Smørkrisen, and the war on butter

At the end of November we were highly surprised to read Norway is experiencing a shortage in….butter.

Let’s cut to the chase. The real problem is Tine. Tine is the largest dairy producer in Norway. They control 90% of the butter market in Norway and keep the production in line with the dairy demand. Heavy rainfall past Summer caused poor grazing, add poor quality feed for cattle in the Autumn and the end result was an unusual low milk production. Besides those facts, there is also a higher demand for butter due to a high-fat low-carb diet craze. Other dairy producers are now blaming Tine for waiting too long to ask for tariff reductions, so butter could be imported, and to drop high fees on farmers who have an overproduction on milk used for butter-making.

A package of 'smør'

So far we’ve been lucky to have enough of the yellow spreadable gold in the fridge, but for many others in Norway there is a real war going on. At some places the shelves in the supermarket are empty. The Danish have come to the rescue and recently handed out free butter + started selling butter in the duty-free shops at airports and on board of ferries. A local newspaper posted an ad: subscribe to the newspaper and you’ll receive a free package of butter! A Russian man was detained trying to smuggle 90 kilo of butter over the Swedish-Norwegian border. The authorities then warned everyone not to buy butter from strangers. I am not kidding…

Luckily, the Norwegian government have cut the tariffs imposed on foreign butter to keep it out of the market.  We are hoping Norway will debate their protectionist policies aimed at preserving local agriculture and keeping cheaper imports out of Norway.

According to Tine the end of the butter crisis is not in sight yet. In the meantime I’m reading an article in today’s newspaper on how to make your own butter. Another item we could add to our list, realising we’re becoming more Norwegian than we think; prepare ourselves, for any shortage of any kind. If its not beer, it may well be butter!

A snorting elk…

While writing this, we’re looking out of the window and spotting a pair of forgotten fingerless gloves of S. on the picnic table. They are black woolen gloves, but are now covered in a white layer of crispy ice crystals. Winter is arriving. After two bitter cold winters our internal clock was pretty much set to ‘cold’ and ‘snow’ by the end of October. Instead it has been unusually mild, with just a few nights of frost and temperatures between 5 and 10 C. We have actually been able to enjoy the Fall season a little longer than usual, with beautiful coloured leaves dangling from the branches, or spread on the wet forest ground. Glad N has gotten a warm pair of hunting galoshes that withstand the deep puddles of mud in the woods.

Frozen gloves

Due to a lack of white powder, snow secure ski resorts like Trysil, Hemsedal and Beitostølen have not been able to open up at the beginning of this month.  They’re losing millions of kroner because of King Winter’s delay. Experts are predicting we will have a mild Winter this year. And the word ‘climate change’ has come across environmentalists lips… Secretly we do hope we’ll have at least one meter of snow and a thick layer of ice. We don’t want to miss out on the skating, cross-country skiing and snowboarding fun.

Just like the years before, Sinterklaas is paying his annual visit to all the Dutch childeren living in Norway. The kids have watched his arrival in Dordrecht on Dutch television and are very excited about what they’ll find in their shoes, or better, what presents they might get on the 5th of December. The oldest one is now part of ‘The Big Secret’. It was a bit of a shock to her; Sinterklaas not really existing? And her (grand)parents buying the presents, writing the poems and filling up her shoe? Amusing how she knew, and didn’t at the same time. After a couple of weeks she had accepted the idea and is now reminding us while whispering in our ears, to please not forget to put candy in the shoes tonight.

Since we live so close to the woods, we experienced a, for us, new phenomona. One night the dog barked and woke us up from our sweet dreams. Right after her bark we heard this disturbing sound. The dog barked again, and the strange sound followed. This went on for a couple of minutes. Not until the next morning did we find out what it was. Just a snorting elk.

Phew…

Ordinary

Not much words have been written lately. We have been busy, but then what is being busy? Occupied with life as it is with three young kids. Living the day. Running a ‘taxi company’ and driving from school to friends of the kids, to another birthday party, from one sports club to yet another. Trying to have our own social life in between. We’re not complaining, bear that in mind, we just realise we get used to living in this country. We almost start to forget about situations that are curious, that surprise us. I guess you might even say things have gotten ordinary to us.

The kids have for sure completely adapted. The girls are both in school now. Play in the local ’håndball’ team (handball) and both go to horse riding lessons. They have their friends and built up a social life. Even the youngest one, now four years of age, has got his buddies at the barnehage.

