Your daily dose of random Norwegian
5. tussen tak
Katie-ified: TEW-SEN TAHK
Translation: thank you very much
Relevance: I’ve been hanging in Norway for nearly three weeks now, and on Friday night, as I sat down to Shabbat dinner with an Orthodox rabbi and his wife and kids and an endless supply of matzoh balls and homemade challah bread, I was reminded once again of how kind and welcoming people here have been. And as I beef up my arsenal of Norwegian manners and figure out how to extend my greatest P’s and T’s, I say my share of tussen taks:
- To Oslo’s Rabbi Shaul, for welcoming into his home a complete stranger who religiously played hookie throughout her Hebrew school career
- To the lumberjack man in the Subaru who gave a bunch of us a lift when we were helplessly lost on day one, requesting that we “just toss that axe in the backseat into the trunk” (only in Norway would this not disturb me)
- To all the jolly, blonde people I constantly ask for subway directions I should really know by now
- To United Bakeries for providing wireless and free coffee refills and addictive strawberry jam
- To umbrellas and rainboots and layers and scarves and lots of cozy coats
- To the toned and loyal male gym-goers who make me slightly more inclined to stay on the treadmill for more than five minutes
- And finally, to all the kids I’ve met so far who’ve taught me something new. Who knew that an Australian juicebox is called a “popper,” or that in Germany, being fashionably late is really not so fashionable?