We’ve actually only been here about five days, but since I actually have a free moment after the kids’ bedtimes and before mine tonight–it’s blogging time! Also note that I use the word “bedtime” loosely here as I have a five-week-old who doesn’t recognize night from day 😛
I thought I’d keep a blog-journal of some more memorable experiences and how life is different (or the same) here vs. Minnesota. So let’s have at it…
Quintessential Scandinavian Experiences, Good & Bad
On our overnight flight to Iceland, we saw the northern lights from our plane window whilst flying over Greenland! Not too vivid (more black-and-white than green) but how’s that for checking a Scandi bucket list item off before I even arrived?
On the other hand, the hot water in our temporary company-sponsored apartment was out for three days when we arrived, so I got to have the lovely experience of essentially taking an ice bath while showering. Let’s just say I’m not one for ice baths… have yet to try the sauna!
Anyways, the apartment is otherwise nice and cozy, and the water is fixed as of last night. I took a looong hot shower to make up for my missed days.
What We’ve Been Up To This Week
Monday: Arrived at Oslo Gardermoen, picked up our rental car and drove to our temporary home. We got pizza (including gluten-free) from a place down the street that was very good, Mamma Pizza! Eric did a late-night grocery run to grab breakfast supplies for the next morning.
Tuesday: Walked to get groceries from the Rema 1000 (a typical Norwegian grocery chain) near our apartment. In the afternoon, we had our immigration appointment at the police station to apply for our residence cards.
Wednesday: We used our last day of renting a car to visit IKEA for some kid/home supplies–boring things like a broom, baby bathtub etc–and had lunch there.
Thursday: We took the train out to a potential rental townhome in the afternoon and had a very pleasant experience riding public transit. We didn’t love the rental (too big, and the first floor looked like something out of a history book, not in a good way) but the kids enjoyed playing at the playground there. We stopped in a larger town on the way back and had a surprisingly delicious dinner out. Gluten-free food is super accessible and high-quality here according to Eric!
Friday: a lazy day at home since baby was cluster feeding.
Thoughts on Health
Once you arrive in Norway, it’s easy to see why people are so healthy here.
The city is extremely walkable (helped by the fact that it’s not too big and has incredible public transit) and suddenly I’ve already slimmed down a jeans size since arriving! I don’t think I’ll be thinking twice about postpartum weight loss this time around.
Restaurant options are healthier. At IKEA the grownups + little A had salmon, potatoes and vegetables, while little E had meatballs, gravy and potatoes. The food was reasonably priced and more importantly, high-quality and delicious. I think it’d be more appealing to order the “healthy options” if they tasted like that!
Preventative medicine: our relocation assistant (Eric’s company pays a relocation service to help new employees with that) chatted with me about the public healthcare system whilst waiting for our appointment on Tuesday. I mentioned that our pediatrician said it was ok to skip K’s 6-week appointment since we don’t have public coverage until Eric’s start date in December (only travel insurance until then). She laughed and told me to bring him in anyways if I wanted to–no one is going to turn down a baby for a well-check!
In contrast to the US where you pay a copay of $30-60+ before even seeing a doctor and then often get a bill afterwards too, if you’ve done anything other than told the doctor you’re perfectly fine. Hmmm.
Tomorrow we’re heading to a park outside of the city for a little hiking, since it’s supposed to actually be sunny. I’ll be sure to take some pictures!
xx Claire