Monday, July 27, 2009

Two Years of Radio

Back in the town, in the cafe, at the window, by the table, on the chair, drinking the latte where it all started, I couldn't help but think about when was it exactly I started this blog. And holysmokes, it was exactly two years and two days ago. Which is ironic, because that also happens to be my father's birthday, which was one of the reasons this blog came into existence: to inform my father of my whereabouts without him having to leave too frequent voicemails. I don't think I planned it to start on his birthday, but since it did; happy birthday, Pappa and happy second, BushRadio. And funnily enough, this is exactly my 100th posting.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Day of Firsts

I went reindeer herding. After 2500 deer, 13 hours and 12 miles stumbling over tussocks on the tundra in my work-boots not recommended for hiking, I finally got my reindeer footage. Every few miles I'd get picked up in the helicopter, and plopped down where I was needed to keep the reindeer bunched together, which was the main function of the herding. It's the new meets the old, we were three walkers on the ground while the helicopter buzzed above. When I was returned to the cabin where we started, a RedBull was waiting for me, given to me by the young guy who'd been there earlier. I remembered he had a million dollar grin, and was told he was also a convicted murderer. Apparently for running over his dad with a car. Twice. Never met one of those before. It was an Alaska day of firsts, for sure.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Reindeer, And Then Some

It's reindeer season. Reindeer are penned up, tagged, notched and recorded. While we record, notch, tag and pen, food will be prepared, because it takes days. Food is also reindeer. And since winter just ended, coats are being shed, so reindeer hair is everywhere. And when you finally get to steal some shut-eye, dreams are about reindeer. Yes, it's reindeer season.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Fly Away

I met a man on the beach and he had an ear-to-ear grin talking about how he ended up in Alaska. It had something to do with the weather. Everybody in Alaska has a story about how they ended up in Alaska, even if they're born here they have some story about how their parents ended up in Alaska, only to conceive them somewhere in Alaska so they could end up in Alaska. The man on the beach told a story about being swallowed by the weather, and then the chopper flew overhead running away from the weather.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Roaming Religion

Religion is very important in Alaska. Nome has eight churches, five of which are spread over a three-block radius, ready to serve. Once upon an Alaska time someone in charge took a map and designated certain settlements to be this that and the other Christian denomination. The Natives already thought there were some kind of higher spirit lurking, but they’d never known its name. In come the missionaries eager to tell. Now the locals could go to a building every Sunday and pay their respects to a specific god, named God, and their place in the afterlife would be a done deal. It must have been the missionaries dream-come-true, and the result is churches everywhere.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Car Talk

Alaska loves dogs. After taking some evolutionary steps from the wolf, the dogs have helped deliver mail, provide transportation and fill the Alaska air with barks, howls and general dog sounds. As the great state continues through westernized evolution it's not surprising to find dogs doing the same thing.

Break Up 2

Yearly is an event the locals call Break Up. This has nothing to do with switching partners, but everything to do with the Bering Sea and watching the ice sail away to unavoidable ice-death. Somehow Break Up doesn't seem to come fast enough as the locals started talking about it sometime last month, and a few days ago euphoria hit. The shoreline broke the ice's heart and sent it packing to sea. Welcome back the smell of salt, ripples on the water and the shade of dark blue. It's as if the place woke up; the dancers scheduled to entertain the elders failed to show, apparently they'd taken their boats and gone hunting, and the townies walk around with permasmiles big enough to melt what's left of the permafrost. Good times to be had.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Noon!

Every day at noon the fire-alarm rings loud over Nome. It’s loud enough to make a cadet stand attention, and the town's many dogs howl. It also announces it's time for town to take lunch, which I think is odd because nothing here seems to open before noon. Which leads me to believe that perhaps it’s not the lunch bell, but the time-to-go-to-work bell. Either way, it’s a sign.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Boondoggle

I love English. It has words like boondoggle. I learned it on CNN, yes, I barely have internet, but CNN seems to flow without interruption here, don’t ask... Boondoggle means work that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value. CNN is a bit of a boondoggle sometimes. Internet too. Personally I can spend hours, even days on the internet, surfing blogs, Facebook and the occasional world renown newspaper (only if someone is reading over my shoulder of course, after which I return to boondoggling blogs and Facebook), and always make it seem like I’m doing very important work. Point and case, I just made you spend 30 seconds on my boondoggle of a blog, much appreciated, where I use words like boondoggle frequently and in many incorrect ways... Keep up the good work!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Temp Home Nome

It lives under the motto: There’s No Place Like Nome. It’s true, a city of 3000 on the spit of a peninsula in the Bering Sea, 15 minutes on foot will take you from one side of town to the other, about 7 minutes will do across. It’s a city built on a promise of gold which still holds. Named because of a spelling error, apparently some Brits sailed around in the Bering Sea some 150 years ago and realized this prominent point was nameless. The officer wrote “? Name” on the map, which the guy copying it down saw as “C Nome” which turned into Cape Nome, which means it was officially named by a mapmaker in the British Admirality. Gold was prominent here once, still is, and every year the Iditarod lands about 1000 dogs here. It’s also very rhymalicious: Nome, home, alone, condone, moan, grown, tone, bone, cone...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Weather Man

