Car pooling Bergen style

It's time for all smartphone users in Bergen, of which there are a fair few, to download a new app.  HentMEG (get me) is not an app for sadists or those with a penchamt for something out of 50 Shades of Grey, no it is an app which will give drivers the opportunity to car pool.

Despite the fact that cars are extremely expensive, no self-respecting family here is without one or two cars - one of which is preferably a four wheel drive of some description capable of taking skis, tents, canoes and other Norwegian necessities! People here own cars because the public  transport system is not that brilliant. There is just one commuter railway line to Indre Arne (theother to Dale, Voss and Oslo, doesn't really count as trains are not that frequent). To make up for the lack of railway, there are loads of bus routes, but they tend to follow main roads, and the weather here can be challenging- it's no fun getting to work either frozen to the bone or looking like a drowmed rat because the bus was late! So people drive everywhere, which means most of the cars on the road in the rush hour only have one person in them (or possibly two if it is that parents' turn to pick up or drop off the sprog at kindergarden).

It will be interesting to see whether the app does lead to more car sharing. Personally, I think it will take more than an app to change a person's driving habits. Who really wants to share their car with a complete stranger. What if they don't like your choice of radio station, or are late getting up and bring their breakfast with them to consume in your front seat, leaving crumbs everywhere! What if, at the end of the day the meeting takes longer than expected and you  are late picking them up, which means they are late for something else.

Passemgers too may have a problem with the ride they get and may not appreciate being picked up in a car that smells of wet dog or cigarette smoke!

I don't think Trevor is going to sign up for it! As for me, working at the school in Sletten is an easy 10 minute bus ride from the top of our steps up to Kalvedalsveien - I'm doing my bit to fight pollution anyway!

The most successful school in Norway ..

.. is a run down faith school in central Oslo with over 90% of its students from different ethnic backgrounds.

In Norway, there are national tests for children aged 11, 15 and 16 in reading (Norwegian), maths and english. Most schools only put their top students in for these tests, and those with special educational needs (SEN), or from ethnically different backgrounds can be excused the tests completely. At St. Sunnivas, all the children are put in for the test, regardless. Last year, their class of 16 year olds got an A* (snit 5) in the Norwegian reading exam (you have to read various Norwegian texts and answer questions about them to show that you have understood what they are about) despite the fact that there were both SEN children taking the test, and the majority were from different ethnic backgrounds.

Educationalists here are dumbfounded. Why? Because St. Sunniva's is a catholic, minority school which receives no state support, and gets students from one of the poorest areas in Oslo. The school was threatened with closure in 2009 when the Government decided that all faith schools should be closed, but massive student and parent support meant that it managed to stay open. Parents pay approximately £2,200 (NOK18,500, US$3,400) per year to the school, and I guess they have to do alot of fundraising inbetween to keep it going.

The school welcomes students from any and every ethnic and religious minority, but insists that all students respect catholic religious observance. Prayers are held at the beginning and end of the day, catholic texts are discussed in class, and once a month everyone goes to chapel and takes part in a Mass. The key to all of this is respect. Respect for the fact that everyone understands the concept of faith differently.

Just because you have a different faith does not excuse you from taking part. You can choose to say the catholic prayers or not. The school encourages other faith children to use the time in church to reflect or pray quietly by themselves. The service is not important, it is the time taken to respect others which is.

Respect takes many forms, and at St. Sunniva's teachers are conspicuously present out on the playground when the children are out playing. Bullying of any form is dealt with swiftly and robustly. Children are made to discuss issues then and there, shake hands and walk away. Repeat offenders go straight to the Head.

It seems very different from ordinary Norwegian schools where difference is not necessarily respected. For example, press reports have highlighted problems faced by Sami children in north Norway. The Sami are the traditional inhabitants of northern Norway, ethnically linked to other Arctic people and cultures. Gradually, their cutlure has been eroded. That I think will be another blogpost!

Anyway, I like the sound of St. Sunniva's. Be yourself, and respect others - a little bit 'do unto others as you would be done unto'


'Education is what is what remains after one has forgotten everything you have learnt in school' quote from Einstein!

Brown cheese!

What may you ask is brown cheese? Well it is a Norwegian specialty made from the whey of cow, goat and sheep milk. They don't like to waste anything in Norway (stems from livng in a harsh climate I guess!), so the pigs didn't get the whey, cheese was made from it.

It isn't quite cheese as we know it though. The whey is boiled until it thickens and caremelizes, and you end up with a brown, toffee coloured goo, which when it cools down solidifies into brown cheese! It tastes quite sweet, and you eat it thinly sliced on a slice of bread.

Apparently though there is a bit of a problem with brown cheese - it is highly combustive. 6 days ago a truck going through the Brattli tunnel in Nordland, which is 3.6km long, suddenly had a problem with its trailer which had caught fire. So the driver ditched the trailer 300 m from the end and drove out leaving it to burn. What he didn't think through though was the fact that the cheese is full of fat, and he was leaving it - all 27 tons in fact - in an enclosed space with a through draft provided by the fans which keep the air clean in the tunnel.

The fire, after 6 days is just going out. The main problem was that the heat generated by the burning cheese set the tunnel insulation foam alight, causing toxic fumes to be released so firemen couldn't put the fire out!

Wonder whose insurance is going to pick up the bill for that one?!