Fra Presidenten: Our November meeting was exceptional, we covered a lot of important agenda items and it was sister’s night with a catered Turkey Dinner from a local restaurant. Many thanks to sister Kris for arranging. We had twenty one members who ate and we just about broke even with the cost. Going forward in this holiday season of eating and fraternalism, as a lodge we have reservations for our Christmas dinner at the Irish Coffee Pub, Carleton Av. East Islip, on Sunday 12/13 1-4 PM. It’s in the Tara Suite, upstairs which has an elevator. Recognizing the cost differential, this is an open event so feel

free to bring family and friends, a flyer is elsewhere in the Courier. Henrik Ibsen members are $ 35.00 per person, $47.00 for non members. Dinner details are: Appetizer, Beef, Fish, Chicken, or Pork entrees, Salad, Dessert, Coffee/Tea/Soda w/ Cash Bar. Nancy Russo is the chair; send your checks to her payable to Henrik Ibsen Lodge 3-393. (Nancy Russo #34 Wavecrest Ave., West Islip, NY 11795 631 868-3636)

It is extremely important that you send in your check to Nancy ASAP so she can confirm our attendance with the restaurant. The children’s party is also a go for Saturday 12/12 1 PM see the RSVP notice in the Courier. Once again contact Cindy 631 231-8790 or Darlene 631 666-7668 that you will attend and with the names and ages of the children. Please remember Solveig Birkeland’s 100th birthday on January 12th Please send her a card to her home while she is up here in New York. (Solveig Birkeland 23 Quail Run Drive, Deer Park, NY 11729). Keep in mind she’s returning to Florida right after her birthday. A quick Land of the Vikings update; they now have the long awaited liquor license, thank you Roy Berntsen for not giving in to the Pennsylvania Liquor Board bureaucracy. Also don’t forget that LOV is having a big New Year’s Eve party. Once again see the flyer in this months Courier. Leaving the holiday information and all the planned SON activities, the officers are currently preparing the Lodge’s business and social calendar for 2016. If you have any thoughts one way or the other, or a new idea’s for things for us to do like sky diving please let me know. 631 289-3580 or kgjohnson@optonline.net If it’s a Zone event I’ll bring it up for

discussion at the next Zone meeting. In addition our proposed budget is being prepares by our Treasurer and Executive Board. Once complete it will be presented to the membership for discussion and approval. at our January meeting. God Jul og Godt Nytt år! Renee and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our next meeting is Friday January 15th at 6:30 pm. Have a great holiday, most of all be safe.

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IBSEN COURIERS o n s o f N o r w a y

Meetings every 3rd Friday of the month at St. Mark’s Church, 754 Montauk Hwy, Islip, NY

God Jul og Godt Nytt

År!

HENRIK IBSEN CHRISTMAS

DINNER FLIER, PAGE 7.

Do you have an expired Courier booster? Please

check page 2.

Henrik Ibsen Lodge No. 3-393

The mission of Sons of Norway is to promote and to preserve the heritage and culture of Norway; to celebrate our relationship with other Nordic Countries, and provide quality insurance and financial

products to our members.

Fraternally, Ken

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MONTHLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

December Lodge Birthdays

Sunshine Committee Did you know?

You can view all 3rd district newsletters at www.3dsofn.org.

Our newsletter is available online at www.llund.com/

newsletters/.

Anyone with ideas for monthly social activities, please contact Darlene Kern (631-666-7668).

For ideas regarding cultural activities, please contact Asbjørn Lageraæn.

!

Please be advised:

The LAST DAY to submit

information to be included in

The Courier is the 25th of each

month.

Pot of Gold Winner

Kris Holvik ❊ Congratulations! ❊

Tone I. Gabrielsen 6

Shirley Gatland 26

Joyce E. Olsen 29

COURIER BOOSTERS Gladys Everson: 9/2015 Shirley Gatland: 12/2015

M.. & V. Von Seggern: 9/2015 K. & R. Johnson: 3/2016

Dan Tohill: 11/2015 Elsa Granz: 5/2016

June Morris: 12/2015 A. & M. Lageraaen: 5/2016

M. & T. Wubbenhorst: 12/2015 Harald Aukland: 5/2016

L. & M. Lund: 12/2016

To support The Ibsen Courier, please send a check (“Henrik Ibsen Lodge”) or cash ($12) to our Financial

