Well, I (Kes) have left Norway! I feel like it happened so fast. We had a great weekend with our friend in Switzerland (we touristed, ate, drank, skied, carnivaled) and now here I am in Malta.
I arrived Wednesday evening, ski bag in tow. This resulted in some strange looks at the airport to say the least, and my taxi driver asking me if I golfed. When I explained they were snow skis, he looked at me very seriously and informed me Malta has no snow. I then had the closest moment in my life to being James Bond. The driver handed me a package containing a cell phone, keys, and an address.
The apartment looks less-than-loved from the outside. I’m starting to realize that
a) There is a lot of dust here, so things look old somewhat instantly. My once-spiffy rental car is looking a little unloved after 3 days without a wash.
b) I don’t think people place as much emphasis in this culture on outward appearances (of buildings), and outward appearance does not necessarily reflect quality. Ashley said he had the same experience in China. The apartment is perfectly functional (although lacking in internet, which is frustrating).
‘Pretty Bay’, where the apartment is located, is an ode to the industrial success of Malta as there is a giant cargo ship loading place that dominated the landscape. At night it’s like a Christmas tree. I quite enjoy it, but people down here largely think it unsightly.
Off to work early on Thursday (I became paranoid I’d mis-set my clock and thus went for a run at 5, not 6 am) Somewhere nearby there is definitely a rooster, which goes off around 5:30. Church bells begin ringing merrily at 05:45, which I think is awfully optimistic of them, although traffic starts to pick up around 6:15 so maybe not.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Apartment hunting in Malta
The job is great, so my main roadblock right now is finding a place to live. I contacted some ‘estate agents’ (which makes me think someone has died) before I arrived and set up some appointments. I saw 2 apartments on Friday night, and 14 apartments on Saturday, with 4 different agents. It’s a little bit strange for me, since real estate in Canada is generally an exclusive relationship, but I’m trying to be open to this non-monogamous system. I see it a little bit like dating – I’ve gone on a first date now with these agents, and some of them I won’t be answering their request for a second date. For example, the one that keeps saying ‘but all the foreigners want to live in xyz so you’ll want to live there’ despite my protestations that I want somewhere convenient for my work and lifestyle. Her answer was ‘but of course you’ll drive’.
This leads me to another topic. I’ve realized I’m a public transit activist. I feel strongly that public transit should be a reliable option, and in order for that to happen, more people need to take the bus! Also, EVERYONE complains about the traffic here. I have a simple answer. TAKE THE BUS. I’ll stop ranting about public transit now, and get back to apartment hunting.
My deadline to find an apartment by March 5th, when Riker (the cat) will arrive with Ashley. (By the way, turns out Riker’s ticket is costing about the same as Ashley’s, despite his much smaller size, lack of on-board service (there are no pretzels in the cargo hold), and the one-way nature of it). However, I would really, really like to move this weekend if I can find something suitable so I have a chance to start settling in a bit.
I saw many lovely apartments, but the old adage ‘location location location’ is becoming my mantra. I’m soon going to refuse to get out of the car if I don’t like the area. I don’t have the time or the energy. I did see one that could work in terms of location and it was a lovely apartment, but I want to see a few more before I commit.
He also doesn’t yet know about Riker….
This leads me to another topic. I’ve realized I’m a public transit activist. I feel strongly that public transit should be a reliable option, and in order for that to happen, more people need to take the bus! Also, EVERYONE complains about the traffic here. I have a simple answer. TAKE THE BUS. I’ll stop ranting about public transit now, and get back to apartment hunting.
My deadline to find an apartment by March 5th, when Riker (the cat) will arrive with Ashley. (By the way, turns out Riker’s ticket is costing about the same as Ashley’s, despite his much smaller size, lack of on-board service (there are no pretzels in the cargo hold), and the one-way nature of it). However, I would really, really like to move this weekend if I can find something suitable so I have a chance to start settling in a bit.
