The weirdest weekend. Very nice, though.
My friend Úrsúla called me sometime during last week and told me about this huge party that would take place in Landmannalaugar the following weekend. The farmers were going to round up the sheep and a lot of other people were planning to show up and party with them. Hmm, sounds interesting, I thought. Sheep round-up party. Wow. How Icelandic can one weekend get?!?! So, I decided to join (the small anthropologist inside, you know).
Just getting there proved to be some challenge. Got a ride with a friend of a friend of a friend... but another friend, Hugh, and his girlfriend didn´t get any ride with anybody´s friend, because other friends´ friends decided to do something else than to give rides to other friends of mine. So, in the end the only person I knew at the party was dear Úrsúla.
So much for the party, an abominable headache turned me into a social invalid who sought refuge in the sleeping bag. By the next day it had more or less disappeared and I could enjoy a walk up a nearby mountain on my own... nature gets so much closer in on you when you´re out alone.
The return trip to Reykjavík was good. We took all the bumpy jeep tracks available, dipped into a mud pool butt-naked (and made the day for some horseriding sheep(ish)-round up guys - they went into the highlands looking for sheep and found three naked women!!!), all the time listening to some fabulously boring music borrowed from a Selfoss cop. What more can you ask for in this life?!?!
þriðjudagur, september 24, 2002
fimmtudagur, september 19, 2002
Got this wonderful compliment from one of the professors who taught me at university yesterday. We met in a very touristy greenhouse in Hveragerði, he had been outing his wife and mother-in-law while I was showing Iceland to some tourists (including well-behaved Ed, Stína´s brother). We start discussing my plans for graduate studies, I tell him that I´m optimistic enough to apply to *peep* (a very prestigious university, I´m too superstitious to tell you which one). "Now that´s a very good idea," he says, "for someone who´s already reached your age..." His wife couldn´t help overhearing this mortal comment and snaps at him: "What, are you next going to suggest to her she soon start applying for a room at a nursing home as well?!!?" Then mommy-in-law grins broadly, looks at me and says: "You´re welcome to move in with me anytime, my dear."
This has made me wonder whether I´ll have to buy that wrinkle-cream anyway...
This has made me wonder whether I´ll have to buy that wrinkle-cream anyway...
þriðjudagur, september 17, 2002
mánudagur, september 16, 2002
Found these delicious brownies in my dad´s kitchen. He and his wife run the perfect Internet cafe, and it´s free of charge!
Took the TOEFL last Saturday morning. Had a hard time preventing myself from giggling at the instructions given to us by a tape recorder: "In the field marked 'Your name', write your name. In the field marked 'Date of birth', write your date of birth." The best, though, was "If your name, address or sex has changed since the time of registration...". I wonder how many of the TOEFL test takers actually undergo sex-changing operations in this narrow timeframe?!?! It sure would have made for a much better essay topic than the imbecile "do you prefer doing work by hand or with machines?"-topic given to us. "I prefer cutting my lawn with my nails because it gets me into contact with Mother Nature...".
Another wonderful thing about this exam is that one had to drive all the way to the NATO base, close to Keflavík Intl. Airport, to take it. The test center in Reykjavík has been closed down and thus the only place where one can take the ETS exams in Iceland now is the base. A.T.Mahan High School, to be more precise. This meant me, and some ten other unfortunate individuals, having to get up at 6 a.m. and drive in fog and rain and wind for 45 minutes. Convinced that my alarm clock would choose to die on exactly this crucial morning I slept only in 45 minutes intervals that night, waking up mortally startled and jumping out of my bed to take a look at the clock: "Phew, it´s only 2:30! Phew, it´s only 3:15! Phew, it´s only 4:10! and so on. Needless to say, I was like a zombie the whole day.
Now the exciting/tedious/depressing task of finding work awaits. Yippie!!
Yesterday was the perfect day. Met with my long-term friend Fanney at a cafe downtown for a brunch, then went to a girlie session at my friend Sif´s place. There were five of us giggling girls, a lot of good food, gossiping and, believe it or not, crocheting!! Inspired by this housewifely experience I baked some bread yesterday evening and it turned out absolutely delicious. Invited my sis over for a taste, she´s 15 and has the most enormous entertainment potential of all living creatures. She simply had me in stitches!
Took the TOEFL last Saturday morning. Had a hard time preventing myself from giggling at the instructions given to us by a tape recorder: "In the field marked 'Your name', write your name. In the field marked 'Date of birth', write your date of birth." The best, though, was "If your name, address or sex has changed since the time of registration...". I wonder how many of the TOEFL test takers actually undergo sex-changing operations in this narrow timeframe?!?! It sure would have made for a much better essay topic than the imbecile "do you prefer doing work by hand or with machines?"-topic given to us. "I prefer cutting my lawn with my nails because it gets me into contact with Mother Nature...".
Another wonderful thing about this exam is that one had to drive all the way to the NATO base, close to Keflavík Intl. Airport, to take it. The test center in Reykjavík has been closed down and thus the only place where one can take the ETS exams in Iceland now is the base. A.T.Mahan High School, to be more precise. This meant me, and some ten other unfortunate individuals, having to get up at 6 a.m. and drive in fog and rain and wind for 45 minutes. Convinced that my alarm clock would choose to die on exactly this crucial morning I slept only in 45 minutes intervals that night, waking up mortally startled and jumping out of my bed to take a look at the clock: "Phew, it´s only 2:30! Phew, it´s only 3:15! Phew, it´s only 4:10! and so on. Needless to say, I was like a zombie the whole day.
Now the exciting/tedious/depressing task of finding work awaits. Yippie!!