Secretary: Cynthia Biancospino, 179 Studley St., Brentwood, NY, 11717

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LODGE CALENDAR - 2015

L o d g e C a l e n d a R 2 0 1 5Date Theme/Event Food Accompaniment

Dec. 12th, 1PM Children’s Jultrefest N/A

Dec. 13th, 1PM-4PM Adult’s Jultrefest, Irish Coffee Pub $47p/p

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LAND OF THE VIKINGS

New Year’s Eve Celebration

DECEMBER 30 THROUGH JANUARY 3RD

Check in on Wednesday December 30th and stay a couple of days or right on through the weekend. The bar is stocked and the rooms will be toasty as Rick and

Bev await your arrival. The Legendary Bob Carlson will be your host with plenty of antics and activities throughout the long weekend. The Disc Jockey is raring to go with his long list of

partying and dancing tunes.

NEW YEAR’S EVE MENU: Salad, Prime Rib, Baked Potato, Vegetable, Rolls and Dessert with coffee or tea.

Come join us in the Viking Ship Lounge around the cozy fire for a pre-dinner cocktail hour. College Bowl Games for you football enthusiast.

The activity fee for this special event is $25.00 per person. The cost for anyone just wanting to come for the New Year’s Eve Celebration is $100 a couple plus tax and gratuity.

CONTACT OUR MANAGERS BEV AND RICK BUDRICK AT: Vikingland@tds.net or call at 570-461-3500 to get your reservations made. Once you have done that, send your $40 deposit check made out to Land of the Vikings and mail to: 461 Big Valley Road, Susquehanna, PA. 18847-8922.

Land of the Vikings

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ZONE HAPPENINGS

Zone Happenings The December meeting is scheduled for December 2nd, 2015.

2016: • Zone Bowling, Spring 2016, More info to follow • Heritage Fair, March 2016, More info to follow • Zone Viking Auction for LOV 4/9/2016 need gift donations • Scholarship Play, Star Theater Commack, Sunday May 22, 2016 Monty Pythons Spamalot • Zone Challenge, Fall 2016, more info to follow.

Around the Zone FYI’s… • Færder lodge 105th Anniversary, in March 2016

Question: What would you like to see the Zone offer as an activity? Please bring it up during the Zone Report at the next lodge meeting.

Vice President’s Message November 11 Henrik Ibsen Lodge participated in the Veterans Memorial Service in Islip. I had previously contacted the Commander Johnson of American Legion Rusty Bohm Post # 411 to enquire whether our Lodge could join the Memorial Service, for which they were very pleased that a Civic organization had requested to participate. We had five of our veterans participating: Rusty Anderson, Ken Johnson, Larry Lund, Richard Christoffer and John Kern who all went up to lay down a wreath from Henrik Ibsen. Following that Rusty made a short speech relating to the day. It was a success for the Lodge. One more thing: Does anyone know about Johanne Velde? Last known address is 93rd Doral Cir. E, Doral FL. We did get a forwarding address to Windward St N, Port Jeff, Long Island. If you know anything about Johanne please give me a call: 516 420 0658. I wish you all a very Happy Christmas 2015.

Updates will be done monthly. Remember: It’s your Zone. Only you can make the Zone strong. Attend as many events and activities as

possible. Your Lodge representatives to the Zone — Asbjørn, Helen & Ken

Asbjørn

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God Jul Henrik Ibsen Lodge 2015 Christmas Dinner

Sunday, December 13th, 2015 1-4PM

Irish Coffee Pub, 131 Carleton Ave, East Islip 631.277.0007

$34 Henrik Ibsen Members $47 Guests

cut along dotted line

Name(s): _________________________________________________________________________

Phone Number/Email: _______________________________________________________________

