Kes and I went to Bergen this weekend. Of course, the destination was picked by the rugby schedule - I didn't have a refereeing appointment this weekend, and the Trondheim club was short of players, so I jumped in with them and played a game. We won't discuss the score, but it was good to get out on the field in contact a bit.
It was our first real trip to Bergen (not counting my flying trip to have supper with Tricia.) Both Kes and I really liked Bergen. It's a great city, really, with many buildings several hundreds of years old, and lots of beautiful spaces in the downtown.
We drove down (about 6 and a half hours) on Friday night. We stayed with a member of the Bergen Rugby Club who happens to have a house only a few blocks from the waterfront downtown. The house seems like a bit of a "fixer-upper", but it's over 100 years old, so it's still really neat. With the game at 3:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, we wandered around town in the morning. First up was a trip up the "Fløibanen" cable car, which brings you from almost sea level up to near the top of Fløyfjellet (Fløy mountain) at 320m (a little over 1,000 feet). The view over Bergen is fantastic. Bergen has a great natural harbour, which was the reason why the Hanseatic League made it the primary trading city in Norway starting in about the 1300s. However, it is surrounded by steep hills and mountains, that form a bowl that the city sits in. Thus, the views are fantastic.
After coming back down, we wandered around Bryggen, the UNESCO world site that preserves the old market centre of Bergen. There was a food festival on, so we checked that out. There were all sorts of different items on display, with a heavy emphasis on ecological products from local farms. Then there was the game, and the post-game celebrations, but we explored again a bit on Sunday with the aquarium our primary destination. The aquarium turned out to be fantastic, almost a zoo in their tropical exhibits, including crocodiles and monkeys. We had a great time - Kes especially (easy way to make points with your marine biologist wife - take her to an aquarium).
Anyway, off to bed.
Cheers.
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
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
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
Sunday, 27 July 2008
Big news in Ulsteinvik.
Whew. You'll never imagine. News event of the year.
Kaffe Baren has been sold!
I know - shocking, isn't it? The institution around which this town was built... Well, not really. Okay, the most popular bar in town... Maybe, though perhaps fading to classier new places that have opened recently. Okay, the place that's closest to Ashley & Kes's place... Well, that can't be argued.
Seriously, though, it is big news here - Kaffe Baren is an institution, where anyone who grew up here has probably been ejected at least once, and is the only real live music venue in town, other than the theatre. Even more shockingly, it's been sold from a late-50s man probably looking to retire, to a mid-20s woman. This has been the topic of at least 50% of all non-work conversations I've been part of here in the last week. Of course, opinions on where she got the money abound, theories that the place is going to change significantly are alternately supported and shot down and sure enough, one of my friends claims to have slept with her (not confirmed by independent reports).
I can certainly imagine a similar general rhubarb of gossip if such a thing happened in Bella Coola. Once again, the more I learn about this place, the more it seems just like home!
Things are going well at work, with the "crack team of ex-pats" putting out a lot of work. It's been neat to see, for the first time, serious work on the detailed design of my vessel advancing. Up until now, my work has been primarily concerned with navigating purchasing and suppliers, structuring the work to be done, and a lot of co-ordination with other departments. I feel like that groundwork has been well laid, and now the real churning out of drawings and details has begun. We're now getting into things as detailed as where smoke detectors will be placed, and how many breakers in specific distribution cabinets. It's a bit surreal to be doing this before a single piece of steel has been cut for the hull, but there's really an overwhelming number of such details on a boat this big.
I once had shipbuilding described to me as a series of "divebombs" - you have to be able to float along at 40,000 feet, with a comprehensive overview of the project, managing generalities such as the number of employees assigned to specific categories of work and the mains voltage. Then, when something seems to be going slightly off-course, you have to be able to zoom into six inches away, identifying the terminal block that has been put in backwards, or the component that was supplied with the wrong mounting bolts, before those problems multiply. I'm finding that to be the case, and I really enjoy it.
Anyway, there's really not all that much happening here, so I'm going to keep this short.
Next weekend, I'm off to Fredrikstad, for a Scandinavian Under-20 Men's tournament. It's more than just the tournament, though, it's also a big workshop, with referees from Norway, Demark & Sweden, a whole bunch of Under-17 players, and some coaching workshops, too. I am definitely looking forward to the opportunity.