Yesterday was the perfect day. Met with my long-term friend Fanney at a cafe downtown for a brunch, then went to a girlie session at my friend Sif´s place. There were five of us giggling girls, a lot of good food, gossiping and, believe it or not, crocheting!! Inspired by this housewifely experience I baked some bread yesterday evening and it turned out absolutely delicious. Invited my sis over for a taste, she´s 15 and has the most enormous entertainment potential of all living creatures. She simply had me in stitches!
fimmtudagur, september 12, 2002
My oh my. You haven´t gotten the second half of my last cruise yet. By now you even have to go into Past hurricanes to see the former half, so I better post this one NOW:
Tuesday 20th of August 2002
We woke up to breakfast while rounding the Negripynten at the SW-tip of Edgeøya. Fog was close by (again!!) and for a while it didn’t look too good with our planned landing at Halvmåneøya, or Half Moon Island. Fortunately the fog lifted a bit just after we had dropped anchor off the N-coast of the island, and a zodiac with two guides was sent ashore to scout for polar bears. None were observed in the area so we decided to make a landing after all, in quiet drizzling rain. Halvmåneøya is one of the most famous hunting areas on Svalbard and famous hunters like Henry Rudi, the “Polar Bear King” from Tromsø, spent many winters here hunting bears. We saw the huts used by the overwintering trappers and around the huts a lot of stuff left behind from the hunting years, f.ex. remains of a self-shot for polar bears, hundreds of bones, oil barrels, empty bullets etc. Inside the cabin we found a guest book and a very inventive game of chess. The fast-going group took a walk along the beach and saw a pair of red-throated divers on one of the many small lakes. All of us also walked to a high pole standing on a small hill behind the huts and our guides explained to us how these poles were erected by the trappers by the polar bear self-shots, to make the bear curious so that it would come to the trap.
Our afternoon landing was scheduled to be at Andreétangen, on the SW-tip of Edgeøya. By this time the wind had picked up causing rough sea and with the fog and rain we decided that conditions were not good at all for landing with zodiacs. The landing was called off and Ian Gjertz instead gave us a lecture with a slides show about the cultural heritage of Svalbard.
We set course for Hornsund, on the west coast of Spitsbergen Island, and plan to be there tomorrow morning. In the evening Stefano Poli showed some of his slides from the Svalbard winter and told us about traveling in that season. The waves were getting bigger as we steamed in open waters, let’s hope the night will nevertheless be a good one!
Wednesday 21st of August 2002
Today we spent in the southernmost of the big fjords on West-Spitsbergen, Hornsund. Early in the morning we rounded Sørkapp, or South Cape, and during breakfast sailed north towards Hornsund. As we turned into the fjord a very thick fog closed in on us and probably we were all feeling a bit pessimistic for a while... until the fog evaporated just like that so we could admire the beautiful scenery in sunshine.
Hornsund is full of glaciers calving into the fjord and Herdís gave us a short introduction to them in the observation lounge, so we would be better equipped to admire them from deck.We spent the whole morning in the innermost part of Hornsund, where five different glaciers calve into the sea, and were lucky enough to see also the famous mountains of Hornsund, Hornsundtind (1431 m a.s.l.) and Bautaen (the Obelisk). These mountains were formed by glacier erosion and it is strange to imagine that the glaciers we saw this morning have been so industrious at eroding the land underneath that when they finally melt and disappear sea will flow over land and make the southernmost part of Spitsbergen an island of its own!
After lunch we made a zodiac landing on Treskelodden (Threshold Point). We divided into groups making short and long walks. It was quite windy but after lazy days on the ship many of us enjoyed stretching our legs walking along the beach and on the moraine ridge. We saw some fossils of sea animals (sponges and bryozoans) who lived in warm, clear oceans some 250 million years ago, shells from our own times and also two reindeer grazing. They weren’t much disturbed by us so we got a very good opportunity to watch them and take pictures. Up on the moraines we also found some sticks and a peculiar wooden box, which could have been anything from a bird trap (maybe we’ve heard too much about trappers!!) to some scientific instrument from the Poles who have a research station at the mouth of the fjord. The long walks ended by a small hut owned by the Poles, looking into it we found out that they must be very small people indeed and like Grant’s whisky a lot!
In the evening we went for a zodiac cruise in a small bay called Burgerbukta, still in Hornsund. The glaciers in the bay have been calving a lot in the “warm” summer weather and the water was full of icebergs and smaller bits of ice. We cruised around for about an hour, seeing a lot of nice ice in different colors, sizes and shapes. Some of the bigger bergs were a beautiful blue color, made more intense by the cloudy weather. In spite of the floating ice we could make our way to the glacier front; it was very impressive to see these tall walls of blue ice towering above us. A few seals were also swimming in the water and when we turned off the engine one of them got a bit interested and swam quite close to the boat. By that time we had to turn back to the ship, so the seal will have to wait for the next zodiac cruise to take a better look at us!
The zodiac crews of Tore’s and Herdís’s boats took some of this old glacier ice with them to the Polar Star and Eddy in the bar offered everyone whisky on the glacier-ice rocks, to celebrate a wonderful day in the Arctic!
Thursday 22nd of August 2002
Having anchored up in Grønfjorden (Green Fjord) at 6 AM we woke up to a rainy day with low cloud cover. At 9 o’clock we had a guided tour in Barentsburg, the only Russian settlement on Svalbard. Two Russian English-speaking guides met us on the pier, Tamara guided those who opted for a bus tour while Anna took the other ones for a walk through town, which began with a climb up the seemingly endless stairs leading from the pier into town.
The two guides told us about life in Barentsburg and took us to see f.ex. the small “farm” on the outskirts of town, the chapel, the “Pomor” museum and the hotel, where there is a post office and also a bar (of course!!) where one can enjoy Russian champagne and vodka. Being in Barentsburg is almost like being in Russia itself and maybe some of us got a small culture shock during the visit. However, it is quite fascinating that Russia and Norway are able to co-exist so close together on the same island!
After our visit in Barentsburg we steamed towards Longyearbyen, for a quick stop because of a passenger who needed medical attention. From there we sailed towards Skansebukta, a beautiful small bay on the north side of Isfjorden. During the early afternoon we had a lecture by Ian Gjertz on walrus in the observation lounge and we also had to do “last-day activities” like settling accounts and packing. How nice then, to have a landing after all the ‘office work’. This was the last zodiac landing on this cruise, and we very much enjoyed the freedom of walking around on the beach of Skansebukta; this was the first and only time on the cruise that our “bossy” guides allowed us to go further away from them than 15m!. The area is beautiful; green with moss and lichen and now, at the end of season, many flowers in autumn colours. A perfect place for a last landing!
Coming back on board the Polar Star we prepared for the Captain’s cocktail in the Lounge. Our Captain gave a farewell speech and Trine, our Expedition Leader, gave us a short summary of the trip and distributed certificates for having crossed 80°N. The chef had the BBQ dinner ready by the time all the talking was finished and all the toasts had been drunk, and for the rest of the evening we enjoyed eating the last meal on board. In the late evening we lifted anchor and steamed towards Longyearbyen so the passengers would reach the early morning flight. The last cruise of this summer was over.
