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Posts tagged ‘Norway’

Feb 15

10 Comments

Northern Lights Ruined Our Valentine’s Day

Last night, Kristin and I opened up a nice bottle Rioja and sat in front of a blazing fireplace. Candles were lit all over. We were having a lovely Valentine Day evening when my cell phone rang. It was Pawel, our neighbor. He said, “You have to look! I’ve never seen it this big.” Earlier in the evening, we saw good — not great — northern lights, but I called Pawel anyway because I knew his wife really wanted to see it. Since then, his eyes had been peeled looking out the window until the sky exploded. Read more

Feb 8

8 Comments

Shockingly, We Have Snow

Finally, we have snow. I know, I know. It’s highly unusual for being above the arctic circle. It wasn’t as dramatic as snow in Rome, the Black Sea frozen, ice storm at Lake Geneva, but it was something. A nice blanket of powder followed by a day of sunshine. Read more

Jan 22

20 Comments

Northern Lights

People come from all over the world to see the Northern Lights in Norway. The pictures in the tourist brochures look really good. My advise is, don’t. Come and see the fjords, the midnight sun, the mountains, the cod, but not the Northern Lights, because chances are you’ll be disappointed. Read more

Jan 9

16 Comments

Here Come the Big Ones

Every year, big arctic cod and pollock (sei in Norwegian) from Barents Sea come to the northern part of Norway to lay their eggs. With keen eyes for beauty, they have chosen Lofoten, a chain of islands about 50 miles north of there, as their favorite spawning ground. Read more

Dec 24

10 Comments

Happy Holidays!

When I was in high school and newly immigrated to America, I hated Christmas. It was a time when I would be reminded of being an immigrant, an outsider watching from afar while natives carry on their traditions inside the closed nuclei of their families. Read more

Dec 5

9 Comments

Fishing with the Pros

Two days ago, I went fishing on a real fishing boat! Our next door neighbor Ove and his friend Kjell took me and another foreign resident, Pawel, to get out for a few hours on Kjell’s boat. Read more

Nov 27

4 Comments

Thanksgiving Inside a Norwegian Storm

Norwegians name their storms every year just like the storms in the southern Atlantic: using first names starting with one that begins with letter “A”. The last two days, storm Berit hit. Read more

Nov 12

7 Comments

Christmas Fair

Today we went to the Rødøy Christmas Fair. The most striking thing about it is how similar it is to the Scandinavian Fair in Boston, or Chicago. Food is sold cafeteria style: traditional dishes, coffee, and cake. And tables of handicraft for sale, half of which are hand-knitted woolen stuff: gloves, hats, sweaters, etc. Between eating and shopping, people mingle and kids dart around. The finale is the raffle drawing. Read more

Oct 23

14 Comments

Longing Home

Moving to Norway, first of all, was driven by the need for change. Winston and I were ready to change our routines and try something new for a while. But if I am totally honest with myself, it might also have been driven by a tiny bit of homesickness on my part. Read more

Oct 18

13 Comments

There Is No Bad Weather

“There is no bad weather, only bad clothing,” goes a popular Norwegian saying. The weather sure has been bad. It’s been 3 weeks since the autumn rain started, and it has rained every day. Today we had 40 mile-a-hour wind and hail. But we braved this weather like true Vikings. Read more

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