The Summer is over and hunting season has started. Supermarkets are full of fresh and frozen pieces of elk, reindeer, deer and what else on four legs and living in the woods. A silly Danish hunter shot the one and only, and easy target, albino elk in the area. This highly annoyed Norwegian hunters, as they left it alone because of its uniqueness. We see hunters with quads driving around with extra car behind it: dead elk tied to it. Laika, our dog, is afraid of the shooting and on several occasions now she ran home without thinking twice. Dog owner, trying to keep up and out of breath, behind her.

Full Autumn Moon

Now that we settled in at our new hometown it was time to do something about our social life. Recently we organised an Autumn beer fest. Neighbours, colleagues and friends came to taste two of M’s beers. Typical Dutch foodies, like frikadellen (Halal and produced in the NL, bought in Sweden!) and Dutch matured cheese were served next to it. One neighbour even arrived in his wooden shoes to complete the party. Plans are made for a next fest in the snow after a ‘langrenn tur’. (cross-country skiing tour)

Living 75 km’s down from our previous address has it’s advantage: the cold arrives a little later than what we were used to. We haven’t changed the tires to spikes yet. M is still riding a motorbike to work, which saves time and the irritation of having to make use of public transport.

Come to think of it, can’t wait for ice. With the lakes around us it will be great to get our speedskates back on! Curious when…

‘We are a small country’…

…and together we are an unbreakable chain of care, democracy and safety – that is our protection against violence’. Those were the words of Prime minister Jens Stoltenberg at the Memorial Service past Sunday, August 21. One month after the violent attacks of one man, who managed to kill 77 innocent people. Norwegians still believe in the strength of democracy and their open society, where policemen go about without weapons.

It has been one wild day, the 22nd of July. Who would’ve thought something of this enormity would happen in Norway, that small peaceful country in the North of Europe. No one….The only violence that has occurred in Norwegian history are Vikings and 20th century WWII. It has been awfully quiet here. So quiet that even Norwegians speak of ‘the four hundred years of darkness’, where no history whatsoever was recorded. In the 14th century about two-thirds of the population died of the Black Death, the Danes had no problems taking over the country, and that was it. Between the 14th century and  Norway’s independence in 1814 the history chapters are blank. White pages, no ink spilled on wars, fighting noblemen or big threats from outside. In Norway they say nothing serious of this size has happened ever since WWII.

Flowers at the Domkirke, Oslo

Even though we didn’t know any of the victims, this happening so close to home was of course shocking. M had his share by having to work late on the 22nd. He works for the government and their job is, among other things, to secure the communications network the public safety services use. That weekend M was on duty and had his hands full being called into Oslo on several occasions. Our neighbour, a fireman, worked at Utøya the day after and from him we heard horrid stories about trying to find drowned bodies in the deep lake. Including the details you really don’t want to know about…

A month later and the newspapers are still full of the terror attack. Now come the questions followed by discussions about why the police took so long, and why did they float with too many in a sinking rubber boat. And what about that helicopter and all pilots on holiday, and the boats being out of petrol, etc. Enought to keep the media busy for another couple of months.

Well, life goes on for us, and so we were awakened by the boring beep of the alarm past Monday morning. First day of school! After the principals speech, the Norwegian flag was going at half-mast followed by one minute of silence in memory of the victims of the terror attack. Afterwards everyone went to class and we, the parents, were welcomed in the schoolyard, because B, now six and a half, was going to start school for the first time. Well, here in Norway, in the Netherlands she already had started after her 4th birthday…

August hasn’t even come to an end, today was a beautiful sunny day, 21 degrees celsius, but nevertheless eager men stuck poles in the ground alongside the roads. You know, the poles that help you guide where the road lies ahead after heavy snowfall. Since a week ice skates are advertised for, including the latest ice hockey gear and long woolen underwear. Of course.

Our hooded forest friends...

We managed to trade our homemade beer for fresh picked chanterelle and other delicious hooded forest food. The kids picked kilo’s of blackberries, red current and other succulent fruit and we turned it into yummie desert syrups. No, they won’t get the Summer out of our minds yet, and we like to keep it that way until at least October.

