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This year i got my christmaspresent early, on the 23th december. Around 9 in the morning we were sitting in a landrover, dressed in enourmous(/-ly warm) jumpsuits and riding direction darkness with Svalbard Husky, which was recomended by a finnish friend and everything she said to be pleasant, was indeed so. We arrived in a dogyard like so many here. There was a reindeer outside the fence, my first one to see.

The alaskan husky is so very friendly: our guide told us, that these dogs were historically the ones who would keep the babies warm during colder days, meaning that only the friendly, calm ones could survive.

As the dogs were chosen, we had to get them ourselves and put them infront of the sledge.It was not easy in the cold and we had to take our gloves off in this freezing weather to attach everything safetly. The leading dogs were the first. We had a boy and a girl in the front, and this guy was trying to pee on me, when that didn't work out, he thought he'll just lean on the lady instead. But it was so much fun. We got to know the names of the dogs and a bit about their charakter. And then ... into the darkness we went!

The dogs were so beautiful, it's sad i can't photograph in the dark yet and the flashlight kind of makes everythig fall flat. 

After we got back we got every dog back to its place and feed all the 50 dogs, then enjoyed some aurora lights, that were unusally red and yellow on tuesday. And after that we were again in the landrover driving back to town, where we were still in deep awe for the whole day. 

There was this momend during the ride, when we switched our headlamps off. We were moving through time and space and yet it felt we were not moving at all, everything just felt like a blanket was being laid over us. Forgetting the existance of time and only taking in this enourmous space of endlessness. Scary and majestic. 

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This photo is taken 9 am. In case you wondered :)

As im browsing through an estonian ebook-shop in the section of foreign classics, i see a lot of Cartland next and between some Dostojevski, Gogol, Rilke and Fizgerald, Bacon. When did that happen? And it makes me wonder if i should buy one of Cartlands ebooks? But the pink exterior with the flowers and old pin-up-like photographs kind of make it look like a toothache.

It's 3am in my hometown and here i am wide awake. For some days (weeks) i have developed this medieval habit of waking up in the middle of the night. I have my continuing zombie-moments. 

Recently i sent out our weddingphotoswebsite and included some polarnight impressions, very minimal though, but the responses were theremore amuzing. Anwsers kept coming with the content: thought we have the sun, it's not that bright, its actually really-really dark here too.

M, who's been here for couple of years, says that when she goes home in november she's just so happy to see the sun rise every morning, that rain, clouds, mud and anything-everything else seems actually like decoration. I guess it's not something easy to comprehend and i think those responses were meant to cheer us up. And, well, they did. In a odd way, but they did.

Maybe it's likewise as in paintings, when you want to give the impression of darkness you add a little light somewhere and vice versa. So the gray-dark winter is much harder to endure perhaps?

Mørketide or dark season is here actually dark, i mean, like night, like really, honestly. Even people coming from Tromsø are surprised by it, altho they also have this mørketide they "celebrate", still on midday some sunrays reach that northern city of norway. But not here. Not this town.

So while we have not seen the sun, at the moment for almost two months now, we wait patiently and calmly, cuddle up in warmth and take in every source of light with the utmost delight ;) that way we survive, longing quietly for the sunrise, that awaits us here in February.

Sweet hugs and merry holidays!

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People are mean. They are, in an unknowing way. Like myself, when with an odd feeling i discover, that ten sentences ago i might insulted the person im talking with, or at least tapped on an old wound. A feeling of bit guilt and anticipation. There isn't room for an apology, that would seem weird, oddly personal and out of the blue. Ignoring and continuing is the way. We say sorry only when we really meant to hurt someone, it seems. ?

Our mouths are the sliding doors of the night metro: who knows what'll jump out of there.

It's been a week of "great plans" and "nothing much". The worst and the best in one. It's not that bad, as i look at my calendar and the crossed out to-do-list, but it's the feeling. We've been a bit sad i guess. We know we'll stay here for christmas, and we know that everyone we know here, will not.

I guess i doesn't matter that much. We'll get over it. 

Yesterday night was a great snowstorm. Constant howling for days. It's over now and i can hear one of the neigbours showeling snow. At midnight.

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This is not how it looks like here right now. It's still dark.It's taken in november.

The wind is back, with the speed of 20 meters per second and so it'll be for 3 days. Luckly the wind is not freezing cold as it would be if it'll be more humid. Down in the centre of the town it's not so bad, but in front of our house it does take ones breath away. But it's kind of fun too, sometimes.

Someone asked once about the houses here, as what are they made of, so i'll share as much as i know now about that. All the houses here (with the exeption of Huset) are built from wood, brought from mainland. In this arctic desert firefightingmanagement is therefore very important. The buildings have no cellar, they are standing on wooden poles that go into the permafrost, 5 to 6 meters it was, if i remember correctly. Thats why in a case of strong wind the houses sving along. It's something you rather feel than see. And when lying in bed at night feeling the house move, is okay for you, i guess living here is no problem :)

Huset (in english "house") is the only stonebuilding in town. It's like The House. Store Norske build it for three years and it is the only house with a cellar, and to be more precise, with a wine cellar since the '80s. It was opened in 1951 and had been from restaurant and school to postoffice with a busstop to emergency hospital and movie theater. Now it's the place of a fancy restaurant and the most nordic night club in the world. Nearly all of the concerts they have here take likewise place in Huset. It's located a bit furhter away from the centercity, near Nybyen, i think most of the income of the taxidrivers comes here from driving to the airport and driving from Huset at night :)