Christmas in Sarpsborg

A few days ago I returned from spending the holidays in Sarpsborg with Lene's parents.  I'd met Lene's parents on a couple of occasions and they are both very warm, generous people who, despite not speaking much English, do their best to make me feel welcome.  Sarpsborg is about an hour by train from Oslo and at just over 50,000 people, manages to crack the top 10 for Norway's largest cities.  We were met at the station by Lene's parents and for the next few days I would be immersed in Norwegian holiday tradition.

Playing guitar in front of the Christmas tree.

In Norway, everything happens on Christmas eve.  A traditional dinner is followed by everyone exchanging gifts around the tree.  The homes aren't decorated quite as dramatically as they are in the States; you won't see thousands of lights draped over the houses here. The decorations are simple but warm and it is the interior of homes that reflect the season.  In Lene's home, red and white candles line mantles and windowsills and a fire warms the living room.  Stuffed Santa Claus', made by Lene's mother, recline on sofas or near the Christmas tree and there are bowls of chocolates and clementines pulling double duty as both decorations and treats.

Santa likes to jam sometimes too.

Our Christmas eve dinner was as delicious and fattening as any I've had at home.  Ribs, roast pork, potatoes, sausages, saurkraut and brussel sprouts, all covered in gravy and lingonberries.  We washed it down with some beers from the local brewery and finished everything off with a dessert called rice cream.  I'm still not clear on exactly how it's made but it tastes like a thicker version of whipped cream which we then mixed with a fruit sauce.  After dinner we exchanged gifts and watched Christmas movies until we were ready to call it a night.

On Christmas day Lene's parents let us use the car which we took across the border to Sweden.  Things in Sweden are much cheaper than in Norway, particularly cigarettes and alcohol which carry a heavy tax here.  There is actually a shopping mall just over the border which is frequented solely by Norwegians since it is closer to cities in Norway than in Sweden.  Being Christmas day, everything was closed; the only reason   I was hoping to get a stamp in my passport but I shouldn't have bothered bringing it; there was no one at the border to check people going through, let alone stamp passports.  I settled for a picture on the bridge crossing the border and we headed back to Sarpsborg soon after.

One of the bridges to Sweden.  Sweden is on the left.

We returned to Oslo on the 26th but before leaving we were able to do that most quintessential of scandinavian sports, cross-country skiing.  Norwegians joke that they are born with skis on their feet and so it was fairly remarkable that I hadn't been skiing yet during my time here.  Junior year of high-school was my most recent experience with cross-country skiing where I briefly competed for our ski team.  There have been few things in life that I've shown less aptitude for than cross-country ski racing so I can't say I was thrilled about reliving those memories.  I borrowed skis and boots from one of Lene's friends and off we went to a nearby trail system.  The skiing is much more enjoyable when you aren't killing yourself to race someone else and we had a great time.  It felt good to be outside and it was fun to see all the families with even the young kids skiing.  The trails we went to were even lined with light poles so that people can ski at any time of day (especially important with a 3:15pm sunset).

Striking a pose in my new Christmas sweater.

The holidays were great but we were definitely ready to get back to Oslo by the time the weekend was over. Lene had had enough family time and I'm sure she was tired of translating everything whenever someone wanted to ask me a question.  Many people here over 40 or 50 years old don't speak much English as it was optional when they went to school.  By contrast, the generation after them is essentially fluent in English having learned from a very young age.  English is also far more common in Oslo and you will often over-hear people speaking English in the streets.  Because of this I was definitely ready to leave Sarpsborg so I could go back to communicating normally.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday and has a fantastic New Year!