I saw many lovely apartments, but the old adage ‘location location location’ is becoming my mantra. I’m soon going to refuse to get out of the car if I don’t like the area. I don’t have the time or the energy. I did see one that could work in terms of location and it was a lovely apartment, but I want to see a few more before I commit.
He also doesn’t yet know about Riker….
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Planning for a move that is both too fast and too slow...
So... as Kes said in her last post, we've started pulling our things together for the move.
As with every move by everyone in every era of history, we have more to move than we thought. Having lived for the last two years (well, almost - 22 months) in a furnished apartment, we don't really have that much to move, but of course, we certainly have more than the four suitcases we moved here with.
In addition, we have decided to "play permanent" in the next place. This doesn't mean that we would take any money from anyone for a bet regarding where we will be living in 5 years - we don't really have a clue. It only means that we're tired of the "camping" lifestyle, and we will move all or most of the stuff we've got in storage in Rothesay, NB across the Atlantic to join us in Malta. (Kes's parents, needless to say, are thrilled that we might vacate the 40% of their attic we are currently occupying!)
Actually, that last thought (playing permanent instead of camping) is definitely something we've learned out of our time here in Ulsteinvik. We made the (seemingly logical) call that, because Kes didn't have a job yet, and we had a "good enough" place to live in at the moment, we would wait before finding a "long-term" place here in this area. For example, we reasoned, if Kes found a position in Ålesund (north of here), it would be dumb to have a place south of Ulsteinvik, from where we would both be commuting some distance, rather than just one of us. The way the geography works here , there are three directions (north - Ålesund, south - Fosnavåg & Runde, east - Ørsta & Volda) that all held some potential for employment. Therefore, we stayed in our one-bedroom apartment with none of our own furniture.
How wrong we were, but I don't think we could have known without the experience. We now believe that it is far better to jump in, find a place, make it our own, and stop thinking "conditionally" (if she finds work here, then... - if the shipyard has more work in a different area, then...). That way, we can settle in, stretch out, and feel at home, even if we later decide to move because of new conditions. I now believe that I would rather have moved twice or three times while we were here, if we were at least trying to make a home in each place, than do as we did, where we only ever had one foot fully on the ground in this apartment.
Anyway - I'm sure we'll learn whether the "jump in with both feet, no matter what" attitude works this time!
So - regarding packing - Kes is tremdously organized, and we now have suitcases all over the apartment, with dates on them (marked with duct tape and marker). The dates indicate which trip I'm supposed to bring that specific suitcase down with me, as I've got several trips planned during this interim period while I'm still here in Norway, but Kes is already in Malta.
I'll sign off, but you might be interested in a bit of a schedule going forward...
12-17 February - we both fly to Zurich, Switzerland for a long-planned trip to Lucerne to visit an old friend and experience Fasnacht. From Zurich, I fly home to Norway, while Kes flies on to Malta. She starts work the next day!
5-7 March - I visit Malta and bring Riker the cat down.
19-21 March - I travel to Belgium to referee a top-level domestic rugby match and receive coaching from a senior referee.
26 March - 5 April - I visit Malta because of the Norwegian Easter vacation - Norwegians get Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday as actual statutory holidays meaning that, with the use of only 3 vacation days, I can get 10 days off. So many people do this that it is simply assumed at our shipyard - those who work on crews or in shift work in fact MUST take those days off, because you really can't do much as, say, a crane operator if there's no one else at work.
30 April - 2 May - Kes and I meet in Sweden. I will be refereeing Sweden vs. Croatia in Enköping, which is about an hour west of Stockholm, on 1 May. This will be by far my most important game to date, and I'm really excited about it.
12-17 May - I will be travelling to Malta again - this time using a combination of "Kristihimmelfartsdag" ("Christ's heaven-going day" or Ascension Day, which is also a statutory holiday here) and the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day, thus using a single vacation day to secure five days away.
17 July - The one way ticket to Malta for me!
In reality, we will likely find some way to slip in a trip somewhere in early/mid-June, but that will be tough, because there aren't any convenient Norwegian holidays, and the boat will be very near delivery - we intend to deliver on 30 June.
