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!
Oktoober ongi nüüd läbi. All korrusel helistati kõvasti uksekella: uks lahti, käsi kommikotti, siia, siia ja siia. Meisterdasime oma esimese kõrvitsalaterna ja tuli päris kena. Ma olin juba peaaegu nõus terve selle halloweeni värgiga... peaaegu.
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
I forgot to answer to the most important question: How do you get to Svalbard, Longyeabyen?
The easiest way is to fly. There are two flights a day to Longyearbyen at least by SAS and Norwegian. Flights to Longyearbyen start from Oslo or Tromso. Then Finair announced to start flying to Longyearbyen in the summer from Helsinki. So if you are coming from somewhere else than Norway... you have to fly to Norway first. (Or Finland, if you're coming in the summertime).
That's that :)
In the summertime you can also come by boat. Many cruise ships have a stay in Longyearbyen, but it lasts only for some hours up to a day, but even that could be enough, depends on your travelling style :) And from the boat there is actually a bigger chance to see wildelife... but the bigger the boat, the more people the less opportunity to see the smaller fjords. I have never been on a cruise ship, so i have no idea what's it like, but people i have met from those tours usually are happy and chill. I guess it's like being in a fancy hotel that moves around?
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 :)