It’s Summertime

In the month of May a new friend arrived by car, and is now sharing space in our house. She doesn’t pay rent, never goes out shopping, just enjoys her daily walks out in the woods. Yep, you guessed right, we’ve got a dog. She’s an Icelandic Sheepdog, her name is Russian and translated means ‘little barker’. And that she is. She’s got a head on that body with four legs, that’s for sure. We are not exaggerating when we say most neighbourhood dogs are impressed by her. We’re not proud of it, but it’s the truth.  This little lady is almost seven years of age and ended up at an animal shelter, because the previous owner didn’t have enough time for her. She’s socialized up to a certain point, so N and dog will go to class together in August to learn how to behave around other animals like horses and cats. Oh, and….vehicles. She loves to ride, but hates to be passed by cars when she’s on the road. We’ve only had her in our midst for a month and we’ve already had quite some adventures with her: a foxhunt resulted in a limping dog walking on three legs, the sound of dynamite exploding (rocks being blown to bits at the main road nearby) caused her to run off, and not come back for hours on end, and some serious fights that looked pretty frightening, but are really ‘natural’ in a dogs world, just not in ours.

New friend

Summerbreak has officially started this past weekend. Fifty-six days, eight weeks, or two months of doing nothing….for the kids. For the parents it will be a great challenge to keep their kids sweet and busy at the same time. On the last day of school, parents inform each other about when they’ll be in town, when on holiday or other. In between, playdates are made. Eight weeks are very long. Believe me, we know, because last Summer was our first Norwegian Summer break experience. After 6 weeks even the kids get bored, and wish to go back to school or barnehage. Back to everyday routine. Of course, once school has started, everyone yearns for those long Summer days of laziness. Those days when the sun does not go to sleep and keeps everyone unwanted awake.

In the month of July this country stops working, and so do we. We will swap Norway for Sweden for a short break.

Enjoy your Summer too!

Töcks free shopping!

Many people have been asking us why we like to drive about a 100 km’s to the Swedish border and shop till we drop. In Norway this is called ‘doing the Harry tour’.

Well, you’ve got to know the Norwegian market to fully understand why many Norwegians, and we, make shopping in Sweden a worthwhile visit. First of all, Norway is not a member of the EU. The customs barrier is high, and although more than before, not so many foreign products reach the Norwegian market.  If this import monopoly would be stopped, daily foods could probably be reduced by 30%! There is also not a competitive market situation in Norway. And last but not least, Norway resist it’s market tooth and nail.

On April 8 of this year the Aftenposten wrote ‘Swedish fresh produce department in grocery stores more diverse than in Norway’. In Sweden a customer can choose twice as many fresh products than in a Norwegian supermarket. In Sweden there are three times as many different kinds of bread, and double so many kinds of cheese and sausage. This was, even for the Norwegians, old news, because in 2005 a similar report was written. Nothing much has changed in six years.

Always choose the 'Nothing to declare' lane when crossing the border!

The Norwegian state claims their farmers don’t receive European subsidies. Therefor prices are high so the little farmer around the corner of the next fjord can make a living too. The average price of most groceries are 22% higher than in Sweden. Sometimes even more. You do the math! Yeah, everything in Sweden is cheaper. It doesn’t limit to just average groceries, also alcoholic drinks. For example, a wine bottle of a certain brand we like, costs in Norway 120 NOK (€ 15), half of the price in Sweden. In the Netherlands we bought this bottle for about € 6,50.

Big malls placed just over the border in Sweden are all Norwegian owned. They are also filled with the same type of shops you find here in Norway, the only difference is the price: cheaper. The supermarkets are huge, with a wide variety of goods, and like described above, with much lower prices.  Don’t forget to not buy more than allowed to be able to cross the border safely.

Oh, btw, doesn’t count for Dutch people!

The smooth move

It has been awhile since the last time our blog was updated. The main reason has been, of course, our move to a more southerly location on the map of Norway:

On April 16, 09.00 am, our friend R. and the rental truck, parked in front of the house. The weather was friendly: sunny and even warm for this time of year. Most boxes were packed, but we agreed we’d first stuff beds, couch and dinner table in the truck and add, like a tower of wooden blocks, the boxes in, on and in between the furniture. You’ve got to stay positive, so inspired by our first two moves in July 2009 and May 2010, this was going to be the quickest, smoothest and best organised move ever. According to M this was by far the smoothest move of the three, for N it was one move to many. Conclude for yourself…

