Liberate Failure

This is the time to start thinking BIGGER about your brand and business. There is no a better time than to start NOW.

I know, it’s NOT simple to grow your business now. Yes, I agree. While technology has actually made it EASIER to grow your business, the downside is that it’s actually become more COMPLEX ! Not complex to get going, but complex to navigate through what you REALLY need to do.  There are no proven formulas and recipies that guarantee success, as promised in a myriad of programs, webinars, workshops and articles published and spread all over the Internet.

Only 10% of Business Owners study their entrepreneurial capacities AFTER a BUSINESS FAILURE.

Source: Global Failure Index

The Industry Rockstar Business Mentorship is a place where best-practices and failure alike are shared between business owners from all around the globe. With the result that you will find your specifc pathway that works for you and your specific business, based on the proven strategies for growth.

I spoke with Alessia Minkus and what she thinks about failure:

 

 

The business owner network and program created by Kane and Alessia are priceless.

Do not wait for change, take action and check out how the program fits your needs – I bet it will – register for the two full hours program preview to learn about their knowledge and systems for growing your business, income and influence, at no financial cost to you.

This is your opportunity to meet the Industry Rockstar team:

 

Berlin
28. Jan 2018 at 10:30 and 14:30

Munich
29. Jan 2018 at 12:30 and 18:30

Vienna
27. Jan 2018 at 10:30 and 14:30

Register here for free!

   

You’ll learn amazing stuff!

LINKS

www.kaneandalessia.com

Facebook Page

#kaneandalessia

#liberatefailure #FUN.Basel @fuckupnights #fuckupnights

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Wishing you inspiring conversations

I remember my first trip to Sweden, excited to meet the Scandinavian community of high class educators: IT educators at schools and universities crossing all knowledge levels and ages learning about cutting edge technology for our (increasingly) smart societies.

I very much enjoyed the vibrant climate and inspirational conversations with nice, competent and young students as well as their teachers. I would go again any time.

The coming days Kane Minkus is coming your way,

Har du koll på Kane?

This foto shows Kane the way I know him: open, direct, full of humor and respectful and in this combination a very inspiring and motivating individual.

He helps business owner and want-to-be business owners to

• become clear about what they are best at,
• become more visible and credible,
• build their personal brand
• … ultimately grow their businesses and themselves.

It is great to work with him, not only inspired me but catapulted me to a new point in life. I am happy that you have the chance to personally meet him next week as well.

You will find more details when you check out the registration page for his FREE event below.

Will I meet you in the Community of Holistic Entrepreneurs and Business Owners?

Here are the dates and times – just click on the pic or your city and sign up for the FREE event.

• May 29. and 30., 2017 in Stockholm
• May 31., 2017 in Gothenburg
• June 1., 2017 in Copenhagen
• June 2, 2017 in Oslo
• June 3., 2017 in Helsinki

Clicking on the below schedule will also take you to the registration form.

All the best

Jutta

 

LINKS

www.industryrockstar.com

Facebook Page

More about my experience with #kaneandalessia

 

The car that was not a car

or … getting into the driver seat!

I think we all know this … feeling like you are not in the driver seat of life.

Is someone else driving?

Is some kind of robot controlling the direction (and you do not find the Stop button)?

Are the circumstances or things in your environment controlling the car?

Whatever it is in your life – I recommend you to get out of it and start creating your own reality.

FUN.Basel Vol VI – Finding …

Easter Edition 11.4.2017 

I really enjoyed this particular #FuckUpNight‬ Basel‬ at Launchlabs. Here are my reasons why

• the 3 stories were all presented in a really funny way by exceptional speakers
• we really enjoy this great location = Launchlabs is the space for creative event formats that strive to introduce new ways of thinking. A huge thanks to our hosts.
• we had a great crowd of newcomers and repeated delinquents. Thank you all for coming!

A huge Thank you goes to our speakers  – they are a crucial factor for setting the spirit of the evening.

Thank you … for sharing your stories:

Raluca Popescu
Passionate about teaching, behavioral economics, design thinking. She is learning to be comfortable with not having a clear answer when asked “what she’s going to do with her life”.

