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!
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.
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!
2015 in photos; a year in #svalbard, #longyearbyen.
Here is a post about the 12 months in the Arctic. I intentionally did take out a big portion of photos of family and friends to keep it more about the nature and the impressions of the different light and atmosphere up here. Enjoy! (if you can)
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
I did get frustrated with that dust on my camera sensor, but was sadly too busy to take time to remove it from all the photos. So therefore some nice ones will be coming up some time later, or never :)
Påfjellet 9.nov. 2015
But the weather has been dårlig/bad: it's +degrees, roads are icy as hell and clouds keep us even more in the dark that we would be now usually. This low pressure is making me feel low too! Stop the global warming already!
Another total Grinch is the ... or was.. Estonian Air, airtravel company that from friday announced bankruptcy and there went our holiday flight-tickets to home. We'll probably get the money back freaking next year, but when we buy new ones, we'll have a nice big hole in our wallet for christmas. Oeh. But we're not the onlyones, so be strong, figure things out, keep it positive!
On an other note: we went to the theatre today! I know. Since living in Longyearbyen has made me think that norwegians either hate theatre or they just don't know what it is, it was a wonderful surprise. We went all together to this childrens play of 45 minutes and im so proud of how the boys enjoyed and endured;the darkness, the loud voices are quite scary. Remembering my own attempt as a child going to aplay; Redridinghood, was it? I screamed so hard when the wolf appeared (like in 5 minutes after it started) and ran towards the door. End of story.
Taken 9.11.2015 around 10pm behind our house. Thanks to Asuza who taught me how. I still need a lot of work in my timing and camera setting (and tripod handeling), but it's much better than this one, from last december:
Or the one i took before i fixed my settings (i know- i know, how is that possible?)
Sweet dreams! The Weekend was mad: i was sick, Martin had to work, the weather sucked. So still coming out of it, takes a little while, tho. ( I know, i'll name half of Wednesday to Monday and the other half to Tuesday and count sleepingtime the new Wednesday) I. Should. Sleep. Now. !? Bisous! :)
When and why did i edit this photo to become so color-mad? But as i wanted it to be quick, just picked out one random photo from August, 2015. We went on a short hike with Martin and my mom near the Longyear glacier. We never got to it directly because the snowmelting-river was just a bit too risky to cross. After that time spent outside i feel that hikes make people into better people. And i really want to send many-many youtube account holders to hikes, because the comments of some people.... No need to explain, right?
Wednesday! Ohh, where does the time go? Like whos's eating it away? Or is there a huge vacuumcleaner that's sucking it away? Like in this moomin short film. Strangely enough this is our boys favourite moomin cartoon (but in swedish/norwegian language, still in poem form). We saw it on a dvd of best short animations from that time(1993).
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.
All written is fiction. But what is fiction? An attempt to catch the uncatchable. Or just a touch of it's sleeve as it passes us by. I guess i read it somewhere. The days go fast. Very quicly. And it's dark. Somehow it feels like our motions have become more slow and that's why it feels like time is passing in speed. Peole worried we're bored out here... but there is not really time for that. As there is no sun, there is the clock and the goals that are set for oneself. Plenty to do.
Last sunday in a gathering people were talking about sunny vacations and then i missed it. The sun. But here the locals say, that they like the dark season more - much more - than the light one. Well, coffee works more effectively than lavender :) It's easier to get energy, than to slow down, when the sun is beaming on you 24/7, they say. Also the people working in the kindergarden are the best: every week they have some special event. Love that they actually explaned two-yearolds how the planets are and why it's dark now, like accurately. Just sweet.
Today is the last day of the sun. The last glimpse of light. The weather is nice, it's soft and snowy. The kids have a big fest in the kindergarden, with lights and music. I wish i had also a place to got to.... does sushi in the Arktic sound weird? I really don't know anymore :)
Almost finished the book of Haruki Murakami, who turns out to be a marathon runner and a triathlon athlete ("participant" would sound like an understatement). "What i talk about, when i talk about running" is a quite funny book, but i don't want to give anything away, since it's a book nice to read when you're interested in writing novels or/and running, but if both subjects leave you cold, then... leave it. This reminded me of John von Düffel, antoher bestseller author, who's also a runner and a swimmer. A healthy body needs a healthy mind. Or was it the other way around? Probably. In Nantes we watched a documentary about Düffel and how he's writing his bestseller: "Houwelandt– Ein Roman entsteht". The insight was much revealing of the reality how a novel finds its way to the world. And there was a lot of running involved aswell.
Then im knitting a sweater and already thinking of the design of another sweater, but since here they are not wasted... knit on!
When i ask someone about the dark season, a word i hear is most often is "cozy". Candles, sweets, books, baking, carols ... i start to feel christmasy.
Oh, and we bought a car. Since we bought it in the polar night, we don't really know the color of it.