Regardless, the next five months will be eventful!
Cheers,
Ashley
As with every move by everyone in every era of history, we have more to move than we thought. Having lived for the last two years (well, almost - 22 months) in a furnished apartment, we don't really have that much to move, but of course, we certainly have more than the four suitcases we moved here with.
In addition, we have decided to "play permanent" in the next place. This doesn't mean that we would take any money from anyone for a bet regarding where we will be living in 5 years - we don't really have a clue. It only means that we're tired of the "camping" lifestyle, and we will move all or most of the stuff we've got in storage in Rothesay, NB across the Atlantic to join us in Malta. (Kes's parents, needless to say, are thrilled that we might vacate the 40% of their attic we are currently occupying!)
Actually, that last thought (playing permanent instead of camping) is definitely something we've learned out of our time here in Ulsteinvik. We made the (seemingly logical) call that, because Kes didn't have a job yet, and we had a "good enough" place to live in at the moment, we would wait before finding a "long-term" place here in this area. For example, we reasoned, if Kes found a position in Ålesund (north of here), it would be dumb to have a place south of Ulsteinvik, from where we would both be commuting some distance, rather than just one of us. The way the geography works here , there are three directions (north - Ålesund, south - Fosnavåg & Runde, east - Ørsta & Volda) that all held some potential for employment. Therefore, we stayed in our one-bedroom apartment with none of our own furniture.
How wrong we were, but I don't think we could have known without the experience. We now believe that it is far better to jump in, find a place, make it our own, and stop thinking "conditionally" (if she finds work here, then... - if the shipyard has more work in a different area, then...). That way, we can settle in, stretch out, and feel at home, even if we later decide to move because of new conditions. I now believe that I would rather have moved twice or three times while we were here, if we were at least trying to make a home in each place, than do as we did, where we only ever had one foot fully on the ground in this apartment.
Anyway - I'm sure we'll learn whether the "jump in with both feet, no matter what" attitude works this time!
So - regarding packing - Kes is tremdously organized, and we now have suitcases all over the apartment, with dates on them (marked with duct tape and marker). The dates indicate which trip I'm supposed to bring that specific suitcase down with me, as I've got several trips planned during this interim period while I'm still here in Norway, but Kes is already in Malta.
I'll sign off, but you might be interested in a bit of a schedule going forward...
12-17 February - we both fly to Zurich, Switzerland for a long-planned trip to Lucerne to visit an old friend and experience Fasnacht. From Zurich, I fly home to Norway, while Kes flies on to Malta. She starts work the next day!
5-7 March - I visit Malta and bring Riker the cat down.
19-21 March - I travel to Belgium to referee a top-level domestic rugby match and receive coaching from a senior referee.
26 March - 5 April - I visit Malta because of the Norwegian Easter vacation - Norwegians get Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Monday as actual statutory holidays meaning that, with the use of only 3 vacation days, I can get 10 days off. So many people do this that it is simply assumed at our shipyard - those who work on crews or in shift work in fact MUST take those days off, because you really can't do much as, say, a crane operator if there's no one else at work.
30 April - 2 May - Kes and I meet in Sweden. I will be refereeing Sweden vs. Croatia in Enköping, which is about an hour west of Stockholm, on 1 May. This will be by far my most important game to date, and I'm really excited about it.
12-17 May - I will be travelling to Malta again - this time using a combination of "Kristihimmelfartsdag" ("Christ's heaven-going day" or Ascension Day, which is also a statutory holiday here) and the 17th of May, the Norwegian national day, thus using a single vacation day to secure five days away.
17 July - The one way ticket to Malta for me!
In reality, we will likely find some way to slip in a trip somewhere in early/mid-June, but that will be tough, because there aren't any convenient Norwegian holidays, and the boat will be very near delivery - we intend to deliver on 30 June.
Regardless, the next five months will be eventful!
Cheers,
Ashley
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Alphonse has his packing suit on.....
