A2 · Getting started
Longer stories about daily life, past and future.
- Dyret som lager terninger Wombats make cube shaped poop, and now we know why. Audio
- Denne fuglen sover mens den flyr Frigatebirds fly for many days and sleep only a little. Audio
- Lunsjen et helt land spiser In the Dominican Republic, everyone eats the same lunch at the same time. Audio
- Middag laget av en vulkan In the Azores, people cook food inside a hot volcano. Audio
- Det siste toget Tomas misses the last train in Tokyo and sleeps in a tiny room. Audio
- Den tomme koppen On his first day, Pedro drinks from a cup that is not his. Audio
- Nummer førtisju Carla waits a long time at the clinic for a small cut. Audio
- Fortapt i Lisboa Sofía gets lost in Lisbon and a woman helps her with a map. Audio
- Rommet med en balkong Marcos gets a hotel room with a nice balcony. Audio
- Et bord til én Mia eats alone in a small restaurant, and the waiter helps her choose. Audio
- Krydderet som en gang kostet like mye som gull Saffron comes from tiny flower threads picked by hand, and for most of history a pound of it cost about the... Audio
- Innsjøen som forsvinner hver sommer In Slovenia, a huge lake fills a valley in winter and then vanishes underground every summer, leaving... Audio
- Parken ved siden av huset mitt A squirrel describes the small park next to its tree: the pigeons by the benches, Mr. Badger and his bread,... Audio
- Byen som legger gull på iskrem Kanazawa in Japan makes almost all of the country's gold leaf, and wraps whole sheets of it around soft ice... Audio
- Flyturen som varer nitti sekunder A tiny plane hops between two Orkney islands in Scotland on the shortest scheduled flight in the world. Audio
- Rop, eller du går glipp av stoppet ditt A shared minibus with no bell and no screen, where the only way off is to say so out loud, early and twice. Audio
- Slurp høyt, det er høflig In Japan, slurping your noodles loudly is not rude, it is a sign that you are enjoying the meal. Audio
- Fossen som faller oppover On very windy days, strong gusts can blow a Norwegian waterfall's spray back up into the sky. Audio
- Sirkelen og morgenbåten The Ring of Brodgar at dusk, then the small practical business of leaving an island, done in four sentences... Audio
- Nittidagerskornet In a bar in Kirkwall, a flat dark bannock turns out to be the reason the islands were farmable at all. Audio
- Samlingen på skjærene Grey seals are hauling out on the low rocks before the pupping season, and the questions Polly has been... Audio
- Bygd av det de hadde On Lamb Holm, two army huts hold a chapel that prisoners of war made out of scrap, and the only honest... Audio
- Landsbyen under stormen At the Bay of Skaill, a guide with a carrying voice explains a village that a storm returned to the light... Audio
- Stolen ved peisen A guesthouse above the harbour, an argument about what counts as a quiet room, and a chair whose whole... Audio
- Båten kommer inn Polly lands at Stromness off the morning boat and works out, one question at a time, how a place with no... Audio
- Rosa finnes ikke Pink has no wavelength of its own; it is a color the brain invents when the eyes see red and blue light... Audio
- Du lyser akkurat nå The human body constantly emits an extremely faint light, invisible to the eye but detectable with a... Audio
- Tåken lukker seg bak henne On her last afternoon, Polly flies high over the island before fog rolls in and hides it behind her. Audio
- En landsby koblet til en vulkan Polly learns that the same volcano heat that cooked lunch also warms a big public pool and heats homes in... Audio
- Middag begravd ved daggry Polly watches a cook bury pots of food in the ground, where the volcano's heat cooks dinner with no fire. Audio
- Ett krater, to farger Polly finds a huge old crater with two lakes, one blue and one green, joined together under a strip of land. Audio
- Fuglen som ble oppgitt to ganger Polly looks for the priolo, a tiny grey and pink bird that lives only in one forest and was once thought to... Audio
- De to siste hagene i Europa Polly finds one of the only two tea farms left in Europe, started after the island's orange trees died. Audio
- Ni øyer, tre plater Polly arrives over São Miguel, the biggest of the nine Azores islands, made of black rock, green fields,... Audio
- Blekkspruten og de tre hjertene The octopus is a clever sea animal with three hearts and blue blood. Audio
- Kablene under havet Long cables under the ocean carry almost all of the information that travels between countries. Audio
- Det Lange Løpet Som Heter Maraton The marathon is a very long running race with a curious and surprising history. Audio
- Hvor kaffe kommer fra Coffee begins as a red fruit on a green plant and travels far before it fills a cup. Audio
- Å sove på et nattog Night trains in Europe carry travelers between cities while they sleep in cozy beds. Audio
