"BIRTHWEEK"

Picture of the week: Svalbard reindeer visit town looking for frozen goodies under the snow.

After finishing my previous blog entry, I was on the basketball court for a few hours and then we met our friends for dinner.  It was excellent food; I had what was called the “Taste of Svalbard”… whale, reindeer and seal and Nicole had Arctic Char, a local fish.  Good conversation and good behavior by the children extended the outing till about 9:30.  We had brought a cake for the two birthday boys, Anders and Jasper, and the restaurant brought it out with candles and put a rendition of “happy birthday” on their music system (there was only one other guest eating – a good sport).  After we cut the cake, Anders asked if he could have ice cream. We said yes and he went to let the waiter know.  About 5 minutes later the kitchen came out with 9 gourmet ice cream plates for everyone.  Even though we had no intention of ordering them, they were fully enjoyed!

The core participants of our Norwegian class

Anders (beige pants with black knees) playing soccer at recess.

Only a bit of light at noon.

The Polar Cirkle used for sampling got an winter overhaul.

These are great boats for working from shore in the Arctic.

This week the boat was taken in for a servicing, so we did not deploy the REMUS.  Instead we worked on getting the dock sensors back on line as the power cable had been severed while they were taking the boats in.  Everything is back on line.  Along with the routine of Norwegian class and basketball,  I was mostly writing and working on data analysis this week.  My walks back and forth to UNIS allowed me to see some new visitors to town, reindeers.  I saw two by the Radisson hotel, while Nicole saw a group of 7 walking across the road by the grocery store.  They continue to eat during the winter by scrapping the snow and ice off the freeze dried vegetation.  We have had a number of freeze thaw cycles, which produces a thick ice layer, making it harder for them to find food.  Since the rabies outbreak here, most of the wildlife in the area was killed, so it has taken a while for them to come back.  We also saw a couple Ptarmigans on the way to Norwegian.

Dropping Anders off at the Airport for his trip to Tromsø.

Anders wanted a picture next to the polar bear.

We celebrated Anders birthday on Thursday… his real one… with brownies, ice cream and presents from the family.  He really enjoyed it and coined a new term saying it had been a “happy birthweek”.  His week got even grander this week as he left for Tromsø to play in his football tournament.  It was the first time flying “alone” for him, so we were all a bit nervous.  He did great though and we are hopeful he is having a good time and comes back with most of his things.  Jason is enjoying the time at home sans younger brother and had a friend stay overnight.  While I brush up on a little work today at UNIS, Nicole visited the gallery in Nybyen (up the valley from Longyearbyen) and went swimming.  Dinner and a movie tonight and Anders returns tomorrow…life is good.

Sledding on Saturday outside of UNIS.