...and the weekend after that, I meet Kes in Copenhagen! Finally!
Kaffe Baren has been sold!
I know - shocking, isn't it? The institution around which this town was built... Well, not really. Okay, the most popular bar in town... Maybe, though perhaps fading to classier new places that have opened recently. Okay, the place that's closest to Ashley & Kes's place... Well, that can't be argued.
Seriously, though, it is big news here - Kaffe Baren is an institution, where anyone who grew up here has probably been ejected at least once, and is the only real live music venue in town, other than the theatre. Even more shockingly, it's been sold from a late-50s man probably looking to retire, to a mid-20s woman. This has been the topic of at least 50% of all non-work conversations I've been part of here in the last week. Of course, opinions on where she got the money abound, theories that the place is going to change significantly are alternately supported and shot down and sure enough, one of my friends claims to have slept with her (not confirmed by independent reports).
I can certainly imagine a similar general rhubarb of gossip if such a thing happened in Bella Coola. Once again, the more I learn about this place, the more it seems just like home!
Things are going well at work, with the "crack team of ex-pats" putting out a lot of work. It's been neat to see, for the first time, serious work on the detailed design of my vessel advancing. Up until now, my work has been primarily concerned with navigating purchasing and suppliers, structuring the work to be done, and a lot of co-ordination with other departments. I feel like that groundwork has been well laid, and now the real churning out of drawings and details has begun. We're now getting into things as detailed as where smoke detectors will be placed, and how many breakers in specific distribution cabinets. It's a bit surreal to be doing this before a single piece of steel has been cut for the hull, but there's really an overwhelming number of such details on a boat this big.
I once had shipbuilding described to me as a series of "divebombs" - you have to be able to float along at 40,000 feet, with a comprehensive overview of the project, managing generalities such as the number of employees assigned to specific categories of work and the mains voltage. Then, when something seems to be going slightly off-course, you have to be able to zoom into six inches away, identifying the terminal block that has been put in backwards, or the component that was supplied with the wrong mounting bolts, before those problems multiply. I'm finding that to be the case, and I really enjoy it.
Anyway, there's really not all that much happening here, so I'm going to keep this short.
Next weekend, I'm off to Fredrikstad, for a Scandinavian Under-20 Men's tournament. It's more than just the tournament, though, it's also a big workshop, with referees from Norway, Demark & Sweden, a whole bunch of Under-17 players, and some coaching workshops, too. I am definitely looking forward to the opportunity.
...and the weekend after that, I meet Kes in Copenhagen! Finally!
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Summer in a town on shut-down...
Sorry it's been so long since I've written but, well, the world has closed for summer here in Norway, and there's not a lot happening.
I think that in a tourist town, or a place otherwise defined by the service industry (I suspect that Oslo falls into that category), the feeling wouldn't be so acute. However, here in Ulsteinvik, almost everyone is employed in a manufacturing company. Sure, there are grocery stores and the restaurants, but the town is defined by manufacturing. ...and the July holiday is sacred in industry, here.
Not every company takes the same weeks, but these weeks (particularly the one starting tomorrow) are pretty close to being common, so I suspect the overall population of the town is down 20-30%. Of course, those who have chosen to stick around during their time off are generally in a party mood, so you can't tell this by the population of Kaffe Baren on a Friday night, but try the grocery store at a normally-busy time - pretty empty.
Still, I suppose there are a few stories to tell. Last weekend was the Ålesund Båtfestival (Boat Festival, unsurprisingly). I expected it to be a festival of boats. Well, there were more boats than normal tied up in Ålesund harbour, but really, it was just a name for "another festival" - kind of like how 95% of the Peach Festival in BC's Okanagan is not really about peaches at all. So there were three nights of live music, many people selling tacky bandanas and jewelry (shockingly similar to things that I've seen sold out of similar carts in Canada!), and some displays from local industry.
The biggest single tent was from NCE-Maritime (the Norwegian Centre of Expertise for the Maritime industry). They were trying to recruit young people to be interested in the boatbuilding world - we're desperate for people throughout this region & industry. However, as far as I can tell, they only got 6-year-olds who wanted to sit in the captain's chair, and people like me who are already working in the industry who were mostly there to find out what other folks in the industry are doing. Not so successful for them.
