Norwegian money and baking knekkebrød

A couple weeks ago I went for a walk below Tord and Helene's house and ended up on a beach where the snow was completely untouched. So I had to change that! I haven't been there since, but it was pouring rain the next day so I guess my Canadian flag didn't last long. I like to think that some other Canadian came across it before it melted though.

I finally got my cell phone to connect to my computer again, so here's a couple more pictures from that walk:

Ytre Arna is on the left

I'm having trouble remembering what I did the past week; there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, in any case. Since I don't have too much to write (for once) here's a lesson on Norwegian money

-Their currency is the Norwegian kroner; there's about 5.8 in a Canadian dollar and I tend to divide by six. Even if I have no other math skills left from last year, I've gained the skill of quickly estimating almost any number divided by 6. The symbol for kr is  - , like a subtraction sign. At first when I saw prices written as 500- I thought it meant the price was 500 but could be negotiated down; seemed like a good system to me! 

(These pictures aren't to scale)

One krone

50 øre                                                                                                                                           

(there's 100 øre in one krone)    

         

                                                    

Five kroner

10 kroner

                                                                    


And 20 kr

The bills are different sizes based on denomination. The 50 kr bill was missing here, so there it is below:

It's noticeably smaller than the other bills, although you can't tell here

Here's some of it all together. I don't know what the little silver coins at the top and bottom are, but I'm guessing they're smaller than 50 øre and aren't used anymore.

None of those pictures are mine, although I wish they were!

The first things that come to mind that you can buy with each amount of money:

1 kr ($.17) Maybe like half a bun or something? Nothing that I know of really.

5kr ($.85) - Entrance to the washroom at the train station

10kr ($1.70) - Maybe a couple candies from the bulk smågodt set up everywhere: movie theatres, convenience stores and grocery stores.

 

The fudgey vanilla squares in the corners are by far the best!

20 kr ($3.41) More candy (although still not much), or at Noellen's suggestion, a toothbrush. Or two hamburgers at McDonalds. 

30 kr ($5.11) Wow I never really realized 30 kr was that much! There's no 30 kr coin, but I have to mention it because you can buy Nugatti

33 kr gets you a train ticket from Arna to Bergen

50 kr ($8.52) is the line where I realize I'm spending real money and not just tiny little coins. Bad attitude, I know! I still think of 50 kr as cheap though.

Hmm...50 kr can buy, at Devin's suggestion "a coffee, a shirt on sale at H & M, or two chocolate bars." You could maybe get a magazine, although a cheap one. Noellen says 50 kr gets her a school lunch.

100 kr ($17) gets you the cheapest mascara I've seen. Makeup is crazy expensive here. You can also start getting clothes at this price that aren't on some ridiculous sale. I don't find clothes prices to be too different from home. Devin says "what you pay when you split a pizza." All you can eat pizza at Peppe's in September was 99 kr per person.

I was walking through the apotek a while ago, and came across some burt's bee's chapstick:

59 kroner each; that's about ten dollars

In the picture above you can see that they show the price per kilogram; they tend to show comparative pricing for a lot of things. It's helpful when shopping for shampoo and lotion. Food packages also have nutritional information per 100 grams.

Now that we've reached the topic of food, I'll mention that Inger and I made knekkebrød this week. Definitely something I want to try making when I get home, although it looks like soggy porrige until it's finished cooking.

The materials

Mixed up with water

Inger 

Doesn't look too appetizing yet

...a little better

and done!

With brunost and jam, of course...yumm

I went running with Tonje on Thursday and Friday evenings; we were matching in black clothes and yellow reflective vests. I guess this is what I look like to cars at night:

Those snowy pictures at the top give a false illusion of what it's like out now. It's more like this:

Soccer fields, swimming pool or skating rink?

Out for a walk in the rain

On Friday we had a Norwegian test. Last time, in November, I just had to write about what I've done in Norway. This time I had to read a few pages of the textbook and write about 800 words answering two questions about the story. It was a similar assignment as I'd get in English class at home, not the easiest thing to do in a language you've only known for five months! It went alright, but I misunderstood a good chunk of the text 

The SFO (after school program) this week I was by myself with eight kids. Harder than last time, but the kids are really great with explaining things to me, and teaching me Norwegian in the process. One little girl who was annoyed with me for not wanting to take down the climbing ropes told me I'm actually good at Norwegian, which was really sweet. I asked them if they knew any English, and one girl blurted out "CATERPILLAR." I think they know more than they let on. I catch myself saying things like "ok guys" and then realize that's not Norwegian, although I think they still understand.

Another week gone by in Norway. I haven't decided on a date to go home yet, but I think my exchange is about halfway over. Don't exactly know what to think about that!

Here's one last picture from a few weeks ago:

Happy January 23rd everyone!