My second new Italian friend, Sara (pictured), is also someone I met at the weekly Norsk practice. She also has aspirations to stay in Norway. She told me that at the beginning of her time here, as an international student, she was often only with other international students. She noted that English was the shared language among everyone and lectures were in English. When she decided to continue her studies and obtain a Ph.D. after her master’s degree, she realized it didn’t feel good to not know Norwegian, particularly the feeling of being excluded. She was also concerned about not being able to find a job in Norway with only English fluency. Here is what she noted, in particular:
"At a job [in Norway], it may not always be the right place to practice, even though with the customers, it would be a good time to practice... The Røde Kors feels like a safe place to practice Norwegian."
However, my new friend from Turkey, Mustafa (pictured), loves practicing his Norwegian at work, where he is an after-school activity leader for school children. This convenient arrangement for working parents is called Skolefritidsordningen (SFO) in Norsk. It is similar to extracurricular activities and daycare in the United States. Mustafa’s motivation to learn Norsk is to work as a teacher in Norway, and so his Norsk language skills must be high. He told me he likes making kebabs for the children at SFO, a food that is dear to his Turkish culture. In particular, a quote from Mustafa that stood out to me was this sound wisdom on moving:
"Integration [into society] allows the person to maintain their beliefs while still sharing [their own culture] with others."
