My Polish-Norwegian Expat

While Jane’s friendship with me was a while away another friend came along from a most unexpected angle.  North American Oil Sands Corp was bought out by Statoil, the Norwegian oil company.

I had my first (and only) experience of being bought out by a foreign company and all that it implied.  We became inundated with what is termed ‘expats’ but my first encounters were very positive.  I had organized a team building event and a new lady came into play.  Her name is Barbara and we went out after lunch for some fresh air before going back to the afternoon session.  We took a walk along Prince’s Island and I cannot tell you had quickly we connected not only as very empathetic colleagues but we valued our insights into the company, Norwegians and Canadians and it did not take long to become friends.

Barbara was interesting and fascinating from the get-go.  This was a lady who came to Norway via Poland as a sort of refugee (a dramatic story but hers to tell).  Barbara has 3 engineering degrees and a work ethic like no other I have ever seen.  She came to Canada to work for one year to get our technical documentation into the Statoil way.  She stayed for 6 years and how glad I am that she was here for so long.  I learned a lot from her on the technical side of things but so much more on a social, personal, and fun side.

We met in 2007 and have been friends ever since.  We have a love of fashion, of travel, of gardening, of books (although we read very different books most of the time) and we also have a love/hate relationship with Norwegians!  Well, let’s put it this way, we are ambivalent about our feelings.  Diplomacy for you.

Barbara is what I would definitely describe as a fashion shopaholic and I never knew how much so until we went travelling together.  In Norway people do not dress up for work but Statoil very quickly inculcated their expats to understand that the corporate culture in downtown Calgary was upscale and Barbara dived into that with true enthusiasm.  She loved the new clothes, she loved bargain and price shopping since Norway is one of the most expensive places in the world for clothes.  She marvelled at my transformation after my NYC trip but amazingly we have never travelled there together.

Instead we ventured off first to San Francisco, then Hawaii and then an amazing trip for me to Poland.  She is a lovely travelling companion, flexible and relaxed but even when we decided in Hawaii it would be “fun and no shopping” it turned out we were stationed very close to one of the best shopping malls in Honolulu.  We were there at least once a day and boy did we have fun!  My suitcases were crammed with bargains of designer clothes (and here I am dissing out Barb for her shopaholic ways when I was just as bad!) 

Barbara and I connect over other things besides fashion and shopping though.  We enjoy each other’s company, philosophy and experiences.  I believe we have a mutual respect for our work ethic and our integrity in all things.  And we can laugh together.

One of the most diverse and intelligent people I know.  I miss her so much now that she is in Europe and I am stuck in a non-travel zone!