Nii palju siis lumest. Väljas sajab jälle vihma. Külmunud veenired, mille peal lapsed eile uisutasid, vulisevad jälle. Aga asi on tõsine. Jälle. Õhtuks on oodata suurt tormi ning sademeid, mis ületavad oktoobris olnud nädalavahetust. Ühe õthuga tuleb alla rohkem sademeid kui oleks tavaline terves kuus? Matkad, mäeretked, isegi nõlvadel jalutamine on kuulutatud ohtlikuks. Kella kolmeks evakueeritakse inimesed Nybyenist, linnaosa liustike lähedal, ja siis me ootame ja vaatame, mis saab. Eelkõige aga loodame, et ei saa midagi, et torm möödub ja inimesed saavad tagasi oma kodudesse ning ongi kõik.
Vihmatorm siin, novembris, on midagi erakordset ja keegi ei tea täpselt, mida see tähendab. Ainuke, mis on väga kindel, on see, et õige see pole.
Lugesin seda. It's in english. Pea sellest ei plahvatanud, oli äratundmise tunne. Peaks ehk jällegi jaapani keele poole tagasi pöörduma ning ehk on variante seda keelt õppida kuidagi mingil sellisel viisil ja tasemel, et nimekaardid ja mõned teised aspektid saab enamvähem välistada. Esialgu. Mõni äpp?
Üks armas tõdemus tuli selle tekstiga aga kaasa. Hetkel ma ei oska seda sõnastada ja väga ei kiirustagi, sest sõnastatud mõtted, eriti kirjas, eriti kuskil internetis, kipuvad hiljem säärde hammustama. Ja koerad mulle täna ei meeldi.
Aa, ilmast nii palju, et kell on praegu 12.45 ning ongi pime. Nägin just kuidas üks rekka kaugtuled sisse lülitas. Lund ei ole. Still no snow. Keegi riputas kohalikku osta-müü-vaheta facebookilehele kuulutuse, milles müüski lund, maismaalt.
Mingi imelik tuju. Käes on teine november, hingedepäev, ja siin on aeg seisma jäämas. Valgust on veel kella kümne ja 12 vahel ehk kõige enam. Kell kaks päraslõunal on juba kottpime. Päikest enam ei näe, isegi mäetipust mitte. Täpselt nagu müts, kindad, jope on helkurvest loogiline asi enne väljaminekut selga tõmmata. Ka hommikul. Siit limbo-linnast vaadatuna tundub maailm pisut segane. Siinne enam mitte. See hetk esimesel talvel kui jalutasin mööda kesklinna tänavat ja sõin banaani ning siis järgmine hetk seisatasin, taibates kui jabur see tundub: akrtikas banaani süüa. Kui keegi ütleb sulle, et aasta päras sööd sa arktikas banaani, siis see on selline naljalause, eks. Või et see on üldse võimalik. Või et see on täiesti normaalne ja mitte üldse jabur :) Selliseid hetki väga enam pole. Restoranis sokkides olla, majadest kaugemale minnes relv kaasa võtta, auto kõrval põhjapõtru kohata ja mõned muud olmeasjad, mis mulle praegu enam pähegi ei tule, on ju norm.
Oo... aga täna oli üks hetk, mil ma mõtlesin, et mida-mida-mida. Isegi korraks vihastasin vist. Ja see tuli sellest maailmast, kuhu me tagasi läheme, kus on kõik need asjad, need ette- ja tahaarvamised ning mingid standardid ja kujutelmad mingitest inimestest ümberringi. Ja aeg, mis kuhugi kiirustab ja prügi ja poed ja poed täis prügi. Kõik see. Aga puud on. Ja kallid inimesed ka.
October. No snow, +8C, low clouds, too much rain, landslides. 2016. Not the business usual in the Arctic, where it should be winter
Tõsine asi, eks.
It's serious.
And you can belive a person who lives in the Arctic. My friends, who have lived here 10, 15, 20 years all say one thing... it's less and less snow, ice, minus degrees, with every year!
It's my third winter here... and even i can see the change... because here it is visual and fast!
Pidada kinni igapäevasest sissekandest polegi nii kerge. Eile jäin õhtul poisse magama pannes ise ka magama ja siis pärast ei tulnud enam öösel und. Järgmine nädal ongi november. Päike enam üle horisondi ei tõuse ja päev on sama lühike: neli tundi halli hämarikku, mis iga päev umbes 20 minutiga lüheneb. Järgmine nädal pole isegi seda. Ongi öö. Pikk, pikk öö.
