Gunnar

Two homes under one roof
Could I be living in one of them soon?

I promised to tell you all there is to know about Gunnar right? Well, he is Norwegian and works (amongst others) for Hjartdal Community, one of the many small communities that make up Norway. And by small I don't mean size-wise, but inhabitant wise. Size-wise it's actually fairly big (in my opinion anyway) and it includes part of the mountain range in Telemark. Inhabitant wise they have under two thousand. In three larger villages and several hamlets and such. So, any newcomer is greatly appreciated. Even if she does come without husband and two children, but two cats instead. 

So, I met up with Gunnar at his workplace in a different community altogether(?) and there we went to work to get my Norwegian cv properly done and dusted. I had translated it back home, but there were several things that weren't quite right. Nothing major, but it would sound better if I did it just a bit differently. So, I rewrote the whole thing on his computer. Then he set me to work again: this time I had to write a letter to two different bus companies, one on either side of Hjartdal Community. At first I was completely flummoxed and then I had a brain-wave: start in English and then translate. So, that's what I did: first I wrote it in English and then I translated it. He made me add one more sentence to it and that was it. We printed the letter and then I changed the address and the other thingymebobs in the letter to the other company and printed that one off too. Letter and cv in an envelope and hey presto: my first applications to Norwegian jobs. 

After that we went to Hjartdal Community itself. And there I met (drumroll please) the Mayor! He was a very nice young man and told me a little about housing etc. He said it was cheap living in this part of the country (which is still twice as expensive as in the Netherlands by the way), he showed me a leaflet (which I was allowed to keep) of a new development in Sauland which was for sale. And het told me that if I got a job either side of Hjartdal and still wanted to live in that area, they would do everything they could to help me find a place to live etc. How nice is that? Or how desperate for new people of course, but I didn't want to say that to them!

So, the first stones are rolling, now to just get that language down!