(new pictures linked at the bottom of the post)
I spent the weekend in Trondheim - finally got a chance to actually play rugby here, rather than just refereeing. I know that I am a much better referee than I am player (though that's more a comment on my playing than my refereeing), however I still definitely get a big charge out of actually pulling on the same jersey as fourteen other guys and playing. There are all the physical positives that come out of the adrenalin from playing a contact sport, but there are also some great things that only come from team sports. As a result, I felt sore, but fantastic, after the game on Saturday. Too bad we lost. (What was the score, Ashley? Never you mind.)
After the game in Oslo, we went to an English pub (actually run by an Englishman who, in fine British form, was the primary bartender, as well) for the traditional dinner afterward with the guests. The bar has some interesting items painted on the wall. One is a "Norwegian Guy's night out", which you can find in the photos below. However, the other major one was the text of a Norwegian radio sports commentator's call of Norway's 1981 2-1 victory over England in soccer (football). At the time, it was unthinkable, and the commentator goes a bit over the top in his partisan ship. Here's the complete text, which you should read in the original "Norwegian" (he mixes in a fair bit of English anyway) first. Translation below it.
Vi er best i verden! Vi er best i verden! Vi har slått England 2-1 i fotball! Det er aldeles utrolig! Vi har slått England! England, kjempers fødeland – Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Atlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, vi har slått dem alle sammen, vi har slått dem alle sammen. Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, jeg har et budskap til deg midt under valgkampen, jeg har et budskap til deg: Vi har slått England ut av verdens mesterskapet i fotball. Maggie Thatcher, som de sier på ditt språk i bokse barene rundt Madison Square Garden i New York: –Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!
We are the best in the world! We are the best in the world! We have beaten England 2-1 in football! This is absolutely incredible! We have beaten England! England, homeland of warriors - Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Atlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, we have beaten them all together, we have beaten them all together. Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? Maggie Thatcher, I have a message to you in the middle of your election, I have a message to you: We have beaten England out of the World Cup. Maggie Thatcher, as they say in your language, in the boxing bars around Madison Square Garden in New York - Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!
It's a fun, and funny commentary, but it has certainly entered into the Norwegian consciousness - When I began reading it, one of the Norwegians at the pubs started rolling it off, out loud, in the accent of the commentator, which caught the attention of some others, and several people joined in. Obviously, the victory in question was massive, but the commentator's call has been immortalized. Here's a link to a RealPlayer file of it that I found on the internet:
http://www.btinternet.com/~alexc/audio/canyouhearme.ra
In other news, there are only about 4 different colours that are approved for houses in rural Norway. Not really, of course, but it certainly seems like there is a certain shade of red, one of a dark yellow, white, and the occasionally blue one that must be the only colours Norwegian paint stores stock. Kes was the first one to point this fact out, but I was reminded of this again when I looked through the pictures from this latest trip.
There are some items to note from the photos. First - how light it was at midnight in Trondheim. Second - how narrow the E39 highway is! Finally, check out the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim. It's where the kings are crowned and buried, and is the most impressive gothic building in Norway. In Norway, the impressive churches are usually the truly ancient, but small, rural churches. As such, Nidaros is a bit unique, and very impressive. Then, I drove home via Kristiansund, just to explore another bit of Norway.
Here are the photos.
I'm back in Canada for the next week for a high school reunion (10 years!), so I probably won't post for something more than a week.
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, June 16, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The "Real" Weather Just Got Here.
I was in Oslo & Tønsberg this past weekend - Tønsberg because Norway was playing rugby against Lithuania in Tønsberg, and Oslo because it's only an hour's drive from Tønsberg and because there is a generous member of the rugby club there who lets me use his apartment (and because the social life there is more insteresting than Tønsberg).
Norway didn't do so well - lost 40-9, but the game was the last game of the season, and they were already guaranteed to finish 3rd out of 5, while Lithuania were already guaranteed to finish 1st in the group. This means that for next year (starting in the fall), Norway will be in a group with Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. That's actually really nice, because Denmark is close to Norway, and the other three are at least close to each other.
I got to touch judge this game, and refereed four 10-a-side games in the morning. I actually managed to referee one game mostly in Norwegian. Of course, as with most sports, you only need about 10 words to do that, and for many things in rugby, Norwegian simply uses the English words ("scrum", "line-out", etc.), so I can't say that it was a big challenge, but I'm glad I did it. The game in question was an under-18 game, so some of the kids aren't as fluent in English as some of the adults, and I would like to believe that it helped.
