Thoughts and Musings: Being in Norway, my blog and more

My wife Nicole was just here for a visit, we had two weeks of holidays together and it was fantastic. We saw some great sights and most importantly, we spent time together in person.  Even with video and voice chat and nearly constant access to email, it is simply not the same as physically talking to each other.

It was amazing to me that when Nicole came here, the apartment where I am living for the rest of my stay suddenly felt so much more like home, like it was normal. Nicole said she noticed it too. It is hard to describe, it felt like home, it felt lived in, it felt full.  The opposite feeling is easier to describe and I think most people can relate.  As soon as Nicole left (about a week ago now) the apartment felt empty and very quiet, like it was missing something.

As the person who does most of the traveling in our relationship I do not notice this feeling often, the few times Nicole has gone somewhere without me, I have noticed this bit of quiet, but then I was in our home and it did not feel so bad.  Plus I had Jax, my dog with me, and well I can at least play with him, and heck even talk to him (if that makes me crazy, so be it, at least he doesn't answer me back).

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm not having a good time here, I am, I love it here, I could easily live in Tromsø. It's beautiful, close to mountains, small and friendly. It just was very nice to have Nicole here.

On a more positive side, this weekend I will go to another Tromsø TIL football (soccer) match.  TIL is doing terrible in their league so in order to make sure they have fans at the game they have lowered the price of all tickets to 50 NOK (less than $10).  In contrast, tickets are usually between 150 and 300 NOK.
Also, Tromsø did make it into the UEFA Europa league this year, albeit on a technicality.  Another team from Turkey was removed because of match fixing, so TIL advanced. But this means we will have three international teams here in Tromsø to play, one from Russia, one from Moldova, and the Tottenham Hotspurs from the UK.  I splurged and bought a ticket pack for all three games.  The crazy thing to me is that right now it is getting cooler, highs are around 8-10C during the day and maybe 4C at night, and right now it gets dark pretty early.  The first UEFA game is next week, but the last one is at the end of November. It will be dark and cold, and everyone hopes for snow, as that is the game against Tottenham).

I still find Norway expensive, but have gotten over it a bit, at least in terms of just accepting that everything costs more here. I still don't have a good sense of standard of living in the sense that I don't know what salary bases are.  I hear a bit from fellow scientists that the wage curve flats out sharply at the PhD level, i.e. a post-doc will make the nearly the same as a permanent junior researcher.  PhD students also seem to be paid adequately.

I keep following the news from the U of A back home, and I am really wondering what kind of university I will return to.  Post secondary institutions in Alberta received an average of 11% cuts (once you factor in inflation and a promised 2% funding increase).  As a result, the University has to slash its budget and it has been doing a terrible job on explaining how that will happen.  Grad students and undergrads will definitely be affected, loss of TA positions, increases in tuition and fees are not out of the question.

And finally I have been musing about my blog.  I wonder how it is perceived.  I'd love to talk more about my science and my work, but really I find it hard to a) make the time to write a blog post (write now I'm waiting for the oven to warm up, it's 9pm and I just got home from working a 12+ hour day). I need to eat yet, and if I don't take a little me time, I won't sleep well. The blog is sometimes me time, but othertimes I feel like I need to post and I should post.
I also do want to post more about my work, but honestly, it can be a bit dull, do I show figures I'm working on? Do I try to talk about news in the science field? Do the people who read my blog actually want to see this stuff?  Mostly I think not, maybe a little or something big where I am involved, but otherwise, I think the answer is no.  The blog really was started for my family to follow my life a bit while I travel, and I think they make up my primary audience.  Though I seem to have friends from other countries who read as well (thank you Google for tracking the country of the people who visit my blog). I think it could be fun to do a more sciency blog, and I hope that once I am back in Edmonton and start playing with my arduino I can do that, I will scrap the separate blog and just make the posts here.

Well that is enough on my thoughts for now.  and just because that was a lot of text, here is a picture:

Johnston Canyon, Oct 2012.

T - 24 hours until I see my wife!

Well it's been a bit over 3 months, but now it is less than 24 hours until I see Nicole. As you might imagine I am a little excited.  Will be nice to see her and visit with her. We have some exciting plans, a trip to Oslo and Bergen (by train, bus and fjord cruise), a World Cup qualifying match, and an important match for the local Tromsø IL team.  Otherwise we also have a week with no fixed plans yet, maybe we will do some hiking or exploring, or who knows, I will let you know.

Well off to the second day of the CoreSat kick-off meeting.  Have to leave work a little early today, need to do some laundry, pick up a few items for Nicole's arrival, and I want to make sure the apartment is clean.

A hike and some fishing: is there a better way to spend a sunny afternoon?

