You have lived all over the globe. Where, exactly?

I come from Indonesia, where I finished my education. Then I moved to the Netherlands for further studies. After graduating I worked in Jakarta, Indonesia, for two years before moving to Singapore to work. I joined M7 Offshore, which was later acquired by Citec. After I got the Norwegian working permit, I moved here with my family in 2012. In addition I’ve also spent a few months at an internship at the UN headquarters in New York, and a few months working on a project in India.

Why did you want to move to Norway?

Both my wife and I had a wish to live either in New Zealand or Norway, for various reasons. Both countries have a beautiful nature and a good work-life balance. Therefore, we were very happy when I got the position at M7 Offshore’s Norwegian office.

Have you experienced any cultural shocks?

The most shocking change for us was the climate. When we arrived at Oslo Airport, it was the coldest day in that winter with –20 ° C. In other words it was totally different from tropical Singapore. After a while, we managed to adapt a bit to the Norwegian winter by following an old Norwegian saying: “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”

What is delightful in the Nordic working culture?

Norway values a good balance between work and personal life, more than most Asian countries do. We also realised that most people here trust each other, which is evident, for example, in the fact that parents leave their children unattended outside in strollers. You’d never see people do that in Asia.

What do you do when you don’t work?

My two main hobbies, travelling and photography, are related to each other. We love travelling around Europe and while travelling, I take photos of the places we visit. I also play tennis weekly with the Wärtsilä folk from the Asker office. Two years ago I tried skiing, but because my wife was expecting our second son I had to take a break. However, this year we’ll try to learn to ski together.