Obstacles in social activity

Although the woman all stress the importance of social activity and social network, all also tell about the obstacles they face in achieving this. These obstacles are mainly related to the fact that they are being socially active in a new country and building up new networks. The obstacles mentioned concern (social) culture differences, the pace of life, and weather. Language is in addition an obstacle often named, but as this has been covered in previous paragraphs, this aspect will not be further elaborated here.

An interesting factor to mention is the differences between social culture and the pace of life that some of the women experience. These aspects are not necessarily directly mentioned as obstacles, but it is a transformation and an adaptation that the women must go through to fit into the new reality. Therefore, it is interesting to take a closer look at it.

One of the women describes the activities she undertakes here to be totally different from what she was used to before. Where she in her home country would be more used to relaxation-related activities, here she is more involved in exercise-relaxation-related activities. She exemplifies it in this fashion:

“Hmm! Here I do a lot of activities outside. I am skiing, I am hiking. I did not do these activities in my home country. In my home country I would go to restaurants because it is cheaper than

66 in Norway. I met my family as well, here I meet my friends. In Norway I am exercising a lot. I am cycling, I am training a lot as well. So that is different than in my home country.”

Other women do not specifically refer to activities they do or do not undertake, but they focus on the differences in the general pace of life they experience. One of the women explains how she was not really used to doing any kind of social activities, as she does in Norway, in her social life in her home country. In her attempt to explain herself, she had issues exemplifying what she would be doing as she did not expect that it would be understood from a different cultural perspective. In the end she formulated it as follows:

“Yes, it is completely different! For example, I did not have any activities when I was in my home country. I just went to school, when I get back from school I wash and clean up the home.

I do homework and house chores. It was just that we did. But, when it was a holiday there was a lot to do, like other things. It is very difficult to explain to you (laughs). No sorry, I cannot. It is about when you make food but in the earth.”

For some of the women it also made a difference that they were women. As this next quote shows, social activities were limited for this woman, because safety was an issue. Being outside after sundown, was for example not an option, a different safety level in the new country will therefore already lead to activities that would not have been possible before.

“Uh… as a girl I was not let to go out too much. Not like let, but there is a security issue and everything, so it is always nicer that you are coming back before the sun is down. But when the sun is down that is when you are finishing your school and stuff. So not really much of a social life, just a bit of hanging out with friends. Nothing more than that, no activities other than being at home. Now, I cannot wait for the weekend so I can go out there again. But in my home country I would be at school for 5 days, and for the 2 days I would rather not go anywhere.”

The fact that women have a different role and different possibilities in Norway than they had in their home countries, might be an aspect easily overlooked. To adapt to totally different gender roles and expectations might be experienced as challenging and demands time.

An aspect less thought about could be the role that the climate or weather plays in the activities that the women undertake. Not all women were adjusted to the climate and weather conditions that Norway had to offer. This also affected the type of activities that were possible at different times in the year. As one of the women says, is that she experiences that good (red: sunny/no rain) weather has a positive influence on getting to know people. She feels like people are easier

67 to contact when they are outside, and the weather is good. Direct contact is easier established.

She tells it like this:

“It is important to have good weather. One has to use that. Then one must go out. It is easier to get direct contact.”

The importance of good weather is also mentioned by one of the other women. As she is from a country where it is mostly warm and sunny, she is used to undertaking activities based on this.

Weather is therefore important to her. She experiences that it is easier to encounter people when it is summer and warm. When it is colder, she experiences that people prefer to be at home and feel a lesser need to come out and meet people. She explains this with the help of one of the pictures she took:

“I was sunbathing with a friend of mine. This picture is important to me as it is important for me to have sunshine. My home country has a lot of sun, and it is very warm. It is easier to meet people when it is summer. (..) When it is cold people prefer to be at home. People are feeling more introverted.”

Something as trivial as the weather might not be construed as an obstacle in social activities by many, but apparently does play a role in how the women experience their social life. Being from a country with a different climate may therefore influence the degree of social activeness.

If one is not at all familiar with activities suitable for certain weather situations, it will be more difficult to go out and meet other people.

Lastly, several women also mentioned the absence of their family and how that impacted their social activities, networks, and emotions. Although for these women it would have been preferable to have their family closer or to be able to have more regular contact, this was not always seen as realistic but something that nevertheless was on their minds and impacted. One of the women expressed it as follows:

“For me it is difficult to live away.. to have this distance.”

Two of the other women mentioned that living so far away from their family had made them, on occasions, feel lonesome or it had influenced them:

“It means in a way, it is not necessarily loneliness, but I do not have any family in Norway and that bothers me in a way.”

Picture 6: Living far away from family

68 This shows that family, or rather the absence of family might have an impact on the social lives of immigrant women.