This past Sunday I went hiking and fishing with Gunnar and Gabriele, and Jennifer King, a new post-doc starting at NPI.  Jennifer and I actually met back in 2010 on the NPI cruise I joined.

Gunnar and Gabriele are participating in the Tipp A Topp program, a local program to get people out to hike and be active.  If you complete X out of 20 hikes (X=7,10,15,20) you get a prize.  At the top of each hike is a guest book and a number that you fill out in a book you purchase.

They picked a relatively easy hike this time, but it was also near to some fishing spots so we decided to do both.  The hike was very nice, not too difficult (only 250m elevation gain or so) and quite short (2km).  We added a bit to it on the way back by going around the lake at the top.

After all the hiking, we went for some fishing nearby.  It really did not look promising, but it was another beautiful spot and a gorgeous day so it did not matter that we did not see any fishing jumping. My feet/shoes were quite wet from the hike (was just wearing some sandal style shoes) so I stopped fishing to dry them out.  Gunnar and Gabrielle  kept fishing and all of a sudden Gabrielle had a fish, and a good sized one.  That was exciting.  We fished for a few more hours and kept one more larger fish, both were saithe.  We caught many smaller saithe, they seemed to just be hanging out offshore near some weeds, and there were some smaller minnows around so perhaps they were hunting.  It was pretty exciting.

Well here are more pictures of the hike since I did not take any pictures while fishing or watching fishing.

Fishing from Shore: Not as easy as from a boat!

I am behind on writing blog posts, luckily it's been awhile since I have backed up my data and since the scripts read from the folder I work in, I can't work in that folder without causing some problems, so I will take a short break (luckily I wrote a Mac Automator script that does synchronous backups instead of just copying the entire directory each time).

So two weekends ago, Gunnar and I decided that we wanted to do some fishing.  I was only half serious at first, but the more we talked about it, the more it sounded like fun.  So on the Saturday Gunnar and I bought fishing rods and some lures at the Co-Op, a grocery/everything store somewhat like Walmart.  The stuff was even on sale (40%off!).

So on Sunday, Gunnar, Gabby and I went to Hella, a well known local fishing spot. Here the fjord is quite narrow as there is a small island in the middle of it.  Because it narrows, there are strong currents and this apprently makes the fishing good.

When we arrived you could not see many fish but after an hour or so suddenly the water looked like it was boiling because of all the mackerel flopping around.  That said they often did not bite our lures, maybe we were using the wrong ones or the wrong size.  Gunnar and I lost a couple lures to the weeds but did pull in some fish.  However, we really did not know how big they should be before we kept them so we probably put back at least one or two that we could have kept.  In the end we only had the one fish to take home, but it was tasty.

Lucky for Gunnar and I, Gunnar's wife Gabrielle is not squeamish and was willing to clean the fish for us.  We both can do it but I at least find it tough.

WHOA! IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS!

Today while walking to work I realized that it's now been more than three months since I left Edmonton, and more than three months since I arrived in Tromso. That is three months that I have not seen my wife or my dog. Of course it has also meant I haven't had to do many household chores either (I vacuumed a couple times, and have done some cleaning and lots of dishes, and cooking and even walked a dog (Yukon)). At least with Skype and Apple FaceTime Nicole and I can video chat, still not the same as being with each other but better than a phone call or a text message or email.
But Nicole comes on Saturday, that will be nice (understatement).  We will do a bit of traveling within Norway and just enjoy some time together. Jax is spending a couple weeks with Nicole's parents.  He likes camping with the camper van.  Nicole said he hopped right in, no concern at all.  We met with Nicole's parents once at Lake Louise and even I can admit as a die hard fan of tenting that it can be awfully nice to sit in a warm dry place....Jax fully agreed, and I think he liked that the camper van had windows while the tent does not.  Nicole mom did say the he wimpered a bit once he realized Nicole wasn't with them and wasn't joining (which makes me quite sad), though we know he will have an amazing time.  Jax loves Nicole's parents and their dog tupper (who doesn't want a border collie for a best friend).

Things here are progressing nicely and I am finally starting to feel a bit settled in.  On Monday I went to the police station to get my temporary residence card (which will come in the mail). And this past weekend I moved into my apartment, so I am no longer relying on the extreme kindness of my friends....who now have a place to stay if they ever come to Canada... My apartment is okay, it will do for the next four months but isn't somewhere I'd want to stay long term. It is not that there is anything wrong with it but it is a bit far from work, and is in a massive apartment complex.  Here on Tromso there are many small apartments, rooms for rent in houses that it would be a shame to live in a complex when you could get something with character and soul (and fewer neighbors).

