There is an art, or, rather, a knack
to walking on ice. It's something Norwegian children learn at a very young age, something I imagine they never forget. There are many different types of ice, too, and Norwegians instinctively know how to handle each one. The general trick is to not push off (using the ball of your foot) with each step. Just pick your feet up. What I initially mistook for waddling is really a sophisticated process of maintaining ones balance, despite the slippery sidewalks. One that I've adopted. Yes, I too have become a waddler.
The grocery stores in Norway are far cries from the super markets I've grown up around in the United States. There isn't a whole lot of variety or selection. Whereas I'm used to long aisles of cereals--large boxes, small boxes, travel size, and generic varieties of each--there is put a single shelf of cereal boxes here. Instead of Multigrain, Honey Nut, original, Frosted, Berry Burst (Strawberry and Triple Berry), and Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, we only have one kind, which seem to resemble the US multigrain variety. In fact, many cereal aisles I've strolled through have more choices than an entire grocery store in Norway. What Norway lacks in store size, it makes up for in the sheer number of stores. Within walking distance of our flat (read: apartment) are no less than five grocery stores. And they all carry nearly the same stock.
My Norwegian diet consists mostly of restaurant food, sandwiches at work, cereal and muffins for breakfast, and frozen pizzas, pasta, and frozen food mixes (pastas and potato and meat mixes). I had meant to ask my step-mother or step-sister to give me some quick cooking lessons before I left the country, but time ran out. Don't get me wrong, I can cook. It's just that my recipe book is rather slim. And when you come to a different country that doesn't have all the foods for sale that you're accustomed to, it makes your recipe book even thinner. My cookies are going to take this country by storm, though.
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That's the right attitude for a foreigner in this cold country: here for a week and already complaing about the lack of choice compared to food "at home" ;-)
I'd just like to note that Remco admitted to having the same attitude when I spoke to him face to face. :)
True Norwegians cycle all year. Haven't you noticed? As long as you don't have to break, you're steadier on a bike than on your feet when crossing an icy patch. Plus, we can cycle in the road, which, as you've noticed, are less icy than the sidewalks. Remeber a coat, gloves and a hat.
I reckon Opera should provide bikes for all their overseas workers visiting ;-)
Oh, yes, I've noticed the cycling. I was nearly run over several times during the summer. :) Ian has some interesting comments about bike riding in the winter.
I brough gloves, a hat, and a scarf with me that have been doing fairly well keeping me warm.
Interestingly enough, Ian's bike is his bosses. :) Last summer, I lived in Badebakken, which is about 30 minutes walk from the office. I wouldn't have minded a bike, but the walk was quite nice.
There *are* supermarkets in Norway as well. It's just that you don't get them inside the city, since the rent is so high. If you go out to the outskirts of the city, you'll find bigger stores (and of course then they make it up by being further apart).
The stores are a bit smaller here in Oslo than the ones I was used to when I lived in Sweden, however. But I don't really mind. I do prefer a small store at walking distance, than a supermarket where I would have to use some kind of vehicle to get to.
ORM: Sn
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