On another note, they charged 300+ kroner (over Can$60 - I can't remember the exact price) for the headline concert on Friday night - Kaizers Orchestra. However, an expensive ticket to an outdoor concert in the downtown core of a fairly dense town doesn't work very well - I sat at a nearby café and caught the show without buying a ticket - sure I couldn't see the band, but I didn't know the band, anyway. Actually, the band's pretty cool - they sing in Norwegian, which is odd for a Norwegian band that anyone's heard of - they've done relatively well in Europe outside of Norway. They use Nynorsk and their local dialect, not Bokmål - I think this gives them a bit of nationalistic authenticity, too. Their myspace page is at this link - If you go there, you can hear the stuff from some of their past albums.
On Saturday, I was back in Ålesund to witness the christening ceremony for our (Ulstein Verft's) new vessel - interesting, but nothing really special - I suspect I'll see quite a few of these during my time here - the one that I'll be really excited about should happen in March '10. Then, I went to a soccer game at the Ålesund stadium. It was Aalesunds Fotball Klubb against the team from Tromsø, Tromsø Idrettslag. I went because one of the guys who works with me was a childhood friend of the Tromsø team's new star, Morten Moldskred. Now, Tromsø is way the heck up there in northern Norway, so by supporting them at the game, we put ourselves in a significant minority! However, Morten didn't dissappoint - he scored two goals in a 3-1 victory. We then had the fun of going out to the bar later with "The Star". He was really nice - classy, not playing on his success at all, though there was a parade of admirers past the table. It was a good night.
On Monday, I drove to Bergen to have dinner with a traveller from my home town. Trish (you might have noticed - I generally don't use people's full names - I don't want random people who might be out there stalking being able to find any search hits through my blog), who is ten years younger than me, but who also grew up in Bella Coola, was travelling through Scandinavia with her boyfriend. It was a bit of a hike to go to Bergen for only a meal and a bit of a wander around town - 6-and-a-half hours each way. However, I believe in a sort of karma with these things - I hope that in 10 years, they'll show up and buy supper for some travelling kids. I feel horrendously old saying this, but it was really cool to have supper with some really "together" young people. These guys are only just graduated high school, yet are travelling Europe, learning all sorts of cool stuff (like how to get upgraded to a loft apartment in what would have otherwise been a gungy dorm-style youth hostel - I wish I'd known that one when I was backpacking!). One's going to university next year, the other has a steady job as a mechanic - they're going to do really well. Made me feel good to chat with them. Well, that, and I'd never been to Bergen - now I have!
This weekend was pretty quiet, though I did go to a Hødd soccer game - they lost to Alta, who are from WAY up there in northern Norway - Finnmark. Didn't go well - the home guys lost via a goal with two minutes left to go. Ouch.
I'll see Kes in just under 3 weeks - phew - this break has been really long. She's going to an academic conference in Kiel, Germany during the first week of August, and I'm going to be refereeing at a rugby tournament in Copenhagen at the end of that week, so she's going to meet me at the tournament.
I promise I'll write again sooner next time.
Cheers,
Ashley
I think that in a tourist town, or a place otherwise defined by the service industry (I suspect that Oslo falls into that category), the feeling wouldn't be so acute. However, here in Ulsteinvik, almost everyone is employed in a manufacturing company. Sure, there are grocery stores and the restaurants, but the town is defined by manufacturing. ...and the July holiday is sacred in industry, here.
Not every company takes the same weeks, but these weeks (particularly the one starting tomorrow) are pretty close to being common, so I suspect the overall population of the town is down 20-30%. Of course, those who have chosen to stick around during their time off are generally in a party mood, so you can't tell this by the population of Kaffe Baren on a Friday night, but try the grocery store at a normally-busy time - pretty empty.
Still, I suppose there are a few stories to tell. Last weekend was the Ålesund Båtfestival (Boat Festival, unsurprisingly). I expected it to be a festival of boats. Well, there were more boats than normal tied up in Ålesund harbour, but really, it was just a name for "another festival" - kind of like how 95% of the Peach Festival in BC's Okanagan is not really about peaches at all. So there were three nights of live music, many people selling tacky bandanas and jewelry (shockingly similar to things that I've seen sold out of similar carts in Canada!), and some displays from local industry.
