From Arctic to America!

 interview project

Willas: [00:00:00] I’m here now with my mom. We’re gonna be doing a little interview. I would do it in Norwegian, but I don’t know how this transcribing thing’s gonna work. So, just in case it doesn’t go well, I save everybody else time because you all are probably English speakers and my mom is pretty decent at speaking English.

Not the best, but . She’s gonna, she’s gonna try her best. So to start, would you like to say your name and

where you come from?

Elin: Okay, I’m Willas’ mom and my name is Elin Åsheim Rouse. My married name is Rouse and I am born in Narvik Northern Norway, and I moved here at the age of 26 in 1995.

Willas: Age of 26. And that’s because you were with my dad?

Elin: I was married. We got married in Norway in, October, [00:01:00] 1994.

Willas: How long did you live there?

Elin: So together, we lived there for three years.

Willas: Because you met in Belgium correct.

Elin: So we met in Belgium in 19, 9 98. 99, yeah.

No, 80, 89. . I can’t remember. It’s been a long time. . But yeah Then we lived in Norway till, 95.

Willas: Okay. For everyone to know, my dad was in the military, and that’s why you came back to the State’s, right?

Elin: Yes. He got stationed, we were hoping we could stay a little bit longer in the right way, but they closed the NATO station in Oslo at that time . So the option was moving to England or Stavanger but none of them were options for us. So we moved, we got, well my husband then got stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.

Willas: So you weren’t expecting to go to the United States at all?

Elin: Well, I knew eventually we would [00:02:00] have to go. And, I was young and it was exciting.

Willas: Yeah, I know you were the travel person.

Elin: Yes. So, so it was. . I, I was excited. I did not know what to expect. I didn’t know anything. I’ve seen American movies, I’ve seen things on the news about it.

Willas: Yeah, that’s what I was gonna ask. Were you nervous? Like you were just excited?

Elin: It’s, yeah. I didn’t know. I, you know, we didn’t have social media at that time, so you didn’t get all that information that today that you would have. So for me, it was truly, I had no idea.

I knew if Florida was warm. I looked up on the map and I said, you know, it’s probably, uh, you know, climate similar to, you know, to the Spanish islands where we would go on vacation. So I try to think of it, you know, like being on vacation , Florida.

Willas: So, but you had traveled before.

Elin: Yeah, so I had lived different places in Europe. I lived in Belgium, I lived in Germany, so, [00:03:00] in, in Europe, I traveled a lot . So it was not my first time out of Norway, but I’d never been to u to the United States. So that was a big, big difference.

Willas: And so when you came to the U.S., were there places you wanted to go? Because I know you knew you were going to Florida, but outside of Florida, did you have like, these are, these are some go-to places I need to go to?

Elin: Didn’t think about that so much then. I mean, of course everybody wanted to go to California. Everybody wanted to go to New York. And that’s the places you’ve heard about. But honestly, it was not that. before social media, you didn’t know that much if unless you knew somebody that lived somewhere else. You really didn’t know that much about other places. And I thought Florida was exciting. That’s a vacation state. That’s Disney World. I mean that’s beaches and sounded, interesting. And it was quite the change.

But we flew into Oklahoma first. That’s where my husband’s, that’s is where his family. [00:04:00] So we spent a few days there. That was definitely a. That was different ,

Willas: big transition.

Elin: Yeah. It was, it was nothing like I had expected America to be like I, I felt like it was just so, everything was just old fashioned. Everything was huge. I mean, the roads were wide, the parking, it was, I come from a small country of 5 million people. And the biggest city had, I mean, Oslo, which then by back then was probably about five, 600,000 people, and which was a huge city in Norway. And then coming to the United States, it was quite a shock. It was, it was just the roads. Everything was just, it was all I could say is like, it was big. Everything is big in America and it, that’s what it felt like.

Willas: Coming to America. You’d say your English was pretty good, or how would you describe your English?

Elin: I mean, it’s okay, you know, as Norwegians,[00:05:00] one thing about us, we like to travel and we know that there’s 5 million of us and there’s no other countries that speak Norwegian. So if you want to, you know, communicate with other people, make yourself understood, you have to learn in another language. And then of course, English is, is the best choice.