Amount ($): ___________________________

Please send your check payable to Henrik Ibsen Lodge 3-393

To: Nancy Russo

34 Wavecrest Ave.

West Islip, NY, 11795

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KULTUR MED TERJE

Hei igjen alle sammen. Reisebrev fra Svalbard (travelogue from Svalbard) The weekend Nov 13th – Nov 15th I went on a company travel (company outing?) to Svalbard (Spitsbergen). This group of islands in the arctic belonging to Norway. Also known as the land of the polar bears. We did not see one anyway. The purpose of the trip was business combined with social activities. We were a group of 32 people. At this time of the year, you find the Polar night at Svalbard. They will see the sun again Jan 30th We visited Norway`s only coal power plant, Energiverket. The plant produces electric power and district heating for the citizens of Longyearbyen. Around 2000 people lives there. Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the archipelago, the seat of the governor and the only town to be incorporated. The town features a hospital, primary and secondary school, university, sports center with a swimming pool, library, culture center, cinema, bus transport, hotels, a bank, and several museums. The newspaper Svalbardposten is published weekly. Only a small fraction of the mining activity remains at Longyearbyen; instead, workers commute to Sveagruva (or Svea) where Store Norske operates a mine. Sveagruva is a dormitory town, with workers commuting from Longyearbyen weekly. Barentsburg is the only permanently inhabited Russian settlement after Pyramiden was abandoned in 1998. It is a company town: all facilities are owned by Arktikugol, which operates a coal mine. In addition to the mining facilities, Arktikugol has opened a hotel and souvenir shop, catering for tourists taking day trips or hikes from Longyearbyen. The village features facilities such as a school, library, sports center, community center, swimming pool, farm and greenhouse. Pyramiden features similar facilities; both are built in typical post-World War II Soviet architectural and planning style and contain the world's two most northerly Lenin statues and other socialist realism artwork. As of 2013, a handful of workers are stationed in the largely abandoned Pyramiden to maintain the infrastructure and run the hotel, which has been re-opened for tourists. From the boat we also watched the fantastic Northern Lights. On the return from Barentsburg, we hit heavy wawes. A lot of passengers went seasick, including myself. No good experience at all. We also met amercan tourists on the boat and in Barentsburg. You americans are everywhere. I recommend you; when you go to Norway, take also a trip to Svalbard. In the summertime you find the midnight sun there. Masse julehilsener fra familien Gabrielsen i Fredrikstad.

(above left to right) around 1 PM; visiting Camp Barentz having beer, aquavit, reindeer, employees carrying guns in case polar bears show up.

(left to right) Russian beer, Northern Lights, from Longyearbyen

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CULTURE CORNER WITH ASBJØRNThe below article was taken from the Oslo paper Aftenposten Oct. 29, 2015.

Norway November Blues By EIRIK VINJE, lawyer, Garmann, Mitchell & co. law firm Now in November, I often stare out of my office window in Oslo and ask myself: Why am I really here? I find myself in a world of clammy cold, rain (albeit with sleet to change) and a few hours of twilight. It is an excellent place for fir trees, moose and wolves, but not for a member of a primatart from Africa like me (or you). A country in darkness Norway is an absurd place in October until the ski season begins; if it then begin. Studies show that productivity decreases in workplaces due to lack of daylight. The earth's axis inclination ensures it applies to all workplaces in Norway during this time. Many students have felt it in both body and mind how the Christmas exams are much heavier than those in the spring. Research indicates that the immune system is weakened during the dark season. Both with consideration to performance and pleasure dictate that those who can, flee southward, away from the darkness. The climate in Norway has never been ideal for us hairless monkeys. Our ancestors from the migration period who ended up here, got for unknown reasons, did not get to select the land first. But the inhospitable land forced them by time to create a northern European culture of collaboration, planning, frugality and hard work. The culture was a competitive advantage which eventually made us rich. The question is whether we then need to hang around here any longer. Practically speaking, there is increasingly less reason for Norwegians to stay in Norway. Very few works directly with the land and the sea anymore. For many of us, life, consists typing, thinking, reading and talking. The technology ensures that this kind of activities need not take place in a particular place. Norwegian businesses are already hiring thousands of IT consultants in India. And, many Norwegians work for customers in completely different parts of the globe. The physical meetings are becoming fewer, because there are more effective ways to communicate. I have had the same auditor for ten years, but have never seen him. For my part, he could happily been auditing in Madagascar. Sometimes it is required to see faces of people, but today it's getting faster and cheaper to travel there.. A few years ago I played with the idea of moving my office to Provence, France during the winters. Practically, that would it worked well. I could be working via web and telephone, and had taken a quick and inexpensive flight when I had met someone in Norway. The reason that the plan still was dropped, were the signals that would be sent to clients and colleagues. Norwegians consider Mediterranean coast as a place to drink rosé wine, not for serious work. Such prejudices stand to fall. A friend of mine works as an economic advisor from the Costa del Sol in Spain for customers in Norway. It has given him the best of two worlds. Norwegian income level; Spanish climate and cost. Many will eventually discover the benefits of the combination. Several Norwegian companies have moved their call center to more pleasant countries and manned by Norwegians. In US intellectuals jobs are clustered in the comfortable zones along the coasts. It is difficult to see what would prevent the same tendency in Europe. Transport and communication is getting better. Language becomes an increasingly smaller obstacle since English is gaining ground as the planet's common language. Cultural divides are sanded down. Norwegian pensioners have already decided to migrated southward, especially to Spain and other Mediterranean countries. The question is whether we may be facing a wave of emigration of working Norwegians. Wage levels What prevent emigration from Norway, is that the country has the world's highest overall income level. It is due to the low level workers are paid very well. Highly educated groups such as doctors and engineers are paid low on an international comparizon. Adjusted for purchasing power for instance, an. hospital doctors in the United States on average is paid about four times more than their Norwegian counterparts. Also, many European countries pay their doctors far better than the Norwegian ones. For such groups, it may be worthwhile to move out. This can create a growing rift in the acclaimed Norwegian model. It is a system which means that the top and bottom of society wins, while middle loses. On top sit the Money Managers, and now the money flows almost free across international borders, and the money is invested where the profit after taxes are greatest. The nations are competing to offer the lowest possible capital taxation to attract capital. In Norway the capitalist tax rate is far below the ordinary working people, and there is broad political consensus that they should pay even less. To cover the tax losses the state takes back by sucking high taxes out of the middle class i.e., highly paid workers, which also by international standards are not highly paid. However at the bottom, ie workers with low or no education are often paid twice or more than workers in comparable countries, are taxed moderately, also they get more welfare out of every tax crown. The middle class in Norway have until now mostly found themselves being underpaid and over-taxed. Partly of solidarity to the Norwegian system, and partly because of what the welfare state has delivered. Besides emigration to now, has emerged as very irrelevant.