We want to thank you all for your company this week and wish you a safe journey home!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
There you go!
Tuesday 20th of August 2002
We woke up to breakfast while rounding the Negripynten at the SW-tip of Edgeøya. Fog was close by (again!!) and for a while it didn’t look too good with our planned landing at Halvmåneøya, or Half Moon Island. Fortunately the fog lifted a bit just after we had dropped anchor off the N-coast of the island, and a zodiac with two guides was sent ashore to scout for polar bears. None were observed in the area so we decided to make a landing after all, in quiet drizzling rain. Halvmåneøya is one of the most famous hunting areas on Svalbard and famous hunters like Henry Rudi, the “Polar Bear King” from Tromsø, spent many winters here hunting bears. We saw the huts used by the overwintering trappers and around the huts a lot of stuff left behind from the hunting years, f.ex. remains of a self-shot for polar bears, hundreds of bones, oil barrels, empty bullets etc. Inside the cabin we found a guest book and a very inventive game of chess. The fast-going group took a walk along the beach and saw a pair of red-throated divers on one of the many small lakes. All of us also walked to a high pole standing on a small hill behind the huts and our guides explained to us how these poles were erected by the trappers by the polar bear self-shots, to make the bear curious so that it would come to the trap.
Our afternoon landing was scheduled to be at Andreétangen, on the SW-tip of Edgeøya. By this time the wind had picked up causing rough sea and with the fog and rain we decided that conditions were not good at all for landing with zodiacs. The landing was called off and Ian Gjertz instead gave us a lecture with a slides show about the cultural heritage of Svalbard.
We set course for Hornsund, on the west coast of Spitsbergen Island, and plan to be there tomorrow morning. In the evening Stefano Poli showed some of his slides from the Svalbard winter and told us about traveling in that season. The waves were getting bigger as we steamed in open waters, let’s hope the night will nevertheless be a good one!
Wednesday 21st of August 2002
Today we spent in the southernmost of the big fjords on West-Spitsbergen, Hornsund. Early in the morning we rounded Sørkapp, or South Cape, and during breakfast sailed north towards Hornsund. As we turned into the fjord a very thick fog closed in on us and probably we were all feeling a bit pessimistic for a while... until the fog evaporated just like that so we could admire the beautiful scenery in sunshine.
Hornsund is full of glaciers calving into the fjord and Herdís gave us a short introduction to them in the observation lounge, so we would be better equipped to admire them from deck.We spent the whole morning in the innermost part of Hornsund, where five different glaciers calve into the sea, and were lucky enough to see also the famous mountains of Hornsund, Hornsundtind (1431 m a.s.l.) and Bautaen (the Obelisk). These mountains were formed by glacier erosion and it is strange to imagine that the glaciers we saw this morning have been so industrious at eroding the land underneath that when they finally melt and disappear sea will flow over land and make the southernmost part of Spitsbergen an island of its own!
After lunch we made a zodiac landing on Treskelodden (Threshold Point). We divided into groups making short and long walks. It was quite windy but after lazy days on the ship many of us enjoyed stretching our legs walking along the beach and on the moraine ridge. We saw some fossils of sea animals (sponges and bryozoans) who lived in warm, clear oceans some 250 million years ago, shells from our own times and also two reindeer grazing. They weren’t much disturbed by us so we got a very good opportunity to watch them and take pictures. Up on the moraines we also found some sticks and a peculiar wooden box, which could have been anything from a bird trap (maybe we’ve heard too much about trappers!!) to some scientific instrument from the Poles who have a research station at the mouth of the fjord. The long walks ended by a small hut owned by the Poles, looking into it we found out that they must be very small people indeed and like Grant’s whisky a lot!
In the evening we went for a zodiac cruise in a small bay called Burgerbukta, still in Hornsund. The glaciers in the bay have been calving a lot in the “warm” summer weather and the water was full of icebergs and smaller bits of ice. We cruised around for about an hour, seeing a lot of nice ice in different colors, sizes and shapes. Some of the bigger bergs were a beautiful blue color, made more intense by the cloudy weather. In spite of the floating ice we could make our way to the glacier front; it was very impressive to see these tall walls of blue ice towering above us. A few seals were also swimming in the water and when we turned off the engine one of them got a bit interested and swam quite close to the boat. By that time we had to turn back to the ship, so the seal will have to wait for the next zodiac cruise to take a better look at us!
The zodiac crews of Tore’s and Herdís’s boats took some of this old glacier ice with them to the Polar Star and Eddy in the bar offered everyone whisky on the glacier-ice rocks, to celebrate a wonderful day in the Arctic!
Thursday 22nd of August 2002
Having anchored up in Grønfjorden (Green Fjord) at 6 AM we woke up to a rainy day with low cloud cover. At 9 o’clock we had a guided tour in Barentsburg, the only Russian settlement on Svalbard. Two Russian English-speaking guides met us on the pier, Tamara guided those who opted for a bus tour while Anna took the other ones for a walk through town, which began with a climb up the seemingly endless stairs leading from the pier into town.
The two guides told us about life in Barentsburg and took us to see f.ex. the small “farm” on the outskirts of town, the chapel, the “Pomor” museum and the hotel, where there is a post office and also a bar (of course!!) where one can enjoy Russian champagne and vodka. Being in Barentsburg is almost like being in Russia itself and maybe some of us got a small culture shock during the visit. However, it is quite fascinating that Russia and Norway are able to co-exist so close together on the same island!
After our visit in Barentsburg we steamed towards Longyearbyen, for a quick stop because of a passenger who needed medical attention. From there we sailed towards Skansebukta, a beautiful small bay on the north side of Isfjorden. During the early afternoon we had a lecture by Ian Gjertz on walrus in the observation lounge and we also had to do “last-day activities” like settling accounts and packing. How nice then, to have a landing after all the ‘office work’. This was the last zodiac landing on this cruise, and we very much enjoyed the freedom of walking around on the beach of Skansebukta; this was the first and only time on the cruise that our “bossy” guides allowed us to go further away from them than 15m!. The area is beautiful; green with moss and lichen and now, at the end of season, many flowers in autumn colours. A perfect place for a last landing!
Coming back on board the Polar Star we prepared for the Captain’s cocktail in the Lounge. Our Captain gave a farewell speech and Trine, our Expedition Leader, gave us a short summary of the trip and distributed certificates for having crossed 80°N. The chef had the BBQ dinner ready by the time all the talking was finished and all the toasts had been drunk, and for the rest of the evening we enjoyed eating the last meal on board. In the late evening we lifted anchor and steamed towards Longyearbyen so the passengers would reach the early morning flight. The last cruise of this summer was over.
