Monday, 2 December 2013

The green grass

The road markers went up in late September
They help mark the road in heavy snow
When I first told people I wanted to move to Canada, one of the things that was often said to me: but it's cold in Canada! Then when I moved my focus from Canada to Norway, one of the things that was often said to me was: but it's cold in Norway. 

Moving to a country where the temperatures are usually below the temperatures of your home country is something else. At least that's what it sounds like. Since there are a lot of Dutch people living in Norway, even on the same road as me (I still haven't met them). And they all knew what they were getting into. Cold and dark! 

It may be cold, but also very pretty
Yet on the other hand, during the summer, the sky where I live doesn't go black in the night and stars are harder to see. Because a dark navy is all the night is capable of during the summer. Further North the sun doesn't even set at all, giving people a month or two/three of perpetual daylight. Of course, right now it's perpetual night!


Oh yes, that's mine! Honestly!!
But it isn't just the dark and the cold where I live. Since I live close to the sea, rain is a usual occurence. Very usual in fact. Rain coats and suits are a must if you live here. Because life doesn't stop because it rains. During the winter that rain will often turn to snow, but not so much that we are covered in feet of snow from December to March. An hour inland though and it's another matter altogether: a lot more snow than we have here. 

I moved to Norway because of the cold. Because I do better in cold than in hot. And to be honest, I like it here. Yes, of course I would love to go and see sunshine on occasion. Warm myself beside the pool with a cool glass of beer. For a holiday. Because actually: the grass in my garden is green enough!

Second Blooming
This was a prompted post by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie and Gretchen at Second Blooming.

Winners

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:
4 2 
Timestamp: 2013-12-02 11:44:23 UTC

Well, the deadline has passed and five people replied to my post. So, the random generator randomly generated 2 numbers from 1 to 5 to give me two winners. And above you can see which two numbers won. Of course I then had to cross those with who they actually were and guess what...

Debby and Ginnie Marie, you won! As soon as the calendar arrives, I will be sending one each to you!
Congratulations.

Sunday, 1 December 2013

Photo on Sunday 2013-30

Four Sundays before Christmas the Advent period starts. Which makes today the first of those Sundays! And traditionally one candle is lit on the first Advent. Next Sunday it will be two, then three and then four. Until at Christmas you burn all four plus another (bigger) one in the middle. 

The Christmas season is upon us!

Saturday, 30 November 2013

So...

The forecast for this weekend was rain. Which was logical since I had a visitor arriving! Yes, another visit from my sister. She will be here for the weekend only and return home again on Monday. Yesterday started off great: it was pouring down! And it just kept pouring all day. Until about 1pm. When the pour became a drizzle and then stopped. For a while. Because then it was time for another pour. By the time I picked her up from the airport however, it was dry again. 

Our first stop was the supermarket to get some supplies for the weekend. We do need to eat you know! We figured pizza would be good for our first night. So, we bought everything we needed to make nice pizzas. I had (sort of) forgotten however, that I hadn't yet done the dishes and in order for us to have home-made pizza...

Anyway, dinner for us was potato chips and nuts and a simple sandwich. The pizza would wait until today. After I had done the dishes obviously! Which I did almost first thing in the morning. I so hate it. So so hate it! Fortunately my sister did the drying bit and tidying up bit (if she could find where to tidy it) and we got that done in good time. 

Then it was time for the Christmas market in the center of Haugesund. It's not big and there are quite a lot of food stalls. Too many actually in my opinion. But there were some other really nice stands as well, one which provided the both of us with lovely angel earrings. We then took the bus back to where I had parked the car and did a little bout of shopping there. The thing is though: neither my sister nor I are real shoppers. In the sense of browsing everywhere and not getting a thing. We know what we want and when we do, we just go out and buy it. We did however both get a lovely Advent candle holder. So we can burn those candles over the Advent!

When we got home we opened the package I had received from the Netherlands. Lots of peppernuts, tough-tough and white M's. Oh, and an almond letter. I think my sister and I will have a really nice night tonight!!!

Thursday, 28 November 2013

Takk skal du ha

As you read in yesterday's post, I have been in Norway a full year now. In that year a lot of things changed. Getting used to a new language, new people, new ways of work, new habits. It was really tiring at times, but it has been a real experience. The thing is though: I couldn't have done it without all the people over here who helped me or the support from family and friends (even if they never wanted me to leave in the first place).

So, takk skal dere ha: Papa and Mama for standing by me, even though you hated the thought of yet another daughter taking up residence in another country. Takk skal du ha Gera for believing in me and loving the fact that her big sister was taking up residence in another country. Takk skal du ha Brother and family for the support you offered. I hope to see all of you soon again!

