(Note: if you just want pictures, there's a link at the end of the post.)
Well, I spent last weekend in Fredrikstad and Oslo, getting my first "real" chance to referee since getting here (I'm not including the statistician role for the international game). Fredrikstad was a neat place, with a historic old town (I forgot the camera for that part, sorry!), and some excited young rugby players. As a result of this, I have made my Norwegian television debut, being visible for about 3 seconds during a piece the local channel shot about the day's rugby. Here's a link to the piece - click on the video that's a short way down on the right hand side of the main text. Most places that I go in Norway, rugby is such a novelty that we get some media coverage. On the other hand, that might have something to do with the fact that Norwegians read an average of more than one newspaper per day for every man, woman and child, and many of those newspapers are small-town dailies. They have to find something to fill all those pages!
I slept in Oslo, went out with the Oslo Rugby Klubb folks on Saturday night, and then assisted (by refereeing) with a youth rugby camp they were organizing on Sunday. The camp was an overwhelming success, with 60+ kids running around tackling each other.
The light here continues to impress me. I know, logically, that it's not really going to get dark, but it's just so cool when it's 1:30 am, and I could go outside and play catch! On the other hand, it's a bit odd to walk out after the end of a movie that started at 9:30 pm - into sunlight!
Sunset is 11:00pm right now. It will top out on June 20th at 11:36pm, with sunrise that day at 3:34am.
I've hit a bit of a wall with my Norwegian-learning. It's becoming very frustrating that I still can't understand much of any conversation. I know that it's only been two months, but there's a significant problem that I really don't hear much Norwegian. People walk into my office, and immediately switch to (usually very fluent) English. At the lunch table, there are Romanians and a Venezuelan, so much of the conversation is either completely incomprehensible (Romanian), or in English. However, the top tiers of the company are 100% Norwegian. In fact, I'm one of the more senior people who is not Norwegian by birth, and I'm probably, at the moment, the most senior who doesn't really speak Norwegian.
Therefore, the people with whom I need to have meetings are all Norwegian. This makes it really difficult. I could ask them to speak English, and they probably would do it, but it is really awkward - asking eight people at a meeting to speak awkwardly and slowly (because, while their English is good, there's no hiding that it's the second language, except for a select few) is both rude and non-functional. As a result, I just sit there, and become frustrated, because I'm not learning fast enough. Then, I usually have to approach the meeting's chair privately after the meeting, for a review. He seldom seems to mind, but I can't help but think that it would be more efficient with someone who didn't need such repeats. I know that there were some in the company who didn't agree with hiring a "fresh off the boat" foreigner, because of the language problem. I'm worried that, so far, I'm only proving them right.
To be clear, I shouldn't exaggerate the issue - The work is coming along just fine, and I'm learning, and I suppose it gets better every day, it's just a frustration that I really wish would go away!
Anyway, the pictures below are "around town" ones from Ulsteinvik proper, as well as a series showing what the walk to work is like. Enjoy!
Around Ulsteinvik
Cheers,
Ashley
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
I Feel Very European
I'm sitting at my window, drinking a glass of red wine, and watching the Eurovision song contest...
I first heard of this in high school, but I'm not sure that everyone in North America has necessarily connected with it, so here's a quick refresher: Each year (since 1956), most European countries (the national entry is determined by the a major national TV network) nominate a single musical act to represent their country at the finals. The finals are held in the home country of the previous year's winner, and are one of the biggest TV events on the continent every year. "Europe" is defined rather broadly, and includes, for example, Israel (every year since 1973), Morocco (one year) and Cyprus (every year since 1981)
There are political overtones, though usually just domestic ones, for example: The Italians once censored their own entry, because it contained a pro-divorce (which was illegal at the time) message. The French are very unhappy this year, because their entrant has chosen to sing some of his lyrics in English. The Belgians on the other hand, whose country is very close to breaking up over linguistic divisions, are very happy, because their entry will be singing in an invented language, neither French nor Flemish. (that's before we even get into the Israeli transsexual who won...)
The event, however, is resolutely EuroTrash, with pop & techno dominating, and absolutely ridiculous costumes. The winning entry usually uses some variation on the ABBA formula (ABBA won in 1974) - attractive women, pop (often to the point of techno) , and well-designed for TV. The winner is decided by popular vote, through one's cell phone.
The Estonian entry this year, on the other hand, appears to be three overweight men singing about food, complete with backup props that include pictures of the food in question. Their backup dancers, on the other hand are gorgeous, scantily clad women. (At the same time, gorgeous, scantily clad backup dancers are a bit of a common theme.)
