Skiing, anyone?There is a common saying that Norwegians are born with skis on their feet. A lot of Norwegians are very sporty and have sports that suit all seasons from rollerblading to ski-jumping. To them, any snow sport involving speed would be their favourite. For the less sports-minded, their idea of play would be to barbecue (grill in Norwegian), drink and hang out in cafes.
Grilling potatoes by the typical Norwegian beachTalking about drinking made me remember a recent event in my life. Just earlier in the last Friday of January, my boss held a julebord (literally translated to "Christmas table"). It was my very first julebord and my expectations were high for it. My boss sure didn't let me down :)
What is a julebord? A julebord is a dinner thrown by the company (or the boss, in my case, because we are a small firm) for the employees to celebrate the season of Christmas. Usually a julebord is held before Christmas in November or December, but some companies choose to hold it in January to avoid the crowded restaurants filled by other companies having their julebord at the the same time. Usually the boss (company) pays for pre-dinner drinks, the dinner itself with drinks and all employees just sit around the table to joke and get to know each other better.
However my boss this year has a nice surprise for us. He is a romantic, I think, who likes to drop ambiguous clues and hints in the company loggboka (logbook) and emails about the event and location, while keeping the rest of us guessing.
On the big day itself, he posted a picture of where we are supposed to meet for the julebord:
What is a julebord? A julebord is a dinner thrown by the company (or the boss, in my case, because we are a small firm) for the employees to celebrate the season of Christmas. Usually a julebord is held before Christmas in November or December, but some companies choose to hold it in January to avoid the crowded restaurants filled by other companies having their julebord at the the same time. Usually the boss (company) pays for pre-dinner drinks, the dinner itself with drinks and all employees just sit around the table to joke and get to know each other better.
However my boss this year has a nice surprise for us. He is a romantic, I think, who likes to drop ambiguous clues and hints in the company loggboka (logbook) and emails about the event and location, while keeping the rest of us guessing.
On the big day itself, he posted a picture of where we are supposed to meet for the julebord:
All 4 of us guessed that the meeting place was Ice Bar of Oslo because a polar bear is called "is bjørn" in Norwegian, which means "ice bear", which also sounded very much like "ice bar". As for the palace (slott in Norwegian, for you language junkies out there), we just thought that the photo hinted that it was near the royal palace or Slottsparken, which is the palace gardens where the Ice Bar is close to.
So at 6 pm, all of us went down to Ice Bar, only to find it empty, except for two bartenders.
Another surprise? we thought.
So at 6 pm, all of us went down to Ice Bar, only to find it empty, except for two bartenders.
Another surprise? we thought.
Yes, the surprise was...
we got the location wrong!
The meeting place was "Bear Palace", a pub in Aker Brygge I've never heard of, but that wasn't unusual given that my husband and I don't drink much. But I must quantify by saying that from my observation of the parties I have been to here, Norwegians have been tanking up their booze during their leisure time. They first have pre-dinner drinks, dinner wine, then go to the pub for more to hit more beer bottles. I'm amazed at the amount of money the bars and restaurants earn from alcohol itself in Norway as alcoholic drinks are not cheap in Norway.
So after the guys finished their beer at Ice Bar, we trooped down to Bear Palace and found our boss standing in the -6 degree Celsius outdoors for what must have been 15-20 minutes. Then he presented us with another surprise - tickets to a stand-up comedy show next door called "Drit i å danse" (literally "(I don't give a) shit about dancing" ) by a Norwegian celebrity Marit Voldsæter. We also earned two more beers each for our trouble, of which I chose non-alcoholic versions.
The show was such a laugh - even though I don't understand half of it. Voldsæter and her band of boys were hilarious and animated, playing many roles from Taliban terrorists to a drug addicts band to giraffes.
we got the location wrong!
The meeting place was "Bear Palace", a pub in Aker Brygge I've never heard of, but that wasn't unusual given that my husband and I don't drink much. But I must quantify by saying that from my observation of the parties I have been to here, Norwegians have been tanking up their booze during their leisure time. They first have pre-dinner drinks, dinner wine, then go to the pub for more to hit more beer bottles. I'm amazed at the amount of money the bars and restaurants earn from alcohol itself in Norway as alcoholic drinks are not cheap in Norway.
So after the guys finished their beer at Ice Bar, we trooped down to Bear Palace and found our boss standing in the -6 degree Celsius outdoors for what must have been 15-20 minutes. Then he presented us with another surprise - tickets to a stand-up comedy show next door called "Drit i å danse" (literally "(I don't give a) shit about dancing" ) by a Norwegian celebrity Marit Voldsæter. We also earned two more beers each for our trouble, of which I chose non-alcoholic versions.
