Some Administrative Goings-On

With the new apartment, and a bit more familiarity with the town, things feel a bit calmer today, as compared with the previous days, where there was always a rush to do something, or a bit of a frantic feeling about not having enough (information, paperwork, time, you name it).

The walk to work took a whole 12 minutes this morning, which was fantastic. Of course it was made even more pleasant by the fact that the sky was clear and the water calm.

Apparently, tomorrow is going to be rainy, windy, and bitter. Here's a really neat link - best weather page I've ever seen - the link takes you to the 48-hour forecast for Ulsteinvik, in English:

http://www.yr.no/place/Norway/M%c3%b8re_og_Romsdal/Ulstein/Ulsteinvik/hour_by_hour.html

Our address, for those who are interested, is now:

Skulevegen 2
6065 Ulstein
Norway

Thus, we live on "School Way", and that's no misnomer - the major primary school and then, above it, the major junior high, for the town are both located on this street, up the hill from us.

Still no sign of the actual paper copy of my work visa at the Ulsteinvik police office. However, we had to have a whole bunch of paperwork associated with the sale of our house back in Newfoundland notarised today. Interestingly enough, there is no real "Notary Public" profession in Norway, nor is the role carried out by a lawyer - you simply present yourself at a police station with suitable identification, sign your documents, and a police officer "notarises" them - all for free! It was a thoroughly pleasant experience!

In fact, the role of the police here is interesting. Your local police station ("police office" would probably be more appropriate - for example, the Ulsteinvik location is on the upper floor of a mall) is where you go for all sorts of "government interaction" - immigration papers, registering for the census, notarising documents, etc., as well as all the standard "police stuff" (paying tickets, reporting crime, etc.) I wonder whether this diverse and expanded set of interactions between citizens and police helps to make people more comfortable with the police, and feel less like "the only time you see a police officer is when something bad is going on". They're sort of like a cross between a police force and Service Canada.

Unfortunately, they're only open 8-3. Fortunately, however, Ulstein Verft has moved to what they call a "flex-time" schedule. Basically, as long as you're at work for 8 hours a day, averaged over your pay period, and are usually there at least between 8:30 and 2:30, there's no issue. So I just ducked out at 2:30 sharp today, walked to the police office, was back to the office by 3:30, and everything was fine. Now, I know that wouldn't be odd in most professional environments in Canada or the US, but in Norway, where everyone is on a punch-clock (an aspect of the socialised nature of the country, I think), it's fresh thinking, and really appreciated.

Kes and I went out for coffee/beer with a couple of other ex-pats after work today - a Venezuelan guy who works at Ulstein and his German girlfriend - a certified nurse who works at the tourist office ("Why work shiftwork when I can work 8-4 and make almost the same money?") They've been in Norway for 14 months and several years, respectively, but Ulsteinvik is new to them, too - one month. It was nice to chat socially with people who either are going through, or have gone through, many of the things that are going on in our life right now.

Huh - long post today. By the way, please feel free to leave comments (that's the "Kommentarer" link under each post - then, when you've typed your blurb, click "Publiser Kommentaren Din". I switched the blog over to a Norwegian one - I've tried to switch as many things as I can on my computer over to Norwegian, so that it will help me learn. (Update - April 4th - I've switched the tools to English - easier for everyone!)

Cheers,

Ashley