| Hi Barry,
Here's what I remember of my 5 years in Sweden:
> Is this typical for Norwegian (and other Scandanavian) families?
- We used to eat breakfast at about 6:30am. It consisted of
sandwiches (usually crispbread), cereals fruit juice and coffee.
I used to have a hot meal in the works canteen at lunch time
which was usually light on meat due to the expense. Most people
at work seemed to eat pastries/cakes etc at about 2:00pm during
the coffee break. Our dinner was at 5:00pm and we usually snacked
sometime during the evening.
> If the main meal is served at 4:30, what are the hours of the typical
work day?
- I worked at a large electronics company (ASEA now ABB) and our
hours were 7:30am to 4:18pm. The 'manual' workers used to start
at around 7:00am. Building workers used to start at some
ridiculously early time - they were always building outside our
flat!
> What do they put on all those sandwiches?
- anything you like! cheese, ham, various kinds of sausage meat,
sill (herrings), pate, shrimps, etc..
Pete
|
| Some quick differences US, Sw, Nw:
Norwegian office hours are typically 8:00 to 4:00 pm, with 20 min to
1/2 hour for an informal light lunch (very often "brown bag", but in
offices, the typical canteen). The lunch is just about always eaten on
the peremisis.
In Sweden office people typically work "9-5" (or 8:30-5:00); they
usually have 1 hour for lunch, which is usually a hot meal. People very
often go out of the office for lunch.
The interesting contrast to the US is that Sweden is closer to the US
with respect to office hours, but I believe that Norway is probably the
only country in Europe with a "brown-bagging" culture (though the term
"brown-bag" is not used in that literal sense; the Norw word is
"matpakke", lit "food-pack). Non-norwegians sometimes poke fun at this
"country bumpkin" habit of packing sandwiches for lunch, not realizing
that the same habit is quite acceptable in a modern country like the
US.
Mauritz
|