We want to thank you all for your company this week and wish you a safe journey home!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
There you go!
þriðjudagur, september 10, 2002
Now remember why I haven´t applied for grad school yet: An impenetrable jungle of programs, research projects, instructions, begging... Simply producing an application is a major investment in time and money. Why don´t we get a degree for that??
Shit weather in Reykjavík today doesn´t help out. Yesterday was wonderful though, but that was yesterday.
Miss UNIS now. Nybyen that is, this remote part of remote Longyearbyen where all the UNIS students are packed into barracks formerly occupied by miners. Or, to be more precise, I miss the students. Here´s an example why:
Ove on the bathroom floor on a Saturday morning, head bent over open toilet bowl. Loud sounds. Ole, his best mate, stands in the door and grins: "On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad do you feel?" A muffled sound from the toilet: "Twenty-seven!"
Those were the days.
Shit weather in Reykjavík today doesn´t help out. Yesterday was wonderful though, but that was yesterday.
Miss UNIS now. Nybyen that is, this remote part of remote Longyearbyen where all the UNIS students are packed into barracks formerly occupied by miners. Or, to be more precise, I miss the students. Here´s an example why:
Ove on the bathroom floor on a Saturday morning, head bent over open toilet bowl. Loud sounds. Ole, his best mate, stands in the door and grins: "On a scale from 1 to 10, how bad do you feel?" A muffled sound from the toilet: "Twenty-seven!"
Those were the days.
sunnudagur, september 08, 2002
Felt the same need as Stína to try and look my absolute best for Hannes and Deepa´s wedding party, so I bought some wash-out color for my hair. Red. Real red, as the label said. Hmmm... Look like, let me think, a color sampler now: Flaming red, brown red, tired red, orange, and oh, the hideous concrete-pavement color chosen for my hair by a mean combination of genes still manages to squeeze itself into daylight from under all this. Hair sucks.
First night in new apartment. Was greeted there yesterday by this huge wasp that looked like a bonsai passenger jet. Killed it, of course, and found to my great surprise that a wasp cut in two will still try to fly. Interesting.
First night in new apartment. Was greeted there yesterday by this huge wasp that looked like a bonsai passenger jet. Killed it, of course, and found to my great surprise that a wasp cut in two will still try to fly. Interesting.
föstudagur, september 06, 2002
Am running to Stína´s, she´s home alone and we´re going for a girlie session with pop-corn and Friends. Have the option of going to Nellie´s and have a beer with the students from the volcano school but think I will drop it, last night saw me downing some gin and beer and red wine and singing the legendary "Icelandic Cowboy" for all present. Have to give the audience a break. Anyway, my clothes are all dirty and long to see the interior of Stina´s washing machine. Does not mean, however, that I´ll be running around naked at Stína´s.
I learned a lot about the human condition at the summer school. For instance, I met this professor from the University of Cambridge whose hair is more curly than mine ever was, wears Ecuadorian wool hats three numbers too large and grows figs. When he grows up, he wants to become an astronaut or a truck driver. More on this exotic species called geo-scientists later.
I learned a lot about the human condition at the summer school. For instance, I met this professor from the University of Cambridge whose hair is more curly than mine ever was, wears Ecuadorian wool hats three numbers too large and grows figs. When he grows up, he wants to become an astronaut or a truck driver. More on this exotic species called geo-scientists later.
þriðjudagur, september 03, 2002
Halló, halló, which one should it be? Hillbilly, didn´t I maybe get it right?? Sånn skikkelig harry...
Home in good old Iceland, and to nobody´s surprise it´s been raining fire for the last few days, actually since I arrived. Hmmm, last Sunday the rain was actually horizontal, we had storm warnings and all those things that meant no school and great fun when I was a kid. However, neither storm nor a Sunday could save us from the school bench this time; we participants in this volcanology summer school sat all day listening to lectures. It was actually a quite dramatic setting for talk on very scary volcanoes and the disasters they cause: A howling storm beating the house that lies at the foot of this very dangerous volcano Öræfajökull (now try reading that out loud), which is also Iceland´s highest mountain. The highest peak is called Hvannadalshnjúkur, by the French shortened to Ananas Yogurt.
Actually the summer school is not over but I´m back in Reykjavik. Hitched a ride with a truck driver, so got a glimpse of a profession I´ll never have. And a glimpse into subcultures I don´t meet every day. The dormant anthropologist popped up inside me. It was good fun, we discussed the weather (of COURSE we did, as usually when driving along the south coast we got ten different weathers...) and the traffic, outdoor festivals and fox hunting and even the difference between two- and four-stroke engines. Not that it´s my main hobby, but...
Am actually finding myself being more conversable (???) on engines than I am on the arts. Something has happened here. I who studied classics at high school, wanted to be an actress and even took some singing lessons. Gee. Svalbard is a prime suspect here.
Anyway, what am I doing in town? Polar Star is coming to Reykjavík tomorrow and on it three of my workmates from Svalbard. Just had to go and say hi. Will hitch a ride back east tomorrow evening, to hear the two lectures scheduled for Thursday.
Home in good old Iceland, and to nobody´s surprise it´s been raining fire for the last few days, actually since I arrived. Hmmm, last Sunday the rain was actually horizontal, we had storm warnings and all those things that meant no school and great fun when I was a kid. However, neither storm nor a Sunday could save us from the school bench this time; we participants in this volcanology summer school sat all day listening to lectures. It was actually a quite dramatic setting for talk on very scary volcanoes and the disasters they cause: A howling storm beating the house that lies at the foot of this very dangerous volcano Öræfajökull (now try reading that out loud), which is also Iceland´s highest mountain. The highest peak is called Hvannadalshnjúkur, by the French shortened to Ananas Yogurt.
Actually the summer school is not over but I´m back in Reykjavik. Hitched a ride with a truck driver, so got a glimpse of a profession I´ll never have. And a glimpse into subcultures I don´t meet every day. The dormant anthropologist popped up inside me. It was good fun, we discussed the weather (of COURSE we did, as usually when driving along the south coast we got ten different weathers...) and the traffic, outdoor festivals and fox hunting and even the difference between two- and four-stroke engines. Not that it´s my main hobby, but...
