I've been living in Norway since the 28th of March, 2012. It's already been over a year and there are so many things going on in my life. When I knew I really had to move to Norway to be with my boyfriend [who is now my husband], I had to learn to prepare for a new life that might not be so easy as it is in my homeland.
First of all, I came to Norway with a fiancee visa under the family immigration visa type. The rule is that you'd need to get married within 6 months after your arrival. My boyfriend and I didn't plan the exact date of when we wanted to get married yet, but I knew it should be within 4 months before a letter of certificate from Thailand that "I'm single and have not been married to anyone" would not be valid anymore.
The visa I got was only valid for 7 days. This is why everyone must report themselves to the local police office.
Just a little tip for any foreigner(s) who is planning to get married in Norway (in norwegian: Ekteskap i Norge), you have to prepare all the documents from your home country which are a letter of certificate that you're single and your birth certificate. At least, this is what I needed to present to the Tax Office in Norway (Skatteetaten) together with other documents that can be acquired in Norway. I don't want to get you bored with the whole procedure here. So let's skip that for now ;-) I also had to prepare my educational degree's certificates I received from my high school and university. So that I could submit to Nokut to get my degrees from Thailand recognized here in Norway. Phew, that's a lot of work, isn't it? But that's not all.
I remember that within the first week I arrived in Oslo, Norway, I had to report myself to the district police office and get my personal number at the tax office. I also wanted to apply for a tax card but they told me I could do that when I had a job offer. I needed to find a job and bring the contract to the tax office again then. So, I decided to wait a little bit for that. The next thing I did was to open a bank account. I chose DNB bank as recommended by my boyfriend.
Like other people who have just moved to a new country, I was hoping to find a job as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about how to find a job in Norway and what I can do here. There are a lot of culture differences I needed to learn. I didn't have a lot of friends here, just some Thai people I knew back I was in Thailand. It was a bit difficult at first since everything I found online, job advertisement, local news, public signs, everything in this country is written in Norwegian.
To get around here, it's nothing to worry because most norwegian people can speak English very well. They just preferred to speak Norwegian than English if possible. Before I moved to Norway, I had been reading, 'Teach yourself Norwegian'. It actually helped to give your some basic Norwegian to get around. For me, I have no problem with writing part, the most difficult part is to speak the language.
This is my 'Teach Yourself Norwegian' book. It's 2002 edition but still very useful! Thanks to my friends, Morten, for giving me this book =)
Most of the jobs here require that you must be able to speak Norwegian or any other scandinavian language (Swedish or Danish). I was so wrong to think that I had a high education in Thailand, it should help me get a job easily. When you move to a new country that English is not the first speaking language, you may as well need to prepare yourself to start over from zero. I didn't feel this pressure during the first half year since I was lucky enough to have some good friends who helped me with the job, but I do now.
I got my first job here as port check-in assistant as recommended by my friend, Ople. It was nice since I didn't have to speak Norwegian, or even when I did, the passengers understood what I was saying, or if not, they would be speaking to me in English anyway. I enjoyed the job so much but unfortunately, it was only a summer job that finished in June. Then, from middle of nowhere, I was contacted by one of the cosmetics owners in Norway, who found on Twitter, that he was interested to work with me. The interview went well and I even got to Bergen and talked about the job. I was helping the company doing a research about its brand in Thailand. Too bad, the contract was finished in September and the owner sold the company to his partner. So, I was back to be a job searcher again.
To be honest, last summer wasn't really that bad. I also had got another job at a hotel. Again, my good friend, Ople, who was working there at a time told me that they needed more staff during the summer. I went for an interview and got the job. I had a lot of working hours during the 3 months of summer. I was very happy. Then, the winter came, there was less guests and my working hours had been decreased accordingly. I began to think if this is how it's going to be, that I can only earn a lot of money during the summer and almost nothing during the winter.
I started to cry every time I think about my 'unemployment' situation here. It's been told by other Thai friends who have been living here for years that it's gonna be tough for the first few years but then everything will get better. I do really hope so. My husband always tells me that I'm lucky enough to still have 'a job' because there are still a lot of people that have been searching for a job here and still get 'nothing'. Some even have to try to get some money from NAV and stuff. I honestly feel so thankful to have such good friends and a wonderful husband to support and be there for me. I know I won't give up on finding a good job here, I just need to be able to speak better Norwegian soon. *Fingers crossed*
The good news is ever since I've moved to Norway, I seem to have received more translation jobs than when I was in Thailand. Weird, isn't it? That's why I decided to create a fan page [please feel free to click 'LIKE' here] for people who may be looking for a freelance English <--> Thai translator. I might not earn as much as a standard salary in Norway but at least it's a job I love =) I also hope that when I become so fluent in Norwegian, I would like to apply to be a certified translator here also. Well, wish me luck! ;-)
It is now summer in Norway and I have a good feeling something great is gonna happen. I'll travel to Thailand next week but I may have some free time to write about my first year in Norway then. Until next time! Have a good one or as we say in Norwegian, * Ha det bra * [Have it good!]
I recently found some Sakura trees in Oslo ^^