If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.

She holds an MSc in Strategic Marketing and has worked in a variety of environments, including two universities, a multinational corporation, a service design consultancy and a start-up incubator. In her story she reflected about the situation when the application for a dream job failed.

 

Ralf Dümpelmann
Optimist by heart and Chemical Engineer ETHZ by profession. Expert for innovative analytical methods that help you improve your product development.

Running his own company Inolytix Ltd and supporting innovation and entrepreneurs at BaselArea.swiss in the field of Micro, Nano and Materials
www.inolytix.com

What is the one thing in your life?

Ralf is describing a not unusal situation, completely clear – many people can put themselves in the same shoes: realizing that one person can not change an entire company.
We still try!

 

 

Sandra van de Cauter
Based upon decades of experience coaching corporate executives at all levels to connect with themselves and their audiences, Sandra has helped countless people with their communication
www.sandravandecauter.ch

It is ok to share what you know.

Sandra just published her book:
Get clear – Craft and deliver impactful presentations worth hearing

It is a book to read in an evening (not a book with 500 pages that stays in the bookshelve). Thanks for the insights – here is where you can get it

 

A note for us all

Becoming visible with your expertise is definitely not something easy. The challenges we face today demand that we all stop hiding. We need to have each others backs and come together as a community to solve the problems of our societies.

Be part of this community!
We are looking forward to see you soon – June 22, 2017

The Organisers

Jutta Jerlich  & Isabelle Valibus
​www.fuckupnights.com/basel

 

LINKS

FUN Basel Vol VI Speakers

Read about previous @FUN_Basel evenings

Launchlabs Basel

 

FUN.Basel Vol VI

From a match to the lantern

Where did the quest take you?

Here is how the story started:
It started with a match …
It started with a match … Part II

Stunned at my success at truing a match into 59 francs I called in to what would be my last transaction. I was running out of time. It was another gift shop with lost of items that looked more expensive than they were. The assistant and I hated and started to select what might be a good trade.

We both know that the retail price is no where near the acquisition price so I thought I was on to a good thing, that is until the owner came back in. At first she, the owner, was somewhat shocked at my proposition but rapport is a beautiful thing.

Remember I am in Zurich and to start with this lady wouldn’t open up in English. with a bit of banter, and pointing out that I am only doing what one of her posters on the wall was saying …

”If you don’t ask for what you want, you won’t get it”,

we became friend in trading. The big challenge here, for me, was she didn’t rate the price tag on the fake lavender. She told me in fact that the quaintly was awful (not her word obviously) and not worth anything other. That said I now believe this to have been a savvy negotiating tactic as I walked out of this shop with a proper gift.

A beach style lantern complete with candle and a price tag of 94 francs.

From a single valueless match to a lantern priced at 94 franc in just over an hour.

So, what can I learn from this?

• in any negotiation make sure you are talking to the budget holder
• in any negotiation the other person is always negotiating too
• build rapport and keep it building politeness and humour go a long way
• value and price are not always related

 

CREDITS

Thanks to Martin Daubney for sharing his learning experience
www.inspirecoaching.com

Martin is a successful Executive Coach with many years of experience working with large corporations and Small Business Owners. He helps leaders to overcome limitations to their growth.

“Liberating potential & creating edge both exemplified through encouraging of people to step outside their comfort zone and then in coaching to help them deliver.”

LINKS

www.industryrockstar.com

Facebook Page

#kaneandalessia

 

It started with a … match

How did the quest continue?

Here is how the story started:
It started with a match …

On the quest to understand what value is:

Over the road was a small independent florist. My strategy, as it emerged was to target business owners rather than franchises or chain shops. On the way in I noticed some small plants outside for between 12 and 18 francs.

A birthday card for a small plant? Now that has to be a good deal (for me). It was nice and cool inside but as I entered I noticed the 4 women who worked inside, and fortunately one of them was the business owner. She patiently listened to my story, delighted in my feature and benefit sale of the new and unused birthday card, revelled in the banter and did the deal on a real lavender plant. Onwards and upwards.

