Why Wait When We Can Esacpe?

<-- This is a picture of me beating Chad at Viking Chess. I never win at chess. So I had to document it :)

Anyways, on Monday we finally got our butts in gear -- down to the closest copy-centre to print and photocopy many resumes. With help from our GPS, we found a bookstore downtown. A bookstore is the only place in Norway to buy office supplies, interestingly enough! After paper-clipping our resumes and finding a nice portfolio to carry them in, we made our way to businesses, hotels, retail stores, and food establishments to drop off our resumes. A couple places told us to apply online, which we did when we got back home.

So now we must wait to hear back from potential employers.... only that idea bored us, so instead we have decided to take a little trip. We fly to Barcelona October 13th to check out what Spain has to offer. Then on the 16th, with help from my Aunty Jan back home (a MILLION THANKS!!) we depart from Barcelona on a 7-night cruise to Italy. We'll be making stops in Nice, France; Genoa, Italy; Naples, Italy; Florence/Pisa, Italy; and Rome, Italy. Should be fantastic! After the cruise, we'll spend a couple more days in Barcelona before flying back to Bergen. Then maybe we'll start working....

Truth be told, if we can't find work, we'll just travel until we come home at Christmas-time. Then we'll re-evaluate. If we are running out of money, we'll head to Australia, where work will be easier to come by and we won't have a language barrier. If we still have more to see in Europe, we'll spend a couple more months here. At this point, we have so many options that we're trying not to get too ahead of ourselves!

We'll keep you posted.
~ Ash & Chad

Can't Make up Our Minds...

So on our last post, we talked about a job hunt. Well, that hunt is taking it's sweet time. We have our resumes translated into Norwegian (courtesy of Christian), and I've applied to IKEA online. And that is where our hunt has paused. We will make copies of our resumes to hand out tomorrow. But I think we're going to take off on a cruise for awhile, and start working when we return, probably near the end of October....

So now you're all caught up on where our minds are at! Life has been relaxing here in Bergen. We've spent a lot of time checking out our surrounding areas. This past Thursday, we got creative and decided to attempt fishing for crabs -- using dental floss for line, shrimp for bait, and no hooks.... we had a lot of tugs at our floss, and a lot of lost shrimp. Not the best strategy; Crabs -1, Us - 0. Last night, we planted a home-made crab trap down at the water, hoping to catch supper for tonight! When we checked it this morning, we found a family of starfish and zero crabs. So the crabs have now outsmarted us twice.

Today, Chad & I climbed the mountain across the street from our apartment. It was quite the trek, but totally worth the view. Along the way, there was an obstacle course for us to play on, as well as an old army fort used in WWII. We got lost on our way back down, and stumbled upon a basketball court. Chad was super excited! Now we just need to buy him a basketball, and find our way back to that court at the top of the mountain.

That is life as it stands right now. Upcoming plans: drop off resumes, rent a car for next weekend, book a cruise for early/mid-October, and catch a soccer game in Barcelona!

We'll keep you posted.
~ Ash & Chad

Bikes, Boats & Trains

Sunday was a day for laundry -- so we ventured to the laundromat in our aparment block. After two loads of washing and one load of drying, we had only spent $9 and had non-smelly clothes for a new week. Yay! That evening we wore our clean clothes to a birthday celebration for one of Jen's classmates. We ducked out a little early to indulge in some ice-cream. For only $6, we got a scoop of hard ice-cream, topped with soft-ice cream, dipped in sprinkles. It was a lot of ice-cream, but very tasty!

On Monday Chad & I ventured once again through downtown Bergen. We made our way to the train station to pick up our tickets for our NorwayActive tour on Tuesday! Then we found our way to the movie theatre in Bergen and saw "Karate Kid". Chad enjoyed the salty movie theatre popcorn very much. We caught the last bus of the night around 12:30 in the morning back to our apartment, and finally fell asleep around 2am.

On Tuesday, we woke up at 5am after very little sleep.... caught a bus just after 6am to get to the train station. Our train departed just before 7am. We got off in Myrdal and caught another train to Berekvam. This train was more of a "tourist" train. It showed videos about the area we were traveling through, talked about the history, and made stops at attractions, such as the Kjosfossen Waterfall. When we arrived in Berekvam, we met with our guide for NorwayActive, who provided us with bikes and helmets for our 11Km journey down the mountains to Flam. There was a group of 5 of us who traveled together: A fellow from Alabama who was studying in the UK, and a couple who lived in England, but he was originally from Scotland and she was from Ireland. It was quite satisfying to be able to communicate in English with everyone!

After a picturesque ride, we arrived in Flam for our Fjord-Safari by boat. We were fitted in full-length insulated and buoyant suits, and given gloves, hats, and goggles to wear. Then 9 of us, including Oli (our driver), took off to fly over the wake from other boats and zoom across the Aurlandsfjorden & Naeroyfjorden. Our driver stopped along the way to tell stories about waterfalls, farms, towns, and houses built along the Fjords. It was incredible. The ride lasted just over an hour, then we took a bus from Gudvangen up a long, snaking road back to Voss.

