Well, after following up with HR at the old folks' home (technically HR for our municipality), the plan totally disintegrated, and with it our good spirits. They said they only take on apprentices for two years, that have already completed all the theory. There's no way Judge would be able to pass all 8 exams - in Norwegian - in time to apply for the spot that will be available next fall.
Man what a downer. Like seriously. That evening and the next few days were heart-heavy and brain-dead numb whenever there was some down-time.
But then another plan started to emerge, somehow, that actually felt even more right. And that was to apply for a 4 year apprentice position within the field of chemistry process. This would allow Judge to not throw away all his previous engineering education and smarts within physics, math and critical thinking, and also open for potentially getting an engineering job in the future - and higher pay than he'd get as a chef. It would also mean he could get a full time job after becoming certified (while there would be no full time job available in the kitchen in Innvik).
As this plan started to take shape, I stumbled upon something priceless - there are organizations that work as go-betweens for apprentices and "official apprentice companies" (companies that are already in the apprentice system, with programs set up for the apprentices). Hello - how did no-one mention these to us before?
Looking at the website for the one for our county we saw Elkem (Judge's dreem company - the one and only company in Norway his background is a perfect fit for) is one of the apprentice-companies~! It is located at the mouth of our fjord, about a 2.5-3 hour drive from here.
After some communication with the apprentice-coordination organization, we found out Elkem was taking on a several apprentices this year (though we didn't know if all the spots were filled yet or not, seeing as the apprentices all start in the beginning of September), and the organization forwarded his application to them. He had already applied for a process operator position with them that we're still waiting to hear back about (not a quick rejection like previous attempts), and so we were starting to become semi-hopeful.
This past Wednesday we then searched for the apprentice-middleman-organizations for all around Norway, and started sending out applications to several of them.
Then suddenly Thursday Judge got a phone call from NAV (Norway's social services), asking him if he was interested in coming in to Sellgren (the company in Innvik that he worked for before making bean bag chairs) for a talk with her (his NAV representative) and the production manager the next morning regarding a potential 'practice' position opportunity. He said 'of course', but we were not too excited or hopeful that it would be something he'd want to accept.
Such practice positions are paid by NAV, and we heard that the employee gets about NOK300/day ... that's right - per DAY! And we thought maybe they were just doing this to try and keep their costs down or something. Working either on the bean bag production line or another of their production lines where there isn't much opportunity to talk, and where one gets pretty tired at the end of the day, for just NOK300/day wasn't exactly enticing.
But boy were we wrong.
They're getting a new machine, and need people to man it - four people, and they already had three, needed one more. We're not sure who thought of Judge first, Sellgren or NAV, but in any event, they want him to receive training on the old machines for two months starting November 1st, training that usually new employees use a year to learn. During this time he'd be in a 'practice' position paid by NAV - and because we have three kids, the pay is about NOK11,000/month (vs. NOK6000+ if it was NOK300/day like we thought).
Then he'd become a full-time employee starting Jan. 1st, paid by Sellgren, with a salary higher than provided when he was making bean bag chairs. He'd have to ead to Bergen (5.5 hours from here) with the other three for training for a week in February I think, and a week during spring.
The machine is more computerized...automated...than the machines they currently have, and this fact along with the fact that it is new for the company so will need a lot of trouble shooting (challenging, which Judge likes), and that it is a permanent full-time position, in INNVIK (no need to commute on Norway's worst stretch of highway or over a treacherous mountain pass...nor need to move all together~!!), and the pay will be higher than what he was paid previously (but we're not expecting waaay higher...should know how much it will be soon), makes it a really positive option. It's shift-work though, every two weeks they switch, from 6am-2pm, to 2pm-10pm, to 10pm-6am. I could never function on that kind of schedule, but Judge can do it just fine (though it's harsh). And of course it is not an engineering job...but we're realistic in the chance of getting one of those for Judge as the job market stands in Norway at the moment is nill.
BUT, he had already said he would do a seasonal job at a photo-developing shop on the other side of the Utvik mountain, starting next week and lasting until Christmas. Though he hadn't signed the contract yet nor started training, he still didn't feel too good about going back on his word.
Sellgren said that perhaps they could make it work anyways, maybe Judge could come in for three hours every day after finishing his shift at the photo-shop.
So he came home, we discussed it all, wrote an email to the photo-shop explaining the situation (hoping they had someone in their back pocket that could take Judge's spot), and they got back to him with a big congratulations on landing a permanent job and that they totally have other people they can give his spot to, no sweat.
So now we have our new and improved 3+ year plan. We still get to live in Innvik, and he starts earning a full salary starting Jan 1. (rather than half a salary next September if he was an apprentice in the kitchen). And we are going to look at what kind of trade certificate this process operator job can lead to, and then go the route of "five years relevant work experience plus one theory test and a final practical exam" to get a certificate (rather than "umpteen theory tests plus two years apprentice at half pay and a final practical exam").
He signs the contract on Monday at 10 am.
So! Exciting! Can you believe it? After almost two years of trying to find a permanent full time job, one suddenly came out of the blue and landed unexpectedly right on our toes. Finally we are going to enter the next phase of our Norway dream.
[new dew for a new chapter in our life - not as short as I want it but I'm not so brave yet to attempt such a short cut ... this length, however, is working fine after youtubing a few how-to's]
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