Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What is going on, Alpha Males. I am coming at
you today from Norway, Voga, Norway. I thought I would
do part one of a part two, or of a
two part series on Norway God Willing. Part one will
be things that I really liked about Norway from an
(00:23):
American perspective, coming from America. I've traveled abroad, but like
as an American, red blooded, harry chested gun Totin Western
wild Us wild West, Cowboy Country American coming to Norway.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Things I like about it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That's what we're gonna talk about today on Alpha Male podcast,
where we talk about what it means to be a
man the right way, with God at the center, Judeo
Christian values, and real world first hand experience.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Let's get into the first thing I am going.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
To talk about is the food. The Norwegians are tall,
big people. My wife and I coming here are way
way smaller than the average native Norwegian. They're just giants.
(01:26):
Part of that, I think is because of the food.
The food is really really good, and by that I
mean it tastes good and it's really really healthy. Just
a case in point. My wife and I are pretty
healthy eaters. I'm a pretty strict guy. When it comes
to what I'll put in the temple that God gave
me to dwell in my body that did knowing the
(01:48):
Holy Spirit, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm pretty
picky about what I'll put in there. A lot of
places I go in America, even though there may be
more stuff, the majority of the stuff I won't eat.
I just don't consider it proper hum food. The majority
of stuff in Norway I would consider really good food.
Another we went out to eat once. We're not big
(02:09):
on going out to eat America. We figured we go
out once in Norway, and the restaurant we went to
a lot of times in America, I'll have to look
at a restaurant that has anything that I will eat.
The vast majority of stuff I had there I would
eat because that would consider it real, proper human food
and very good, high quality, high protein, high healthy fat.
(02:31):
Diet of the Norwegians salmon, cod, reindeer, beef, lamb a
ton of dairy, a ton of dairy, including milk. The
butter is phenomenal, the cheap. There's so many different cheese here,
(02:52):
different kinds of cheese here. There's one of my favorite things.
I've only ever seen in Norway. Brown cheese runs or
as I jokingly call Brundan cheeseer Norwegian brown cheese.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It looks like brown cheese.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
It is phenomenal. It tastes totally different. It tastes like
it's somewhere in the dairy family. Doesn't taste like any
cheese you've ever had. It is phenomenal, but a ton
of really good, high quality dairy. The butter is just
tastes so much better than most stuff you'd get in America. Again,
the good high quality protein. The food here is phenomenal.
(03:36):
That is one of the things that I really like
so far about Norway.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
But let's see if I missed anything here.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's fairly healthy food, and the Norwegians as of people
seem fairly health conscious. Not only is there a lot
of really good what I would call proper human food
meat and fish and dairy, you know, in green vegetables,
but there's a lot of like specific health food here too,
Especially for such a small area, small communities, there's like
(04:07):
sections of health food.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think that is great.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So they seem to be the Norwegian's pretty big on
healthy food. For instance, when you go into American store
a grocery store, you'll have like and this was an
old tip if you've listened to Alpha Male for a
really long time. When I talked about like being in
shape and being fit, I talked about when you go
into a grocery store, go around the outside of the store.
(04:33):
Forget about most of the stuff on the inside of
the aisles. Most of the stuff on the outside of
the store is fresh. That's where you're gonna find your
fresh meat, your eggs, your you know, your fresh vegetables.
All that stuff's gonna be on the outside of the store.
And the vast majority in America on the inside of
the store is preservatives, stuff in a box, stuff that's
you know, gonna last you know, twenty years, Twinkies, Ho Hos,
(04:58):
pop tarts, those things are all in middle.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The ratio of good fresh.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Food what I would call on the outside of the
store and the aisles on the inside of the store,
there is a way way better ratio, you know, just
making up numbers I can think of in my head.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's not scientific.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I would say in America it's like thirty seventy thirty
percent real food and seventy percent artificially food, Like substances,
and in Norway, I would consider it more like sixty forty,
like sixty percent fresh and forty percent food like substances,
you know, things like rama, noodles and stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So I would.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Consider it a far far better ratio. Another big thing
is they are well we'll get to that in another portion.
But their history here, I love their history here. Part
of the reason I came here. The Viking heritage, the
Viking ancestry. I can think of no cooler hair heritage.