+++
Well, I've now seen 10 entries, and they've underwhelmed me. I think that I like the San Marino dude best. It was a good, sort-of rock ballad - it's also neat that a country of 60 square km and less than 30,000 has even bothered to enter - and he's really from there, and he's not half bad.
WAIT. Stop the presses. Ireland has entered a turkey puppet. In good old-fashioned Irish fashion, they have decided to mock the entire contest. Their song is a sarcastic take on the whole thing - they're doing things like naming every country, and then claiming that if you do that, you'll get extra votes. (Lyrics also include "We're sorry for RiverDance") There are dancers in the most outrageous costumes, flagrantly sexual, and yet not at all, because the whole thing is so sarcastic. Wow. I think I'm going to have to spend 5 kroner and vote for Ireland.
...even after watching Bosnia & Hercegovina, with the go-go dancers in enourmous wedding dresses, who were knitting while dancing. Indeed.
Okay, enough of that - I think you get the point.
I promised pictures of Stavanger. Here you go...
Stavanger - 10 May 2008
Cheers,
Ashley
I first heard of this in high school, but I'm not sure that everyone in North America has necessarily connected with it, so here's a quick refresher: Each year (since 1956), most European countries (the national entry is determined by the a major national TV network) nominate a single musical act to represent their country at the finals. The finals are held in the home country of the previous year's winner, and are one of the biggest TV events on the continent every year. "Europe" is defined rather broadly, and includes, for example, Israel (every year since 1973), Morocco (one year) and Cyprus (every year since 1981)
There are political overtones, though usually just domestic ones, for example: The Italians once censored their own entry, because it contained a pro-divorce (which was illegal at the time) message. The French are very unhappy this year, because their entrant has chosen to sing some of his lyrics in English. The Belgians on the other hand, whose country is very close to breaking up over linguistic divisions, are very happy, because their entry will be singing in an invented language, neither French nor Flemish. (that's before we even get into the Israeli transsexual who won...)
The event, however, is resolutely EuroTrash, with pop & techno dominating, and absolutely ridiculous costumes. The winning entry usually uses some variation on the ABBA formula (ABBA won in 1974) - attractive women, pop (often to the point of techno) , and well-designed for TV. The winner is decided by popular vote, through one's cell phone.
The Estonian entry this year, on the other hand, appears to be three overweight men singing about food, complete with backup props that include pictures of the food in question. Their backup dancers, on the other hand are gorgeous, scantily clad women. (At the same time, gorgeous, scantily clad backup dancers are a bit of a common theme.)
+++
Well, I've now seen 10 entries, and they've underwhelmed me. I think that I like the San Marino dude best. It was a good, sort-of rock ballad - it's also neat that a country of 60 square km and less than 30,000 has even bothered to enter - and he's really from there, and he's not half bad.
WAIT. Stop the presses. Ireland has entered a turkey puppet. In good old-fashioned Irish fashion, they have decided to mock the entire contest. Their song is a sarcastic take on the whole thing - they're doing things like naming every country, and then claiming that if you do that, you'll get extra votes. (Lyrics also include "We're sorry for RiverDance") There are dancers in the most outrageous costumes, flagrantly sexual, and yet not at all, because the whole thing is so sarcastic. Wow. I think I'm going to have to spend 5 kroner and vote for Ireland.
...even after watching Bosnia & Hercegovina, with the go-go dancers in enourmous wedding dresses, who were knitting while dancing. Indeed.
Okay, enough of that - I think you get the point.
I promised pictures of Stavanger. Here you go...
Stavanger - 10 May 2008
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, May 19, 2008
17th of May photos
My schedule has become pretty hectic in the last 24 hours, so I'm just going to give you some photos from the 17th of May here in Ulsteinvik. The 17th of May is technically Constitution Day in Norway, but everyone simply calls it "the 17th of May", and it's the big national holiday. Picture your local county fair, Canada Day and Remembrance Day all rolled into one big festival. Well, that, and everyone is in either traditional dress or semi-formal/formal attire. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow or as soon as I can, but for the moment, follow the link to pictures from the 17th.
17 May in Ulsteinvik
Cheers,
Ashley
17 May in Ulsteinvik
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, May 12, 2008
Weekend in Stavanger
Before I get into the weekend I just spent in Stavanger (yeah, the plans changed even once more after the update I posted last week), I have one complaint about product unavailability - iced tea!!! Since I was about 7 years old, and particularly when I was living away from home, iced tea, usually mixed from powder, has been important. I'm no addict, but especially after running around, playing a sport or something (when beer's not the right answer for any number of reasons), iced tea is great. In Canada, I've never failed to find it in a supermarket. Here, when Kes and I finally found something close (labelled as "Lemon Citrus Tea Drink - Enjoy Hot or Cold!"), the container holds pellets. They look like mouse crap. We bought it, anyway, and the end product is not too bad, but you have to stir for 15 minutes in order to dissolve them!
