ARRIVED IN SVALBARD

After some a week or so in Europe traveling with my family, we arrived in Svalbard.  It was an amazing day, clear, sunny, and almost 13C which is balmy here.  A nice welcome for the two boys from California.  It was short lived as for the rest of the week it has averaged about 4C.  The first few days were taken up by getting into our apartment, finding and transporting our boxes to the apartment and finding a place for everything.  The apartment is "very modern" according to Jason and both he and his brother Anders settled quickly into their respective rooms.  Our boxes had been seriously abused by the US Postal Service on their way here with most having to be repackaged en route with USPS tape all over them.  Luckily nothing was damaged.

Arriving at Longyear (LYR) airport with Anders and Jason.

Nicole with the boys.

The staff at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) have been extremely helpful in setting us up.  I was assigned a nice office just down the hall from my colleagues and am up and running.  In addition to answering the stream of emails that are part of my life, I am scheduling the next month in terms of Fulbright activities.  July is an interesting month in Norway when almost the entire country goes on vacation.  I think there is a lot to learn from this "break" and taking time off to spend time with family and friends.   My colleagues from UNIS are arriving back next week and look forward to setting up meetings with them to synchronize schedules.

Anders and Jason heed warnings posted around the "city" limits. The sign traslates to "Applies to all of Svalbard".  The drinking water lake is in the background.

With the apartment only a 10 minute walk from UNIS, I have been breaking up each day with frequent trips back for lunch etc. to make sure we are all doing well during this transition. I am also taking a lesson from the Norwegian play book and making sure that my time working at UNIS is balanced with time with Nicole and my two boys.  We have become members at the local library, got the information on signing ourselves up for the extensive athletic center, memorized the hours of the grocery store, and are practicing our Norwegian daily. We are also getting used to the 24 hours of light... it is easy to stay up late!!

 This snow feature looks like a wine glass and the locals know it is summer when the stem is separated.  There is actually a weekly record of this in the local paper, Svalbard Posten. 

 A view from our apartment looking out over Isfjorden at midnight last night.  The ship in the foreground is the Polish research ship The Oceania.

Finally, we were all shaken yesterday by the attacks in Oslo.  This is a small country and from the individuals in Norway that I have been in contact with, many have family or friends living or working in downtown Norway or were on the youth gathering that was attacked.  Unlike the 6 degrees of separation that we are accustomed to, here it is more like two.  The flags are at half mast today in honor of the victims and our thoughts go out to the country.