Success breads success and bored with my own I entered a gift shop that had a sale on. This time the owner was not in the shop and would be away some time. However, on hearing the story it was clear the two ladies in this shop wanted to help.

Please write this down

When you hear these words, it means that the following statement is important.
Really important. It also means that you are most likely listening to Kane Minkus 🙂

Alessia and Kane Minkus

Since Friday the 3-Day START AT THE TOP Seminar is held in Zurich, Switzerland. The task and goal = empowering business owners to realize their dreams and impact their communities.

It is actually quite funny how these words “please write this down” actually make people write them down. School has engraved the words so deeply into our brains that as soon as the words are said, the intended action follows. Here are a few examples:

• A business is about helping people.
• In business positioning is everything.
• Ideas are worthless – Execution is everything.

Knowing how to translate these statements (most of us know) into practical actions is the key. The key to successful business results.

Today is the 3rd day – TRANSFORMATION DAY.

Magic has been happening all along for the participants: changing mindsets, understanding growth insights and realizing how powerful networking opportunities can actually be when really used.

It is great meeting so many Swiss based entrepreneurs.

Looking forward to further connecting with you …

 

LINKS

www.industryrockstar.com

Facebook Page

#kaneandalessia

It started with a … match

Learning is great. In fact learning is a life time task. There are some things you can only learn by doing. Good education and training focus on exactly that.

Here is a story from a challenge participants were given in the worldclass mentorship program – Industry Rockstar – to really understand how negotiating for value makes you feel.

This is how it works:
You start with a match and go out on the streets, in stores or wherever you desire to exchange that match for something of higher value. After that you do the same with the object you got. And you keep on going for a certain amount of time. Or until you decide to stop.

From a match to a lantern … Creating Value.

There is an old expression where I come from, and you may have something similar where you are. It’s something about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Surely it would be better to understand or see the value despite the cost? And does the price tag indicate the value? Probably not in my recent experience.

Anyway … what is value?

A few days ago in Zurich I found myself in a group of 30 started with a match in my hands.

It was actually a very small match and intrinsically held no value at all, unless it was the last match held by Winston Churchill as he was about to light his last cigar. Then suddenly the value of the match increases, for some people and so it goes.

Sadly, my little match had no such provenance. It was just a match that I was challenged to generate some value with or from.

Summer Edition @FUN.Basel Vol II

After a successful event it is always the question if this can be continued, repeated in the same manner. I am happy to say that the second #FuckUpNight‬ in #‎Basel‬ was another inspiring evening with 3 stories from our speakers, all having worked in the corporate world before.

We spoke about age, actual books you can touch, word of mouth and digital marketing channels … and are curious on what our audience took with them as the one learning from the evening.

Thanks Isabelle for the great collaboration and appreciation we share – proud that the FUN.Basel evenings are our joint creation.
Thanks to our team: Prathima, Marzena and Liz covering for Laure.

Thanks to our speakers at @FUN_Basel Vol II

… for sharing their stories:

 

Marne Platt
Independent Consultant and Author

Providing career development workshops and coaching for women.

Singlish: Your Life, Your Way
Fundamental Capabilities

Listen to all the voices in your head

It is very easy to get buried by million tasks everyday, make sure that you still have a life and with that time for yourself.

 

 

Alexander Ramseier
Your Chief Digital Officer for Hire

Founder of Futurebuilt helping enterprises to survive and thrive in digital business transformation. www.futurebuilt.net

Fail fast, fail often, learn quickly.

It is crucial to try things out, choose what works and move on. It sounds easy.

 

 

Martin Daubney
Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, NLP Master Coach and NLP Trainer

Personal and Executive Coaching and workshops for individuals, teams and leaders.

Focus – Focus – Focus

It is really critical … believe me.

Inspire Coaching GmbH
www.inspirecoaching.com
www.centrefornlp.com

 

We are looking forward to see you again on 22. September 2016.

 

LINKS

FUN Basel Vol II Speakers

Read more about @FUN_Basel evenings

FUN.Basel Vol II

FUN Basel geht in die zweite Runde

Wir sehen uns am 7. Juli 2016 im Lohnhof

Damit wir diesmal auch den Innenhof benützen können, ersuchen wir an höherer Stelle um schöne sommerliche Abendtemperaturen.