Am actually finding myself being more conversable (???) on engines than I am on the arts. Something has happened here. I who studied classics at high school, wanted to be an actress and even took some singing lessons. Gee. Svalbard is a prime suspect here.
Anyway, what am I doing in town? Polar Star is coming to Reykjavík tomorrow and on it three of my workmates from Svalbard. Just had to go and say hi. Will hitch a ride back east tomorrow evening, to hear the two lectures scheduled for Thursday.
sunnudagur, ágúst 25, 2002
Amazing how dark it gets now. We've been without the midnight sun for less than a week and yet it is almost dark outside during the night. Not pitch dark, but dark enough for the guys down at the harbour to have to turn on the floodlights. The thick cloud cover does its best to help. And the bare ground. The snow-covered earth of March and a lot if highs, bringing with them cloudless skies, make the spring so bright, long before the advent of the midnight sun.
Went to the movies tonight with Ingunn, it was Episode II: The Attack of the Clones on the menu. IIiii, it was good. Just switch off your brain and enjoy. Wonderful! The perfect way to spend the last evening, at least for the time being, in Longyearbyen. And round it all off with a hamburger and BudIce at Puben.
As much as I've bitched about Svalbard and my work here on this page, I'm sad to leave. I've come to have such good friends here and it's sad to leave them all behind. But then again, I just remind myself of the fact that if I stay here too long, working with tourists of the sort I told you about yesterday, I'll go terminally insane. It's such a shame that as a guide, you actually have to put up with tourists all the time! No, they are ok, most of them. Just in slightly smaller doses. And Svalbard holds a claim to a huge lump of me; this wonderful am-Arsch-der-Welt hillbilly community that I love, full of mine workers and rocket scientists and big guys carrying their 15 cm Sami-knive with them wherever they go. And most important of all: Honest and unpretentious. Takes itself for what it is, no more and no less.
btw, didn't the trapper's life appeal to anyone?? I won't do it alone, you know...
Went to the movies tonight with Ingunn, it was Episode II: The Attack of the Clones on the menu. IIiii, it was good. Just switch off your brain and enjoy. Wonderful! The perfect way to spend the last evening, at least for the time being, in Longyearbyen. And round it all off with a hamburger and BudIce at Puben.
As much as I've bitched about Svalbard and my work here on this page, I'm sad to leave. I've come to have such good friends here and it's sad to leave them all behind. But then again, I just remind myself of the fact that if I stay here too long, working with tourists of the sort I told you about yesterday, I'll go terminally insane. It's such a shame that as a guide, you actually have to put up with tourists all the time! No, they are ok, most of them. Just in slightly smaller doses. And Svalbard holds a claim to a huge lump of me; this wonderful am-Arsch-der-Welt hillbilly community that I love, full of mine workers and rocket scientists and big guys carrying their 15 cm Sami-knive with them wherever they go. And most important of all: Honest and unpretentious. Takes itself for what it is, no more and no less.
btw, didn't the trapper's life appeal to anyone?? I won't do it alone, you know...
laugardagur, ágúst 24, 2002
oh, last (and only...) party night in Longyearbyen this summer is over. I started at Puben, had a beef steak and read the newspapers, entertained (tried to, at least) my friend and bartender Helen... and then the people started pouring in. The crew from the Polar Star, and then the guides, all in various state of drunkenness. Very handy, since they offer you drinks. Economical... In the end Puben was completely crowded and I was having the most wonderful time, laughing my ass off and enjoying life so immensely. Then we went to Huset (where one never plans to go, one just ends up there) where all the Icelanders were (all three of them, that is). Spent long time talking to Atli, an old flame of mine, he's here with his girlfriend who's studying at UNIS; we haven't talked for ages. Now know for sure that I'm getting old, since I'm developing hangovers while still drunk. Joined some workmates to Classic Pizza for a kebab and came out with an empty pizza box under my arm, am going to use it for sending Arnon his birthday-present in it. He's getting a book. Hyyyssssjjjj....
Iha! The summer holiday has finally begun!!
Thought you might want to read my log of this summer's last cruise. We write a log for every day and then give a copy to the passengers at the farewell party the last evening on board. This time it was my turn to write the log. I enjoyed it, needless to say:
Saturday 17th of August 2002
Our first day in the Arctic started with breakfast at 8 o’clock. We were sailing along the westernmost island in the Svalbard archipelago, Prins Karls Forland, which is a national park. During the morning we had a presentation of all the guides and our guest lecturer, Ian Gjertz. The captain also came and told us about safety issues on the ship. The sea was a bit rough so not everyone could make it to the meeting and not everyone was able to show up at the lifeboat drill either.
Just before lunch we rounded the northernmost point on Prins Karls Forland and sailing unusually close to the shore we could admire its huge birdcliffs. Sailing into Kongsfjorden (King’s Bay) we saw huge glaciers deboucing into the sea and the small settlement of Ny-Ålesund, where we docked after lunch and had a guided trip around the village. Ny-Ålesund is an old coal mining village but today mining has been replaced by scientific activity; the village is inhabited by scientists and their assistants only who do research on the fragile arctic environment. This is a multi-national town and probably all the nations represented on the ship also are represented in Ny-Ålesund. But it is not only scientists who make their home there, some Barnacle geese were seen close to town and a lot of arctic terns (the most dangerous animal on Svalbard!!) breed between the houses. The arctic fox is never far away from breeding birds and we were lucky enough to catch sight of three of them on our stroll through town. It is also slowly becoming evident that autumn is approaching here in the high Arctic; strong winds from the east were blowing while we were in town and made the guiding a bit of a chilly experience. Some of us even found out that on the next landings we’ll wear a whole lot more of warm clothes!
As the ship was sailing out of Kongsfjorden Ian Gjertz gave us a lecture on the birds of Svalbard, showing slides of the various sea- and land birds. This gave us all a good head start in bird-watching. Now we can tell a fulmar from a guillemot and an arctic tern from a kittiwake and we also know which rare birds to look out for. Maybe some of us will only been seen on deck from now on, bundled up in the warmest clothing with the binoculars in front of our eyes and the new thermos-cup full of warm coffee in the hand, spying out for the ivory gull and other winged rarities.
Happy hour in Eddy’s bar came and dinner went by and suddenly we were in Magdalenefjorden. This is one of the most visited places on Svalbard, renowned for the beauty of the landscape and the wealth of history to be experienced here. Håkan gave us a lecture about the fjord on the front deck. We then spent some time in front of the Waggonway glacier, it was in a very good mood and calved several times for us, while the kittiwakes flew around the ship and rocks came thundering down the steep mountain sides, loosened by the drizzling rain we had. On our way out the fjord we saw two polar bears on the coast, but they were too far away for most of us...
