With the holiday halfway over, I've been feeling more rested, and was interested in doing something a little different today. The weather was really nice, and a coworker had previously suggested that I come with her to an animal shelter, and today we made it up there.
The shelter is called FOD, and it's sort of on the southern edge of the city, about a 20 minute bus ride from the main bus terminal followed by a 15 minute walk more or less into the woods.
Once there, we got to take a couple of dogs out for a walk. They were very well behaved and were pros at begging for treats. After taking the dogs for a walk, we were introduced into some very cute puppies. All in all, it was a nice and relaxing afternoon, and walking the dogs was a nice change from going to the gym.
I'm curious that if the animal shelters in Norway are no-kill ones? I know most shelters in other countries will put dogs to death if no one adopt them. Is it common for Norwegians to keep pets such as birds, cats, dogs or else? I'm asking it is because the living standard is rather steep in Norway, so I guess the prices charged by the vets must be terribly nasty.
I have been reading your blog, as I am moving to Oslo from San Francisco in August for graduate school. Could you comment on cell phones, contracts, service, and normal prices. Thanks, CW
I don't know if all the shelters in Norway are no-kill, but the one I went to on Saturday is. My understanding is they don't get a lot of help from vets, so they have to spend a fair bit of money to have the animals treated, which is a shame.
Dogs and cats are definitely common pets as far as I can tell. Fish and birds probably are as well (I know of at least one pet store really close to me that appears to have a large fish selection). It is expensive, to feed pets - probably around twice what you're used to in the States. But when you consider the pay differences, it's not as bad as it sounds, especially once you quit doing the conversion all the time (took me about 6 months, now I only do it around half the time).
Interestingly, people on welfare get an extra allowance if they have pets, so the government does try to help ensure that pets don't go hungry or without care anymore than the people do.
More Americans coming to Oslo! :) What will you be studying here?
Unfortunately I can't say much about mobiles here - my employer provides me with a mobile. They apparently estimate the benefit to be work around 4000Kr/year, which the government considers equivalent to income, so that amount gets taxed as well.
However, you'll have a number of options. Most mobiles are available without a contract (the iPhone would be one exception that I know of). Of course, if you sign a contract (always 1 year, or so I've been told), you can get a discount depending on what plan you buy. My advice is to look for a plan that lets you send plenty of texts, otherwise you might find yourself paying a lot more than you expect.
One nice thing to remember, about phones here is that it's a caller/sender pays system. So if someone calls or texts you, you don't pay anything. Of course, calls to landlines may be billed at a different rate than calls to mobiles, so you'll need to make sure they explain the different fee rates to you. I recommend checking out netcom.no to see what typical contract prices look like, and chess.no to see what pay as you go services are available. You might want to bring a phone with you (GSM only, so AT&T or T-Mobile) and get a SIM from Chess until you decide whether to stick with pay as you go or sign up for a contract. That's pretty much what I did until work gave me my phone.
You mentioned that the dogs there are well behaved, do they train the dogs? By the way, is there any stray animals problem in Norway? I guess the animal shelters there are much better than those in the States.
Personally, I'm a cat lover:)
Does that animal shelter you visited take cats?
I think the shelter is well-managed, the best is it is no kill. Animals can live happily there.
:):):):):)
I don't think most of the dogs have been trained by the shelter, although it's possible. Yes, the shelter also has cats, although I didn't get a chance to visit with them during my trip. I'm still hoping to get a chance to visit again.