The show was such a laugh - even though I don't understand half of it. Voldsæter and her band of boys were hilarious and animated, playing many roles from Taliban terrorists to a drug addicts band to giraffes.
Programme and ticket to my first Norwegian stand-up comedy.It doesn't come cheap - NOK 420 (USD72) per ticket
One part I found particularly funny was their portrayal of Norwegians watching a cross-country skiing race. One guy decked in Norwegian colours and winter gear came in abruptly while Voldsæter was talking to us. He sat down on the stairs with his thermos and backpack slash stool and waited. Then one after another, two clumsy Norwegian skiers actually skied onto stage, which prompted him to stand up and cheer. After that he packed up and she asked him: That's all? That's all, he said and left. So typically Norwegian to be deeply passionate about a sport but stoic in expressing himself, I thought.
The best part is: the show was 99.95% in the Bergen Norwegian dialect, with a smattering of English and gibberish of foreign languages. The Bergen dialect was hard enough for Oslo-lites to understand, and much less understandable for me. Fortunately, action speaks louder than words and I understood enough body language and words for me to catch the gist of most acts, especially the last one. The closing act was a hilarious, un-sexy portrayal of a sexy pole-dance by Voldsæter in a Playboy outfit.
Afterwards, we had a fantastic 5-course julebord at the famous Lofoten restaurant, which is famous for her fish dishes. The artichoke soup was fluffy with creamy bubbles and tasted heavenly. My colleagues who have attended cabin trips and Christmas dinners for the past five year, recounted some humourous drunken incidents of Tom whipping girls with his belt while dancing and flashing himself; the other becoming Exhibit A on a Harry-Safari (names changed to protect privacy) because he rushed out to the bushes outside a cabin in the middle of the night to throw up, and ended up sleeping beneath some rocks on the beach.
Other than partying, Norwegian life is filled with practical tasks that take up a lot of their leisure time. For one, Norwegians are garden-proud people who love digging into the soil, getting their hands dirty and trimming their trees. I've been party to a few of that, having trimmed pine trees, mowed grass and plucked cherries and redcurrants in the summer. Shoveling the snow has become a crucial task in winter too. But one important task we had accomplished last autumn was the laying of cement and stones in preparation for our new recycling bin corner...
Get ready for the bogus serial-killer! Dangerous only to herself and unassuming metal poles.
The best part is: the show was 99.95% in the Bergen Norwegian dialect, with a smattering of English and gibberish of foreign languages. The Bergen dialect was hard enough for Oslo-lites to understand, and much less understandable for me. Fortunately, action speaks louder than words and I understood enough body language and words for me to catch the gist of most acts, especially the last one. The closing act was a hilarious, un-sexy portrayal of a sexy pole-dance by Voldsæter in a Playboy outfit.
Afterwards, we had a fantastic 5-course julebord at the famous Lofoten restaurant, which is famous for her fish dishes. The artichoke soup was fluffy with creamy bubbles and tasted heavenly. My colleagues who have attended cabin trips and Christmas dinners for the past five year, recounted some humourous drunken incidents of Tom whipping girls with his belt while dancing and flashing himself; the other becoming Exhibit A on a Harry-Safari (names changed to protect privacy) because he rushed out to the bushes outside a cabin in the middle of the night to throw up, and ended up sleeping beneath some rocks on the beach.
Other than partying, Norwegian life is filled with practical tasks that take up a lot of their leisure time. For one, Norwegians are garden-proud people who love digging into the soil, getting their hands dirty and trimming their trees. I've been party to a few of that, having trimmed pine trees, mowed grass and plucked cherries and redcurrants in the summer. Shoveling the snow has become a crucial task in winter too. But one important task we had accomplished last autumn was the laying of cement and stones in preparation for our new recycling bin corner...
Get ready for the bogus serial-killer! Dangerous only to herself and unassuming metal poles.
The female 007 agent in unflattering "I'm-here-to-work-not-look-pretty" wear
Hard at work with a metal cutter
The eventual damage.Such physical dirty work had never existed in my life in Singapore. Usually they were kept at a distance, separated by safety fences and nets, in a construction site where one could observe the sparks without goggles. But since coming to Norway, I've learnt the joy of getting down and dirty with digging, heavy lifting and changing car tyres. I like to think of myself as a tough independent woman learning to put on different masks and goggles for practical needs. I was quite proud of myself for sawing off that metal pole that was obstructing us from putting down the cement tiles for the new recycling corner.
Other than physical labour, there is of course the usual TV, movies and cafes to keep locals entertained. I found more time for my art too, during my quiet down-time. Unlike the noisy hustle and bustle of Singapore, Oslo and the seaside kampong ("village" in Malay) I'm staying in now has much silence to feed my creative imagination. Click on the link above ("my art") if you are curious about the latest illustration I've made in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Until next time, take care!
xoxo
pixy
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