It's grey. As in the picture, that was shown to us. It is the same car. Bought it through fb.
Hope you smirked.
I did.
Wishing you a pleasant weekend!
Don't forget your dad this sunday, when you have one ;)
For the past two Sundays i've been sick and it all started with some raw-food pumpkin cake and ended up with food-poisoning. It's a relief that we finally found a babysitter: someone we know already as a friend. Certain invitations found their envelopes and i'm able to heal myself from it all, that has decided to attack me from raw food to sour throat. Nothing is quite done yet. And nothing goes really according to plan. Something i should get used to? I'm starting to understand why people only do it once :)))) Alright, now it's time to look for some encouragement in the web, what else is there...
Spring-spring-spring, you're driving me nuts. After tree lipsticks, a batman-cap and a pair of silly shoes - it's still not quite what i wanted. Just fitting into the statistics. But i can't help it: after four hours of insane mathematics with two very tired and therefore angry babies and a cookie for lunch, it just happens. Well, Monday +30C they say. As for the week, i say it was an okay week. We had fever, tears and fears and all good the next day, went to see a play (Wednesday Martin, Thursday me ;the same play so we could talk about it later), which was incredibly funny, cooked and baked, cut some hair, replanted my tomato-plants, had a massage, which was relaxing only to my aching back, but my pain receptors were killing it (im not sure if it wasn't even more painful, than giving birth,..., not sure, i say), failed an exam, and so forth. Caught myself thinking how i wish kids could cry like kittens miaow, because it would be so much more bearable at times - that must be the 2 years of no sleep talking. So. What have you done this week?
Like a character of black books (minus the cigarette)
My little tomato-plants are growing fast, except: this little pepper takes it slow, there's basil, salads and maybe soon it'll be time to try out some carrots and radish?
Here's a link for some advice, when it's your first time gardening on your windowsill. (it's not too late!)
My neighbours, who are also our friends from long ago, lent me a book a while ago, like 6 months?, further, i wasn't reading it until recently, when i had to return it, so typical!. And had to buy it online the next day. It's "Peaceful parent, happy kids". There was a time i read a lot and it also helped a lot, since it almost feels like a conversation with someone, who understands your situation and has a genlte way on offering advice. My belle-mère must be wonderwomen, raising 4 kids, who are only bit more than a year apart. Truly fascinating!
The feeling having had a good day with the kids is on my top list as i experienced it on Monday, when I had to skip Uni. It made me think, if i wasn't a bit too greedy starting to participate in a seminar, for what i barely manage to read the material, since it requires some real concentration. It isn't any fun that way, turning up having read it diagonal. There's definitely good stress and bad stress. But which is which? Spring is a busy time for Martin too and we don't really have a babysitter. So. I don't know. What would you do? Everything considered:
Why not start off the week with some funny mv (: Enjoy!
What an handsome guy :), who didn't mind waiting until i got my camera from upstairs and then realized i needed to change the lens, went back, got back and there he was, still. Not the best angle, but as a beginner birdwatcher i am pleased.
This week i discovered frozen pastry. So on my to-do-list is to google "how to make a croissant" and cinnamon rolls of course. I already tried, but i think i need some tips on how to do better.
The weather was like summer until yesterday, i think. Back to reality that is. But it was fun and gave a taste of the awaiting season. The sun is setting pretty late, after bedtime that is.
Here is what we did last weekend, in march: birdhouses. Martin got some old ones and put them up, they only needed a bit of fixing so they could be properly hanged on the branches. I think i mentioned it all in my previous post.
Last Friday it was party-time! I went to a birthday-party, late at night (pff... from 22 to midnight!)! It was almost awesome: i regret not eating much and being a bit tired and not doing much make-up. Then again, there was this moment i liked. Somehow i sat down with some of my friends there and then our conversation went on kids - it kind of happened - there were two moms in the crowd! So one girl was like "Ookay... talking about children, i think i go and grab a vodka and not come back". It was funny. Because on one hand i regretted that as well: i came out of the house, so i'd like to be mentally also out of the household for a second. But. On the other hand, as fellow mom, who had hoped the same, said: "It's what we do day to day, it is our universe now", made that, what the girl had said more like: "Ookay... talking about YOUR life now? Mkm... not interested! Vodka!"
Moms: a sensitive crowd, nothing to say.
Talking about that... ugh. I loooove the way people we meet ask me about the kids and then turn to Martin "And what are you up to these days?". It makes us both snort, because for him it's like he's not part of raising the boys and for me it sounds like I'm a nanny on a job-interview.
On Wednesday had my driving-on-ice-lesson. Verb "to pirouette" has a new meaning from now on :)) I've had such luck with my driving-instructors: super nice and calm people. But how do they to it, a mystery.
It's Monday and the week is getting booked with stuff to do. See you on Sunday! (or maybe sooner!)