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Come to the table

I read the words “come to the table” in the October 2015 issue of BLÅFJELL LODGE 3-646 newsletter - FJELL-LJOM (MOUNTAIN ECHOES) and it resonated with me. (Article copied at the end of this letter). We are approaching the Christmas season and the New Year is upon us. I love it. It means

coming together for happy times at lodge Jultrefests. To me it’s an opportunity for new beginnings and reflections on the year that is ending. It is time for renewal – our own and that of our lodges. Let’s embrace the New Year. Let’s reflect and renew. Let’s grow stronger in the New Year. I really like the “one-on-one” conversations I have with my fraternal brothers and sisters via email, phone and lodge visits throughout the District. These conversations reinforce the “tie that binds”. Building new “ties” is critical to our

success and survival. There is great energy throughout the District but sometimes I wonder if we focus on the glass “half-full”; to which I will say DON’T! We must focus on what unites us, focus and be thankful for what we have. And we have a lot. Step back sometime and look at your lodge through the lens of an outsider or a prospective new member. What will they see? Chances are they see a group of people working together, smiling and laughing and getting things done. I wonder if too often we focus on those, who in our own personal view, “don’t do enough”. There may even be some past injustice that we can’t seem to let go. This season, extend the hand of friendship and let bygones be bygones. If you don’t you will probably get an ulcer for not letting go. Welcome newcomers, Invite them to “the table”, get to know them. With a little friendly encouragement, you may find that they are interested in helping. We have some exciting things happening in the District and I will tell you about them in my January letter. Until then God Jul og Godt nyttår.

FROM THE 3D PRESIDENT

Publication of District 3, Sons of Norway http://www.3dsofn.org Mary B. Andersen, President

"Come to the Table"

We are all so busy at our Lodge gatherings that we seldom get to know each other better. As a chance to have time to meet and visit on a casual basis, consider inviting some friends to your home for tea and brunch. Share your faith, joys, and sorrows. Everyone will listen as you take your turn. There is joy at the table amidst trying moments. Laughter is good for all of us. There is caring, sharing, and love because everyone listens. Coffee and snacks help too. Blessings to all our friends, now share the joy! God is good!

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SONS OF NORWAY

HENRIK IBSEN LODGE 3-393 Sons of Norway Kenneth Johnson 3 Derry St. Patchogue, NY, 11772

STAMP HERE

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