Sunday, July 24th\u00a0<\/sup>2011:<\/strong>\u00a0I got up, watched the morning news, the beginning of a moving church service on TV and then met a friend for coffee in\u00a0Grunnerl\u00f8kka<\/em>.\u00a0 We enjoyed a long chat over coffee, which included how we were feeling about the past few days.\u00a0 It felt good to talk with yet another friend over coffee.\u00a0 Like you do in Norway.<\/p>\n To get back to my apartment, I took a streetcar, which took a route through downtown and then through Frogner, one of the richest areas of Oslo.\u00a0 When we were downtown, a drug addict couple came and sat across the aisle, facing me.\u00a0 The woman was pretty obnoxious.\u00a0 She was trying to write a text message, saying each letter out loud before pushing the corresponding button.\u00a0 As she slowly pushed each button her cell beeped loudly.\u00a0 As a side-note for those not familiar with Norwegian culture, drug addicts are commonly seen but, like everyone else, are almost always ignored; loud beeping cell phones are a major no-no.<\/p>\n The streetcar then took a sharp swing and although she was sitting, she lost her balance and her head would have hit the metal part of the seat across the aisle had a woman sitting across and behind her not been paying close attention.\u00a0 That woman put her hand out on the metal part of the seat so the addict wouldn\u2019t hurt herself. The woman, directly across from her and in front of me caught her.\u00a0 The woman, the one across from me, is what is called a\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>: a well-to-do woman from the Frogner area. I could just tell by the clothes she was wearing, how tan she was and the way her hair was cut.\u00a0 Normally a\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>\u00a0would likely say something like \u201cj\u00f8jemeg,<\/em>\u201d which is like saying, \u201coh goodness gracious,\u201d and be grossed out that an addict was touching her.\u00a0 At least that is the stereotype many have of a\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>.\u00a0 But this woman wasn\u2019t living up to the stereotype.\u00a0 She dawned a loving smile, and asked the woman if she was OK. Then there were nice exchanges between all three of them. They were talking. To each other.\u00a0 On a streetcar.\u00a0 In Norway.\u00a0 And no booze was involved.<\/p>\n For someone who hasn\u2019t lived or visited Norway, this may sound totally absurd, but you just don\u2019t do something as crazy as talk to people you don\u2019t know, at least not in public and especially not on public transportation. Weegies talk openly with their loved ones, but many feel that sincerity is lost in conversations with strangers.\u00a0 Well, a guy did talk to me the other day on the bus. He was asked me to not write him off as a lover just because he was sneezing; he wasn\u2019t really sick, he\u2019d be just as good of a lover with allergies, he explained.\u00a0 I think you get the picture.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the culture shock. The streetcar drove on, the woman fell over yet another time, had another conversation with the\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>\u00a0and continued to beep her cell phone loudly and annoyingly. Once outside, the addict couple suddenly worried that they might have forgotten something on their seat.\u00a0 So, they cupped their hands together against the window and looked in before it drove off.\u00a0 And I smiled because it was one part funny, one part touching.\u00a0 We drove on and the woman across from me saw my smile and smiled back.\u00a0 Yes, she smiled.\u00a0 She showed me her teeth.\u00a0 I not only made eye contact with a stranger, but I also smiled back.\u00a0 I had just crossed a Norwegian line I was taught never to cross.\u00a0 Then I figured, what the\u00a0helvete<\/em>, I crossed the line already, I might as well continue.\u00a0 So I looked at her and said that I thought it must be difficult to live such a life.\u00a0 She nodded and said thoughtfully said that she couldn\u2019t even imagine.\u00a0 Well of course, you can\u2019t, you live in sheltered little Frogner, I thought to myself skeptically, thinking of all of the\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>\u00a0stereotypes.<\/p>\n In the first press conference late Friday evening, Jens Stoltenberg\u2019s message was clear.\u00a0 Weegies need to show compassion for each other in this difficult time, understanding that everyone will cope, mourn and have different needs.\u00a0 Weegies need to reach out to each other.\u00a0 It is a message that has been reiterated in the media time and time again.\u00a0 The experience on the streetcar illustrated to me just how Norwegians are taking his message to heart.