Meile on see kolmas polaaröö. Kerge hibernatsioon ja lugematud kohvitassid!
Eilne päev oli päris produktiivne. Aga miskipärast on järgmine päev pärast sellist pingutust nagu üks suur veniv näts ning kuigi üht-teist saab ikkagi siiski tehtud, mõneti ehk isegi mitte kehvemini kui eile, siis on tunne ikkagi selline so- so. Vihma kallal ilkumine lõppes õhtul kui (juba) peale kella kuut hakkas linnakohal tantsima roheline virmaliste punt. Pidu kestis ca kella üheksani ning mul õnnestus ka välja pildistama minna. See väike pisiasi, et kuidas oma kaamera sätestada aurora borealise tabamiseks... jäi tegemata, nii et lõpuks oli katse-eksituse-meetodil klõpsimine ja kaasvaatlejate abi see, mis suutis mu panna jäädvustama vähemalt midagigi. Ilupilte teen siis mõni teine kord.
Aga mis seal ikka: kui jagatud rõõm on toppeltrõõm, siis jagatud ebaõnnestumine on ...ka rõõm. Ja virmalisi on tegelikult ka päris äge niisama vaadata.
Esimesed pildid tegin koos poistega rõdul. Virmalised olid nii tugevad, et isegi linnatuledes olid nad nähtavad ja paistsid õrnrohekad(talvaliselt sööb linnavalgustus värvi ära ja aurora paistab pigem hallikas).
Aga fotokal on kõik valesti alates säriajast kuni ava suuruseni jms.
Homseni!
PS. eile oli mu kodulinna naabritädi 103. sünnipäev! Pean talle rääkima, et tema sünnipäeval selline vinge etendus meil toimus, jah.
Juhtus see, mis juhtuma pidi.
Ma kirjutan nüüd eesti keeles, sest tuleb välja, et see polegi enam nii lihtne. Sel semestril pean tegema mõned tööd emakeeles ning olen jäänud hätta. Materjalid on nimelt kõik ja enamjaolt kas inglise või saksa keeles. Neid keeli oskan nüüd peale kaheaastast giidikogemust omavahel päris kenasti vahetada, ainult eesti keel on jäänud kodu- ja köögikeeleks. Ma ei tea enam sõnu, tegelikult isegi lihtsaid sõnu, eelkõige lihtsaid, emakeelseid sõnu. Mis siin aitab? Lugemine muidugi! Aga aeg on piiratud: lugema peab, kuid lugema peab eelkõige neid võõrkeelseid artikleid.
Väike lahendus: nüüd ilmub iga päev natuke eesti keelset teksti just sel eesmärgil, et pea, näpud, silmad harjuksid moodustama pikemaid lauseid ja produtseerima teksti. Produtseerima... produce... tootma/looma. Asi on tõsine. Et kirjutamisblokki ei tekiks, kirjutan nii nagu räägin ning ühtlasi loodetavasti leian selles protsessis, tahtsin öelda edenemises?, ka oma hääle üles.
Millest alustada? Ilmast? Muidugi. On oktoober, väljas on kolm kraadi sooja ning sajab vihma. Täiesti tavapärane oktoobrikuu teisipäev kui vaid poleks tegu oktoobrikuuga Teravmägedel, Arktikas. Seal, kus elavad polaarrebased, põhjapõdrad, morsad ja jääkarud. See on mu kolmas sügis siin ja esimest korda on oktoobris tõesti veel sügis. Varasemalt on septembri teisel poolel õhus juba talvelõhn ning isegi kui lumega sel ajal pole priisata, on siiski külm ja karge, jõed ei kohise ja ojad ei vulise, taevas on roosa. Mis toimub? Sügis on kõikjal olnud pikk ja soe, kuid siin üleval ei tähenda see head. Vihma hulga suurenemine tõstab maalihke riske (et kuna puid pole eks) ja temperatuuri kõikumine üles- ja allapoole nulli ning jääkiht katab maapinna ei pääse põhjapõdrad "rohule" ligi. Karudest ma ei hakkagi rääkima.