Our little house on the Ski prairie

Within a few hours the first load was transported across the E6 towards Oslo, and ongoing til Ski. N drove ahead on her first bike ride of the year, and was the first to unlock the doors of the little house on the prairie. Two colleagues were waiting to help a hand and unload, and soon the truck was empty and awaiting a next ride back for more stuff. As smooth as the first run went, the second was harder. By then we noticed how much of our household still had to either go towards Ski, trash or otherwise. And as move nr. 1 and 2, it always turns out to be more work than expected. So much for trying to stay positive and inspired. No, moving is not very inspiring at all. The actual moving isn’t, the fact that we will all live and start at a new place does give a positive perspective. Holding on to that thought we worked without thinking too much. Gladly the kids were all enjoying themselves. They either played with the neighbourkids in Dal, or enjoyed sitting in the truck. Don’t have to tell who did what!

Adder

That first night felt like move nr. 1 all over though. Back then we faced other problems, but it felt the same: desperately waiting for dinner, the oven with fresh pizza wasn’t working properly. An hour later friend R. found out we had to pull down one extra switch in the electricity box. The drain of the shower was stuffed with isolation material and so the bathroom was flooded like the roads were flooded with melting snow. The beds of the kids came on the second ride and had to be screwed together quickly. Kids went to bed at 10 pm… And three quarts of the truck stayed filled. Too tired to move another soar limb, we all went to bed much too late. The next morning we, adults, felt like we’d partied all night. Nevertheless, duty called, and we had to get up, unload that truck and make a last ride to Dal and back.

Lazy toad

Emptying and cleaning up the old house cost us at least a week. Just before Easter we were finished and could start focusing on our new place. The house is very nice, so are the surroundings. The woods just around the corner, small and large lakes too. The Oslo Fjords only 35 km’s away. It’s amazing to have seen two deer on separate occasions just behind the house, an adder and many loud and lazy singing toads in just a few days. All this so close by the city of Oslo. We feel right at home, and are very, very happy we don’t have to move again next year!

Pics here !

Move #3

It is almost becoming a natural way of living; in between and out of moving boxes. White boxes with the name of the moving company, printed in light blue lettering to make it seem like moving is ‘easy’ and ’fun’. Handwritten words, with a thick black marker. Remembering us what was in them two years ago, one year ago. In capital letters: TOYS, CD, BOOKS, or GLASS. The location where the box was meant to go, right below it: Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Livingroom or Garage. N has become smart since that very first move. All boxes have their own personal number now, the number can be found on a list. And on the list, you guessed it right, the content of the box. It makes life a lot easier knowing what is in a box without having to open a zillion. When we first moved, it drove us mad having to look through so many boxes before finding the item we searched for. The movers put ‘BOOKS’ on the box, but in it were not just books, but also other items which filled up the box so nice and neatly. You can probably imagine how frustrating it was to find towels we use everyday, in a box filled with kitchen appliances we never use. (Wondering afterwards why it moved all the way to Norway anyway?)

Bye, bye, house nr. 2!

Well, that being the minor frustrations of a move, we also have to deal with the psychological impact of a move. The youngest family member doesn’t really care, as long as he can sit in the truck, right next to our friend R. who will drive it on the day of the move. The second child is a little anxious, but only because she’ll go to school for the first time in August. And that she was anyway, so really nothing new there. The oldest one is a bit sad about moving. She’s found many friends, knows what school she goes to and which teacher she has. Once we’ve moved she’ll have to start all over again. New school, new kids and new teachers. We realise that it is harder for her, than for any of us, and hope she’ll find her way into school life smoothly. One thing at least, is that she now knows the language. So one major obstacle less than the very first time we moved.

Many people tell us:‘Oh, but moving is wonderful, because you get to throw away so much stuff!’. Apart from the fact that people try to comfort us, by sharing this kind of information. (We understand, the message is clear: moving is not that bad, people!) It is kind of strange to think we only throw out stuff once we move. Although, there is some truth to it, because that is exactly what happens. The last time we moved, only 11 months ago, we threw away a lot of stuff. From old baby furniture till broken, dented lamps that for some reason thought they were meant to stay. Junk tends to invade our space. When we move it’s a good time to tell it to go invade somewhere else, but not in our house. So, I guess we must agree, it does tidy up!

Fully integrated!

After a lot of thinking. Should we, or should we not? The total discount in several shops called our names and made us decide to complete our integration in Norwegian life and make it to a fact.

