I swear there is a different time continuum for teachers. The first part of the year is a vortex that consumes you and spits you out in an exhausted state in mid October, leaving you to crawl through Halloween and survive the snail's pace of November and December, slowly tallying the days until Christmas break. Thus, September has nearly gone with only one post to show for the progress. The school year has been much better this year as I have a happy staff and more help to do my job. It is still somewhat demoralizing knowing that the school is not thriving. It is similar to when imaginary games lose their twinkle because you have glimpsed the reality behind the magic. I can remember a day when instead of seeing the hearty stew my friend and I had labored over a hot stove to cook, I saw the cold water littered with pine berries and twigs floating aimlessly in the pot. It feels like that. Somehow, I am pretending to play school and as soon as more of the luster wears off, everyone else will see the truth. This isn't to say I don't enjoy my job, because nothing beats the look of joy on a learning child's face, but reality lurks ready to unhinge its jaw and swallow the dream. I am looking for my next work adventure, though, so we will see what shakes out of the tree. It feels almost like a step backward to have limited myself again, but at the same time such a huge stride forward. There is safety in escape, you know. The easiest thing in the world for me to do right now would be to apply for a job in another country and begin a new adventure again. That seems such a flippant way to view a major life change, but I can tell you without a doubt that moving to Norway was the easy part. I have had to start anew in some shape or fashion far too many times for that to feel anything but comfortably unknown. Falling in love and building a life has been much more challenging, in many ways. And while NBF is a huge part of the falling in love, it isn't only him. It's the country, the experiences, and who I have become because of it. Norway has been less about moving to a foreign country and more about getting to know the foreign lands in myself. It sounds bizarre when I hear it in my head, but I have lived more life and grown up more here than in many other times and places in my life. Now before I get lost in a sappy, introspective post, I am reining this baby back on track. There is plenty of time for reflection, but I do have a couple more updates that I want to share before I run out of time. We are still remodeling our bedroom, and the work day will start soon. It has been a long process, but it is really coming together. Today we...I say we like I do much more than stand around bossing...are going to finish up most of our closet. I got a super deal on Finn, so the closet front is three mirrored sliding doors that nearly reach the ceiling. The top of the closet will be a lighted ledge that I joked could be a reading nook if he would just give me a ladder. I really shouldn't be so hasty to say I haven't done anything. We were a dream team with the floor. He cut the boards, and I laid them. I am really proud of that. He even taught me how to wire the heated floor. He encourages me to use the saw, but I trust myself less than he does. I kind of like my fingers attached. Probably the biggest motivator for me right now is that I am so ready to get my clothes out of the goddamn living room! I feel like I am on display. I really dislike (really want to say hate here, but I save that word for dire circumstances, although we are close!) having my things strewn about, and the mess of the work and displaced things has my anxiety running in high gear. I have really tried to maintain balance because we can only work so fast, but I know NBF feels the pressure. However, it is looking like I will start my next Norwegian class with my desk in its new home...even if there are small touches left. Speaking of Norwegian, next week, I will take my Norwegian exams. I have been doing better about speaking with NBF in Norwegian, it almost doesn't feel painful. He's been such a trooper and only corrects the really bad habits or more serious blunders. I can hear mistakes that he lets go, and it has built my confidence to know I don't have to be perfect. There are so many compound words and literal translations, that it is easy to be creative and still be understood. Sometimes, I even get it right! It has been an opportunity for me to learn more empathy for my students and people acquiring another language in general. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how I feel when I am in a completely Norwegian speaking situation, and there has never really been a time when I have had huge consequences attached to those situations, so I feel safe for the most part. It is really my pride that is at most risk. Not only that, nearly all Norwegians can make the shift to English if necessary. I think about people that are immigrating or seeking asylum and cannot speak any common languages. The bravery, desperation...I never really had a peek at the depths of a situation like that before now. Hopefully, next week I will take a big step forward on my learning journey by having my levels acknowledged. Fingers, toes, everything crossed...well, except my tongue..that it goes well! We officially took over our cabin this month. I have my own set of keys. Eeeek! We actually went the day I got back from London. NBF picked me up from the airport, and we decided we should just go. We stopped at a pizza place on the way and grabbed a pizza for dinner and sat at OUR cabin dreaming about what can be and enjoying the time together. We've been one other day for a bit longer of a stay. We had coffee and talked improvements and measured for some work we want to do. (Can't even finish our bedroom before we are finding more shit to do!) Of course, I learned I needed a good set of slippers before much else because my feet were cold. Imagine that! I already have a shopping list and another bag of things ready to go for next time. We were to be there this weekend, but of course, the bedroom beckons. Next weekend, we are taking a trip I have wanted to do since I moved here, so once again the cabin and bedroom for that matter will have to wait. We really have been booking ourselves full. The fact that I have so much life outside of work is huge gains compared to how I was living in the states. I remember not too long ago thinking about how my job had become less a focal point in my life and more an addition, as it should be. I did recently get an opportunity for another of those once in a lifetime experiences. What I really did was to help a friend proofread and touch up a document. She enjoys my blog and thought I could bring a different perspective and way of speaking to a document that she has been working on. On paper though....I can now say I have commuted to the company headquarters in Oslo to collaborate on a document for this multinational company to utilize in their presentations to perspective markets. See, you can make anything sound exciting with the right frame of mind. But in all seriousness, I was honored to have been asked and had a lot of fun with the challenge. Who knows, maybe this is the next thing to shake out of the tree. Okay, so now that you are caught up on the big stuff, it is time to get busy with real things. However, October promises to be pretty exciting. Autumn has arrived, at least in my mind, even if NBF is clinging to what he believes is Indian Summer. I told him the seasons of Norway are brown winter, Winter, and green winter. I can see the color and darkness creeping in, even if he refuses to acknowledge it! Anyway, soon I will take a train ride across the country and spend a night in a remodeled Norwegian prison. I might even get my bedroom finished!
