Tag: culture

Norwegian culture

Animals of the seasons.

Rebeccmi

Darkness is falling upon us. I hear the wind sing its agony while ripping the shades of reds from the trees. Death has arrived and it’s taking its time while transforming nature into a higher state of beauty before seizing it away from us.

It’s my favourite time of year. The colours. The freshness of the air. The end of a cycle and the start of a new. It’s Fall.

A true Norwegian at heart, fall is the definition of “koselig”. We are tired. Tired of summer. Tired of spending all time and energy outside. The pressure of being high energy levelled all the time. Of the heat. The long summer evenings. We are ready for the howling of the wind, the rain raging upwards from the pavement, the warmth of candles, blankets and loved ones within the four walls of our homes. For our wool sweaters and grandmas home knitted socks. For crime shows on the telly. It’s time to retreat from the extroverted to the introverted.

Norwegians are like the seasons themselves. We follow the cycles. As much as we don’t like to admit it, or realise even, we long for the constant change.

We are animals of the season.

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Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.

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Personal

The twinkle in our eyes.

Rebeccmi

The world is full of magic things, waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

..But somewhere along the way they weakened. When did we stop viewing the world with amazement and stars in our eyes?

I’ve spent a good amount of time with my nephew lately. He is very new to this world and everything is a beautiful mystery to him. I see the twinkle in his eyes when he discovers a new sound or something as simple and common as a leaf on the pavement. He gets so excited and explodes from the joy of sharing it. It makes me wonder… when do we forget the magic of the world? When is it that we are to busy and occupied to see the beauty right in front of us? The joy of simple enjoyment and to get excited about life for the purpose of life itself?

Now, this is a generalisation of course, I know there to be creative, joyful souls out there who brings delight to us through their stories, music and art every single day. It’s when I look at people from my window seat at a cafe, the bus ride to work or simply at instagram that I loose faith. Can we even be more alike? It’s the importance of being busy, accurate, socially correct, materialistically successful, feigned and like everyone else that makes me feel and live the contrast to the genuinely happy spirit of my nephew.

It makes me sad that we somewhere a long the way loose our childlike spirit and get groomed into depressing adults chasing trophies for others to admire – like we really care. What’s the importance? And why do we care so much about other people’s admiration?

It’s not to be admired that gives true happiness. It is to admire the greater and the most simple things in this world and in life.

I for one am gonna let my nephews enthusiasm rub off on me as long as I can.

I’ll start by enjoying these covers against my skin and stretch out in bed – just because I can!

Truly enjoy your Saturday ❤

x

Norwegian culture, Travel

Storbo Adventure Camp

Rebeccmi

This weekend I got invited by my good friend Martine to join her and a group of friends at Storbo Adventure Camp for this years pike fishing competition. With all intentions to fish we packed the car full of stuff and left Friday morning. We didn’t need half the stuff and we never got around to the fishing, but I assure you that the whole experience was absolutely great!

The Camp is owned and operated by Martines friends Tina and Christian. They create amazing adventures for groups of people all year around – but mostly wintertime because of Norwegians hunger for snowmobiling – which is illegal in Norway. The Camp is based right a cross the Norwegian-Swedish boarder a little trip from Trysil. I think we were about thirty people who enjoyed each other’s company. The surroundings are beautiful and the Camp itself magnificent! We stayed in the main house, but there are apartments for let and enough beds to fill. I’m not a very outdoorsy person, but this was definitely the place to be to have a great experience. I’ll link the website -> HERE.

Friday was a day of celebration and we had a barbecue and drinks. Which resulted in a little bit of a hangover the next day, so Martine and I pretty much just watched the hardcore ones go out in boats. Upon their return we had a huge dinner in Gildhallen and kept going into the nightly hours.

I did a little collage from the few pics I took:

I also wanted to leave you a video of our trip up there, because the landscape is so beautiful. It’s doesn’t get more Scandinavian than this, mountain speaking (fjords excluded – that’s a Norwegian thing). And some highs from the Camp itself. I hope you enjoy:

The song used in the video is M.A.L.O – Purpose. Link to Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/652RhE5VNCChpGqaVLnQUC?si=WAjPHx9wTK6Cpxn496r8Ag

I am ADDICTED to this song and it couldn’t have come in to my life at any better time. #searchingForAPurpose – also the artist is Norwegian and it’s his very first single! I guess it was meant to be.

Now I’m left with this years first cold and I feel very, very sorry for myself – so I’m gonna go back to doing that. Thank you for stopping by.

