A few things about Svalbard

So far, I´ve noticed a few things about Svalbard.

The light. Yes, I knew the sun would be around at midnight, but I didn´t expect the weird restlessness that it creates. My body would rather go for a walk than to bed at half past 11, when the sun shines brightly through the kitchen window. Also, when the sun blazes and it´s August, your mind (or body) doesn´t expect freezing wind outside. I´ll have to dig out mittens soon, and maybe a woolly hat.

The air. The air would feel dry here, that I already knew (I´m from Bergen, I should notice!), but I didn´t expect to be so thirsty all the time, and my lips and skin are drying up. Technically, Svalbard is a polar desert, and I suppose the glorious sunny conditions the last few days hasn´t helped either. Cloudy weather might make it better, I hope.

I´ve noted other things too. There aren´t that many people here, and as I figure I might need their services and/or friendship, at one time or another, I try to behave really well and smile a lot more than I would in Bergen. This sounds a bit presumptuous, I suppose - but I know I wouldn´t bother smiling to obnoxious shop-people in, let´s say, Bergen.

I must, of course, hasten to add that everyone here so far has been very friendly and accommodating, and I expect that it will stay that way. The pace and attitude here is so relaxed, you can´t be anything but nice (although I did pass a Swedish girl who was nagging somebody on the phone, yesterday. Somebody on the main land, I´m sure).

Finally, it seems that the tooth fairy hasn´t caught up with the fact that we´ve moved to Svalbard. Two nights in a row she (he?) has failed to swap Peter´s recently lost molar with a 20kr coin. I promised to give the tooth fairy a kick, and that helped - this morning the coin was there. Thank God Peter is a forgiving person, with a well-developed sense of humour.

William has been away on a field trip, to check up on a couple of his students who´ve been camping on a beach near Svea for several weeks. He brought Emma along, and they went in a helicopter - so unfair! Emma is only 14, and she´s already done two of the things that I haven´t and that I really want to do. (The other thing is that she´s been to San Fransisco).

Anyway, here are pictures from their trip.




The camp.
Emma putting on survival suit before a boat trip.


And then to take a bath.

.....!
From left: Emma, students Tore and Andreas, and Frodo the dog (who, just the day before Emma and William came, warned about a polar bear. They managed to chase it away).




Underneath are some pictures that William took on the flight back.



Longyearbyen. Our house is near the sea on the right, a red house. I´ll show more photos of the house and lots of other stuff later.



And yes, we did finally get our car with our stuff. The post box turned out to be an easy affair, while the internet-connection still is not completely solved. But we´re getting there!