The biggest single tent was from NCE-Maritime (the Norwegian Centre of Expertise for the Maritime industry). They were trying to recruit young people to be interested in the boatbuilding world - we're desperate for people throughout this region & industry. However, as far as I can tell, they only got 6-year-olds who wanted to sit in the captain's chair, and people like me who are already working in the industry who were mostly there to find out what other folks in the industry are doing. Not so successful for them.
On another note, they charged 300+ kroner (over Can$60 - I can't remember the exact price) for the headline concert on Friday night - Kaizers Orchestra. However, an expensive ticket to an outdoor concert in the downtown core of a fairly dense town doesn't work very well - I sat at a nearby café and caught the show without buying a ticket - sure I couldn't see the band, but I didn't know the band, anyway. Actually, the band's pretty cool - they sing in Norwegian, which is odd for a Norwegian band that anyone's heard of - they've done relatively well in Europe outside of Norway. They use Nynorsk and their local dialect, not Bokmål - I think this gives them a bit of nationalistic authenticity, too. Their myspace page is at this link - If you go there, you can hear the stuff from some of their past albums.
On Saturday, I was back in Ålesund to witness the christening ceremony for our (Ulstein Verft's) new vessel - interesting, but nothing really special - I suspect I'll see quite a few of these during my time here - the one that I'll be really excited about should happen in March '10. Then, I went to a soccer game at the Ålesund stadium. It was Aalesunds Fotball Klubb against the team from Tromsø, Tromsø Idrettslag. I went because one of the guys who works with me was a childhood friend of the Tromsø team's new star, Morten Moldskred. Now, Tromsø is way the heck up there in northern Norway, so by supporting them at the game, we put ourselves in a significant minority! However, Morten didn't dissappoint - he scored two goals in a 3-1 victory. We then had the fun of going out to the bar later with "The Star". He was really nice - classy, not playing on his success at all, though there was a parade of admirers past the table. It was a good night.
On Monday, I drove to Bergen to have dinner with a traveller from my home town. Trish (you might have noticed - I generally don't use people's full names - I don't want random people who might be out there stalking being able to find any search hits through my blog), who is ten years younger than me, but who also grew up in Bella Coola, was travelling through Scandinavia with her boyfriend. It was a bit of a hike to go to Bergen for only a meal and a bit of a wander around town - 6-and-a-half hours each way. However, I believe in a sort of karma with these things - I hope that in 10 years, they'll show up and buy supper for some travelling kids. I feel horrendously old saying this, but it was really cool to have supper with some really "together" young people. These guys are only just graduated high school, yet are travelling Europe, learning all sorts of cool stuff (like how to get upgraded to a loft apartment in what would have otherwise been a gungy dorm-style youth hostel - I wish I'd known that one when I was backpacking!). One's going to university next year, the other has a steady job as a mechanic - they're going to do really well. Made me feel good to chat with them. Well, that, and I'd never been to Bergen - now I have!
This weekend was pretty quiet, though I did go to a Hødd soccer game - they lost to Alta, who are from WAY up there in northern Norway - Finnmark. Didn't go well - the home guys lost via a goal with two minutes left to go. Ouch.
I'll see Kes in just under 3 weeks - phew - this break has been really long. She's going to an academic conference in Kiel, Germany during the first week of August, and I'm going to be refereeing at a rugby tournament in Copenhagen at the end of that week, so she's going to meet me at the tournament.
I promise I'll write again sooner next time.
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, 7 July 2008
Such a Stereotype...
I turned a load of washing blue.
I know, you probably expected it sooner. My bachelor skills (though probably better than Mom thinks) are pretty limited. There has been a lot of pizza in my life.
Well, and now some faintly-blue athletic socks.
Oh well, could be worse - at least there were no white shirts in the load (and really, who cares if your dishrags are baby blue?)
This past weekend in Ulsteinvik turned out to be really quite busy. On Friday (only 3 weeks after the rest of the world), I attended the Ulsteinvik premiere of "The Incredible Hulk". I like the genre, and reviews seemed to imply that it was worth watching, but of course I went because Bella Coola, British Columbia plays a vital, 30-second role in the movie - it's where the main character has run away to by the end of the movie. It was neat to see the name of my hometown on a movie screen on the other side of the world.
