I kissed it!

When I moved to Norway last year, I thought that one of the things I would surely be able to get over here was 'curly kale' (or boerenkool in Dutch). It's a hardy cabbage vegetable that loves and even needs frost! Norway has that and Norwegians have plenty of cabbages in the supermarkets. 

Just not curly kale. Incomprehensible. I knew I couldn't go two winters without, so I bought some seeds. At least then I could grow my own! Well, that's not going to happen, because I forgot about them and they needed to be planted outside sometime in September! 

After I finished work yesterday, I went to a supermarket on my way home. I needed some food for tomorrow. And for some reason I checked the vegetable area. Found the tiny cauliflowers, the broccoli, the savoy cabbage. And then... curly kale! CURLY KALE!!! I danced, I jumped up and down. I kissed it!

Today: boerenkool met worst. Curly kale 'n' mashed potatoes with sausage. Nam nam (as they say in Norwegian).

And I was doing so well...

The police vehicle I hit a few years back in London

I am quite good at filling out the European Insurance Reports. I should be, I have had days where I had to fill out three! In two different countries as well!! But I had thought I had left all those forms behind me. No more 'who is to blame', 'how wide is the road', 'what was the weather'? No more drawings that look nothing like the real thing. 

Until last Friday that is. When the driver of a car parked her car smack bang in a mountain. At right angles to the road. I asked her whether it was a new way of parking, she just answered 'a crash'. As if I didn't see that. I didn't see the accident happen. I only saw the car at right angles to the road. And the turn I had just come out of with my bus. I thought I had cleared everything. Turns out: not so much. A large 8 meter (out of the 12) long stripe all along the side of the bus. 

When I came back to the office and filled out an insurance form, another driver was doing the same. Same spot, nearly identical damage. He thought my drawing was fantastic. He thought I was fast filling out the form. And me?

I just thought: darn it (see how clean my mind is, ahem). Again no damage-free year! 

Right!

                                                 

I think the only thing I can say is "I am a terrible blogger!" Several things have happened during the last week and I have not typed a single word to throw into the www. Awful. Terrible. 

Mind you, nothing much special has happened to me during the last week, but in general. Life wise. And such. You know... 

To start off. The local football team managed to secure third place in the national league, which in turn apparently means they are up for European football next year. Something great to strive for or so I have heard. Since I am not really into football at all (as you know), I am not too bothered by it, but if they do go Europe and there happens to be a Dutch opponent at some time: I have a big garden with plenty of room for tents and a spare single bedroom. Just so you know! Bring a bottle of Beerenburg and you are very welcome!

Then. The Norwegians have this weird relationship with television. They love their repeats and if they don't repeat, it's most likely a rerun. And if they do come up with something original, it annoys the &%$#& out of the whole world (What does the fox say? Anyone??). Anyway. On occasion they do have an original idea. Like the first time I was in Norway: following a canal in the Telemark region from beginning to end. Like the summer just past: 24 hour coverage from a ferry to the North of Norway. Sea, sea, sea, some land, some people and more sea. It took them over a week to get to the North, so you get the idea. 

But, that wasn't enough. And all the repeats and reruns and boat and ferry programs weren't enough. Somebody had to come up with another thing to air. The wintersport season is still a few weeks off and there was airtime to fill. And then somebody came up with a brilliant idea. What if we make a program about knitting. My girlfriend loves knitting. We could do a half hour show? Not enough? What about an hour? Two hours? Four hours? No, an all night knitting show! Showing from sheep to sweater! That's what I pay my tv-license money for...

On the subject of knitting: I am still at it as well. As a matter of fact, my hands feel empty when not knitting, which might explain the lack of posts lately. I am knitting like mad and have finished the first order already. I got several hugs for it as well! Plus the yarn money. But the hugs were best...

I will try to better my life and blog a bit more often. After all, there is plenty happening. Sort of.

Flag

Remember the post about Eurovision I wrote a short while ago? No? Well, here is a link to it, so you can reread it. 

Anyway, yesterday a Polish colleague told me he had looked in two different shops over the weekend (he was in Poland obviously), but had failed to find a flag. He will however be going back to Poland soon and will have a look in some other shops. So, basically the Polish flag is in the bag. 

This morning I got a package in the mail. Containing a flag. Unfortunately an elephant must have sat on it, because the little stick was broken, but a bit of duct tape will soon mend that. 

And before anybody asks: no the United States of America do no enter the Eurovision Song Contest. But a flag is a flag is a flag and I can always wave it about when I don't have the flag of the country I should be having a flag of. (does that still make sense?)