That said, Tromso has about 10,000 students and in a town of 60,000-65,000 people that is quite something.  So when the students start looking in June and July, the rush is on and it is difficult to find something.  There have been plenty of newspaper articles about students unable to find a place to live and last year some students were living in the fire station for a few months.

I still find Norway expensive, but just don't think about it as much.  It is best not to price shop too much and while I was going to do a little blog post on costs of groceries and so forth, I decided it would just make me think more about how expensive it is here....we will see...maybe in a few weeks as right now I am way behind on blogging/posting.

I feel that I have made some lifetime friends here, already, hopefully this is true. It has been great to meet you people and strangely I often feel more in place here at NPI than I do at the U of A. Maybe this is just because NPI is friendly and filled with people who study the same thing as me. Back at the U of A, my office mate and fellow PhD student Alec Casey are some of the only people studying sea ice in the Arctic (there are a few others though we never really meet with them).

When I was staying with Gunnar Spreen and his wife Gabrielle I was working slightly different hours than I am used to, sleeping in a bit and starting work at 9 but then staying until 7 pm or so. This was kinda nice, and I had a really great time staying with Gunnar and Gabrielle (more on that in another post).

Friday afternoon usually means a beer at the end of the work day at 4:30pm, which is nice.  We go to Olhallen, which is a very old pub in Tromso right next to the old Mack brewery (it is closed).  The pub closes at 6pm so it is a good place for an after work beer.  I am not much of a beer drinker but these Friday afternoon beers are helping.  I usually get a Blanding (spelling may be incorrect)..it is a mix of a light and dark beer.  You can get it at most bars in Tromso but the amount of light beer vs dark beer changes with each bar. I'm still not crazy about it, but at least the second one always goes down smoother than the first.

Oh, and work is going okay too.  Met with Christian (my supervisor) yesterday as he is here in Tromso for a meeting this week.  It never ceases to amaze me how valuable his insight is and how quickly he can provide some ideas that take me from not being confident of what I am thinking or what to do next to having a plan.

Okay, well I want to write at least one more blog post this morning before starting work, so I better get to it.

Sorry there are no pictures in this post.  I think my monthly summary post will be text....unless there are some great summary pictures. But there should be a post on my weekend trips the past couple weeks and hopefully I will share some of my travels with Nicole.

Cruise Aborted (For Now): The past week in review

Okay, so by now you know that the cruise I was on was aborted, at least for now. So far I have not had a chance to provide a full overview of the cruise or what I have been up to for the past week.

Last week Thursday I flew to Longyearbyen on Svalbard. As Tromsø is already at  69.64N and Longyearbyen is at 78.22N, the flight is only 1.5 hours and on a regular Boeing 737-800. And it is actually very affordable, especially in comparison to a similar flight in Canada.

I spent Thursday and Friday helping Paul and Matts with setting up an automated water sampler.
The water sampler is programmed to collect a bottle of water each week for an entire year. It only collects water from the depth it sits at.  You could also use this sampler to collect water from different depths if you were to raise and lower it.

Top down view of the water sampler.  Each of the blue caps is the top of a bottle that gets filled.

On Friday afternoon, most of the other cruise participants arrived. I helped Matts and Gunnar with finding, repacking and sorting the sea ice equipment. Friday night we had the cruise dinner so that everyone (or most people) could meet and start getting to know each other.

I ate dinner with everyone and then went for a few drinks with a friend, the helicopter pilot who flew the me and the EM-bird on R/V Lance in 2010.  It was a bit of a late night for me but was nice to see him and catch up.

On Saturday we had shooting practice and a bit of polar bear safety theory. Then spent a bit more time sorting out things and shopping to pick up some junk food and drinks for on the boat.

On Sunday morning everyone was at the ship at 9am. We had a quick safety/operations meeting with the First Mate and stuff was moved around the ship a bit (brought some things up from below, put other things down).  I started putting the bird together.  We started sailing around mid-afternoon, something like 3pm.

On Sunday night we were to drop off a group of 6 geologists onto Prince Karls Forland, a long island in Svalbard.  However, large waves and strong winds meant that we could not really use the helicopter from the ocean side of the island, so the ship had to circle around.  The weather deteriorated and soon using a helicopter did not seem like an option.  When I went to sleep at 11pm, the helicopter was going to do a test flight, otherwise they were considering using small zodiacs to get the geologists and all their gear onto the island.  In the end, it was decided just to wait a few more hours as the weather was improving. By about 5:30am the geologists and their gear were all off the ship.