(06:00):
These were a brave warrior, you know, Scandinavian people, and
when they contacted the beauty and the truth of Christianity,
they adopted it in mass fairly early. Even though they
were the dominant warriors, dominant you know fighters. They didn't
convert to Christianity by military conquests. They weren't forced to
(06:21):
it by the sword. They saw the beauty and the truth,
and they thought things like, perhaps we shouldn't be sacrificing
our children to some stupid pagan deity. Perhaps we shouldn't
be doing these pagan practices and worshiping trees in the
moon and.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
All this other garbage.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Perhaps we should worship the one true and only God
and his saving grace in his son Jesus Christ, and
they in mass adopted it. I have seen so many
beautiful things here, but the most beautiful things that I
have seen are the ancient churches here adopted again.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Not long after, not long after.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
They came into contact with Christians and what I would
call more Central Europe. It's a beautiful history and a
beautiful culture, and the rest of their history and culture
is beautiful too. And I talked about the churches, their
church architecture there, stave churches and their ancient churches like
I've been to two from the eleven twelve hundreds, just phenomenal.
(07:20):
But that crosses over into another part that I really
like about Norway is their architecture. And I'm talking like
log cabins that would put anything I've ever seen in
America and the American frontier to Shane.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I was talking about this to the landowner whose land
we're on right now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
We're staying at a little homestead farmstead out in the
country in Voga. And the cabins here, they are made
in such a manner that the logs fit precisely together.
In America, it's common to see log and then mortar
and then log and then order to fill in the
crack so you can more crudely build it. These are
built so as you can't see light or have air
(08:03):
come through the cracks in the logs. Even though some
of these houses are hundreds and hundreds or a thousand
years old, they're still like solid and they're joined together
with just log on log. I don't know how they
do it or how they did it, but the craftsmanship
and the I'm looking at it right now through the window,
and these just what you would think of like Lincoln
(08:25):
log style, except there's no gaps. I don't know how
they did that, but there woods craft, they're carpentry, all
those skills just amazing. And just the fact that they
make so many things ornate that don't have to be ornate,
like just the ends of the woods or the door
(08:45):
frames or the things in the just day to day life.
They they saw a purpose and a fulfillment in making
beauty in that and intricate carvings in woodworking just beautiful,
just beautiful. And just again their architecture there, wooden architecture
(09:08):
is just amazing, and the fact that it stands for
hundreds or a thousand years is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So their architecture here I really like tying into that.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Culturally, their language, I really like Norwegian. I also especially
like the fact that both English and you know, Norwegian
came from like a proto Germanic language. So although it's
hard for me to understand when they're talking, especially talking
at normal conversational speed, it is not nearly as hard
(09:42):
to understand their writing.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I can decipher much.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Of it just by knowing English, and you know that's
also Germanic language. But I like the way they phonetically
spell stuff with their letters. It makes a lot of
sense to me. And I've liked the beauty and the
history of their language. I like the language family, I
like that Scandinavian kind of language.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I really like the language. It is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It seemed to me that the Norwegians had had a
much better work life balance than Americans, and I really
like that, and I double checked that by looking it up,
and it says that Norway has the best work life
balance in Europe.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It is great.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know, people aren't working themselves to death for an
extra dollar. They are working some being productive and enjoying
their life and their family and their friends and their community,
and I think that we have that there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Wrong with hard work. Don't I work hard, don't give me,
don't give me. I work two.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Jobs, right, But I think they have a they have
it better here. One day we're you know, remember.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You will die.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
One day you will die, and although we will rise
again the DEVI will rise again in Jesus, right. I
do believe that our time on this earth probably is
better spent than just working our fingers to the bone
and then dying for an extra dollar that we're not
gonna take with us.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know, naked, you came into this world, and naked
you're going to leave.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The Norwegians seem to have a much better work life balance,
So I really like that. And also one of the
things I've noticed that all the people we've talked to,
my wife and I, not once, even in pretty in
depth long conversations, not once have we been asked what
we do for a living. Not once. I'm sure if
(11:31):
we got to know somebody in more intimately, like a
deep relationship, they would probably ask at some point. But
in America that's like the first thing to ask, Well,
what do you what's your name? Oh, what do you
do as if like. I think, sadly, in America, a
lot of people's self worth or how they view the
worth of another person is based on their job.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And I like what I do. I'm proud of what
I do, but.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I don't think that should be how we judge people
and allow people wouldn't admit that. I think a lot
of in America and culture, that's how people judge other people.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You know, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And the inference there is, oh, how much money do
you make and how much of value are you as
a person, which has nothing to do with your value
as a person.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I like the fact that in.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Norway I have yet to be asked what I do
or my wife what do you do, which is not
something people really care about to talk about, which I
think is fantastic talking about. I said, it will come
back to this, But the healthy lifestyle. Norwegians are far
and away, just by my eyeball scientific eyeball observation, I mean,
(12:43):
looking at people are way way healthier as a whole
than Americans. They're way more active, their way healthier Americans.
