So, about Norway then...

The house I live in now.
See the snow on the roof??

As promised I am going to show you a few photos of where I live now and what I have done over the past few days. Don't expect too many photos though, there are only two, but I promise there will be more coming up in the next few days/weeks/months. 

So, what did I do from Wednesday onwards? On Wednesday morning I went down to work again where I was to meet a new colleague/union representative. He is actually the person who has found me my new place and was about to do a lot more for me. 

First of all he drove me to the police station where I needed to get my residency permit. I had to wait, since there were two sets of people ahead of me, but once I got to the desk, I soon had my residency permit. In the books I have it says that I need to renew it every five years, but I think recent law changes have resulted in me having a residency permit for life! In other words: I don't have to renew it, unless I leave the country for a period of more than 6 months. 

After I phoned up J, he came and picked me up and drove me to the tax office. It doubles up as a town register as well, so that was two things in one! I applied for my skattekort (tax card) and registered as a new inhabitant in Haugesund. We were then told that the social security number and tax card will take about three weeks. Which causes a few difficulties. I need to give my ssn to my boss for paycheck purposes and I need to give it to the bank in order to be able to open a bank account! So, I will have to wait three weeks before I can open an account. Ah well, I can still use my Dutch account.

From what I can gather, I will have all you can see that
has windows in

Then, yesterday morning the moving lorry from the Netherlands arrived. It should have gone to a storage facility, but it was extremely hard to agree with the storage holder about the time and in the end J stepped in again and suggested a different and free place. So, instead of the storage facility close by, my stuff is now about an hour away in a former bus garage, owned by the company and not doing much. There were a couple of things I didn't leave there though: my tv and my matresses. They are now clogging up my temporary room. Hopefully I will be able to move in tomorrow and then I think my landlord has offered me the use of his van to actually collect the things I want (Christmas stuff for example, clothes, linen, a little food and several more things)

Today I finally got a phone and even though it's only a pre-paid thing, they made an incredible fuss, even wanting to see ID! Ridiculous. Jason Bourne would have been in trouble before he had left the airport!! Anyway. This afternoon I also made an appointment with a doctor. No, nothing serious, I just need a doctor's note that I can drive: he/she will check my eyes and ears, see if I am sane enough (I guess) and then hopefully give me the note. After that I need to go back to the police and get my driver's note, which is an addition to my driver's licence and allows me to drive professionally!

In a nutshell...

The monsters

Cowering under the bed

Now, I will update you all about my exploits tomorrow, where I will hopefully have some photos to show you as well, but I thought it would be nice to show you how my monsters have taken to living with my friend. She is actually such a good friend, she is sending me photos on a regular basis! Which I love of course. 

A few days later, it was an empty house though

Now I might have told you that I went over to see them before I left for Norway. I was unable to find Wuppie, since he had hidden under the blankets and Linette was even harder to find: she was cowering under the guest bed.

Keeping a keen eye on Mickey, not trusting him much

Since then though, they are getting better and 'mingling' more with the family. Wuppie hangs out with Mickey, albeit at a safe distance and Linette has actually come down to spend a quiet evening on Pepperfly's lap. Unless she moves of course, in which case Linette is scared off again. 

Mickey

Where I live now there is a cat, but since it's mostly an outside cat, she is extremely skittish. She is very beautiful though: very bushy. If I get the chance I will take a photo, but I have a funny feeling that will be hard!

T is for...

Tornado

When I went to Canada in October of 2011, I had to change planes in Chicago. I had to wait a long time. A very long time! And when I have to wait, I get bored and start looking around me. And this is what I found: the sign for 'severe weather' and the little picture of a tornado.

I have seen some bad weather in my time: a green and yellow sky heralding a massive thunderstorm, snow storms, rain and wind storms, but fortunately I have never seen or been in a tornado! Now, the most famous person ever caught up in a tornado was of course Miss Galen (Dorothy to her friends) and her little dog Toto, as told by Frank L Baum.

This was the letter T for ABC Wednesday. Why not join?

Uphill

Last view of the Netherlands for a while

It was early this morning: 3.30am early. But since I needed to catch the 8am flight and nowadays you need to be at the airport almost three days before flying, we wanted to be on time. After a small breakfast at the airport (I couldn't eat at home: it was 4am!), we made our way to the gate. I shed a few tears and I think my parents did too. I know it is hard for them: two daughters abroad. After saying our goodbyes I went through and of course the beeping went off again. Always the same: my bra. I had to go back, take off my shoes and cardigan and try again. But again: beep! They searched me and then decided I needed a bit more thorough search and then they took me to a little fold-out room (!), where I had to lift my shirt so they could see there wasn't anything but the bra that caused the beeping.

