Posts under "Norway and the world"

Strange and interesting facts about Norway

Sep 30 2011

Working for a company headquartered in a foreign country really makes cultural differences apparent. My colleagues and I often feel like anthropologists studying the potential reasons and implications for these cultural differences. Since I have spent more time in Norway than I have in the Netherlands, I have become very used to the differences between Norway and the U.S. So, I´ve been thinking over the past couple of days about peculiar facts about Norway that implicate something about the Norwegian people.

-Grocery stores are not allowed to be open on Sundays, but gas stations and kiosks can (and they sell groceries).

-You can buy beer in grocery stores, but you have to buy wine and hard liquor at one place and one place only-Vinmonopolet (which literally means ´Wine Monopoly´and closes quite early)

-Even though Norway is one of the top oil producers in the world, gas is more expensive in Norway than almost anywhere.

-Because food prices are so high in Norway, many Norwegians drive across the border to Sweden to shop. These purchases amount to over 2 billion USD every year.

-If you get caught drinking and driving in Norway, you will go to jail for 30 days and immediately get your license revoked until a year later (assuming they pass the test).

-It can cost in the thousands for Norwegian teenagers to get their license (minimum age 18).

-Norwegians eat brown cheese (brunost)-one of my favorite things

-And lutefisk, fish soaked in lye (a chemical used in making soap)

-speeding fines are often more serious than if a person is caught with drugs

-Norway has voted against membership in the EU several times, but has implemented more EU directives than any other EU member state.

-Norwegians love Grandiosa, cheap frozen pizza.

-Most Norwegians take a 4 week holiday during the summer. This means that the country slows down a lot and if you are a tourist and you aren´t aware of this, you wonder where everyone is and why nothing is open….

-Norwegians are one of the only people in the world to hunt whales

-Norwegians eat American children´s Christmas figure, Rudolph (and it´s darn good!)

-Norwegians do not typically smile or start talking to a stranger on the bus. It is not considered rude to behave as such.

-Bars stay open very late, but having drinks outside at the bar closes earlier than inside the bar. The bartender will take your full drink even if you just ordered it inside and walked outside.

There are many, many more peculiarities about the Norwegian culture, but that was a good dose. If you spend a month or 2 in Norway, especially over the summer, you will learn all of these things.

Norwegian Baby Names

Posted by kari 4 Comments

Sep 28 2011

Although I am not planning on having barn (children) for some years yet, I often find myself brainstorming options for baby navn (names). I have always been of the opinion that it must be extremely difficult to choose a navn that will stick with your barn for the rest of his or her life. First of all, there are so many great names, it seems like it would be so difficult to choose the one you and the other parent like the best. Secondly, some navn that seem suitable for a barn simply are not suitable for a voksen (adult). Lastly, a navn might just simply not fit an individual. I know several people that have changed their birth navn to something else because they really disliked it.

In any case, every barn needs a navn and most turn out just fine. I have a very traditional and popular Norwegian navn-Kari. I think it suits me and I like it much better than the 2nd choice my parents were considering-Rebecca (sorry to the Rebecca´s out there-the navn just wouldn´t fit me.

As with most things, navn go through historical cycles as far as popularity. Names that were popular hundreds of years ago are popular again today. However, there are of course many navn used today that did not exist hundreds of years ago, or they are spelled differently now.

I encourage you to watch and listen to You Tube video in which a native Norwegian pronounces Norwegian baby gutt og jente navn (boys and girls names).

Interesting navn facts:

-In 1904, the male navn Kristian was the most popular. In 1953, it was down in the 90s and by 1974, Kristian came back and is still a very popular Norwegian navn.

-1 in 5 Norwegian navn are originate in the Bible.

-Mohammed is the most popular male navn in Oslo.

-Norwegian parents are not choosing names that include the uniquely Norwegian alphabetic characters æ,ø, and å because they are typically difficult to pronounce for non-natives. I personally think this is a bummer because names with these characters are usually pretty strong names that would be a shame to see disappear (although they will likely come back in the future some time). I´m thinking of names like Jørgen, Bjørg and Bjørn, Håkon,

Please find here a list of popular navn used in Norway:

M/F	Norwegian Baby Names	Meaning of Name	Origin
F	Aasta	love	Old Norse
M	Åge	ancestors	Norw.
F	Ågot	good	Norw.
M	Aksel	father of peace	Norw.
M	Alf	lives in the netherworld	Norw.
F	Alfhild	elf battle	Norw.
F	Alva	elf army	Norw.
F	Alvar	elf army	Norw.
M	Amund	bridal gift	Norw.
M	Anders	strong; manly	Greek
M	Andor	eagle of Thor	Norw.
F	Andras	breath	Norw.
F	Anette	grace; mercy	Norw.
F	Annbjørg	eagle protection	Norw.
F	Anne	grace; mercy	Norw.
F	Anniken	favor; grace	Norw.
F	Annikin	favor; grace	Norw.
M	Anton	inestimable	Latin
M	Aren	eagle; rule	Norw.
M	Aricin	eternal; king’s son	Norw.
M	Arild	war chief	Norw.
M	Arkin	eternal; king’s son	Norw.
F	Arna	eagle	Norw.
F	Arnbjørg	eagle protection	Norw.
M	Arne	eagle	German
M	Arnljot	frightens the eagle	Norw.
M	Arvid	tree of eagles	Norw.
M	Asborn	divine bear	Norw.
F	Ase	god	Norw.
F	Åse	tree-covered mountain	Norw.
M	Åsgeir	spear of the gods	Norw.
F	Åshild	fighting woman	Norw.
M	Askel	father of peace	Hebrew
F	Aslaug	god; consecrated	Norw.
F	Astrid	divine strength	Norw.
F	Asvoria	divine prudence	Norw.
F	Aud	prosperity; happiness	Norw.
F	Audhild	fighting woman	Norw.
F	Audny	new prosperity	Norw.
F	Audun	deserted or desolate	Norw.
M	Audun	friend of prosperity	Norw.
M	Axell	father of peace	Hebrew
M	Bard	fight; lovely	Norw.
M	Baste	reverenced	Greek
F	Beate	happy	Norw.
M	Bendik	blessed	Latin
F	Benedikt	blessed	Norw.
F	Bente	blessed	Norw.
F	Bera	bear	Norw.
F	Bergliot	helpful light	Norw.
F	Berit	magnificent	Celtic
M	Birger	rescue	Norw.
F	Birgit	magnificent	Celtic
M	Bjarne	bear	Norw.
M	Bjarte	bright	Norw.
M	Bjørn	bear	Norw.
M	Bjørg	help	Norw.
F	Bodil	penance	Norw.
M	Borg	from the castle	Norw.
F	Borgny	help; new	Norw.
M	Brede	broad; the glacier	Norw.
F	Brenda	flame; sword	Norw.
F	Brita	from Britain	Norw.
F	Brynhild	coat of mail	Norw.
F	Camilla	ceremonial attendant	Latin
M	Canute	knot	Norw.
F	Catherine	pure	Greek
M	Cort	short	Norw.
M	Dag	day; brightness	Norw.
M	Dagfinn	from Finland	Norw.
F	Dagmar	Dane’s joy	Teutonic
F	Dagny	day; brightness	Norw.
F	Dagrun	secret lore	Norw.
F	Dale	valley	Old Norse
M	Darby	deer estate	Norw.
M	Davin	brightness of the Finns	Norw.
M	Denby	village of the Danes	Norw.
F	Disa	active spirit	Norw.
M	Donalt	world ruler	Celtic
F	Dordi	gift from God	Greek
F	Dorte	God’s gift	Greek
M	Dreng	young man	Norw.
F	Edit	wealth	Norw.
M	Egil	awe inspiring	Norw.
M	Einar	warrior; leader	Norw.
M	Eirik	ever-ruler	Norw.
F	Eldrid	fire; lovely	Norw.
F	Elga	pious	Norw.
F	Eli	the illustrious	Norw.
F	Elise	consecrated to God	Norw.
F	Erica	ever powerful	Old Norse
M	Erik	ever powerful	Norw.
M	Erlend	chief; turned	Norw.
M	Erling	descendant	Norw.
M	Eskil	vessel of God	Norw.
M	Espen	divine bear	Norw.
F	Eva	life	Hebrew
M	Eystein	turned toward luck	Norw.
M	Filip	lover of horses	Greek
M	Finn	from Finland	Norw.

See this website for much more information on Norwegian navn, including those that signify bravery and heroism.