Willas: How many languages did you learn growing up?

Elin: So, you know, everybody had to learn English. That’s mandatory. And then you have choice between German and, yeah. So I learned German and French. Yeah, that’s it. I mean, but there were other options too. if you want to learn other.

Willas: I mean, here are the school systems , it’s a little bit different. I feel like we don’t value languages much,

Elin: but then everybody speak English, so it, it’s, that’s, that’s the disadvantage. Most people speak English, so you really don’t have to learn another language. And, and that’s the big difference for us. We we have no choice .You really don’t have to.

It is an advantage. Absolutely. And I think it’s changing now with all the, with immigrants, especially the Hispanic population is [00:06:00] increasing. And it’s definitely an advantage, learning, you know, definitely learning Spanish.

Willas: So when you came to the US and actually having to speak with people in English, it’s not like being in school and learning.

How would you describe communicating with people? Were there some overlap? Was it a little. It, how was it easier or harder than you expected it to be?

Elin: Well, I mean, it is, it was a difference. Now, I had known my, you know, my husband, I had known him for a few years, and the military community in the Americans that was stationed in Europe, I had, I knew quite a few of them, so I have already communicated in English.

So it was, so, I, I was used to that a little bit, but of course, moving and meeting different people from different cultural backgrounds, different, I mean, different people speaking English and, you know, all different dialects, or slangs [00:07:00] or whatever you wanna call it. It was, it was, that was a challenge of course.

Willas: Do you remember any slang, words, anything that people said?

Elin: Oh, it was a lot of words that I didn’t understand, and there were, You know, different culture and different things that you do. And, and I worked at the, I was a nurse when I came to America, but I couldn’t get my license right away, so I worked as a nurse’s aid at the hospital.

And, and that was definitely a challenge, working with the patients. And, you know, when you’re sick, you know, you maybe you’re not, annunciate the words properly and it was difficult to understand. Yeah. And there’s certainly misunderstandings. And I had one thing I remember that was, uh, quite funny.

It was a one patient he asked for, he asked for cantaloupe and I thought he said a can of lope. And I said, a, we went back and forth and I said, A can of what cantaloupe? Can I have some cantaloupe? And I have never heard of cantaloupe in my whole life. I did not [00:08:00] know what it was. So I thought he wanted a can or something, so I’m trying to get somebody else to come and help me to understand a can or what.

Little did I know he wanted, it was melon, cantaloupe. . We laughed at that quite a bit afterwards, .

Willas: So you figured it out eventually.

Elin: Yes, of course. .

Willas: So overall, how were you treated when you first came here?

Elin: Oh, I cannot complain. We flew into, Minnesota and that was interesting because of course there’s a lot of, people, there were Scandinavian. So people were trying to speak Norwegian to me, and they were very welcoming and very friendly. So that was, nice.

Willas: How would you describe their Norwegian ?

Elin: Oh, well, you know, it’s a broken Norwegian, but they tried and they were, they, they wanted to try, so it was nice.

Willas: And family wise, like was that your first time getting to meet my dad’s side of the family? Yeah.

Elin: That was the first time.

Willas: Were you, you, were you nervous going into that ?

Elin: Yeah. Well, you know, of course you always nervous to meet the family and, you know, that [00:09:00] was, that was interesting. I mean, again, I you know, and a cultural, um, I mean, a little bit of a shock, I have to say.

It’s, it’s very different. I grew up in Norway and in Norway it’s mainly, at least in the Norway I left in the nineties, that was Norwegians. It was, we were all, we looked the same and we, yeah, everybody isn’t. It is a very..

Willas: Homogenous

Elin: Yes. Society. Where we dress the same, look the same , we watch the same programs on tv.

We listen to the same music, we have the same sense of humor. It’s very different. I was not used to being around different people.

Willas: My dad’s black, so I know for you. Yeah. 5 million people in Norway. Everybody’s white pretty much, coming to the states. . Like you get, you get to meet his family. You’ve probably, you probably not met too many African American people. Maybe when you lived on base, you saw more, but I know coming to the states, especially just having meet his family.

