...…A Twilight Zone
I know I live in Norway but my house at the top of the hill in Stavanger must be in some kind of parallel universe: the beautiful view, the fresh air, the rain it all says Norway but then you have my neighbors and while they are pure breed Norwegians and not even the kind that have lived abroad they, for some reason, interact with each other and with US!!
Let me explain. You see Norwegians are not; how can I say this nicely… the most friendly people and would not engage with one another unless they really have to
(hey they have all that space and there is only a few of them so interaction is not part of their DNA). We had be warned and we accepted it but then our next two-door neighbor introduced herself when we first moved in and………brought us a cake; I was so utterly shocked I contemplated the idea for a split second that it might be poisoned because they wanted our house or maybe I was being punked by a TV show called "
Let's make fun of those foreigners". Anyway it kind of snowballed when almost all of our other immediate neighbors seeing us talking to her, came and introduced themselves in turn; a couple of them more as pure peer pressure maybe!. When Jeffrey mentioned this oddity to his colleagues at work none of them wanted to believe him or found some good excuses: foreigners? ...nope; ex-expat? ...nope. It was a mystery to them!
A couple of days ago Chloe told me that the neighbor
(the one that seems to like playing with my kids in his yard…again, what’s going on with my neighbors?) reminded her that there would be the street gathering in a couple of days. We hadn’t received an invitation but Jeffrey had heard about it a few weeks ago by yet another neighbors. So when I came back home today from after school activities and a little bit of shopping I saw that there was quite a few people in one of our adjacent streets and sure enough my neighbor told me to join them. It was already in full swing, that’s what happened when the local normal time for dinner is 4.30-5.00pm, but I got to talk and meet a few more neighbors who I will now be able to give a nod when I see them in the streets and Chloe got to meet potential new friends.
A couple of weeks ago I came upon those
10 tips on surviving Norway: Number 4 and 10 is the standard… apparently not if you live on my hill!!!
10 Tips on Surviving Norway
You need to have a certain personality to survive Norway. I’m lucky, I enjoy my own company and can amuse myself, so the standard isolation as an ‘immigrant’ is quite perfect for me. However, others who need social interaction have a much harder time of it. Below are some tips (well, more like humorous tactics) especially for our ‘immigrant’ readers who want insight into the Norwegian character and plan on surviving Norway:
- Always say how amazing Norway is – Norwegians need to hear how wonderful their country is more than most. I think it is the ‘little guy’ syndrome.
- Never get angry, speak your mind or cause a scene. I’ve seen other immigrants do this and this usually makes them alienate themselves even more.
- Don’t complain in front of (or to) a Norwegian. Immigrants have developed a bad rep for being complainers.
- Don’t bother saying ‘hi’ to a Norwegian unless they say ‘hi’ first. If they do acknowledge you, acknowledge them in the same way, for example: if they nod, nod back; if they wave, wave back; if they turn away hoping you won’t notice them, then don’t notice them.
- Always be positive and pleasant no matter how you are feeling. Norwegians don’t like you imposing on their personal ’stress’ space.
- Don’t ask a Norwegian to do anything unless you are their employer. They don’t like commitments. But if you pay them then it is another story.
- Don’t try to ‘make plans’ with a Norwegian. Everything is tentative until they call you up an hour before your meeting/event/get-together.
- Don’t just drop by on a Norwegian. They don’t like surprises.
- Never give Norwegians gifts or presents, especially when just visiting. If Norwegians invite you over it is because they want to entertain. Giving them a present like chocolates or flowers as a visiting gift makes for an awkward situation. (Although, a bottle of bubbly always seems to go down well.)
- Don’t expect a Norwegian to talk with you even if you are the only two sitting on a bench in the middle of an empty room.
Please note that everybody goes back to being cave(wo)man when winter is back!!!
Grandpa Don…
