Chemistry Department Christmas Lunch

Hello everyone,

It has been so busy the last couple of weeks, what with exams and Christmas, that both Mary and I have not updated this blog for a while. We will now start to catch up. These pictures are from the Chemistry department Christmas party, which was held on 12 December. There was lots of good food, including pinnekjott, and a lot of aquavit. The party started at 2 p.m (it was a Christmas lunch); I left at about 8 p.m., and the party was still going strong and lasted until the next morning. A good time was had by all. Part of the celebration included a visit from Nissefar, the northern version of Santa Claus/Father Christmas. He was portrayed by one of the department's more brilliant professors, Rolf Carlson, who was my instructor for two courses this past semester. In addition to being a virtual encyclopedia of organic chemistry, he also knows how to have fun (that's him playing the guitar also). Many of the gifts are humorous reminders of incidents in the past year. The folks whose laboratory was flooded out got a life-ring. It was a lot of fun. Enjoy the pictures, more are on the way.

Michael & Mary

sunrise/sunset (sorta)

Last Friday Mike and I walked downtown to the mission to attend an evening service for students. Afterward, a meal was served, and we all had a nice visit with students from Germany, Ghana, Columbia and Norway (of course). It was nearly 11 by the time we took the bus home. As we were walking from the bus stop, we looked up and saw the Northern Lights! Mike had seen them before, but it was my first time. It is a spectacular site. We watched for a while outside with some of our Italian neighbors, and then came into the apartment and watched the the lights shimmer and dance from our windows. Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to get a photo of them. I think we have to disengage the flash somehow ... we'll get it figured out eventually. In the meantime, Mike has been taking some shots of the not-quite sunrise/sunset that we get here. We're only ten days from the shortest day of the year, and we still have daylight at midday.

There is a lot of outdoor activity this time of year. We have seen little ones, about 2 or 3 years old, on skis--they are so good! Lots of people ski for fun, and as transportation to work, the grocery store, church--you name it. The ski club maintains the trails, and you have to look both ways when crossing to make sure that you don't step in front of a speeding skier. Mike and I tried a new path to our usual shopping destination and ended up close to the area where there is a skiing/shooting range--like you see at the Olympics. It turned out to be a long way around -- we actually ended up in someone's backyard and had to slide down a pretty good hill (actually Michael "walked" down--I "sledded" down on my satchel). It was fun to try something new and explore a little more.

We have seen kids (10-12 years) out with maps exploring the trails, it seems as part of their school work, or maybe a scout club. As the crow flies, it's only about a mile and a half from side to side of Tromsø; of course the hills make the distance further, but you can't walk too far without seeing the water, and the mountains of the mainland and Kvaløya are great landmarks. When I first arrived, it was very difficult to know directions, but now, I only need to look up at the shape of the mountains to know whether it is south, north, east or west. Mike is much better with directions than I am. I'm used to Indiana's grid, which makes that all so easy.

Another great thing they have here--kicksleds! Lots of people have these marvelous things (I think I want one!). There is a seat, or basket on the front, with two runners. The "driver" stands on the runners going downhill, and kicks for momentum on level ground. Uphill, you'd have to walk and push, but it's a neat way to get around. Often you see a child riding in the seat in front of the mother. The frame is not rigid, so to make turns you shift body weight, and to stop--drag your feet, I guess. I think it would require some practice on my part, before I got going too fast.

You can tell which people are used to walking on the snow and ice. On our way downtown last Friday we saw a group of dressed-up young adults walking the same direction that we were. The girls were in dresses and high heels--and had no trouble whatsoever on the snowy and icy sidewalks. Mike and I have been passed up more than once by little old ladies--I'm not talking grandmas--more like great-grandmas. It's very humbling. Often they will use ski poles to steady themselves--but they make great time.

This is also the time for skating. Monday morning Mike and I passed a large truck next to one of the soccer fields (of which there are many) where the snow had been cleared to the sides. Two men were spraying the cleared area with water from the truck, to make a level place for skating. We need to get over there sometime to get photos to post.

Things are wrapping up at school. The Norwegian language course ended two weeks ago, so that students could concentrate on studying for final exams in their fields. Mike has an one-hour oral examination on Friday and a five-hour written exam on Tuesday. He is looking forward to the next semester when he will chose his thesis topic and spend more time in the lab.

Torget

Torget is the market square in downtown Tromsø. At Christmas time a tree is set in the center and there is a lighting ceremony. Mike and I missed it this year, but we have a few pictures of the square at quieter times. If you'd like to see how the tree was delivered to the site, check out http://mylittlenorway.com/2008/12/lighting-the-christmas-tree/. He was on the spot and took some photos with his cell phone of the tree being lowered with a helicopter. You can also see some pics of the lighting ceremony there. The top photo here is the Catholic church that is located near Torget. The bottom photo is actually unrelated--it's just a pretty picture of the trees along the path from our place to the university.

