Today marked the 105th anniversary of the fire that burned down the city of Ålesund. Every year on this date they do a few things to commemorate the event – as it was the biggest fire in the history of this country – but today, because the date fell on a Saturday – they kicked it into overdrive. I had plans to be downtown today to see and do all there was from noon until after 6pm when the fireworks went off, but Kaleb’s agenda won out. A friend from his class at school, Tobias, (not the one that’s related to us) came over at ten this morning to play for a few hours. Just after he arrived, Kaleb got a call from yet another kid in his class – Andre – who wanted to come over as well. So we had two extra boys with us until seven tonight. They both brought their Pokemon cards and all the boys spent several hours trading cards and learning how to play the game.
It was quite amusing to watch the boys play together. A lot of kids here collect Pokemon cards but the instructions on how to play the game only come in English, so none of the kids know the rules. Kaleb sat and read the rules and translated them to Norwegian for his friends and then they all played practice games together as no one wanted to risk losing any cards in a game. I loved their interaction, but I hated that it was a really mild weather day and they were INSIDE for so much of it. Finally, after several hours, we got them to head down to the beach to get some fresh air, but then they were right back again wanting to play with those silly cards. I also kept trying to entice them into going to town to see a fire breathing guy, climb on old fire trucks, go to all the museums that were free today, attend a walking tour of the route the fire took and see the only house that survived the blaze… but they couldn’t be convinced until about 3:30 and by the time we got to town, most things were closed. The one thing that was still going was the fire department’s ladder truck (see photos). It was set up to give kids “rides” up and down in the bucket at the end of the ladder. They all thought that was pretty cool but it looked a little scary to me. Afterwards we got ice cream and walked down by the water and let the boys throw rocks into it to pass the time. We ran into at least twenty people we know as it’s a small town and this was a big day. We had an hour to kill before the fireworks started so we got a pizza and then crossed the street to watch the show. I’ve never been that close to fireworks before so it was something special and gave the boys all a good thrill.
I couldn’t have been happier with how they all played together today. The only complaint I had was that Kaleb doesn’t fully understand things they say, so I had to stay close by to help translate so they didn’t get frustrated with him when they thought he knew what they were talking about and he didn’t. Because of that, I didn’t get outside myself to enjoy the day, and I just sat at the computer loading photos on to my Facebook account to pass the time. I feel like Kaleb has moved to a new level now though – and that he can almost hold his own with the kids so he’ll hopefully be included in more things. It’s great in the short-run but looking ahead, it will make our trip back home all the more painful for him, I’m sure. But our main goal in coming here was to socialize him and get him fluent in the language so we’re getting close to meeting our objectives. With these boys from his class all seeming to enjoy his company, his weekends might get pretty busy. Hallelujah.
We talked with the parents of all these boys about the “mobbing” situation at Kaleb’s school and none of them had heard of anyone having it as rough as Kaleb has, so apparently he’s “special,” although we have heard a few comments about the school itself. One neighbor said that if the Head Master from a few years ago was still there, this problem wouldn’t exist. Another woman I take the bus with said her friends moved out of the area last year because her kids were getting beat up and since they moved, they haven’t had a single problem in their new school. So who knows what is behind it all. I’m just thankful Kaleb doesn’t take any of it personal. I don’t think it’s as important to protect him from those kinds of situations as it is to teach him how to deal with them. It'd be nice if he could stay standing after "going through the fire," too.
It was quite amusing to watch the boys play together. A lot of kids here collect Pokemon cards but the instructions on how to play the game only come in English, so none of the kids know the rules. Kaleb sat and read the rules and translated them to Norwegian for his friends and then they all played practice games together as no one wanted to risk losing any cards in a game. I loved their interaction, but I hated that it was a really mild weather day and they were INSIDE for so much of it. Finally, after several hours, we got them to head down to the beach to get some fresh air, but then they were right back again wanting to play with those silly cards. I also kept trying to entice them into going to town to see a fire breathing guy, climb on old fire trucks, go to all the museums that were free today, attend a walking tour of the route the fire took and see the only house that survived the blaze… but they couldn’t be convinced until about 3:30 and by the time we got to town, most things were closed. The one thing that was still going was the fire department’s ladder truck (see photos). It was set up to give kids “rides” up and down in the bucket at the end of the ladder. They all thought that was pretty cool but it looked a little scary to me. Afterwards we got ice cream and walked down by the water and let the boys throw rocks into it to pass the time. We ran into at least twenty people we know as it’s a small town and this was a big day. We had an hour to kill before the fireworks started so we got a pizza and then crossed the street to watch the show. I’ve never been that close to fireworks before so it was something special and gave the boys all a good thrill.
I couldn’t have been happier with how they all played together today. The only complaint I had was that Kaleb doesn’t fully understand things they say, so I had to stay close by to help translate so they didn’t get frustrated with him when they thought he knew what they were talking about and he didn’t. Because of that, I didn’t get outside myself to enjoy the day, and I just sat at the computer loading photos on to my Facebook account to pass the time. I feel like Kaleb has moved to a new level now though – and that he can almost hold his own with the kids so he’ll hopefully be included in more things. It’s great in the short-run but looking ahead, it will make our trip back home all the more painful for him, I’m sure. But our main goal in coming here was to socialize him and get him fluent in the language so we’re getting close to meeting our objectives. With these boys from his class all seeming to enjoy his company, his weekends might get pretty busy. Hallelujah.
We talked with the parents of all these boys about the “mobbing” situation at Kaleb’s school and none of them had heard of anyone having it as rough as Kaleb has, so apparently he’s “special,” although we have heard a few comments about the school itself. One neighbor said that if the Head Master from a few years ago was still there, this problem wouldn’t exist. Another woman I take the bus with said her friends moved out of the area last year because her kids were getting beat up and since they moved, they haven’t had a single problem in their new school. So who knows what is behind it all. I’m just thankful Kaleb doesn’t take any of it personal. I don’t think it’s as important to protect him from those kinds of situations as it is to teach him how to deal with them. It'd be nice if he could stay standing after "going through the fire," too.