I drove down via one route, and back home another way, just to explore the country a bit. I'm glad I did, but I certainly was reminded of the Norwegian habit of paying for tunnels with tolls. I had to pay 3 separate tunnel tolls and 3 separate ferry fares on my way home. It turned something that would have cost only about 400 kr. (Can$80) in gas (I was very happy with the fuel efficiency of the new car), into something that cost almost 800 kr. (Can$160). The way these things work here, they collect a toll on the new tunnel (or bridge) until the costs of construction are paid off. There has been a lot of new construction in that area.
One thing that struck me as I drove (in both directions) was the effect that the extended period of heat had had. There have been forest fires this summer in greater-than-normal amounts, but in this case, what was particularly noticeable was the runoff from the hills. Rivers were clearly higher than their normal highest banks, and mountain waterfalls were truly spectacular. Hydroelectric dams that I drove past generally were spilling water like crazy. I got a couple of pictures of waterfals, but it was a striking feature of the moment throughout the whole trip.
Here's a link to a map of my weekend of driving, and some photos I took out the sunroof: MAP PHOTOS
Unfortunately, the car decided, about 600km into the 1200-km trip, that it had a philosphical opposition to 5th gear. I could hold the shift in 5th, but that wasn't really an option over 600 km. In reality, I didn't miss it too much, because I didn't even spend much time above 80 km/hr, and zero time above 90, because the roads are so thin, windy and hilly here. Well, that, and the fact that they have zero-tolerance speed enforcement here, with fines that range from $400-$2000. If the speed limit is 80, then that gives you another reason not to use your 5th gear so much. Still, I'm going to take a look at the transmission when I get a second, to figure out whether it's probably a repair or a replace issue.
As for the weather, about halfway home, this tropical weather with clear skies and 20-plus-degree weather that we had enjoyed for most of the last two months decided to leave us. The wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, and it started raining. That's the way it's now been for the intervening 4 days.
I'm off to to Trondheim this weekend. This time, I should finally get a chance to actually play, after all these false starts. I'm really excited about it, although there's quite a different fitness required to make a lot of tackles, compared with the fitness required to simply chase players around with a whistle. Here's hoping I'm up for it!
-Ashley
Norway didn't do so well - lost 40-9, but the game was the last game of the season, and they were already guaranteed to finish 3rd out of 5, while Lithuania were already guaranteed to finish 1st in the group. This means that for next year (starting in the fall), Norway will be in a group with Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. That's actually really nice, because Denmark is close to Norway, and the other three are at least close to each other.
I got to touch judge this game, and refereed four 10-a-side games in the morning. I actually managed to referee one game mostly in Norwegian. Of course, as with most sports, you only need about 10 words to do that, and for many things in rugby, Norwegian simply uses the English words ("scrum", "line-out", etc.), so I can't say that it was a big challenge, but I'm glad I did it. The game in question was an under-18 game, so some of the kids aren't as fluent in English as some of the adults, and I would like to believe that it helped.
I drove down via one route, and back home another way, just to explore the country a bit. I'm glad I did, but I certainly was reminded of the Norwegian habit of paying for tunnels with tolls. I had to pay 3 separate tunnel tolls and 3 separate ferry fares on my way home. It turned something that would have cost only about 400 kr. (Can$80) in gas (I was very happy with the fuel efficiency of the new car), into something that cost almost 800 kr. (Can$160). The way these things work here, they collect a toll on the new tunnel (or bridge) until the costs of construction are paid off. There has been a lot of new construction in that area.
One thing that struck me as I drove (in both directions) was the effect that the extended period of heat had had. There have been forest fires this summer in greater-than-normal amounts, but in this case, what was particularly noticeable was the runoff from the hills. Rivers were clearly higher than their normal highest banks, and mountain waterfalls were truly spectacular. Hydroelectric dams that I drove past generally were spilling water like crazy. I got a couple of pictures of waterfals, but it was a striking feature of the moment throughout the whole trip.
Here's a link to a map of my weekend of driving, and some photos I took out the sunroof: MAP PHOTOS
Unfortunately, the car decided, about 600km into the 1200-km trip, that it had a philosphical opposition to 5th gear. I could hold the shift in 5th, but that wasn't really an option over 600 km. In reality, I didn't miss it too much, because I didn't even spend much time above 80 km/hr, and zero time above 90, because the roads are so thin, windy and hilly here. Well, that, and the fact that they have zero-tolerance speed enforcement here, with fines that range from $400-$2000. If the speed limit is 80, then that gives you another reason not to use your 5th gear so much. Still, I'm going to take a look at the transmission when I get a second, to figure out whether it's probably a repair or a replace issue.
