Juleferie

We stayed home for Christmas this year. And it was awesome.

The vacation started with a visit to the Christmas market downtown. The market consists of merchant booths, a small farmers market, an outside stage for music, and a big tent with a cafe and a stage inside of it.

The big tent at the Christmas market has several fire pits in it. Do not, under any circumstances, purchase food in this tent; it is horrible and expensive.

The tent has a stage for acoustic musicians. There seems to be a 50/50 split between Norwegian music and American pop song covers.

Aunt Donna came to spend the Christmas holiday with us. The plan was to spend a few days exploring Trondheim then hop on the Hurtugruten to go from Trondheim all the way up to Kirkenes and then back down to Tromsø. Most of Norway shuts down between the 24th of December and the 27th of December so we spent time walking around the city and the natural areas that surround it. Aunt Donna's friend Sylvia joined us in time to hop on the boat and head North.

Aunt Donna is from Michigan and was not at all intimidated by the sorry state of Trondheim's ski trails.

Sorry state, indeed. If you knew how to deal with the ice in Strindamarka you still had to cope with all of the trees that had been blown down by the recent storm.

A visit to the botanical garden demonstrated that the recent storm was actually quite potent; winds up to 78 mph had been recorded in the area.

And then we were on a boat. Munkholmen is to the left and Trondheim is to the right.

There are three other ships in the Hurtigruten line that are basically identical to the one we had.

The Hurtigruten ships also carry mail. This is the Post flag that flies at the back of the ship.

This is a cute little lighthouse near where we live: Kjeungskjaer Lighthouse

The fellowship of the Arctic Circle: Sylvia, Donna, Becca, and Daniel

This is what noon looks like in Bodø in December.

The harbor in Bodø was quite charming.

And then there was snow.

Just outside of this little town we got to see a group of whales frolicking next to our boat.
EDIT: A loyal blog reader has pointed out that this is in fact Finnsnes, aka the birthplace of Håvard.

The town we docked at in Lofoten had these dramatic mountains behind it that you literally could not see unless you took a photograph.

It only takes a few ropes like this one to hold a giant boat in place at the dock.

This is what it felt like to stand on the 5th deck while it was raining.

Becca really likes Tromsø.

We all really liked the seal training at the Polaria.

Becca with a Kong Harald mug outside in the snow.

The little towns north of the Arctic Circle looked so cute in darkness.

This is Honningsvåg, also known as the town where Becca found a geocache and then spiked it like a football into the sea.

A local fisherman introduced us to several live king crabs. And then we got to eat them.

We went dog sledding in Kirkenes (near the Russian border). Out of the 100 or so huskies Becca was especially fond of one: Salmi.

They sniffed each other until both parties where satisfied.

The best part of dog sledding is socializing with all of the dogs.

Our team was led by a dog named Bruce.

In Kirkenes we lost a member of our party (Sylvia) due to illness. The dinner service on New Year's Eve was quite sparse due to people getting sea sick on the open water.

So. Much. Shellfish. A lot of people were seasick at this point so the dining room was only about 30% full.

The ceiling of the boat was very fancy.

All of the Norwegians were jealous of our Grandma Socks.

The ship docked in Båtsfjord for New Year's Eve. It is a small enough town that the ship was advertised as a place where the locals could ring in the new year.

The front of the boat looks small in comparison to the shore.

The town of Båtsfjord was quite colorful.

The ship had fireworks and the town did its own celebrating.

This is the most expensive construction project in northern Norway: the Hammerfest refinery.

Hunting the Northern Lights is hard work. Fortunately, the ship had several heat lamps that we could huddle under.

Getting a clear photograph of the Northern Lights from a moving boat is literally impossible. Becca insisted that we at least get a blurry one for proof.

After we got off the boat, we spent a few days exploring Tromsø. We had really enjoyed the town when we were there this summer and looked forward to spending more time crossing things off of our "Things to do in Tromsø" list.

There are at least six polar bears in Tromsø.

By the time we got to Tromsø the Northern Lights were hidden behind clouds. We still rode the cable car to the top of the hill to try to get some photos, however.

This is where we went, according to Google's recollection.

Julebord

This year's Julebord (Christmas party) was excellent. It was held at a hotel that has a reputation for having excellent food and all of the entertainment was provided by Nordic employees (and their band members).

Our hair was a little longer than it was last year.

The buffet was filled with neat stuff like this: local ham with lingonberry sour cream.

The buffet was a great mix of both types of Norwegian food: the good stuff (seafood) and all of the rest.

This was my wingwoman; she is so cute that people kept giving her booze tickets all night so we didn't have to purchase any of our own beer.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we invited the Natives and the Swedes over for a traditional dinner. We all had to go to work first so dinner couldn't start until the evening.

We had a very white Thanksgiving this year.

Our apartment only seats 4 so we have to choose our friends carefully.

I made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner consisting of turkey with dressing and all the fixings as well as my second ever pumpkin pie (my first ever pie was the test pie made earlier in the week).

Thanksgiving is easier in America because most people don't have to work on Thursday and Friday. It's a little tougher to put it together over here but it's worth it for the opportunity to fill friends with stuffing, cranberry sauce, and fabricated Thanksgiving origin stories.

Winter at Birralee

This school year continues to keep me busy. I am teaching several subjects and age groups that I haven't taught before. This has been quite challenging at times but I am also learning a lot!

Does that sign say 'the calf skin school?'

The school is just a couple of blocks from the Nidaros Cathedral.

The middle school is on the top floor of the building and the classrooms have some beautiful views!

The view from the Year 9 classroom looks toward Bymarka, the natural area west of town.

The view from the Year 11 classroom looks toward the cathedral, the fort, and Tyholt Tower.