I made it on the way to the gate and with five minutes till boarding (it was a ten minute walk) I had to wait over half an hour before boarding, since the crew hadn't shown up yet! But they finally arrived, we boarded and about 20 minutes late we were in the air. Half full: it could have fit in a bus! We did arrive on time though, so that was good.

The coastal bus

From Stavanger airport I made it to Stavanger bus terminal where I then had to wait nearly two hours before the bus to Haugesund. It was worth it though: beautiful landscape, glorious weather and a great journey. Two hours later I made it to the Haugesund busstation. And there I found out it wasn't only the busterminal for travellers, it was also the busterminal for drivers and buses! In other words: I don't have far to go to work: 900 meters or little over half a mile.

View from the ferry

As I was at the busstation anyway, I thought I would meet my new boss. No point in going back and forth all the time. I met several of the people working at the office, but don't ask me to recite their names, I think I can only come up with one. My excuse: tiredness, Norwegian pronounciation and just plain terrible remembering names in general. Always have and I try to repeat names and still come up quite short. Anyway...

After that I called the owner of the house and we agreed to meet in 25 minutes. He said it would be about 5 minutes to his home, but he didn't count the fact it was uphill most of the way, that I am in no way anywhere near in good condition and that I had about 30 kg with me! I had to rest half way up and we arrived almost simultaneously. 

My luggage

My 'home' until the weekend consists of the guest room, a guest bathroom, a small living room and I can use their kitchen. I will just consider this to be a holiday, with added work! I will be fine and this Sunday at the latest I will be in my new home. So, tonight will be my first night in Norway, starting my new life. Wish me luck!!

Empty

Another early day for us, since today was the day the move was actually going to take place. At least as far as my belongings were concerned. At 8am, me and my parents were already at work to finish off the last few little things that needed doing. By 9am two more people had joined us and at 9.10am the moving lorry arrived. 

First it was time for coffee and after that we all started to load the lorry as soon as we could. And I must say, an hour later it was finished. Everything was on board and we were just enjoying a last coffee before the lorry driver would be off. Then my father yelled from upstairs: we forgot something! Turned out to be my printer that had been waiting all that time! Fortunately the lorry wasn't gone yet and we were able to get it on. It left soon after. (And then we found something else we forgot, that's life!)

On its way to Norway already!

After that it was time for me to go to the town hall to officially emigrate. I couldn't do it before, because it has to happen as late as possible. Twenty minutes later it was official. I am no longer a citizen of the Netherlands! When I returned home, two cars were full to the brim with more stuff for the skip, so me and my friend C drove down there to get rid of everything. She left soon after coming back home again, while my parents and me continued cleaning and clearing. By the time it was 2.30pm however, we had all but finished. 

So sad to see the empty house

I said goodbye to the neighbours, locked up the house and we drove to the housing association, where I had to hand over the keys. We thing the house and garden are clean enough, but it will be up to the housing association to agree with us and then give me back the deposit (with interest). I think I should be alright. 

We were back at my parents' at 4pm, all three of us tired and weary, although we all felt better after a nice shower. Tomorrow will be another early day, since tomorrow will be the day I fly to Stavanger! So exciting!!!

How to move...

My living room

It was 8am on Saturday morning when the first people arrived to help me clean, clear and carry. Which was a good thing, since even though we had done a lot on Friday and I had carried all those boxes down on Friday night, there was still an awful lot to do. My father was his pessimistic self: 'we will never make it' and I (who look a lot like my Dad in lots of respects) was more like: 'we will make it'.

Quite a bit of furniture made its way to the dump, in fact the trailer was stacked so high, I was a bit worried about police stopping them! Mostly it was furniture that was old, or decrepid or both. Plus carpet tiles, linoleum and lots more bits and bobs. By the time that was gone, the place already looked a lot emptier. Of course that didn't last, because we had to move all the furniture from upstairs to downstairs. I was still packing some boxes, I was helping with shifting things, I was getting lunch. My colleagues, friends and family in the mean time did a lot of heavy lifting and carrying. My friend Pepperfly and her husband took two wardrobes and a bed apart. My friend C carried all the heavy bookboxes down and was on my case to all the paperwork that still needed sorting.

Hard at work to make some art

In the mean time my Mum kept on cleaning, with the help of someone or other. The fridge was being collected, the washer was being stuffed in a car, as was the drier. Carpets were taken up, I nearly drowned someone (I had shouted to look out, when I emptied a hot water bottle through the window), my Mum kept cleaning and making coffee for the troops.

