It’s 5 am here in Dallas and I’ve been up for about an hour. Gotta love jet lag. I thought I would polish up on my earlier post about Weird Norway. I was corrected in the comments by my Oslo buddy, John Larsen and I also thought of a couple of additional facts of interest.
First the corrections:
John states that the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish languages are pretty much kissing cousins… so learning one effectively introduces you to the other two. Still in my book, that’s impressive. To be conversive in three language, plus having to learn another language on top of English. That pretty much puts a good majority of Americans on an island.
He also mentioned something alarming. The price of a driving permit can balloon to $5,000! That pales in comparison to the $1000 figure that I had. That’s insane!
And now for the other Norwegian cultural oddities I noticed. I can’t believe i left these out!
Luxury cars are used as taxis!
In Oslo, every known luxury car brand was being used as a taxi. And I am not talking about late model used-car show floor rejects. These were current, top of the line model-year vehicles in use: Mercedes, Lexus, Volvo (all models), Jaguar, and some high-end VWs had a “Taxi” sign on top of it. The fares were equally luxurious. A 15 minute ride to the airport will cost you $100. (As a side note, John also mentioned the push to get older, used cars off the road in Norway. Come to think of it, I didn’t see a single used car lot in the cities I visited)
May I light your candle sir?
Would you like some wine with your candle sir?
EVERY restaurant serves dinner and a lit candle on the table. This strange phenomenon was also in the home. It’s almost a tradition to light the candle for most meals. I failed to see if this was true at the local McDonald’s and Burger King.
Nigerian Women Rule The Night
Well, at least in Oslo they do. It’s not uncommon to run into “idle” black girls in groups of four at every corner on the main drag in Oslo. It’s also fairly easy to note what line of business they are in. I mean, what African wears a miniskirt and tight-fitting tops in the middle of a Norwegian winter night? Apparently, it’s profitable, because they are taking over European cities.