Takk skal dere ha Pepperfly, Pepperfly-man and Peppermaggot for not only taking in, but loving my monsters and looking after them in a perfect way: giving them hugs and kisses, treats and the occasional trick. Takk skal du ha C and family for silently being there, supporting me during the move and of course afterwards as well. Takk skal dere ha to former colleagues. You showed me I was not indispensable after all, although I know your lives are a bit emptier now (she says with great faith in herself).

Takk skal du ha John Terje, for helping me in my first few days in my new country. It would have been ten times more difficult for me otherwise and you made it all so easy! Takk skal du ha Arie for helping me those first few weeks, with the language, with my belongings. It was nice to have a Dutch 'husband' to talk to. Takk skal dere ha to all my new colleagues who helped me with everything connected with my new job: routes, buses and all things related. Takk skal du ha CS who invited me to celebrate the most important Norwegian holiday with her. Takk skal dere ha to my other new-found friends who invited me to their coffee mornings, parties, hikes, outings and even a holiday to Sweden. 

Takk skal dere ha to all my blog friends near and far. You stood by me, gave me encouragement, laughed at my adventures, cried with me over bad things. I have only met one of you so far, but I feel I know you all personally! Takk skal dere ha to all my anonymous readers, who I don't know, but who are still interested in me! 

Takk skal dere ha!


Second Blooming
This was a prompted post by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie and Gretchen at Second Blooming.

If you still want to have a chance of winning a lovely desk-top calendar with photos from my first year in Norway, click on this link and leave a comment before Midnight November 30th!

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

It was on a Tuesday

 
And it was early in the morning: 3.30am early! On that Tuesday. I woke up, packed the last few things and went down. Couldn't get any food down and shortly after 4am I was taken to the airport. Where I did eat a little. I checked in, then checked my luggage in. Went through security and then I was on my way. On my way to a new life in Norway. 

Those first few nights were bad. The bed was bad, the duvet was too thin and too short, I was nervous, I was jittery, I was a lot of things, just not relaxed. Once I moved into my own little place and got my own bed, it was better. Yet it still took a few weeks before I really was sleeping soundly again. When I moved out to the sticks it was even better. Hardly any traffic, my own bed, all of my own things. I sleep wonderfully now!

I refused to speak English, it was Norwegian from the start. But because my Norwegian was already quite good, everybody talked to me at jetspeed. And the only thing that was quite good was my Norwegian talking, my Norwegian understanding was lagging behind by a day! Fortunately, my decision to only speak Norwegian, meant that I soon picked it up. In leaps and bounds I understood more and more. Was able to say more and more and especially able to convey my feelings. Today I understand a lot. Language jokes elude me so far. But I understand most now and I have even lost my fear of the phone!

Work was slow at the beginning. Because of red tape I wasn't able to start driving immediately, which meant that I had to sit on the bus and learn routes. Again and again the same routes. But, on the plus side it meant that I actually got to learn most routes! Particularly the school runs can be quite tricky, but I managed to learn quite a few during my training. Once I finally started driving in January I can now proudly say I only took a wrong turn twice and both times I realised immediately. There is of course a difference between the job I had and the job I have and I must admit I still miss my old job at times. But overall I love driving here. The surroundings are beautiful and the passengers in general are nice and friendly. As are my colleagues by the way! Nice and friendly.

Finances have been going up and down all year. When I first arrived I had lots, but that soon dwindled when a new car had to be bought, double rent had to be paid, furniture had to be gotten. A holiday here and a few days away there didn't help either. However, I am a big believer in budgets and that certainly helped. I am nowhere near the amount I had when I arrived, but I can say that at the end of each month I still have a substantial amount of money in my account that goes straight into savings. And usually it's about the same amount I saved up while living in the Netherlands. And that for a year without holiday pay!

Then there were the visitors: my sister was the first to show up (last Christmas, she will be back this Friday), my friend Pepperfly and her son (see photo), my parents and last but not least my friend C. I went out with new found friends, went on holiday with new found friends, there were parties, meetings, hikes. It has been anything but boring. The first year in Norway has flown by. Hopefully next year will be equally exciting!

If you want to read last year's post again: click here! And if you still want to have a shot at winning my desk-top calendar, filled with photos from my first year in Norway, leave a comment before Midnight November 30th on this post!

Monday, 25 November 2013

Brave

On Saturday evening we had our Christmas party. I got picked up by a colleague who lives quite close by and we made our way to the venue. In previous years they had organised the do at a local hotel, where there would be several Christmas parties going on at once. Which was never that nice, since there were a lot of strangers, drinks were expensive and people would therefore make their way to hotel rooms to drink their own stuff. So, this year they decided the do would be held in another type of venue where we would organise the whole thing ourselves. 

Those ribs were yum!!
Well, it was more like the staff parties I used to organise. But with more resources of course. And it was great fun. Everybody came dressed up in their finest: men in suits with ties, women with nice dresses and of course I was no exception. I had a lovely black dress that shimmered (yes, a new one) and my fantastic red shoes. Plus I had found my Christmas hat, added some bells and was raring to go.

