American in Norway

Having been an ex pat in Norway..TWICE.. I can tell you a thing or two about TRYING to land a job over here...  it AIN'T EASY. Now, this is MY experience.. (.. & the experience of all of my ex pat girlfriends over here.)    There are of course those.. with some wonderful education in a specialized field who will tell you that getting a job over here is EASY....   maybe for THEM is was...  for the rest of us... not so much. When I arrived the first time.. a bright & bushy tailed 25 year old... with a double major & a minor.. 3 years work experience.. & 3 languages... I thought it would be a BREEEZE landing a job.  That is what my new husband told me. Why wouldn't someone want me?  In the U.S. most employers think that if you have a degree.. you can be TAUGHT to do anything...  Oh you have a BA in English?  sure you can work in HR.. or sales etc. Not so much here... In Norway.. MOST people work with their degrees... not so much flip flopping as in the U.S. I hav

OMG! I have had the best day ever. I don't actually start my new job intim May 1st. But my new boss co workers have been AWESOME.... Including me in everything possible. Today I attended a meeting for all of the Norwegian managers.... Super frest group... Everyone was warm & welcoming.... The invitation started by æking me if i wanted to attend the meeting.... (of course) Then...an invitation to dinner ( I never turn down a night in Oslo...). Then it was suggested I stay in the city... At a lovely 5 star hotel.... Umm ok, being the team player that I am... I agreed :-) Half way through the meeting... We started talking about social media...how to use it....Ect. Started talking about i phones, i pads. & all of the applications etc.... All of a sudden....I felt like I was at the Oprah show.... They started passing out iPads to ALL of US.... OMG... Are you kidding? I haven't Even started working for you yet! New job, new boss, new team.....I Lo

Eva F I N A L L Y   lost her second tooth. My children are just like me.  They like to hold onto these baby teeth as long as possible.  I still had a baby tooth or two in ninth grade.. (weird little tidbit for ya.) Eva lost her tooth at school... & then she LOST it again..for real... is in NO TOOTH for the tooth fairy. I explained that the Tooth Fairy knows what a nice little girl Eva is... & I am sure if we just leave a little note... explaining how the tooth was lost... that the TF would still leave her a little something. (There are so many weird little things you don't think about when you marry someone from a different country/culture... How do they celebrate Christmas?  Easter? What happens when you lose a tooth? Growing up, we always left our tooth under our pillow for the tooth fairy.  Here in Norway...they leave the tooth in a glass of water... usually by a window.) Back to Eva's tooth... So I get little Miss ready for bed... we write her note...  &