Jack and the Beanstalk

The British Amateur Theater Society (BATS) production of the pantomime "Jack and the Beanstalk" is finally completed, and the performances were all quite memorable! We did four shows (one Thursday, one Friday, and a matinee and evening performance Saturday) and had total attendance of over 600 people. Not too bad for amateur theater!

For those that aren't familiar with the British pantomime tradition, it usually involves the humorous retelling of a classic fairy tale. There are usually some guys playing girls, girls playing guys, and people playing animals. There is a lot of singing, dancing, and audience participation. Kids are especially encouraged to get involved.


I played the Demon Pestblight, who is intent on causing the Good Fairy Evergreen's hopes for brave, young Jack to fail. I usually arrived on stage to the boos and hisses of the audience, which is to be expected. Most performances I even remembered the majority of my lines!

One item of note from our last performance - the cow (Daisy) had a bit with a song along with Dame Durden that involved getting the audience to sing. Just as the scene was starting, Daisy's head fell off. The Dame did some quick improv, accusing Daisy of getting so excited that she just lost her head, then called for a vet from the audience.


A new visitor to the neighborhood is the Dingxianghai cargo ship. It came in yesterday. Pretty impressive to see a ship this size docked next to our apartment!

Finally, it snowed again last night - about 4 inches. It is forecast to snow off and on for the next few days. And all this in a place they told us didn't get but just an inch or two of snow every year.

Our First Time Skiing

We went on our first ever ski trip last weekend with the British School. It was in Sirdal at the ski slope beside the Marathon cabin. We were fortunate enough to get the cabin for the weekend as well, so it made it very easy to get to the slope.

Sidney, Kimber and I all attended ski school. Sidney was in a separate class from us, which was a good thing. We probably would have spent most of our time telling her to stand up and stop eating snow rather than learn anything ourselves. Not that we learned a lot anyway, but more on that in a minute. Sidney did well in her class and seemed pretty comfortable on the skis. Her favorite parts of class were making a "pizza slice" (snowplowing) and the "Ski School Boogie" (a form of the "Hokie Pokie").

As far as the adult ski school, well, we hurt in places we haven't hurt in for a long time. I am convinced that learning to ski definitely gets harder with age. Kimber did better than I did, mostly because she figured out how to stop. I got the award for the most dramatic fall, but did not injure myself or anyone else in the process. I did learn how to turn, and the instructor reluctantly told me that since I couldn't seem to get myself stopped snowplowing, just to turn and stop instead. He said he had never told anyone that before, and I was glad I was able to give him a unique experience. After that, I was able to relax and enjoy it, and I didn't fall anymore. We will see how the ski trip in March goes. I still don't think we are ready to invest money in our own ski equipment.

Things are going well with my play practice. We have rehearsals tonight and tomorrow, and the first performance is Thursday night. I have most of my lines memorized, and feel like I should be okay by Thursday (I hope!)

For those that have been thinking about contributing to the Haiti Relief effort, I can suggest a way. A friend and classmate from nursing school, Melody Webster, is going down with a group called MercyWorks. Here is the link to the organization: www.worldwidevillage.org. If anything, please pray for them and their efforts, and for the people affected by this tragedy.

Finally, an update on our forecast. The snow that arrived just before Christmas is still here, though it has turned to ice in many places. We are forecast to get an inch or so of snow tonight, but the temperatures warm to a balmy 6C (43F) over the next couple of days, with about an inch of rain as well. Thursday is to be clear and breezy. Hopefully that will be enough to get rid of the snow. Since Stavanger Commune has gone through their next three years of budget for snow clearing (and the streets are still bad in places), I am sure everyone will be happy to see it gone!

Dealing with the Cold

So even though we live almost as far north as the Arctic Circle, the temperatures here aren't normally extremely cold during the winter. Except this year. Many people that have lived here for over 35 years have told us that this is the coldest it has ever been here for the longest period of time. Temperatures have held around -12 to -14 Celsius (7-10 degrees Fahrenheit) for the past three weeks. The snow that came just before Christmas has still not melted, and the Norwegians are actually complaining that it is cold. Even our saltwater fjord is freezing.

Someone came up to me the other day and said "I bet you wish you hadn't moved to Norway with all this cold weather, huh?!?" I responded "This would be a warm winter in Ohio!"


Still, there is one issue with it being this cold - it is too cold in the mountains for natural snowfall to occur. We are supposed to go skiing in two weeks, and there isn't much natural snow at the ski area we are going to. I do understand they are trying to run the snow-making machines, though, so there is some hope. At least Sidney has all her ski-wear ready.

The first week back at school for Sidney and I has gone well. Sidney needs to get off her own pace and onto the pace of the rest of the class, but that will come. The student I work with is integrating into the classroom now and has done very well with the other students, so I am able to help with some of the other kids as well. I think the boys find it pretty cool to have a man in the classroom with them now.

I am also trying to learn my lines for a pantomime I was recruited into participating in. I play the Demon Pestblight in a panto version of Jack and the Beanstalk being performed by the British Amateur Theater Society here in Stavanger. The performance is at the end of January. Hopefully I will have my lines down by then! I am sure there will be lots of great pictures to come from that!