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Talk about things I never thought I would say.... I think Americans in general do not realize the access Europeans have to other countries or how quick and cheap the travel is. For instance, London is a two hour flight from Oslo and about $100 round trip if you book the right days and pack light. Paris is a little over two hours, and Berlin is about an hour and a half. And if you've read previous blogs, you know when I lived in Sarpsborg, I could be in Sweden before my Andover friends could drive to the Wichita airport. So when a friend asked me to go to London, I didn't really think twice before saying yes. She had purchased herself an early birthday celebration weekend that didn't quite work out how she envisioned, so she called to see if I wanted to go in place of the other friend that couldn't go. Call me a backup plan if you want, but I just got to see Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle...IN LONDON. When I moved to Norway, this is the type of weekend excursion I envisioned happening fairly frequently. (Damn you, covid) Now that I had the perfect opportunity, how could I say no, even if it meant abandoning my responsibilities for bedroom construction and leaving poor NBF to work alone. Realistically, he was doing drywall and mudding, so there was little I could do but get in the way. And he enthusiastically encouraged me to go adventuring anyway. The fact that I have travel anxiety is not a secret, and the trips I have taken the last couple of years have not helped me to curb it. It is something I am actively addressing, though. One of my goals is to travel more confidently and to be more flexible. With that in mind, I made what I consider a couple of huge decisions when I planned my trip. First, I would not plan a detailed itinerary. And next, as a challenge to myself, I did not pay the extra fee to choose my seat for either leg of the trip. I know! I'm proud too. When I checked in for the flight, I was delighted to see that I got a window seat. Maybe the travel gods were smiling... or maybe not. It would not be a #nellietravels trip without issues. After my debacle of renting a car with my residence permit and reporting it missing, I ordered and received a new card. I have a responsibility to return the old one, so after I was done comparing the two cards, I tossed it in a drawer so I could send it back. Then I put the new card in my wallet. Narrator: she did not put the new card in her wallet. Fast forward to passport control confiscating the residence card that I had reported "missing or stolen" and lecturing me about my responsibilities. They reminded me I was lucky Norway has electronic records so they can see that I have valid residence. The flight was also 30 minutes delayed. Small stuff. Well, the card didn't feel small, but I knew I had everything sorted correctly...except which card was which obviously! But I will count this as a win in terms of how my trips have gone. Arriving in London, I was actually able to get my passport to scan at the self serve stations for once. I didn't even freak out...too much...when the woman behind me kept pushing her bag into my rear end. I swear there was only one backward glance. Fresh off of my adventures in New York, I was prepared to read train and subway schedules and easily found my way to the city center armed with a return ticket for Sunday. And I just could not wipe the smile from my face. It really is a liberating feeling to not be so burdened by worry in travel. My first few hours were spent exploring the area around Buckingham Palace and places in the near vicinity such as St James Piccadilly, Canada Gate, Princess Diana's walk, St James Park, and so much more. I also tried to stay focused on the experience, not documenting it, so you will be disappointed with the amount of photos I came home with. I found my way to the Hard Rock on Piccadilly to purchase the required shirt offering to the BAH, and I sat for a long time people watching near a statue of Mary Poppins by the Lego Store and M&M World Store. Aside from the man that got bent that I would not share my Snap and was not wooed by his comment about my mesmerizing blue eyes, it was really a neat experience that I haven't had in some time. The diversity is much more pronounced in London than Norway. My next choice might be a surprise and what some would consider a waste of time since I was in a major European capital, but I sat in Green Park and read. I even sent a message to BAH, "I'm sitting in a park... in LONDON... reading a book." In fact, I was sitting under an ancient tree with a huge trunk and gracefully hanging boughs. It was overcast with a slight breeze, and a slightly spicy scent that I came to connect to the city in my time there wafted by. After my first encounter in the passages out of the subway, I thought it was a perfume or cologne, but I was smelling it everywhere. So unless a large portion of the population wears the same scent, this is the scent of the city. So caught up in my reading was I, that I didn't realize the recommendation for a place to eat from a London native was actually a mall with many restaurants. I only realized upon arriving and promptly getting lost in the maze of shops, restaurants, and people. This thing was spread over several floors and even had outdoor areas. The native just happened to message me when I was staring at this statue and feeling the vibe with my entire soul. He asked if I found a place to eat. I told him I am looking for The Cow (actual pub), but this statue is my current mood. As a Kansan, I expect finding cows to go easier! He replied, "You're literally right around