When you moved to your new overseas home, what would you REALLY wanted to have been told about your new home country?

[QuintessentialShadows]

As some of you know, I have moved back to my native Norway after 15 years of living in London.

Moving to London was exciting, as a 20 year old student, life was not so different to live as a student in Norway.

But, moving back to Norway, with a husband, and children, and having to deal with "adult" stuff such as housebuying, taxes, childcare, etc, was hard enough, even if I did actually speak the language. My husband didnt though, and did a 1 year full time course.

I am currently involved with my local chamber of commerce here, devising a fast track Norwegian language course, which should also contain important facts about Norwegian society.

It is very exciting, and I am really eager to get a good course off the ground, especially as my students will have to pass an accreditation exam.

My question to you guys, is the following:

What aspect of your new culture would you really have liked to learn about, if you were on a language course, with other adults from all over the world?

How the health system works. I took DD to the doctor last night, she was kind enough to show me.
I will now be claiming back the 300 odd euros that we've spent so far.

how easy and quickly you can sort out cars, and how viable it is to import your own cars.

what english tv channels you can get, and options.

what clubs are available for children, and how do you find out about them

what times the shops are open

How smiling is regarded. Here, Correze, it's regarded by many as a sign that the person is lying.

Wish I'd known, I'd have avoided a certain plumber. I just thought that he was pleasant. D'oh

Hi Quintessential,
I agree with above posts about practicalities, bank accounts, health system etc ...
I lived in Norway for 7 yrs (Bergen and Oslo) but am from the UK.
The royal family is a good example of a progressive society, but Norway can be VERY hard for a foreigner to adapt to (all my lovely strong friends have tales to tell).
You have to mention that immigration is relatively new and mention 'fremmedfrykt' it's a very real concept, especially for people of colour, and especially outside of Oslo. People should be prepared for this. Also related to UDI, I have cried many times because of this, people so rude and such a horrible place.
Norway is not a perfect society (Karl Johans gata near the train station a goos example, I have travelled many places but never seen anyone shooting up in the middle of the day before, or my partner grabbed by a prostitute).
Vinmonopolet, some of us are not used to planning alcohol purchases before 3 pm on a Saturday!! Also, supermarkets closing on Sunday, small things but things that grate if you're not used to it.
Norwegians dedication to going out in bad weather ...
Lots of social stuff, like they don't have a word for please (in the same context as in English) so can often appear rude when they're not.
Does that help? I went to a great course at UiB (trinn 3).

Don't know how it is in Norway, but to add to all of that, the whole Danish system of a-kasse, fagforening etc. Here, you need to sign up within 2 weeks of finishing your course (for me handing in my MA thesis), except we were moving internationally with 2 small kids so I forgot. I'm still waiting for a place for ds in nursery (hopefully after Christmas), luckily dd is in nursery now and in the meantime am completely as dh's mercy as far as money is concerned. Will be signing up pronto as soon as I get a job! But yes, the trade union side of things would be good to know (if relevant in Norway).

Wow - So many thoughts and useful comments!

I have decided to make my text about the Royal family into a homework, to read and then write a dialogue between course participant and the princess.

I only have room enough for 5 topics, as the final, and sixth class will be a revision class.

So far I have

"Geography" - important points nationally and locally. Includes weather and what to wear in winter to keep warm, and dry.

"Library, Information and newspapers", with how to complete forms. (with basis around the library card application)

"Food" with traditional dishes, based around the fact that Norwegians are a "foraging" and "gathering" kind of people. Like we stock our freezer with Lamb in the autumn when lamb is in season, as you cant really get lamb other than in September/October. Cod season, etc. Berry picking, etc. Food is mostly locally produced and dependent on seasons. Anything imported is costly, such as £8 for a small tub of mascarpone.

"Health care", Including dentistry, finding a GP, using A&E and the out of hours doctors. How to register with a gp, what to expect at the doctors/dentist, etc. What kind of questions they ask, and what you need to do to obtain a prescription, and that there is only ONE out of hours chemist, open between 7 and 9, and anything later than you get a "starter pack" from the out of hours. What to expect related to sick leave, sick pay, etc.

"Christmas and Festive Seasons" - self explanatory to us westerners maybe, but to somebody from Sri Lanka and China, maybe not.

