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Norway Versus Uk?


bearwithasorehead

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HOLA441

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

Edited by bearwithasorehead
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HOLA442

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

Yes

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HOLA443
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HOLA444

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

I do a lot of business in Norway and am out there several times a year. I have a close collaboration with another Norweigian small business.

I think on the plus side Norway is a relatively safe place, good education and public services. The people are friendly (I think closed is not an appropriate description) and I get the impression the family unit is a lot stronger than the UK. Like anywhere they tend to revert to their own language if Norweigians only are present, but the english spoke by most people is good. I am sure making an effort to learn Norweigian would help. If you are working at a multi national company with many different nationalities present you wold probably get away without having to work too hard on the Norweigian. But if you are working in a business which is majority Norweigian and you are the only foreigner then you would probably have to work on the langauage and learn to make an impact.

Everything there is expensive. Booze, petrol, check out the electricity bills (these can vary quite a lot between regions), food. If you're not a great drinker then it probably matters less. Definitely it sounds like you are not being offered enough cash as compensation (but maybe the company will pay for your living costs so its not as bad as it seems?)

For me Norway is a great place but is somewhat .... sterile if you get my meaning. Everything is nice. No litter. Friendly people. Great services. Cute houses. Beautiful women. The people are more gentle (less chavs, but that said the young like their drinking binges as much as the Brits do). But it lacks an edge. The Norweigians have massive public wealth and that certainly affects their attitude and general requirements to fight for survival. Their cities to me may lack poverty and filth but they also lack vibrancy. I guess this is a personal thing.

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HOLA445

Sounds like a good opportunity to me, so long as your family are up for it. Norway's not very far away, so easy for visits home. I wouldn't worry about small differences in current pay - that's a very minor consideration compared with the potential gain in life / career experience.

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HOLA446

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

Great place go for it.

Burds are stunning too - in your case look don't touch :lol:

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HOLA447
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HOLA448

In a heartbeat.

Lived there for many of my formative years, keep thinking I'd move back.

But.... you will probably need to realign your outlook on expenditure. Stuff like booze, eating out, and spending on endless arrays of tat, are simply not really in the psyche. As noted booze and eating out are expensive - perhaps even more so that tourist paris....

However, the outdoor lifestyle is done to an excellent level. Take up sailing and cross country skiing! Holidays are easy - pack a tent and drive round the country.

Here's some photos I took last time I went... http://flic.kr/s/aHsiPUqVX7

5k won't allow you to go boozing and eating out every day, but on the whole your lifestyle will improve if you let it.

If you are the sort that seeks out English Pubs, or moans about not getting fish and chips when on holiday... probably not so good.

Edited by RichB
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HOLA449

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

I have Norwegian friends. It's expensive and you have to buy any other than weak beer from state-run shops, which are never open, for a huge price.

It's a massive nanny state for sure BUT while it's a high-tax mixed economy their state is ruthlessly efficient so everyone gets well taken care of and it doesn't all get pissed up the wall a la the UK.

Edited by CrashedOutAndBurned
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HOLA4410

£5K more - no thanks.

I know a couple who just moved back to the UK. The husband works in oil and gas and for years had been boring all and sundry about what a great society Norway is, how fair and equal it is, how they have a huge sovereign wealth fund, etc. After 5 years they moved back - the reason... it's just too boring and the winters are too long and depressing.

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HOLA4411

I do a lot of business in Norway and am out there several times a year. I have a close collaboration with another Norweigian small business.

I think on the plus side Norway is a relatively safe place, good education and public services. The people are friendly (I think closed is not an appropriate description) and I get the impression the family unit is a lot stronger than the UK. Like anywhere they tend to revert to their own language if Norweigians only are present, but the english spoke by most people is good. I am sure making an effort to learn Norweigian would help. If you are working at a multi national company with many different nationalities present you wold probably get away without having to work too hard on the Norweigian. But if you are working in a business which is majority Norweigian and you are the only foreigner then you would probably have to work on the langauage and learn to make an impact.

Everything there is expensive. Booze, petrol, check out the electricity bills (these can vary quite a lot between regions), food. If you're not a great drinker then it probably matters less. Definitely it sounds like you are not being offered enough cash as compensation (but maybe the company will pay for your living costs so its not as bad as it seems?)

For me Norway is a great place but is somewhat .... sterile if you get my meaning. Everything is nice. No litter. Friendly people. Great services. Cute houses. Beautiful women. The people are more gentle (less chavs, but that said the young like their drinking binges as much as the Brits do). But it lacks an edge. The Norweigians have massive public wealth and that certainly affects their attitude and general requirements to fight for survival. Their cities to me may lack poverty and filth but they also lack vibrancy. I guess this is a personal thing.

very safe, unless you happen to have gone to a certain island and been shot with 70 others by a nutter with a rifle.

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HOLA4412
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HOLA4413

I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

Do you see the connection there? Maybe it's the cheap booze in the UK that creates the retards over here (it certainly causes them to act antisocially).

So expensive booze is actually a good thing.