I shouldn't complain - other than occasional price shock, the transition has been remarkably smooth in terms of finding products. Really, there have even been some products where the price is better, including things that are thought of as staples here, but wouldn't be at home, such as cheese.
But anyway, yes, I spent the weekend in Stavanger, there for an international rugby match, Norway vs. Bulgaria. There was some significant confusion in the run-up to the event (which is why I was going, then not going, and finally going again), but the event itself went off really well. The weather co-operated perfectly, with 22 degrees and sun (I got a sunburn, of course), and the game was good, particularly because the home side won, 44-21. For anyone who's not really into rugby, scores are pretty comparable to American or Canadian football, meaning that that was a high-scoring game, fun to watch, but not really that close at the end of the day.
The confusion meant that I ended up being the No. 4 official (1 is the ref, 2 & 3 are the touch (line) judges), responsible for record keeping, substitutions, etc. Definitely a bureaucratic role. If it had been clear that that's all I was going to do, I don't think the rugby federation would have paid to fly me to Stavanger, but clearly there were some communication gaps. Oh well, I think it's true in any small-ish community organization, made particularly tough by the size and (non-)density of the country.
Stavanger is really beautiful. Of course, it had the benefit of good weather to show it off, but there is an old cobblestoned downtown area that is really neat. In addition, right in the middle of town, between the train station and the big church, is a pond with trees along the banks, ducks swimming, and teenagers making out on the more secluded benches. ...not that the teenagers particularly added to the beauty, but it is clearly a well-used, beautiful public space. I have some pictures (again, not of the teenagers), but I can't figure out how to download them from my phone. Kes is much better at such things. 6 years of engineering and I still have limited gadgetry instincts.
Also, Stavanger has been named a "Capital of European Culture" for 2008 (they pick two each year throughout Europe), meaning that there were live music events and art installations around. I didn't really explore as much as I would have liked, but I always find that having music around in a city (not counting the drive-by speakers of the local show-off) makes it really easy to like. So, yeah, if you have a chance to go to Stavanger, particularly this year, I really recommend it.
Today was a holiday, here, pinsedag (Pentecost, or whitmonday). Unfortunately it's the last public holiday until Christmas. Of course, everyone gets signifiant vacation time from their work, but there's no structured long-weekend type holiday until December. Yuck. There would have been, because May 17th is Norway's national day (Constitution Day), but it falls on a Saturday this year. In Canada that would have meant that we get the Monday - not so here. Get out, celebrate, wave the flag, but be back to work first thing on Monday. Again, yuck.
Sunsets are getting really late now, and the sky is getting lighter and lighter, even in the middle of the night. Sunset tonight was 10:20pm, and sunrise will be at 4:45am, meaning the sky never really gets 100% dark (and it's not nearly so impressive to say that you stayed out 'til dawn - wait for December on that one).
Cheers,
Ashley
I shouldn't complain - other than occasional price shock, the transition has been remarkably smooth in terms of finding products. Really, there have even been some products where the price is better, including things that are thought of as staples here, but wouldn't be at home, such as cheese.
But anyway, yes, I spent the weekend in Stavanger, there for an international rugby match, Norway vs. Bulgaria. There was some significant confusion in the run-up to the event (which is why I was going, then not going, and finally going again), but the event itself went off really well. The weather co-operated perfectly, with 22 degrees and sun (I got a sunburn, of course), and the game was good, particularly because the home side won, 44-21. For anyone who's not really into rugby, scores are pretty comparable to American or Canadian football, meaning that that was a high-scoring game, fun to watch, but not really that close at the end of the day.
The confusion meant that I ended up being the No. 4 official (1 is the ref, 2 & 3 are the touch (line) judges), responsible for record keeping, substitutions, etc. Definitely a bureaucratic role. If it had been clear that that's all I was going to do, I don't think the rugby federation would have paid to fly me to Stavanger, but clearly there were some communication gaps. Oh well, I think it's true in any small-ish community organization, made particularly tough by the size and (non-)density of the country.
Stavanger is really beautiful. Of course, it had the benefit of good weather to show it off, but there is an old cobblestoned downtown area that is really neat. In addition, right in the middle of town, between the train station and the big church, is a pond with trees along the banks, ducks swimming, and teenagers making out on the more secluded benches. ...not that the teenagers particularly added to the beauty, but it is clearly a well-used, beautiful public space. I have some pictures (again, not of the teenagers), but I can't figure out how to download them from my phone. Kes is much better at such things. 6 years of engineering and I still have limited gadgetry instincts.