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Norwegian culture, Personal, Travel

Norwegian in Los Angeles

Rebeccmi

Being Norwegian in Los Angeles is nothing but exceptional. I’m sure there are Norwegians who beg to differ, but for me and my fellow travel partner it’s our favorite place to visit. Even though the reasons are complex, I will try to break it down for you.

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First off our love comes from a cultural perspective. We have both spent our youth years in small remote places in Norway where Norwegian culture stand strong. With that I particular mean what we call “Janteloven”. It’s a norm that have grown strong roots into our culture since 1933. The law of Jante comes from a text of Axel Sandmose’s book “En flyktning krysser sitt spor” and goes like this:

  1. You’re not to think you are anything special.
  2. You’re not to think you are as good as we are.
  3. You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.
  4. You’re not to imagine yourself better than we are.
  5. You’re not to think you know more than we do.
  6. You’re not to think you are more important than we are.
  7. You’re not to think you are good at anything.
  8. You’re not to laugh at us.
  9. You’re not to think anyone cares about you.
  10. You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

After more thorough research I realized that this actually is a Scandinavian phenomenon. I’m not sure how well rooted this phenomenon is with our neighbors, but it sure is a reality in Norway. In other words put beautifully by a unknown source in Wikipedia:

The description of a pattern of group behavior towards individuals within Nordic countries that negatively portrays and criticizes individual success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate.

When in Los Angeles we are free of this. People simply do what they want, they pursue their ideas and desires no matter what and I find it so inspiring. Being around individuals like this also gives me a feeling of freedom I rarely experience at home. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel like a free individual in Norway and i pursue what ever I want, it’s just that it’s usually frowned upon and that can be hard sometimes. Norwegians are in a very spoiled position where we have room to frown upon others: we have a safety net others only can dream about. This also makes entrepreneurship rare here. Why take a risk when everything is handed to you?  On the other hand I always return home with lots of inspiration and creativity! I find it super inspiring and interesting to see how Americans go about their life, because I am so used to the safety net and the clock in/clock out mindset we have in Norway. Here work is just work, not a passion (even if they try to convince you otherwise). It’s lovely to see the passion in people and how excited they are about what they do – and all the hours they put in it – without the judgement of our fellow humans.

The second thing is networking and friendships. Because of the lack of The law of Jante, coming into contact with people is really easy. I hear the Norwegian Troll in the back of my mind at this moment go “ooh – but it’s all superficial. True relations take time” – hah. Yes, they do, but how the heck are you arrive at this point if saying “hi” to someone new puts you in a mental hospital? Say “hi” to someone on the bus here and they will look at you like they think you escaped from a mental institution. I swear,  I’m not trying to paint Norway in a bad way – I love my country, but it really is the reality of things and a reason why I sincerely love Los Angeles. In the short amount of time I have spent there I already have several beautiful relationships blooming and I am so grateful to have these people in my life – both family and friends.

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Then there is the food. I love how simple it is to stay healthy. I mean, I usually don’t because I’m on a holiday, but to be unhealthy in Los Angeles is seriously a conscious choice. No matter what your diet is, there are endless possibilities. And don’t get me started on all the freshness and tastes. I’m drooling right now, thinking about just booking my next ticket. I mean, I would move for Wholefoods as a single reason.

There are some cons though:

  1. My hair gets really, really thirsty. It seriously goes from softness itself to a broomstick. Wtf?
  2. The lack of sleep. There is to much fun everywhere!
  3. The endless sunshine. I mean, I love it, but it can drive me a little bit insane at times. I’m used to seasons and not having that is mentally challenging for some reason.

Coming home this time was like going from a rock concert to a meditation room. I’m dead tired. All I do is eat, sleep and dwell. I dwell a lot because I’ve actually come to the conclusion that I want to move over. I have no idea how I will make that happen practically, but I’m dwelling on it. I’m young, I don’t have children and it’s kind of now or never -ish. I mean, I have things to put in order in my life over here first, but I am seriously thinking about this day and night. It might be the best decision of my life, or the worst.. But how would I know if I don’t try? *Waiting for Norwegians to go all apeshit-Jante*

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I hope that gave you some insight into my/our love for this city. I would like to do a “10 things to do in LA”-post, but I’m always blown out of my mind with all that is happening so I never get around to documenting anything. Maybe next time. Now I’m off to the gym and then I have a eating-date with my travel soulmate at her house – while walking down memory lane from our last trip. Enjoy your weekend – wish you all the best!

x

 

How does it work, Norwegian culture, Norwegian logic

Norwegian weathersickness

Rebeccmi

Norway is a seasonal country by every means of the word. We have harsh winters, rainy fall and if we’re lucky: warm summers. As a product of this Norwegians have a very schizophrenic relationship with weather and we feel entitled to complain no matter what – almost. The exception arises when the sun is out and temperatures goes up. 2018 has been a rough year with everyday snowfall during winter and hot, hot, hot summer days! We’ve haven’t had this kind of dry and hot summer weather since 1947 and now it’s taking a toll. You see, we just can’t handle it. We feel guilty complaining about something so rare and good, but in the end we’re not made for this. Neither is our country. Air conditioning? Say what? Do you even know how cold it is during winter? Our houses has more heaters than rooms.

