[Sure, we could surmise that if we lived in the city it could very well be a lot easier for Judge to get a job, but let's ... well, not, as who knows...this is Norway, where 80% of the jobs people get are gotten through their network].
Seriously. Last year I shared how the village looked out for us in terms of making sure we could apply for a preschool spot in time if we so desired (towards the end of this post).
This past month or two, we have once again been inundated with the care and helpfulness that abounds us.
For example, people are waiving me down from their home windows when we walk by, saying they stopped by our house but we were out, and that they have a bag of nicely used hand-me-downs for the girls if we're interested (ok, it happened just once, yesterday, but still), and offering us boy hand-me-downs if we're interested, when they find out we are expecting a boy (again, just happened once so far, today, but still).
Now, we already feel the love of close friends and family taking amazing good care of us, looking out for us, though they live various long distances away, and just that is sometimes quite overwhelming in and of itself for me (in a very make-you-feel-all-warm-and-loved kind of way)...I guess this is how it should be? But it is not something I expect or take for granted, and am constantly reoverwhelmed by it.
And this looking-out-for-us by mere acquaintances or less than acquaintances just adds to the wonderful overwhelmedness.
And that's just a fraction of what has been going on. The "village development committee" (VDC) has taken us under their wing, as I mentioned before. Over Easter break we met with two of them so they could gain an understanding of Judge's background and the type of job he wants to have and what he could be suitable for. During that meeting rather than say "ok, so we will call this and that person and then let you know what they said", they just got their phones out on the spot and made the calls, and thus through them using their network, Judge got a "language practice" position at a national corporation that has a production plant 30 min drive from here. First day will be tomorrow.
Sure he got it on his own merits by sending a strong cover letter and CV (and yes, I take partial credit here, and send thanks out to a good friend who gave us some sage advice as well) but more importantly by being his awesome self in the 1.5 hour spoken-all-in-Norwegian interview he had with the head of HR, head of operations, one other head-of-something, as well as a representative from NAV (government welfare/employment system), but the vital connections were made through the VDC - and I'm sure it doesn't hurt that the head of HR just happens to be a childhood friend of my oldest sister...as is everyone and their mother around here it seems.
This would be an awesome company for Judge to get a long term position at...though we are not holding our breaths, as that would mean someone would have to free up a position first (leave...or retire?) and who knows when that would be. But still. There is a lot of positive stuff that can come from this, not only increased language exposure but also another future local reference, which can make all the difference.
Little by little everything will fall into place. That's what we're feeling right now...and boy does it feel good.
[last night's sunset]
.
No comments:
Post a Comment