loss of identity

i recently came back after a month in Scandinavia & discovered to my dismay that things have become globalized. what do i mean by that-in 80′s in Scandinavia my sister i would often find clothing that had not come to the US or music that we couldn’t buy in States. what i discovered while i was in Europe is how similar products & companies have become. obesity isn’t just an American issue but it’s becoming a global one. i was in several small towns & a few cities & however the price of a cheap burger was the same everywhere.

my grandmother’s town which had a thriving center part of the town has lost several store fronts because the town of 14,000 now has 3 malls and what i can only describe as the Norwegian equivalent of a walmart. small business owners are going out of business or can’t stay open because everyone goes to the mall. the other disheartening discovery is the global dominance of China made products, Kraft, Unilever & P&G who are on the store shelves everywhere.

when i went to the store, i read the ingredients list on everything i bought & where it was made. they had a campaign in Norway called Nyt Norge which was very clever. basically it meant enjoy Norway; & it had to do with Norwegian lamb which was in season, apples & other products that where either farmed there or raised there. it reminded of the local campaign here in Seattle which urges us to buy local.

i was thrilled in Sweden when i found a kitchen towel in linen and cotton that was manufactured in Sweden that i bought for $25. i wish more local companies both here & abroad would bring their manufacturing back to their respective countries rather than outsourcing to Asia. i feel good buy something that is produced locally & is good for the environment. to me made in china is no longer something i get excited about when i see it on clothing, merchandise et cetera.

i loved seeing my family & had a great trip but i would urge anyone who travels to do is to seek out locally products and buy those. i can also tell you that when you do you get inside scoop on the community your visiting & it’s not something a shopping mall will show you.

Afternoon reading

One of my favorite things to do is to leave the house for a few hours and sit in a cafe and read.
It’s the simple pleasure of getting out of the house and seeing what the day is like. Today, I struck gold as cafe I at is quiet and there are no bricks–sucking up the wi-fi.
I have a good cup of coffee and a copy of the New Yorker. Contemplating my upcoming trip and enjoying the last of a PNW Summer.

theShift

it’s been one week since the bombing in Oslo and the massacre on Utoya. i attended a Vigil in Seattle on Tuesday and felt sadness. this thought that my Motherland will never be same-forever shifted by what happened. what’s troubling to me is that he was a home grown terrorist that had become fixated on the atrocities he committed. waking up to the drama unfolding in Oslo last Friday and feeling faraway from it all was the hardest. going to the Vigil this past week was a blessing and a curse. people stood around and hugged and greeted one another but it wasn’t out of joy it was out of sadness.
an elderly gentleman i have known for several years hugged me and said it was good to see me and in the next moment both our eyes went dark. a man i have never seen before sitting next to him was so happy to hear my fluent Norwegian. he asked me where my family was from and i told him. i spoke to my dad this week who told me that there was several young people that had passed away close to the community my family is from.
since the atrocities my husband and i have decided that i should travel back and visit with family. i spent a few weeks in the winter there but i know when i put my feet down on Norwegian soil i will feel much different than i did 6 months ago. i think the most prolific thing is that the security and safety i have always felt in Oslo has been eroded. the peace of the Noble Peace prize will now take on a different meaning and July 22nd will be a day or Vigils and remembrance. i love my Motherland even half way around the globe. i have decided that i will speak to my parents in Norwegian when i call them now. keeping alive the part of me that is Norwegian that will be grieving and sad because of the huge cultural shift that was last Fridays events.