Elin: The military people, they are, [00:10:00] they are, you know, for the, the most of them have traveled the world. They know different countries. They are a little bit more europeanized, uh, I would say, especially those who have been in Europe for, for some time. So that was the difference when you meet Americans that have never been anywhere else and, and really haven’t met a lot of people. It was quite different. And you know, and for them, most of them of course never heard about Norway. Yeah. So they were like, that was, uh, Randy was my husband, it was Randy and his German wife, wherever is German, right. Wherever she’s from. . And, but they were friendly, but they were

Willas: you’re like the outsider coming in.

Elin: Yeah. It, it was different. I mean, some of them a little more suspicious of me. You know sometimes I felt like I had that I came from a different planet .

Willas: I mean, you were the foreigner coming in here and they had never met you. I mean, had you spoken to anybody before, like on the phone or anything?

It was just kind of like

Elin: [00:11:00] well, I did. No, so we did, Randy’s sister. My sister-in-law I met, she flew to Norway, so I did have a, she flew and she visited us and I took her around. And that’s another cultural difference. they were not really that interested in site seeing . She wanted to come and see her brother , and I had planned, you know, this is how we do it.

When we have visitors, we take that serious. We plan every day with site seeing, with food, with it’s, every day is filled with things to do . And that is, that’s the polite thing to do. You cook, you make the best food, you set up a room. Everything’s very organized and, and we do, we have a lot of preparations for visitors.

So I had everything. I took her around and she was just polite. She didn’t say anything, but she was not really interested in all the museums and all site seeing that I, I dragged her around Oslo. I think she saw everything there was to see in Oslo and she kind of quiet and didn’t say anything. Later i [00:12:00] now I understand that she really wasn’t interested. . . But, uh, nothing was said and it was all good.

Willas: Well, going back to coming to the US , after having like, been there for a little while and moving around, you moved back to Europe eventually. and then came like you did a lot of moving around. would you say that at the time us had lived up to your expectations or?

Elin: I mean, there’s, there’s pros and cons with everything, and it is a lot of good things. I, you know, one, I think one misconception that everybody talk about is that the land of the free . And the freedom and that, for me, that was, for me, it felt the, quite the opposite.

I felt like I was not free, it was rules and regulations for everything. And very strictly enforced. And as a European, especially a northern European, we, we don’t have rules like that. And, and that was quite a shock. And, and also then, I think that was the [00:13:00] biggest thing is all the rules. And I didn’t understand the land land of the free, you can do whatever you want.

I really never felt like you could, I had never been so, constricted in , what to say, how to behave, what to do, and what not to do in my life. And that has, that has probably been my, the biggest challenge moving here. And I’m still, uh, 25 years later, I’m still learning because it, it, it, I find that quite complicating to understand what is right and what is not and I guess as, as the world is changing , it is getting more and more complicated and what is correct and what should you and should you not do? And I’m constantly making mistakes.

Willas: Now with cancel culture, all those things,

Elin: I mean, well, yeah, that hasn’t made it easier. But this is, for me, that was, that was the biggest, biggest challenge was. Knowing what to say. . And when you talk to certain people, you cannot say that. And as, and [00:14:00] this is another, you know, comical thing, is that in Europe we look at people, I mean here they call it staring. We don’t stare, but we look at people . And, and that is nothing wrong with that. I, I did. But here I learned that you cannot look at people. That’s staring and that’s rude. . And that was just so hard for me because I’m, if I see something that is fascinating or whatever, I, I look, I mean, that’s just how we are. Yeah. It’s not making fun of people. It’s nothing. It’s just what we do. And I have never thought about that.

I, I didn’t realize that we do that. Of course, now I know that is a, that’s a European thing, but back then I didn’t know that. And that was very difficult for me to not stare at people. . And I know it sounds comical, but it, it, it was difficult. Just learning all these little unwritten rules that things you, you know, do.

Willas: I mean, I know for me when we lived in Germany, or even going back to Germany this past summer, you, [00:15:00] after being in the States for so long, you get used to like the rules like that, the things you do and don’t.

Elin: Don’t look too long, don’t look too, you know, a few seconds you can look at people, but then you have to look away it is rules. And, and you and people here, they don’t, they don’t know because they don’t understand. These are rules. But if you go somewhere else, and I think a lot of Americans have to agree, people that have lived overseas and come back, they agree they are rules here. , I mean, you know, things you do and don’t.