Sadly today they think of exercises, getting their steps in.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
In Norway, getting your steps in is just life like.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The amount of people, even in small towns here that
we've seen out running and jogging and hiking, it is
far and far above what you would see in America.
They seem to be a lot more active, a lot
more running and biking, and just the amount of people
we saw we see running on a daily basis is phenomenal.
(13:21):
In the larger cities, there are a lot of parks
that have workout equipment in them just free to use,
which I used when I was in a larger city.
Just fantastic, Right, that is great. I think as a
whole there are far healthier people. Now you could probably
look that up, but I'm almost certain that that would
be vindicated. They are just a way healthier people as
(13:42):
a whole. Also, unlike other places I've been in Europe,
like Italy and spent a lot of time in, smoking
is not common here. Smoking is way more common in
places like the American South or in like Italy.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
It seems like.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Many many adults smoke, which blows my mind that people
still do that in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
But it's very rare here in Norway.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It's not saying nobody does it, but it's very rare,
which I think is fantastic. Goes into that whole healthy lifestyle,
people being health conscious.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I think I think that is a good thing. So
especially compared to the rest of Europe and especially America,
as far as the like healthiness of the diet, healthiness
of the lifestyle, way way far and above better. I
think that's great. The other thing that I really like
(14:41):
about Norway is the population density. Norway is a fairly
big country by European standards. It's about the size of Montana,
which is, you know, one of our larger of the
fifty states. Not big by American standards, but big by
European country standards.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It also it has five million people.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
For a comparison, Montana has about one million people. So
it's got more population density than Montana, which is an
area that you know, we kind of come from that
greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Idahowaiim in Montana. But that's rare in America.
To put that in perspective, just Los Angeles County has
(15:20):
I just looked it up and I forgot. Los Angeles
County has almost ten million people in the county. That's
twice as many as the entire country of.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Norway. And if you're more familiar.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
With Europe, Germany has fifth about fifteen times for the
ones that I looked up to day, fifteen times the
population of Norway. So as far as population density goes,
and I'm a low population density guy, that's that's my style.
Like if I've seen two people in a day, I
may have seen too many people. Give you an idea,
(15:58):
Like as far as Europe goes low population density. In Norway,
there's a couple of big cities, Oslo Bergen, but outside
of that, it's pretty small, rural townish, different culture, different language.
But if you're from rural small town, I would say
Western America, even maybe western Midwest, you know the Dakota's
(16:21):
North Dakota, South Dakota, and over west up until you
get to you.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Know, the middle of Washington, Oregon. It would be kind
of that.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It's really nice and the landscape is beautiful. The landscape
reminds me a lot of Northern Idaho, the American Idaho rainforest,
real thick, dense, rolling hills, decent, really good arid farmland,
arable farmland. And it kind of is a mix between
Northern Idaho and southeast Alaska because we've also lived in
(16:52):
Southeast Alaska. The views are beautiful, the land is beautiful,
the water's clean. Unlike a lot of places in you
up it. It's really nice population density wise and scenery wise.
One of the other just small things that I'll mention
that we like is the lack of TV. Now, my
wife and I we don't own a TV normally. We
(17:12):
love off grid normally, which is very unusual for an American.
We don't have TV. None of the places we've stayed
at so far I have had a TV, which I
think is phenomenal. You know what, Humans don't need more
of TV, So I like that. I don't know if
that's real common in Norway or it's probably less common.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They probably watch less TV than Americans.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I'm just going to go to them and say that,
but but I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's refreshing.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And my number one thing that I like about Norway
is the Christian heritage. I'll talk about more about how
that's slipping and hopefully God willing part two, where I
talk about things I don't like about Norway, but a strong,
robust Western European Christian foundation, beautiful churches, even some of
(18:05):
their suer grades I saw were like a design of crosses.
