JULEBORD



Picture of the week: The family in the Arctic darkness.

We transitioned this week into the holiday season (the liight disappeared as well.. the last of it is captured in the movie above).  Last Sunday was the tree lighting in the center of town after a procession across the valley.  There was a brass band with singing and most of the kids of the community.  At the sports center there is kid’s gymnastics before basketball and this week instead of 40 children there were only 5.  The “tree” of lights by old mine 2 on the side of the mountain was lit up at the same time.  Later that night I went to basketball and had a good workout.

The Christmas Tree in the center of town was lit this week.

The brass band playing Christmas carols.

Some of the core basketball players in the sports hall.

This was a long week at work.  I have been finishing up a review chapter for a book on ‘subsea optics and imaging’ and it took most of the days and evenings.  Friday morning we went out with the REMUS again in probably the worst weather so far, -17 degrees, wind and snow.  This, however, is exactly what these vehicles are for (to operate is ALL conditions).  So we launched it near shore, back to UNIS for about 5 hours until it was ready to get picked up.  This week was a bit different is that UNIS had its annual research conference, where the departments and administration get together with representatives from the major universities in Norway to discuss communication, curriculum issues, etc.  To start off the second day, we showed them the other vehicle (both are here – see last week’s entry) and showed them a live feed of the station in California receiving the calls from the vehicle.  It was a good demonstration and I gave a short talk on the motivation to use these types of vehicles in polar regions, how I have been working with UNIS in their education mission, and how we are crossing across departments in our research collaborations.    

An aurora visible outside of town on Monday.  The reddish color is typical of the daytime aurora.  The star near the center is Polaris with the Big Dipper visible at about 1 o'clock.

Anders sledding down the road.

Jason during an outing with the sled dogs.  The movie below is Jason in action on the sled.

On Thursday, friends from Trondheim arrived and this started our Julebord (Christmas Table) frenzy.  These are amazing spreads of salads, fish & meats (pickled, smoked, raw, cured, salted etc.), cheeses, breads, sauces, and an equal amount (in terms of mass) of desserts (cakes, creams, cookies, sweets, etc.).  You simply cannot try everything with one plate, so there are usually two plates for me (I am a rookie!) and just an extra bit of what I enjoyed the most.  So Thursday was Julebord at the Radisson Hotel, Friday night was our delayed Thanksgiving dinner at our house (Turkey – strangely only had 1 wing, so was a bit odd to cook), stuffing, pumpkin pie (thanks to Memere!), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce.  We really stuffed ourselves!  Saturday night was the UNIS Julebord.  In addition to the food and some performances, they used this venue to transition in the new director.  Once the announcement and a number of thoughtful speeches were made, everyone moved into festivities.  Nicole and left a bit after midnight, but I heard the party went until 5am…. Ouch!  Tonight is number 4 in a row at Huset restaurant to celebrate Geir Johnsen’s 50^th birthday.  I keep saying I won’t eat much, but it is so good!    

Guest at our house during our 'Julebord'.. number 2 of  this week!

One more story…  I was walking home this week and near the top of the hill I was thinking about polar bears (I often do at this one poorly lit area of the road).  I looked around and thought of what I would do if I saw one.  I was in a hyper-sensitive mode and just at that moment, a dog on the balcony right above me lunged to the railing barking.  I flew about 4 feet straight up.  I thought I knew what was around me, but I didn’t… a good lesson in this isolated community.