Flowermountains

Woops

Again, I have managed to let two months pass since my last post. Apparently my life is quite boring. Or it’s just not interesting for the general World Wide Wib visitor. Maybe it’s that.

Anayway. I was watching The Daily Show recently (for those of you who don’t know it, it’s a great US comedy news show, watch it!), and for some reason I started youtubing (similar to googling) some of Bush’s greatest jokes mistakes. They are numberous, and well worth checking out, especially in these last few weeks he is still one of the mightiest persons on this little planet. Still on top of my list, a quote from some random press conference: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”

Anyway. Some other random quote, this time visual, I would like to share with you:

For non Dutch people, it says: “I hate graffiti and fat Italian food.” Signed daVinci.

That’s it for now. Maybe the next post will be within two months!

What happened?

In Spring it was Summer, in Summer we had Autumn, and the last days it feels like Spring..

Elections in the states. Most TV-script-writers probably wouldn’t have been able to come up with such an amount of nonsense. Is he Muslim? Is he going to die in one year? Is he friends with terrorists? Does she even know what politics is? Her daughter is pregnant! His reverent is crazy! His last name looks a lot like Osama and his middle name is Hussein, that can’t be right! Maybe we should be glad they don’t actually talk about anything important. It’s more fun this way..

When economists predict that the stocks will fall, everyone tries to get rid of their share…and guess what happens? If it’s all one big self-fulfilling prophecy anyway, why don’t we just all say that everything will be fine..?

Where did all the money go that has been lost during the last weeks of crisis?

The more desperately everyone tries to claim their money, the smaller the chance that anyone will actually get anything back..

A New Beginning

My last post was dramatically called “the end”. Of course there is no such thing as an absolute “end”. Endings are always relative. Anyway, I kind of liked blogging now and then. I already did that on my old website, as you might remember. So, why not combine my nice Oslo blog with my old website?! And that’s what I did :)

So, from now on, you can find all my stuff at one place: here. My old posts from Flowermountains.nl are here, as well as my Oslo-era-nonsense. Convenient, isn’t it?

If you have any questions or remarks regarding this cheerful event, feel free to leave a comment!

The End

Well, it’s over. Actually, it has been over for more than two weeks already. I’m back in Maastricht again, back in the sunny south (“het zonnige zuiden”)! I can look back at a great period in Oslo, especially thanks to all the nice people a got to know there..so: Thanks!

Have I changed? Yeah, probably, you change every day you live, maybe a bit faster in such a period abroad, but change is unavoidable, which is good, I would say. Has Maastricht changed? No. Has Oslo changed? No. Just me. But that’s enough.

It’s good to be back. I was afraid I would miss Oslo tremendously, but so far it has been okay. Maastricht is also nice, nicer than I remembered. Again, also thanks to all the nice people I already knew here…so: Thanks!

What about this blog? Will it live? I think it will. Probably I will merge my old website with this blog, transfer any valuable parts, and then this will be my main website. Great, uh?

Guide to Norway part 2: Partying

It has been a while since part 1 of my Guide to Norway. This time I will try to give a little bit of insight into the way real Vikings (because, that’s what Norwegians are) party in Oslo. You might remember that Norway, and especially Oslo, is quite expensive. Therefore, some aspects of partying are a bit different from what you’re used to (at least in the Netherlands that is). Oh well, here we go.

First of all, and very important, some terminology. Well-known in Norway are the concepts ‘vorspiel’ and ‘nachspiel’. However, they should not be confused with the German version of these words! Or, at least not at normal parties. Anyway. Vorspiel simply means that you get together somewhere, mostly at someone’s home, or, during summer, in a park, to enjoy some nice beers before going out. The main reason is that you can have some ‘cheap’ drinks before going to town. But it’s also great fun! Nachspiel is almost the same, except that this happens after you’ve been to town. Ok, now let’s get to the real stuff.

When you’re invited for a vorspiel at someone’s place, this means that you have to bring your own drinks. For Dutch people this may sound strange, but it actually makes sense! Try it at home! A respectable amount of beers to bring depends of course on the time span, but most of the times a six-pack, or 4 half litres, will suffice. In case you have recently been at some airport, tax-free liquor is very much appreciated and will give you a boost in status among your friends. This is because in Norway you can’t buy anything above 5% alcohol in the supermarket, and you have to go to some special place called Vinmonopolet (very suiting name). And believe me, you don’t want to see the prices there. Normally, this vorspiel thingy starts around 8 or 9, and lasts till about 11 or 12. However, during summertime, when the living is easy, it might well happen that you start in a park somewhere around 5, often with a BBQ. This brings me to another interesting feature of Norway. It’s called ‘engangsgrill’ (one-time-grill) and you can buy it in any supermarket. Really, they have huge stacks of those everywhere! Along with this engangsgrill, you buy some grillpølse (grill sausages), ketchup, mustard, and some bread, or little cold pancakes (forgot the name, but you’ll find them). Light the grill, grill the pølse, wrap them in a pancake or some bread, with mustard and ketchup, and enjoy! It looks like this:

Anyway, where was I…oh, yeah, vorspiel. Well, after some hours the vorspiel ends and the real party starts. That is of course not completely true, since the ‘real’ party consists of everything. The main dish is worthless without a good appetizer. Here you can in fact see some connection to the German vorsp..uhm…never mind :) I can’t say much about the actual town-partying-time, since it all depends on your taste of music. Oslo has everything. Just ask some local people, and you will find enough good bars and clubs! One thing to point out is that you should really be careful with your money! Before you know it, it’s gone. Beer prices vary between 40 and 60 NOK, which is 5 to 7,5 euros. Something stronger will easily cost you 80 NOK (10 euros) or more. Something else to consider is how you get home afterwards. If you’re having a good nachspiel, you can maybe just take the first subway again, but if your heading home straight from town, you will be dependent on taxis (which are expensive, of course), or, on Fridays and Saturdays, a night bus. Walking is almost never an option, since Oslo is quite big (distance-wise).

Finally, here are some facts and other slightly relevant points:
-Norwegians seem to think that drinking Heineken is a cool thing to do in front of Dutch people. If you’re indeed Dutch, it is your duty to inform them about the fact that they are in fact drinking tap water with some added beer flavour, and feel free to introduce them into the real Dutch (and Belgium) beer culture.
-Although the prices are high, this doesn’t stop Norwegians from drinking. So be prepared! They even have a special word for ending up piss drunk in the gutter: grøftefylle. I recommend against it.
-Lots of bars have an age limit on Friday and Saturday, often you have to be 22, sometimes even 25.
-Some clubs have regular concerts, however you should be willing to pay 100/150 NOK for it. Can be worth it, though.
-In case you’re going out on a Sunday, go to Blå. Go nowhere else. It’s pointless. Blå is the place to be on Sunday! See also a previous post.

That’s it! Happy partying :)