This is the blog of a Norwegian (Marianne, aka 'M') who moved to Australia in 2007 to be with Roger (aka R) and feels lucky to have escaped a comparatively communistic country with ridiculous weather!
Archive listing for June 2010 PessimismPosted in 'Random stuff' on June 1, 2010 Unfortunately, pessimism always comes across as more intelligent and more thought through than optimism. It's as if people assume that the optimist has not thoroughly considered the pessmist's arguments, while the pessimist of course has considered the optimist's.
SeattlePosted in 'My travels' on June 1, 2010 Tomorrow morning R and I are heading off to Seattle for a two week holiday. R's parents were originally going come with us, but due to coming down with colds they have re-booked, and will fly up on Monday instead. So it will just be R and me until then.
Photos will of course be posted on my album site as usual. I will provide a more specific link when I start uploading them, probably tomorrow night (Seattle time).
LA & SeattlePosted in 'My travels' on June 3, 2010 We left Brisbane at 11 yesterday, Wednesday morning, after some minor drama with the seat allocation. There was only me and R, instead of us two and R's parents, so the airline computer system had placed two other people in R's parents' seats and split up me and R. So R had gotten a window seat, while I was in the aisle seat of the centre section. When we told the VAustralia staff member that this was no good, she offered to seat R in the seat behind me. That was marginally better, but still not good enough, so we asked to speak to someone about it. When we did that, they came up with two seats next to each other, at the emergency exit, which they normally charge extra for due to the extra legroom, but we got them at no extra cost.
The flight to Los Angeles was 13 hours, and we arrived at 7 am Wednesday morning, which was earlier than when we left Brisbane. We had a connecting flight to Seattle at 8:30, but had to go through immigration, where they refused to see us both at the same time because we are not "legally married" (as if that makes any difference) so we had to go through separately and were asked a bunch of questions, and had our photo and fingerprints taken, then we had to wait 15 minutes to get our suitcase. By then it was 7:55, and we ran over to the next terminal building where we dropped off the suitcase and then went to find a place to check-in. When we finally found one it was 8:05, and we were told that we were too late.
But the woman put us on the next flight, which was at 10:30, with no fuss and no charge. We figured that was pretty cool, because then we could spend some time in the terminal building, which is normally fun. Turns out that LA airport is very old fashioned, run down, small and very boring, so it wasn't fun at all.
There were only a couple of stores, and two places where you could buy drinks or food.
We were also reminded how much we both hate American toilets. The water level is stupidly high, so it all splashes up at you, and when you wipe your hand will most likely touch the water. ALL toilets in Usa are like that, and why they refuse to adopt the more intelligent European style toilets is a mystery.
At 9:50 we boarded and at 10:30 we took off as planned. There were no entertainment systems on this flight, which made it a bit boring, but free snacks and drinks, along with a nap relieved the boredom.
At 1 we arrived in Seattle, and then went to find our suitcase. We figured it would have been held back in LA, because it would be a security issues to put it on the plane without us, so we went to the luggage carousel, and waited there for 15-20 minutes, and then realised it wouldn't show up. We went and asked a staff member, and it turned out it was waiting for us in the back room, because it had been put on the previous flight from LA after all.
We then had to go and find the driver who was picking us up and driving us to the hotel, which was arranged by the hotel. We spent about 30-40 minutes waiting for him, before calling the hotel and they gave us the driver's number and we then finally found each other.
He drove us to the hotel where we checked in, plugged in our phones and netbook to charge and get online, and then napped for about 2 hours.
We then went for a walk up the street, and found a Metropolitan Market, which is the coolest supermarket ever. It is huge, has everything you could ever want, including heaps of organic stuff and wine from all over the world, and is nicely presented, unlike most other supermarkets I have seen where the goal is to cram as much stuff in as possible and not bother with presentation, because that costs money.
We got some snacks and microwave dinners, then walked back to the hotel and ate. We then got various work stuff done, and watched tv, and went to bed around midnight.
We woke up around 6, and R announced that he was wide awake. He got up, but I was still sleepy, so I stayed in bed until 8:30, when R decided to annoy me until I got up.
We headed out a little while later, towards the monorail terminal which is about a 5 minute walk from the hotel. It goes into the main shopping area in downtown Seattle, which takes about 1 minute and costs $2 per person.
The end terminal is at a small shopping centre, which looks like it hasn't been upgraded since the 1960s. It's not run down or anything, just old. We had maccas for breakfast there, and then spent the next few hours walking around in the main shopping area, and also walked down to the waterfront where Pike Place Market is. We had a look at the market, and it's just like any other market we have ever been to, but much bigger.
We tried to find an electronics store, but only found one small one that didn't have much, and we also got some souvenirs.
R had then developed a backache, so we walked back to the monorail terminal which took us back to the Seattle Center (sic) and we walked around there for a bit before returning to the hotel.
And here we are. R has been napping for the last couple of hours, and I have been writing this blog entry and uploaded the first few photos to my photo album.