And maybe other countries have that the same thing too. It’s just, I feel like it’s more obvious here. And then of course the driving was a big challenge. you know, a lot of traffic. That, that was certainly it.

Willas: One major highway in Norway.

Elin: Yeah, one major highway in my hometown. I think we had three traffic lights in the whole city

so definitely have to get used to that. And then of course, driving on the highway here, you know, in Europe you have strict rules on how you drive on the highway here. They you pick a lane and you, that’s the lane you drive in.

Willas: Yeah. I think most people can attest to that. [00:16:00] Having to drive on the highway and people are just kind of doing their own thing and gotta maneuver around it and all that type of stuff.

Elin: They stay in that lane and that’s it. They don’t get out of the way.

Willas: guess there’s not too many lanes to get out of anyways. , .

Elin: No, no. In Norway it. Again, that’s where we have more rules because the traffic, speed is very strictly enforced. it’s same thing as drinking and driving is strictly enforced.

So different, different rules

Willas: like in a comparison, I mean, we’re in a new age of technology now where you can, you know, pick up and FaceTime. Do whatever, call, whatever. And you call your mom all the time, FaceTime or whenever you want. You can see people’s faces whenever you want.

Elin: I know, I honestly, I, I wish, I truly wish that we had, there’s not everything about all this new development that I like and all the the technology . but the FaceTime and the ability to be able to talk to someone at any time, texting, [00:17:00] calling, oh, it’s been wonderful.

And I, I didn’t have any of that. When I first came, it was calling and, and we usually picked the day of the week where we called and it was very, very expensive, so you had to time yourself how long you could talk and the phone bills for, of course was astronomical, and especially for us, you know, not having so much money back then it, that, that was very expensive. And you had to time yourself and that was very hard.

Willas: so, did you keep in contact often with I mean, I’m guessing you kept in contact with your mom quite a bit, but like friends and stuff like that too?

Elin: Well, we tried to, you know, we, we did. I mean, we, but we were, you know, now I, we were not used to any other way.

We wrote letters. I mean, that’s how we communicated.

Willas: I kind of forgot about that.

Elin: We wrote letters to each other and postcards, so whatever. That’s how we communicated.

Willas: I don’t know what that is, but…

Elin: something come in the mailbox. The smail, the snail,

Willas: not the digital?

Elin: No. And I miss [00:18:00] that. It’s, it’s nice to open the mailbox and actually have a letter and sit down and read it.

But yeah, that’s, that’s mainly how I communicated with friends. writing , but grandparents and my parents, you know, of course I call them and you know, I would say maybe once a week. , but yeah, it’s different. Now. You talk to, now I can text my mom. I can go in the store and I see something.

Oh. I’m like, and I think about her and I, I send her a text. Yeah. That was just, you know, yeah. It hasn’t been that. Yeah. Now, now it hasn’t been that long, but, you know, it is quite different. So that this is, this has been a great development.

Willas: And also, uh, how often did you get to… sorry about that. My dog, everybody, my dad got back home, so she was excited, excited to see him .

But like I was saying, when you first came to the us how often did you get the chance to go back home? Or did you have people come visit you that hadn’t been to the States before or?

Elin: Yeah, so, you know, we, we tried to, either my mom would, so we would [00:19:00] make it like at least once a year, either my mom came to visit or we would go and visit.

I would, I would fly home and visit my mom. So, I mean, that’s been pretty consistent throughout these years that I’ve been home once a year and my mom has visited me once a year. So, and then I have a few friends that visited. Everybody wanted to visit. Yeah. And, and that’s what they said.

Very few, uh, follow through. But I guess that’s normal. You know, it’s, uh, I haven’t had that many friends visiting.

Willas: I mean with something new like that , obviously, if they haven’t been to the us they’d clearly, you know, everybody wants to express how excited they’re to come visit. And then, but actually following through with that is definitely another story.

Elin: Norwegians, we take our vacations serious and vacations are to relax and enjoy themselves. And visiting people is maybe a little more stressful. I don’t know.

