SUNRISE ON SANDSØY

The sun is just starting to awaken, and the snow is at it's lowest since we came here.

Daylight is here. We are enjoying every bit of it now.

 Today, 10/31, the sun rose about 8am and will set about 4pm.

My dad went out fishing for dinner yesterday, and he caught coalfish (a common fish in arctic areas), cod and a halibut. The halibut was about 17 lbs. This will be sliced into steaks and saved for dinner for another day. We cooked the other fish for dinner yesterday. Served with steamed potatoes, carrots and flatbread, it is a favorite of our family. The leftover fish will be used for a fish dish that has pasta, white gravy, cheese and breadcrumbs in it and is served with steamed potatoes, carrots and fried bacon.

Now, the fish has to be cleaned, and it will be by a professional!

Here it is! 17 lbs and delicious.

There are many moose on Sandsøy. These ones I wouldn't eat!!

We continued our baking day at Randi's house, making cinnamon rolls as well as preparing for the Moose Party by making antlers.

Sigrid and Jonas hard at work cutting cinnamon rolls.

This is a favorite food for snacks: Cinnamon Rolls served with butter, sugar and cinnamon inside. No sugar on top.
After baking, we went to pick leaves for decorations for the Moose Party. Afterwards, the kids 'cooked up' some witches brew outside.

Preparing for the big Moose Party.

In the photo: Evald (Rolf's dad and my second cousin) deboning moose meat.

About 12 people (on and off) came and volunteered their time to start cooking for the upcoming Moose Party on Sandsøy. The hunters got the moose and hung it up to dry. After this, we got lots of the meat transported to the community house for deboning and cutting into pieces. It took about 4 hours to prepare about 55 lbs of moose meat. This is only half of what we will prepare in total for about 100 children and adults. This is a fundraiser for the local 'Activity Organization', which includes sports, art and social gatherings.

The meat is cut into cubes, here by Eldar in the back (he is my first cousin) and Ola, the sheep farmer, in the front.

Here is Tone, Ola's soon to be wife - at Christmas time, frying the meat. This meat will be put in the freezer to keep until a couple of days before the party. At that time we will have to gather again to debone, cut and fry the same amount as last time as well as put the moose stew together.

Last, but not least: Food for the volunteers. Here is Marit cooking up some delicious waffles for the workers.

BAKING DAY AT RANDI'S HOUSE

Another day off school, but it doesn't mean we can't have any fun. Recipes were read and shopping lists made for the 'dishes' we wanted to make. From the left: Sigrid, Barbara, Marcus and Jonas.

Next, we visited Oddvar the store owner (on the right) and purchased the ingredients we needed.

A happy gang making home made potato chips. That's what Marcus wanted. Made with oil, salt and paprika.

Jonas wished for pancakes for lunch, and his wish was granted. Lots of measuring going on.

Jonas, the pancake chef!

Barbara chose to make a fruit milk shake. They couldn't wait to have dessert before lunch!

We finished up in the kitchen without Sigrid making what she wanted, but we did it the following week. Photos to come.

The School Swimming Pool

This is the swimming pool at the school. It is only about 14 yards. The students get to swim once a week for about one hour. This is Barbara's class (3rd and 4th grades) where 6 children already know how to swim and the other gets a 'swim lesson' from the teacher. It is endless what teachers have to do in Norway.

Here are the swimmers practicing on their back stroke.

Barbara talking to assistant teacher, Veronica.

Veronica's Birthday Party - Halloween Party

For some of the guests, this was the first Halloween party ever. We had lots of fun sharing American traditions with our new Norwegian friends. There are photos of almost all the guests on the left in this blog. Lots of children get dressed up for Halloween here and go 'trick or treat' (in Norwegian: Knask eller Knep), but you don't find the cute, adorable costumes. They are all scary, dark and bloody. Barbara and Veronica decided long time ago to be babies for Halloween, and nobody had seen that before here. We ended up with 5 babies at the party and one was a dead baby.

We made a few decorations and hung up around the house. The main attraction was the spider in the ceiling in the living room.

Bobbing for apples was popular; almost everyone did that (Veronica in the photo).

Next, we did 'find the treasure in a bowl of worm'. Marte is in this photo, and she was very startled when she put her hands into the bowl. The kids had to find an object in the spaghetti and say the name in English. Veronica also created a 'Spider Toss' game where the kids had to add up point to find the winner.

Thanks to Mary Ann Askins, we had lots of fun American items to give the children; also, rat poison, red blood and such. Bottles of apple juice received a drop of food color for the perfect colors of rat poison and blood. The kids' favorite drink was the rat poison.

Who would dear to eat such treat? The kids did, and they were delicious bloody witches fingers. Even my parents enjoyed eating these.

Mud cups with worms, bloody witches finger, pumpkin looking chocolate cake and fruit cups were treats for the kids.

The goody bags are now seen all over the place, used for gym bag, swim bag, book bags and so on.