Platz reservieren

Wir freuen uns auf drei interessante Geschichten von:

• Alexander Ramseier
• Marne Platt
• Martin Daubney

Gespannt auf den Abend, bis Donnerstag nächste Woche

Herzlichst
The Organizers Team
Jutta & Isabelle

The Power of One

The April days from 22 – 24th 2016 I was in Zurich at Swissôtel for the Start at the Top Live Workshop with Kane & Alessia Minkus.

My decision to join was based on the personality of Kane and how he managed to create a real group connection between the participants after only 2 hours.

The Art of Learning from Mistakes

Weil Fehler zum Erfolg führen
Because errors are on your way to success
Parce que l’erreur est source de succès

We cordially invite you to

the first ever FuckUpNight in Basel

12.May 2016

The Basel region is Switzerland’s most dynamic and innovative economic area. Located at the heart of Europe, right next to Germany and France, is is also known for the incomparable art and architecture scene and its lively approach to life.

Trilingual – English, German and French.

Here are the links you need for more details, reserving your seats, joining the FUN.Basel community to engage in your City and be ready for future dates.

Why are we doing this?

————– Take the time to think about this ————–

How do you define success?
How do you look at mistakes and errors?

… exactly … it is a question of definition and interpretation.

A short research leads to the definition of a “fuckup” as a serious or severe mistake. A quick look at history of the word “failure” shows that the origin of its meaning was “non-occurrence”, it’s use changed over time.

Looking at the word FAIL as an acronym is my choice:

FAIL = First Attempt In Learning

Hard choices

It is interesting … some topics I stumble across again and again at different points in time – this probably means that I have not yet digested it or taken a stand on it for myself.

I think that some things just take times to evolve and grow and digest … in this hectic times we rarely have this time though. I need to have the time or more so take the time, there is no choice – because it is not in my control how long it takes me – my body, mind and spirit –  to go through it.

I finally understood that I need to be patient with myself if I want to evolve, grow and develop into the me that I have in mind.

The topic of hard choices is in the center of my thought – again – here is how Ruth Chang’s talk caught and fired my thoughts:

Hard choices are hard because the alternatives are not equally good – one is not better than the other.

She clearly explains why: there are two worlds we all move around in.

A comparison of alternatives is usually based on numbers and logic – with scientific quantities.

In the world of values, quantification is not done by numbers.

We need to introduce new ways of measuring …  Ruth proposes: … “that the alternatives are “on a par.”

When alternatives are on a par, it may matter very much which you choose, but one alternative isn’t better than the other. Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value, in the same league of value, while at the same time being very different in kind of value. That’s why the choice is hard.”

There is no best alternative.

Knowing this alone makes the choice somehow easier, because you can not be wrong.

Are you are someone who fears to be wrong? You can not be wrong.

“Understanding hard choices in this way uncovers something about ourselves we didn’t know. Each of us has the power to create reasons.”

What reasons for choosing one or the other alternative do you make?

Or are you one of the people who don’t exercise their normative powers in hard choices? Are you a drifter?

“Drifters allow the world to write the story of their lives. They let mechanisms of reward and punishment — pats on the head, fear, the easiness of an option — to determine what they do.”

I choose to not be a drifter.

LINKS

Ruth Chang on how to make hard choices

3 timeless rules for making tough decisions
Actually time does play a role

From my favorite read Effortless Decision-Making

From the world of Numbers A former CIA executives advice on how to make hard decisions
Easy to spot that this is not the way 🙂

How Richard Branson makes decisions
A mix of both worlds

Es entsteht …

Der Toni –  er ist ein Verwandlungskünstler. Nein, eigentlich ist er das nicht.

Toni kann einfach sehen und meisterhaft rausholen, was in uns steckt – wie ein Bildhauer, der aus einem Block Natur eine Skulptur befreit.