We then began heading to the first oceanographic mooring.  A mooring refers to an anchor and rope and in the case of scientists a suite of sensors attached to the mooring.  NPI has maintained a series of moorings across Fram Strait for many years now.  Each year the Fram Strait cruise heads out to go to the moorings, bring them up, collect the data, service or replace the instruments and then redeploy the mooring.

Now, if you have been following my blog for its entirety you may remember that I get seasick, and I get seasick very very easily, I mean, very very easily. This time was no different, while heading to the mooring the wind was up a bit and the waves for a few meters, more than I could handle, so I just took a motion sickness pill, no big deal.  I find they leave me pretty drowsy, and I still can't look at a screen or read a book. Since we had already put some of the EM bird equipment together and the sea ice equipment was largely ready to go, I decided to kill the time by sleeping, something made easier by the motion sickness pills.  I slept all Sunday night, most of Monday (getting up only for meals) and all of Monday night.

On Tuesday there was a bit more work to do putting together the bird (attaching the tail and putting the two halves together), and a bit more sorting of sea ice equipment. We finally reached the ice and it was starting to look like we could do a sea ice station and maybe an EM bird flight.  Unfortunately, our pilot was not feeling well.  The first mooring was found and retrieved and we started heading to the second one, hoping that when we got there the pilot would be feeling better and we could do a sea ice station and flight after the second mooring was recovered.

Our pilot did not get better, and the ship didn't make it to the second mooring.   Basically the ship clutch was damaged and after some discussions it was decided that the ship needed to return to Longyearbyen for repairs. The first aid trained people on board thought that the helicopter pilot might have appendicitis and so he was picked up by the rescue helicopter from Longyearbyen.

So we started heading back towards Longyearbyen, I made sure the bird and so forth were securely strapped down. We had supper and watched some movies and then I went to bed.

When I woke up, the sea was a fair bit rougher (6-7m waves, winds 35-40knots gusting to 50knots), so I took a motion sickness pill in preparation and decided again just to sleep the transit day away.  Turns out that during the day it was determined that the damage to the ship was more difficult to fix than initially estimated.  The ship was now going to go to Longyearbyen to allow people and their equipment off and then it would sail to Tromsø. Anyone who wanted off the boat then had to be ready to go as the ship would arrive at the docks at 7pm and leave at 10pm.

Okay so we packed up all the stuff, and got off the boat. NPI had managed to arrange accommodation for everyone (THANKS, was very nice).  A few of us then met up for drinks and some food at around 11pm/midnight.  On Thursday I rebooked my flight back to Tromsø.

It was pretty disappointing to go back without having stepped on sea ice or having flown the EM bird. We did manage to collect some ice observations, but that was it for the sea ice team.  The oceanography team retrieved that one mooring and performed some conductivity, temperature, depth (pressure) measurements.
I did not even take any pictures, well I took one of the heli deck as we left Longyearbyen but I did it with the Google Blogger app on my phone and accidently deleted the picture before posting it (smooth move).

As I don't get my apartment until Sept 2, I was homeless but luckily Gunnar and his wife Gabrielle have welcomed me into their guest room for the week. It has been really nice staying with them. Gabrielle is an amazing cook and it has been nice to see a new part of Tromsø and to get to know some more people.  Because I had left most of my non cruise clothing with Angelika and she was on holidays I needed another pair of pants to wear around so I went shopping on Saturday and bought some stuff so I could make dinner for Gunnar and Gabrielle. I also looked into getting a haircut, I have not had one since before I left Canada and I really need one.  But they are crazy expensive here, as in 50-80 for a regular men's haircut! So I will probably wait another week so that it is a bit closer to when Nicole comes to visit.

Yesterday the weather was very nice so we went to do a hike.  There is a hiking program here where if you complete the 20 hikes they recommend each summer, you get a prize.  You enter  you name in a book at the top of the mountain and record a number from the book into your list which you then submit. There are also prizes if you only complete 7, 10, or 15 of the hikes. It was a really nice day and very nice hike from sea level to 850m in about 4 km (though the first 1.25 kilometers was very flat).

Two Months: Boy Time Flies

Hey Everyone,

Well I have now been in Norway for 2 months and away from home for just an extra week more than that.  Things here are generally pretty good. The high cost of food and so forth doesn't bother me as much as it did (and maybe not as much as it should). Maybe next week (if I remember, I will post some pictures of food, and then the prices).  I'll also try to do the same while I am on Svalbard as a comparison and maybe see if I can get someone back in Canada to send me some prices on a few select items.

I still haven't received my residence permit.  The system is just backed up or delayed or whatever.  I have spoken with the immigration office numerous times but there is not much to be done about it. The decision is now 5 weeks over their targeted processing time.  Part of the reason is undoubtedly that many Norwegians take extensive holidays in the summer, making sure to enjoy the good weather and all the daylight hours.  Otherwise, most thing are sorted out, or nearly so.

