Monthly Archives: October 2014

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Weird things Norwegians do

Norwegians as experienced by a foreigner. Good to see your own culture from an outside perspective sometimes.

A Frog in the Fjord

Telyshysteri fin (2) Illustration: Kristine Lauvrak

Disclaimer: “Weird” does not mean “negative”, some of these strange things are very positive and should be exported to the rest of the world 🙂

1. You are telling a great story to your Norwegian friend/colleague. He or she will start making strange sounds: aspirations with the mouth as if they have the beginning of asthma. No panick, this just illustrate how interested they are in your story, and it means “yes, I agree, carry on with your story”. Nothing to be disturbed about.

2. As soon as Autumn comes, Norwegians enter some kind of telys hysteria, lighting them everywhere at any occasion. It is what I call the “endless need for koselig”, which I define as an inner summer that Norwegians create for themselves to feel like it’s warm all year long no matter the circumstances. (see How to make things Koselig)

3. Most Norwegians won’t…

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Autumn in Ireland part 4: Knock and County Mayo

WP_000650Over in Ireland I also took a litte tour around parts of Co Mayo. First stop there was Knock, known for the apparitions seen there. I found it to be a nice little place, but a little like a religious supermarked with all the little shops where you could buy containers to bring water from Knock back home with you.

WP_000647I was there on a bright sunny day and I for sure was not the only tourist there even if it was not really “peak season”.

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Afterwards we drove around seeing different places in County Mayo, but sadly the battery on my camera died and I was not able to take pictures of the nice little town of Swinford, where we went for a nice visit, nice little spots in the country side where we got to see much nice Irish rural scenery. I also really liked Foxford where I paid a visit to the Foxford woollen mills. A really nice local woollen mill and shop that also have locally grown and made food.

 

 

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Autumn in Ireland part 3: Headford

Misty morning

Misty morning

During the stay in Ireland I spent a night at a friend’s house in the village/town of Headford. When we arrived it was quite dark and we were unable to see much of the surroundings. What you did notice was the fact that it was very rural. At night we went for a pint in a local pub and this was good fun. Waking up the next morning looking out from the window was amazing.

View from bedroom window

View from bedroom window

After a homemade typical irish breakfast we went down to Headford side of lake Corrib. The mist on the lake was as nice as the misty fields, but as the fields and bogs had a romantic wuthering heights feel about them. The lake was more eerie. You could not see far ahead and I half way expected to see a boat coming out of the mist with no one at the oars. Or maybe a toll of a bell. I might be reading a little to much.

Lake Corrib

Lake Corrib

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Autumn in Ireland part 2: Tuam

Autumn in the park

Autumn in the park

Tuam has a great park right next to the leisure centre. It’s very nice looking and has good routes for walking. When I was over now the park had just started to get its autumnal colours and was truly a sight to see.

cool looking shop in Tuam town centre

Cool looking shop in Tuam town centre

Tuam might not be a shopper’s paradise. but it has quite a few nice little shops that I found really nice. The one in the picture above McManus TV and quilt shop was one of them. They also have some good cafès, if you ever go over there i can recommend Galway roast. Great coffee, good food and a nice staff. And like everywhere in Ireland (or so it seems to me) there are plenty of nice little pubs.

Street art

Street art

When I was over I decided to go for a few walks and enjoy the weather, so I got to see a lot of the town. And to move myself around trying to digest some of the Irish food. What seems to decide the quality of the restaurant in Ireland seem to be determined by the size of the portions.

Wheel outside St. Jarlath

Outside St. Jarlath

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Autumn in Ireland part 1

Typical Irish field with ruin.

Typical Irish field with ruin

I finally got back from my trip to Ireland. When I say finally I don’t mean it in the sense that I did not enjoy my vacation, but it lasted a bit longer than intended. We got stranded in Frankfurt due to a delayed flight from Dublin. Had to spend a night in an airport hotel (luckily we were going both legs with Lufthansa and did not end up having to stay in the airport).

The vacation had all the things a nice little autumn brake should have. Friends, sightseeing, good food, nice drinks, shopping and a lot of other good stuff! It was busy and the days were packed with things to do and places to see. The weather was good and Ireland greated me with the autumnal smell of turf burning in the fireplaces. The people in the west are always going on about the constant rain, but I’ve yet to experience this for myself.

I spent most of my time in cosy Tuam, toured some of county Mayo and went to Dublin, if you’re interested you’ll be able to read more about my stay in my following posts.

 

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Stinky food party

Last weekend we had a “stinky food” party at some friends. We decided to taste some of the most stinky food in the world including surstrømming, stinky tofu, kimchi and Dorian. I tried everything but the stinky tofu. The food had such a foul smell that I was very glad we had the party outside.

Kimchi, dorian, surstrømming and stinky tofu

Kimchi, Dorian, surstrømming and stinky tofu

Luckily we had Shepard’s pie, pizza and salty eggs pork for dinner after the tasting and cake for desert. And it’s always nice to spend a day in the company of nice people.

The rest of the weekend I spent relaxing and playing at an Octoberfest in Westernbyen