My hostess' brother is the Weather Man. He used to work for the weather service in Nome, as the weather forecaster, which is different from the meteorologist, but since he's entirely Inupiaq and born into snow, his instincts get cred. He was known to change the forecast the meteorologist in Fairbanks had for Nome, he'd call up and say: "Hey, do you know something I don't" and then they'd give in. He asked me to go for a ride up the road to see how far along they were on clearing it of snow, and how could I say no to that. I mean, who doesn't want to know how the road-clearing is going. About five miles out he nodded his consent and declared the road-workers were doing a much better job this year. He didn't say much else. He made jokes about things I didn’t understand, and as he’d forgotten his hearing aid, he couldn’t really hear me asking about it either. So we just laughed, which is what people do in the north when things get complicated. Laugh.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Fun with Framilends

They let me back in, these perky people of the north. The framilends grew in size, learned words in need of translation from bi-lingual interpreters, and acquired a particular fondness for puddle-jumping slash rolling. Basecamp Framilends is as warm and welcoming as always, the six-month old who became a one-year old is now a two-year old walking around the house saying “excuse me” and constantly reminding me that I came on a plane and live in the basement, or kjeller’n, as she speaks two languages simultaneously. A fairly accurate assesment of my life done by a two-year old. After I resupply at the grocery store where you can buy your eggs, milk, bread, flat-screen tv, gas, gun and garden furniture all in one go, I bid farewell to fair Faribanks and get on a plane. Nome next.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Disclosure: NYC

My brother works in finance, NYC. Admirable, perhaps a little free-falling at the moment, and all very hush-hush. When I get an email from the bro, let's say to remind me of dinner reservations at 8, I also get a full disclosure underneath stating that the message contains confidential information only intended for the named individual(s) above. In this case me. If I'm not that person, I can't read nor distribute the information anywhere or pass it along. I am also informed that the message does not contain any investment advice, nor should I take it as a recommendation to buy or sell anything. I wonder if purchasing food and eating it is considered an investment. I'll have to ask the bro at 8, we have dinner reservations and I'm disclosing that here...

Grandma Giggles

Grandma giggles. Especially when it comes to her main man Ares, the dog, who unfortunately had an accident and tore his nail. Now he gets to look silly with a tract over his head, and grandma gets to get appalled that I'd photograph him in such a state, apparently I'm inconsiderate of his feelings... I miss grandma.

Circum Circus

Sun! In the polar regions there’s sometimes a circle around the sun, but nobody seems to remember what that means. It has something to do with the weather, this much is agreed, but the old folk tales have been lost on the townies of Tromsø. I bid my farevell to Tromsø for the summer, headed for another advendture in Alaska. Four months of frisky funness, stay tuned!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Looking Light

Sometimes the only solution is to find some light.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Pink Think

In fickle financial times, what better news to read over tea than the pink paper. Providing gossip on the latest of the former greats being hunted down for embezzling and stealing, looking prison in the eye, it's now as fun as the tabloids. Time to think, re-think and be thankful for modest means...

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Turning 30 (it's an annual thing...)

Last year I had my picture taken on sea-ice, holding a giant Shee-fish, fur around my collar and sporting a smile only someone high on nature can carry. This year I'll share another portrait. It's from yesterday's fever-daze, in a room as tidy as my brain, wearing glasses which make everything blurry... Welcome, wisdom of the weary.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sighting Svalbard

New adventure. This time I wanted to investigate a place known to be under the plastic on your common classroom globe. This island houses the world’s entire collection of seeds, has more polar bears than inhabitants (although most have never seen one), one school, one university which only offer courses in Arcitc something-or-other, and an automatic preservation of anything and everything placed here before 1945. Even cinderblocks. It is also a place where everything should be in the Guinness World Book of Records; northern-most swimming-pool, northern-most newspaper, northern-most road system, northern-most café-which-serves-lattés, northern-most elementary school, northern-most car dealer, northern-most restaurant and northern-most city where I'm visiting the northernmost-family-who-just-moved-here. And I'm currently the northern-most-girl-in-a-coffeeshop drinking the northern-most-latte.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

High Noon

It came back! Euphoria! Who knew a few minutes of sun could cause so much excitement. The D-vitamins have returned, and there's no rest for the weary.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Lunar Links

Since November our days have for the most part looked like this. Nail clipping of light towering 384 403 km above us. Someone told me the Japanese think there's a picture of a rabbit in the moon. I'm still struggling to find that man in there everybody's going on about, wondering what he's thinking about us gawking at him all the time. Must be uncomfortable being started at by billions for eternity. Tomorrow we get our light back, the sun will again arrive to make us happy. Only pity it's forecasted to be a cloudy one...

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Bush Bus

Happy New Year, people! It happened sort of suddenly, 2008... It's now an imprint in the memory of times past. Kind of like waiting for the bus and leaving an impression of how that can be done. With this the Bush Bus leaves the station for hopefully more exciting adventures in 2009, stay tuned, I'll try to make it interesting...