The days flew by quickly despite it being winter and there being a lot of snow. Every day began and ended with movement and travel. By movement I mean the long walks with the collie named Sami three times a day. And about travel by car I have already written in the previous chapter. The outlines of a new life abroad were taking shape. A husband, a house, a dog, a cat, and growing children. ...
At the end of July it will be seven years since I arrived here. I do not count almost three months of a tourist guest visa, when I decided to tie my further life to Ivan. After the Christmas and New Year holidays I started going to courses in town with enthusiasm, and on the very first day of classes a correspondent of Cambodian origin named Pisyai came to our group, photographed several students, including me, and asked me a question, which I answered “cleverly,” saying I had come at the invitation of a Norwegian friend to study the language, culture, history and customs of Norway. And the next day I found myself on the front page of the town newspaper, which pleasantly surprised me, recalling our saying “live more oddly — you’ll get famous faster.” ...
Well then. When I arrived as a tourist for three months, right after the Christmas holidays I started studying Norwegian on courses and trying to drive a car. Just a little. And it was good that I had the chance to try living in Norway and get used to a completely different way of life. After all, when you have lived in a city your whole life, you get used to public transport, but here it turned out that for any minor reason the whole family would jump into the car, and papa Vanya — the head of the family — would take his little ones and their friends in any direction and at any time of day or night. And they took me along as an honorary guest as well. Here I am, of course, joking. ...
The well-worn phrase “a car is not a luxury, but a means of transport!” is just right for Norway. I understood this at once, arriving there. My future husband met me at the local airport and drove me straight “into the forest,” into the village of Homborsund. “It was winter, a blizzard was blowing…” , at midnight, 15 December 2010 I was met by the household: a collie dog, named Sami, the cat Kawai and two girls of 15 and 17. ...
Soon it will be a year since I got a driving licence and drive a car. The textbook on driving theory in Norwegian is almost my bedside book. So at leisure I like to look through road signs and situations. Here is what surprised me in this textbook for those who love speed, information for thought: Husk! Hvis du øker farten fra 70 km/t til 80 km/t, så vil du bare vinne ett minutt per mil. In Russian it sounds like this: remember! If you increase speed from 70 to 80 km/h, you will gain only one minute per mile. Distance in Norway is measured in miles. And one Norwegian mile equals 10 km.