What is a "pose"?

Shall I start by telling, that on my first time at a grocery store I didn’t know that I have to ask and pay to get a bag. Do you need a “pose”? Usually in my country it is strange to ask for a bag, it is for free for everyone. So it took me a while to figure out what a pusa means, and to be ok with paying 1 nok to get a bag, especially that I have already spent a considerable amount of money in the store.

Paying for toilets

Or shall I talk about paying to go to a public toilet? The funny thing that once I wanted to go to the toilet in a big mall, by coincidence someone was going out, and he opened the door, so I didn’t know that I had to pay to enter. The next time I was standing , fighting with the door, thinking that it is stuck and it needs force to be opened , when suddenly I saw a Norwegian sign where I didn’t understand the language but I could read 5nok- I was lucky that no one was around to laugh.

Take off your shoes, please

What about the cultural habit that you have to take off your shoes before coming into most of the Norwegian houses. Don’t try to do that in my country because they will really feel offended. That is why I always go to buy new, sophisticated and elegant socks, in case of emergency; so in Norway, my shoes and my socks should have the same level of elegance and beauty, since shoes are for outside walk and socks are for inside.

Norwegian alcohol culture

I always discuss the policies and the way of drinking alcohol on Friday and Saturday nights with the Norwegian youth, because in a way it is really strange for me, the concept of vorspiel and the nachspiel, and the timing of buying alcohol from the stores. So after a long week of hard work and stress you are allowed to buy a bear only before 6:00 pm, start drinking (vorspiel) from 7:00 pm till 12:00 pm in group at some friend house, then comes time to go out and try to dance, than going back home at 3:00 am , and keep on drinking (nachspiel) , so you spend the next day trying to cure from your headache. Enjoy drinking till maximum.

Respect for the pedestrian

But the most spectacular of all is the fact that there are no driving light signs in Hamar. The priority is for the pedestrian. In fact, if a car is passing on the road and the car driver see a pedestrian, he will directly stop the car till the pedestrian pass. This case is applicable even there is a crossroad and more than one car is passing. All the cars will stop for the sake of one pedestrian. I was really impressed of the Norwegian way of respecting others and applying rules without need of a policeman with his wistle.

Yes I already mentioned that it is not easy to start, because it would be really hard to reach an end, my stay in Norway will definitely teach me a lot about differences, how to be incorporated and deal with new cultures and habits and how to interact with others. For sure every day there is a new experience and a new story to tell about……