Cute Little Norwegian Shops

Posted by kari No Comments

Sep 9 2011

My boyfriend and I spent the Labor Day weekend sailing on the great Lake Superior. We took lessons several years ago and keep going back to the company we took lessons with in Bayfield, WI. For those interested in sailing, Lake Superior, or northern Wisconsin in general, the company is called Superior Charters and it operates out of Port Superior Marina just south of Bayfield. It was a fantastic weekend with mostly great weather and a decent amount of wind. I could go on and on about the sailing part of the adventure, but my intention for this post is to highlight the numerous cute little Norwegian (Scandinavian to be sure, but for our purposes, we´ll call them Norwegian) shops.

Before we departed Bayfield to head south to our homes in southern MN, we had to stop at 2 of our favorite places-

1) Coffee Roaster-for an amazing maple syrup enfused iced coffee drink called ´Cold Fusion´

2) Eckels- an art boutique specializing in pottery

On the main drag of Bayfield there is a store called ´Johannes.´ We had never actually stopped there and I wanted to look for a gift for my mother because she kindly watches my dog any time I am out of town, which is quite a lot these days. My mom loves Norwegian stores. We used to have one in Northfield called ´Fire Venner´ or ´Four Friends.´ There is a great one in Minneapolis called ´ Ingebretsen´s´which also has fish, meats and cheeses in addition to home and giftware. In Hastings, MN there is Scandinavian Marketplace. Scandinavian Gift Shop is located in Alexandria, MN. In Rochester, the Nordic Shop. The Scandinavian and British Isles Shop in White Bear Lake, MN and Exelsior, MN. Iversen´s Imports in St. Louis Park, MN. The list goes on. Feel free to browse the websites below to see what kinds of products these cute little Norwegian shops offer.

Browse Ingebretsen´s here.

Browse Johannes here.

Browse Scandinavian Marketplace here.

Browse Scandinavian Gift Shop here.

Browse the Nordic Shop here.

You will find many similar products in all of these stores. Among them are the following:

-crystal, porcelain, and blown glass (i.e. Kosta Boda, Porsgrund)

-dinnerware and stemware, cheese slicers (i.e. Ittala, Fortress)

-trivets and tiles, trays, napkin holders, napkins, placemats and table runners (Ekelund Linen)

-jewelry (troll beads, charms, amber and other stones, pewter, wood, sølje, Sterling Silver, Skagen watches)

-candles and candleholders (Orrefors and Danish Wrought)

-blankets, throws, and rugs ( i.e. Roros)

-shoes and clothing (Danish Dansko clogs, Vrikke sweaters, Dale, Oleana)

-needlework and knitting supplies

-calendars and stationary

-books, film and music

-Christmas decor

-flags

It is interesting to go into these shops after one has spent a significant amount of time in Norway. I say this because many of the articles sold in these shops would be hard to find in a modern Norwegian home. These stores are definitely Scandinavian or Norwegian American. Much of the products are more closely related to Norway many years ago. I still love these stores, though, because they are a great example of Norwegian American heritage here in the United States.

Next time you pass a Norwegian shop, stop in and have a look around and then share with us what you found!

Skogfjorden Norwegian Language Village

Posted by kari 1 Comment

Aug 25 2011

Skogfjorden is one of the many Concordia Language Villages in northern MN. I have, unfortunately never attended as a camper, nor as a counselor. I did not know about the program until I attended St. Olaf College. It’s such a pity that I wasn’t aware of CLV’s existence, because I certainly would have attended! For this reason, I feel that it is very important that I do my part to spread the word. I wrote a post a while back about Concordia Language Villages in general, but recently realized that I have not written one about the Norwegian Language Village, Skogfjorden (Forest Fjord) specifically.

Many of my friends and fellow St. Olaf Alumni attended the Village in their youth, and some still work there (I have a friend who attended every year until she was too old, became a counselor and now she returns every summer to be the Village nurse!) I was reminded about Skogfjorden yesterday when I received the most recent Viking magazine prepared by the Sons of Norway. Tove Dahl, the Dean of Skogfjorden, has her very own page (page 38) titled “Enlightened Educator.” I had the opportunity to meet Tove and spend some time with her when I lived in Tromsø last year-she is an incredible person who I admire greatly. She has great ideas about teaching kids a foreign language and she has a wealth of knowledge and energy. If you receive the Viking publication, I would recommend reading the interview with Tove. If you don’t receive it, perhaps you should subscribe! There is also a lengthy, fantastic piece on Barnehage (Norwegian pre-school, one of CLVs programs in the Twin Cities area-see previous post on Barnehage), which I used to be involved in!

