About Sausages and National Pride

Emergency call from my best friend. An hour ago. “OMG, I just have to tell you what happened right now!” Wow, sensation? Right now she is at work at school – what could possibly happen there?

Today is Friday – a day when one of the teachers cooks for all. From the celebration of 17th of May there were lots of sausages left. So she just cooked a bunch of them, plus salad, bread, ketchup and mustard. On entering the kitchen everybody got happy. “It smells so good! It smells 17th of May” (The National Day of Norway, remember?). The joy was real, common, village-like, that is: shared by everybody. Except my friend who is not happy about sausages and was eating her sandwich. I guess, her face spoke better than words – and it added the note of dissonance in the common symphony of joy. As one of the teachers noted: “Ah, so delicious with sausages”, and after seeing my friend’s face, “or not?”

My friend’s comment: “People!!! Couldn’t you invent something more for your National Day than cooked sausages and making it the highlight of the day?!”

As an American friend put it in the congratulation sms on 17th of May: “Happy pølse n lompe day!” (pølse is sausage, lompe is sausage bread, like pancake). The essence of the day, indeed.

After some giggles – some questions:
1.Why is The Sausage so central to Norwegian culture? (why not fish? This is a nation of fishermen)
2.How are foreigners to behave if they don’t like sausages?
3.What is the smell of the National Day in your country?

P.S. for students of culture and communication – this is an example of the symbolism of smell. Væresågod! Håper, det smaker ;)

Us vs. Them

Why are we, foreigners, so negative about Norwegians sometimes?
I was sitting in the university and studying with my classmates. The subject is introduction into culture and communication. And we were discussing questions of identity. Identity is not some essence in our being, but it is constructed – often in opposition “us against them”. And then a thought hit me:

We, Russians and post-soviets, are often so negative about Norwegians. But personally for me: is it easier to identify myself with any Russian than with any Norwegian? Would I throw myself around the neck of every Russian bum or farmer – just because he is Russian? Who is closer to me: Norwegian student or a Russian truck driver? Is this grouping “us, Russians – against them, Norwegians” really so actual? The divide is maybe not as great as we imagine. And of course, there are differences in culture. But there is more than that. It is hard for me to understand many Norwegians. But to understand many Russians is not easier . Their Russianness alone doesn’t make them my brothers and sisters.

People are people anywhere. There are stupid people, smart people, nice, mean, happy, unhappy. The problem is: when I am in my country, they are just people to me. And I can laugh of their stupidity, or get annoyed at their unkindness. But when I am in Norway, they are not just people. They are Norwegians. And when I laugh of them, I make often a note “this is so typically Norwegian”. And some get provoked. “Are Norwegians really like that?” Come on, I laugh at my country men too. Not only at Norwegians.

But I should take more care when I talk of Norwegians in terms of “us vs.them”.

Amigos Forever-2

And about friendship again.

I have a Latin-American friend who grew up in Norway. So he must be a bit Norwegian also, at least more integrated than me. And he says: “I don’t want to live in Norway. Æsj! Too cold”. Well, is it the only reason to move from here?

“No. all my friends are foreigners. So what’s the point to live in a country where all your friends are foreigners? Maybe, it’s smarter to move to the place where they have their home?”

Hm. My friends in Oslo are mostly foreigners too. And yours?

And this is how they see us ;)

"visste du at du bør vaksinere deg før du dra til Øst-Europa?"

English: "did you know that you should get vaccinated before you go to Eastern Europe?"

a commercial in the drugstore, summer 2009

AMIGOS FOREVER?

”Do you want to stay in Norway?”

When asked this question by Norwegians, I would usually go: “well, I don’t know. I have to finish my studies first, and then maybe…”.
This is wrong answer. Why?

Well, first why I used to answer like that. Because when I lived in Germany, one Persian lady told me: “Of course, you don’t feel discrimination here. Because you are staying only for one year program, and then you leave. And Germans are happy to hear that you don’t intend to stay. So they treat you better. But try to stay here, especially in a small place, you will meet quite different attitude”. So I , following that pattern, didn’t want to scare Norwegians with answers like: “yes, I am gonna stay here, buy a house, compete with you for jobs and kindergarten places, and get on your social system”. I’d better keep a low profile.

So why was that wrong? As somebody explained me: it takes years to build a friendship or any kind of relationship here in Norway. So when you say that you are going to study here and then maybe leave after a couple of years – you become uninteresting for Norwegians at once. Because why should they care to invest themselves in you, to start building friendship – if you are maybe leaving anyway in some years? Well, it is a good point. And again this is not a southern country when you become a friend after a day, a lover after two, and divorced after three.

So – are you going to stay in Norway? Now I say: “Yes!!!!!” but do I really mean it?

The soundtrack: Alex C. Feat Yasmin K. - Amigos Forever

The question is...

17th of May. The perfect day to start this blog. 17th of May is the National day of Norway. And on this day I feel like foreigner stronger than ever.

The whole Norway marches proudly in parades. I sleep till 11, then lie in front of TV, watch parade in Oslo and understand: how far I am from this nation. I never marched in their parades, I never ate sausages and ice-cream on the 17 of May, I never had their national dress bunad. So how hard it is for me to understand them, and for them – to understand me.

Feeling my room with Italian music and speech (the favorite of the week: Eros Ramazzoti). Eating pancakes with sour cream and honey for brunch.

The question is: how long? How long should I live here to become a part of this culture and country? How long will it take me to feel a bit Norwegian, to integrate it into my identity? Or will I live here for 20 years more and get the same question all the time: “where do you come from? Do you like it here?” (Trives du I Norge?). I don’t want to be a foreigner all my life.