Former expat, living in Texas after 11 years in Norway. Kinda missing that expat life. No matter what, the journey never stops. I will always be a traveler. "Do not go quietly unto your grave".
Hi Karla, You know, I think you’re going to have a ball moving back to Texas cuz it strikes me from reading your blog that that's the kind of person you are. It stands to reason that you're going to be scared cuz things are changing and that's always exciting and scary. It also doesn't help that you have that (same annoying, obnoxious, the same one we all have) voice in your head that keeps wigging you out. I know it helps me to just tell that voice to shut the f**k up, cuz it's really not helpful, and it just pisses me off. Also, that stupid voice is not taking into account that you already did this whole transcontinental move thing once, you’ll do it again just fine, and you know what, if you find that Houston is not the best move, you can do it again, to anywhere you want, you could move back to Norway if you wanted! We are kind of going thru the same thing, except it reverse, and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been wigging out. The major thing that is driving us nuts, is trying to get an idea of how much we are really going to need to earn to make a go of it in Oslo. The little we’ve been able to get from official sources is vague and the range has had an $80,000. U.S. spread. That’s just not at all helpful & I haven’t been able to find any reliable international cost of living calculator. Care to take a stab at how much a couple, in their 40’s no kids, no debt, planning to rent a 2 bdrm apartment in Oslo, save for retirement, maintain 1 car (not new), do a bit of traveling, both in Norway and Europe needs to earn to be able to living comfortably? We’ve already turned down one offer cuz we don’t have this information, it’s very frustrating. If you know of any resources or can comment from personal experience, we’d be eternally grateful! It seems like nobody really likes talking about money, but cripes, but there’s no making a coherent decision unless we actually can find somebody who will. My email is suzyjohnmpls at gmail dot com. Take out the spaces and replace ‘at’ and ‘dot’ with the appropriate symbols. Best of luck & hope to hear from you. Thx, Suzy
Hi Karla,
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think you’re going to have a ball moving back to Texas cuz it strikes me from reading your blog that that's the kind of person you are. It stands to reason that you're going to be scared cuz things are changing and that's always exciting and scary. It also doesn't help that you have that (same annoying, obnoxious, the same one we all have) voice in your head that keeps wigging you out. I know it helps me to just tell that voice to shut the f**k up, cuz it's really not helpful, and it just pisses me off. Also, that stupid voice is not taking into account that you already did this whole transcontinental move thing once, you’ll do it again just fine, and you know what, if you find that Houston is not the best move, you can do it again, to anywhere you want, you could move back to Norway if you wanted!
We are kind of going thru the same thing, except it reverse, and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been wigging out. The major thing that is driving us nuts, is trying to get an idea of how much we are really going to need to earn to make a go of it in Oslo. The little we’ve been able to get from official sources is vague and the range has had an $80,000. U.S. spread. That’s just not at all helpful & I haven’t been able to find any reliable international cost of living calculator. Care to take a stab at how much a couple, in their 40’s no kids, no debt, planning to rent a 2 bdrm apartment in Oslo, save for retirement, maintain 1 car (not new), do a bit of traveling, both in Norway and Europe needs to earn to be able to living comfortably? We’ve already turned down one offer cuz we don’t have this information, it’s very frustrating.
If you know of any resources or can comment from personal experience, we’d be eternally grateful! It seems like nobody really likes talking about money, but cripes, but there’s no making a coherent decision unless we actually can find somebody who will. My email is suzyjohnmpls at gmail dot com. Take out the spaces and replace ‘at’ and ‘dot’ with the appropriate symbols.
Best of luck & hope to hear from you.
Thx, Suzy