The kids were the first to try out. Standing on two long pieces of what look like alpine skis, but then twice as long, and twice as thin. With a shoe on, it is made possible to lift a heel and either run or slide on snow. Even climb up against hills. Sweat like a pig, as it’s a true sport made complete with muscle pain. You might guess it, but you can do all this with ‘langrennskis’, the Norwegian name for a second means of transportation next to a pair of feet. Also known in other languages as Cross Country skiing or langlaufen. All three kids got very excited after their first try, even the oldest one, who said what we felt: “This looks silly, and so slow?” Her need for speed was put aside, and she too became one with those long, skinny ski’s.  In Norway XC skiing is sport nr. 1. People go nuts when the season begins. This week, the kickoff started of the Nordic Ski World Championships in Oslo with Norwegian favourites like Petter Northug and Marit Bjørgen. Compare it to any nr. 1 sport in your own country which makes the average citizen go wild. In The Netherlands I dare say speed skating is the nr. 1 winter sport that make a lot of folk their adrenaline shoot up. We don’t know any Norwegian who do not own at least one pair of XC skis. 

På ski!

It’s a great activity to do with the whole family. So soon we were all standing on these skinny unstable ski’s on crispy fresh snow. With a special machine the local municipality lay out tracks in just about every town or village. The one we like to take, start, very convenient, at the end of our street and bring us through farmland up the hills into the woods. All in all a nice circle of a mere 10 km. We soon found out, cross-country skiing is pretty tough for amateurs like us. After an hour we were feeling just about every muscle in our body, and were, on top of that exhausted. The kids wanted to have a break every 10 minutes. And just like any good Norwegian family our backpack was filled with a couple of Kvik Lunsj’s (chocolate bars) and a thermos with hot cocoa.

Give me a break!

At the barnehagen our youngest daughter goes ‘på ski’ every week with the Fem Års Klub. This is a club full of five and six-year olds who will start school coming August. Langrenn is, amongst learning a letter and number or two, an important cultural activity in Norway. The oldest daughter recently had a sports day which turned out to be a XC ski-day. If our kids are doing really well, they could in the future, come out for the Dutch langrenn team. Which does not exist (yet).

A few new pics can be found here.

On the move again!

The first day of 2011 hadn’t come to an end or N felt the ‘Oh no, we’ve got to move again this year’ creeps coming up, together with ‘That means we’ve got just 7 months to find a house!’ and while looking at M’s direction, ’Do you know how fast that is?’. On the 2nd day of January the housing site was opened again, and the search started. Soon we were considering our options. Should we buy, or should we rent? The decision was made that same night, because M found out the rules for getting a mortgage in this country had changed overnight, and not in our favour. Renting is the thing to do. And then, on the 3rd day of January N found a beautiful place, about a 25 km drive from M’s work in Oslo, with enough bedrooms for all and horses in the front yard. The house falls in our own made up category: ‘Pippi Longstocking-house’, even though in Norway this type of house is called a ‘Swiss villa’.

On a very snowy day, the 6th day of 2011 we drove out to the house. And it met all our wishes, even the dishwasher was in place, and therefore we had to say ‘yes, we want it’ to the owner. This all sounds great, but we still had a bump in the road when it comes to signing the contract for the new house. We have a) a 3 months term-of-notice, b) one owner who wants to have the house rented right next month, and c) one owner who’s probably not interested in giving back our deposit before the term has ended. What to do?

House with a view

The owner of Pippi’s house, not to be confused with our present owners’ cat, let us know the coast is not clear. (Of course, that’s his job…) Another family was going to check the house too, and they are able to move in right next month. This caused us to get a little nervous again. Our brains were working overtime finding a suitable solution. Avoiding double rent was one, but we can’t just let our furry friends, 3 rabbits (one died) and a cat, alone either. An email message to our present landlord was soon made to explain the situation of their furry friends, and our move.

On the 7th day of 2011 the owner of our new home emailed we had to make a fast decision. The other family can move in before the first of March. Call back a.s.a.p. and before noon, or obviously the house was not going to be ours. Before time was up an email message was sent back and the necessary phone call was made.

So, dear people, wir haben es wieder geschaft. A new place to live for the next three years at least. The plan is to move in the Påskeferie, end of April. Hopefully the roads are clear of snow by then, so we can ride our motorbikes down to their new home too.