My creations:
I'm now going on my 6th week of 'working' at the kindergarten! I'm having a blast there too. It was natural that in the beginning I was pretty nervous and a little skeptic, but I've really been enjoying myself! Last week on the days where I was supposed to be at the kindergarten anyways for my internship, I was asked by the director of the kindergarten if I wanted to work as a substitute!! So, I worked (for real) last Thursday and Friday, which means I'll be earning a little bit of money every time that I am called in to work as a substitute, which is a plus! The director must really like my progress, because I've only been there a little over a month and now I'm on her contact list, which is a HUGE step for me in the right direction when it comes time for me to start searching for and applying for full-time jobs in the summer! Although it would be great to be offerred a job at the kindergarten that I'm at now, relistically I'll probably be able to remain just a substitute, nothing more, because the kindergarten is relatively small and already has full time people that work there. The director also works at another kindergarten too and I'm sure that she has lots of connections with other kindergartens in Oslo so I'm sure, if anything, that I could get a good recommendation from her and maybe a foot hole in the right direction!
I just registered to take the next Norwegian proficiency test, which occurs at the end of May/beginning of June! I have to take two tests: one that is for reading and writing and another that is oral. If I pass both tests then it will also give me another huge advantage when I start applying for jobs. Majority of jobs require non-Norwegians to have passed the level test that I'll be taking as well as having other job experience already in Norway, which I have been accomplishing already! It's great that on top of the flower shop I'll be able to add that I have also been interning in a kindergarten and have substituted a little bit too. If I decide to apply to kindergartens then most ask that you have already had experience working in a kindergarten. I've also started learning more about the troubled youth system here in Norway, which is obviously something that interests me tremendously. I feel like I will need to have lived here longer than I already have though to completely enter into the system, because I'll have to be able to communicate wihtout much errors in Norwegian to do this. This is my ultimate goal though.. I definitely can see myself working with troubled kids here in Norway too, but now I just have to take what I can get and keep on opening doors and networking with people! I would be completely satisfied if I was able to find a full-time in a kindergarten for a year, or for however long.. I love working with kids, so I would enjoy myself either way! It would be a great start. I need to find full-time work though to change my visa to a working one. Right now I only have a student visa which allows me to work only 20 hours a week, which isn't going to be enough once my class is over.. I'm hoping that by the time I travel back to the US this summer (at the end of July) I will have found a job.. it doesn't hurt to be a little optimsitic!
All month the weather has been pretty unpredictable. Earlier in the month it felt like spring, then we would get a snow storm and then the pattern would start all over again. I don't know if it has been the weather, or not, but I haven't felt that great all month.. I've had this continuous cold for the last 3 weeks and it has been going through stages. First it was normal flu symptoms, then it was severe migraines and a sore throat and now it's a stuffy nose and coughing constantly!! It's frustrating. I really hope that I'll get better soon. The weather over the last week though has been getting warmer and I think spring is definitely coming to stay now.. or I can only hope! I can't wait until we'll be able to use our balcony to sit out in the sun and relax. I'm pretty sure that we are going to buy some balcony furniture this weekend, which I'm excited about!
Next Friday marks the beginning of Easter vacation here for me! Anders, myself and friends are traveling to Trysil (the place I visited last summer, where Anders' family has a cabin) and we're staying all weekend on one of Norway's most popular mountains. Unfortunately I won't be snowboarding/skiing along with the majority of everybody else, but I look forward to a weekend away to relax and do some hiking with others who won't be snowboarding/skiing either. We'll only be gone for 2 nights, but I have the whole week free from school and work, which the whole country has free too. Easter is taken very seriously here and everyone gets vacation! It's definitely good timing, because my body needs some major R&R after being sick for so long..
I'm looking foward to coming home in the summer for my sister's wedding! I hope that it won't be a problem that I will be gone for 2 weeks on my search for finding a job.. but it is what it is! Anders and I are also going to try to take another 1 week vacation at the end of summer/beginning of fall when it's off-peak season for flying. I have no idea where we will go yet, but I have many ideas! There are just TOO many places that I want to see, because I haven't traveled anywhere else in Europe! Wherever we decide to go will be a new experience :o)
Sun setting outside our apartment this evening.. what a view!
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