OK, it's no secret I love bus drivers (my father-in-law is one), but the guy on bus 109 to UQ made everyone's day today. As each person boarded the bus, he gave them a warm, "Good morning," "Hi ya," "Greetings," or "Great to see you," called out the stops with a bit of color: "Mater Hill Hospital. If you're pregnant, this might be a good place to get off" and bid each person farewell with a "Have a fantastic day" or "Smile at a stranger, it may be the only smile he gets."
There was a lot more smiling, chatting and laughing on that bus than normal, and I'm sure the driver's day went much faster for him as well.
It also reminded me of a story that I think occurred in the vacuum between Facebook and blogging in Norway. I got on a bus from work to get to the new ice rink at Idda, not sure how far it would take me. When we got close to the main bus station, I asked the driver if I could get any closer to Idda or if I needed to change buses. He said, "Why don't you just stay on the bus and I'll see if I can get you a little closer." So I moved up to the front of the bus and we had a great conversation which began with, "Ah, you must be an old figure skater from the States going to test out the new ice" and developed into "I remember when we got proper winters and everyone used to skate on Jegers" which led inevitably to, "Oh, yeah, of course I know your father-in-law. We grew up together." He was at the end of his shift, so he drove me straight to the rink even though he had really finished at the bus stop in the center of town.
We are nicely set up here for public transportation, and I am all for it and always have been, especially since I am a bad driver. I have to say I do appreciate one main difference between public transport here and in Norway: the weather. Here, you walk to and wait for buses in the sunshine surrounded by tropical plants. There, you walk to and wait for buses in the rain and snow, often standing in puddles or getting sprayed on by cars driving through puddles. Critical difference, so expect me to buy a car again when we return to Norway.
I have started work since the last blog. I have two temporary positions at the University of Queensland, one at the School of Education working with postgraduate research students and one establishing the newly approved Research Computing Centre (a user centre for researches using high performance computing). I feel very lucky to have gotten this job, definitely a case of being in the right place at the right time. I am learning a lot, meeting a lot of interesting people and gaining a new perspective on Norway and UiA. (Wait a minute, it sounds like I am on student exchange.) Well, I feel like I am on student exchange, and this has really re-affirmed my faith in going abroad and learning different ways of doing things.
The most obvious thing I have learned so far is: Norway is not bureaucratic at all. Tells you a lot about Australia. Right now, our printer is out of toner and I can't order any more toner because I can't print the form I need to have signed in order to buy the toner. Since the guys I work with refuse to get onto the UQ net which uses Windows (they probably only hired me because I can work on Linux), I can't send it to print anywhere else on campus either. So, I am sending the form to myself to print at home. Alternately, I could order the toner through the electronic system, but I can't have access to that until I have completed a course, which isn't given until Oct. 6. I am not being quite fair here, though. Before I started, I filled out 5 forms and submitted all of my qualifications, passport, visa, etc. etc. and when I got to work on the first day I had a user name, password, email account and key within an hour. I got paid on the first regular pay day after I started. The IT guy came to me, instead of me having to go to him. I thought that was all pretty impressive.
We're going out to eat now, but be warned. We have finally bought a really nice camera. I will have to revisit everywhere I've been so far and post some decent photos.
