Esso Norge

I've completed my first week of work in Norway. ExxonMobil is known as Esso Norge here; and "Norge" means Norway.

Our office is actually south of Stavanger in a town called Forus. Our building is right next to a giant Ikea store. In fact we can see Ikea from the workroom/office they set us up in.

So far we've been traveling by taxi, but we will soon get our own car to drive. We can't have a car until we take a special Norway. After driving in Houston I doubt it will be an issue.

The building is of course very nice. They have a nice cafeteria on the top floor with an outside patio and free lunch, there is a decent gym in the building, there are fancy coffee dispensing machines everywhere, and everything looks as though it was purchased at Ikea. There is a giant obelisk in the lobby displaying the number of days with no loss time incidents. It's close to 8000. That seems impossible because our clock seems to reset weekly in Houston. I also learned that there's a ping pong table and a tournament. I wish I brought my paddle.

Norwegians seem to be very unassuming. Basically, they aren't judgemental. This makes for a very casual work environment. Jeans are a normal sight and it's unlikely that you would see a tie. Things can take a long time to accomplish, but the result is usually good. They tend to reach collective decisions instead of one dominant person forcing their ideas on everyone, which is more common back home.

The week flew by, even though it was only a partial week. There are two reasons for this. One, there is a ton of work to do. I suspect that 7 weeks will feel way too short to complete all of the work. The other reason is that the work day is approximately 7:30 - 4:00. That includes lunch. The Norwegian philosophy is definitely work-to-live and not live-to-work. When they say "work-life balance", they actually mean it.

Last Friday there was a UIT lunch. Since my team is UIT, we were invited. Lunch was 2-4 and is basically an excuse to take an afternoon and then enjoy adult refreshments on the company dollar. I'm told that Norwegians don't drink casually much, but when they do drink, it is in marathon form. Friday was no exception. Lunch was followed by multiple other stops and didn't actually end until around 11. I managed to behave myself except I might have promised to go swimming with them in the North Sea.

Day 1 Observations

I arrived in Stavanger around 11:30 AM, which was roughly on-time. Stavanger is on the southwest coast of Norway. It sits on a peninsula at the mouth of a large fjord. South of Stavanger is filled with rolling hill and lots of farm land. This part of Norway is "warmer" than the rest of the country due to the westward winds from the ocean (much like Oregon). It is also rainy, much like Oregon. To the east are the mountains that make up most of the country.

Check it out:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=stavanger,+norway&ie=UTF8&z=11&iwloc=addr

On this particular day it was not rainy at all. It was 60 degrees and sunny. Apparently it's been raining for the last month. It was a little colder than I'm used to, but I'm certainly not complaining. The nastier weather is sure to come soon.

When I arrived I went to the duty free shop, and then straight outside with my bag. I was surprised that there was no immigration. I guess immigration was the guy who glanced at my passport for a second in Amsterdam. Considering that I will be working here for two months, I found this odd.

The cab ride into town was interesting. The cab driver was an older fellow. I offered to lift my large bag into his car but he insisted on doing it. He wasn't able to and I finally had to help him. He then spent most of the cab ride talking about how that was the heaviest bag he's ever seen and it must have weighed 50kg. It was heavy but it was probably closer to 27kg. Anyway, he gave me his card and insisted that I weigh the bag and send him a message with the final verdict. Maybe I'll tell him it was 40kg so he won't feel bad.

My hotel is suppose to be one of the best in the city. It sits on the top of a hill overlooking the bay, and it is in fact quite nice. However, all day they were doing repairs outside my window which prevented me from napping. So I ventured out and walked around town for awhile.

Stavanger is a small city of about 100,000 people which is the same size of my home town of Bloomington, Indiana. Walking around it feels very old-school European. The roads are cobblestone and they randomly wind in all directions. The shops are small and everyone seemed to be walking to whereever they were going.

Most of the signs and literature are in Norweigen, but everyone speaks English. Thus it's not really too much of a culture shock so far. The things I've noticed are minor differences and are mostly amusing. Here's a list:

Power consumption - This country is in no way short on power. They control the majority of the oil in Europe. However, they are very energy conscious. For example, in order to use electricity in my hotel room, I must insert my card into a power slot. This is frustrating if you are watching tv or working on the computer and need to leave the room. But I suppose it works. They also encourage you to reuse your hotel towel to avoid using the washing machines.

Recycling - These people recycle. In general they are just environmentally conscious. It's part of their culture.

Driving - The rules for driving are slightly different. For example, if there's a yellow diamond, then you must always yield to the right. But the amazing thing are the cross walks. They always stop at cross walks if there are pedestrians; and pedestrians always use the crosswalks. There is no jay walking. People just cross the street and assume drivers will stop. My instinct is to assume that the Texan in the giant truck will run me over, so I stop and wait. I think it irritates them but it will take some time to get used to this idea. Oh, I haven't seen a single truck or SUV.

I think I'm going to move into an apartment next to some of my other team members. The apartments are much nicer than a hotel room, and food is no issue because there's are small stores all over the place. I like the apartment too. The neighborhood reminds me of Bloomington.

Tomorrow is the first day of work. It will be interesting. Here's a link to my Norway picture album. I'll let you know when there are updates.

http://picasaweb.google.com/joaphill42/Norway#

The Flight

Getting to a remote destination like Norway is actually pretty easy from Houston. My flight had one stop in Amsterdam. Then a short flight to Stavanger and I was there. It was less than 10 hours of flight time. Of course it's significantly more pleasant if you're flying business class. I'm writing not to brag but rather to highlight my amazement at how much better the first class minority have it.

Here's what we miss out on in coach:

• Bring as many bags as you want. I broke the carry on rule and they let it go
• The first class lounge. Comfy seats, open bar, lots of food, televisions, and internet. When the plane starts to board, you just walk over and get on. Much better than sitting at the terminal
• On the plane you get a travel pouch with various goodies including airplane booties to keep your feet warm and socks clean
• Noise canceling headphones
• Open bar
• Upgraded snack, dinner, and breakfast
• Motorized and fully reclining seats with a massage feature
• Private bathrooms
• Souvenir gift when you leave
• You get off the plane first while everyone in coach watches and complains

On a side note, I think I recommend KLM over Continental for international travel. The main reason is that KLM's entertainment system has a lot of recent movies that were available on-demand. Two years ago Continental's selection was limited and they only came on at certain times. That may different now though. Also, you can get Onepass miles through KLM.

In conclusion, it's probably not worth the price. However, my travel stress level was near zero.

Last day

Today is my last day before leaving for Norway. I've moved the trip back 3 days due to the lack of power from Ike.

Most of my chores are done. The only thing left is to finish some laundry and pack.

See you there.

Welcome

Welcome to my Norway blog. I'm going to use this blog to post about my adventures in Scandinavia.

I plan to run as much as possible while away, so I'll also try to keep that blog up as well.