“Frau Müller, 86 Jahre, ist die nächste Bewohnerin aus einem Altenheim die heute in einen Filmstar verwandelt wird.
Und wir konnten es beide kaum erwarten zum Set zu kommen als ich fertig war. Auf jeden Fall hab ich gleich mal zwei Schnappschüsse gemacht!! Also – Vorhang auf für den nächsten Star im Kalender – Audrey Hepburn!”

Toni Leypoldt

Auf der Suche nach dem Klitzern in den Augen …
​”Wenn sie sich strahlend im Spiegel ansehen, ist das das Größte”

Es entsteht …

… das wunderbare Projekt der Allgäupflege, in dem Senioren in Filmstars verwandelt werden.

Wirklich berührend!

LINKS

www.tonileypoldt.de

Villa Gloss auf Facebook

Weihnachtsspuren – Traces of Christmas

Thank you very much Leypoldt family for welcoming me this warmhearted. The most wonderful Christmas present imaginable.

Here is one of the poems we read on the 24th of December just before singing Holy Night Silent Night. It is coming close to capturing what Christmas means to me.

Wenn mir einer die Frage stellt nach Weihnachten in unserer Welt muss ich nicht schweigen will ich ihm zeigen, was damals begann als Weihnachten seinen Anfang nahm. Wo einer dem anderen neu vertraut und mit ihm eine Brücke baut um Hass und Feindschaft zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer am Ende nicht verzagt und einen neuen Anfang wagt, um Leid und Trauer zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer im Dunkeln nicht verstummt, sondern das Lied der Hoffnung summt, um Angst und Stille zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer das Unbequeme wagt und offen seine Meinung sagt, um Schein und Lüge zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer gegen die Strömung schwimmt, und fremde Lasten auf sich nimmt, um Not und Elend zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden. Wo einer dich aus der Trägheit weckt und einen Weg mit dir entdeckt, um hohe Mauern zu überwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden.

When someone asks me a question about Christmas in our world I do not remain silent and want to explain what it means when Christmas starts to take place. Where someone trusts another person again and builds a bridge with him or her to overcome hate and hostility, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone does not give up hope and dares to try again one more time, to overcome pain and sorrow, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where some does not fall silent in the dark, but is humming the song of hope, to overcome fear and silence, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone dares to do the inconvenient and voices his or her opinion openly, to overcome illusions and lies, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone is swimming against the current, and takes on others burden, to overcome poverty and hardship, there you can find traces of Christmas. Where someone wakes you from your inaction, and discovers a new pathway with you, to overcome high walls, there you can find traces of Christmas.

From an unknown author

Ich habe den Faden weitergeführt … I think I have something to add

Wo einer nicht die Augen verschliesst, und tief drinnen den Schmerz mitfühlt, können Wunden der Seele langsam verschwinden, da kannst du Weihnachtspuren finden.

Where someone does not close his or her eyes, and deep inside feels the pain of another, for the soul wound to be able to slowly heal, there you can find traces of Christmas.

Haben Sie etwas hinzuzufügen?   Do you have something to add?

Design technology to help us make better decisions

I regularily read Dan Ariely`s Blog, I particpated in his MOOC and can only recommend everyone to do so. Why? It really helps you to understand human irrationality and why we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives.

This part of his latest blog articles about the Apple Pay question he answered is particularly interesting for the entire industry of technology and innovation. We need to think about designing technology in a way that helps us make better decisions.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Dear Dan,

Apple recently announced Apple Pay, which will allow iPhone and Apple Watch users to simply wave their gadgets to pay for purchases. How might this technology change our spending habits? Could Apple Pay and other such hassle-free payment mechanisms (such as Amazon’s “1-click ordering”) lead us to spend more—particularly on stuff we don’t need?

—Nikki

The essence of payment is opportunity cost. Every time we face a purchasing decision, we should ask ourselves if getting this one thing is worth giving up the ability to purchase something else, now or in the future.

Different ways of paying make us think differently about those opportunity costs. For example, if we have $20 in cash in our pockets, we will have a hard time not thinking about opportunity cost. If we consider buying a sandwich, we realize that we won’t have money for coffee; if we get a cab, we realize that we won’t have money for dinner. But when we use a credit card or gift certificate, our thinking about opportunity cost will be less natural and prevalent—which means we’re likely to spend more without fully thinking about the consequences.