Work is going well, spending lots of time in front of my computer.  I am working on two main projects right now, one for this exchange and one more directly related to my thesis.  As a result I end up working many 12-16 hour days but that is okay, it is what I am here for. The past two weeks I have been house sitting and enjoyed working on a deck overlooking the ocean; it made it a little easier to work late each night.

On Thursday I will head to Svalbard and then on R/V Lance for a research cruise to Fram Strait off the east coast of Greenland.  I will be on the boat for just about 3 weeks.  I don't know if I will have the chance to blog from the boat. I will try, otherwise I will just write the blog posts up and then upload them when I return to internet land.

When I return to Tromso my supervisor visits Tromso for a few days. Then, and much more exciting (sorry Christian), my wife Nicole arrives for her visit just a few days later. She and I will take a few holidays together. I am really looking to seeing my wife, and imagine I will be looking to it even more in another month. We can still communicate fairly regularly using email, Facebook, FaceTime and Skype but it is not the same.  We will be doing a little sightseeing in Norway and just spending some time together.  We only get a couple weeks together, but that is so much better than no visit at all.  I am very excited to see her and talk to her and sightsee with her.

Thinking on all my trips, my workaholic nature and love of my research, I realize how lucky I am to have such an understanding and supportive wife.  Someone asked me once how we (as a couple) deal with the absences, and it is still a question to be answered.  I feel like time apart is definitely good for couples, you miss each other, appreciate all the little things each other does and so forth.  I guess both of us also don't want to be the person who is holding the other one back from doing what they love and/or what will help their career.

Unfortunately for her,Nicole definitely gets the short end of the stick, I travel far more than she does and for much longer periods. It is easier to be the person who goes away, they are usually on an adventure or seeing something new or some new country. The person back home gets to do all the household work without help and without the excitement of a new place.
While I am here in Norway I do have to look out for myself but I still have the excitement of new people, a new place and culture.  Although honestly, I have probably been doing far to much working and far to little enjoying my surroundings.

Saturday Morning Hike Up Nordtinden

Wow, there is just not enough time in the day to get done everything I want.
This quick post is just a few pictures from the top of Nordtinden, a 640m mountain near Skulsfjord where I was staying with my friends Harvey and Angelika and their dog Yukon for the past month.

Now, I am temporarily house-sitting for a researcher who works at NPI. His name is Hakon Hop and he is a biologist and an extremely experienced under-ice diver.  I met Hakon in 2010 when I joined two cruises with NPI.  He is going on a cruise for two weeks and his family is going to Canada to visit relatives. So this luckily Canadian is house sitting in a BEAUTIFUL house with an great view.

The house is near Tonsvik, another small town near Tromso (about 22km away).  The bus connections and internet are a bit better here than in Skulsfjord, but I already notice how quiet it is without Yukon, Harvey and Angelika (probably no great fishing trips in store for me for the next two weeks).

OKAY, back to the real blog post content, my hike up Nordtinden.  Saturday morning I woke up and checked the weather forecast.  It was going to be overcast until 2pm and then start raining, and it would keep raining all day Saturday and Sunday.  So I decided I better take Yukon out while I could stay dry.

Nordtinden is the mountain you can see in this blog post, 7th picture down (from my last longer hiking trip near Skulsfjord). (or you can just look below for the small version, the link has a bigger version).

Nordtinden

I wanted to climb up this the last time, but did not, I was tired already and so I just went to the small waterfall you can see in the picture above.

So by about 10:30, off I went with Yukon.  It was a nice hike, the very beginning and a short bit near the end were the steepest sections but overall a nice hike, not too difficult.

The clouds were low on Saturday, very low, sometimes they would buildup and surround me and Yukon and then quickly fade away.  Luckily when I got to the top we had a bit of a break, the clouds where a bit above us and away from the views.

Well that's all for this post.  Want to work a bit on the post about a buoy....coming up very soon I hope, just need to analyze some of the data for you to give you a few figures and facts.

Holy Mackerel! and cod!

Maybe you guessed from the title, but I went fishing this weekend, twice, and with great success.

Harvey and Angelika were back from their hiking holiday and we had some sunny breaks.

The weather had been pretty rainy and windy last week, but on Saturday evening, the weather cleared up a bit and we decided to go fishing.

We did not go very far from Skulsfjord, and went near a small island in a fjord.  One one side of the island the ground below drops quite quickly and we thought we'd try fishing along the drop as our boat drifted over it.

