home sweet home!

This is probably the longest time I have waited inbetween new posts here... sorry to keep you all waiting! Let's just say that it has been a pretty busy last couple of weeks. The last time that I wrote, fall vacation was ending and I was heading back to school. Now we are in a new semester at school, which will last until Christmas... can you believe how fast the time has gone by?? I can't. We're still plugging away in my Norwegian class, but at a very slow pace. In the beginning I didn't like it so much, but now I'm beginning to realize that it's a good thing, because learning a language shouldn't be rushed... we're about to start Ch.5 this week, which means that we've only covered four chapters in the book in the last 2 months! Information is definitely soaking in better though, than it did in my class at UiO this summer. It amazes me how much I can understand now, even though I know I have a long road ahead of me, before I master the language completely. I got to meet Anders' grandmother and grandfather on his mom's side yesterday, they live in the same part of the city as us (only a walk away) and I could understand a lot of what they were saying... it was great to finally meet them!

So, we've now been living in our new apartment for an entire week now! WE LOVE IT. I really couldn't be happier at this apartment... it's in a great location and it's a good size apartment, for just the two of us. We've done a lot with it within the last week and it's starting to come along! We moved in on Saturday, October 16. It was an exhausted day for sure... only Anders, myself and his father were helping to move in and it was a lot for just the 3 of us to do! Anders' father rented a moving truck for us, so we were able to get all of our stuff in one trip, which was nice. There isn't an elevator in our apartment, because it's only 4 floors, so we had to carry everything up 3 flights of stairs... it was rough and we were all extrememly sore afterwards, but it was all worth it! I stayed up until the late hours of morning to organize everything and once it was done, it looked really nice! Over the last week we have added things to the place, like a TV, microwave, washing machine and other miscellaneous things... now we just need to decorate! The walls are pretty bare and I'd like to get some "Feng shui" up in here, maybe some plants and flowers (now that I will soon be working at Mester Grønn!). Now that we have our own apartment now, I've been wanting to really get into cooking and baking. I don't think that I'm bad at cooking, but I want to learn some new recipes and improve my creativity. It will be fun!

Here are some pictures of the new place:

Beginning of a sunset in Oppsal!

Walking onto our balcony...

Master bedroom.

Living room area... oh, look! Anders & Gustav ;)

Dining area (eventually will get a table!).

Bathroom.

Kitchen.

2nd bedroom.

Entry way, walking into the apartment.

Street view from the balcony.

I still don't have my visa yet, but I am still patiently waiting... and waiting some more! My boss and I had discussed that she had thought that I could work for "free" at the shop until my visa was finalized and then she would reimburse me... but, she's not allowed to do that. But, I'm guarenteed the job she said, so I'm praying it won't take much longer until I can start working part time. That will be nice. It will only be for 15-20 hours, but it'll be enough for the moment, since I'm still attending class 20 hours a week too. I'll take what I can get!

I've been thinking a lot about my future lately here, including my decisions about school and working... I was able to talk with our "rådgiver" at school (which pretty much a guidance counselor) and she opened my eyes to a new perspective on things. Although I have been patient here, I have also been trying to speed things up and making future plans, when they might not necessarily be the most realistic choices for me. For example, I was thinking to apply for grad school at UiO for next fall, but I'm reconsidering, because the program is entirely in English and would that benefit me if I am planning on staying in Norway?? If I want to work with kids and adolescents, I have no choice but to become fluent in Norwegian, so my main priority, for as long as it takes, is for me to learn Norwegian... I don't need to jump the gun and go back to school right away. I have 2 more tests to pass in Norwegian, until I'm considered "fluent" and this will take at least another year or more for me to do, IF I work hard. If I am able to accomplish these tasks, then I could go for a Masters in Norwegian! This will open so many doors to me, because there are several more programs that are taught in Norwegian that I'm more interested in... I believe it will just benefit me more in the future. So, for the time being I need to focus of learning this language and working part-time, whenever I can. Who knows, maybe I will get lucky within the next year and get offered a full-time job somewhere! If this happens then I can apply for my work permit and just work, and maybe not need to go back to school... so I guess we'll see!

First things are first though, as soon as possible I was told, I need to get my education from the US "certified" here in Norway. It is a pretty simple process, but can take many months... I just need to send to this organization called NOKUT my school papers and they will decide what my education is equivalent to here in Norway. Whenever I have a conversation with people about my degree in Outdoor Leadership, many are beyond confused, which makes me a little nervous... I'm not sure what NOKUT will decide what my degree will be called here in Norway, but I really don't care as long as it still counts for a Bachelors. I didn't go to school for 4 years and have to pay back thousands of dollars for the next 2 decades for nothing! There's hope though, I just have to remain positive. I think I want to start to volunteer somewhere too, to take up some free time that I have... not sure where, but I'm looking into it now. It would be nice to start networking with people and to keep practicing my Norwegian... I also could do some meaningful work, which is something I've always wanted to do too. It's not always about the money... so, pretty much my plans now are just to keep attending Norwegian classes, study hard, work part-time whenever I can, help out with the bills on the apartment, try to save a little money and just enjoy my life here in Norway! It's a beautiful country to live in and I have a lot to be grateful for... I have the rest of my life to work full-time and to be busy, so I'm going to try to relax a little bit and take things as they come! :)