When I went home with C last night, I was completely pooped, even though I probably did the least amount of work! After some good pancakes and three glasses of lovely wine (it could have been vinegar, but it contained alcohol, so I was happy), both me and C hit the sack, we were both done with for the day.

Guess what this is...

Today was a bit different. Yes, I woke up early, but was able to read a book before family mayhem started. Then we spent a big part of the morning doing crafts, using small plastic thingies to make an image, then ironing over it (C's hubby) and ending up with a lovely little momento. I made a tulip and the Norwegian flag. It was a great way to spend the morning. Four of us (trying to) doing that and one watching television. And then later that afternoon, despite the storm, they took me to my parents. I will see C again tomorrow, when the mover will arrive. It's getting really close now!

Up and down

30 boxes and crates: very tiring work!

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to make me fitter, it probably is a house with stairs like I have now. Nothing against them at all, unless you have over 40 boxes upstairs that need to be downstairs! Which I had.  So, yesterday after my parents left, I watched the final episode of Masterchef Australia (and yea, Andy won!), had some breadrolls and milk and went back to work. 

In between I got phone calls from people about my washing machine and my fridge/freezer and I am happy to report: both of them have been sold and will be picked up tomorrow! More room to move about!!! But I also went up and down that staircase, carrying box after box after box. In the end over 30 boxes made it down there, some heavier than others. There are still some book boxes upstairs, but I ran out of room to put them, so that will have to wait until the fridge has been picked up.

In two hours time colleagues will be arriving and I hope to have all the flooring tiles out of the smallest room and outside, ready to be taken to the tip. The shed needs emptying and upstairs is still a bit of a warzone, but I am making progress and with all the other help coming, I should be fine. With the empasis on should of course!

Friday

I spent the night at my parents' place and actually went to bed early. I was pooped! I am not that used to being on my feet all day long and I felt it! Of course, going to bed early also means waking up early and this morning was no exception: I got up at 6am.

Today more packing is needed, although I am glad to say, the kitchen is nearly done. Only a few bits and bobs (otherwise known as plates and stuff) still need to be packed. Upstairs most of it is also packed already, bar a lot of smaller things. And then it just needs tidying up a lot upstairs, so we can get ready to clean the lot.

My Mum is coming with me this morning to continue to clean. My Dad will come over this afternoon and probably do a lot of the electrical stuff and removing from walls stuff. But I am hopeful that by the time it's Saturday, it will mostly be fluent clearing and cleaning. Fortunately several friends and colleagues are coming over to help, so it should make it a bit easier on the three of us.

Well, I am ready to put my shoes on and hit the road home.

The list of things to do

The list of things to do doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. In fact it seems to get longer by the day! Which is annoying to say the least. Mind you, the big things are now crossed off: I quit my job and my current home, I found a new home for me and for my cats (thanks to new and old friends), I dealt with financial and other things and basically that list is done.

The list about the house however gets longer and longer. And I have decided to make a proper list of it, because breaking it down in little pieces is better than just saying: the house needs to be empty and clean. Because that will take forever. 

Fortunately my parents will be coming over today and help me do a lot of those small niggly things. And the more small niggly things I can cross off, the bigger my smile will get. Then on Saturday, family, friends and colleagues will come over and help me get everything organised, cleaned and cleared away. 

It is getting more and more exciting every day now. Only five more nights, four of those will be spent at my parents' and one of them at my friend C's house. In other words: last night was the last time I slept in my 'old' home! Yesterday was also the last time I worked for Connexxion Tours, even though I am still officially in their employ (that doesn't stop until the end of November). I handed in my keys and other stuff that needed handing in and that was it. Nearly 14 years (3 months short) have gone by in a flash. 

However, the list and the chores first now.

S is for...

Stortinget

When I was in Oslo in April of this year, I visited the 'Storting' or the Parliament. A lovely building smack bang in the center of Oslo. And because it was Saturday they had some guided tours going. It didn't cost anything, but there were only three of them that day. I managed to get on the second tour.

The first thing we had to do was go through security, leave bags and coats (but not cameras fortunately) and wait for the guide. She was a lovely young woman who spoke perfect English and since most people on the tour, including the Norwegians themselves, spoke good English, the tour was done in English and Norwegian was only used for one family with some young teens.

The former Upper House, no longer in use as such

We got to see the original constitution (yellowish photo), the Lower House (compare to House of Commons), the former Upper House (compare to House of Lords) and got explanations about kings, politics and the building itself.

It was a very interesting tour that gave a little insight into Norwegian politics. So, if you are ever in the area: try and take a tour (Saturdays only).

This is the letter S for ABC Wednesday. Why not join?