Just beautiful there. You know, their early Christian adoption up
into you know, the Protestant Reformation, and just how it
shaped their culture historically, just just historically a bastion of
beautiful European Christian culture which has been a bright shining
(18:27):
light in a dark.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
World, you know, a world full.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Of Pagans, a world full of Muslims. This historically has
been a bright shining light for over a thousand years.
And that is beautiful and I really enjoy that and
appreciate that. Getting back to my favorite things here are
going into those you know, thousand year old Ish churches, amazing,
seeing artifacts from the some of the from the First Crusade.
(18:54):
I believe one of the men, if not the main
leader of the First Crusade was Norwegian. Was a Norwegian night.
Just amazing Christian heritage and culture. That's my favorite thing
about Norway.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Anyway. With that, guys, if you're.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Not already like subscribed, hopefully you will if you want
to hear part two, God willing, I'll get to it
on things I do not like about Norway.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But hopefully you like this suff so something quite a
bit different.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
But that doesn't mean if you're American or Italian or
German you can't adopt something to Some things you can't
really do anything about unless you live in America and
you move to the Inner Mountain West. But things like
population density, but things like the food you eat and
the lifestyle that you live, those are things that you
(19:47):
can control. So consider that. Oh you know what, before
I sound all, one more thing about the Norwegians. They
haven't seemed to fall in prey to this woke ideology
of men and women are the same. Women here dressed
(20:10):
very much like women, beautiful, elegant, understated, and then men
dressed like men.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Imagine that. That's a nice bonus too.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Not my favorite thing, but that's sadly an American culture,
that's kind of a big deal. So anyway, just I
thought i'd throw that in there since it wasn't in
my notes, but I just thought about it.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I appreciate all that you do again, like subscribe, leave review,
consider becoming a patron. Thanks for listening, and have a
blessed day.
What is going on, Alpha Males. I am coming at
you today from Norway, Voga, Norway. I thought I would
do part one of a part two, or of a
two part series on Norway God Willing. Part one will
be things that I really liked about Norway from an
(00:23):
American perspective, coming from America. I've traveled abroad, but like
as an American, red blooded, harry chested gun Totin Western
wild Us wild West, Cowboy Country American coming to Norway.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Things I like about it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
That's what we're gonna talk about today on Alpha Male podcast,
where we talk about what it means to be a
man the right way, with God at the center, Judeo
Christian values, and real world first hand experience.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Let's get into the first thing I am going.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
To talk about is the food. The Norwegians are tall,
big people. My wife and I coming here are way
way smaller than the average native Norwegian. They're just giants.
(01:26):
Part of that, I think is because of the food.
The food is really really good, and by that I
mean it tastes good and it's really really healthy. Just
a case in point. My wife and I are pretty
healthy eaters. I'm a pretty strict guy. When it comes
to what I'll put in the temple that God gave
me to dwell in my body that did knowing the
(01:48):
Holy Spirit, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm pretty
picky about what I'll put in there. A lot of
places I go in America, even though there may be
more stuff, the majority of the stuff I won't eat.
I just don't consider it proper hum food. The majority
of stuff in Norway I would consider really good food.
Another we went out to eat once. We're not big
(02:09):
on going out to eat America. We figured we go
out once in Norway, and the restaurant we went to
a lot of times in America, I'll have to look
at a restaurant that has anything that I will eat.
The vast majority of stuff I had there I would
eat because that would consider it real, proper human food
and very good, high quality, high protein, high healthy fat.
(02:31):
Diet of the Norwegians salmon, cod, reindeer, beef, lamb a
ton of dairy, a ton of dairy, including milk. The
butter is phenomenal, the cheap. There's so many different cheese here,
(02:52):
different kinds of cheese here. There's one of my favorite things.
I've only ever seen in Norway. Brown cheese runs or
as I jokingly call Brundan cheeseer Norwegian brown cheese.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It looks like brown cheese.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
It is phenomenal. It tastes totally different. It tastes like
it's somewhere in the dairy family. Doesn't taste like any
cheese you've ever had. It is phenomenal, but a ton
of really good, high quality dairy. The butter is just
tastes so much better than most stuff you'd get in America. Again,
the good high quality protein. The food here is phenomenal.