I cannot remember the last time I went fishing, but it has been awhile, and it has been much longer since I have actually caught something, actually for all I know, I never have. So maybe it was beginners luck, or maybe just Harvey's expertly chosen location but we brought up 15kg of fish, mostly cod.  Harvey was fishing shallow with a rod, and I wish fishing near the bottom with a line with multiple hooks on it.

After just a few minutes, I had a bite, and up came this cod.  I was pretty excited! OKAY! Great!, but Harvey wanted his freezer filled so back to work I went.

My first fish and cod!

 A couple minutes later (at most) I had another bite, and it felt much heavier and stronger...I was excited, was it a much bigger cod, or something else..

Turns out it was just 3 cod, just 3.  SWEET! Okay, well if it keeps going like this, maybe we will fill Harvey's freezer, but surely it can't, it must just be beginners luck I thought.

Just a couple minutes later....note there are three!!, that's right 3!!! fish.

A little more time and more fish. Man this is my kind of fishing.  I do distinctly remember fishing once for hours and hours on a lake and not catching a thing, but this, this I like.

After just a couple hours we had 8 cod, and 3 coal fish, about 15kg (including heads but no guts).
Harvey really did not get much chance to fish, as he was right away gutting and cleaning the fish a bit. I have no idea how to do this but it seems that you make an slice behind the gills and then split open the underside and then remove the guts (feel free to inform me if I am wrong).

The final haul

We decided that we had enough for one night, it was beginning to rain a bit and it was 9pm and we had not had dinner yet.  We arrived in Skulsfjord and the weather was nice, cloudy but no rain here, we anchored the boat and started loading into the dingy.  In about 30seconds the weather changed, lots of rain and wind, waves, We sheltered in the boat for a bit, as we would not really be able to paddle the dingy to shore in the wind and waves.
After a few minutes there was a lull and we went for it and made it to shore without problems.  Was pretty amazing (and a little stressful) to see how fast the weather can change on you.

After getting back, Harvey turned the kitchen into a slaughter house and we put away the fish.  I had the fun task of splitting the heads into smaller pieces so that Yukon (the dog) can have them.  This would not have been to bad, except the hatchet I had was a bit dull, okay actually it was really dull. But with a knife to help out and a bit of force, I managed to cut up the heads, and in the process see parts of a fish I'd never had, and still don't have, any interest in seeing.

On Sunday, the weather was again variable in the morning, windy, rainy, then sunny, then windy and rainy all over again.  However, at about 2pm the weather cleared.  At 5pm we went out fishing again, to a new spot. Again after just 2 to 2.5 hours we caught 15 mackerel.  There must have been a school of them swimming around because only one cast had just one fish, all the others had three or four and I think one cast even had 5 fish on it.

Again, Harvey was kept quite busy cleaning and gutting fish, having time to cast once or twice with a rod before having to work at cleaning full time.  However we came a bit more preparred today so he had a few more buckets to use to help organize and he was much quicker.

Quick Fishing Trip

Yesterday Harvey and Angelika returned from their holidays in Germany.  I met them at the shopping center in town on their way home from the airport.  We had a bit of late dinner.  Harvey and I had beer marinated whale meat...mmmmm, delicious!

Then we decided that since it was such a nice night we would go out for a little fishing trip in their boat.  Since the boat is just a few hundred meters from the house, this is rather quick and easy to do.

We headed out and I stuck the go pro up front to take some pictures, just in case.
We did not catch any fish, but it was very nice to go out on the water.  It was calm and quiet and relaxing (though a surprising number of boats were out and around). We did see some jellyfish.

On the way back, Harvey noticed some ripples that did not seem to just right, so we stopped and turned around and saw a porpoise splashing around.

MY this place is beautiful!

Well it’s the weekend. Usually this would mean relaxing, sitting back with a good book, maybe catching up on some TV shows, and walking the dog. And of course running errands, groceries, etc.

Here it is a bit different for me, but not a lot.  It still means a bit of relaxing, though I am also trying to work at least 4-5 hours each weekend day, sometimes taking a whole day off only to work 8hrs or so the next day.

I find that the weekends is when I most miss my wife and dog. Normally we spend a lot of time together on the weekends. Also my weekends here tend to be just working or hiking, but in any case just me (and Yukon right now).

On Friday I came home, ate a quick supper and then walked with Yukon for an hour and a half or so.  I finished off the Wheel of Time series and didn’t do too much else besides staying up late reading.

Yesterday, I slept in, fed the dog, ate breakfast and relaxed a bit and then worked from noon until 5pm.  I’m trying to spend the time working on the weekends on work that I am not doing here going my fellowship stay. This weekend, I am looking at some CryoSat-2 data and writing some new scripts.