Willas: Yeah on both sides.

So when you would travel to Norway or anywhere else and then come back. [00:20:00] I know you don’t have citizenship in the us so you have a, a green card.

So how has, like how soon did you get your green card? How, like when did you feel like you, or I mean, when were you able to travel knowing you could come back? Like whenever you wanted or?

Elin: Yeah, I mean that’s, uh, I honestly, I can’t remember because that was taken. Yeah. We, I had papers leaving Norway. I had to, uh, get some kind of a, because we got married and mainly because of, my husband then was in the military, and you can’t travel on his orders unless we are married.

So in order to get that taken care of, I had to, you know, I had to have medical, you know, I had to go to the doctor and, you know, and make sure that I did not have tb and there was a few things I had to have did the chest x-ray and, and some other checkups. But I, I can’t remember because I, I had the visa, I had something and I got that at the other green card.

I got that, that didn’t take long at [00:21:00] all. As soon as I came to the States that was taken care of. Yeah.

Willas: Well, that’s nice then at least. But, uh, I know that you did have one experience actually traveling with me where you traveled on an expired green card,

Elin: yeah quite interesting. So I didn’t know I had, didn’t pay attention. I had, I have a, you know, you, only time I look at the green card is when I travel and it’s just in my passport. And we were, and didn’t even look at it. Didn’t even, didn’t even think about that. It could have been expired. Just so concerned about passport not being expired. Yeah. So, uh, we traveled and we, I, we flew out of Dallas.

We flew into Denmark and then from Denmark to Norway. And I have to show the green card because in my passport it says that I have a green card. So yeah, everywhere I go, I have to show my all of it. And, and then I flew back to denmark and, you know, going home, we went from [00:22:00] Norway to Denmark and then to the United States.

And at Dulles, going through customs, they could tell me that my green card was expired. Like the last step. I’m almost home. I got, I’m on, you know, US soil and I’m almost. Right. And then I’m not allowed to enter the country.

so I’m being put in this room with the kids. My husband is sitting outside waiting to pick us up, and we’ve been put in this room where they’re trying to, I don’t know what they’re trying to do. Uh, I, I like they, I was treated like a, criminal . And, my husband, he’s trying to make phone calls and saying, Hey, at least my kids that have a US passports should be able to go through. But no, we were stuck in there for hours. Uh, and, uh, yeah, not, not very pleasant, but I mean,

Willas: you’re here now.

Elin: I’m here now.

Willas: You did make it through. At least

Elin: I survived.

Willas: And moving to another topic. That I know you’re gonna like, it’s, uh, traditions. . And so, uh, when [00:23:00] you first came to the US what traditions like did you want to bring?

Was it like, these are some things like I just need to have, obviously you and your husband, my dad, you both have separate traditions. Everything. Like, you know, it’s different, different cultures, different everything , when you came here, what was it like you were gonna bring?

Elin: Well, I, I think, uh, in this, uh, case, I’m very fortunate that my husband, he really didn’t have a lot of traditions growing up. . So he was very easygoing. And I realized that now when, after knowing other people, you know, inter cultural and racial marriages, , both of them have strong traditions from their families.

My husband, he didn’t have a lot, so he embraced all of our traditions and we in, in Norway we had traditions for, you know, like, especially Christmas is very important. Yeah. And uh, and I love Christmas and, but my husband lived in Norway and he learned to love how what we do, we do so much. and, so it, that was, that was not difficult.

He [00:24:00] was, he was taking on my traditions and, and enjoying that just as much as I did. . So that has been easy. So I think in this home, even though we have lived in, in the United States, most of the time our traditions are mainly Norwegian. , we do, we celebrate Thanksgiving. kind of like a little, little pause before christmas from halloween to Christmas, because all I can think about is decorating for Christmas and setting my house up for Christmas and.

Willas: Yeah. Well, if you saw what the house looks like right now, you would, you would understand what she means by it’s Christmas, uh, it’s, yeah, it’s definitely Christmas in here.

Mm-hmm. . But what about like you said, like Black Friday, Halloween, uh, Thanksgiving.