Polish Students Plan Get-Together

Last Saturday, a group of Polish students (bottom photo) prepared a meal and activities for the other international students. It was very good food, which was labeled, in Polish, so I didn't quite get the names of the dishes, but everything was very tasty. There was a rice and apple dish, cabbage and sausage (really good), noodles and chicken, pieroges, and deep-fried cinnamon-y things (?). I don't think there was a morsel left at the end. They had also set up some sort of fortune-telling thing that is associated with St. Andrew's Day. They had set up three basins of cold water and had containers of melted wax. The idea is to pour the wax through the hole in a key (supposed to use your wardrobe key, but since they didn't have any, they made some "keys" from cardboard and covered them with foil). Then we took the resulting lump of wax to another table where they had lit several tealights. We each set our lumps of wax between the candles and the wall and looked at the shadow cast on the wall by the wax. This is supposed to tell you about your future. They did admit it requires some imagination. It was a really nice get-together.

Thanksgiving Day at Sentrum

It turned out that our anniversary fell on Thanksgiving Day this year, so we both took the day off and walked to downtown (sentrum). It was a good exercise, because it is very much downhill to sentrum, and we were anxious (at least I was) about the footing, but we have the "ice claws" that fit over our shoes, and that made all the difference. We found that we had no problems, and we were able to walk to Domkirke on Sunday for church as well. The sidewalks along Storgata are heated, so it is easy to get from place to place there. Of course Thanksgiving is not a holiday here, so all the shops were open. We stopped by the post office to pick up a package that Al and Ceil had sent (thanks for the candy!); while we waited for our turn, we browsed the CDs and DVDs that all the post offices have for sale. That's one way to keep their heads above water ... and their postal workers are universally the most pleasant. I don't think there is any notion of "going postal" here. Anyway ... the Christmas season is in full swing here and has been for several weeks. Lights in windows and on outdoor decorations are white, rather than colored. The streets look like a picture postcard. Keep in mind that all of these photos were taken before 3 in the afternoon. The lightest photo was taken around noon.

Apartment Views

Here are some views of our apartment building with snow and icicles. Also included a few photos of our view from our stue vindu (living room window). Our windows face to the north, and the lights you see through the trees in the top photo are from the university and surrounding buildings.

University of Tromsø

Thought we would share a few pictures of the university (sorry that some appear crooked--I'm still getting used to this digital camera). The campus is large, but the buildings are fairly close together. The main pathways are heated to keep them clear, and many buildings are linked underground, so you can get from one to the other without braving the elements. The second photo from the top is the science library. There are also medical and humanities libraries. There is a lot of glass used in architecture here, both in public buildings and in homes. Sometime I will include a photo of the school of fisheries building--it is almost entirely glass and is beautiful when lit up in the darkness. The picture at the bottom is the view from Mike's office.

Mørketida ("the dark time") arrived last Thursday! However, that doesn't mean that the days are entirely dark, just that the sun does not rise over the tops of the the mountains. We left the house yesterday for church about 10 and the light was good; by the time we headed home, about noon, it was beginning to get rather dusky. We did get a couple of pictures of the beautiful colors of the twilight you see above. The picture of Mike with the polar bear (we call him "Paul") was taken at the weather observatory that we pass by on our way to the church at Elverhøy. We have a good bit of snow, and it's been cold (-5-ish Celsius), which actually makes the walking better because the snow is crunchy and grips well.

Mike has had a busy week at school. This was the first week he actually was in the lab, and he had a great time. In a couple of weeks another student will be departing, and then Mike will have his own hood full-time so that he can run more reactions. He's working on a couple of papers too, and will have final exams in just a couple of weeks. Next semester he will begin work on his thesis, so he will be choosing his topic soon.

Last week during our weekly grocery shopping we were chatting, in English of course, in the check-out line; a lady in front of us asked if we were from North America. Turns out there is a get-together for Thanksgiving among Americans and Canadians living here in Tromsø, so we are invited. The lady (whose name escapes me at the moment) was from Pennsylvania; her husband is Norwegian and she has lived here since 1993.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Love,
Mike and Mary

More Houses

There are lots of unique houses in Tromsø, we thought we'd share a couple more pictures that we have taken. We especially enjoyed the statuette of the dachshund on the ridge of the roof. Lots of people have dogs here, and you see people out walking all kinds of breeds of dogs at any time of the day or night. We've seen a few cats--in particular, the first day I was here, a black cat that looked just like our Mulliner ran out to meet us as we were walking to sentrum. It was like he thought we were old friends! Another day we saw a cat walking along a roof. He apparently had a "cat door" of some sort, just under the eave of the roof, because he ducked down and disappeared. The top photo is one that Michael took of our apartment building (second on the left) in the summer time.

Sunny Sunday

Yesterday was sunny and clear, meaning that the sun just cleared the top of the mountains before it started to set, so Michael and I walked down Storgata to torget (Storgata is a pedestrian shopping street--torget is the market square) after church and took pictures along the water. Tromsdalen is the mainland, where the Arctic Cathedral is located. The bridge connects Tromsøya (Tromsø island) to the mainland, but there is also a tunnel that many people use to cross.