Living It

It is not the critic who counts
Nor the man who points out how
the stong man stumbles
Or where the doer of deeds
Could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man
Who is actually in the arena;
Whose face is marred by dust
And sweat and blood;
Who knows great enthusiasm,
Great devotion and the triumph
of achievement.
And who, at the worst, if he fails
At least fails while daring greatly-
So that his place shall never be
With those odd and timid souls
Who know neither victory nor defeat.
You've never lived until you've almost died.
For those who have had to fight for it
Life has truly a flavour
The protected shall never know.

-Theodore Roosevelt

Copenhagen

We have left Kristiansand after being there for a month (wow, that went by fast!) and having no luck with jobs (tried pretty much everywhere in downtown). We are hoping a bigger city will have more job opportunities for English speakers and that we won't run out of money quite so fast. We arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday, and from what we have seen so far... it is awesome!! I'll keep you all posted on our progress... I'm now using the internet in a lobby of a hotel... best wishes.

Spontaneous

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
1: proceeding from natural feeling or native tendency without external constraint
2: arising from a momentary impulse
3: controlled and directed internally : self-acting
4: produced without being planted or without human labor : indigenous
5: developing or occurring without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment
6: not apparently contrived or manipulate

Yes, you will realize the significance later.

Adjusting

I don't know if it hasn't sunk in yet that I am away from everything familiar and people I love (most likely) or that it actually is true that I am really excited, hopefull, and happy about being here. I feel at peace. Something feels right. I like it here.

I keep having dreams about being pregnant and actually wake up excited that I might be (I don't tell Dom any of this... he would freak out. He is definately the 'provider personality' where he wouldn't feel good about a child when he doesn't have a job yet, which I TOTALLY appreciate), I am not pregnant. The dreams were so realistic, so I took a test this morning and no. No bad feelings about it either, just knew it was how it should be. I guess I am seeing it as another sign that I feel this is a safe place to be.

Dominik's dad wrote us a letter. Yeah! Our first mail here. He said that they would eventually like to move here to be near us. Wow. Dom is sure it is probably a pipe dream, but deep down I kind of like the idea (Please note that I have yet to meet my in-laws and reserve the right to strike this from the record). Close family nearby... someone to pawn the kids off on one day...

I think we'll make new friends here, but to have my close friends physically close too... to feel those hugs and see their faces, I really want them here too. Okay, you know who you are, yes you! Move over here! I know I am being completley selfish, but come on! That would make this place perfect, because seriously no matter how attached I may become to this place and how wonderful I think it is, it will always be lacking in the fact that it doesn't have those amazing people that are my best friends.

This is Norway

Itchy Feet

We are in Europe. WOW. When I wake up in the morning after realising that Maya isn't sleeping next to the bed, and I start to miss her... then comes the slap in the face that holy crap... we are on the other side of the world, away from anyone we know. Then the excited, spontaneous Leah jumps in and my feet get itchy. Dom's feet are itchy too. We want to travel! See everything! There are so many countries and so much to see and do and they are all so close. Ah, but then the moral dilemma of money. Money sucks totally. We really want to make it work here, which means jobs and such. The mature adult in me thinks nei (no), don't go to the zoo today, that is $80 a person and you might need that money in a few weeks when you still haven't found work. The 'screw the system' Leah then thinks BUT this may be the only chance we have for a long time if we get jobs and such.

The job hunt: hard. We have been to every employment agency in town, and they basically all politely said 'okay, we'll keep your CV and call you if anything comes up, but don't count on it because you don't speak Norwegian'. The lady at the government office (as far as I can tell is supposed to help EU nationals find jobs) was down right rude to Dom. We've been told that hopefully we can get the regular immigrant jobs like picking strawberries or cleaning hotels until we learn the language. So, slowly I am translating vacancies online and then we'll hit up hotels and such next week. Until then, I am cramming the language in... Ipod style. Can I pay someone to download it into my brain or hypnotise me to learn it?

First Impressions

1. Lots of people smoke here, and right outside front doors and on restaurant patios.
2. Women do not wear heels. I wore boots with high heels today and the traditional clip-clop drew everyone's attention. I felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb.
3. Apparently tight rolling your jeans and pulling your socks up over them is back in fashion. big.
4. Girls wear alot of makeup here, almost clownish, and fake-tans abound.
5. Expensive! Everything. We need work. Fast.
6. People walk and drive however they want, without looking.
7. Lots of cycling! Yeah!
8. Lots of Turkish immigrants
9. unexpected ammounts of graffiti
10. good local beer
11. really friendly, smiling people.