Lots to tell you about so get ready to read, learn, and have some fun! Especially the first two :)
The last few weeks have been exciting yet challenging. Imagine, those of you who are married...to move to a different country a week after the wedding. Now while you're in the country, you try to get a VISA, learn the language, and apply for jobs. All while adjusting to a new culture and doing your best to understand new daily tasks such as eating a "sandwhich" on one slice of bread, or driving on roads that Americans consider golf cart paths. Don't get me wrong, these differences are great, and it's what makes each country unique. Everyday I seem to find things that are new to me, and sometimes it takes some time to get used to. Just as when people leave their home country and move to America. Anyway...since I've got my VISA in line, and I'm learning the language little by little each day, it was time to really focus on a job. Yes, I have a job as an assistant for an electrician, which I'm grateful for, but I'm talking long term.
So over the past 2 months or maybe less, I've been researching International Schools here in Norway. Teaching can be difficult let alone instructing in a new language so my best bet was to begin my teaching career in Norway at an International School. International Schools have many benefits including the fact that they're exclusively speaking in english throughout the school. Considering english is my native language, this gave me an advantage.
Typically speaking, international schools are located in larger cities, and this includes larger cities in America as well. So I searched the larger cities in Norway that are relatively close to where Kristine and I currently live. This search consisted of Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand. Haugesund, which is the closest "city" to us, plans to get an international school in the future. I saw that The British International School of Stavanger had two openings this upcoming academic year. So I sent my CV (resume), and applied for one of the positions. After about one week, the principal got in contact with me for an interview, which was about 2 1/2 hours long. It consisted of me mingling with students during a class period, teaching a lesson, an interview, and then a tour of the facilities. It was a great experience!
The pictures are much larger than normal this time. It's fun to try new things.
So here I am in Stavanger the morning of the interview walking around trying to learn a little bit about the city. I noticed this road going under some houses and thought it would be fun to take a picture.
I was walking around for a few hours because I went to Stavanger with Kristine's father who had work related business there which took place earlier in the day. This picture is the Norwegian Petroleum Museum. At least that's how it was translated. I lack knowledge of this museum but I do know that many people who visit Stavanger also visit this museum as Stavanger is known as the oil capital of Norway. I'm sure I'll go there sooner or later since Kristine is very much interested in this line of work.
During my current job, David and I go to the local electrician centrals to connect people's homes to the main network...or something like that. It's terribly confusing as you can see by this photo. I just do what David tells me. I'm glad he knows what he's doing.
One day on the job, I looked behind me to find nothing. Well, it appears to be nothing but what I actually saw was a system of land divided by rock fences. These are obviously old but it reminded me of how young America is compared to Norway. Farmers in Norway got rid of the rock in the ground to make way for better farm usage. Instead of piling up the rocks somewhere, they would reuse them by making rock fences. The view in real life was much better by the way.
Leaving the cabin to go skiing, I took this photo. It's great being in the mountains when the sun in shining.
I went for a little hike in the southwest area of the island last weekend. I've been to this place before but unfortunately it was raining the first time and I couldn't get any good photos.
On the hiking trails in Norway, you'll often find signs such as this. I usually don't know what each individual place is, but it still can be helpful as I know of a few.
This is a cabin located near a small inland lake which was shown two photos earlier. This cabin can be used for youth groups, church groups, or people in general that wish to go for a hike and spend some time at a cabin.
Norwegian courses have begun (finally). It took a long time for them to begin because there wasn't enough students to fill a class. So after waiting over a month, I received a letter in the mail informing me when I was scheduled to begin. These are my books and notebooks for the course. It's not only great to learn the language in this course but I also learn a lot about other cultures around the world. There are people from Africa, Romania, Thailand, Ukraine, Poland, and much more. It's fun to speak with them and to hear their story. My teacher says I have a VERY American accent while speaking Norwegian...whatever that means.
I just finished my third week of classes. I have 9 hours of class each week. Each week the instructor hands out a sheet called "Ukeplan" as you can see. It gives me, the student, an idea of what to expect that week and also how to prepare for upcoming classes. This is actually something I like to do for students while I instruct.
A few weekends ago I went to the south region of Norway to be with some friends and to watch Kristine's cousin Daniel perform with his band Tiny Path. We were in Vigeland which I believe is a town nearest to the southernmost part of Norway.
I said I would take pictures for my blog but also for their website. I'm not the best photographer so I'm not sure if any photos are good enough for their website. I took many more but only shared a few for the sake of this blog.
This is their band name/logo/graphic.
The concert was performed at a church in Vigeland where Daniel's older brother lives.
Daniel was giving me a lesson on the drumset before their sound check. What a great teacher!
Sound check in session...
My good buddy David works the sound for the band.
This pictures has nothing to do with anything except that it's the drummer's house from the band. We dropped him off after a performance. I took this photo because this area reminded me so much of Wisconsin. It particularly reminded of western Wisconsin in the Eau Claire and La Crosse areas. It's not often I see landscape in Norway that reminds me of areas in midwestern America.
The concert is underway. Having my knowledge of music is great because it makes events like this even better. Each time I hear Tiny Path perform they're better than the previous time.
Daniel is a great performer and most importantly, he has a good time.
Back to this teaching position I was applying for. During my interview I was told that they didn't have any specific position available for me at the time but they wished to have a music specialist. This got me excited. After a week or so, I heard back from the school. I was asked to come in again and meet with another administrator. We discussed my career goals and objectives to see where I would possibly fit best within the teaching staff at the school. During my conversation with this gentleman, he clearly stated that the school wouldn't have a decision made as to if I would be hired for 3-4 weeks. It turned out that I received a job offer 2 hours after leaving the school. I was shocked to hear from them so quickly. I will be teaching mostly music and perhaps a few other subjects as needed. I'm blessed to have this opportunity so I don't mind teaching any subject. Perhaps not Math or Science though.
I didn't take pictures of the school but eventually I will, and then I'll post them on here.
Information about BISS:
BISS is located in Gausel, a suburb of the city of Stavanger, two hours south of where we currently live. It was founded in 1977 mostly because many British people moved to Stavanger to work in the oil industry. There are currently 500 students aged 18 months to 16 years who attend BISS. Within the student body, there are 47 nationalities (that's exciting!). The school is divided into 3 areas. They consist of Pre-School (child care), Primary School, and Secondary School. I will be teaching mostly within the Secondary School. These students age from 11-16. Although if there is a need for me to teach music for younger students, I may get involved with the Primary School. I believe the Primary School consists of students aged 6-10. BISS is also a private school. Their educational philosophy aligns well with what I believe in. After being with the students and meeting some of the staff I was thoroughly impressed with the school overall. If you would like more information about BISS, please visit biss.no < that's a website. You can also find more information about the school by searching for The British International School of Stavanger on facebook.
Stavanger is considered a large city here in Norway. The city itself has a population of approximately 130,000 people and the Greater Stavanger area consists of approximately 330,000 people. I really like cities this size. I look forward to meeting many more people and experiencing life in a much larger community.
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