This is Norway

Great Weekend!

I had a fantastic weekend. The weather here is just beautiful and warm. Our really good friend (that is a pro photographer on the side) took some pics of us on Saturday which I will post in the next few days after sifting through the hundreds. I am so happy with how they turned out though. Really stunning work. We went out for photos at sunrise which kind of sucked because the ground was all frosty and it was really cold, and no sleeping in on a Sat. But, I am so glad we did because the light was great and it really shows.

This same amazing friend then went luggage shopping with me and we found a killer deal, so that part is all taken care of. Yeah! One more thing off the list. What else is on that list that is stressing me out?
- Sell the car... I have posted and listed it everywhere I can think of, and still no bites over the last week. :(
- Find someone to take over our cell phone contract or we have to pay $350 in cancellation fees.
- Find a place to live in Kristiansand. I thought we could stay in a hostel for a bit while we got to know the neighborhoods, but it is seriously 3X the price of renting!
- Finalize all the dog info for shipping: this is seriously frustrating as each site seems to say something different. Even the Norwegian official site has conflicting info. I'm waiting for an email response from them, and will try calling tomorrow.
- Plan our going-away party that is in 2 weeks
- Everything else :)

Down to the Wire

Well, less than 4 weeks to go... I'm feeling pretty excited considering. Still have to sell the car, find someone to take over our cell phone plan, finish getting rid of stuff and figure out the financial crap. Money. Ugh. Don't you just love the recession? It seems every little thing that I do to prepare for this move costs something. Went to change my address to have our mail forwarded to a friend here in Canada (same town)... $40. In the US this service is free. Not sure why it costs money here since the mail system is subsidised...

Anyway, on a very happy note, I got to see my sister this last week! She flew out during her spring break and stayed for 4 days. It was SO nice to see her and get to spend tons of time talking and catching up (she lives in Illinois finishing law school). Stupid me didn't get any pictures except of cupcakes we made (I'll post the recipe later). I'm hoping to get some sent from our friend so I can post. Sunday was a beautiful spring day and we actually made it to the park for some Frisbee which reminded me alot of summer. The days are growing longer and I love it! I think that I better suck up as much as possible because Norway still has snow on the ground.

Sorry Maya...

Sorry puppy, your mom screwed up. Please forgive me. Last year when we were planning all this moving stuff I looked into importing our dog, and of course it said all this great stuff that I new I wouldn't have to worry about until later, and I called the vet who said she was due for her rabies vaccine around the beginning of the year. So... I somehow just put it off in my head and thought, "I don't have to worry about that that yet". Well, the vet never called to remind me and I was so busy with other things, that I forgot. I looked up the requirements again last week and long story short... she has to stay for another 3 months after we leave until she has a blood test. I told Dom that he better start checking all these things that I have looked into, because who knows what else I have screwed up. Maya will be shipped to my parents in Idaho (I told you I have the best parents right?) and stay with them and their awesome dog. Maya will most likely never want to leave, and in the long run I think it might work out better for us not having to worry about her in the initial settling in. My mom was so quick to say yes (love her!), but said "I'm not doing any of that raw diet crap." Hahaa, no problem.

Working in Norway

I got a response from Norway Immigration about my working there situation. I can't work until my family re-unification visa is approved which I apply for when Dom finds a job, and the average processing time according to their website is up to 5 months. SOooo.... I wonder what the possibility of under-the-table jobs are there? Babysitting? Walking dogs? Or, start work on a book or something...

ENGAGED!!

I haven't posted this exciting news yet, because I wanted to talk to my parents first and didn't want them to find out while reading my blog. Although...my phone card was up so I did write a quick email to my mom saying "I'm running away to get married, call me."

Dom asked me on Saturday morning!! I couldn't be more happier, and have been grining ear to ear like a lunatic. I feel so lucky to be with such an amazing man, and I'm really excited about spending my life with him.

We are running away to one of the islands in the next few weeks to elope. There is just no time to plan a wedding and all that crazy stuff - we are leaving in less than 8 weeks! So, we are going to rent a cabin or sweet hotel or something for the weekend, and throw a big party when we are back before we go.

On the moving front, I've been emailing the Director of Immigration department for Norway with questions. They are really good at responding, and I'm feeling much less stressed. I read somewhere that someone (I can't remember which blog) had to show financial info to prove they had enough money to support themselves while there. So I thought I better clear that up before we show up and say "But we are from (North) America, isn't a credit card just fine?" (Mom, don't panic when you read this, we have saved some money). Luckily they emailed back saying this is not a requirement for an EU/EEA citizen (which Dom is, and soon I'll be family). Yeah!

Also, sorry about the crazy blog madness... I can't seem to have anything pretty whatsoever if I want comments. It is really irritating me, and I have searched for help and emailed blogger with no response. Now, I can't even revert back to a standard format. If anyone knows how to help, please email me (under my profile).

Why Norway?

So why did we choose to move to Norway of all places? Well, why not? When Dom and I were working together and making googley eyes at each other all day, we discovered that we both wanted to move to Europe (many reasons some of which are healthcare, education, society with similar values). Fast track to actually planning it, and picking a country... we started out picking France based on (don't laugh) the movie Sicko. We bought a book about moving to France and I read the entire thing and started researching, and there were a few minor things that didn't quite mesh well. This brought up the point that "hey! we can just pick anywhere!". I love my uncle Dan's idea that we picked Norway by getting a map of Europe and throwing a dart, but we are a little more planned than that sometimes. We then started researching and noting what was important to us in a place. Scandinavia came out on top, and Norway 1st. We have never been there, so I am sure there will be adjustments, and we are really planning on traveling throughout Europe once there. SO we can always move somewhere else if we find all our assumptions and dreaming are wrong. Here are a few nice things we discovered in our hunting about Norway:

1. Norway has a Scandinavian welfare model and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation.

2. Norway was ranked highest of all countries in human development from 2001 to 2006 and was ranked 2nd as of 2008 (behind Iceland)

3. The 2008 Environmental Performance Index put Norway in 2nd place, based on the environmental performance of the country's policies.

4. Throughout Norway, one will find stunning and dramatic scenery and landscape. People there love the outdoors!

5. The hourly productivity levels as well as the average hourly wages in Norway are among the highest in the world. The wage difference between the lowest paid worker and the CEO of most companies is much smaller than comparable western economies.