Party time.....almost everyone gathered for a photo (Axel was missing).

At the very end of the party, with only candles lit, we made up a ghost story together

Getting involved in the community.

The youngest kids are off school every Wednesday and the 5th, 6th and 7th grade are off every other Wednesday. I plan and execute activity days the them. Above is a photo from when we planted 130 bulbs at the local senior home. Lots of dirt, a little rain and lots of play gave the seniors living there lots of entertainment for the morning.

Here is the work crew. From the left: Veronica, Vårin, Rebecca, Marcus, Barbara, Sigrid, Axel.

We picked some rocks at the beach for a border around the planted areas. The minerals on Sandsøy are very interesting, and the kids love to play with rocks. In this photo, the kids are 'pulling teeth' from the mountain. They pull smaller sedimentary slates off the main rock pretending to be dentists.

Rebecca is very busy 'pulling teeth'.

We're staying warm!

Even though we are facing climate challenges, many Norwegians use firewood to heat their houses in the winter. About 30% use low emission wood burning stoves. Interestingly enough, electric power is very expensive in Norway. There is a free market of power in Norway. When this changed, they hoped for lower electric prices, but that didn't work. The market place forced the prices up. You can shop from any power company that provide to your area; however, you have to pay 'rent' for transporting the power to your house to the local company that owns the lines. In our area the company is called 'Hålogaland Kraft' and the rent is mighty expensive. We (at our house) pay almost the same in rent as we do for power usage. Norway is the 4th largest oil producing country in the world, but 99% of power used in Norway is hydro electric. There are 740 hydro power plants in Norway, divided in two different kinds of installations: Volume power plants (typically in rivers) and high fall power plants (not so much water, but high fall). The power plants are spread all over Norway, but of course the western part has many plants. The largest hydro electric plant is in Rogaland (southwest), Kvilldal Power Station. See list over all registered power stations in the world on Wikipedia: List of hydroelectric power stations. The larger ones in Norway are listed here. 

Nice pile of fire wood cut this summer (Charley helped, too). It will be stacked to dry and cut during this winter,  and then burned the following winter. This is at my parent's house.

This is where the wood will be stacked. An old well house on the right and the kids' playhouse of the left.

My dad and I spent 2 days carrying, stacking and securing the stack. He is nearing 90 years old, so we took a little at the time. Although, he has no problem carrying large trunks or balancing on top of the stack. It is covered by roofing materials so the snow won't sit on top of it and soak it, and then the cover is tied down so the storms won't blow it off.

The 'Tore Hund Hike' on Bjarkøy 10/18, 2008.

Tore Hund was a very influencial Viking in this region. He is an important character in the Snorre Sturlason's Saga. He is most famous for giving the King, Olav Den Heilage, his lethal wound under the battle of Stiklestad of 1030. Read more about this rebellious Viking from the north in Wikipedia.org. The students had a 'regular' school day this Saturday. The parents were welcome to participate. First we all did a 4-5 mile hike up in the hills, hiking where Tore Hund once hiked.

This is Barbara and her friend Liv Elna on the way up the steepest hill.

Beautiful view of the 'center' of Bjarkøy. The harbor on the left, the doctors office, the grocery store, the church and the city hall are all in this photo.

Norwegian girls.....

The students were divided into groups including students from most grade levels. These two girls are in 7th and 8th grades.

After the hike, we all gathered in the gym, which is also a community house. Two of the teachers are experienced hunters and they brought their air rifles for the students to try. Teacher in photo is Per Arne (assistant teacher in Veronica's classroom).

This is Frode, one of the teachers, and Marcus learning how to shoot. Marcus is a 2nd grader from Sandsøy.

The students really enjoyed trying this activity. They paid attention when Frode 

explained how it all works.

A volunteer group had made 'Viking Soup' of chicken and vegetables that we ate after the hike. 

The kitchen crew hard at work.

Soup's on!

The sunrise hitting the mountain across the inlet. The colors are gorgeous, but only lasts for a couple of minutes. The sun rises about 8am and sets again about 5pm mid October.

Veronica turned 11 years old. 

Her very first birthday celebrated in Norway. Daddy sent footed PJ's from California. You can only find them in baby sizes in Norway.

LEGO ROBOTICS

Veronica's class, consisting of 5th, 6th and 7th grades will be representing the school in the upcoming Lego Robotics Competition on 11/8 in Harstad (the local city). The class have a total of 15 students, which are broken into groups of 5. Each group has made their own robot and they now compete between themselves to show which robot is the best. The best one will go to the competition. The Theme this year is 'Climate Connection'. The children have to move and put in place certain items connection to the climate challenge we face. The theme and set up is the same all over the world. Lego is a Danish company, so we are not far away from the origin!

This is Veronica's group's robot on the table. They have spent about 3 weeks putting their robots together and doing all the research you can imagine in all the subjects at school to get enough background information about the climate changes.

This is the table they will be practicing and competing on. This will look about the same in California, too.