The fall of the Berlin Wall and the ending of the Cold War!

During the Cold War Soviet and USA had fought a war in which no battles took place. It was a Cold War, meaning that the two countries prepared for the breakout of a new war by aggressively building up their military equipment and armies. People feared that a nuclear war would happen, seeing both countries had developed nuclear weapons. Both USA and Soviet spent all their money on military expenses. Famine spread and in Soviet, people needed coupons to buy everything, even socks! Luckily, the Cold war ended when the Berlin wall fell between communist East Germany and democratic West Germany in 1990. We say that the Iron Curtain lifted. The countries that had been under the rule of Stalin and his communist USSR gradually became independent. Among these countries were Afghanistan, Moldova, Gerogia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. By this time, Mikail Gorbachev was the leader of the communist party. He was known to be a milder leader than Stalin was and it was due to him that Soviet’s republics could gain independence. He opened up for more liberal ways of politics, as well as introducing new economic reforms; glasnost and perestroika.

Norway's Weather

When I tell foreigners I’m from Norway they almost exepctionless burst out: ”Oh isn’t it freezing there and snow and everything?” It is. Still this is only the case a few months a year. What distinguishes the Norwegian weather from the weather in other parts of the world is the variation throughout the year and from place to place also. In Oslo, our summers can be really hot. Up to 30 degrees and sunny. Unfortunately this seldom lasts for many days. Our autums are beautiful with leaves in red, orange, brown and yellow. Around October time the frost arrives. This autumt is no exeption. As for today (13th of October) the sun is shining but the morning were frosty. The first fall of snow normally happens in November, for then to disappear again, before a proper snow fall in December or January marks the beginning of the white period of the year. The last bit of snow usually abandon us in the middle of april. After this a wet and blossoming spring is to come before summer arrives within the change from june to july.

Temperature and rain varies a lot from place to place due to the difference in how high and how far north people live. Norway merely is a big crowd of mountains which streches 1700 km from the south to the north so you can understand that people might live in different climates. You can see the same pattern of seasons in all parts of Norway though. However there are places where the snow never disappears and villages down south where it never lays. So if people starts complaining about our cold weather I say they should come to Norway and test out our variation!