Packing is solidly underway at the Morton household, as you can see by the bubble wrap on Alphonse, as well as the general disarray in the house. I heard from the company that my ticket is now booked for Feb 17th (Zurich to Malta- We'll be visiting with a friend in Lucerne Feb 12th-17th).
Alphonse (perhaps Grandma Morgan can suggest a more accurate spelling) is a china bull near and dear to my heart. As a child, I always wanted to play with Alphonse at Grandma's house, but as he was china, this was a no-go. So, when Grandma moved last, she asked what had sentimental value for me, and I replied 'Alphonse'. Turns out Grandma was unaware of my sentimental attachment to this china bull, and in fact had been secretly hoping for an accident to befall dear Alphonse to remove his presence from her house... So Ashley and I became the proud new owners, and moving to Norway we took one piece of thoroughly pointless sentimental art with us - he took a lovely carving, I took Alphonse. Sadly Alphonse suffered a broken leg on the journey, but through tender loving care and some ceramic glue, he's good as new and ready for his trip to Malta. Better packing this time, and if he's really good, he may get to be carry on.
Otherwise, we are using the Tara Connelly packing method of 'need', 'want' and 'don't want' to sort ourselves into three categories. Need will come in the first trips, followed by whatever of the want makes the cut. 'Need' of course in my life is not really 'need', since it includes things like textbooks, mascara, and new shoes (thanks mom!). Really I don't 'need' these things, more like 'really really want' or 'don't want to have to replace'.
In packing solidarity, my parents have just decided to sell their home to boot, so all storage options there are now over. Looks like the 6 cubic metres of stuff from Canada may be increasing....unless anyone want a dressage saddle?
Monday, 25 January 2010
Ashley & Kes Go to Malta?
Kes and Ashley are off to new adventures, so it must be time to start up the blog again!
The short version of the story is that Kes has a fabulous new job, and will start with the Maltese company AquaBioTech in the middle of February. Ashley will follow when "his" boat is done - presumably at the end of June.
Since I haven't written in 8 months, I'll just thow out some logical questions you might have, and answer them.
What's Kes's great new job?
- She will be the Manager of BioPlanning at AquaBioTech, a company that works with various types of aquaculture research & technology. Here's the website: www.aquabt.com.
What will you do, Ashley?
- Good question. I told my department manager last Wednesday of the situation, including the idea that, if possible, I would like to stay on within the Ulstein Group in some fashion. My current position means that I can't really work from a distance, so I will not be able to continue in the same role I have today. However, the reaction from my manager has been tremendously positive - he will be helping me to see whether there is any other role within the Ulstein Group of companies that would be right for me, presuming that I would be living (at least most of the time) in Malta. Neither of us believe that it is all that likely, but it's that kind of positive reaction that confirms what I believed before - Ulstein, in general, is a good bunch of people to work for.
- If that option doesn't pan out, I will be looking for work that is actually in Malta, of course. Malta has a large shipyard, but it is working its way through (near the end of) a privatisation process that has shaken things up quite a bit. Hopefully it's back on its feet soon, so that it becomes an option for me. Many other possibilities exist, including going back to school (the University of Malta teaches in English and has an MBA program, while the International Maritime Organisation has its International Maritime Law Institute there, as only two of the possibilities).
Where's Malta?
- Right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a small group of islands, with the main island sharing the same name as the country. Total land area: 300 square kms. Picture a square island that's 17 km on each side (in Bella Coola, that's the distance from the Government Wharf to Klonick Creek) - That's the area of the entire country.
- Into that little dot of land are packed just over 400,000 people - roughly the population of Surrey in British Columbia. Malta was a British colony until 1964, and became a full Republic (got rid of the Queen as head of state) in 1974, though it's still a member of the Commonwealth. The primary language is Maltese, which has a grammar very close to Arabic, but is written in Roman ("English") letters, and incorporates many Italian and English words. At the same time, it is the "most multilingual" country in the EU, meaning that a higher percentage of the people there can speak at least two languages than in any other country. Almost 90% of the population say that they can speak English. 66% say that they can speak Italian. The population is heavily Roman Catholic, with 98% considering themselves Catholic - there is a Catholic church for every 1000 people.