Skogfjorden is located on Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, MN, roughly 4 hours north of the Twin Cities Metro Area. Northern MN is a beautiful place and I can only imagine how spectacular it is to be there with the mission of celebrating Norwegian language and culture with loads of other people who are interested in doing the same.

The following was taken from the Skogfjorden website:

Skogfjorden

What Can You Always Count On at Skogfjorden?

Åpningsdagen (Opening Day)

On the opening day of your session, we will be ready to welcome you between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. Please adhere to these hours so that the staff has enough time to get ready for your arrival, time to get to know you during the afternoon activities and time to help you settle in before the evening meal.

The goal of our first day together is to invite you across the border and get you involved in the vibrant life and traditions of our village. Like any border crossing, it involves meetings with “officials” and then the excitement of settling in. Settling in takes a while and this is how your first hours in the village will work. If you want to check out what Skogfjorden looks like, explore the Skogfjorden Village Page and look around!

On the day you come, as you drive up to the Skogfjorden grense (border), have your passport ready. You will need to show it to the tollvakt (border officials) before you go on. If you have any American food items with you, such as fruit, snacks, or the like, we ask you not to bring them into the program. Any open packages of food or snacks should be consumed before crossing the border, discarded, or sent home with your ride. There are simply too many critters with a sweet tooth around the village for us to want to tempt them with goodies in our cabins.

After crossing the border, your next stop will be in front of Valhall, the Village administration building (or Utgard, the larger building across the way, if it is bad weather). At this first stop, you will choose a norsk navn (Norwegian name) and get a navneskilt (nametag).

Once you have been to all of the places just mentioned, you can take all your things back to your cabin area where you will meet people at toll (customs). There, they will check your luggage for contraband (see the Parent Handbook for the description of contraband).

After going through toll, it is off to your hytte where you will be living for the session. Once there, you can pick a bed, unpack and settle in. You will probably meet some of your cabin mates there, too. The cabin assignments are made carefully in advance, so please respect your housing arrangements and have fun getting to know your new friends as soon as you arrive. How you greet your cabin mates is an important part of getting the session off to a great start!

After settling in, the rest of the day will be spent exploring the village and taking care of your other official business of the day like opening your bank account at the bank, checking in at the helsesenter for a brief health screening, confirming your future transportation arrangements home at the reisebyrå, and personalizing your navneskilt. We’ll give you a list to remind you of what all you have to take care of before the end of the day. You can do it in whatever order suits you. Just be sure to do them all and finish before kl. 16.30.

When you set out on your official business, make sure you have all your American money for the bank, all your medications and health information for thehelsesenter, and your travel information for the reisebyrå. In order to make every stop official, you must also have your navneskilt and pass, so keep them handy, too. Through each of your stops, you will not only cross items off your official to-do list, you will also start getting to know the site and other Skogfjorden folks better. Take your time to talk with people and enjoy it!

At the bank behind Utgard, you will deposit and change your American spending money into norske kroner. That is the currency we use in Norway and at the Village. There is a store at the Village where you can buy godteri (treats) as well as a butikk where you will find souvenirs from the Village. Both stores will be open all day during registration as well as once a day during the session.

At the helsesenter in the downstairs of Valhall, you will meet our friendly health-care provider. Any medications (including vitamins and over the counter medications) will be put away there in a safe place. The healthcare provider will bring them for you to meals or make arrangements with you to get them other scheduled times when you may need them.

At the reisebyrå either by Utgard or Gimle, you will meet ledere who will confirm who will pick you up and what your travel arrangements are to get home. They will also give you the symbol for your navneskilt that you will need to travel through time and space at Skogfjorden during kretser. They will explain what that means when you get there!

Finally, your last stop of your official business will be to get your new village name and home woodburned into your navneskilt in Utgard. Then it is truly official – you are now a full-fledged Skogfjorden villager!

You may also be especially eager to meet your hytteledere – they certainly will be eager to meet you, too! They will not all be back in the cabins until the end of the day since they want to be out in the program meeting you and your parents and getting you involved in the kinds of activities that will help you warm up to what the rest of the day and session will be about. You will find them in the main areas of the Village (Utgard, Soltun, Gimle) making the activities and customs happen. The session is new for everyone, so getting out from your hytte during the afternoon and joining in on the organized activities is the perfect way to get to know your new ledere and fellow villagers.

We have set aside time to do activities with everyone in the hytte once all the villagers have arrived. Until then, do your official business and join in the all-village activities out in the program during the day. Checking in is intended to be an all-afternoon affair. That way, you have plenty of time to get to know the area and the people of Skogfjorden.