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HOLA4414

it's just too boring and the winters are too long and depressing.

Excuses, the weather is hardly worse than in the UK (certainly no worse than Scotland). Most likely they never bothered to integrate properly (didn't learn the language?) and therefore lacked social life.

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HOLA4415
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HOLA4416

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

Have to disagree with some of the posters here. Oslo has its dark side: I've walked past druggies injecting openly there, for instance (I confess to being shocked and hurrying past). It also has its vibrant side, though your city life will be that much more limited until your Norwegian is good enough to enjoy the theatre, for instance. It wouldn't be my first choice of Norwegian city (Trondheim would, out of those I've seen) but I'd take it over London any day.

Main advantages: you're within reach of real countryside, and your rent money will get you something decent. Apart from that, the question has to be your character: whether you're up for something new, or whether you'll be forever whinging about [whatever] in the UK being better.

As for pay, I understand it's a lot flatter there than here. But you can see for yourself: Norwegians are very open about it, and there's a government website where you can see the full details of anyone's income!

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HOLA4417

Do you see the connection there? Maybe it's the cheap booze in the UK that creates the retards over here (it certainly causes them to act antisocially).

So expensive booze is actually a good thing.

Scandinavians have a very unhealthy relationship with booze. Including homebrew, which avoids the fearsome prices. But it's got a lot better as it's converging with other (Northern) European countries including us. My uncle used to say how immensely refreshing it was when he travelled in Germany or the UK and could just go into a bar and have a drink in a healthy social atmosphere: nowadays you'll find that even in their cities (albeit not cheap).

Amongst countries I've lived in, Italy stands out as NOT having a problem with drinking culture - no drunken-yobs scene. And Italy has cheaper booze than us, unless you buy beer in a pub!

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HOLA4418

very safe, unless you happen to have gone to a certain island and been shot with 70 others by a nutter with a rifle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

Don't be swayed by the one off incident.

Norway is one of the few places in the world where I would fight a mugger.

The embarassment of telling my colleagues there that I had been mugged would be worse than the mugging itself.

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HOLA4419

How old are your children? If they are less than 8 or 9 years old, then they should pick up the language quite quickly - certainly faster than you. But if they're in their teens, there could be serious problems in adjusting, and you could be condemning them to fail at an important stage in life. I'm not saying it's inevitable, and you can of course hire private tutors, but it is an issue.

Pensions - work out what your entitlement will be if you work for the rest of your career in Norway. I suspect it will be a lot more, but check if you can transfer contributions already made in the UK to add to the Norwegian tally.

Also - does your better half work? Can they speak Norwegian? Will they want to get a job too - how realistic is it?

Best check the expatica type forums, I would guess..

Good luck - it sounds an excellent opportunity, but there are possible drawbacks.

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HOLA4420
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HOLA4421
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HOLA4422
Guest tbatst2000

Ok, I've got a decent job opportunity in Norway doing the same job as here but paying about £5k per annum more after taxes. Not a lot considering the cost of living in Oslo. However I am concerned about my kids growing up in the UK - you know why!

On the other hand I have to learn Norwegian. I've also heard that it is a very closed society and that alcohol is extremely expensive.

I love the UK, I just can't stand the retards that live here.

I am really stumped here. It is not a lot more money to live in a more expensive country. But a country with perhaps more to offer a young family (I have two young kids).

Would you move?

You're looking at this the wrong way. Move because you think it'll be an exciting adventure, particularly for your kids. Once you're there you can figure out if you want to stay for the long term or not.

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HOLA4423

However, the outdoor lifestyle is done to an excellent level. Take up sailing and cross country skiing! Holidays are easy - pack a tent and drive round the country.

Here's some photos I took last time I went... http://flic.kr/s/aHsiPUqVX7

Stunningly beautiful place. I love the look of that road on this pic - Down the Trollstiggen.

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HOLA4424

Excuses, the weather is hardly worse than in the UK (certainly no worse than Scotland). Most likely they never bothered to integrate properly (didn't learn the language?) and therefore lacked social life.

I don't know where you were thinking of in Scotland, but there isn't a city or town with average temperatures of -5c and perennial heavy snowfall like Oslo has across the winter? Also, they moved to Norway from Wales, which had significantly longer hours of daylight and warmer winter temps.

As for the language, one of them was approaching fluency before they left the UK, both were fluent before they left Norway to return. They had a kid and the better half (a scientist) said she didn't rate the way that science was taught in Norway.

Great Viking ship museum though! I enjoyed my visits.

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HOLA4425

Excuses, the weather is hardly worse than in the UK (certainly no worse than Scotland). Most likely they never bothered to integrate properly (didn't learn the language?) and therefore lacked social life.

Scottish weather like in Norway? I don't think so. I don't think Edinburgh and snow are well acquainted at all, particularly north of the castle, near the sea. Even the rain here is pathetic. Norway: real rain, real snow, real cold. East Scotland: pretend rain, pretend snow, pretend cold.

Ben Nevis or the Cairngorms might be able to give Norway a run for it's money.

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