Tänane vihm on natuker eriline, sest kuigi meil orus sajab alla vesi, siis teiselpool lahte ning mädedes tuleb samal ajal alla lörts. Loodetavasti läheb nüüd külmaks.... mis sest, et enne lumekihi tulekut, tuleb tõenäoliselt liigelda uisutades või jääkassidega.
estonia, germany, italy, chech, switzerland, japan, brazil
they say that they were on holiday in
Vilnius, Genf, Monaco, Warsaw, Graz,
Busan, Puerto Rico
they smile
an awkward smile
i smile
an even more awkward smile
essence of quirkiness
it's not my city, not my country, my language not even close
or is it
It's all the same from a distance
no trees i gather my thoughts
fear not
for I can tell you all the wonderful stories of my home
the gaze goes past
to another person
a hand is reached out
to another person
that was it
our introduction
my questions
where did my questions go
where are YOU from what do you DO
i stand up and look across the room the space i see around me where
are they the foreigners with whom i don't share country culture language we
share being foreigners we speak in a foreign language with each other and we
listen to
The first question people ask: when is the best time to travel to Svalbard, Longyearbyen?
The answer: When we started living here i caught myself after every month thinking that the last month was the best. In October i thought: Wow, September is so beautiful here, the coulours of the endlessly long sunsets, the beautiful mountains, the smell of the first snow in fresh air. No trees! In November: Wow, the cold, the snow, the promising auroras! And this would continue until September next year thinking: Wow, August is awesome, the colours of the plants, the grass, the reindeers, the hikes to the mountains! You see?
Then again, now i do have a little insight perhaps; The first question might actually be to yourself: what am i looking for in this trip? What do i want to see and experience?
I have a feeling this will become a long post, right.. O_O
Aurora borealis, the northern lights:
More often people are eager about the polar-day than the polar-night. As an estonian, i surely could kind of imagine the polar-day, since we have something like that in the midsummer (of course here it's like totally much more of a "day" than in estonia that one-two nights) but the polar-night seemed therefore arose more interest: how will we cope? how does it feel? Will we go mad not seeing the sun for months? Do we change as people? Haha! When the only indicator for morning or evening is the clock, will it be depressing?
It is strange, especially here, since in December there isn't even a hint on light at any time of the day. (In Tromso there supossed to be still a little blue time during midday).
But this darkness is good.... very good to see some northern lights, aurora borealis. This is something of course you cant scedule, but with a bit of luck it's possible. In my personal experience the best times for that might be November and December. In January it's usual to have a warmer period with the snow melting and rain, so the clouds cover the sky. February might work too, since it is still cold and the night still is much much longer than the subtle light that might take only an hour or three of the entire day. After the 8th of March we have the sun coming back fast and then there is even more to look out for.
Dogs, snowmobiles, skiing/hiking:
My favourite is the dogsledge rides. A tip: when you're on the sledge, riding between the white snowcovered mountains in the dark polarnight, starry sky above you - switch off your headlamp, that way you can see more. You're on a different planet, sweeping through the universe in silence. But the first rule of dogsledging is.... never let go of the sldege. As cute and loving the dogs here are, they will not stop when you fall off. Hold on tight!
The second thing: In smaller companies you get to interact with the dogs, it means, you yourself will put them on the sledge, later take them off and feed them. In seven cases of nine: I'm afraid of dogs. After interacting with the sledgedogs here, i've partly overcome that fear... im not afraid of sledgedog anymore. (Still afraid of the bulldog or something, who lives on our street.) The common breed here is the alascan husky, which is here a bit of a mix of the greenland dog too, here and there some siberian husky vibes in corporated. It's told that the innuits used dogs to keep children warm during cold winternights, -days, so that only a friendly dog could survive in that culture. We had a chance to dog-sit a retired greenlanddog couple of times and she's the sweetest ever, even with three children running around screaming and a house full of exitement.... she was chill, wanting to cuddle.
Snowmobilerides: fast and furiously through the arctic! With a snowmobile obviously one can get much further in little time on the island, but beware! Safety first! Thereare awesome trips offered, but keep in mind: you are driving, therefore you need a driverslicence with you and you need to be sober. It might seempalpable. Worth mentioning anyway. And... last year we witnesed a snowmobile accident right from our window, where a trip didn't last even 300m in the valley, when a scooter spinned and crashed. It was the day of the solar eclipse and this guy had to lay in the hospitalbed instead. The reason being: because he drives a motorbike, he thought to make some trick with the snowmobile too, well, it was an totally exiting day. Lucky he didn't crash into someone else and survived with some broken bones.
When it comes to skiing, i must say, i haven't tried this here. I've been more on hikes on the snow. The good thing: no need to go too far. The mountains around the smal town offer great views and nice nature experiences. Depending on your strength you can combine a longer/harder trip, or something more easy. The Platåfjell is quite popular during winter and summer.