Be set to go back to your hytte for your first hyttekos with your cabinmates andledere around 4:30 pm (kl. 16.30 Skogfjorden time). By then, everyone should have arrived and your ledere will be done with their registration activities for the day.

Pakking (Packing)

Now, before you leave to do all this, pack carefully like a good Norwegian. Uansett vær (no matter what the weather), Norwegians just love to enjoy the great outdoors, and so do we! In Norway they say that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. So, as a good Norwegian, you have to be sure you have clothes and shoes for all types of weather, including weather that is cold and wet. That way you can be comfortable with everyone else uansett vær. You might want to bring an old shirt or other clothes to protect yourself when painting or doing craft and building projects, too. By all means bring a bunad or native costume if you have one. We dress up at least once a session, and costumes really add panache to those events!

Skogfjorden is quite a musical Village, so if you have a guitar, harmonica, spoons or some other instrument to play for others or sing along with, be sure to bring it along.

Most importantly, don’t forget your enthusiasm, curiosity and open-mindedness to try new experiences.

Post (Mail)

Because this is an immersion program that simulates a visit as an independent explorer in a new country, parents are discouraged from making non-emergency calls to you. However, your parents should feel free to call me with questions or concerns. I’ll keep you posted if your parents want me to inform you of something. Better yet, remind all of your friends and family to write to you at the Village. Postutdeling (mail call) is definitely an important part of the day!

Your address at the Village is:
Your name (very important) and your cabin
Skogfjorden
8607 Thorsonveien NE
Bemidji, MN 56601

We also have a special e-mail option just for your family. They can just click this link to send you a message (attachments are not possible). We will print the message and deliver it to you during Postutdeling.

Note that there are plenty of treats to be found at the village, so encourage them to not send care packages with any consumables in them. If they can’t resist, please have them get in touch with me first. Special arrangements may be made for unusual circumstances. Otherwise, for reasons related to allergies and the potential attraction of mice, consumables are highly discouraged.

If your friends and family still want to send you something special, here are some other suggestions for them: photos from home, letter-writing material (a new funky pen, stamps, self-addressed envelopes) or books from or about Norway. Tell them they can even try their hand at writing in Norwegian, too. Just give them a copy of the letter-writing basics that I am sending along with this letter.

Typiske dager på Skogfjorden (Typical Days at the Village)

If you haven’t already done it, I highly recommend that you check outwww.Skogfjorden.VillagePages.org. There you will find information about a typical Skogfjorden day. You will also find lots of photos from past summers. Our schedule is packed with varied activities, and we have a lot of fun while we are in them. We do our best to convey our experiences with photos and descriptions of what is going on while we are in session. As a matter of fact, your friends and family can follow along with how your session is going by checking into our web site while you are there. Be sure to give them web address so that they can tune in and følge med.

Avslutningsdagen (Closing Day)

On Saturday, the last day of your session, we like to celebrate all your session accomplishments. There will be a program open to the public at 10:00 a.m. for just that purpose. Afterwards (and much sooner than you had imagined), it will be time to say ha det and to cross the grense with your pass handy once again. You can expect to be ready to go by 11:15 a.m., although the butikk, kiosk andgrense will be open until noon if you would like to show your family and friends around the Village. Please remind your family to arrive between 9:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. for the closing program. You will be busy packing, cleaning and getting ready for the program before this time, so there is no need to be early.

I hope that I have given you a good sense of what you will meet when you arrive in just a few short weeks. If you want to get into the groove of things before you come, I have a couple of ideas for you that would be fun for you and great for Skogfjorden!

Før du kommer (Before You Arrive)

Look through these Internet activities. There are lots of things to look up there.

Tell your friends about Norway and Skogfjorden. I have given you some fun facts that they may not know. Dazzle them with some interesting tidbits about Norway and see if you can’t recruit a friend!

Norway’s constitution day is on syttende mai (May 17^th). It is celebrated in Norway, of course. It is also celebrated in many places in the US and Canada in special ways. See if there is a celebration near you and, by all means, celebrate!