Thank you Debby!

Lazy

Perfecting the art of being lazy. Although it's not hard for them.
At all!!!

I am going to do the lazy thing in my post for today. I am lazy today anyway, just hanging around and doing a bit of internetting, reading, knitting. But the lazy thing for my post today is quite simple. I have noticed several new commenters (welcome by the way) and they and you long-time followers might actually want to know a bit more about yours truly!

So, instead of me telling what I did today (not much and not likely too either), I am asking you: what would you like to know about me? Chances are I've written about it already, but in that case I will put up a link to the corresponding post. And in case I haven't written about it yet, I will do! 

Do your best! Or worst for that matter. 

On an other subject (sort of). I tend not to reply to comments made on my blog on my blog. I prefer to do so by email. That way I am able to give a few more details without the whole world knowing. However, several of you have a no-reply address, which means that questions go unanswered. So, if you want to be answered, please change the settings on your whateveryacallit to include a working email address. I promise never to use it for anything other than answering comments and very very very occasionally send an ordinary email. No spam-like things and no 'funny' emails, since I don't like to get those either!

So, lazy? Perhaps a tad!

My life 4

As I was telling a story to some people the other day I was told I had been a spoilt girl! Now, I can see both my parents looking at each other and wondering who they were talking about, since they certainly didn't spoil me! The story I was telling was about me in high school. But it started a few years earlier than that. 

In December 1983 there was a lot of hooha about atomic weapons and atomic bombs and the like. To a sensitive girl like me it was all very disturbing. So, one night that disturbance came to fruition by me having a dream about atomic bombs falling. Fortunately I woke up, but when I fell asleep again, I started dreaming again on the same topic. And then again. Three dreams all about the atomic bomb and the end of the world. 

That day in school I was tired and felt sick. I kept thinking and thinking about those dreams and when I finally came home to do my homework, someone on the radio said the end of the world was close. I lost it. Com-ple-tely! I didn't sleep in my own (attic) room ever again and instead bunked with my sister, one floor down. Much safer! We moved at the end of that week (completely unrelated of course, we were due to move anyway). 

Fast forward a few years and one day while in religion class our teacher tells us we are going to see a film. Called 'The Day After'. About the effects of the atomic bomb! And I didn't want to see it. I refused to see it. I made such a hooha myself, in the end they phoned my parents and were told that if I didn't, I didn't and I didn't have to! So, for the next few lessons, while the video was shown, I sat in the cafeteria downstairs waiting for my next class. 

Was I spoiled?

The book

A few posts ago (about school and money and things) I was given a suggestion: write a book and recoup some of my losses. Sound advice of course. Especially since I have always wanted to write a book. 

But the question is: what would I write about? Should it be fact or fiction or a mixture of both? Should I write about all my adventures in foreign and not so foreign lands? Should I write about the inner workings of the cow that swam the Atlantic? Should I write about... 

And who would read it? Of course my parents will get a copy, because they are proud of their dearest oldest daughter. My two siblings might do so too. And some friends. Blog friends. And then who? Because only selling about ten books would not make me recoup any loss at all. 

Any ideas anybody? 

On the update side of finances: I don't have to take the course this year and will not have to pay the second installment. However, I won't be refunded the first installment and it will serve as a downpayment for next year's course. I can manage that!

The paper

I don't read the paper. Unless it's lying on a table at work, I don't read one. So, knowing what goes on in the world means listening to the news on the radio. But sometimes I buy a newspaper. Like when I'm in it!!!

Today I bought one. Because I was in it. A small photo on the front page leading to a two page spread about me and the company I work for (Tide). 

Here's the translation of part of the article on page 4 and 5:

******

Mara J from the Netherlands learnt Norwegian before looking for a job

Moved North to drive a bus

She knows the district like the back of her hand and speaks fluently Norwegian. The accent says Mara J is an immigrant.

About 20 drivers with foreign nationalities work as busdrivers for Tide in Haugaland. A handful of these moved North on their own initiative. Amongst them Mara J (42). 

-I wanted to try something else than the Netherlands and the EU, she says. 

The busdriver from the Netherlands loves winter and is very interested in biathlon. She had Canada as her first choice but quickly found out that finding a job as a busdriver in Canada was impossible. So she learnt Norwegian. 

In November last year she moved from her job as a tourbusdriver in Emmeloord in the Netherlands to a job as a public transport driver in Haugesund, Norway. After first finding out the possibilities in Bergen, Norway. 