As for the weather, about halfway home, this tropical weather with clear skies and 20-plus-degree weather that we had enjoyed for most of the last two months decided to leave us. The wind picked up, the clouds rolled in, and it started raining. That's the way it's now been for the intervening 4 days.
I'm off to to Trondheim this weekend. This time, I should finally get a chance to actually play, after all these false starts. I'm really excited about it, although there's quite a different fitness required to make a lot of tackles, compared with the fitness required to simply chase players around with a whistle. Here's hoping I'm up for it!
-Ashley
Friday, June 6, 2008
Flat Company
Just a quick one today, because I've got a long drive tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get some sleep. However, I did think that I would note that it's currently 12:46 am, and the streetlights have still not come on.
So I went to a sort of corporate retreat thingy today. It was intended to be a focus group environment, with 50 staff from diverse backgrounds within the shipyard (from imported Polish welders through office workers like me, to the head of HR) to talk about ways that the company can make itself into a better workplace.
The project went well, and I think the meeting achieved what it was designed to achieve. That's not what fascinated me. What I found interesting was the period from about 6:30pm to 9:00pm. We were in a neighbouring town, and had taken a chartered bus to get there. So we all had to wait for the bus to return, in order to leave. However, the work was done at 6:30, and the bus didn't come until 9. Therefore, there was nothing much to do, except sit out on the patio (in the sun - the weather's great) of the hotel where the meeting was, and drink/socialize (many of the people had to drive home even after the bus brought them back to the shipyard, so they weren't drinking, but there was still about half who were).
What really struck me was how socially "flat" (not hierarchical) the company is. The idea that a welder would be having a beer with the HR manager for a company is not completely foreign idea in Canada, although it would be rare. However, to watch them talk about the various parties each of them attended last weekend, complete with stories about drunk friends, was not something I would have expected - and similar scenarios were playing themselves out all around me. Now, Ulstein prides itself on being particularly "flat", but I think that it's a Norwegian cultural thing - there is no sense that the seniority you have in the company brings a certain social separation when you're sitting at a table in a hotel bar.
This was only magnified when one of the carpenters started giving out shoulder massages. Now, this is something I did in my first year of university, when I was trying to pick up girls. But here we have a 45-ish-year-old carpenter manipulating the shoulder muscles of, among others, the HR manager. She said it felt good. I believe her. It's still something that seemed odd from my workplace experience.
There were many mentions today during the retreat, of the "Ulstein Culture". I guess this is part of it. Everyone is approachable. Everyone is a social equal, unless you choose not to be. Everyone deserves a shoulder massage.
I really shouldn't generalise without more complete knowledge, so I'll definitely be doing my best to watch around me over the coming months to see whether this phenomenon is for real, or whether this was a bit of an exception because of the fact that we were at an event designed specifically to exaggerate the approachability of the senior staff, and the other positive aspects of the company.
I'll let you know.
Ashley
So I went to a sort of corporate retreat thingy today. It was intended to be a focus group environment, with 50 staff from diverse backgrounds within the shipyard (from imported Polish welders through office workers like me, to the head of HR) to talk about ways that the company can make itself into a better workplace.
The project went well, and I think the meeting achieved what it was designed to achieve. That's not what fascinated me. What I found interesting was the period from about 6:30pm to 9:00pm. We were in a neighbouring town, and had taken a chartered bus to get there. So we all had to wait for the bus to return, in order to leave. However, the work was done at 6:30, and the bus didn't come until 9. Therefore, there was nothing much to do, except sit out on the patio (in the sun - the weather's great) of the hotel where the meeting was, and drink/socialize (many of the people had to drive home even after the bus brought them back to the shipyard, so they weren't drinking, but there was still about half who were).
What really struck me was how socially "flat" (not hierarchical) the company is. The idea that a welder would be having a beer with the HR manager for a company is not completely foreign idea in Canada, although it would be rare. However, to watch them talk about the various parties each of them attended last weekend, complete with stories about drunk friends, was not something I would have expected - and similar scenarios were playing themselves out all around me. Now, Ulstein prides itself on being particularly "flat", but I think that it's a Norwegian cultural thing - there is no sense that the seniority you have in the company brings a certain social separation when you're sitting at a table in a hotel bar.
