Shopping, prices, language, work culture and daily matters. Finding your place in Norway.
The smell of Polish bread, fresh sweet buns, home-style cold cuts and vegetables reminiscent of a family garden. In Lillestrøm there is a place where ordinary shopping can evoke extraordinary memories. And every Friday means another delivery of flavors from Poland. Copy excerpt
You got a job, but kindergarten or school finish much earlier than your working day. Where to register your child, when to submit the application and how much do barnehage or SFO actually cost? We explain it without bureaucratic language.
Love can end, but when there are children, parenthood continues. How to avoid turning a child into a weapon against an ex-partner, and where is the boundary between cooperation, protecting the child and one’s own emotions?
You have moved to Norway, your child does not yet know the language, and you do not even know which school to call. Do not wait for someone to contact you. The municipality is responsible for assigning a school place, and not knowing Norwegian does not deprive the child of the right to education.
The landlord asks for three months' rent as a deposit and sends you their account number. It sounds simple, but this is exactly where you should pause. In Norway, deposit money should be secured in a special account, not left in the landlord's private bank account.
You found an apartment, the owner says there are several interested people and you need to decide quickly. That’s exactly when it’s worth taking half an hour. Check the person, the premises, the contract, the costs and the method of paying the deposit before you send someone the first thousands of kroner.
Do you already have a D-nummer or fødselsnummer and want to function normally in Norway? You can get a bank account without BankID, but an account alone does not yet mean you will receive electronic identification. We explain what this process really looks like.
Emigration eventually ends, but the ties and values gained from life among the Polish diaspora can last a long time. Marek Sołowiej, known online as Czudo, after returning from Norway uses music, livestreams and his community to help people who themselves have ever less strength to ask for help.
Some will call it contact with the world of the dead, others intuition, a spiritual experience or the workings of the human mind. Dominika "Domi" from Sarpsborg says she sees and feels the presence of deceased people. Before we ask her in an interview what it looks like from her perspective, we examine what mediumship actually is, what science has managed to investigate, and why experiencing something extraordinary does not necessarily amount to proof of the existence of ghosts or to illness.
Sometimes the greatest strength is not to keep fighting, but the decision that you don't have to control, fix and carry everything yourself. Magdalena Feminine Movement writes about letting go, relationships, the fatigue of constant readiness, and the freedom that appears when you can say: I did my part, now I let life do its thing.
Have you arrived in Norway and don’t know where to start? See the order of the most important matters in the first 30 days — from residency rights and an identification number to skattekort, Folkeregister, a doctor and the first steps in the Norwegian system.