Elin: Yes. Yes. So that’s, those are new things. And, and you know what, at first, in the beginning, you know, it was, it’s different when, you know, when, uh, when the holiday comes, you get a little sentimental and emotional and there’s no time you miss your home. More than that is, you know, during the [00:25:00] holidays so much, and then you, you kind of look at everything here. It’s just, oh, it’s just not right you know, nothing. It feels right. It’s not the same and, and it doesn’t feel right because it’s not the same. But as years go by, I learned to, you know, I appreciate things here. And you know, another thing is to how people decorate outside here. In Norway was very, that has changed too throughout the year. So, but this is from my Norway in the nineties, it very light decorating outside. It’s just clear lights and little, you know, you take your pine tree outside and you put lights in that, and that would probably be it.

Then you have some little Santa and stuff outside in the, the real decorating is inside the house. And, and of course we had then it was always snow, so we put some little candles in the snow and that would be it. And I came here with all these colored lights and over decorating and, and, and the first year, I, I, I’m not gonna lie, I, I thought it was awful.

It was really horrible. I said, oh my God, this is [00:26:00] horrible. And then the next year I’m like, well, it’s not so bad. . And then the third year, I kind of like it. In the fourth year. I’m doing the same thing now. I have lights, I have everything decorated outside, and I, and I love it, . So I learned to, so I feel fortunate that I have, that I can take on both cultures and the traditions and I can, and do my thing out of it. And, and we have, and it’s great.

Willas: So, I mean, with cultures, with traditions, there comes things like food., which is another hot topic. Yep. What did you think about food when you first came to America? , especially in comparison to the fish and potatoes. Yeah. That’s all you ate. That’s all you ate, ever.

Elin: I mean, traditional Norwegian food is very a bland and growing up it was, it was fish and potatoes and vegetables. , it’s six days a week and then something else on weekends. But yeah, it’s very plain salt and [00:27:00] peppered, not, not a lot of spices and fast food was non-existent growing up and, you know, we didn’t eat out as much at all. Going to a restaurant that was kind of a big deal. And we very seldom we go out and eat. And, um, yeah, it, it was, we cooked at home. Everything was homemade. Everything we, everything we ate was made from scratch. But then you know, simple, plain food, but I thought it was good. So, coming to America with all the options and fast food, cheap food, you can buy anything.

And it was very cheap and that was such a wow. You know, you just want to try everything. I just wanna go and eat at all these different places. I mean, Arby’s, I, I still remember and we went, the first restaurant, I ate it when we moved, when we came, flew into Oklahoma, we ate at. Where was it? Is? Uh oh, the fish?

The seafood? No, it’s not seafood. Oh my gosh. I can’t think of it. But it was just, it, [00:28:00] it was just overwhelming. Uh, black, Red Lobster. Red Lobster. Red Lobster Lobster, red Lobster.

Willas: A classic, classic American .

Elin: And, and it was just so you know, with big eyes, I just took in everything. It was just very different. And they served this beer in a frosted mug and was, and I still remember that. It was just, uh, yeah, it was interesting.

Willas: So, wait were there any fast food places in Norway? Wasn’t there? I think you said?

Elin: Yeah, so we, yeah, we had like a hamburger, like a, like the hamburger bar

It was called the Hamburger Bar. And uh, and they served, but you know, maybe we buy some hotdog sometimes, you know, after we come home from the club, we come buy hot dogs. , post club hotdog. Yeah. Those, well, I know, and I know it’s changed, you know, Norway, it’s become more like, like the US now, but back then we didn’t have any of that and, and wasn’t nothing. You just ate, I mean, again, at late night after being at the club. Yeah, a hot dog that. [00:29:00] every now and then. That was it.

Willas: So if you had to rank when you came to the US a top, uh, fast food when you first came, there had to be something that you were like, this is, this is good. You gotta tell everybody in Norway about this.

Elin: Yeah. I mean, it was just, you know, things that I haven’t, I, I can’t remember that was a specific restaurant, but, you know, different food and people cook and, you know, we knew, uh, our neighbors, you know, there was people from all over and they cooked different food and, and, and people were very friendly.