the corner!" And I was. But I can see why the London native is always running off to Sweden to shop. We don't have anything near that experience that I have seen in Norway. As for me, after that harrowing search, I stayed put so my friend could find me. When we finally met, it was nonstop chatter as we had so much to catch up on. Best laid plans included us finally slowing down enough in the summer to catch up, but that went exactly as the saying goes. After the flight and plenty of public transportation, we decided to take a taxi to the hotel. Another first in transportation for me...those taxis are freaking awesome. The floor looked like it could be hosed off if the driver was unlucky enough to pick up a load of pub crawlers with a spewer, and fold up seats meant five passengers could easily fit. We continued chatting all the way to the disappointing hotel. At this point I should mention that she originally booked a luxury hotel since it was, after all, a birthday celebration but she changed the hotel since the trip had a different travel companion whom she assumed did not want to rent a room at that price. I guess I should also mention that NBF was irritated because he said the two of us deserved it regardless. So about ten minutes into our stay, she said, when you said you were flexible, does that mean you'd be okay if we switched hotels. SURE! My only regret about switching is the taxi ride over. The driver tried to drive off before we were in the car with the doors closed, and then he nearly hit a motorcycle! The hotel was luxurious indeed. There was a spa and gym, three restaurants, and easy access to a huge complex that housed a large number of shops and restaurants along with the arena where we would see the comedy show. I wish I had made time to visit the restaurant that served an authentic English tea experience. I realize now looking through photos that I didn't snap one of the view from our room. We were on the eleventh floor, and the view below is from the walkway in front of the hotel. That is as close as I can get. If you're the ultra curious type, you can google Intercontinental and O2 in London. Now, I have to tell you, when my friend sent me a message asking if I like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, I thought..is this a trap? I know they are controversial and that their humor is aimed at a specific audience, but I have loved both of them since the first time I saw both of them. Now at this point, if you are the ultra curious type but also the ultra conservative type, you should NOT google Chris Rock. Anyhow, I decided this friend reads my blog, so she should know my humor by now. There are two kinds of people, those that find me hilarious and those that can fuck right off. Saying yes was all it took to spark this adventure. Saturday morning, we shopped at Greenwich Market. I could do that every weekend. There were shops for goods and food from all over the world and with a diverse range of creators. There were even second hand booths. I left my card in my wallet because I was afraid if it escaped I would never catch it. I had a twinge of regret for eating breakfast at the hotel when I saw all the delicious food, but it was for the best. I explored on my own Saturday afternoon and was able to see just enough of London to want to return, rather, need to return. I missed so. many. major. sites. Honestly, though, I didn't expect this weekend to run at breakneck speed. I really had no expectations except catching up, seeing the show, and snagging the required shirts and postcards. I send AB's grandkids postcards every so often because I would have been over the fucking moon to get mail from anywhere, let alone across the ocean. I imagine their faces when I drop them at them at the post office. The show was all I expected and more. When we arrived we had to put our phones in Yondr bags so there wouldn't be photos and video. But wouldn't you know some woman in the front row dared to record, got called out by Dave Chappelle, and promptly escorted out. In her defense, we were only required to walk through the bagging station, warned three times by the DJ, and reminded twice by the host before the comedians came on stage that we would be escorted out without warning for attempting to film or take photos. Of course, a lot of the weekend belongs to just my friend and myself. But this weekend adventure was just what I needed. I was able to relax and unwind and FINALLY catch up with her. Probably the best thing that happened in the entire weekend is that my friend introduced me (via video/facetime but still) to a couple of really special people in her life. I was humbled and honored. I already considered her a role model professionally and personally, but our conversations cemented the already strong foundation of our relationship. One thing I will share is that we had a hilarious conversation around the concept of surprise travel. The idea in a nutshell is that one friend collects money from everyone else and plans the trip. The travel companions only need to show up at the airport with what the planner says they need to pack and a passport. Then everyone waits to find out where in the world they are going! Talk about the ultimate opportunity for me to practice anxious free travel. HA! We even talked about showing up at the airport with a packed backpack and our passports. Now I wonder if she really has read my blog? Pretty brave to assume she can escape #nellietravels! In all seriousness, bring on the adventure. I am so ready! |
Nellie HillJust a woman leaping outside her comfort zone and telling the tale. Archives
April 2024
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