Arctic Christmas

When your inner genius presents itself, surrender your creativity and let it flourish! I only bring light to this inspiring piece of advise because as I sit and ponder what to write about, I am indulging in my avant-garde dessert creation: The Norwegian S'more. Like I said in my previous post, food is now at the fore-front of my thoughts again, and this my friends is euphoric.

The Norwegian S'more consists of two slices of a Norwegian waffle, a roasted marshmallow and brown cheese to substitute for chocolate. And now we hear the crowd gasp in disgust thinking of putting cheese with a marshmallow, I know at least half of you had a reaction to that. Brown cheese is not really cheese, must I repeat myself?! It's sweet so it works splendidly with a marshmallow. Today's lesson: never rein in that little genius, you never know what may come from it.

Clearly all I want to do is tell you about food, but back to the stories of my life abroad.

To slowly ease into travel stories from food, I did catch dinner the other night! Dinner and then some...The healthy sized cod I managed to lure onto my hook was literally right in the middle of dinner himself. In pulling the hook out I also pulled out a crab, and another crab, and another; these crabs just kept falling out of his mouth! Later I found even more in his gut. At least he died with a fully belly, and that to me is important.

When on and Island...

Last time I recorded my thoughts into the internet I was alone on an island dreaming of a white Christmas. I repeat myself but this year was my first non-white Christmas! Exciting but opposite of the assumption that there would be snow in December in Norway north of the Arctic Circle, now that is a story to tell!

My dearest Napoleon was kind enough to leave a surprise early Christmas gift for me this year. A broken window! Huzza! Our handsome ram was challenging his reflection in the middle of the night when nobody was around to chase him off, but good news is, he won! I was not thrilled...

The First Gift of Christmas!

When I asked him if he had broken the window he sassed me! Call me crazy. This ram came over to check on me while I was cleaning up his mess and his response to "You s** of a b**** did you do this to the window?!" was smirking, cocking his head to one side, turning and strutting away. HE STRUTTED AWAY AFTER INSPECTING THE FRUITS OF HIS DISASTROUS LABOR! I GOT SASSED BY A RAM! This is my life right now...and it's fantastic :) Follow-up: he's still walking around the island all proud of himself for defeating his reflection...PoundSignRamPride

The look you get when you ask your ram if he had anything to do with the broken window

A very nice family (the woman who cooked meals for the guests we had when I first arrived) had me over for a traditional Norwegian Christmas Eve dinner. We had stick meat, which is the rib of a sheep that has been salted and boiled, and for dessert molte berries and cream. The molte is THE Norwegian berry; it is almost like a blackberry but orange and a fresher tart taste. It was a Viking-like dinner!

I brought some of my own traditions to share; some makeshift pizzelles (the Italian Christmas cookies) and after dining and drinking we sat down and watched the Polar Express, a Koepke tradition. I stayed ashore that night and spent the better part of Christmas Day with them relaxing, reading and watching the local wildlife. I was gifted a silver necklace of Steigen fish that morning which they said signified I am now part of the community! I cried (on the inside!) receiving it :')

Get artsy at Christmas

This will be a Christmas I will forever remember. The hospitality I was given filled the homesick slot I would have otherwise felt being away from my family. As much as I thought Christmas would be hard away from home, it was not. My weekend was filled with so much joy and good company that I felt at home here; I am connected to these Norwegian people and I share in their lifestyle. But I am still baffled by the lack of snow.

To top off my arctic Christmas, there was a full evening of an aurora show. The most resplendent Christmas lights in the world :)

Christmas lights on Manshausen 

A storm is brewing in the north. The for-runners of the stampede of wind and hail have already arrived and I pray that my tie-down jobs will hold everything to the island.

But now all I can do is wait out the rage, this time with hot chocolate for comfort and Mark Twain for guidance and hoping the sheep will find good shelter tonight.

Two of my favorite things: my sheep and the aurora

Robinson Crusoe

"Do not fear the storm", they say. "This too shall pass." Or that is what I believe whoever "they" is would have been saying if all my senses weren't flooded by the deep roaring of the wind and the shattering of raindrops and sea waves.

All I heard was "welcome to winter on the coast" as the wood and windows moved in time with the weather; so I sat, staring into the dark abyss of the morning and sipped my coffee.

Maybe I'll need a life buoy if this wind keeps up

The eerieness of this morning was not only a result of the storm but the fact that I am now alone on Manshausen, save The Dream Team and Napoleon. Sebastian left yesterday morning and once he left, the island had an immense, yet contained, vastness weighing in the air; I was (and still am) alone out on a chunk of land surrounded by water.

