KSG Therapy Page

Stuff We Miss

Should you feel the need to empathize with Scott and Kristin (but mostly Scott), or should that empathy grow into something more tangible, such as a care-package for example, this page might be for you. Here we pine for those things which once were, but are no longer, owing to the inevitable differences of our new home here in Norway. It should be noted that Kristin misses many of these as well. We may also get around to listing those things of which we have had our fill! These are sometimes related, but mosely the opposites of the things we miss. We might even list those things we think YOU North Americans ought to have!

And remember, though we miss a lot, we are NOT pessemistic or depressed! This page simply provides us with cathartic release through expression (getting it off our chest), and gives you an idea of what kind of differences one discovers when adopting a new country and culture.

This list is in no particular order...

and now.....

STUFF WE MISS

1. affordable stuff	- no such thing here. Prices in Britain are almost 2x what they are in Canada. The British come here and complain about how expensive everything is! Affordable restaurant food is an item of especially great desire.
2. YOU guys	of course!
3. cheddar cheese	can you imagine life without it? We could have it, but the New Zealand cheddar we get here can't compare to Canadian cheddar... oh, and see #1.
4. turning right on a red	it just makes sense; It would improve traffic flow by 16% assuming uniform flow in all directions.
5. really good customer service	I used to think it could be worse - I've ammended this comment to - Norwegian customer service stinks! Admittedly, I'm picky when I spend my hard-earned money. After over 2 years here, I found a print-shop that gave me very good customer service - cudos!
6. good TV channels	true, with a whopping chunk of change, we could get channels like Discovery, National Geographic, or The Knowledge Network along with a bunch of garbage (see #1).
7. decent phone & internet rates	I know, this is #1 cleverly desquised again.
8. authorities sans 'robot mode'	follow the rules...ALL OF THEM TO A 'T'....'cause there aint' no mercy. His Majesty, King Harald was just pulled over a while back for going 70 in a 60 zone - believe it!
9. big breakers	yeah, you know - crashing waves. all we get here is lap, lap, lap, and no tide-change either. Give me a rugged coastline with signs that warn, "Danger - you may be swept out into the frigid waters and then smashed on the sharp rocks - enjoy your walk"
10. $7 parking tickets	you'd miss them too if you got one of our $100 parking tickets.
11. BIG trees	no, I mean BIG trees - give me a good old Douglas fir, cedar or western hemlock. But I guess to have big trees, you need dirt. Ours got scraped over to Continental Europe - we have impressive rocks.
12. cherry blossoms in April	yeah, I was spoiled in Victoria
13. mountains with real peaks	yeah, that whole scraping thing kind of spoiled most of our mountains. They look impressive from the jfords below, but when you drive (you can) to the top, it's a thousand square mile snow-collecting plateau!
14. cooking wine in grocery stores	if you want good drink mixes, simply go to the grocery store, but for simple cooking wine, head on down to the liquor store of course!
15. variety	one or two kinds of everything - what more do we simple folk need? I remember counting up to 50 kinds of Salad Dressing in Overweatea in little Williams Lake at Christmas 2001. - sigh... oh, speaking of which, if I could have my choice of just one more salad dressing - give me ranch please!
16. The Cheesecake Cafe	...aaaauugghghgh, drool, drool.
17. drink crystals	oooo, those are so exotic; they're only for olympic athletes, so head on down to your local cool sports store and expect to spend a bundle! For us normal folk, we buy thick syrup in bottles and thin it - no kidding.
18. Veggie Tales	Now THIS is a travesty! Owing to the extreme difficulty or impossibility of keeping the translations funny, these have not made the jump to Scandinavia. And of course that goes too, for Veggie-Tunes - poor kids. Kristin has memories of a purple hippo that encouraged her to brush her teeth; I don't know how she turned out as well as she did. I'll be importing videos and singin' along with Larry!
19. Silicone-rubber tubing	This too is an exotic space-age material that finds no purpose here. Kids here make their sling-shots out of old bicycle tire tubes - pathetic! My kids will be supplied with only the finest imported sling-shot manufacturing materials.
20. Rootbeer	and how do you explain what it tastes like? (I do not accept Barq's as a legitimate self respecting Rootbeer)
21. Locked rear wheels on shopping carts	Unless you want a real ab' workout these really help with navigating the grocery store
22. Dairy Queen	...like I need to explain
23. Thanksgiving!	It's just not the same trying to keep the tradition alive by yourself. And no, celebrating it at the end of November with the Americans makes me feel guilty.
24. The CFL	I know, I was never a real football buff, but here they understand only soccer (football) and XC skiing. It gets rather boring and one wishes for some good violent running, tackling, and crushing of bodies - a sport where mouth-guards are necessary.
25. Wildlife	Norwegians say they have it; they don't. Canadians don't pay much attention - you've got lots of it - let's hope it says that way.

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