And that, I have to say, that is one thing that moving to Florida, people were friendly and, and that was a, that was a, I’m, I’m jumping a little back and forth, but culturally that was a shock. For me because Norwegians, we. We don’t say hi when you meet Norwegians on the street. You don’t say hi. You don’t talk to people.

Yeah. And, but here people are like, I was walking in the neighborhood and people were talking, Hey, how you doing ? And for me that was like, I felt like, oh, these are creepy people. Why are they talking to me and why are they even looking at me? Uh, that, that felt very [00:30:00] strange. So, but you know, I, I learned that’s normal and, and you know, it’s friendly and it’s nice and I enjoy that.

And people are very friendly. Neighbors would cook and they would bring food and they invite you over unheard of in Norway. Never ever would that happen. , you could have neighbors for 40 years and you would never, you would say hi and talk to them while you shovel snow outside or cut the grass in the summer.

But that would be it. But here, I mean, people invited you in, you talk, you sit outside with an, and especially Florida with a warmer climate. We sat outside it all the time. and all the neighbors would come out and whatever they had to eat and drink, they brought everything out. And it was so much, so much good food that I never had before I ever remember. One thing made an impression on me. That was Pam, one of our neighbors. She made twice baked potatoes, . It was so good. , oh, I still think about her twice baked potatoes and delicious, and it was just so much good. , uh, I can’t, you know, I can’t think of anything specific right now [00:31:00] but it, it, it was that I truly enjoyed eating all different dishes and mm-hmm.

Yeah. Things that I never heard about. Tasted, yeah. And, and I like to try. So for me it was easy. I have always been that person that will try anything. And, and we had friends that had a good friend from Thailand. She would cook all the time and I love that. I mean, whatever. She, she will call me over when she cooked and I would come and check it out.

Willas: Switching a little bit now. Um, so as like in the US I feel like the term immigrant is pretty highly stigmatized and it usually has a bad connotation to it. Uh, would so. ever since you’ve been in the us have you thought of yourself as like an immigrant or like have people, when people meet you, do you think you fit like the stereotype of what a u uh, immigrant in the United States is?[00:32:00]

Elin: I would have to say probably not. I never really thought about that. , I honestly, I never, I never even thought of myself as an immigrant, but, uh, you know, I am, and, uh, it really, I, if I say it’s been difficult then I’m lying, it has not been, people have been very friendly and curious and they have asked me about you know, norway they ask me about what we eat and my language and everything. It’s been mainly positive.

Willas: Cause I mean, I just feel like, obviously it’s different for all different cultures ethnicities coming to the United States, it’s, it’s just, I feel like everyone has different transitions and I mean, I was talking to my sister earlier, we were talking about this and.

Uh, I mean, she mentioned how she like, didn’t even think about you as an immigrant, didn’t really consider you an immigrant at all. Yeah. And just interesting because especially with immigration, being with the Trump [00:33:00] presidency, it’s been a very hot topic.

Elin: Yeah, I know. And, and I think now the, the, yeah, I guess it is. Last few years it’s been, it’s become something I’m aware of. I never thought about that because mm-hmm. , I had my visa and after, living here for about three years, I had a letter, from the US government that where I could, they said that I could apply for my, US citizenship if I wanted to. And which I declined back then because Norway didn’t allow dual citizenship. Yeah. And I did not want to give up my Norwegian citizenship, so I never took up that offer. But now, now, since 2020 Norway, do allow dual citizenship. . So I’m, I’m now getting ready to apply for my US citizenship.

Willas: Yeah. I mean, COVID has definitely made it a little bit more difficult, but just traveling in general and everything.

Elin: It’s not a must. Because it’s not been a problem. I just don’t wanna end up in a situation where I’m, if my kids live here and I am, let’s say I, [00:34:00] you know, live in Norway , and I come back and I have, I don’t wanna have any difficult this coming and staying for few months.

Willas: Yeah. With like travel visas

Elin: so that having, it’s just a convenience.

Willas: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, thank you for being on this my, my podcast.

Elin: Thank you for interviewing me. It’s been a pleasure.

Willas: Yeah, it was nice getting to talk and getting to know about some of the things that I didn’t know when you first came to the US . So once again, I just wanna say thank you for being on my podcast and. Yeah. Thank you everybody for listening.