Then, Saturday, I drove to the neighbouring municipality, Herøy kommune, to see their annual "Viking musical", Kongens Ring ("the King's Ring"). While I admit to missing most of the plot due to the language barrier, some was obvious (there was a love triangle, duh), and I spent a lot of time distracted by the very impressive costumes, music and production quality (I suppose they can afford some tech gimmicks - they only put on four shows per year, but they charged us Can$60 (kr. 300) each, and there were probably 500 people in attendance. The weather was fabulous, and the show was very impressive - 200 people in the cast, and apparently over 50 behind the scenes.
While the Herøy one is particularly impressive, apparently this is common up and down the coast - one weekend in the summer, the town will put on a major theatrical production of a story (this one was entirely fictional, but they vary from recorded history through mythical stories to pure fiction) from the region's past. Of course, these towns may now be only 15 minutes driving from each other, but in ancient times, they may even have been different kingdoms - giving many different storylines to explore. Particularly for the children of the area, this is just "one of those things you do" if you live in the town. Herøy has a total population of about 8,300, and put on a show with over 300 people (once you include people directing traffic, etc.) Very impressive.
The "second half" of the soccer season has now started (they take a summer break, like everyone else), so Sunday was back to Høddvoll to see Hødd take on Nybergsund. Not a great start (down 3-0 after 20 minutes), but they came back to make it 3-2 by the end, so it was worth watching.
The weather here has been fantastic, 20+ degree temperatures, and sunny. Everyone tells me that I'm just lucky. I don't care, I'll take it. It turns out there is a nice little white sand beach in Ulsteinvik, so I went there on Saturday evening. The water is still the North Atlantic, regardless of the air temperature, though, so it's not so great for swimming!
The office is emptying out, as Ulstein's official three-week designated summer vacation (which I'm not taking) starts next week, so many people are getting a head start. I would say we're at about 50% of the staff present this week, and we'll be down at about 10% next week - the cafeteria even shuts down for three weeks.
During that time, it'll just be me and the contract workers (the Romanians and my Venezuelan friend), so I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on my boat.
Cheers,
Ashley
I know, you probably expected it sooner. My bachelor skills (though probably better than Mom thinks) are pretty limited. There has been a lot of pizza in my life.
Well, and now some faintly-blue athletic socks.
Oh well, could be worse - at least there were no white shirts in the load (and really, who cares if your dishrags are baby blue?)
This past weekend in Ulsteinvik turned out to be really quite busy. On Friday (only 3 weeks after the rest of the world), I attended the Ulsteinvik premiere of "The Incredible Hulk". I like the genre, and reviews seemed to imply that it was worth watching, but of course I went because Bella Coola, British Columbia plays a vital, 30-second role in the movie - it's where the main character has run away to by the end of the movie. It was neat to see the name of my hometown on a movie screen on the other side of the world.
Then, Saturday, I drove to the neighbouring municipality, Herøy kommune, to see their annual "Viking musical", Kongens Ring ("the King's Ring"). While I admit to missing most of the plot due to the language barrier, some was obvious (there was a love triangle, duh), and I spent a lot of time distracted by the very impressive costumes, music and production quality (I suppose they can afford some tech gimmicks - they only put on four shows per year, but they charged us Can$60 (kr. 300) each, and there were probably 500 people in attendance. The weather was fabulous, and the show was very impressive - 200 people in the cast, and apparently over 50 behind the scenes.
While the Herøy one is particularly impressive, apparently this is common up and down the coast - one weekend in the summer, the town will put on a major theatrical production of a story (this one was entirely fictional, but they vary from recorded history through mythical stories to pure fiction) from the region's past. Of course, these towns may now be only 15 minutes driving from each other, but in ancient times, they may even have been different kingdoms - giving many different storylines to explore. Particularly for the children of the area, this is just "one of those things you do" if you live in the town. Herøy has a total population of about 8,300, and put on a show with over 300 people (once you include people directing traffic, etc.) Very impressive.
The "second half" of the soccer season has now started (they take a summer break, like everyone else), so Sunday was back to Høddvoll to see Hødd take on Nybergsund. Not a great start (down 3-0 after 20 minutes), but they came back to make it 3-2 by the end, so it was worth watching.
The weather here has been fantastic, 20+ degree temperatures, and sunny. Everyone tells me that I'm just lucky. I don't care, I'll take it. It turns out there is a nice little white sand beach in Ulsteinvik, so I went there on Saturday evening. The water is still the North Atlantic, regardless of the air temperature, though, so it's not so great for swimming!