- There are lots of other interesting things to discuss regarding Malta, but I'll leave that for the future!
When are you moving?
- Kes will be starting work on February 17th (or 18th, I'm not 100% sure). I will be following as soon as the boat I'm working on right now is finished. That's scheduled for the 30th of June, as of today's schedule. Thus, I will probably move during the Norwegian summer vacation (late July to early August).
So yeah, that's the story!
We'll keep you updated as this progresses!
The short version of the story is that Kes has a fabulous new job, and will start with the Maltese company AquaBioTech in the middle of February. Ashley will follow when "his" boat is done - presumably at the end of June.
Since I haven't written in 8 months, I'll just thow out some logical questions you might have, and answer them.
What's Kes's great new job?
- She will be the Manager of BioPlanning at AquaBioTech, a company that works with various types of aquaculture research & technology. Here's the website: www.aquabt.com.
What will you do, Ashley?
- Good question. I told my department manager last Wednesday of the situation, including the idea that, if possible, I would like to stay on within the Ulstein Group in some fashion. My current position means that I can't really work from a distance, so I will not be able to continue in the same role I have today. However, the reaction from my manager has been tremendously positive - he will be helping me to see whether there is any other role within the Ulstein Group of companies that would be right for me, presuming that I would be living (at least most of the time) in Malta. Neither of us believe that it is all that likely, but it's that kind of positive reaction that confirms what I believed before - Ulstein, in general, is a good bunch of people to work for.
- If that option doesn't pan out, I will be looking for work that is actually in Malta, of course. Malta has a large shipyard, but it is working its way through (near the end of) a privatisation process that has shaken things up quite a bit. Hopefully it's back on its feet soon, so that it becomes an option for me. Many other possibilities exist, including going back to school (the University of Malta teaches in English and has an MBA program, while the International Maritime Organisation has its International Maritime Law Institute there, as only two of the possibilities).
Where's Malta?
- Right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a small group of islands, with the main island sharing the same name as the country. Total land area: 300 square kms. Picture a square island that's 17 km on each side (in Bella Coola, that's the distance from the Government Wharf to Klonick Creek) - That's the area of the entire country.
- Into that little dot of land are packed just over 400,000 people - roughly the population of Surrey in British Columbia. Malta was a British colony until 1964, and became a full Republic (got rid of the Queen as head of state) in 1974, though it's still a member of the Commonwealth. The primary language is Maltese, which has a grammar very close to Arabic, but is written in Roman ("English") letters, and incorporates many Italian and English words. At the same time, it is the "most multilingual" country in the EU, meaning that a higher percentage of the people there can speak at least two languages than in any other country. Almost 90% of the population say that they can speak English. 66% say that they can speak Italian. The population is heavily Roman Catholic, with 98% considering themselves Catholic - there is a Catholic church for every 1000 people.
- There are lots of other interesting things to discuss regarding Malta, but I'll leave that for the future!
When are you moving?
- Kes will be starting work on February 17th (or 18th, I'm not 100% sure). I will be following as soon as the boat I'm working on right now is finished. That's scheduled for the 30th of June, as of today's schedule. Thus, I will probably move during the Norwegian summer vacation (late July to early August).
So yeah, that's the story!
We'll keep you updated as this progresses!
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
One year on...
Hi everyone.
As has probably been obvious for some while, we're not blogging anymore. This isn't really a philosophical decision, just other priorities have come into play. There's nothing to say that we might not start posting again from time to time, particularly if some other major period of change happens in our lives, but for the moment, I feel that the only things we could talk about would be the day-to-day parts of our lives that are not really all that different from life anywhere else on earth. While many other people blog about exactly that, it wasn't really what we intended with this.