This is why the general answer to your questions is both yes and no. As you suggest, electronic payment mechanisms can easily lead us to think less about opportunity cost and spend more recklessly. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Electronic payment could be designed in ways that get us to more fully understand our opportunity costs and make more reasonable decisions. Apple Pay and the like could be game-changers, helping us think about our spending much more rigorously than we ever could with cash.

So the questions are: Who is designing these electronic wallets, and for what purpose? Will they be designed to get us to spend more money—or to help us make better decisions? Right now, electronic payments seem to be going down the path of less thinking and more spending—but I hope that at some point, some of the payment companies will change their approach, adopt the perspective of their users and offer electronic payment methods that help us make better financial decisions.

Why do powerful leaders not do more good?

Check out this very interesting report from the University of Lausanne:

The most interesting finding for me is

“Honesty does not shield a person from mis-using power.”

Thanks to Dan Ariely’s Blog

SOME STUDIES ON POWER AND CORRUPTION

John Antonakis, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and his colleagues just came out with a new paper on power and corruption (and Testosterone).

Important and fascinating — and for sure worth the 14 min of this video

 

Creativity Engineering Summer School

starts on Monday, 7.7.2014.

Welcome to Vienna to all the participants currently travelling to Vienna or already arrived in Vienna.

Please get your login to TUWEL from your email and enter the online course space for orientation and course materials.

Check out the Step-by-Step Guide for how to do this.

Since we are a team of three experts who will be leading you through the idea development process from different viewpoints, ther will be several rounds of introduction and presentations of yourself and your ideas.

Lets start with a digital WARM UP INTRODUCTION

What country in the world best fits your personality

We are very much looking forward to meeting you, getting to know you in person and hear about your ideas.

Do you have an idea yet?

More about Innes Vienna and the Creativity Engineering Summer University

The universal language

The key of sharing and collaborating on ideas is of course communication. And for communication not to lead to misunderstandings the same set of rules and values is important, which in a simple way can be just the language. As I am writing this blog entry in English it is obvious that I did so, because it will be understood by a wide range of people. It is not my first language and after years of using English and even being able to have serious conversations using it, I still feel that there are certain things I will never be able to express as I wanted to. The other way around, I feel more comfortable talking e.g. about Design Thinking in English, because I learned and worked with it solely in English.

I had the opportunity to spend some time in South America this year. This was something new and challenging to me. I’ve been to Asia quite a lot, but South America has an totally different, interesting cultural context and I had fun exploring it. One of the things I noticed quite soon was that although a lot of people spoke English, a lot of people did not. This is the same in a lot of Asian countries, but in contrast to Asia, it is not perceived as a lack, if you do not speak English. It was even the other way around that I felt I did not make enough effort to communicate in Spanish! I had plenty of situations when even amongst travellers the common language was not English but Spanish and I had a hard time keeping up, because my Spanish is beginner’s level at best.

It was kind of an eye opener to me. Until now I somehow expected everyone everywhere to speak English. It might have been a bit arrogant of me to expect that, because besides English there are other languages such as Spanish and Chinese that is spoken by a large number of people. I do not want to imply that we should all switch to a different language, but just looking at the development, we might have to think about other languages than English. Who knows what will happen in a few years if you look at the development of the Spanish speaking population in the United States, which is constantly growing. Or the great amount of Chinese speaking population on earth. This is an appeal for being open minded to other languages than English and making an effort learning Portuguese, German, French, Japanese, you name it. Do not automatically expect others to speak English, but agree on a language that is most comfortable for all.

P.S.: I had the most fun conversation with a Belgian guy, who did not speak English, but Spanish and French. I speak neither Spanish nor French, but English and still, we somehow talked about all kinds of things. We agreed on a mix of Spanish with English and a few words of French and voilà, we were having a great time talking

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17. May in Oslo

From my dear Friends Marc & Ragni and their newsletter about their activities with friends & family – shortened though.

My title:
We all have our heritage but how we design the here and now is up to us.

Thanks for sharing this with me.