The office is emptying out, as Ulstein's official three-week designated summer vacation (which I'm not taking) starts next week, so many people are getting a head start. I would say we're at about 50% of the staff present this week, and we'll be down at about 10% next week - the cafeteria even shuts down for three weeks.
During that time, it'll just be me and the contract workers (the Romanians and my Venezuelan friend), so I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on my boat.
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, 30 June 2008
Back in Ulsteinvik for a While...
Well, I went back to Canada for a week, and then I spent last weekend in Oslo, refereeing the Nordic (Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway) club champions' rugby tournament, but now I should be home for over a month - a first since I've been here!
The visit to Canada was a 10-year reunion for my high school (Pearson College) - In the period immediately preceding the reunion, I realized that 10 years is really an awfully short period of time. I mean, sure, some people have kids, one guy is bald, and many of us are married (only one pair of graduates married, that I know of), but there are also many who are still in school (Ph.D's, usually), or certainly still in the early stages of figuring out what life will hold for us.
Yes, I know - you never really know what life will hold. Still, at age 28/29/30, really only the first few serious moves have been made, after all that build-up of training and education. Therefore, the reunion is not so much a "report back on how life has gone", as it is a "snapshot of a work in the early stages."
Then, of course, the other factor in play was the self-selective nature of a reunion - who's going to spend the time, energy and money to show up at a reunion just to comment on their failings? Thus, pretty much everyone who came was doing really well - even including the occasional perma-student - Most were doing something interesting, and had neat stories to report.
Of course, the school asked us for money while we were there. Specifically though, it asked for very little money, but from as many of us graduates as possible. The point was made that 10 dollars a month - even 10 dollars a year - added us to the list of "alumni who support the college". The longer that list is (relevantly, the higher the percentage of alumni who support the college), the easier it is to approach other donors, because it demonstrates that the school is doing something right. Pearson College really is a pretty special place - for those who don't know much about it, it's a 2-year "end of high school" school, with 200 students from 80+ different countries attending at once. It is "private", in that it's not run by the government, but it's full-scholarship - you can't pay to go, even if you wanted to (though they clearly ask for donations once you're finished!) - more if you're interested at www.pearsoncollege.ca.
This last weekend I was in Oslo for the "Nordic Cup" - a rugby tournament between the champions of the leagues in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. It was a lot of fun, and there was an assessor there from France, to evaluate my ability as a referee, so if things go well, I might get the opportunity to take on even higher-level games. The tournament was won by the Swedish team, which was probably expected, but the Norwegians gave them a real run for their money.
The nice thing for me about the schedule was that Saturday was free (games were on Friday and Sunday). As a result, I had a chance to play a bit of "tourist" in Oslo for the first time (even though I have been there several times). The city core was bustling, particularly because it happened to be the Oslo Pride Parade. It doesn't have anything on the Toronto festival, of course, but it still meant there were lots of people in a party mood in the downtown. That, and many large men without shirts, dancing to arabic-themed techno music. Huh.
The main pedestrian-only boulevard in the downtown, Karl Johans Gate, is a really great street - lots of buskers, people selling political buttons (I bought one that says "Tog til Ålesund!" - Train to Ålesund. I know that the button-maker saw it as a political comment on using trains vs. planes for environmental reasons, but I mostly think that I would sleep better on a train than the overnight bus.), coffee shops (where I got yet another price-shock - $30 club sandwich and I didn't even get fries!), and hordes of people who just clearly enjoyed being out downtown on a sunny day.
One thing that I've noticed about Oslo (and this was confirmed by a friend I visited for breakfast on Sunday morning) is that it doesn't really connect with the sea. It has a port, and there are ferries that go overnight to a number of places (Copenhagen, Kiel, and others), but there are very few views of the ocean from the city, very few marine-focused industries (at least, not focused on the ocean accessible from Oslo - they might be offices for a company that operates in the North Sea, but they fly to Stavanger before they ever smell salt water), and limited numbers of real waterfront walks/parks. Of course, there are some, including their big new opera house (Photos at this link), but it's nothing compared what I've felt in Vancouver, Victoria, St. John's, Halifax, or even London, England (where the ocean is miles away, but the waterfront is a fundamental feature of the city).