(03:36):
That is one of the things that I really like
so far about Norway.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
But let's see if I missed anything here.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It's fairly healthy food, and the Norwegians as of people
seem fairly health conscious. Not only is there a lot
of really good what I would call proper human food
meat and fish and dairy, you know, in green vegetables,
but there's a lot of like specific health food here too,
Especially for such a small area, small communities, there's like
(04:07):
sections of health food.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think that is great.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
So they seem to be the Norwegian's pretty big on
healthy food. For instance, when you go into American store
a grocery store, you'll have like and this was an
old tip if you've listened to Alpha Male for a
really long time. When I talked about like being in
shape and being fit, I talked about when you go
into a grocery store, go around the outside of the store.
(04:33):
Forget about most of the stuff on the inside of
the aisles. Most of the stuff on the outside of
the store is fresh. That's where you're gonna find your
fresh meat, your eggs, your you know, your fresh vegetables.
All that stuff's gonna be on the outside of the store.
And the vast majority in America on the inside of
the store is preservatives, stuff in a box, stuff that's
you know, gonna last you know, twenty years, Twinkies, Ho Hos,
(04:58):
pop tarts, those things are all in middle.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The ratio of good fresh.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Food what I would call on the outside of the
store and the aisles on the inside of the store,
there is a way way better ratio, you know, just
making up numbers I can think of in my head.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's not scientific.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I would say in America it's like thirty seventy thirty
percent real food and seventy percent artificially food, Like substances,
and in Norway, I would consider it more like sixty forty,
like sixty percent fresh and forty percent food like substances,
you know, things like rama, noodles and stuff.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
So I would.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Consider it a far far better ratio. Another big thing
is they are well we'll get to that in another portion.
But their history here, I love their history here. Part
of the reason I came here. The Viking heritage, the
Viking ancestry. I can think of no cooler hair heritage.
(06:00):
These were a brave warrior, you know, Scandinavian people, and
when they contacted the beauty and the truth of Christianity,
they adopted it in mass fairly early. Even though they
were the dominant warriors, dominant you know fighters. They didn't
convert to Christianity by military conquests. They weren't forced to
(06:21):
it by the sword. They saw the beauty and the truth,
and they thought things like, perhaps we shouldn't be sacrificing
our children to some stupid pagan deity. Perhaps we shouldn't
be doing these pagan practices and worshiping trees in the
moon and.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
All this other garbage.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Perhaps we should worship the one true and only God
and his saving grace in his son Jesus Christ, and
they in mass adopted it. I have seen so many
beautiful things here, but the most beautiful things that I
have seen are the ancient churches here adopted again.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Not long after, not long after.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
They came into contact with Christians and what I would
call more Central Europe. It's a beautiful history and a
beautiful culture, and the rest of their history and culture
is beautiful too. And I talked about the churches, their
church architecture there, stave churches and their ancient churches like
I've been to two from the eleven twelve hundreds, just phenomenal.
(07:20):
But that crosses over into another part that I really
like about Norway is their architecture. And I'm talking like
log cabins that would put anything I've ever seen in
America and the American frontier to Shane.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I was talking about this to the landowner whose land
we're on right now.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
We're staying at a little homestead farmstead out in the
country in Voga. And the cabins here, they are made
in such a manner that the logs fit precisely together.
In America, it's common to see log and then mortar
and then log and then order to fill in the
crack so you can more crudely build it. These are
built so as you can't see light or have air
(08:03):
come through the cracks in the logs. Even though some
of these houses are hundreds and hundreds or a thousand
years old, they're still like solid and they're joined together
with just log on log. I don't know how they
do it or how they did it, but the craftsmanship
and the I'm looking at it right now through the window,
and these just what you would think of like Lincoln
(08:25):
log style, except there's no gaps. I don't know how
they did that, but there woods craft, they're carpentry, all
those skills just amazing. And just the fact that they
make so many things ornate that don't have to be ornate,
like just the ends of the woods or the door
(08:45):
frames or the things in the just day to day life.
