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15-25 March 2002
Oulu Fulbright get-together
15 March 2002, Friday
Sunrise/sunset 0639/1816
Hi/low 36° F / 16° F (2° C/ -9° C)
We hosted the “Fulbright Family” this weekend. During the day on Friday John and David Heintz
rode the Sampo icebreaker (see his
separate
newsletter). Everyone else, but Sandra Stine, who had
a Saturday teachers’ meeting, arrived
by
train Friday evening. It is always fun to listen to the group share
their latest adventures. We went to bed fairly early, since we were
planning on leaving for Rovaniemi at
0715.
16 March 2002, Saturday
Sunrise/sunset 0636/1819
Hi/low 38° F / 11° F (3° C/ -12° C)
Rovaniemi and Kemi
Our first stop was the
Artikum.
The glass-roofed museum is the Provincial Museum of
Lapland and
the Arctic Center. It has wonderful displays of the flora and
fauna as well as exhibits showing Sami
life. This would rank as one of my favorite museums,
because the building itself, let alone
the
displays.
Next we headed to Santa’s Village so
everyone
could cross the Arctic Circle. Although 62° 92’ 35’’ is the accepted Arctic
Circle there are three other suggested
“circles”:
1) the extent of the sea ice in winter,
2)
the northern-most tree line and 3)
the extent
of the permafrost to 10 CM deep. Everyone had lunch and did some
shopping. Santa’s Village never rests. Open every day except Christmas, you can
mail letters, shop, eat and even visit
Santa. Then back into our cars – our thanks to the Thompsons who loaned us a station wagon
for
the weekend – and the eight of us headed
to Kemi.
The LumiLinna, or Snow Castle, is an annual event in Kemi. We walked through
the courtyard, chapel,
hotel rooms and ice bars. There was even a indoor maze, with ice
sculptures. After thirty minutes we were all so cold
we didn’t even want to stay to have
a drink. We had originally planned to have dinner
at the hotel but we were all glad to
leave. It was the coldest we had been all day. We headed home to have dinner at Zakusta,
the Russian restaurant in Oulu. We drove into Oulu around 1815 and noted
there were more people than usual walking
around town for a Saturday evening; we later found out there had been a cross-country
race. The restaurant couldn’t take our group of
eight before 2100 so we decided to
go home
and I made dinner, while everyone else
pitched
in to made salad and set out munchies. I think it worked out for the best because
it was much easier to visit and see
the photos
from everyone’s travels.
17 March 2002, Sunday
Sunrise/sunset 0632/1822
Hi/low 37° F / 23° F (3° C/ -5° C)
Ice Fishing
We had a leisurely breakfast then we
headed
onto Oulu Bay to watch the ice fishing
contest
that was being hosted by Kari’s children's
school. (This same weekend Oulu also hosts the world’s longest ice fishing contest,
lasting 48 hours.) John drilled some holes in the ice while Kari gave Elisabeth,
Marie-Camille and Rheda ski mobile rides. After a cup of coffee to get warm, John took
most everyone to the train station.
Rheda stayed until Monday. Sunday, after dinner, Pertti and Marjo showed us Marjo's kindergarten school,
Păivăkoti Villivadelma, and explained some of the programs they have for
the children. When we got back to the house she used
Dialpad to call her son. She had hoped
to see the Northern Lights since
Friday and Saturday had been overcast. But it was not meant to be – Sunday night
was overcast as well. John and Rheda even drove about twenty miles
east around 0100 Monday to see if they
could
get above the overcast.
18 March 2002, Monday
Sunrise/sunset 0628/1825
Hi/low 38° F / 26° F (4° C/ -3° C)
Monday morning, after breakfast, John and
Rheda came by my school so she could
see
the school and visit some classes. After an early lunch with the teachers, John
dropped her off at the train station.
What a terrific group of people!
18-25 March 2002
John went to bed Monday night with
a fever
and the chills. Thursday he was diagnosed with Influenza
A. On Friday I went to bed and spent most of
the weekend there or napping. On Monday the doctor diagnosed a sinus infection. We
were scheduled to start our "Road Trip to Russia" for St.
Petersburg and Moscow at 2330 on Tuesday, 26 March, but didn’t catch the
bus. (John - the round trip would have been over 1800 miles by bus.) The doctors had advised both of us not to
travel so we cancelled and hope to
go early
this summer.
Mary Ann
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Front row: Mary Ann, Marie-Camille, John
and Jennifer. Back row: Rheda, Elisabeth,
Lori and Dave. One of the quicker photos
we posed for since we were all getting cold
from sitting on or leaning against the ice
bench.(3207) |