So yes, now back in Ulsteinvik for a good stretch, here. I think I need to explore my neighbourhood a bit more, and this will be a good chance - there are several other little towns in the area that I haven't visited, and some good, easy hiking to be done.
Oh, yeah, and maybe get the car fixed. Living without 5th gear should not be permanent.
Cheers,
Ashley
The visit to Canada was a 10-year reunion for my high school (Pearson College) - In the period immediately preceding the reunion, I realized that 10 years is really an awfully short period of time. I mean, sure, some people have kids, one guy is bald, and many of us are married (only one pair of graduates married, that I know of), but there are also many who are still in school (Ph.D's, usually), or certainly still in the early stages of figuring out what life will hold for us.
Yes, I know - you never really know what life will hold. Still, at age 28/29/30, really only the first few serious moves have been made, after all that build-up of training and education. Therefore, the reunion is not so much a "report back on how life has gone", as it is a "snapshot of a work in the early stages."
Then, of course, the other factor in play was the self-selective nature of a reunion - who's going to spend the time, energy and money to show up at a reunion just to comment on their failings? Thus, pretty much everyone who came was doing really well - even including the occasional perma-student - Most were doing something interesting, and had neat stories to report.
Of course, the school asked us for money while we were there. Specifically though, it asked for very little money, but from as many of us graduates as possible. The point was made that 10 dollars a month - even 10 dollars a year - added us to the list of "alumni who support the college". The longer that list is (relevantly, the higher the percentage of alumni who support the college), the easier it is to approach other donors, because it demonstrates that the school is doing something right. Pearson College really is a pretty special place - for those who don't know much about it, it's a 2-year "end of high school" school, with 200 students from 80+ different countries attending at once. It is "private", in that it's not run by the government, but it's full-scholarship - you can't pay to go, even if you wanted to (though they clearly ask for donations once you're finished!) - more if you're interested at www.pearsoncollege.ca.
This last weekend I was in Oslo for the "Nordic Cup" - a rugby tournament between the champions of the leagues in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. It was a lot of fun, and there was an assessor there from France, to evaluate my ability as a referee, so if things go well, I might get the opportunity to take on even higher-level games. The tournament was won by the Swedish team, which was probably expected, but the Norwegians gave them a real run for their money.
The nice thing for me about the schedule was that Saturday was free (games were on Friday and Sunday). As a result, I had a chance to play a bit of "tourist" in Oslo for the first time (even though I have been there several times). The city core was bustling, particularly because it happened to be the Oslo Pride Parade. It doesn't have anything on the Toronto festival, of course, but it still meant there were lots of people in a party mood in the downtown. That, and many large men without shirts, dancing to arabic-themed techno music. Huh.
The main pedestrian-only boulevard in the downtown, Karl Johans Gate, is a really great street - lots of buskers, people selling political buttons (I bought one that says "Tog til Ålesund!" - Train to Ålesund. I know that the button-maker saw it as a political comment on using trains vs. planes for environmental reasons, but I mostly think that I would sleep better on a train than the overnight bus.), coffee shops (where I got yet another price-shock - $30 club sandwich and I didn't even get fries!), and hordes of people who just clearly enjoyed being out downtown on a sunny day.
One thing that I've noticed about Oslo (and this was confirmed by a friend I visited for breakfast on Sunday morning) is that it doesn't really connect with the sea. It has a port, and there are ferries that go overnight to a number of places (Copenhagen, Kiel, and others), but there are very few views of the ocean from the city, very few marine-focused industries (at least, not focused on the ocean accessible from Oslo - they might be offices for a company that operates in the North Sea, but they fly to Stavanger before they ever smell salt water), and limited numbers of real waterfront walks/parks. Of course, there are some, including their big new opera house (Photos at this link), but it's nothing compared what I've felt in Vancouver, Victoria, St. John's, Halifax, or even London, England (where the ocean is miles away, but the waterfront is a fundamental feature of the city).
So yes, now back in Ulsteinvik for a good stretch, here. I think I need to explore my neighbourhood a bit more, and this will be a good chance - there are several other little towns in the area that I haven't visited, and some good, easy hiking to be done.
Oh, yeah, and maybe get the car fixed. Living without 5th gear should not be permanent.
Cheers,
Ashley
Monday, 16 June 2008
House Colours, Midnight Light, Trondheim
(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
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
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