The food was proper Norwegian Christmas food: ribs with crackling on, which made me go back for seconds and stick meat, which is lamb/mutton on sticks that has been dried, then rehydrated and cooked and served. Not my favourite. Dessert was Queen Maud pudding, which is named after the first Queen Norway had after its independence from Sweden. 

The drinks were cheap: Turkey prices as they said. And I tried several: white wine (2), dishwater (1) and a whiskey, courtesy of a colleague. The dishwater was something I started with and contained vodka, sprite and two other ingredients. It contained such a kick however that I was already half drunk by the time I had finished that!! So, I quit that and stuck to what I knew. 

Tide's bravest driver (on the right)
Halfway through the evening there were prices handed out. Or more accurately: certificates. They looked at the past year and tried to see who fit what description best. When the host came to the bravest driver, he started talking about seeing nature for a long time and not expecting to see the actual driver make it to the end. He was however very impressed when said driver did make it. Nearly on hands and feet, but the finish line was met. Somewhere in that story he mentioned Aurlandsdalen and I realised he was talking about me! Another unexpected price!

After all that, the music started and I danced a bit, switched to soda, danced a bit more, took photos and at the end of the night, me and a colleague were taken to a hotel where we would stay the night. It was a good night. 

Sunday, 24 November 2013

Photo on Sunday 2013-29

A few Sundays ago I was looking for a photo to use for Photo on Sunday, when I saw this view. It's the view from where I sit at the computer and I knew it was going to end up on Photo on Sunday that day. 

Well, it didn't, nor did the photo I took only half an hour later! Because I was too busy doing other things, I forgot about both photos. Until I was looking for this week's Photo on Sunday and came across them again. 

If you look closely at especially the second photo, you can see the rough sea behind the houses and beyond that an island. It was a blustery day that day!!

Saturday, 23 November 2013

WANT WANT WANT!!!!

You may know I love Christmas. Which for some reason is not usually spent in the bosom of my family, but on my own in front of the telly. I like it that way, so don't feel sorry for me! My love for Christmas extends to anything decorative that looks pretty. When I moved from the Netherlands I had four boxes filled with Christmas related things. Baubles and Christmas lights, snowmen, Santas, reindeer. Since the move I have managed to acquire a bit more. It still fills only four boxes, but that has mainly to do with the fact I am now displaying my Christmas films on a permanent basis.

Of those, I own about 225. I think. It could be more! I've got the weird and the wonderful, the old and the new, life action and cartoon. An example (well 2) of the weird must be Santa Claus and Santa Claus conquers the Martians. The first being a Mexican film that has static white reindeer, a devil and a weird heaven-like residence for Santa. The second being a early 70's film heavily influenced by the cold war, but with fantastic (sarcasm here people) make-up and costume!

The examples of the wonderful are The Christmas Card and a Muppet Family Christmas. I only have the first in a region 1 version, which means I cannot watch it very often (I have to take my second dvd-player out and hook it up), but it is a lovely story. A soldier coming back from Afghanistan or Iraq and looking for the woman who wrote him a Christmas card. A Muppet Family Christmas may be a television special, but it is such a lovely story: the whole gang coming together and celebrating Christmas. The songs, the jokes, the Muppets!

I have several old films in my collection too: Christmas in Connecticut, which is so much better than it's nineties remake. White Christmas which is a must! We're no Angels and Miracle on 34th Street. And then there are the cartoon films: Arthur Christmas and Charlie Brown amongst them. 

And then there is the long list of films still on my wish list. Some I have seen on television, but are not (yet) available in Europe, others are completely new to me and a surprise. And at some point I hope they will be in my collection. To be watched all year round, otherwise I go mad at Christmas.

I think Oscar Wilde said it best: I can resist anything but temptation!

Second Blooming
This was a prompted post by Spin Cycle. Thank you Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie and Gretchen at Second Blooming.

If you still want a shot at the desk-top calendar, make sure to visit my post Calendar and leave a comment! Before November 30th!

Habits

Every country has its own habits concerning the Christmas season. In the Netherlands people would either get a Christmas bonus/thirteenth month or a Christmas box filled with goodies. Here in Norway it is done a bit differently. 

As part of the economic input of people, taxation on wages in November is lower than in any other month. Half as a matter of fact, leaving people with a lot of dosh to spend on Christmas. Like on Christmas curtains, crockery, food, gifts, whatever. And it is a booming business as well! Which is nice, since I like Christmas.

Then there is another habit: the Christmas dinner (julebord, literally Christmas table) organised by companies all over the country. The company I work for is no different, although it is organised by some colleagues instead of management. And as all other social things: people dress up! 

So, black dress it is, red shoes and where on earth is my Christmas hat???

Remember the calendar! If you want to have a shot at winning one, click on Calendar and comment! Give-away ends November 30th!