As winter has began in Kongsberg so do the long dark hours have began to start, but a good part was you can see the fresh snow with moderately cold weather. I don't know air in Kongsberg is totally different, it could be only me who have such feeling, but some how you can feel the freshness. As soon as I go out and take a long deep breath I feel something cold in my lungs and I feel totally different which I have never felt in any country. That feeling brings a sweet little smile on my face and I feel something different which I am unable to express. I think that might be the reason why people loves to live in Norway and where I live is totally amazing town name Kongsberg. So lets talk a bit about Kongsberg a small town in Norway.
As I have been grew in Mumbai this is really small place, as of now the population is around 50k people, but the beauty is not the number but the people itself. First thing when you move from your mother land you are afraid and everyone is new and when its a different country you are totally unaware about the culture of the people and very careful about your behaviour as you are unaware of the reaction.
So when we move to Kongsberg 4 year ago we where also in thought and a bit afraid about new place. But I would say me and my wife where amazed how welcoming the people where and we are thankful that we have met so many good people here. Just after first day of my kids in kindergarten we where able to meet a local family and after that we have meat so many times and now we have been good friends since then. After that we have made few more friends in Kongsberg society and our relationship have grown stronger and stronger.
But its not only local people but also we have found such a good and big Indian community who have moved to Kongsberg due to there jobs. This is also a good positive side as we celebrate some Indian festivals together and spend quality time and off course we play cricket whenever its possible.
The same has been experienced with my kids. They have been integrated in the Kongsberg society and have been able to make friends and share there thoughts with each other which I feel is also very good for a family with different background but also for society.
My kids loves to go to school even though are going to Norwegian school but Kongsberg also have very good International School which also makes a great place for many immigrants.
As this is the town which is to the west of Oslo and its around 80km away from Oslo but it have very good commutation to city we have direct facility train to Oslo which also continues to go to airport, so just relax and take good nap and you will be able to reach destination.
The other thing which I like about Kongsberg is it has all the facility available for kids from downhill Ski center to athletics activity, they have a good swimming pool and a good amount of football grounds where kids can grow. My kids was able to learn so much from swimming to ski and from football to music instrument.
Not all places are perfect so do Kongsberg, one of the biggest mistake I feel government has started is starting to shut down some public school and I feel this is totally wrong, it could be due to some financial reason but what I see they are thinking of closing school which is at there 70% of capacity and which will impact around 300 kids and that too in area where I can see lots of development is coming. Thats totally crazy idea and none of the parents are able to understand how come they came up with the such solution. As parents are doing there best to save those schools but its really bad short term financial decision.
The other problem in city is transport its really bad, I know its not a big town but its still big enough with kids. You need car especially with the kids as you have to take them to activity which can end up at same time but in different part of the city. As classes are usually in evening so with perspective of bus transport they ends at really bad time. I know brakar came up with some really smart solution called brakar fleks but its still not good enough as it get delays a lot and also it get cancel a lots. Also this service is not available through out Kongsberg area and also not available all time.
There are few more problems related to doing business, but what I have heard is Kongsberg has huge potential but its sometime government rules which stop them to grow. As I myself is not a business guy I don't have huge experience with it, but I have heard from many people that doing business in Norway itself a huge challenging task, which you could read over internet and especially in X.com where I can see many startup owners are crying to survive in Norway
But overall this is a good town to live and enjoy multicultural life in Norwegian society. If you are interested to learn more about it please free to reach out to me.
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