  The birth rate among native Norwegians is now down to only 1.4 children per family, so it won’t be the locals exploding out their numbers anytime soon.  But with Norway’s strong economy and low unemployment rate, the tables have turned and immigration into Norway is now their biggest threat to over population.

I’m thinking those who made the predictions kept Norway’s population low because they knew about the law that says everyone moving to Norway must learn to speak Norwegian.  Based on the challenges I faced actually trying to learn their very difficult language, I’d say it’s a sure fire way to keep many immigrants at bay.

OLD SCHOOL

We homeschool our son, Kaleb, but the year we lived in Norway he attended the fourth grade in public school.  It was amazing he learned anything, since his school days only went from 8:30am until 1:00pm and there were at least five recesses during that time.  Every Monday they’d be given the homework assignments for the week.  The school took great care to not overburden the children so it could be done in less than 20 minutes a day.  The smart ones did it all on Monday afternoon so they’d have the rest of the week to play with their pals.  Even now, there is discussion that children shouldn’t be sent home with any homework at all, as it hinders their social life, which is so very important to them.

When my husband attended elementary school in Norway, it was just after World War II and there weren’t enough school buildings.  He was on an every-other-day schedule.  He attended school Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.  His older brother attended the same school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  They were sent home with plenty of homework to keep them busy on the days they were not in school, as their social life wasn’t considered such a priority back then.  

An old friend of ours who grew up in the 1930s in northern Norway, had an even more unusual school schedule.  Because it was in such a remote region, it took hours for the kids to row or walk to the nearest school. The younger kids, ages 7-9, were dropped off for three weeks in a row, then they were home for six weeks while the older kids used the building. They were all on the same schedule at different times – three weeks on and six weeks off.  They were sent home with some work to do in the interim, but most of them had to help on their family farms so the expectations of actually doing it were pretty low.

Our friend said that school got “very interesting” as he grew older when hormones raged and the social aspect of school dominated their lives.  The oldest group of students were in the 14-16 year old range.  All the kids slept on cots in the attic of the school, with the school marm sleeping downstairs.  There was only a thin sheet hanging from the ceiling that separated the boys from the girls.  In his words, “There was always a little hanky and a little panky going on after hours.”  He said they never had to teach sex education in school in those days because and they all learned about it first hand – right in the schoolhouse.  

And we think what goes on in our schools today is shocking. 

Vacations

Along with a myriad of paid holidays, Norwegians get five weeks of paid vacation each year.  The government requires that three of those weeks must be taken consecutively.  Most people take them in the month of July, which pretty much shuts down the entire country while everyone is off recharging their batteries.

It’s very expensive to get around in Norway, with the price of gas around $15 a gallon and tolls on tunnels and bridges. Camping spots can cost over a hundred dollars a night, and hotels are at least $300, so most natives just leave their homeland.  All things are cheaper across the border in Sweden, but cheaper yet is to fly to places like Spain, Thailand, Greece and Turkey – Norwegian’s favorite vacation spots.

We went to Turkey last year with some cousins and we noticed there are entire communities there that cater heavily to the Norwegian tourists.  Menu boards outside restaurants are written in Norwegian, waiters have learned to speak their language, and native Norwegians run entire vacation condo complexes.  Many Norwegians purchase their second homes in Turkey or Spain because the prices are so darn cheap, compared to the cost of owning a cabin in Norway.

Some of our relatives use their vacations to get dental work done because the Norwegian government doesn’t subsidize adult dental care.  It’s a fraction of the cost in Turkey.  They also get their hair cut there for a mere six dollars a clip, versus the hundred dollars they’d pay at home.  And an entire industry of pirated name-brand clothes and shoes has popped up in Turkey just to feed the Norwegian’s love for top quality goods. Vacation time is used more and more as a way to subside the otherwise expensive Norwegian lifestyle.

For every hour a Norwegian works, a percentage of their wage is set aside by their employer to be used as vacation pay the following year.  When the employee then goes on vacation, they use up that money, but they don’t pay any additional taxes on it, since they’ve already paid taxes when they earned it. So, when they are on vacation, their paychecks are much larger than normal.  It’s actually a wonderful government regulation that makes their vacation time all the sweeter.  For a country that taxes everything so heavily, it says a lot about just how much Norwegians value their vacations.

The Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, is another hot spot Norwegians like to go.  One of our relatives takes her son there.  She is a young, single mom on welfare.  Norway pays their welfare recipients well enough that they too, can take a nice vacation to recharge their batteries, because, after all, life in Norway is pretty rough. 

FISH

I was shocked when I learned I couldn’t buy wild salmon in Norway.  It’s against the law to sell it so the only salmon available for purchase there is of the farmed variety.  The world has overfished Norway’s seas and now they are paying for it. 

Ironically though, anyone at all can go out in the fjords and fish for salmon without a license - as long as they don’t sell it.  In fact, all saltwater fishing is considered a native’s right and the government puts no controls on it.  They do however, control salmon fishing in rivers.  But recently they imposed a law targeting the Germans that come up and take advantage of their generous fishing policies. Germans drive up in their RVs, and catch salmon by the ice chests full, then drive back home and sell them.  Now Norway limits how many salmon can leave their country, but other than that, open fishing laws guarantee that one will ever go hungry.

But because of that, Norwegians have lost their passion for eating salmon.  Mostly because it’s all farmed so they won’t touch the stuff, knowing it’s pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones, but also because it’s historically thought of as “poor people’s food,” since it was so readily available. 

Whenever we’ve been invited to someone’s house for dinner and they ask us what we like to eat, we always say “fish,” hoping someone has a wild salmon in their freezer, but inevitably we get served Torsk, a plentiful and tasty version of cod.

Norwegians are crazy about their Torsk.  Every afternoon the fishing boats are lined up along the harbor in the center of town selling fresh Torsk right out of their boats.  One day, I stopped and bought one as a treat for Kory.  He was elated.

Kory’s aunt, who lives next door to us, happened to come by while he was cutting it up into steaks.  She wondered if we’d be eating the head.  I looked at her rather oddly, and said most definitely “No.”  She begged us for it and then went on to describe how delicious it is – especially the tongue - which is considered a delicacy.

 

It takes no great skill to cook Torsk, since Norwegians still cook it the way I’m sure their Viking ancestors did – they just boil it.  They boil all fish.  In fact, they boil nearly everything.  I guess the French never ventured up into Norway to give any fancy cooking lessons. 

I find it rather odd that salmon is at the bottom of their fish scale – pun intended – and Torsk tongue is at the top, but then again, I’ve never been brave enough to try it.