We spent some time shopping in Voss, then came back home to Bergen to spend time with Jen & Christian in the evening. It was a fantastic adventure!

Today is a rainy, lazy day. Jen is off touring a Fjord with her class for a couple days, and Christian is busy "studying" (aka - playing video games). So we'll take it easy. Tomorrow, the job-hunt begins!

We'll keep you posted.

~ Ash & Chad

Aquarium

On Friday, Chad & I decided to take the day and explore more of downtown Bergen. We walked from the apartment to downtown (only 55 minutes; much quicker being downhill!) in the morning, wandered into shops of all shapes and sizes, tried samples at the Fish Market, looked for souvenir shirts, roamed a 3-storey mall, and had lunch in a park. It was extremely relaxing. Some neat things we found: Norwegian versions of "Goosebumps" books, toy stores, the tourist information center, and the place we'd had lunch on our first day here. The tourist information place provided us with tons of pamphlets on things we should try/do while here in Norway! Before the end of the month we'd like to go on a tour with NorwayActive, on which we'll ride a train, a Fjordboat, a travel van, and mountain bike to several different towns -- all within 8 hours!!

So today we did our first tourist-y thing since we've arrived here in Bergen -- took a trip to the Aquarium! There were crocodiles from all parts of the world, fish, turtles, seals, and greatest of all: PENGUINS! We stuck around long enough to watch the penguin feeding. On the way back to the apartment we stopped for Kebab; our roommates' favorite thing to grab when they don't feel like cooking! It was very tasty :) Plans for tomorrow: maybe start job-hunting.... and we're going out for one of Jen's classmates birthdays!

We'll keep you posted!

~ Ash & Chad

Legal Immigrants

So we are officially temporary residents here in Norway! Our Tuesday attempt at getting our permits proved unsuccessful, as the immigration office was closed. So we just hung out in downtown Bergen for a couple hours and saw the sights. Paid $2 to use a public washroom, that 4 other people then used for free since we'd already unlocked the door! We attempted to walk back to our apartment, but were sadly thwarted by a torrential downpour. Weather here is kind of like back home -- it changes every ten minutes or so!

Yesterday we got a decently early start on things. Found our way to the immigration office and took a number, then waited.

And waited.

And waited..

And waited...

Then went for a quick bite to eat at Burger King :)

And waited....

The office was only open until 1pm, and shortly beforehand, we finally got called in.... Only to be told we had taken the wrong number and were supposed to be in another line-up that had already closed! But they thanfully squeezed us into the photobooth and we got our visas in our passports! We were then sent to the Tax Office to get ID #'s (kind of like SIN #'s), and Tax #'s. When we found the right building, with help from a lady and her dog, we took another number and waited. This line moved much faster though. After 20 minutes, we were both assigned our ID #'s, which we'll receive in 3-4 weeks.

Now here's the catch: Without our ID #'s, we can't get a Tax #. We also can't get a Tax # until we find work. Once we know our starting wage, we can apply for a Tax # so they know how much tax to deduct. But the Tax # still won't come until we receive our ID #'s in 3-4 weeks. So in the meantime, we can still work. But we can't get paid without that Tax #. Things take forever to process here in Norway.... at least we're not in a hurry!

So Wednesday was very productive! We also walked from downtown back to Jen & Christian's apartment, which took us a little over an hour. It was the most gorgeous day we've seen yet for weather. Loving Norway so far -- but today we took a sick day. I'm still not over the cold I left Canada with, and Chad's right in the midst of his. Our roomies must be getting tired of the coughing and sniffling, lol. Time for more rest!


We'll keep you posted,
~ Ash & Chad

Leaving On a Jetplane

Following a tearful goodbye with Ash's family, we flew out of Saskatoon airport on September 12th. After 2 quick stop-overs in Toronto & Iceland, we arrived at noon in Bergen, Norway. Jen met us at the airport and we took a taxi to the apartment that she & Christian live in. An open concept living space with a shelf dividing our sleeping areas, lol. A great place to start out in, and we are very thankful for the two of them letting us crash here for the time being!

We took the liberty to nap shortly after arriving, then took a bus with Jen to the University of Bergen. We met up with Christian for supper at the Cafe Opera. Our first dining out experience in Norway: $41.77 CAD.... a little pricey for chicken with couscous & quiche with fresh veggies (water to drink). Before catching a bus home, we stopped in at one of the many gift shops at Bryggen -- a popular tourist shop along one of the fjord inlets.

We made our first stop at the grocery store to purchase candy & ice-cream (to round out our dinner), which we all went a little overboard on! Spent the evening relaxing and playing Wii.

Plans for tomorrow: Activate our visas at the police station, get a tax number, look for a cellphone, check out jobs, look for an apartment.

We'll keep you posted!
~ Ash & Chad