\u00a0 To someone who hasn\u2019t lived in Norway, this example might not even seem like an example of compassion, it might seem absurd.\u00a0 It might not even seem worthy of writing about.\u00a0 But the Norway before 7\/22 was one rooted in the idea that family and friends should be valued, loved and prioritized, but caution is shown with strangers.<\/p>\n We arrived in Frogner, the\u00a0frognerfrue<\/em>\u00a0got up and said that this was her stop,\u00a0ha det bra<\/em>, goodbye.\u00a0 And she said it with a smile.\u00a0 W.H.O.A.\u00a0 First let me just say that, see, I know my Norwegian stereotypes.\u00a0 But, seriously, she just made a point to say goodbye to me.\u00a0 A stranger.\u00a0 In Norway.\u00a0 I was in shock and disbelief all over again.\u00a0 It is a simple act really, but it moved me.\u00a0 Weegies just don\u2019t go throwing around greetings like we do in the States. I was touched that I was significant enough to her that she wanted to note that we were parting ways.<\/p>\n Now, as I\u2019m sitting here at an outdoor coffee shop writing this, I was interrupted by an older man who asked if I was Facebooking so early in the morning, before reading the news.\u00a0 No, I told him, I was working.\u00a0 Ahh, that\u2019s no good, he said, one should always start the day with the news and a good cup of coffee.\u00a0 I assured him that I had, it\u2019s just that I was up so early. And then the coffee hit me.\u00a0 I\u2019m still in Norway and this nice weegie just made small talk with me.\u00a0 Another example of people talking.\u00a0 To each other. To strangers.<\/p>\n When the streetcar arrived at the next stop the other woman sitting across from me who hadn\u2019t said a word up until now\u2014maybe feeling a little left out by not being included as one of our new bffs\u2014made eye contact, smiled and nodded as she got up to get off. I had to remind myself that, yes, this is Frogner.<\/p>\n When the streetcar came to my stop, I got off and started walking home, trying to make sense of what just happened.\u00a0 But my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud siren and bright flashing lights of two heavily armed military hummers, a bus of military personnel and several police cars.\u00a0 I stopped walking and just looked at the scene.\u00a0 This had been a common sight many times over the past few days.\u00a0 For the first time, I didn\u2019t look in disbelief, I was starting to get very used to an intense military presence.\u00a0 What once seemed so safe and familiar now seems so different. Is this the new normal?<\/p>\n I continued my walk home, almost bumping into a man on the street.\u00a0 He was working at the flower shop and was busily filling a truck with flower arrangements, undoubtedly preparing for a long day of deliveries to those in mourning.\u00a0 I walk by a coffee shop where I briefly overhear two men trying to make sense of a life lost at Ut\u00f8ya.\u00a0 A steady stream of police officers walk in for a to-go cup, needing any extra energy the caffeine can supply.\u00a0 A woman walks by me talking on her cell, face covered in tears, but smiling.\u00a0 Passersby make eye contact, wanting her to know that they care.\u00a0 Walking into the grocery store to buy something to drink, I am greeted by a grocery cart full of grave candles.\u00a0 All are constant reminders that all weegies have been forever changed.<\/p>\n Grave candles for sale at the entrance of the local grocery store.<\/p><\/div>\n As I continue down the street, I think about whether I\u2019ll ever be able to return home to the Norway that once seemed familiar, the one I held close to my heart.\u00a0 I hear seagulls and look up and see sunlight peaking through the clouds. The\u00a0sol<\/em>\u00a0is making every effort to shine through the dark clouds. Ever since my arrival, weegies have been reporting that it\u2019s been a horrible summer with brief glimpses of sunlight. During the darkest days of the summer, the darkest days since WWII, they find\u00a0sol<\/em>ace in each other.\u00a0 Weegies have never taken the\u00a0sol<\/em>\u00a0for granted, sometimes it is just valued and appreciated more than other times.\u00a0 They are finding their\u00a0sol<\/em>, a ray of hope, in the eyes of strangers who are experiencing a tragedy, together.\u00a0 I find\u00a0sol<\/em>ace in experiencing and reflecting on the transformation to the new Norway with the weegies in Oslo.<\/p>\n Jens Stoltenberg was right, it is a new Norway, but maybe that isn\u2019t all bad after all.<\/p>\n![\"281576_10101038484829950_2026676_n\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/413\/2014\/10\/281576_10101038484829950_2026676_n.jpg\")
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