A year (more than 13 months, actually) has passed since we got here, and it's interesting to begin to see things for the second time. I spent the 17th of May in Oslo this year (which was an enormous party, but in many ways not different, at its core, from the 17th of May in Ulsteinvik - except with royalty). Our rugby club is going shockingly well, with about 25 players playing in the last tournament we hosted. Kes is back in Canada at this instant, just finished with an academic conference, but will be back here on Thursday. The language continues to be a struggle for both of us, but I'm finding that I can manage on the phone a little better now (I find the phone particularly tough, because there's no context to be taken from body language.) The boat is coming along well - on schedule, though frantic at times. The bottom of the hull will be towed here from the Polish shipyard that built it in June. Meanwhile, we're already assembling and outfitting many of the upper sections, to be put together like an enormous 3-D jigsaw puzzle over the course of the fall and winter. We have not yet seen another contract, but rumours are flying like crazy (as they always do at large companies), and there's no particular sense of panic yet - our order book is still full until mid-2011.
If you're interested in other stuff from the area, I'll leave you with a few websites:
www.rugby.no/Sunnmøre Our rugby team's website - in a mixture of English and some poorly-written Norwegian)
www.ulsteinlab.com (Where my company puts up videos of our ships and animations of new concepts we pull together)
www.vikebladet.no (The local newspaper)
www.ecoevo.ca (The Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution - to whose Council Kes just managed to be elected...)
Bye for now!
As has probably been obvious for some while, we're not blogging anymore. This isn't really a philosophical decision, just other priorities have come into play. There's nothing to say that we might not start posting again from time to time, particularly if some other major period of change happens in our lives, but for the moment, I feel that the only things we could talk about would be the day-to-day parts of our lives that are not really all that different from life anywhere else on earth. While many other people blog about exactly that, it wasn't really what we intended with this.
A year (more than 13 months, actually) has passed since we got here, and it's interesting to begin to see things for the second time. I spent the 17th of May in Oslo this year (which was an enormous party, but in many ways not different, at its core, from the 17th of May in Ulsteinvik - except with royalty). Our rugby club is going shockingly well, with about 25 players playing in the last tournament we hosted. Kes is back in Canada at this instant, just finished with an academic conference, but will be back here on Thursday. The language continues to be a struggle for both of us, but I'm finding that I can manage on the phone a little better now (I find the phone particularly tough, because there's no context to be taken from body language.) The boat is coming along well - on schedule, though frantic at times. The bottom of the hull will be towed here from the Polish shipyard that built it in June. Meanwhile, we're already assembling and outfitting many of the upper sections, to be put together like an enormous 3-D jigsaw puzzle over the course of the fall and winter. We have not yet seen another contract, but rumours are flying like crazy (as they always do at large companies), and there's no particular sense of panic yet - our order book is still full until mid-2011.
If you're interested in other stuff from the area, I'll leave you with a few websites:
www.rugby.no/Sunnmøre Our rugby team's website - in a mixture of English and some poorly-written Norwegian)
www.ulsteinlab.com (Where my company puts up videos of our ships and animations of new concepts we pull together)
www.vikebladet.no (The local newspaper)
www.ecoevo.ca (The Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution - to whose Council Kes just managed to be elected...)
Bye for now!
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Early Success with the Rugby Club!
So - Kes and I have become involved with starting up a rugby club here in Sunnmøre. This will come as no surprise to anyone who knew us in either Toronto or Newfoundland. However, what has been surprising - and amazing - is how well it's been received. Unbeknownst to us at first, there were a few ex-pats in Ålesund who had been beginning to work together at this very task. So, when we combined forces, we found we had the core volunteer group that every successful club (whether sports, arts, or anything) needs to run.
We've had articles about us in Vikebladet Vestposten - the local newspaper for Ulsteinvik and Hareid (here) and in Sunnmørsposten - the larger regional newspaper published from Ålesund (here). The turnout has been great - 18 at our first training in Ulsteinvik, and almost as many at our first session in Ålesund. After 4 weeks, we've now had 31 different people attend at least one practice. We're not fooling ourselves - we don't expect everyone to become a permanent member, but when we see 3-5 new faces at every practice, and the core group of new people becoming more and more skilled, it's a real source for optimism.