Syttende mai celebrations especially focus on children in Norway. It is a day when kids dress up and walk in barnetoget (the children’s parade) in the mid-morning and when they are allowed to eat all the is (ice cream) and pølser (hot dogs) they want. There are often other parades, too, such as speidertoget with scouts who wake up their hometowns with music first thing in the morning,russetoget with all graduating high school seniors dressed in their personalizedrussedress graduation suits handing out their humorously personalized russekortbusiness cards, and there is also borgertoget, yet another parade, with members of various organizations and clubs showing their activities and wares. Find a parade or eat some ice cream, and check out via the various webcams all over Norway how it is being celebrated in the hours before you. You’ll have to get up early, though. You can catch many parades around the country already around 10 am Norwegian time (you can figure out what time that means for you fromhere). They are not yet posted on-line, but my guess is that there will be broadcasts available to watch at www.nrk.no or at www.tv2.no. Check them out when you wake up on May 17^th!

Finally, how about exploring Norway on other days, too? If you go towww.webcamsinnorway.com, you can find views of Norway from all over the country and see what the people in various cities are up to. If you click on “Tromsø – Balsfjord” and then follow the island in front of you to the very end ahead of you, you can imagine where I am writing this letter from – a house on the very southern tip of the island of Tromsøya. You can get to my house onStrandvegen, the road that you see from the view of “Tromsø: from the county office”. Just keep following it straight (and beyond) to the very end of the island and you’ll find where Espen and Curt and I live in the second to the last house on the right hand side of the road!

Another fun way to travel around Norway is via www.finn.no/kart/ where you can get a birds-eye view of any place you would like in Norway by clicking on the map of Norway and zooming in and out – either looking at maps (kart) or satellite pictures (satelitt) of the places the maps represent. Perhaps you would like to begin by checking out the cities we name our cabins after. Go ahead and try finding Hamar, Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Molde, Trondheim, Bodø and Tromsø (in Tromsø, see what you find when you type in the address Lanesvegen 19, 9006). Lykke til og god tur!

Spørsmål (Questions)?

Well, I have told you a lot. Still, if you or your parents have any questions that I have not answered, check the Parent Handbook or contact the Language Villages office in Moorhead, Minnesota for more information.

We look forward to seeing you and having a great experience together. Vi sees!

Beste hilsen,

Tove Dahl
Dean of Skogfjorden

Enroll in Skogfjorden for next year. Do it for me!

The Golden Arches in Norway

Posted by kari 5 Comments

Aug 11 2011

Would you believe that there are 72 McDonald’s restaurants in Norway? I’m not sure why I was thinking about the presence of fast food kjeder (chains) in Norway. I rarely eat fast food in the U.S. and when I do, I stick to Subway, Chipotle, Potbelly’s, Panera-mostly sandwich style kjeder. I can’t remember the last time I went to McDonald’s. I’m not going to lie and pretend that the food doesn’t taste good, but I avoid it because I will inevitably feel very ill and uncomfortable after I consume an item on the McDonald’s meny (menu).

I will come back to my initial question-can you believe there are 72 of them in Norway? Norway and Minnesota are roughly the same size as far as physical space and number of statsborger (citizens). Norway has more than half of the number of McDonald’s restaurants that Minnesota has. I find this surprising for several reasons. The majority of the Norwegian population is very healthy and as a result take their lunches to school or work and then cook dinner at home (or go out, but not often to McDonald’s). Clearly a lot of people are going to McDonald’s if 72 of them can survive.

I have identified several forskjeller (differences) between McDonald’s in the U.S. and McDonald’s in Norway. The first major difference can be seen in the above picture. This is a picture of a McDonald’s in Norway. As you can see, it is much nicer than any McDonald’s in the U.S. In 2011, McDonald’s was rated the 7th best arbeidsplass (place to work) among store bedrifter (large companies) in Norway. There are about 2,000 medarbeidere (employees) the work for McDonald’s in Norway. McDonald’s locations in Norway are staffed by mostly unge mennesker (young people) who represent over 70 cultures! Again, for the size of country Norway is, I find this very impressive.

In Norway, over 80% of McDonald’s restaurants are franchises, like the one shown in the above picture. The franchise owner can påvirke (influence) a great deal about the atmosphere.

Another great thing that sets Norwegian McDonald´s apart from other McDonald´s is that 75% of the products on the meny come from Norway. The kjøtt (meat), kylling (chicken), fisk (fish), brød (bread), poteter (potatoes), and salat (salad) of høy kvalietet (high quality)!

McDonald´s in Norway is also tries to be as green as possible regarding energy used in transport and operational costs, as well as in how they manage waste.

I have to say it is much more appealing for me to go to McDonald´s in Norway than here at home!

Maybe I´ll have my next bursdagsfest (birthday party) there….see here for details.

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