"Stuff" from the last few months.

Okay, back on the wagon again! I'm really excited that Kes has started posting, but it has made it even that much more obvious that I haven't been!

...well, that, and it makes it obvious that I leave myself logged into my google account at home, so that she ends up posting under my login. Huh.

So, many things have happened since I last wrote. Here are some highlights:

My parents were here in October - celebrating their anniversary with us. It was wonderful to have them here, so that they can see more about our life here than the little bit we can relate to them through a computer screen and a telephone. We met them for four days in Stavanger, first (again, location and date dictated by the rugby schedule), and then travelled home on our own, to meet up with them again for a second four days in Ulsteinvik. In the interim, they took boats (one to Bergen, one the rest of the way up to Ålesund) up the Norwegian coast.

I won't go into too much detail on that - suffice to say that we had a great time, and it was great to show them our life here.

The domestic rugby season concluded with a flurry of trips. All in all, my weekends since I got here have included four trips to Trondheim, two trips to Stavanger, one trip to Bergen, two trips to Fredrikstad, one trip to Tønsberg and six trips to Oslo. Oh, and one trip to Copenhagen. Wow. The best was last, though, refereeing the national club final between Oslo and Bergen. Oslo won, 20-13 in a pretty good game, though one played in chilly, slick conditions.

Still, the big prize is up next. FIRA, the European amateur rugby association, has seen fit to appoint me to referee an international game. Now, to be clear, this is pretty much the lowest level of international rugby on Earth. The match I've been appointed to referee is Bosnia & Hercegovnia vs. Azerbaijan, in Zenica, Bosnia. Bosnia & Hercegovnia are currently 89th (of 95) on the world rankings table, and Azerbaijan haven't yet played enough international matches to be ranked at all! Still, it's a fantastic opportunity, and I'm really excited. The match is on the 22nd of November - wish me luck!

Kes reported on our Hallowe'en party, which was a roaring success, and it has been both cause and effect of our social circle here in Ulsteinvik growing, particularly among other ex-pats. The other causes have been several, including two new Norwegian language courses (one Bokmål, one Nynorsk), our growing confidence, in general, in the language and, of course, Kes's fantastic social organizing skills. As just one example, we now have a Norwegian conversation group on Wednesdays from 7-8pm at a local café/bar. For that hour, we are only allowed to speak Norwegian. We had eight (from six countries) on our first night, and I think we'll have more this Wednesday. Funny how a beer or two sometimes improves one's language abilities...

A friend here berated me the other day for my blogging having failed to report on my other sporting involvement - Flø IL. Yes, I have finally given up and started playing soccer ("fotball"). I decided, over the summer break, when there wasn't much else going on, that it would be a good idea to do something to keep in shape, because I am not one for going to the gym on my own. Kes had met a fellow marine biologist here who plays with a local club, Flø, and he invited me to come out with them. Quickly, I proved to decrease the average ability on the club, and while everyone was very welcoming, I think they were secretly happy that I didn't expect to actually pull on a jersey on game day. Still, the club puts out two teams - an 11-a-side "serious" team, that competes in the local 6th division (two regional 6th div's feed one 5th, and so on up, until you reach the 1st divsion, which is a national division - that's the one that Hødd is in), but they also have a 7-a-side team, which is really just for laughs, and exists so that everyone gets a decent chance to run around.

Now, the type of guy who shows up for the 7-aside team doesn't want to play in goal. Really, the only reason he bothers to show up is to run around, kick the ball - maybe score, if things work out. So I showed up to my first 7-aside match, not dressed to play, and expecting to cheer, and maybe retreive stray balls. The guys sized me up, and none of them wanting to play goal, decided to put me there. I went along with the plan, and ended up playing there for the rest of the season - 4 games. Let me tell you - I am terrible. In my four matches, we lost by scores of 8-3 , 8-6, 7-6 and - wait for it - 20-13. That's right - twenty goals in a soccer match. It was a bit ridiculous. Still, the guys in the club have been great, and it's been really nice to have non-work links to people who actually live here, rather then just ex-pats and rugby players who live 500 km away. I'll practice this winter and see whether I can maybe lower my goals-against-average a bit next year - maybe even win a game.

It's getting very dark here, now. Sunrise is technically about 9am, but it "rises" behind a hill, so we don't see it until about 10. It sets again at 4 but, again, more like 3:30. Those times aren't that strange, having grown up in Bella Coola, because of the mountains that block the sun in the winter through so much of the Valley. Still, the sky is light through much more of the day there. This, now, is like Bella Coola on the darkest day of the year - and we've still got six weeks of "darkening" to go.

We're planning to go back to Bella Coola over Christmas. We will be gone from Ulsteinvik for two weeks, but with travel time, plus two nights in London and three in Vancouver (one coming, two going), we'll only be in Bella Coola for a week. Still, I'm really looking forward to it - my family, of course, but it's been a long time since I've been back to Bella Coola itself, as well.

Anyway, enough for now.

Cheers,

Ashley

Halloween in Ulsteinvik!

So we had a little Halloween party in Ulsteinvik, and invited all of our new friends. Norway hasn't really gotten into Halloween, and unfortunately many who observe the holiday here have adopted the negative aspects like pranks and throwing eggs at houses without much of the positivity. As a result, many Norwegians that we have talked to are actively against Halloween.

However, we were able to convince our new friends that it was a good idea, although it did take some explaining what we were going to "do" at a Halloween party. Getting a pumpkin was also a challenge, finally I found some that cost $4 a kilo. So two tiny pumpkins were about $16 each. I also made some "witches fingers" cookies, and I attempted to make a white chocolate "slime" but I don't have a double boiler so I burnt it. I had ordered some costumes from Ebay some time ago, and I also picked up a few extra masks at the Nille (expensive Norwegian version of a dollar store) for guests who might not have gotten masks but want to participate. Ashley carved the pumpkins and we discovered that Riker likes pumpkin. Who would've guessed?

The big night was a roaring success, with guests from 12 different countries :-) Everyone had a great time, we played some halloween games, mingled, and even people who weren't so sure at the beginning were very happy to have had their first halloween party. Then we went out to one of the local bars and I won best costume :-) Not that hard in Ulsteinvik, admittedly, but I did feel a sense of accomplishment nonetheless.

That's all for now, we're off to have tacos at our Venezuelan and German friends.

Kes