Ladies and GentleRam (this is probably my most popular picture on facebook to date)

Once again, many days (and even a full moon) have passed since I dedicated time to this blog but fear not! there will be no epic of events to report in this post, just everyday life that has been continuing.

Now that my stomach has finally exhausted itself (save a couple flare-ups of pain), food has once again become the light of my life. The Norwegians have something called brown cheese (brunost or G35) which is the whey leftover from making goat cheese. There is probably brown cheese flowing through my veins as I am unashamedly addicted to it...on that thought, somebody get me an IV!...I have an idea ;)

For those that know me well, I don't do anything in the kitchen unless it is eating so you will be proud to know I've been putting many hours into making somewhat eatable dishes! One of which were Norwegian waffles. Thinner and sweeter than our traditional waffles and have the opportunity for a plethora of toppings (yes brown cheese being one of them) and a shockingly scrumptious combination of sour cream and jelly.

Norwegian Waffles

I also had a go at cooking whale (for you granola crunching do-gooders please put down your phone and stop dialing PETA, people eat whale here, it's a thing so calm down). The whale was lacking in flavor contrary to what the brain assumed it would taste like due to the royal violet color of the meet. It was almost like beef heart (or at least it smelled like what we feed our dogs 😋).

On clear nights, the aurora continues to grant us with dazzling performances. Just the other night was the most sensational show I have seen yet. There were storm clouds hugging the horizon to the south-west and there was a tease of a potentially huge display aurora activity. Being patient and optimistic, we waited under the backdrop of the night.

The Seven Sisters in the light of the full moon

The patience was rewarded with multiple rivers of green, violet and a little yellow threading themselves through the storm clouds. It is almost like watching music; the green notes striking each chord in different routines before dissolving back into the night, all as the atmosphere commands.
For this event the camera was inside and will be forever have a place in my mind's album, but unfortunately can only be portrayed through the image of words.

Sometimes it is important to step out from behind the lens of a camera or the screen of a phone and be in life because that memory will stay with you forever (disregarding the possibility of alzheimer's...sorry bad joke).

That being said, pictures are always a nice touch :) 

Look for the Big Bear!

I wouldn't say I can speak any Norwegian at all...but I have been learning a few words here and there. Maybe someday I will be able to carry on a conversation :)

I suppose I could go on forever talking about the stars (stjerne) and brown cheese and the odds and ends of the Norwegian culture that is slowly seeping into my brain, but we can talk about all those wonderful things over a beer in person someday.

I must go back to myself as company and reflect on being the only human being on an island off the coast of Norway north of the arctic circle...in December...with sheep and a ram... (getting to the point of Daenerys length titles now) because how many people can say that?

"Wool ewe share some baarown cheese with us?" -The Dream Team

Sea and Mountains Meet

I have arrived at my next and final stop on my Viking Tour and I have been welcomed with quite the busy week!

I left Tromsø on Monday December 5th with sweet but sad goodbyes. My flight took me a few degrees south from 69th parallel down to a city by the name of Bodø at the 67th.  The flight was brief, but being above the clouds in the north you can see the vast orange of the sun skirting the globe before fading into the navy sky lit by the moon...I couldn't peel my nose away from the window of the aircraft.

Flight Path

By now you would think the seasoned traveler within me would have a smooth journey to my next destination. WRONG! This is me we are talking about and nothing is every smooth or easy. It was a quick walk to the ferry terminal from the airport but of course I get lost because the Norwegians seem to have a weird thing about street signs as in they are not there, or hidden from view. 



Not only did I get lost walking to the terminal but once I finally made it onto the ferry and began the trip out to the islands they failed to announce my stop so I did not get off. I was able to get off the next stop and through language barriers and utter confusion my ride was able to pick me up by car and drive back to Nordskot before taking the boat to Manshausen Island, my current place of residency. 

Stretch to Manshausen

The population on this resort island is 10 at the moment, two humans, 7 sheep and 1 ram; it's like the happy story of Castaway. My new "boss", Børge Ousland, was here for a few days with another one of his guides and some guests, so the island has a flow of other inhabitants. 

Island in Twilight

 
This week was a busy week! The resort is still under development so there are a lot of projects to be done...like putting together Ikea shelving -_-. It was the devil of my day. It was a giant piece of shelving that did not fit in the room it was intended for so I was tasked to assemble the thing and then re-assemble in the room which was far too small and this shelf had no business being built in there. 