This was only magnified when one of the carpenters started giving out shoulder massages. Now, this is something I did in my first year of university, when I was trying to pick up girls. But here we have a 45-ish-year-old carpenter manipulating the shoulder muscles of, among others, the HR manager. She said it felt good. I believe her. It's still something that seemed odd from my workplace experience.
There were many mentions today during the retreat, of the "Ulstein Culture". I guess this is part of it. Everyone is approachable. Everyone is a social equal, unless you choose not to be. Everyone deserves a shoulder massage.
I really shouldn't generalise without more complete knowledge, so I'll definitely be doing my best to watch around me over the coming months to see whether this phenomenon is for real, or whether this was a bit of an exception because of the fact that we were at an event designed specifically to exaggerate the approachability of the senior staff, and the other positive aspects of the company.
I'll let you know.
Ashley
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A car (finally!) and some fotball (soccer)
So I now own a car. Thank goodness.
It is, ridiculously enough, a bright red 1998 VW Polo - that's the size below the Golf (for North Americans who didn't know that there was a size below the Golf).
I've never considered myself someone who absolutely needed a car, but living here, I can tell you that it sure feels good to have wheels again. Aside from the fact that it turns my 15 minute commute into a 5 minute commute, which is really not the point, it means that I can explore the neighbourhood - there are tremendously beautiful areas less than half an hour's drive from my house that I haven't seen.
We decided that we should take the most basic little car for the moment, because so much of the structure of our life here depends on what happens with Kes's employment. If she's working in Ålesund, that will mean one thing. Another opportunity she has is in a very rural research station about 35 minutes' drive from here - that would clearly mean something else! In fact, there's actually a big difference between a position in downtown Ålesund and a position in the suburbs - if she's in the downtown, then she can take the passenger ferry from our island, and walk to work on the other end. On the other hand, if she works in the suburbs, then it probably makes more sense to live in Ålesund, and have me be the one commuting. You see, while it seems like there's no question that she will find work somewhere (and somewhere reasonably close), the details are going to make a big difference in our lives.
My primary deciding factor with regard to the car was its gas mileage. I don't have the exact stats, but considering that I now drive a VW the size of a matchbox, I'm not really worried. Gas here is currently 12.99 NOK per litre - that's Can$2.54/l. Thus, I'm perfectly happy to drive a matchbox. This weekend, I'll be going to Tønsberg for the Norway-Lithuania rugby game, and I'm considering driving. It would be a long drive, but I think that it would be valuable to know what the overall cost of a return drive to Oslo (Tønsberg is beyond Oslo) is, so that I can compare it to the cost of a return bus ticket (1100 NOK - Can$215), or a return flight (which varies massively, from about 1000 NOK in the low season to 4000+ in the high season).
In Tønsberg, I will be touch (line) judging for the international, and playing in the 10-a-side tournament that is happening earlier in the day (for the Oslo team). Should be a really good day!
I spent a couple of hours this evening watching fotball (soccer) up at the Høddvoll stadium. There are two different competitions in Norway, the League (which is what we North Americans are used to, except with the idea that if you win your league, you get promoted to a higher league, and similarly, you can be demoted for losing), and the Cup. In the Cup, the national Association effectively takes every team in the country, throws their names in a hat, and draws out pairs to play each other in a single-elimination tournament. Then, they take every team that won that round, throw their names in a hat, etc. So it's really neat, because you can end up with a fully professional team playing "Joe's Friday Night Soccer Club from Fredrikstad", or some such. While it seems, at first, like that's a bad idea, it means that these local recreational teams get, probably just once in their lives, to play against the stars of the game. Sure, they get beaten 11-0, but they never forget it.
Tonight was a good example. The local team (Hødd) is a fully professional outfit, with at least two international imports, one from the USA, and one from the Faeroe Islands. The team they were playing against (NTNUI) was a university recreational team from Trondheim. Hødd had physios and a goalie coach. NTNUI had a really excited player/manager. Hødd had completely separate warm-up jerseys. NTNUI didn't have matching shorts, and their jerseys were clearly from two different years. Still, it was 2-1 for a good portion of the second half. However, with about 20 minutes left, I think the difference between a professional fitness regime and two practices each week finally showed. The final was 4-1 for Hødd. I think the local fans are really looking forward to when the competition advances a little bit further, so that they get to be the underdogs again. Hødd, generally, thrives on that environment - this is too small a town for this team - the club doesn't have enough money - they don't bring in enough internationals - the travel costs are too high... and yet they still do remarkably well. So it's a bit odd for them to be playing a team who are even worse off than they are. Bring on Lyn (Oslo) or Rosenborg (Trondheim's main professional team). Then they'll be happy, because any victory is massive, and even a defeat is honourable. Oh well, they've made it to the round of 32. Here's hoping things keep going well!