Also, Stavanger has been named a "Capital of European Culture" for 2008 (they pick two each year throughout Europe), meaning that there were live music events and art installations around. I didn't really explore as much as I would have liked, but I always find that having music around in a city (not counting the drive-by speakers of the local show-off) makes it really easy to like. So, yeah, if you have a chance to go to Stavanger, particularly this year, I really recommend it.
Today was a holiday, here, pinsedag (Pentecost, or whitmonday). Unfortunately it's the last public holiday until Christmas. Of course, everyone gets signifiant vacation time from their work, but there's no structured long-weekend type holiday until December. Yuck. There would have been, because May 17th is Norway's national day (Constitution Day), but it falls on a Saturday this year. In Canada that would have meant that we get the Monday - not so here. Get out, celebrate, wave the flag, but be back to work first thing on Monday. Again, yuck.
Sunsets are getting really late now, and the sky is getting lighter and lighter, even in the middle of the night. Sunset tonight was 10:20pm, and sunrise will be at 4:45am, meaning the sky never really gets 100% dark (and it's not nearly so impressive to say that you stayed out 'til dawn - wait for December on that one).
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, May 5, 2008
I Feel Very Canadian...
...I'm sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, and watching hockey.
That is, until I remind myself that the beer is Heineken, and the hockey is Finland vs. Norway at the World Championships, with commentary in Norwegian. It's actually a great help with my Norwegian, because I know what the commentators are probably saying, so it makes the translation a lot easier.
I'm definitely cheering for Norway - not only because I'm now 10 feet from the nearest Norwegian flag (my landlord has one hanging over the balcony), but also because I'm probably only one or two degrees removed from the guys on the national team, simply by living here. Picture a situation where British Columbia had a national team - that's the population of Norway (Norway: 4,737,200; BC: 4,414,000). At that point, pretty much everyone in the province would be that much closer to everyone. Norway should, by all rights, be just barely scraping to stay in the top division (the "real" championships). However, in this game, they're holding the Finns 2-2 late into the second period. Good for them.
Speaking of learning Norwegian, I mentioned earlier that I would talk about the two different types of Norwegian. You can read in depth about it on Wikipedia (look up the article titled "Norwegian Language Struggle"), but here's the Reader's Digest Condensed Version: There have always been many and various spoken dialects in Norway. However, while Norway was part of joint governments (most recently under the rule of the Danish), they generally wrote something that was very close to Danish, and the pompous people at court, in the universities, and in the Oslo region generally considered it "high class", "intelligent" language. When Norwegian pride and nationalism started building through the second half of the 19th century, one of the ways that some people thought that they should express that was to have their own written language that was much closer to what people out in the countryside actually spoke. So this guy Ivar Aasen wandered around documenting rural "real Norwegian" dialects, and developed a written language that standardised a basis for them.
Unfortunately, even though the general nationalist movement was a big success - you may notice that Norway is no longer a property of the Danish queen - the whole language thing didn't really catch on other than in the rural areas where it really reflected the way they spoke. As a result, you now have Norwegian bokmål ("book language"), which is used by 85% or so, and is very very close to Danish. Then you have Norwegian nynorsk (ironically, "New Norwegian", even though it's based on the old dialects), which is used by only 11% (the other 4% are Sami, an ethnically different people in the North, who speak their own lanugage), in mostly rural areas... including Ulstein! It's minorly ridiculous that a people who number less than 5 million have two official forms of their language.
The issue is so political that, for example, I cannot take Norwegian classes in Bokmål here in Ulstein - I must take Nynorsk. Ah well, I end up communicating either in English, or with hand signals most of the time, anyway.
The two aren't that different. We have "Jeg heter Ashley. Jeg kommer fra Canada." in Bokmål and "Eg heiter Ashley. Eg kjem frå Canada." in Nynorsk. Should be fun...
We've developed a bit of an ex-pat network here, now, with the Brit who's at Rolls-Royce Marine, the New Zealander who's in the ship-design part of the Ulstein Group and the Venezuelan-German couple I've mentioned before. While we don't want to be the kind of internationals who don't actually meet the locals, it's awfully nice to have people who've gone through the same issues you're going through.
Some other notes:
-Kes goes back to Canada this week to tackle what will hopefully be the final stages of her thesis from close range. We don't know exactly when she'll be back, but we're obviously both hoping for "as early as possible". This was always the plan, but it's still no fun!