Because it is so limited, and I am bringing my laptop, I will ask them to think about anything else they are curious about, or need help with, and they can stay behind after class to check online, or I can check till the next session.

Does it sound ok?

I think that sounds good - can you squeeze 'customs' in there somewhere? (I guess under 'festivals'?)

Just stuff that may be obvious to a lot but perhaps not all, like some other posters mentioned, meeting people's eyes when saying skål, general format of children's birthday parties (am just comparing how I found the parties we went to during our year in London, compared with what I was used to here), arranging meetings with friends rather than just dropping in on people (dh comes from a culture of just knocking on the door if you're passing) and general stuff like that?

I was planning to squeeze customs in under festivals. Small things such as dropping in unannounced will be mentioned, as well as birthday parties, wine shop, and alcohol regulations. (Illegal to drink outside in parks and in public outdoors, unless at festival with a license, the wine shops closes at 4, beer sold in shops, but no beer sold after 4pm, no alcohol served before 6pm on a sunday.... No shops open on sundays, aside from gas stations, etc. It will all be mentioned during the lessons, even if there is no special topic for it.

That all sounds good.

Just thought of another thing - housing and how things generally work.

Especially as Norway is cold - here, they advocate opening the windows every day, twice a day for half an hour to circulate air - dh is half Russian, and apparently there lots of people even seal their windows throughout the winter (we have constant arguments about this).

Heating here (in apartments) is generally switched on for the winter, off for the summer by the board for the building. Radiators are thermostat controlled and you are advised not to turn the radiators down when the windows are open in the winter.

Organising internet, telephone, television etc?

Again, don't know how it is in Norway, but perhaps something worth mentioning?

Sorry - I just keep adding bits and bobs as they spring to mind!

Do you have the smiley face system in Norway?

Things like that are useful too (also which shops have which sort of price levels / quality levels / reputations etc).

You can put it in their court as well (if you get stuck for time, this is a good one):
make them make a list of everything they really love and everything that makes them uncomfortable about Norway.

(About Britain, it is always too much potato, weird taps, and external drainpipes )

It's quite a good psychological exercise (and you sling in all the usual vocab for expressing pleasure/displeasure) because undoubtedly there will be things they need to get off their chest in a socially safe environment. I thought willow5's post was interesting and the sort of thing that is really important for settling in a country.

Unprune
Do you want them to TORTURE me?

I can imagine poor little me in front of a class of students who are becoming more and more irate as they ponder and haul at me all the things they dislike about being here here....

Or maybe it is just MY impression that everything here is so much worse than every where else? Aside from the mountains.

I should maybe add a little about the Norwegian fascination for running up peaks in summer, and skiing in winter. We love the outdoors, and children as young as 2 years old go skiing. And let the know where to find the paths (as they are not easily marked) and where to find the skiing loops around town.

Upsincecrapoclock. We dont have a smile system here. In fact you can hardly find the calories and fat content on food packaging at all.

It is advised to open the windows. But many foreigners dont. They seal shut their windows in winter, this results in condensations and a moist environment indoors, which again makes homes colder. Also heating should be even and consistent, so you don't turn the thermostats down in the night.
This is a good point.

Also, we have hot water tanks, and electric central heating (often underfloor heating) rather than gas and boilers. This means, after two long showers your water tank will be empty and you have no hot water till the next day....

lol Quint, it's actually quite liberating to see how others see your society! With all its flaws. Plus sometimes you can set their minds at rest. eg the student who thought he was being mistreated because he got cornflakes for breakfast.

One thing that astonished me (a lifelong 'off with their heads' type) was that people abroad LOVE the Royal Family. I'd heard this but it didn't compute. I have grudgingly conceded that they are worth it as a tourist attraction.

One bad thing was that we found out they don't like having stones thrown at them for being foreign That one was quite useful, as we had no idea and involved the police, who managed to stop this gang of girls from harrassing lone foreigners. THe exercise was really worth it, just for that.

oh god unprune. that sounds horrid.
(As an aside, I had stones thrown at me in Jordan. And I was wearing modest clothes)

Maybe I will include it.....

Luckily my students are adults.