Loves it

-I came to Haugesund on a Tuesday and the Monday after I started training, the 42-year old says, who previously also worked in England, France, Italy and former Yugoslavia. And speaks 6 languages fluently [not quite true, I speak 5 languages fluently and am able to understand basic Italian]. 

She quickly found out that the Norwegian learnt in school is completely different from the Haugesund and Karmoy dialects. She needed 3-4 months to really get to grips with the language and the routes. She found a place to live in Torvastad and loves her job and private life. Perhaps the 42-year old has put down roots.

-I like it here. The [my] social life is better here than in the Netherlands, according to the busdriver. 

She only knew the union representative on Facebook before moving. Nobody else. 

Learnt Norwegian first

It so happened that another Dutchman started at the same time as Mara. A total of three Dutch and two Germans work for the company. The thing they have in common is the fact that they learnt Norwegian before coming to Norway. Most come with their families. Mara is single.

The education system and a society where everybody has equal opportunities is tempting for some. Unemployment and bad economic times in large parts of Europe are another important cause for people to consider Norway. 

-It was one of my reasons to move too, even if I did have a steady job in the Netherlands before coming over. 

She realises it's expensive in Norway. That is compensated by the higher wages though. -I have as much money [at the end of the month] as I had in the Netherlands, says the 42-year old. 

******

So, there you have it: another interview with me. Another fifteen minutes of fame! The article continued about the company and how the company is faring this year (pluses and minuses etc.).

Oh dear...

I do apologise! You would think I had mended my ways and it certainly seemed that way, but in the end, I hadn't. I didn't visit any of your blogs and I didn't update my own. I even missed Photo on Sunday!! What my world is coming to? I don't know! 

But do you want to hear about the boring day to day life I lead? Getting up early, driving to work, working, driving home, feeding myself, watching television, going to bed? Because that is basically what I have been up to lately. Honestly. 

Although, honestly? I have been doing something else as well. I have been knitting as if it's going out of fashion. Which, by the look of all the magazines and books about knitting here in Norway is not likely to happen any time soon. Yes, I have been knitting socks. And lots of them. Five completed pairs so far (adult ones) and one children's sock, the other one isn't finished yet. All with the yarn I bought in Sweden or the Swedish yarn I bought in the Netherlands. 

The Swedish yarn I bought in the Netherlands is actually my favourite to knit with and I thought it would be easy peasy to find it over here! Not so much. Yes, I can find it, but only in boring colours like blue and yellow and green. And I prefer my sock wool in a variety of colours: three different coloured threads worsted together. Not one after the other (plentiful here in Norway), but at the same time. In the end I resorted to good old internet and after some serious searching I finally found an online thingymebob that now has an order for wool from yours truly. 

Because I have an order as well: one pair of men's socks size big. And he is not into purple or pink (which I still had), so new yarn it is: brown and blue and black and grey. Like the second pair from the left. 

But isn't that child's sock adorable??

Back to school

During the summer I was asked whether I wanted to do a course. A course where I would learn all about my job basically. And if I passed said course, I would earn up to 2 euros and hour more! Payment of the course would be easy: I would pay half, the union would pay half. So far so good.

The first evening of the course was during my holiday. As was the second evening. The third evening I missed, because I didn't realise it was a course night and then finally the fourth evening I made it to class. This week was to be the fifth evening. And I didn't go. Not because I couldn't, but because I can't afford it.

The problem is this: I moved to Norway late November last year. Which means I have been a member of the union for 10 months now. And you have to be a member for at least 1 year before any financial aid is forthcoming. Any thoughts about being extra nice to me can be forgotten, since they are already extra nice to members of our particular branch (usually you have to be a member for at least 3 years). Me having been a member of a Dutch union doesn't help either.

That is not the only part of the problem though. The other part is the fact that I don't get any holiday money, since I only starting earning this year! Which means that any holiday has to be paid for by me. I was told I had to take three weeks (which I did), but the financial repercussions will have to be carried by me.

My landlady has this strange thing about wanting her rent every month. And my body feels that food is quite nice to get once in a while. So, I have asked to do the course next year, when I will be eligible for financial help from the union, will have holiday money and will be more settled than I am now. Today I got an answer to my email and they will take it up on Monday. Hopefully with a result that is good to me! Otherwise I will need to get a loan from somewhere and that is something I wanted to avoid at all cost this year!

Oh, and before anybody asks: I did need the holiday. It was my first in several years!

PS: photos taken during a walk last Sunday. A long walk.