I was away in Oslo this last weekend, refereeing an indoor Rugby 7's tournament, and many of the people who are involved in rugby throughout Norway commented that they were a bit jealous - many of the established clubs don't have the sort of attendance that we're getting (especially in February!). As I've said, I don't want to be foolishly optimistic - we haven't yet asked anyone for membership dues, or to book off an entire weekend to travel, both of which will of course be required eventually. However, I can say that we've had pretty much the best possible start we could have hoped for, so if this sport could possibly work here, then we're on track to making it happen!
Our first "game" will be a joint training session and tournament in Kristiansund (3 hours northeast) near the end of March - I'll let you know how it goes.
Kes is back in Canada for a week, now, to work more closely with her supervisors on the thesis, and is taking the opportunity to catch up with family and friends. So far reports seem to be very positive on both fronts, with the thesis seeming to have picked up a momentum that has been tough to find at times, and Kes really enjoying spending time with her family, particularly her grandma, with whom she's staying.
This section of time on "my boat" is some of the heaviest - the hull is well into construction in Poland, and we now have to really put in the hard yards to get all the drawings ready for its arrival here. It will get here in late spring, and then it's flat out work for the next 6-9 months to fill in all the guts. But we need to have all the drawings ready for all the work that the "guts-fillers" have to do. So now through May will be some of the fullest work hours of my career to date. I certainly hope it goes well!
Speaking of which, I'm going to grab some sleep. However, a last note - in my previous post, I briefly discussed some recent statistics on baby names. This does NOT imply anything more than that I spend far too much time on the Statistics Norway website. Apparently that was misconstrued in some quarters. I'll be sure to limit my future discussion of statistics to, say, the unemployment rate (up this month to a whopping 3.0 percent).
Cheers,
Ashley
We've had articles about us in Vikebladet Vestposten - the local newspaper for Ulsteinvik and Hareid (here) and in Sunnmørsposten - the larger regional newspaper published from Ålesund (here). The turnout has been great - 18 at our first training in Ulsteinvik, and almost as many at our first session in Ålesund. After 4 weeks, we've now had 31 different people attend at least one practice. We're not fooling ourselves - we don't expect everyone to become a permanent member, but when we see 3-5 new faces at every practice, and the core group of new people becoming more and more skilled, it's a real source for optimism.
I was away in Oslo this last weekend, refereeing an indoor Rugby 7's tournament, and many of the people who are involved in rugby throughout Norway commented that they were a bit jealous - many of the established clubs don't have the sort of attendance that we're getting (especially in February!). As I've said, I don't want to be foolishly optimistic - we haven't yet asked anyone for membership dues, or to book off an entire weekend to travel, both of which will of course be required eventually. However, I can say that we've had pretty much the best possible start we could have hoped for, so if this sport could possibly work here, then we're on track to making it happen!
Our first "game" will be a joint training session and tournament in Kristiansund (3 hours northeast) near the end of March - I'll let you know how it goes.
Kes is back in Canada for a week, now, to work more closely with her supervisors on the thesis, and is taking the opportunity to catch up with family and friends. So far reports seem to be very positive on both fronts, with the thesis seeming to have picked up a momentum that has been tough to find at times, and Kes really enjoying spending time with her family, particularly her grandma, with whom she's staying.
This section of time on "my boat" is some of the heaviest - the hull is well into construction in Poland, and we now have to really put in the hard yards to get all the drawings ready for its arrival here. It will get here in late spring, and then it's flat out work for the next 6-9 months to fill in all the guts. But we need to have all the drawings ready for all the work that the "guts-fillers" have to do. So now through May will be some of the fullest work hours of my career to date. I certainly hope it goes well!
Speaking of which, I'm going to grab some sleep. However, a last note - in my previous post, I briefly discussed some recent statistics on baby names. This does NOT imply anything more than that I spend far too much time on the Statistics Norway website. Apparently that was misconstrued in some quarters. I'll be sure to limit my future discussion of statistics to, say, the unemployment rate (up this month to a whopping 3.0 percent).
Cheers,
Ashley
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