-I finally got my tax number!!! So I now have a bank account, and everything. I figure I'll buy a car sometime this week, maybe next weekend. It's too bad that I will be getting it just in time for Kes to leave, but she's sort of happy that it means I'll have to do all the legwork on it. She knows that if we were both here, and she was at home all day (even though she's working harder than I am!), she'd probably end up doing all the research, etc.
-I'm hoping to go to Stavanger this weekend for an international rugby match - Norway vs. Bulgaria. Not exactly high flyers, but international sports are always fun.
Cheers,
Ashley
Update: Going to Oslo instead - playing with the Oslo Rugby Klubb, refereeing a 10-a-side tournament. It means another pair of overnight bus rides, but it should still be good.
That is, until I remind myself that the beer is Heineken, and the hockey is Finland vs. Norway at the World Championships, with commentary in Norwegian. It's actually a great help with my Norwegian, because I know what the commentators are probably saying, so it makes the translation a lot easier.
I'm definitely cheering for Norway - not only because I'm now 10 feet from the nearest Norwegian flag (my landlord has one hanging over the balcony), but also because I'm probably only one or two degrees removed from the guys on the national team, simply by living here. Picture a situation where British Columbia had a national team - that's the population of Norway (Norway: 4,737,200; BC: 4,414,000). At that point, pretty much everyone in the province would be that much closer to everyone. Norway should, by all rights, be just barely scraping to stay in the top division (the "real" championships). However, in this game, they're holding the Finns 2-2 late into the second period. Good for them.
Speaking of learning Norwegian, I mentioned earlier that I would talk about the two different types of Norwegian. You can read in depth about it on Wikipedia (look up the article titled "Norwegian Language Struggle"), but here's the Reader's Digest Condensed Version: There have always been many and various spoken dialects in Norway. However, while Norway was part of joint governments (most recently under the rule of the Danish), they generally wrote something that was very close to Danish, and the pompous people at court, in the universities, and in the Oslo region generally considered it "high class", "intelligent" language. When Norwegian pride and nationalism started building through the second half of the 19th century, one of the ways that some people thought that they should express that was to have their own written language that was much closer to what people out in the countryside actually spoke. So this guy Ivar Aasen wandered around documenting rural "real Norwegian" dialects, and developed a written language that standardised a basis for them.
Unfortunately, even though the general nationalist movement was a big success - you may notice that Norway is no longer a property of the Danish queen - the whole language thing didn't really catch on other than in the rural areas where it really reflected the way they spoke. As a result, you now have Norwegian bokmål ("book language"), which is used by 85% or so, and is very very close to Danish. Then you have Norwegian nynorsk (ironically, "New Norwegian", even though it's based on the old dialects), which is used by only 11% (the other 4% are Sami, an ethnically different people in the North, who speak their own lanugage), in mostly rural areas... including Ulstein! It's minorly ridiculous that a people who number less than 5 million have two official forms of their language.
The issue is so political that, for example, I cannot take Norwegian classes in Bokmål here in Ulstein - I must take Nynorsk. Ah well, I end up communicating either in English, or with hand signals most of the time, anyway.
The two aren't that different. We have "Jeg heter Ashley. Jeg kommer fra Canada." in Bokmål and "Eg heiter Ashley. Eg kjem frå Canada." in Nynorsk. Should be fun...
We've developed a bit of an ex-pat network here, now, with the Brit who's at Rolls-Royce Marine, the New Zealander who's in the ship-design part of the Ulstein Group and the Venezuelan-German couple I've mentioned before. While we don't want to be the kind of internationals who don't actually meet the locals, it's awfully nice to have people who've gone through the same issues you're going through.
Some other notes:
-Kes goes back to Canada this week to tackle what will hopefully be the final stages of her thesis from close range. We don't know exactly when she'll be back, but we're obviously both hoping for "as early as possible". This was always the plan, but it's still no fun!
-I finally got my tax number!!! So I now have a bank account, and everything. I figure I'll buy a car sometime this week, maybe next weekend. It's too bad that I will be getting it just in time for Kes to leave, but she's sort of happy that it means I'll have to do all the legwork on it. She knows that if we were both here, and she was at home all day (even though she's working harder than I am!), she'd probably end up doing all the research, etc.
-I'm hoping to go to Stavanger this weekend for an international rugby match - Norway vs. Bulgaria. Not exactly high flyers, but international sports are always fun.
Cheers,
Ashley
Update: Going to Oslo instead - playing with the Oslo Rugby Klubb, refereeing a 10-a-side tournament. It means another pair of overnight bus rides, but it should still be good.
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