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From: Paul Goldstein
Date: 07 Oct 2011
Time: 10:35:13 -0500
Remote Name: 88.88.238.25
Hi again, Pam. There is one Toastmasters chapter that I know of in Norway - in Oslo, which is some 300 miles (or an eight-hour drive) from where I live. I've been in touch with officers of that chapter - it's an English-speaking club consisting mostly of people who have immigrated to Norway who were active in Toastmasters in their former countries. That chapter would fit me just perfectly, except for one thing - the distance! When I informed the officers of my Toaastmasters achievements, they told me that I probably have the highest TM ranking (Advanced Toastmaster Gold and Competent Leader) of anyone currently in Norway. Several attempts have been made in my own Bergen area of Norway to establish a Toastmasters club, without success. It is just difficult to find people who are interested. Toastmasters as a concept doesn't really fit Norwegian society too well - there is no national tradition here of public speaking, rhetoric, and speaking about oneself to strangers as there is in the U.S. It's instructive that the only Norwegian Toastmasters club that currently exists consists mostly of immigrants, rather than native Norwegians.