Cheers,
Ashley
It is, ridiculously enough, a bright red 1998 VW Polo - that's the size below the Golf (for North Americans who didn't know that there was a size below the Golf).
I've never considered myself someone who absolutely needed a car, but living here, I can tell you that it sure feels good to have wheels again. Aside from the fact that it turns my 15 minute commute into a 5 minute commute, which is really not the point, it means that I can explore the neighbourhood - there are tremendously beautiful areas less than half an hour's drive from my house that I haven't seen.
We decided that we should take the most basic little car for the moment, because so much of the structure of our life here depends on what happens with Kes's employment. If she's working in Ålesund, that will mean one thing. Another opportunity she has is in a very rural research station about 35 minutes' drive from here - that would clearly mean something else! In fact, there's actually a big difference between a position in downtown Ålesund and a position in the suburbs - if she's in the downtown, then she can take the passenger ferry from our island, and walk to work on the other end. On the other hand, if she works in the suburbs, then it probably makes more sense to live in Ålesund, and have me be the one commuting. You see, while it seems like there's no question that she will find work somewhere (and somewhere reasonably close), the details are going to make a big difference in our lives.
My primary deciding factor with regard to the car was its gas mileage. I don't have the exact stats, but considering that I now drive a VW the size of a matchbox, I'm not really worried. Gas here is currently 12.99 NOK per litre - that's Can$2.54/l. Thus, I'm perfectly happy to drive a matchbox. This weekend, I'll be going to Tønsberg for the Norway-Lithuania rugby game, and I'm considering driving. It would be a long drive, but I think that it would be valuable to know what the overall cost of a return drive to Oslo (Tønsberg is beyond Oslo) is, so that I can compare it to the cost of a return bus ticket (1100 NOK - Can$215), or a return flight (which varies massively, from about 1000 NOK in the low season to 4000+ in the high season).
In Tønsberg, I will be touch (line) judging for the international, and playing in the 10-a-side tournament that is happening earlier in the day (for the Oslo team). Should be a really good day!
I spent a couple of hours this evening watching fotball (soccer) up at the Høddvoll stadium. There are two different competitions in Norway, the League (which is what we North Americans are used to, except with the idea that if you win your league, you get promoted to a higher league, and similarly, you can be demoted for losing), and the Cup. In the Cup, the national Association effectively takes every team in the country, throws their names in a hat, and draws out pairs to play each other in a single-elimination tournament. Then, they take every team that won that round, throw their names in a hat, etc. So it's really neat, because you can end up with a fully professional team playing "Joe's Friday Night Soccer Club from Fredrikstad", or some such. While it seems, at first, like that's a bad idea, it means that these local recreational teams get, probably just once in their lives, to play against the stars of the game. Sure, they get beaten 11-0, but they never forget it.
Tonight was a good example. The local team (Hødd) is a fully professional outfit, with at least two international imports, one from the USA, and one from the Faeroe Islands. The team they were playing against (NTNUI) was a university recreational team from Trondheim. Hødd had physios and a goalie coach. NTNUI had a really excited player/manager. Hødd had completely separate warm-up jerseys. NTNUI didn't have matching shorts, and their jerseys were clearly from two different years. Still, it was 2-1 for a good portion of the second half. However, with about 20 minutes left, I think the difference between a professional fitness regime and two practices each week finally showed. The final was 4-1 for Hødd. I think the local fans are really looking forward to when the competition advances a little bit further, so that they get to be the underdogs again. Hødd, generally, thrives on that environment - this is too small a town for this team - the club doesn't have enough money - they don't bring in enough internationals - the travel costs are too high... and yet they still do remarkably well. So it's a bit odd for them to be playing a team who are even worse off than they are. Bring on Lyn (Oslo) or Rosenborg (Trondheim's main professional team). Then they'll be happy, because any victory is massive, and even a defeat is honourable. Oh well, they've made it to the round of 32. Here's hoping things keep going well!
Cheers,
Ashley
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