Im going to leave you with two links, Spitsbergen Travel and Svalbard Wildelife, to look around and see the different opportunities. Usually trips with dogs and snowmobiles provide you a overallsuit, hat, gloves, shoes, that are suitable even for harsh conditions. The shoes are designed to keep feet safe even with -40 C.
It's quite a long blogpost aleady, so i continue some time later about other oportunities/seasons and my views and tips about them ;) and what to pack with you when travelling to Svalbard as a tourist ;) See you soon! Bisous!
Aurora yesterday 16.11.2015, taken next to our house, that's why the snow glows pink: it's the streetlight reflecting back. In the middle the always flegmatic reindeer, that with his fellows almost gave me a heartattac when they suddenly appeared behind me in a pack of five or six climbing up the mountain. They are rather white in the wintertime like one other animal up here, but of course they are not afraid of noises so they are more likely to be seen in town. But those two seconds tho until my eyes and my brain could make out what they were.... uuh.
It was a mild winterday yesterday, finally some minus degrees. But for auroras it has been crazy. We even saw them in the morning while going to work. The sun has been very active these past weeks, so that even with clouds and warm weather we have been seeing them a lot. It is unusual actually.
Have a sweet and calm week. I'll light a candle today aswell.
It's weird but i can't really remember a time i was more hungry for music than i am now. I was just listening and watching this Damien Rice live piece and ahhh.. it's so good (low quality video though), how awesome it must have been to be there live. I miss live instruments: piano, strings, guitar, voice. And the sensation of a concert. Lately.
So, Valentine's Day is over. Many-many e-mails are waiting to be written. I still suspect time flows here differently, but it might not be because we're exactly here, but that we are somewhere else. But homesickness is something strange, since you can feel it anywhere, even when you'r home. I listened to some music in the evening, when everyone is sleeping, and felt that this yearning is maybe something really great, moving people to create so many beautiful tunes. Thanks to this song i actually will keep an eye on the competition for the eurovision song contest.
We're back from our vacation, but still recovering. Everyone in this family is out of shape and i don't know when it all will be back to normal again. As usual here, the wind is howling and the temperature is near -30C, the ongoing gale just making it worse. But the blue period has started: during midday the sky and the mountains are all blue in different shades - it's beautiful.
I start from the end. The last days of our Estonian trip we were just like zombies. Although we limited visitations and going around, it still got crazy. Because crazy things kept happening. But even when something went wrong, it went all right again. This rollercoasterride wasn't bad itself, but it drained a lot of energy.
Our flight from Tallinn got delayed because of the sudden snow in Oslo. It meant we had even less time to transfer than before and as we remembered it was always 'running like nobody's watching' in Oslo. This airport is too small for their traffik, honestly. The line in the security check? They should separate the domestic and the international already before the security check? And im not even starting to talk about the strollers, when you'r on the domestic flight, because there aren't any to be found. I like to work out, but not with my baby under my arm, our coats under the other, a backpack and my passport between my teeth. We lost our phones, liquids, babyfood, e-book, Juss's shoes and some other important stuff in the security check: i didn't see them, Martin didn't, so each one thought the other one had taken them. So silly, when i think about it now.
Stressed, trying to calm down, figuring out solutions as soon as we arrive at Longyear. And then... in Tromso the flight to Longyear is delayed for two hours. After two hours it's cancelled. Hungry, tired, lost, sad. The battery completely empty.
It had been raining and the runnway here is very icy, in addition the wind was strong and unpredictable. A plane not going to/from Longyear as supposed to, is something everyone i know living here, has experienced at least once. SAS had us all booked a pretty hotel and we got to eat nice food. But the thought of our lost items still ruined the mood, since it was hard to get any kind of contact. (Note to self: write down some phonenumbers!). The snow in Oslo had mixed up many peoles plans i think.
Probably in some days i see what photos our camera has stored and share some vacation crazyness :) Until then: rest, recover, chill!
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.
Taken out of context, isn't it strange. Didn't you move?/Shouldn't you be somewhere far away? Seconds later my apologetic rush would kick in and i would start telling how my husband came for work, how we came along to visit family, how it's only for two weeks. Feeling like the object of "What's wrong in this picture" section.
So, home, where are you?