They they saw a purpose and a fulfillment in making
beauty in that and intricate carvings in woodworking just beautiful,
just beautiful. And just again their architecture there, wooden architecture
(09:08):
is just amazing, and the fact that it stands for
hundreds or a thousand years is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
So their architecture here I really like tying into that.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Culturally, their language, I really like Norwegian. I also especially
like the fact that both English and you know, Norwegian
came from like a proto Germanic language. So although it's
hard for me to understand when they're talking, especially talking
at normal conversational speed, it is not nearly as hard
(09:42):
to understand their writing.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I can decipher much.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Of it just by knowing English, and you know that's
also Germanic language. But I like the way they phonetically
spell stuff with their letters. It makes a lot of
sense to me. And I've liked the beauty and the
history of their language. I like the language family, I
like that Scandinavian kind of language.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I really like the language. It is beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
It seemed to me that the Norwegians had had a
much better work life balance than Americans, and I really
like that, and I double checked that by looking it up,
and it says that Norway has the best work life
balance in Europe.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
It is great.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know, people aren't working themselves to death for an
extra dollar. They are working some being productive and enjoying
their life and their family and their friends and their community,
and I think that we have that there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Wrong with hard work. Don't I work hard, don't give me,
don't give me. I work two.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Jobs, right, But I think they have a they have
it better here. One day we're you know, remember.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
You will die.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
One day you will die, and although we will rise
again the DEVI will rise again in Jesus, right. I
do believe that our time on this earth probably is
better spent than just working our fingers to the bone
and then dying for an extra dollar that we're not
gonna take with us.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know, naked, you came into this world, and naked
you're going to leave.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
The Norwegians seem to have a much better work life balance,
So I really like that. And also one of the
things I've noticed that all the people we've talked to,
my wife and I, not once, even in pretty in
depth long conversations, not once have we been asked what
we do for a living. Not once. I'm sure if
(11:31):
we got to know somebody in more intimately, like a
deep relationship, they would probably ask at some point. But
in America that's like the first thing to ask, Well,
what do you what's your name? Oh, what do you
do as if like. I think, sadly, in America, a
lot of people's self worth or how they view the
worth of another person is based on their job.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
And I like what I do. I'm proud of what
I do, but.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I don't think that should be how we judge people
and allow people wouldn't admit that. I think a lot
of in America and culture, that's how people judge other people.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You know, what do you do?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
And the inference there is, oh, how much money do
you make and how much of value are you as
a person, which has nothing to do with your value
as a person.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
I like the fact that in.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Norway I have yet to be asked what I do
or my wife what do you do, which is not
something people really care about to talk about, which I
think is fantastic talking about. I said, it will come
back to this, But the healthy lifestyle. Norwegians are far
and away, just by my eyeball scientific eyeball observation, I mean,
(12:43):
looking at people are way way healthier as a whole
than Americans. They're way more active, their way healthier Americans.
Sadly today they think of exercises, getting their steps in.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
In Norway, getting your steps in is just life like.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
The amount of people, even in small towns here that
we've seen out running and jogging and hiking, it is
far and far above what you would see in America.
They seem to be a lot more active, a lot
more running and biking, and just the amount of people
we saw we see running on a daily basis is phenomenal.
(13:21):
In the larger cities, there are a lot of parks
that have workout equipment in them just free to use,
which I used when I was in a larger city.
Just fantastic, Right, that is great. I think as a
whole there are far healthier people. Now you could probably
look that up, but I'm almost certain that that would
be vindicated. They are just a way healthier people as
(13:42):
a whole. Also, unlike other places I've been in Europe,
like Italy and spent a lot of time in, smoking
is not common here. Smoking is way more common in
places like the American South or in like Italy.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
It seems like.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Many many adults smoke, which blows my mind that people
still do that in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
But it's very rare here in Norway.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
It's not saying nobody does it, but it's very rare,
which I think is fantastic. Goes into that whole healthy lifestyle,
people being health conscious.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
I think I think that is a good thing. So
especially compared to the rest of Europe and especially America,
as far as the like healthiness of the diet, healthiness
of the lifestyle, way way far and above better. I
think that's great. The other thing that I really like
(14:41):
about Norway is the population density. Norway is a fairly
big country by European standards. It's about the size of Montana,
which is, you know, one of our larger of the
fifty states. Not big by American standards, but big by
European country standards.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It also it has five million people.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
For a comparison, Montana has about one million people. So
it's got more population density than Montana, which is an
area that you know, we kind of come from that
greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Idahowaiim in Montana. But that's rare in America.