As night set in we headed for the north and the east, hoping to wake up tomorrow morning close to the northern entrance to Hinlopen Strait.
Sunday 18th of August 2002
We probably were all sound asleep when we crossed the 80°N at 4:40 AM and by breakfast time we were already crossing the Hinlopen Strait. Our first landing was scheduled in Kinnvika on Nordaustlandet, one of the most inaccessible islands in the world. After a short briefing about zodiacs we were ready to go ashore, looking forward to make a landing north of 80°N and to take a look at the many huts built by a Swedish-Swiss geophysical expedition during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58. But, what happens??!! The first zodiac observes a polar bear on land and our landing is cancelled. However, we made a zodiac cruise where we all drove close to the shore and saw the polar bear where it was sleeping outside one of the cabins. Hauke Trinks, a German scientist who is overwintering in Kinnvika together with his “best friend” Marie, is obviously becoming a friend of the bear since he was walking outside of the cabins just a few meters from it (with a rifle on his back, so maybe not best friends...). The bear even woke up for us but wasn’t the show-off type and so went and hid behind the toilet shack.
After this unexpected bear-encounter we had lunch, during which we steamed south through the Hinlopen Strait. The wind was blowing quite a bit when we arrived at Alkefjellet, an enormous colony of Brünnich’s guillemots, but that didn’t stop us from going out on deck to take a look at the birds and the impressive dark dolerite rocks they are nesting on. Håkan, our on-deck guiding expert, told us a nice story about the life of his friend Charlie, a guillemot who lives in this bird cliff, and he was very happy to catch a sight of Charlie himself among all the thousands of guillemots flying around!
On we went towards the south and the east. Our guest lecturer Ian Gjertz was getting ready for a lecture about walruses when we encuntered drift-ice, much sooner than expected. Almost immediately after entering the ice a polar bear was spotted so obviously the lecture was postponed. This ice has come drifting with the strong easterly winds that have been blowing for the past few days. We all stood out on deck looking out for animals in the nice weather; the wind had ceased a little bit and the sun was shining between the clouds! Another polar bear was spotted and we tried to get closer, than the ship stopped and we hoped the bear would be curious and come to take a look at us. Maybe it was an old and tired bear who didn’t feel like walking too far, anyway it decided to do something else with his early evening than to come for a visit to us.
In the evening the nice weather had turned into fog. Ian Gjertz gave us a lecture with a slides show about polar bears and as midnight approaches we are still sailing through open pack ice. A constant cloud of kittiwakes, both young and adults, with the occasional fulmar, follows the ship to scoop up the fish we make available to them by breaking the ice. Tomorrow morning we plan to have left the fog behind and visit Edgeøya, the third biggest island in the Svalbard archipelago.
Monday 19th of August 2002
Today started somewhat early, or at 3 o’clock, when a polar bear was seen in the driftice just in front of the ship. This was a young polar bear and maybe a very sleepy one since it didn’t seem to notice the ship in the fog until we were about 50 m from it! Most young bears are quite curious and so was this one, staying close to the ship for quite a while before strolling off and disappearing into the fog. That of course gave us a perfect excuse for going to sleep again... zzzzz....
When the real morning came all driftice had disappeared and we were cruising to the east of Barentsøya, headed for Edgeøya. Stefano Poli gave a lecture about the rescue operation of the Nobile expedition in 1928 and showed us a video about a zodiac trip he made last summer with a friend, in the footsteps of the rescue mission.
Fog made our afternoon landing at Kapp Lee a very special one, lending an air of mystery to the place. At Kapp Lee one can find historical remains from many different periods, dating from the days of the Russian Pomori hunters in the 18th century up to the era of (Dutch) oil explorers in the 1960’s. We also saw some reindeer grazing in the hills and the skeletons of various animals. The fog slowly lifted so we could enjoy the view to the mountains, made of Triassic sediments and basalt sills. Autumn has come here like most other places on Svalbard and the tiny leaves of the polar willow, the smallest tree on Earth and one of only two tree species found on Svalbard, are in beautiful yellow and orange, giving color to the ground after the flowers have all withered.
On we sailed along the west coast of Edgeøya and after dinner made today’s second landing in Discobukta. This was definitely an exiting one!! The sea was a bit rough and the water off our landingsite is very shallow; this combined to make the waves quite big. Lucky us that Trine told us all to wear rubber boots for this landing, we really needed them as we ran from the zodiacs up to dry land trying to outrun the waves! In Discobukta there is an old trapper’s hut and a narrow canyon with tall cliff walls where thousands of kittiwakes nest. We walked to the canyon and into it, where the noise from the birds echoes between the cliff walls. Soon we spotted two foxes running around beneath the cliffs looking for food and we also noticed how much vegetation there is in the canyon: the guano from the birds is a great fertilizer. When we returned to the ship the zodiac part was at least as exciting as when we came ashore!
During the landing some of us started looking for the sun in the sky, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Wondering what had happened with it we started thinking: in Longyearbyen the last day with midnight sun is tomorrow. Here by Edgeøya we are actually further south, and thus the midnight sun probably has already shone for the last time here. From now on daylight will last about 20 minutes shorter every day... until there will be none left in late November, when the two month long polar night begins.
_ _ _ _ _
You'll get the last three days later, don't want to choke you up with too much to read!
Talking about reading, I've stocked up for the winter on Arctic literature. Was at Longyearbyen museum today, it has a great selection of books about the Arctic and Svalbard. Bought four books, about the history of Svalbard and the lives of people here. One is called 'Isbjørnkongen' or 'The Polar Bear King', about this Norwegian trapper called Henri Rudi, who killed 713 polar bears during his many years in the Arctic!! It could be fun to spend a winter here as a trapper, to get close to the elements and be out in the wilderness a whole winter. Anyone interested in joining me??
Sometimes tourists are not very clever. And, for some odd reason, everyone gets very interested in shit when they are tourists. Reindeer shit, ptarmigan shit, fox shit, polar bear pooh. On Edgeøya, this middle-aged man pointed at a pile of dry shit: What animal is that? Oh, that's from a reindeer, I replied. And what about this, the same man asked, pointing to a nearby pile of slightly different looking shit. Well, that's also from a reindeer. But they look different, he said, not happy with my analysis. Well, does your's always look the same? I couldn't help asking back. It's very fortunate when such tourists have a slight sense of humor, as this one happened to have.