Thoughts on UsaPosted in 'My travels, Usa bashing' on June 10, 2010 R and I have now been in Usa for one week. I must say I am pleasantly surprised by a lot of things, but R tells me it could just be this particular state that is good, being so close to Canada, because he has been over here several times and he says either the country has completely changed in the last 5 years, or it's just this state. Usatians seem a lot more worldly than I expected, but we attribute that to being close to Canada. And they are still a little clueless, for example, they can't tell the difference between Australian and British accents, and they think we use pounds in Australia. But I spose I can forgive them for that.
Their money is silly. Their notes are all the same colour and size and nearly identical in design, and the only way to tell them apart is by the little number in the corner. On their coins they have put effort into making the font as small as possible, so you have to study each coin in detail to figure out what value it is. Also, the smallest coin is not the one that is smallest in value.
And instead of putting "25 cents" on their 25 cent coin, they have put "one quarter of a dollar", and it doesn't say "25 cents" anywhere on it. In stores they regularly refer to their coins as "a penny", "nickel" and "dime", and I have no idea what that means.
But this can be forgiven, because we have met 3 different shop staff that have said their money is stupid, or ridiculous. The shop staff is really friendly most of the time too, which is good.
Another thing regarding money is that they don't add tax onto their prices in stores. So several times R and I have worked out what something would cost based on the prices on the tags in the store, only to get to the checkout and the price is completely different, because they add the tax on. This is particularly annoying when we have carefully counted the exact change for the items, and then have to re-count when we are surprised by a new price at the checkout. They would never get away with that in Australia, even if they tried people would just say "Nope, that's the price it says on the tag and that's what I'm paying" and if they couldn't pay that, then they would walk out of the store and refuse to buy anything there.
We have also been surprised by how environmentally conscious they all are, but R says that is just this state, because last time he was in Usa they were not doing anything to help the environment at all. And it's like they haven't gotten the hang of it yet, because they are not consistent. They encourage recycling at the hotel we are staying at, but they don't use energy efficient light bulbs. Their fridges, tv's and microwave ovens are also really old, which means they use more power than they need to.
There are a lot of priuses around, everywhere we look there is a prius (or five!) and they have recycling bins wherever there is a regular bin. There is also a LOT of organic food at the local supermarket, and mostly organic and fair trade chocolates.
The range in the supermarkets is very cool, they have everything you could ever imagine, and some things you wouldn't imagine, such as putting salt on chocolate. I have tried them, and the salt is a bit overpowering, and I was left thinking "why ruin perfectly good chocolate with salt??". I thought Australia had a nice range compared to Norway, but they have heaps more stuff here than they do in Australia. This would be because the population of the country is much higher, and so there are more companies doing the same things and more competition and they all come up with their own thing etc.
The more ugly side is that there are a lot of weirdos in this country. Every time we walk down the street we come across people shouting or behaving abnormally, and there are a lot of beggars. This is probably because the country has no proper welfare system or sufficient medical care to get the crazies the help they need.
Overall, it's pretty good, and the people are more friendly and polite than I thought they would be, but sometimes they get a little too friendly. You can't go into any shop without someone trying to sell you something, instead of leaving you alone to look at stuff. Whatever you look at, they start to describe in detail, which is kind of annoying when you only glanced at it and then wanted to move on to the next thing.
And they like to shout their conversations at each other. Even if they are only 2-3 metres apart, they have to shout everything, to make sure everyone can hear them. I don't particularly want to hear all of their conversations. Most of the time it's boring, and they overshare a bit, like discussing their therapy sessions with someone they just met. They also overtalk everything; whenever they say something they have to use as many words as possible. For example, they would say "I'm gonna go ahead and have a shower", rather than "I'm having a shower". Or they would say "I have a receipt for you right here", instead of "Here's your receipt", and "Would you like me to go ahead and put that in a bag for you?" instead of "Would you like a bag?". It's like they can't talk enough.
I like the fact that Seattle pokes fun of the fact that it rains a lot here. A lot of their souvenirs have umbrellas on them, and their postcards will have either umbrellas or rain on them, they have keyrings that say "Got Rain?" and fridge magnets that where it literally rains cats and dogs. In the city there is a giant decorative wind vane in the shape of an inside out umbrella, which I thought was really cool. Several shop assistants have asked why we would come here, with all this rain here, "Don't you get enough of it in Australia or something?" or "Did you miss the rain?".
So Usa is pretty good, and I wouldn't mind staying here temporarily while going to Uni or something like that, but I would not want to settle here permanently. The accent and mannerisms would get too annoying after a while, I think. But I like it here:)
Oh, and R and I eloped today in Seattle, so we are now married.