When ds1 started school here, I was invited to spend morning assembly in his class. They were all to sit in a circle, and they were to have massage time. So the children were instructed to go stand behind another child. In order to prevent children run to ONE particular person so that some were left out, the teacher would say, can Mary go stand behind Sophie, etc. One boy was Korean, his name was Andreas. The teacher said, "Can Rune please stand behind Andreas" and the following exchange took place:
Rune : who is Andreas?
Child one: The Chinese boy
Child two: No, he is Korean
Child three: Chinese, Korean, jadda jadda, thats the same shit isnt it.

As these were six year olds, you wonder where they get their ideas from....

oh goodness. sorry for having repeated racism.

I find that so hard here. There is so much of it, as migration is such a recent phenomenon.

Good grief, in a 6 year old.....

I think it's a great idea to put the ball in their court and gauge their experiences as these will differ immensely between those who have moved for work and their employers will fix alot of practical stuff to those who have moved individually (i.e. to a Norwegian system) and will hit a while barrage of bureaucracy as Norway doesn't really cater for them. Norway seems not to accept education from other countries and this will impact on their experience. It can be irritating to hear how great Norway is when they won't accept a good degree from places like the UK. Norway is great but mainly for those who are Norwegian. I swear if someone had mentioned UN number one one more time when I was really down I would have screamed!!
Racism is very palpable (i am mixed race and never experienced it before), immigration is new in Norway, but I'm not sure than excuses it in a nation of educated people.
Practicalities: you can't open bank accounts etc until you have a personnummer (or temporary D number), think folkeregister fix this. Also helpful to know public offices open early and close after lunch. They will no doubt have to visit the UDI, you can only take a number until about 10 am, but you may wait anything up to 5 hours to be seen, you need to set aside a whole day to do this.
If applying for jobs, copies have to be certified at an approved photocopy shop, maybe find some in the area you could direct them to.
Trafikanten.no is an invaluable website for route planning. Finn.no for somewhere to live. Aftenposten.no has an English section.
Also if people have young children, there's not the same 'park culture'as most places because most children are in nursery from one year so not realy around during the week. There is aapen barnehage though.
I moved to Norway in 2000, but we moved to Sydney in 2008, we now have to decide if we move back to Norway or England next year. Partner is keen on Norway, makes sense financially with nursery, barnetrygt, kontantstoete etc (especially with the changes in England now) but remembering all this takes me back to some very dark days for the first couple of years.

Add: move for a Norwegian partner (not Norwegian system!)

Willow - thank you. Many useful points. (and sorry to hear you had a crap time. So do I, but I guess I will have to try and keep a lid on that, at least to my class!)
Norway do accept foreign degrees, you just have to contact an organization called Nokut (I shall remember to inform my students about this) where you list all your education, enclosing certified photocopies of diplomas to verify, and they will "translate" your qualifications so that you can use that, for example to do a Postgraduate diploma in education (Ped Sem) to become a teacher, etc.

True, everything close early, and take a long time. Especially immigration related matters. (Gosh, I remember HOURS spent at the uk immigration office to sort my own stuff out.)
You can actually open a bank account without the Personnumer, you just dont get any cards with the account. And luckily, the personnumer doesnt take long to get these days.

We are planning in the future to do two separate courses. One for the employees in the evening, and a daytime course for spouses of employees, and make more focus on socializing and spare time, as many will have very little network. And like you say, everything is geared towards women working and having their kids either in full time nursery or preschool, so the life of a sahm married to a migrant worker can be very lonely and dull.

Willow, out of curiosity, where did you live?

Lol Sooz, I will remember to mention about the shoes, that applies to Norway. The rest I am glad to say don't apply! It sounds interesting!

Hi, First 3 years in Bergen, then Oslo. Luckily I managed to get a good job/network in the end, but it took some time and alot of perseverance :)

Hmm, I wish somebody had told me not to buy an Italian car, its just a wasted expense and not to become resident (its a pain in the arse and so many advantages to not being resident).

I wish I hadn't listen to an English friend and changed the title name of my electricity bill as I would be paying a lot less and probably would have saved about a 2K and counting.

I wish somebody had told me that private school ain't much cope here better to use the state schools. Instead I listened to the opposite advice.

I wish I'd known just how horrible January and february are here.