One Month Later...

Wow - a month since I last wrote. Sorry.

With Kes home, my social calendar has suddenly become full. Of course, I do mean time with her, but somehow we now have people over for dinners and drinks, and we go over to people's houses, as well.

Huh.

I think I had somewhat fallen comfortably into bachelorhood while she was away - Sure I cleaned the place (not as often) and cooked for myself (frozen pizza & spaghetti), but the calendar just wasn't as full, and I hadn't noticed. Oh well, I'm excited she's back, and it is great to be doing so much.

Since I last wrote, I went to Fredrikstad for the Scandinavian U-20 rugby tournament, Copenhagen for the Copenhagen 7's, Oslo for a friendly game that the Oslo club had set up, Trondheim for the national 10-aside tournament, and back to Oslo for a regular season game just last weekend. I can definitely say that jumping in with both feet to the Norwegian rugby community has paid fantastic travel dividends! Kes has been coming with me on all the trips, and we've been exploring the country.

Some random items, and then I think I'll sign off - I don't have that much time, but I really wanted to get "back on the wagon" of writing this, to update friends and family.

-My boat is now officially "under construction" - we were emailed photos of some random-looking pieces of cut steel from Poland at the beginning of April. They will, one day, become a part of the boat I'm spending all my time on. It's really exciting.

-The yard will be actually be providing a Norwegian language course on-site this fall, and they've been sure to invite Kes - I'm really happy. It will be very convenient, and apparently it will be Bokmål. I am still somewhat divided on which version of Norwegian I would like to speak, but Kes, with her academic aspirations, is pretty confirmed that she would like to learn Bokmål.

-Though the days are still relatively (to southern Norway, or Canada) long here, now, they're so much shorter than my mental images of this place. Since my first six months here will have been the longest-daylight six months, I suspect I will always think of the summer twilight nights when I think of the weather here. (Though we'll see after I've lived through six months of long nights!) It certainly was odd to drive down the main road here the other night, and realize that I had never driven in Ulsteinvik in the dark before then!

-I discovered that I can get the Daily Show with Jon Stewart here! It seems to be a few days behind, but good nonetheless - it's on NRK 2, in prime time - I think it goes over really well here.

-I've managed to get Kes and I registered to vote in Canada. I discovered that for the first five years we live overseas, we retain the right to vote in federal elections in Canada.

-There are two new members of our "ex-pat world" here in Ulsteinvik, an Australian guy who has moved here to join Ulstein Design and a Chinese woman who has joined Ulstein International (both are spin-off companies from the original shipyard business, but still housed on the same grounds). We really are a United Nations, with people just in our close friend circle (people who've sat on our couch) from Germany, Romania, Venezuela, New Zealand, Australia, England, Canada, China and, of course, Norway. All under 30. All moving to Ulsteinvik because of the opportunities. What a success story.

-Like much of the world, the economy is slowing in Norway. However, it's tough to see that from this vantage point. We're signing contracts here, there and everywhere; the company just announced the invention of yet another new feature for offshore vessels that will probably continue to shunt business in our direction that might otherwise have gone to cheaper labour destinations; we continue to have more work than people (a fact which is becoming more evident to me the more we get into the "real work" on my boat); and BMWs and baby strollers are still in strong evidence on the streets of Ulsteinvik. It feels a bit surreal, particularly with all the doom and gloom economic news from around the world.

-The American election is big news here, of course, but I think the start-up of the English soccer season is getting more press than that (or any other news topic).

Anyway, must run.

Cheers,

Ashley