But that is not all! O no. Let's recap: I took my first ambulance ride because I was so sick I truly believed I was going to die and that sickness lingered for a solid 3 weeks. During those 3 weeks I banged my knees up on some ice. Almost broke my arm on another occasion. So now, to top it all off, while moving this Ikea shelf I sliced the back of my hand open on an exposed knife. It was a beautiful display of flaps of my skin with a clean cut soaked in red. 

Such is life. 

On an exciting note though, we went to pick up the ram from shore yesterday! I never thought I would see a ram in a small boat let alone ride with one. 

Stoic

Watching The Dream Team's (what I like to call the sheep on the island) reaction to their new member of the heard could have been it's own reality show. They were very unsure of him, and like most girls ran from this new monster as one entity..."what one does we all must do!!!"

After a while some of the ladies got a little ballsy and would delicately inch towards this new monster. By evening though they seemed to all be settling in and the "getting to know you game" had passed. 

"Who is this guy?"

I tagged along with the guests on their kayaking trip around the neighboring island. The area here is almost tropical. You can see down through the clear blue water made light by the white bed of the sea. And to play on the tag line for Manshausen, this is truly where sea and mountains meet. All these islands are surrounded by massive peaks springing from the water. 

I apologize for my lack of luster in the recent posts, I find I have a hard time focusing on writing when there is so much outside of my computer to experience around me. But I dedicated myself to doing this blog for all those that read so I will continue to keep it updated as promised! 

To close, here is a photo most of you have been waiting for. Ta-da! 

Hello oh beautiful remnants of Sun activity!

Farwell to Lakselvdalen

Today marks the last day in paradise valley and tomorrow the next chapter of my journey begins!

Before we jump to the heart felt reflection of my stay here let's discuss the past couple of days. We got the truck back! Yippee! and took a trip into Tromsø to run errands and see the city. Thomas took me to the Villmarkssenter which is another dog sledding touring company, one that he worked for for many years. 

Sleds and dogs

This place was the ultimate sled dog machine. Business buildings, yurts for tourists, the dog building (food, equipment, lockers etc.) and the dog yard. When you run a huge company such as the Villmarkssenter does, you must have adequate equipment to support the comings and goings of your business. 

Waiting for evening grub

I have never had the pleasure to listen to such a great chorus of dogs as I did that day. 350-ish dogs take up residency in that dog yard. 350! AND THEY HAD PUPPIES!!!! Walking into that municipality of dogs you could feel all the energy from the dogs breathing through the earth and the barking and howling shook your core akin to the feeling you get at an indoor concert. You can feel them. It was spectacular. 

Villmarkssenter Dog Yard

Then we come to The Maiden Voyage: my induction to the next level of my mushing career. There is slim pickings of snow outside, but just enough to possibly justify taking  a sled out. And we did. Before going out I was slightly nervous of the conditions and whether or not I was up to the task of driving dogs in whatever it may be. 

It was intense. Of course I crashed about 5 minutes into the run, my left arm becoming extremely intimate with the anchor that decided to make and escape from the sled, and the falling and flailing did not stop there.

Due to the lack of snow the terrain was sharply changing; small drops were dramatic cliffs, frozen rivers were still trying to decide how frozen they really were and stumps and rocks were smirking as they were hiding just beneath the cover of snow. My break got caught on a hidden stump slamming my hands and the top of the sled into my gut, my face was drug through snow that had hardened as gravel and forget being able to use the break over the winter petrified marshland; there were many moments I was completely terrified which added to the thrill of it.

And we run into the mountains

We made it home, and it was one of those events where you look back and think, "Maybe that was not such a good idea" but then shrug it off because you are alive.

My body was warming up and the adrenaline was slowly dying out of my system and my arm was remembering the tussle it had with the sled and anchor just a few hours before. My fore arm had developed a massive bump and was starting to throb where I was getting sick with pain. The thought was that I had broken it, there was very limited and painful mobility in my fingers and the swelling was getting bigger and harder.

Just what I need, a broken arm right after recovering from Satan's stomach bug. Today I am still sore, but I have faith in the fact that my arm is not broken!

Happy for healthy arms!

It is bittersweet leaving here. In my short time here I've bonded with humans and dogs alike, I don't even remember what it was like not knowing them! I feel very blessed to have come here and will cherish these friendships and my memories here forever. 

"Blessed are those that help ones in need, and blessed are those that spread kindness. But those that are most deserving of a blessing are those who have touched your heart and changed your world. Hold fast to that which is precious, to that which is love."

Goodbye lovely valley and my family here! I hope to be back again someday

Home away from home