Well, here's another huge update for you all. It's been a while but it has been difficult it get cheap internet access. Margrethe and I are visiting Oslo for the week and I have come back to Sandvika to take advantage of the free Internet access on offer at BI. It's been a pretty busy few weeks since moving to Haugesund. Hopefully I can give a little insight into what it has been like.
Haugesund as many of you now realise is not a very big city (see links page for more information). I think it has a population of around 30,000 people, so it is rather difficult to find work there. I spent the first week getting myself organised and visiting all of thte employment agencies. They all had pretty much the same story - The job market is very competitive at the moment and it really helps if you can speak Norwegian. So on this advice I enrolled in an intensive Norwegian course to begin in mid August. It runs for about 3 hours a day, 5 days a week and thankfully is free. It should be quite interesting as the likelihood is that I will be in a class with non-english language speakers. I think that in these circumstances my norwegian will improve dramatically. I have noticed that I can understand quite a lot of spoken and written Norwegian, however I find it difficult to construct sentences and express myself properly. There are very few native english speakers in Haugesund so I have plenty of opportunities to practise my Norwegian and listen to it.
The weather in Haugesund is also very different to the Oslo/Sandvika area. Much more wind and rain! Since arriving in Oslo on the 12th we have had fanatastic weather. Although we have been told the weather was quite miserable the week before.
I have been doing lots of cooking and enjoying it immensly. It's great to be able to cook for another person and I think that Margrethe appreciates having a nice meal waiting for her when she arrives home from work. I have made sure that she realises that it won't be always like that :) I spend most of days looking for jobs, working on an exchange experience report for La Trobe Uni, shopping and cooking. I'm think about doing a little bit of fishing to fill in the dull moments. The job searching can be a bit depressing, with very few opportunities. I have come across a number of positions that I'm very interested in and hopefully something will become of those. I have started looking for positions in Oslo, and I guess in many ways I would prefer to live in Oslo as I like the 'big' city lifestyle and the weather. Hopefully Margrethe can work out a transfer to Oslo within her company and we can enjoy Oslo together.
Although the week days have been quite relaxing in many ways, the weekends have been very busy. On the first weekend Margrethe and I decided to discover the city of Bergen. We caught a very early morning bus and travelled three hours north to Bergen. The road system within Norway is quite amazing. Huge bridges and long tunnels connect the many small islands. It is incredible the amount of money and effort that is spent on connecting the small isolated communities. I believe that it annoys many of Oslo residents whose hard earned taxes are spent on these expensive projects.
Bergen is one of Norway's larger cities and is surrounding by 7 mountains (see links page for more information). It is these mountains that contribute to Bergens reputation as being the wettest city in Norway. I think that it rains on average about 300 days a year. Luckily we picked a great day to visit and it wasn't necessary to purchase an umbrella from the umbrella vending machines (No joke!). Like many of the cities and towns on the west coast, Bergen is centered around a bustling harbour. We spent quite a few hours exploring the fish market, clothing stalls and old german trading houses. The fish market was a highlight. We got to sample many different types of fish (including whale!), caviar and salmon. We then visited the centuries old Rozenkrantz tower and H�kon's Hall and learnt much about the city's history. We finished off the day by taking the fl�ibanen (funicular) up to one of the mountains surrounding Bergen. It was a fantastic view! We travelled back to Haugesund that night and slept very well after a long day.
The following weekend we met Frank and Camilla in Stavanger (see links page for more information). Margrethe and I studied with Frank at La Trobe, and they moved into my place in Abbotsford when I left Australia. It was great to see them. On the Friday night we had a lovely dinner with Camilla's parents and then went out to party. Many of you (atleast the guys) may be interested to know that we went to a pre party hosted by the current Miss Norway. Nice girl, but not my type. There's only one girl for me - Margrethe! It was a pretty big night and I managed to exercise the vocal cords by singing Waltzing Matilda to the entire pub over the PA system. Dad, you will also be happy to know that I managed to sqeueze in a few lines of the Carlton theme song as well. We got home at about 4am and had a very long sleep in. Saturday afternoon we went to one of the nearby beaches and tried to walk off the hangovers. We explored the city a little more and had a great time watching all of the people in town for the Beach Volleyball Championships. There were players from all around the world and quite a few Australians. The Australian women made the final but I'm not sure if they won or not. Anyway the city was packed with people and outdoor stalls selling food, beer and crafts. It was very festive! That night we went to another pre party and then on to a local nightclub. I was still recovering from the previous night so I was really in the mood for another late, boozy night. Nevertheless, it ended up being late but not too boozy. Sunday was quite relaxing with dinner at the local pizza joint and then Margrethe and I caught the boat back to Haugesund.
On the 12th Margrethe and I travelled to Oslo for a weeks break staying with Margrethe's parents in Ski. We chose this week as Margrethe's friend Kari Mette had a birthday party in Ski on the 13th and Margrethe's father is celebrating his birthday on the 20th. This way it means that we can attend both parties and enjoy the wonder Oslo summer weather! Kari Mette's party was held at her family's farm just outside of Ski. It was a great garden party with very nice food, beer and wine. We stayed over night and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast outside in the warm afternoon sun.
Yesterday (Monday the 15th) we went to the Royal Palace (see links page) and had a 1 hour guided tour. It was quite amazing! We were able to see many of the rooms (except the private residences) and also the wedding dresses worn by the present queen Sonja, the crown princess Mette Marit, and the princess Martha Louise. They were on display in the ballroom. The palace was intricately decorated and we were given a detailed history of each room together with explanations of the historical artworks. Today, while Margrethe is visiting her grandmother and a few friends, I went on a guided tour of the Stortinget (parliament building) and learnt a lot about the Norwegian parliamentry system. Did you know that if you live in the far north of the country your vote has twice the value? It is an interesting system that is based on liberty and takes its influences from French and North American constitutions.
The remainder of our week in Oslo will be quite relaxing with no real definate plans. We do plan to catch up with Trude, Tor Arne and Ole who Margrethe lived with in Melbourne. We are both looking forward to that! We will travel back to Haugesund on Sunday night after the Margrethe's father's birthday party.
Hope everyone is well and don't forget to keep in touch.