- Amazonas, den største elven The Amazon is the river that carries the most water in the world. Audio
- Hvordan bier lager honning Honeybees turn sweet flower nectar into golden honey through hard teamwork in the hive. Audio
- Den lange silkeveien The Silk Road was a famous trade route that linked China with Europe for many centuries. Audio
- Bestill aldri en latte i Italia In Italy, the word latte does not mean coffee. One small word can bring you a big surprise. Audio
- Den lille fuglen i klokken In Germany's Black Forest, carved wooden cuckoo clocks call out every hour while children wait and laugh. Audio
- Fisken som klatrer i fossefall In Hawaii, a fish smaller than your finger climbs up waterfalls taller than buildings, using its mouth as a... Audio
- Byen hvor det var forbudt å dø When a small Italian town ran out of space in its cemetery, the mayor signed an order telling people not to... Audio
- Lunsjen som aldri slutter In Spain, the best part of lunch starts when the food is finished. It even has its own name. Audio
- Katten som tar bussen Every morning a cat climbs onto the same city bus, watches the streets go by, and gets off at his own stop. Audio
- Det første lyset i landsbyen While the whole village sleeps, one window glows: the baker lights the oven so fresh bread will be ready by... Audio
- Damp og små tallerkener A first night at a Taipei night market, where pointing, smiling, and one brave question buy a very good... Audio
- Den gamle historien Polly starts down the steps and hears a story about them. Audio
- Polly tar bussen Polly's first bus ride: does this bus go downtown, one ticket, how much, where do I get off, next stop,... Audio
- Polly spør om veien Polly is lost on the way to the library and asks an owl for directions: excuse me, where is it, is it far,... Audio
- Polly bestiller en kaffe Polly's first cafe order: good afternoon, a coffee with milk, do you have churros, the check please, how... Audio
- Polly på markedet Berta takes Polly to the market. Polly buys fruit for the first time: what is this, two apples, how much, a... Audio
- Polly møter noen Polly moves to a new street and meets Berta the bear. First greetings: hello, your name, nice to meet you,... Audio
- Vladivostok Polly arrives in Vladivostok and flies off over the Pacific Ocean. Audio
- Amur Polly reaches the Amur River and meets a rare crane on the sixth day of the Trans-Siberian. Audio
- Bajkalsjøen Polly spends a day on the train along Lake Baikal, the deepest and oldest lake on Earth. Audio
- Tidssoner Polly explores the dining car and learns that the train uses one time zone across all of Russia. Audio
- Over Uralfjellene Polly crosses the Ural Mountains, the line between Europe and Asia, on the Trans-Siberian train. Audio
- Bjørkeskogene Polly watches Russian birch forests from the Trans-Siberian train and learns that forty percent of Russia... Audio
- Jaroslavskij stasjon Polly boards the Trans-Siberian train at Moscow and begins her seven-day journey to Vladivostok. Audio
- Farvel til Pasta Polly says goodbye to Pasta the octopus and flies out of Naples. Audio
- Redaktøren i seg selv Polly learns that octopuses can change their own nervous systems by editing RNA in real time. Audio
- Pizza og den lange lunsjen Polly has lunch with Chiara at a Neapolitan pizzeria and learns about traditional Neapolitan pizza. Audio
- Huden som Ser Polly learns that octopus skin can sense colours even though octopus eyes cannot. Audio
- Kroppen som Tenker Polly watches an octopus solve a maze with two arms working independently. Audio
- Glasskrukken Polly watches an octopus open a jar to catch a crab and learns how short an octopus's life is. Audio
- Napolibukta Polly arrives in Naples and meets a giant Pacific octopus at the world's oldest marine biology institute. Audio
- Forlate Dalen Polly says goodbye to Ranger Tomas and flies west out of Yosemite. Audio
- Melkeveien over Glacier Point Polly watches the Milky Way at Glacier Point and looks through a telescope at the centre of our galaxy. Audio
- Halvkuppelen Polly flies up Half Dome on warm air with a flock of swifts, sees the summit, then glides back down. Audio
- Falken som Stuper Polly tries to copy a peregrine falcon's dive, learning what makes the falcon the fastest animal in the world. Audio
- Sequoiaen Polly visits a giant sequoia nearly 3,000 years old and learns about its fireproof bark. Audio
- På Tur Med Vokteren Tomas Polly spends the morning in Ranger Tomas's truck, learning about bear feeding and peregrine falcon nests. Audio
- Over Dalen Polly flies into Yosemite Valley, watches climbers on El Capitan, and rides the shuttle bus at dusk. Audio
- Duften av kanel A new neighbor leaves a small surprise outside her door. Audio
- To kilo tålmodighet A first trip to the local market with a vendor who refuses to let her leave with the wrong tomatoes. Audio