To put that in perspective, just Los Angeles County has
(15:20):
I just looked it up and I forgot. Los Angeles
County has almost ten million people in the county. That's
twice as many as the entire country of.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Norway. And if you're more familiar.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
With Europe, Germany has fifth about fifteen times for the
ones that I looked up to day, fifteen times the
population of Norway. So as far as population density goes,
and I'm a low population density guy, that's that's my style.
Like if I've seen two people in a day, I
may have seen too many people. Give you an idea,
(15:58):
Like as far as Europe goes low population density. In Norway,
there's a couple of big cities, Oslo Bergen, but outside
of that, it's pretty small, rural townish, different culture, different language.
But if you're from rural small town, I would say
Western America, even maybe western Midwest, you know the Dakota's
(16:21):
North Dakota, South Dakota, and over west up until you
get to you.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Know, the middle of Washington, Oregon. It would be kind
of that.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
It's really nice and the landscape is beautiful. The landscape
reminds me a lot of Northern Idaho, the American Idaho rainforest,
real thick, dense, rolling hills, decent, really good arid farmland,
arable farmland. And it kind of is a mix between
Northern Idaho and southeast Alaska because we've also lived in
(16:52):
Southeast Alaska. The views are beautiful, the land is beautiful,
the water's clean. Unlike a lot of places in you
up it. It's really nice population density wise and scenery wise.
One of the other just small things that I'll mention
that we like is the lack of TV. Now, my
wife and I we don't own a TV normally. We
(17:12):
love off grid normally, which is very unusual for an American.
We don't have TV. None of the places we've stayed
at so far I have had a TV, which I
think is phenomenal. You know what, Humans don't need more
of TV, So I like that. I don't know if
that's real common in Norway or it's probably less common.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
They probably watch less TV than Americans.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I'm just going to go to them and say that,
but but I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
That's refreshing.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
And my number one thing that I like about Norway
is the Christian heritage. I'll talk about more about how
that's slipping and hopefully God willing part two, where I
talk about things I don't like about Norway, but a strong,
robust Western European Christian foundation, beautiful churches, even some of
(18:05):
their suer grades I saw were like a design of crosses.
Just beautiful there. You know, their early Christian adoption up
into you know, the Protestant Reformation, and just how it
shaped their culture historically, just just historically a bastion of
beautiful European Christian culture which has been a bright shining
(18:27):
light in a dark.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
World, you know, a world full.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Of Pagans, a world full of Muslims. This historically has
been a bright shining light for over a thousand years.
And that is beautiful and I really enjoy that and
appreciate that. Getting back to my favorite things here are
going into those you know, thousand year old Ish churches, amazing,
seeing artifacts from the some of the from the First Crusade.
(18:54):
I believe one of the men, if not the main
leader of the First Crusade was Norwegian. Was a Norwegian night.
Just amazing Christian heritage and culture. That's my favorite thing
about Norway.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Anyway. With that, guys, if you're.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Not already like subscribed, hopefully you will if you want
to hear part two, God willing, I'll get to it
on things I do not like about Norway.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
But hopefully you like this suff so something quite a
bit different.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
But that doesn't mean if you're American or Italian or
German you can't adopt something to Some things you can't
really do anything about unless you live in America and
you move to the Inner Mountain West. But things like
population density, but things like the food you eat and
the lifestyle that you live, those are things that you
(19:47):
can control. So consider that. Oh you know what, before
I sound all, one more thing about the Norwegians. They
haven't seemed to fall in prey to this woke ideology
of men and women are the same. Women here dressed
(20:10):
very much like women, beautiful, elegant, understated, and then men
dressed like men.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Imagine that. That's a nice bonus too.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Not my favorite thing, but that's sadly an American culture,
that's kind of a big deal. So anyway, just I
thought i'd throw that in there since it wasn't in
my notes, but I just thought about it.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
I appreciate all that you do again, like subscribe, leave review,
consider becoming a patron. Thanks for listening, and have a
blessed day.
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