It's not where it used to be. And it's not quite here yet. But, as we drove back up Sukkertoppen from the airport, Juss said "our Svalbard" and invited our local friend D over to visit us in "our Svalbard". It was funny, sweet and somewhat surprising. He picked it up from all the invitations we have made to familymembers and friends. And he must have felt homesick too.
I realize that i write in questions. That's how i start. There are topics i'm not sure about, not sure what to think of them, wanting to lean to all directions before finding the balance somewhere in between, or on a side, who knows. It unfolds best in a conversation, like a dance, like improvisation with a partner who catches the impuls and follows it further to return something new and see where it goes from there.
I miss questions. In a world of statements, where a question easily becomes critisism or a sign of ignorance. I question myself.
Some photos from August. Recently the camera is something that is just weight in my bag, since i hardly get the chance to take it out.
We've been out there for five weeks before coming back for two weeks for Martins job. He's working and me and the boys hang out with friends and family. It's been pretty nice, exept that im down with a cold, but i keep up, no matter :)
Now, thinking: five weeks. When we arrived it was amazement, we walked around eyes wide open and a grin. The first week the mountains looked two dimensional, and i felt not really there yet, as if they had forgotten some of my mind in Tromso while getting off and on the same plane. Thats when i learned that having less handluggage (items) is a lot better, when with kids.
The second week i remember walking down the road and calling my friend and being utterly saticfied. Im in the freaking Artic and im having a conversation with someone close - how cool is that.
On the third one Martin was on sea and that was a hard week. As it was my first time with two kids alone, it came too quikcly in an unknown environment. The weather played a role, as going outside was tricky, because of the storm. And here i do have a elaborate supportsystem of people and places. There it was just the livingroom for most of the time. But it was tough on Martin too, i think. We did our best. Therefore the fourth week we just recovered and then started kindergarten...
... and as soon as we arrived in Tallinn my body said: dear, we're home, let it all out. Thus soar throat and a blocked nose.
When we go back it'll be the beginning of the dark season. Interesting. How will we manage? But in other aspects we are kind of returning home. It's an interesting flip i didn't think of. I'm with the kids on vacation, as strange as it sounds.
We're like crazy here with food, eating at least one red onion a day and greens, reds, yellow in between!
Have you ever seen a streetlight wave like a birch tree-top in the wind?
Martin was at sea from Monday morning until Sunday afternoon. With no phoneconnection or internet. "No news - good news". It was a rough week. My first time being alone with two. The boys got sick just before the trip and we had some real windstorm in the middle of the week and were therefore trapped indoors for days. Luckly there were good moments, conversations too. Im amazed how good people cook here. Lifesavers.
Last week i got a new habbit. After the boys are asleep i usually wake up, since i must fall asleep in the most uncomfortable position, sneak upstairs and make some good night tea that was amongst the stuff we got from someone who just moved away from here last week. It reminded me of the stuff we left behind and gave away, from cocoa to salt and everything in between. Some of the things were even exactly the same. It really is "what goes around, comes around". So i'd be siting on the couch, dinrking tea, reading something in the internet, because a book would have made me too lonely. And the feeling of being somewhat connected to the world was essential. The wind was scary. Scary as in "this house is going to be blown off this island" and "will the ship be okay?". While the day was just managing emotions and being strong, capable, doing what has to be done, the nights were to be: freaking frightened (:
I can laugh abou it now, since my seaman is home, safe and sound.
I think if you, in this blog: me, are in a new environment alone you first take it in. Im not sure how to explane it. It's like you are a tape on pause, because different music is playing. Or better, you are the new bassist of a band, first you listen, catch the beat and then later, you open up and improvise, your color comes out. The beginning is a great bit timid. Because there are too many jokes about bassist anyway.
I'm just not that person to walk in a room and dance a solo, while sparkling confetti falls from the ceiling. But i wish i was.
There was a little debate in my head about the language here, but in the end i decided, that since the two readers of my blog have one in common - english- i'll stick to that. Well, and i did learn a new english word today: gale. 16m/s wind is near gale apparently. Nice. But the wheater has been good to us really. As we met people who moved here from India in november, i think we are totally being pampered. We have night and day and also similar conditions like at home in some rougher winter/spring-times.
I think about what to write and it always changes in the end. I have this idea for a post and when i actually get to write one: the paper is blank. There is this fear of white paper, a condition of artist and poets. Sometimes i'll be thinking about similar things. How weird. How interesting. How intriguing. Would be the things i'd think then, but nothing more specific, since time seems to be too precious to waste it on... well.. thinking(figuring) something out.