_
Thought you might want to read my log of this summer's last cruise. We write a log for every day and then give a copy to the passengers at the farewell party the last evening on board. This time it was my turn to write the log. I enjoyed it, needless to say:
Saturday 17th of August 2002
Our first day in the Arctic started with breakfast at 8 o’clock. We were sailing along the westernmost island in the Svalbard archipelago, Prins Karls Forland, which is a national park. During the morning we had a presentation of all the guides and our guest lecturer, Ian Gjertz. The captain also came and told us about safety issues on the ship. The sea was a bit rough so not everyone could make it to the meeting and not everyone was able to show up at the lifeboat drill either.
Just before lunch we rounded the northernmost point on Prins Karls Forland and sailing unusually close to the shore we could admire its huge birdcliffs. Sailing into Kongsfjorden (King’s Bay) we saw huge glaciers deboucing into the sea and the small settlement of Ny-Ålesund, where we docked after lunch and had a guided trip around the village. Ny-Ålesund is an old coal mining village but today mining has been replaced by scientific activity; the village is inhabited by scientists and their assistants only who do research on the fragile arctic environment. This is a multi-national town and probably all the nations represented on the ship also are represented in Ny-Ålesund. But it is not only scientists who make their home there, some Barnacle geese were seen close to town and a lot of arctic terns (the most dangerous animal on Svalbard!!) breed between the houses. The arctic fox is never far away from breeding birds and we were lucky enough to catch sight of three of them on our stroll through town. It is also slowly becoming evident that autumn is approaching here in the high Arctic; strong winds from the east were blowing while we were in town and made the guiding a bit of a chilly experience. Some of us even found out that on the next landings we’ll wear a whole lot more of warm clothes!
As the ship was sailing out of Kongsfjorden Ian Gjertz gave us a lecture on the birds of Svalbard, showing slides of the various sea- and land birds. This gave us all a good head start in bird-watching. Now we can tell a fulmar from a guillemot and an arctic tern from a kittiwake and we also know which rare birds to look out for. Maybe some of us will only been seen on deck from now on, bundled up in the warmest clothing with the binoculars in front of our eyes and the new thermos-cup full of warm coffee in the hand, spying out for the ivory gull and other winged rarities.
Happy hour in Eddy’s bar came and dinner went by and suddenly we were in Magdalenefjorden. This is one of the most visited places on Svalbard, renowned for the beauty of the landscape and the wealth of history to be experienced here. Håkan gave us a lecture about the fjord on the front deck. We then spent some time in front of the Waggonway glacier, it was in a very good mood and calved several times for us, while the kittiwakes flew around the ship and rocks came thundering down the steep mountain sides, loosened by the drizzling rain we had. On our way out the fjord we saw two polar bears on the coast, but they were too far away for most of us...
As night set in we headed for the north and the east, hoping to wake up tomorrow morning close to the northern entrance to Hinlopen Strait.
Sunday 18th of August 2002
We probably were all sound asleep when we crossed the 80°N at 4:40 AM and by breakfast time we were already crossing the Hinlopen Strait. Our first landing was scheduled in Kinnvika on Nordaustlandet, one of the most inaccessible islands in the world. After a short briefing about zodiacs we were ready to go ashore, looking forward to make a landing north of 80°N and to take a look at the many huts built by a Swedish-Swiss geophysical expedition during the International Geophysical Year in 1957-58. But, what happens??!! The first zodiac observes a polar bear on land and our landing is cancelled. However, we made a zodiac cruise where we all drove close to the shore and saw the polar bear where it was sleeping outside one of the cabins. Hauke Trinks, a German scientist who is overwintering in Kinnvika together with his “best friend” Marie, is obviously becoming a friend of the bear since he was walking outside of the cabins just a few meters from it (with a rifle on his back, so maybe not best friends...). The bear even woke up for us but wasn’t the show-off type and so went and hid behind the toilet shack.
After this unexpected bear-encounter we had lunch, during which we steamed south through the Hinlopen Strait. The wind was blowing quite a bit when we arrived at Alkefjellet, an enormous colony of Brünnich’s guillemots, but that didn’t stop us from going out on deck to take a look at the birds and the impressive dark dolerite rocks they are nesting on. Håkan, our on-deck guiding expert, told us a nice story about the life of his friend Charlie, a guillemot who lives in this bird cliff, and he was very happy to catch a sight of Charlie himself among all the thousands of guillemots flying around!
On we went towards the south and the east. Our guest lecturer Ian Gjertz was getting ready for a lecture about walruses when we encuntered drift-ice, much sooner than expected. Almost immediately after entering the ice a polar bear was spotted so obviously the lecture was postponed. This ice has come drifting with the strong easterly winds that have been blowing for the past few days. We all stood out on deck looking out for animals in the nice weather; the wind had ceased a little bit and the sun was shining between the clouds! Another polar bear was spotted and we tried to get closer, than the ship stopped and we hoped the bear would be curious and come to take a look at us. Maybe it was an old and tired bear who didn’t feel like walking too far, anyway it decided to do something else with his early evening than to come for a visit to us.
In the evening the nice weather had turned into fog. Ian Gjertz gave us a lecture with a slides show about polar bears and as midnight approaches we are still sailing through open pack ice. A constant cloud of kittiwakes, both young and adults, with the occasional fulmar, follows the ship to scoop up the fish we make available to them by breaking the ice. Tomorrow morning we plan to have left the fog behind and visit Edgeøya, the third biggest island in the Svalbard archipelago.
Monday 19th of August 2002
Today started somewhat early, or at 3 o’clock, when a polar bear was seen in the driftice just in front of the ship. This was a young polar bear and maybe a very sleepy one since it didn’t seem to notice the ship in the fog until we were about 50 m from it! Most young bears are quite curious and so was this one, staying close to the ship for quite a while before strolling off and disappearing into the fog. That of course gave us a perfect excuse for going to sleep again... zzzzz....
When the real morning came all driftice had disappeared and we were cruising to the east of Barentsøya, headed for Edgeøya. Stefano Poli gave a lecture about the rescue operation of the Nobile expedition in 1928 and showed us a video about a zodiac trip he made last summer with a friend, in the footsteps of the rescue mission.