DinnerPosted in 'My travels, Usa bashing' on June 11, 2010 Following our marriage ceremony yesterday afternoon, R and I went up the Space Needle with R's parents, because they wanted to take us out to dinner. We thought that was very nice of them. I have a few comments on Usatian dining, however. First of all, their restaurants are sooo loud! This would be because they all feel the need to shout at each other all the time, rather than speaking normally. It's the same in England, you can hardly hear yourself think in cafes and restaurants, and speaking to the other people at your table is difficult. You have to lean in and speak very loudly for them to hear you, thus contributing to the noise issue. Restaurants in Norway and Australia are nice and quiet, with other people's talking as gentle background noise. Another thing is that their menu has "apetizers" and "entrées", apetisers actually being the entrée and the entrée actually being the main course. Why?? Do they not know the meaning of the word entrée?? It literally means 'entry' or 'entrance'. There are apetisers (like chips or bread rolls), then entrée (small, light meal), then main course.
One weekPosted in 'Roger' on June 17, 2010 Today R and I have been married for one week. Woohoo! We got married on June 9th, but that was in Seattle, so that was early morning on the 10th here in Brisbane, so we have decided that we will celebrate our anniversary on the 10th each year.
We got married kind of on impulse. R said to me a few days before we left for Seattle, "What if we get married over there?"
So I looked into it and found that it's one of the easiest places to get married, so then we figured why not. It might be fun, and it's a souvenir of us and of Seattle. So when we got there we went and applied for a marriage licence, which is very simple, all you do is fill out your name and address and they give you a piece of paper that gives you permission to get married.
A couple of days later, on Monday when R's parents arrived, we went out to dinner and announced to them that we would get married on Wednesday the 9th (2 days later) and we wanted them to be our witnesses. They were of course pleased.
So on Wednesday we all walked down to the courthouse, the judge read his little thingy about the importance of respect etc when married, then asked us the routine questions and we of course said yes and he declared us husband and wife. (I was very pleased that he didn't say "man and wife" which I have heard a few times on tv). R and I shook hands on it, after I told the judge that's what we do in Norway, but he then exclaimed "boring!" so we kissed as well, so we double sealed the deal:)
We then signed some papers and off we went.
It was all very casual, R and I wore jeans and t-shirts and we didn't make a big deal out of it, which is how we both wanted it. I felt very self conscious getting married in front of 3 people, and I could never have done it in front of a whole crowd, and R said later he felt the same way.
To celebrate we went up the Space Needle in the evening where R's parents bought us dinner.
A couple of days later we decided we wanted wedding rings, so we went and bought some. So there was nothing really traditional about the process, but that suits us just fine.
 (click for bigger version)
Name changePosted in 'Random stuff' on June 18, 2010 I mentioned in a blog entry a few months ago that I would not change my name if I got married, and I still feel the same way. It's not that I don't like R's name, it's that I like my name; I grew up with and have had it all my life. It's part of me, and I don't see why I should change it. I also don't agree that it should be an automatic thing for the woman to take her husband's name.
In Norway the female usually keeps her maiden name as her middle name, and takes her husband's last name as her new last name. I don't know why they have started doing this, because according to Wikipedia, Scandinavian women have only been taking their husband's last name since the beginning of the 20th century.
But me not changing my name means there is an issue with my title, which English speaking countries love to use. Whenever you fill out a form here, they ask for your title. I am no longer "Miss", because I am married, but I am not "Mrs Hovde", because R's last name isn't Hovde. So the only title I can use is "Ms", which I don't like. Oh well.
ResidencyPosted in 'Life in Oz' on June 18, 2010 We got back from Usa on Wednesday, and I found a letter from Immigration waiting for me. I lodged my application for permanent residency early in May, so it was quite exciting. And sure enough, it had been granted, and I am now a permanent Australian resident! :)
This means I can remain in Australia indefinitely without having to go through any more visa stuff, and I have access to all the benefits that Aussie citizens get, such as Medicare, study help, unemployment benefit, etc etc. Not that I will be using all that of course, but it's good to know that it's there:)
Female Prime MinisterPosted in 'Roger, Life in Oz' on June 27, 2010 The other day Australia got its first female prime minister. She wasn't elected by the people, but decided to overthrow the current prime minister, after he became more and more unpopular by making silly suggestions for the future of Australia. One of these suggestions was to allow a lot of immigration to increase Australia's population to 36 million by 2050 (current population is 20 million). The trouble with this is that infrastructure is already not keeping up with the current population growth. There are always roadworks everywhere, and you can't drive anywhere near the city without either being stuck in traffic or being held up by roadworks. By nearly doubling our population in the next 40 years, I can't even imagine the amount of roadworks and traffic problems we would see.
I dug up a Norwegian news story about Julia becoming prime minister, and one paragraph actually says that she has been criticised for being unmarried and childless, saying that she cares more about politics than family.
I don't know where they got that from, because I live here, and I have not heard anyone say anything bad about her not being married or having children. What I did hear was someone say "she is a redhead who lives in a flat and eats takeaway food with her boyfriend!" and I think everyone loves her for it, because she's so untraditional.
I have heard people say bad things about her politics, but I have not heard her criticised at all for her lack of family life. Or for being a woman for that matter.
But as Roger said:
R: Why are they obsessing over what gender she is anyway? She's just a person; and that's it. End of story.
Awww:)
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1 Comment 
I disagree completly.