Oslo Local Customs

Matpakke is a Norwegian tradition. It usually contains of some slices of bread wrapped in paper, or in a lunch bag. Pupils in lower grade school usually bring their own matpakke. In addition to that ,the pupils can order milk or juice from the school. In order to make the students more healthy the government has decided that that the kids also need some fruit. So they eat some apples and bananas too. Originally some politicians wanted the school to serve the students a hot meal every day, like they do in other countries, but it turned out to be way to complicated and expensive. Some teachers are not pleased with the fruit projects, they feel they are using to much time cutting the fruits into small pieces

The kids in kindergarden also bring their «matpakke» and if the employees do not have a cafe
or if they are not pleased with the food there, they bring their lunch bag. It's often a combination of matpakke and cafeteria food. You can also buy an expensive matpakke in many of the kiosks.

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Called bunad in Norwegian. The best day to see all of our national suits is on May 17th.

On this day you’ll see national suits from all over the country. I'll try to collect some pictures of Norwegian national suits.

I usually don't use my bunad 17th of May. it gets to warm, it itches, and it makes me look fat. And if I spoil something on it, I don't know how to clean it.

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Getting your kid into a kindergarden can be difficult, there are too many todlers in Oslo. If you're a single parent, or if your kids has a handicap or belongs to a minority groups it may be easier.

We don't have enough preschool teachers in Norway (Oslo), so very often people get dispension from this education, and the kinder gardens are run by non educated people.

these last years the kindergardens have changed from beeing just a place to bring the kids, to an actually preeschool where they are actually supposed to learn something.

There are many types of kindergardens. we have the non-sugar one where they only eat healthy food. celebrating each kids birthday with cake to days a week is too much sugar.e

the gourmet kindergarden where the kids eat quality food everyday.

In some kindergardens the kids learn some english, a kindergarden even speaks spanish all the time and then we have the Sami kindergarden ( national minority), and voldslokka kindergarden for the hearing and deaf kids.

There are a hundres different place to choose from, but some are more popular than others.

Perusing the breakfast buffet, I came across something that I didn't recognise - a brown slab of something in a red plastic wrapping, next to it was a cheese slicer. Also, there was a tin of honey . Hmmmmmm!

Ah well, I decided to give it a try, and sliced off a small sliver.

My friends all wanted to know WHAT is that?

All I could say was I don't know, but it tastes like Caramac (A caramel flavoured chocolate bar) flavoured cheese!!!!!!

The next day, I again tried a small piece, not sure if I liked this or not. I asked the nearby cashier, what it was, she said Brown Cheese, but didn't/ couldn't elaborate.

Well I did sort of acquire the taste - not tasted it since my return home, but if I do see it, or if I get the chance to visit Oslo again, I'll certainly give it a try again.

I did Google Brown Cheese, and found out quite a bit more!

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Mmmmm..... This is too good to give away- Keep for yourself in a locked box!!!!

The Freia chocolate company was founded back in 1889, producing dark chocolate and candies.

Johan Throne Holst became the company manager in 1892, and by realising the potential for producing quality milk chocolate, ensured the rising success of this business, so much so, that by the turn of the century Freia was the largest producer of chocolate in Norway.

Production spread to a factory in Stockholm, Sweden in 1916, but trademark conflicts with another product using the Freia name, led to the chocolate being marketed as Marabou (due to its Stork insignia)

In 1993, Kraft foods bought the Freia company for NOK 3 billion, and in 2005 decided to move 10% of Oslos production to Lithuania

Freia Melkesjokolade (milk chocolate) is still part of Norways heritage and is romantically advertised as "A little piece of Norway"

Besides plain milk chocolate, you can purchase fruit and nut, ginger, and marzipan (apparently this is a special treat for Christmas) bars in all sizes.

This chocolate can be purchased in many of the shops around Oslo.

There is a Freia shop on Karl Johans Gate, which (un) fortunately was closed on the Sunday- otherwise I would still be in there trying to decide how many choc bars I could afford.

I limited myself to 1 (large ish ) bar from the airport shop! - oh the sacrifice!!

It is possible to buy Freia chocolate on the internet too!! - So no hope for me now!!!

So, Vorspiel is a pre- party/night out- Nachspiel is an after night out party!

Friday was our first night in Oslo, We'd had our Vorspiel, eaten a meal, called into the bar near our hotel for a nightcap!

So, back to Tina and Saras room for a Nachspiel!

Change into jim jams (pyjamas), then more Wine, music, laughs and ghost stories until 03.30!

Think We're getting the hang of these local customs now!

Luckily we were prepared! We knew that beer etc would be expensive in Oslos' bars / restaurants etc, so we'd brought bottles of wine with us (from the airport), to drink before our nights out.

We then found out that this could be partaking of the Norwegian custom of Vorspiel!

Hoorah, acclimatising already!!

Our first Vorspiel was on Friday night, when after a few glasses of wine, we headed out to explore Oslo by night.

Saturday nights Vorspiel- we got so comfy, we didn't go out!! (Well it was snowing heavily)

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Here's a sample of art I found while walking on the streets of Oslo.

- Picture 1: this relief shows the history (and present) of Oslo (and Norway in general) as a fishing country, and can be found at one of the government buildings. Fishing is one of the most important industries in Norway, and one of the earliest things I learned about Norway is that their cod and salmon are very good (I can't eat it but that's another story). In DR, Norwegian cod is very sought after.

- Picture 2: this statue is in front of the Kon-Tiki and Polarship Fram museums. Cool setting of a few stones put together representing what I think looks like a troll. Well, art is subjective...

- Picture 3: in Oslo, a manhole cover isn't just a cover, it's a canvas where anything can be found. In this case, we found the seal of the city of Oslo. It depicts Hallvard Vebjörnsson (who later became Saint Hallvard, the patron saint of Oslo) sitting on 2 lions' backs, with 3 arrows and a millstone. Hallvard gave sanctuary, on his ship, to a woman accused of a crime she didn't commit by 3 men. Hallvard was killed by an arrow hitting his neck, while the woman was beaten to death. She was buried by the beach while his body was found on the fjord, with a millstone tied to his neck (but the body wouldn't sink). Thanks Jon.

- Picture 4: these guys made my day playing by Karl Johans gate and entertaining all of us who were at the farmers' market. They played the same 4 tunes all the time we were there but they were quite good.