Work Visa, New House, Work Visa, New House

We took the day off today to acquire our house. It was scheduled to go down at high noon. In the meantime, I went to the police station to update my work visa. It is a bit of a racket to begin with. It costs about 800nok per year. My first year was mostly a waste, since it was valid from the date it was approved-- but I didn't begin using mine for almost six months. So I only managed to get a half year out of it. I tried to renew it with plenty of time to spare, but they are closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays-- and then I had the fiasco with the Indian Embassy. So I squeaked by and renewed the application just before the due date. I just received the approval letter the other day.

So today I waited in line with all the immigrants to Norway. We were quite a motley assortment of Russians, Thai, east Europeans, Pakhistanis, and me-- likely the lone American. After waiting forever for my number to come up, I submit my passport, a photo, and my approval letter. I am then informed that they are leaving for lunch-- that I can wait until after they finish, or come back after 3pm. I reluctantly chose 3pm. Funny how government employees are the same throughout the world.

We made it to out new house by noon, then had an ackward wait with the previous owners for the bank to make the transfer. The realtor didn't bother to show-- which was fine by me. I really disliked him more and more. He was quite possibly the rudest agent I have ever encountered. I wouldn't mind if he were merely a sleazy salesman, but he was in a league of his own. Finally the banker clicked a mouse button, a phone rang, and we were handed the keys. The previous owners were a real class act. The house was spotless, and they did some gardening and hedge trimming while it was vacant- completely unexpected.

When I picked up the passport at 3pm, I noticed they made a typo on the expiration date. While the letter mentions it is good for a year, on the visa it expires in 8 months. Looks like I need to make another trip. Of course this visa takes up another full page in my passport-- and has its own photo. I find it strange how in all my travels, India and the U.S. are about the only countries left that actually stamp the pages. My trip to Barcelona could have been made without a passport-- my driver's license would have been good enough. There were no customs anywere. The only people who wanted ID were the airline ticket counter and the hotel. I really hate the odd size of passports and look forward to the day when they will become electronic like a green card.

I then waited at the house for our appliances to arrive. I was a little frustrated that they would not install them. I appreciated that they brought them up to the kitchen, but a little more service would have been nice. I think I can manage. By the way, it seems European appliances are better made than the U.S. ones. The dishwasher and washing machines only need a cold water hookup, as they heat their own water, the stove tops are all ceramic, and most dryers these days have their own condensors so they do not need to be vented. We are waiting to buy a dryer. We have managed this long without one.

I then did some packing and left for a bike ride and Lise headed to Kvitsøy. I rode almost to Ålgård and back, just to get out in this sunny, warm weather. I then moved a few carloads of "stuff" and met Lise to help her unload a massive vanload of boxes from her grandmother's storage.

Our main PC is completely fried. It won't boot beyond a blue screen of death. I have been through this too many times. I am cursing the fact that I didn't use FAT32 for the C drive. All my documents will be inaccessible if I boot from another hard drive. Oh well....