Spain is great, but like all new things, it takes time to get used to it 🙂 I enjoyed the climate and the easy way of living, but I quickly understood that I needed time to be bold enough to practice the Spanish I had learned. When my husband and I also had to go to Oslo for three weeks due to urgent family matters, I got a new culture and much colder weather to deal with, and I had to use all of my mental power to understand the bright side of life 🙂
It helps to have an understanding husband and also to discover that there are a lot of Filipinos in Norway, among them my childhood friends from Davao City, Philippines. They have lived in Norway for a long time and contacted me after learning from Facebook that I was in Oslo. My husband and I were invited to their house, and it was nice to meet Auntie Agnes and Uncle Nante after so many years. We are not related by blood, but in the Philippines, we call our closest friends and elders that way.
Their daughter Kaye was my childhood best friend and playmate, but she was busy at that time when we visited. I was a little disappointed, but she has been in Norway since she was very young, and her early life in the Philippines is probably just a curiosity. I met the sister of Uncle Nante, Yeyen, whom I have known since childhood because we used to make their house our playground, haha, and it was nice to meet all three of them again. Thanks, Auntie and Uncle, for the delicious Filipino foods you served and for the warm welcome. It is nice to see Filipinos managing well abroad and being assets to their country.