Fog made our afternoon landing at Kapp Lee a very special one, lending an air of mystery to the place. At Kapp Lee one can find historical remains from many different periods, dating from the days of the Russian Pomori hunters in the 18th century up to the era of (Dutch) oil explorers in the 1960’s. We also saw some reindeer grazing in the hills and the skeletons of various animals. The fog slowly lifted so we could enjoy the view to the mountains, made of Triassic sediments and basalt sills. Autumn has come here like most other places on Svalbard and the tiny leaves of the polar willow, the smallest tree on Earth and one of only two tree species found on Svalbard, are in beautiful yellow and orange, giving color to the ground after the flowers have all withered.
On we sailed along the west coast of Edgeøya and after dinner made today’s second landing in Discobukta. This was definitely an exiting one!! The sea was a bit rough and the water off our landingsite is very shallow; this combined to make the waves quite big. Lucky us that Trine told us all to wear rubber boots for this landing, we really needed them as we ran from the zodiacs up to dry land trying to outrun the waves! In Discobukta there is an old trapper’s hut and a narrow canyon with tall cliff walls where thousands of kittiwakes nest. We walked to the canyon and into it, where the noise from the birds echoes between the cliff walls. Soon we spotted two foxes running around beneath the cliffs looking for food and we also noticed how much vegetation there is in the canyon: the guano from the birds is a great fertilizer. When we returned to the ship the zodiac part was at least as exciting as when we came ashore!
During the landing some of us started looking for the sun in the sky, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Wondering what had happened with it we started thinking: in Longyearbyen the last day with midnight sun is tomorrow. Here by Edgeøya we are actually further south, and thus the midnight sun probably has already shone for the last time here. From now on daylight will last about 20 minutes shorter every day... until there will be none left in late November, when the two month long polar night begins.
_ _ _ _ _
You'll get the last three days later, don't want to choke you up with too much to read!
Talking about reading, I've stocked up for the winter on Arctic literature. Was at Longyearbyen museum today, it has a great selection of books about the Arctic and Svalbard. Bought four books, about the history of Svalbard and the lives of people here. One is called 'Isbjørnkongen' or 'The Polar Bear King', about this Norwegian trapper called Henri Rudi, who killed 713 polar bears during his many years in the Arctic!! It could be fun to spend a winter here as a trapper, to get close to the elements and be out in the wilderness a whole winter. Anyone interested in joining me??
Sometimes tourists are not very clever. And, for some odd reason, everyone gets very interested in shit when they are tourists. Reindeer shit, ptarmigan shit, fox shit, polar bear pooh. On Edgeøya, this middle-aged man pointed at a pile of dry shit: What animal is that? Oh, that's from a reindeer, I replied. And what about this, the same man asked, pointing to a nearby pile of slightly different looking shit. Well, that's also from a reindeer. But they look different, he said, not happy with my analysis. Well, does your's always look the same? I couldn't help asking back. It's very fortunate when such tourists have a slight sense of humor, as this one happened to have.
_
föstudagur, ágúst 16, 2002
well, the hiking trip was very good. Good group. Have since then also been on one cruise with the Polar Star and am heading for the next one now. Came in last night, leaving tonight. Tough shit at the end of the season, I really don't feel like being nice to tourists and smile all the time anymore. Thank god it's the last cruise of the season.
Oh, the highlight of the trekking trip: My camera went off on its own down a 200 m scree slope. Silly little camera, to think it would survive something like that. The wreck was recovered from the snow field at the bottom of the steep scree slope and, to nobody's surprise, it was in pieces. Svalbardbutikken will probably sell one EOS 300 to me sometime soon... oh, we guides up here are so well paid anyway.
Looking forward to see you in Iceland soon!!
Oh, the highlight of the trekking trip: My camera went off on its own down a 200 m scree slope. Silly little camera, to think it would survive something like that. The wreck was recovered from the snow field at the bottom of the steep scree slope and, to nobody's surprise, it was in pieces. Svalbardbutikken will probably sell one EOS 300 to me sometime soon... oh, we guides up here are so well paid anyway.
Looking forward to see you in Iceland soon!!
sunnudagur, júlí 28, 2002
This template is ugly, I so swear. Hate it. But, who cares when you're going on a 14-day hike in the North? I don't!
So, tonight I'm going to the airpost to pick up my passengers who'll join me on this "Trekking at the North Pole Rim"-tour. Hehe, had a training walk yesterday with the military guide-group (three of the guides this year are retired officers from the Norwegian Air Force!!! - people in their early forties. Why can't ordinary people retire at forty??), I suspected them of being in terribly good shape but found out today that at least one of them had sore butt-muscles, just like I had! We walked up on one mountain, over it and then up another. Very ambitious, I dare say.
It's not my shape, though, that makes me maybe a bit worried about the trekking tour. It's rather the polar bears. They like hanging around in the fjord where we stay the first three days. Oh, what the heck, these tours have been running for 12 years now and no one has ever had serious problems with them. Cross my fingers. Saw on BBC Prime yesterday that Ewan McGregor (god, he's sooo handsome!) has made a documentary about polar bears. Why didn't he call me? Me being the only person who has survived mooning a polar bear!?! He's about to make a new one, couldn't someone point out my (still) existance to him???!!!!?!
Hope you will still remember me in two weeks time, even if no posts will be made in the meantime. I love you anyway :)
So, tonight I'm going to the airpost to pick up my passengers who'll join me on this "Trekking at the North Pole Rim"-tour. Hehe, had a training walk yesterday with the military guide-group (three of the guides this year are retired officers from the Norwegian Air Force!!! - people in their early forties. Why can't ordinary people retire at forty??), I suspected them of being in terribly good shape but found out today that at least one of them had sore butt-muscles, just like I had! We walked up on one mountain, over it and then up another. Very ambitious, I dare say.
It's not my shape, though, that makes me maybe a bit worried about the trekking tour. It's rather the polar bears. They like hanging around in the fjord where we stay the first three days. Oh, what the heck, these tours have been running for 12 years now and no one has ever had serious problems with them. Cross my fingers. Saw on BBC Prime yesterday that Ewan McGregor (god, he's sooo handsome!) has made a documentary about polar bears. Why didn't he call me? Me being the only person who has survived mooning a polar bear!?! He's about to make a new one, couldn't someone point out my (still) existance to him???!!!!?!
Hope you will still remember me in two weeks time, even if no posts will be made in the meantime. I love you anyway :)
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