Let's have some fun ...

With any move, especially one to another country, you have to find your way around, learn the signage, and the different names for items that are pretty common at home.  So, in this post I am going to share with you some of the signs and food and appliance items we have encountered that gave us a good laugh… Enjoy!

When Gary first traveled here and worked for a week he spent the week-end checking out some of the local areas.  Here are some signs he encountered along the way.

Fart-hinder means "speed bump"



Skum means "foam"



Recently, when leaving the Oslo Gardemoen Airport for the three-hour drive back to Karlstad, we stopped to get Gary some Coke Zero for the road.  In the US we have 7-11 (they actually have one here in Karlstad which shocked me) and we have Spinx in Greenville.  This is the "stop and shop" place in Oslo...

Here's a close up of that bottom sign... Do these signs work well together??? I hope not!!!

Grocery shopping has been the hardest thing I’ve had to do here and probably what has reduced me to tears the most.  In fact, the first few times we shopped, I would get in the car, cry, and say, "I miss Publix." There were and are several reasons for this.  One, is because we would shop on a Saturday and everyone else did too.  In fact, for many, it seems to be a family-affair making it very crowded and noisy,  so it was  tad overwhelming.  Now  we have switched our shopping time to Wednesday or Thursday evening and it's working out much better.  Another reason it has been difficult is because I didn't know my way around the store, I cannot read the signs, and I cannot read the labels causing me to (humble myself) and ask someone if they speak English, or to rely much on pictures or what few words I can decipher.  As I said in another post, I might find a can that has a picture of tuna fish, but with the Swedish wording – I cannot tell if there is anything added to it that I might not want.  Google translate has been a tremendous help for me to make my grocery list from the local newspaper ads. 

We have been amazed at the huge assortment of creams, crème fraische (I’ve seen it written different ways), gräddfil (sour cream) which has different flavors, yogurts – all very good – at least the ones that we have tried, but the choices are so vast and overwhelming.  For example, the creams – we have learned to look at two things:  1) the picture on the carton –what are they doing with it?  And, 2) the amount of fat (fett) to know if it’s regular whipping cream or heavy whipping cream – or could it be cream for maybe your coffee? For our coffee we now know to look for a little green box that has a cup of coffee on the outside with a swirl of cream and the label says, “Milda kaffe 10%.”  We're getting there!

Packaging is quite different too. The yogurt is pourable from a carton and has a cap - which is great!  But some of their milk cartons and cheese packages are quite different.  In the states, we have the easy close and re-sealable.  Not so easy here.  To open the cartons you cut the opening on a dotted line and make almost like a beak to pour, but then it doesn’t seal shut tight like you might like (or at least I do).  Cheeses you either use it up or you secure it shut another way - no press and seal.  

Below are some other pictures of food items and appliances that we have encountered:

Friday it's common to have tacos, nachos, etc.  I noticed they have guacamole in a can.  I make mine from scratch.  Which is a funny story in itself.  When we learned we were moving here I started thinking of the food items we probably wouldn't have for a long time (like two years).  I mentioned to a friend that avacados were one of them.  He said, "You'll probably be able to get them but pay a pretty penny for them." It never occurred to me that they would be imported from somewhere closer - like Spain!  The price is approximately US-$1.20/each, which is comparable to what I might pay in South Carolina.

Lettuce is beautiful here but when you purchase a head of lettuce, say Romaine or some other type, you not only get the lettuce - you get the whole plant!!  Think I could use the greens and plant the roots and have a lettuce garden?

And what about Swedish cereal - would you want to eat this one?

Breads are wonderful here. I found a nice little bakery right around the corner from our apartment where they have all kinds of breads, rolls, pastries, and desserts.  But, in the grocery stores, like at home, they have freshly baked breads or packaged breads.  Here's an example of a packaged bread we purchase often.  Interesting name, huh?

Oh, and then there is my favorite pepparkaka (gingerbread) muffin from the Espresso House. Yum!

Our apartment came with a (older models) stackable washer and dryer located in the bathroom.  Only problem - I couldn't read the different settings.  That's when google translate came in handy.  Now I have the settings translated and posted on the dryer for a quick reference. 

One of my first loads of laundry took forever.  I am still not sure why.  Not only that, when I opened the door of the machine, water came pouring out.  The drain under the tub (in the floor) caught the spillage. One time I slipped on a shirt I had just washed and dried.  There were two holes in the left sleeve and it was too big and stretched out.  I told Gary that I thought the washing machine had a major problem and why.  He said, "That's my shirt and those holes got there a long time ago!"  Whew!

I can't show you my oven well enough for you to see, but although it's small, it looks like a normal oven.  Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found only one heating element - and it was on top!  Was I to broil all our food - even cookies?  I figured out on the nob there are different pictures that depict which area gets the heat (top-bottom or both) all by where the drawing of this little line bar is - so two bars means all-around heat - great for baking cookies.  It works!!

Of course we needed to purchase a vacuum cleaner and found a nifty little one called a dammsugare which we nicknamed the "damsucker."  Notice I dropped a box of Kleenex next to it so you can see how small it really is.  Works well though!

As we become more acquainted with signs, foods, etc., we'll be sure to show you more.  I have to say that from this experience I have learned that when I am home in the states I am going to try and be more aware of people who might need help. This is true especially since Greenville has many Europeans coming over for Michilin and BMW.