HISTORY

200 years ago in 1814, the Norwegian people drafted their current constitution. It allowed them a regime of relative autonomy from the Swedes, a preamble to the total independence they could not yet afford but finally obtained 91 years later (1905) when they fetched the first king of the current dynasty, a Dane who married an English woman.*

* It took their recent riches of North Sea oil to elevate them from their status of country bumpkins in the eyes of their Swedish neighbors headed by French-born Napoleon relative Bernadotte, renamed Karl Johann, as well as the Danes who ruled Norway for over 400 years.

BEFORE THE PARADE

One of 117 schools marching to Karl Johanns Gate parade, from 3 directions.
It’s mid-morning and they’ve been up early to march in their neighborhood.
A family unit. Mother and daughter have the same folkloric dress.
The men, if not dressed in traditional costume (bunade), wear a ribbon at the lapel.
Joyfully waving a flag is the rule.

The crowd was extraordinary, on account of:
– the day fell on a Saturday,
– the 200th anniversary,
– perfect weather.

THE PARADE
The parade is primarily in the main street leading to the king’s castle where the king and his family will stand in the balcony for the 3.5 hours of its duration. The street is named after Karl Johann, the Swedish king who strongly opposed and delayed the independence of Norway, How tolerant for the Norwegians to not have renamed the street !… As soon as Morocco became independent from the French in 1956, almost all the streets, and some cities, instantly lost their French name.
The parade is opened by a military squad, the Royal Guard.

According to a friend, it’s second only to Russians, in terms of marching with acrobatics with their weapons. Each of the 117 schools marches to the same line-up:
– First, the placard identifying the school:
– Then comes the dozen or so large flags:
– Then, often comes the band, sometimes with baton-twirling majorettes:

You can tell the high school senior by their black cap.

– Elementary school kids, ushered by adults, close the march:

We even get to cheer the adult children and grand-children of the friend who hosted us:
10-year old Martin is first of a kind, playing the electronic guitar,
on a leash to his father Halvor carrying the guitar battery and speaker…
40-year old Helge returns our cheers.
He’s months into a new start-up venture.
The handicapped share in the party atmosphere.

THE “BUNAD” Folkloric Dress

Each county has its own design with possible tweaks within a county.
Ragni did not bring her bunad because its bulky and heavy. Back as 1982 she started embroidering one for our daughter Anne. A friend helped her finish the embroidery and the piece is now being expertly assembled, a major task which requires experienced hands.

   

A white bunad is a rarity.

 

Continued in the next message:
– The high percentage of immigrants,
– The crowd milling around after the parade.

BRINGING THE IMMIGRANTS INTO THE FAMILY
It’s impressive to see so many immigrants in the parade, a testimony of Norwegian tolerance and forsight. They come from Pakistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, among others.

In our local small town library, French books are only available on a rotation basis; yet there is a section aimed at a bunch of Ethiopians temporarily camped nearby for orientation. Mind you this is no ordinary refugee camp but a posh mountain resort hotel gone bankrupt. These dark skinned Africans must nevertheless feel pretty isolated and out-of-their element in the montainous countryside, not to mentin the rigor of the climate (not only the cold but also the darkness of Winter).

 

POST-PARADE MILLING AROUND

Cars were banned from the whole downtown area. It took our host 1h30minn to exit their parking, and they even paid $50 for the privilege.
Cost of living is very high in Norway. How about $6 for a single avocado ?!… We brought our own from California, apples and nuts too !….

By means of cell phone we manage to meet friends, in spite of the crowd

Years ago, as part of the AFS high school student exchange, the Teljes (pronounced “Tel-yeh”) hosted the daughter of Palo Alto friends, for one year in a Norwegian mountain town near our cabin.

The dagger is part of a man’s uniform.  These lovelies enjoy an enviable status in Norway.
A minimum 40% of corporation board seats is reserved for them.
The current Prime Minister is a woman.
A representative of the Lapp people, an ethnic group of reindeer-herding nomads in the artic North. They enjoy official autonomy and maintain their own language.

We once knew one in California who addressed me as “De Gaulle” and derided the Norwegians as “lazy” !…

Marc Pasturel