Last night Yukon and I went for an nice almost three hour hike to the top of some of the hills/mountains behind Skulsfjord. It was nice to go around and up and down and so forth.  However, the flies were starting to drive me insane, constantly buzzing around my head…and my one toe felt like it was starting to blister so we headed back without going up the bigger peak that I wanted to get to. Nonetheless, the hike offered some amazing views and we did walk a fair bit.

Last night after we got back the local reindeer decided to come eat the grass near Yukon’s run.  He was a bit excited by this but overall was very calm and behaved considering.

Last night I again stayed up late reading (the new Steve Berry book, it was only okay), so I slept in again this morning. I went to the kitchen to make breakfast and found that a spider had made a web from the window to the sink.  So I stopped to take a few pictures before removing it.

The rest of today I will work a bit, walk the dog and make supper and relax (probably with a book).

On Wednesday I fly to the Netherlands for some meetings at the European Space Agency ESTEC.  Then Friday-Sunday I will visit with my family in Holland. Looking forward to seeing them again so soon. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and let me sit outside a bunch and maybe wade around a bit in the ocean, though in this case I will definitely miss the midnight sun.

An important day

Today I have been away from home for 1 month already (but only in Tromso for three weeks)! and it is my mom's birthday, Happy Birthday Mom. Did I mention that my mom and brother are coming to visit me in October.  Very surprising. Mom, I'll save your present for when you are here.  My wife is coming to visit me too (even more exciting to be honest, though perhaps less suprising), and even though I was away for her birthday earlier in June, she is nice enough to come here over my birthday!

So what's happened over the month?

I've been trying to post often, though I find that i often just use Twitter to share a quick picture from my phone.  I should start trying to only use my blog to do this stuff, as it feeds to Twitter and then to Facebook.   I will work on this over the coming month.

I've been hiking, seen some of the country side near Tromso, walked and hiked more this month than I have for quite awhile before hand.  I've watched a marathon, and have been cooking for myself (though honestly I am making more or less the same 3 or 4 meals each day since I arrived). I've seen birds, porpoises, reindeer, and lots of dogs.

Otherwise I have worked alot, many evenings, most of my weekends.

I haven't had much chance to really explore Tromso. At least, I don't feel like I have.  The island is a good size, and I've really only been around downtown and to the southern tip (closest to NPI).  

I've been out to a restaurant/bar and to a total of two bars (one of which closes at 6pm). I'm able to understand a bit more Norwegian, mostly through the wonders of grocery shopping.  However, my spoken Norwegian has not improved at all, that is to say, I still don't speak a word of Norwegian besides numbers and thanks.

I need to be working more in the evenings, though it will be difficult in July as I need to make sure to catch the bus out to Skulsfjord where I am staying at Harvey and Angelika's place (as the bus at 4pm is my last option for the day).  But as long as I plan ahead and download enough data to my computer, I can work.  But it is also nice to take the evening, make supper and then walk/hike with Yukon. Just tonight I hiked up the hills behind Harvey and Angelika's.  Only a few hundred meters elevation gain, but well worth it, even if the views today were a bit clouded/rained in.  Today it has been raining hard, we even had thunder and lightning (while i was at work, not when hiking on the mountain)!

I've also been reading away much of my spare time.  The last book in the wheel of time series came out in April (ebook version) or something, and in preparation I have been rereading the entire series of books so far (13 of them, each 700-900 pages).  I am not sure when I started, but I'm on the final book now.

Quick Post: Postcard photo and reindeer

Hey all,

Just a quick post from some of the views from this morning.  This weekend I moved to Angelika and Harveyæs place.  I know Harvey and Angelika from 2010 when I was here for the ICE and NPI Fram Strait research cruises.

Harvey and Angelika live in a small village called Skulsfjord about 30km away from NPI. They rent the top floor of an old school house.  While they go on some holidays in July, I will be taking care of their dog, Yukon.  He's fun, and full of energy, and a real sled dog.

Yukon and I hiking

Last night, I walked and fed Yukon, and did some work. It was a bit of rainy evening.  This morning though, I was greeted to sunshine and this view.

View from the drive (Skulsfjord, Norway)

One of the reasons I took the picture here is because if I wait for the bus at the end of the driveway, a seagull who has chicks always dive bombs me, trying (and succeeding) to scare me off.

I rode the bus for awhile then had to get off and transfer to another bus that takes me to work.  While waiting for the next bus a small herd of reindeer decided to walk through the bus transfer area.

Just some reindeer

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

When the situation requires it, I can be very decisive.  However, I sometimes find myself being less than decisive, mostly because I am not very picky about things.  I consider myself to be pretty easy going and adaptable. Right now I am trying to find accommodations for time here in Norway.