Most posted picture on Facebook today:

Reason? It’s 35 Celsius/95 Fahrenheit.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I am super excited about this weekends thunderstorm. I hope Sweden gets some as well.. they aren’t doing to well with all their fires and now shits about to hit the fan over here as well.

…so from both the Norwegian people and our forests: thank you universe for sending some rain tomorrow!

ps. Reason we don’t complain about heat in other countries is that is expected and we know we’re gonna return home. Yes, we’re weird like that.

I hope you have beautiful summer weather AND air conditioning wherever you are.

x

Norwegian culture, Personal

Making a home.

Rebeccmi

A home is more than a house. Or apartment for that matter. Yes, we need walls and doors, but a home – to me – is a reflection of the individual. Some like colours, some are creative, some like minimalism, some are classical, some are trendy, some are messy and some are super clean. A home can tell you a million things about a individual. Their character, their priorities, their habits. An American familymember told me that Norwegian homes looks like catalogue material and in all honesty there is a reason for that. I’m not saying all Norwegians are super clean and high levelled interior designers, believe me we are not, but in all fairness we do spend a good amount of time indoors during winter. We like it cozy, we’re pretty much stuck in there. It’s a home, not a house.

As you know I recently bought an apartment and I am super excited to make it my home – once all the mess is over (I’ll get back to that later, when the mess is over). I went a little overboard meeting some obstacles and took comfort shopping to a whole new level. I bought furniture! With nowhere to put it. Buuut.. I’m super happy to share with you some of the stuff I got – to give you an idea about how it will look in the end.

I’ve been drooling over this chandelier and sofa for well over a year. I knew I had to have them long before I even found a place to put them in. I’m very happy to say that these beautiful pieces of art has already arrived and I can’t wait to put them in my (hopefully soon) totally renovated apartment! I bought this piece last summer and it will be lovely with the sofa:

I like my furniture calm and settling, but magnificent. That way I can play with the details with out having the room scream at me. And change things up without having to spend money like a duke. Like these coffe mugs. And candlelight’s. And paintings. And all other stuff to decorate with. Now this isn’t my most colourful picture, but I do like to sneak in some colour here and there.

My focus these days is first of all to get things in order, but I do like to browse the internet for possible additions every now and again. Currently looking for a dining room table with some Scandinavian designed chairs to go with my soon coming black kitchen. Got any good websites I can visit? I’ll gladly take some tips!

I am really excited to create my home and I’m very excited to share my vision with you. I just can’t wait to show you the finished result in the future.

..and to be drinking my coffee, snuggling on my choice of a kitchen counter. But this will be it for now.

Thank you for stopping by. Again, if you have some good tips for websites please share in the comments. It’s much appreciated ❤

x

Norwegian logic

Norwegian logic: Travel to find summer during the summer

Rebeccmi

This post was outlined in the mids of the summer glory we had in May, but then June arrived with it’s lovely weather and I suddenly realised why this is logical. So it makes sense, but at the same time it doesn’t. I mean, we can actually experience long, warm and wonderful summers – and even if we don’t, who wants to throw away 70% of holiday days during the warmest months of the year to travel to hot places? Let’s be honest.. it’s more logical and giving to leave behind -20 Celsius for a warm summer day, right?

But then again I am one of them. A true to nature Norwegian – and our logic. It will be regretted in mid October. Departure for Los Angeles is coming up close and I’m so excited to share my trip with you! Since I’m not very good at regular posting, I will set a specific day for new posts (there might be some surprising ones in between though), so if you are interested to be alerted when new posts happen please subscribe to the email list. If you want follow my moves on a everyday/regular basis please feel free to follow me on Instagram where I post stories and captions every day (button in header).

Come join in on leaving summer for summer (which feels pretty good right about now) and take a part in Norwegian logic. I look forward to sharing with you and please share your holiday habits with me in the comments below – I would love to know if this is a global phenomenon.

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