Saturday Night in Ulsteinvik

I was contacted on Facebook yesterday by another Canadian living in Norway, who said something to the effect of "Ulsteinvik? That place has, like, only 50 people, doesn't it? How are you surviving?" Now, it's true, Ulsteinvik is no metropolis. However, Kes and I have decided to take it for all it's got to offer. I can't stand people (I used to run into them in Bella Coola while I was growing up, but really, they're everywhere) who complain about the lack of opportunity in a place, when they aren't taking the opportunities that are available. It may be, in a few months (particularly in the winter, when outdoor activities are minimal), that we decide Ulsteinvik is too small, but that won't be until we feel like we've done pretty much everything there is to do here - given it a real chance!

Armed with that logic, we decided to go out on the town last night. There are two nightspots here, the Kaffebaren, and the Hong Kong (The Hong Kong seems to be trying to be everything in one - lunch place, coffeehouse, sit-down-dinner place, pub, bar, disco...). The Kaffebaren was advertising on their website (www.kaffe-baren.no) that they had a live band "Pikka Bird" playing. Perfect. Out we went.

We were underwhelmeded by our first, 10:45pm, impression. We had to pay cover (80 kr each - $16), and there were probably 20 people in the place. However, as the evening went on, it did fill up nicely. Of course, the band went on late (has there ever been a band, anywhere, that started on time?) . The evening picked up significantly when a man in his mid-20s walked up to our table and said "Ashley! Good to see you out!" I didn't know the guy at all, but it turns out that he works on my floor at the shipyard. He introduced himself, and sat down and joined us. From then on, we had a rotating cast of table-mates, with our initial greeter being the one constant. At one point, there were seven people at our 4-person table. Kes managed to link up with a marine biologist, who seemed as surprised to find another marine biologist in a bar in Ulsteinvik as we were. I learned several things last night:

-If you meet someone in Ulsteinvik, that person has, at most, one degree of separation from the shipyard.
-Being a lawyer may not be a fantastic career choice here (we met an unemployed one)
-If you want to have a shot as a band (unless you're in metal), you sing in English.
-The bar will serve you, no matter how drunk you are. No, this was not from personal experience, mom - observation. If I had been as drunk as the guys buying 6 glasses of Jameson's at a time, I don't think I'd remember it to tell you today (well, that, and I would still be in bed with a headache).
-The local beer, Hansa, is not bad. It's a standard pilsner, with a lot of head on a pint, but pretty good. It's always nice when the cheapest option is not awful!

In keeping with the "do everything that's on offer" philosophy, we're off to see the local soccer team, Hødd, play their first home game of the season today. They're a first-division (that's below the Premier League) team, which is apparently pretty good, for a town this size. They're the only sports team here, so I guess we'll have to go watch soccer.