I am watching someone's house in July and then in August I am on a research cruise in Fram Strait, so I really don't need anything until September.  Unfortunately, the housing market in Norway is crazy and all the students start University again in mid to late August.  Right now this means there is quite a rush on all rental places.  Of the more ones I have contacted, two have contacted me back saying that the room was not yet rented out and they would make a list of appointments.  Of those, 1 called me back and I went to view it yesterday.

I was supposed to be there at 6, and I was, just.  I had planned out the bus route I would take there, and which bus I needed to catch.  Then I had a Skype meeting with my supervisor from 4:30 until about 5:30.  Of course as my wife is well aware, my meetings with my supervisor can last a bit longer than planned, and so when I was discussing just one more quick thing, I saw my bus pull away from the stop.  It was my day off running yesterday, but what choice did I have.  I walked-jogged-ran to my appointment.

The room was okay, nothing special, nothing terrible.  Just a small room with space for a bed and a desk in a house shared with 4 or 5 other people. A shared bathroom and kitchen and living room area. BUT I would have to take in in July already.  So I would pay for two months where I won't use it.

With the housing market the way it is, should I just take it or should I hold out? If I hold out I can use the money I save for the three months I won't have had to pay rent to get a nicer place for the last 4 months.  But do I need a nicer place, I really am only looking for somewhere that I can cook, sleep and maybe do some work, and a bit of unwinding and so a shared house could be great.  They can also be terrible, if you get the wrong group of people.

The landlord lady said she would contact me today if I made the cut (she had about 8 appointments to view the place last night after I left).  Her thoughts were to wait (maybe she didn't like me, but I think she was just being honest). I guess I have to decide soon (maybe).

Part of me wants to wait, I think there should be more options coming open in July with all the students arriving in August. I would like to have something sorted before I go on the research cruise at the beginning of August.

I thought I would share my thoughts on this problem as I am working on it.  

Otherwise, life here is good.  The mountains/hills, the fjords, the cooler temperatures, the smell of the ocean, all of these agree with me. I have been busy working, lots of meetings, writing some code, and soon I will be spending some time in a freezer processing thin-sections of ice cores. In the Arctic we usually do thick sections,  though ours are pretty thin, just not as thin as you can get them in a lab.  I will hopefully post a couple pictures for you.

Also it turns out I will be going to back to the Netherlands for a few days. I will have some meetings there and so I will spend two extra days and hopefully see some of my extended family again. 

Cheers

Justin

Friday Night Hike

After supper and spending the night at Angelika and Harvey's, I worked Friday.  I sent off some work that had a deadline and decided to reward myself by going hiking that evening.  I am trying to make sure that I do go out and enjoy this amazing place, instead of just spending all my time at work (though I have just finished working today).

The weather was looking pretty good, so I decided to go out for a hike. There is a cable car here that takes you up one of the hills (or mountain, not sure what you would call it, it felt like a mountain to me). You can then hike up to the summit from there.

I decided that instead of taking the cable car up, I would hike up. This was quite nice.  Since I am also trying to get in shape I decided to take my camera, tripod and a few other somewhat unnecessary items just to add weight to the pack.  I left work at 4:30 or so, packed up and changed, stopped at the grocery store to buy some supper for the hike (bananas, a cheese bun, a pastry and some juice) and also stopped and finally got myself a SIM card for my phone (just incase I needed help, I wanted to be able to call).

I walked from downtown, across the bridge, and stopped quickly to take a picture of the Arctic Cathedral.  It looks quite nice, lots of light, many many windows. I think there are daily concerts (with one at midnight as well) here during the summer tourist season.

Tromso's Arctic Cathedral.

After this I headed toward the cable car and started going up. The trail climbed a bit and then levelled off for a long time.

View of Tromso.  Can just make out Polaria and the Fram Center where I work, if you know what to look for.

 After a while I came to a stream with a small hose for drinking water and decided to take some pictures with my camera, my neutral density filter and my tripod.

A stream along the way.  With hose to supply drinking water. Shot with my iPhone.

Shot with my Canon 60D with a Neutral Density Filter

I ate a banana quickly and then continued on up. It took awhile but in the end I hiked some 19+km, took a few pictures and had a nice evening.  I was hope around 10pm and had a great nights sleep.

Another shot with my iPhone, showing Tromso, and again you can see the Fram Center and Polaria

Panorama shot with my iPhone showing Tromso (island) and Tromsdalen (foreground town)

Looking out over the ford. shot with iPhone

View from the Top, Panorama from ipHone

Shot with my iPhone.  Is a very small puddle, but I held the camera close to the water.