January 31st: Jokkmokk

“… The sun finally showed its face, but will the voyagers have to go two more weeks without it? With the beginning of the market fast approaching, will the influx of 30,000+ people spice up the small-town feel of Jokkmokk? …”

Hej Blog Buddies!

The past two days have been pretty low-key, as everyone is preparing for the market, which beings tomorrow. I’ve heard the market is pretty crazy, so its good that we’re getting some rest now…

Friday, January 30th:

For the first time, in so far as I can remember, the past two nights I have struggled to sleep well. I woke up several times throughout the night, and the strangest part, was that I woke up at 5:57am and could not fall back asleep! I’ve never had trouble falling back asleep. I just lied in bed until about 7:15, at which point I went to breakfast by myself.

[I’ve never understood waking up early. I suppose if it were light outside it might be more agreeable, but here, even when you wake up at 8am, it’s still dark. What motivation is there to get up? (none).]

One thing that I’ve noticed since coming to Sweden, is that without my cell phone and a regimented class schedule, I have absolutely no concept of time. Normally, the amount of light outside gives some clues, but not here. Someone will say to me, “when did you come back last night?” for example, and I always say, “I have no idea.”

A few hours after breakfast we had our Swedish language instruction. This has been almost every day, for about 25-35 minutes each time. We have been focusing on words, and language related to the area that we’re in. So we’ve been learning how to ask more specific questions about an object, for example. We have also been learning content related to the area we’re in.

We went over the schedule for the market, to talk about specific events and which ones we thought each other would enjoy. (This program is very daunting. It is about 30 pages of text (small, small text) the days usually start around 7:00am and go often until as late as 1:00am.) There is everything at this market from “Balm making over an open fire” to traditional meals (boiled reindeer skull, blood dumplings, etc..) to concerts, and even dances (I will most certainly be trying the boiled skull dish…).

We also watched the movie “Pathfinder” which depicts the struggles of the Sami people against people “outsiders” trying to destroy their way of life.

After the movie, I was invited to go play basketball with a few of the students here. When I arrived, I was a bit hesitant, but after about 10 minutes of playing, it was no different than being playing a pick up game at home. The thing I like about sports, basketball in this case, is that they’re the same in every country and language. There were a few slightly nuanced differences, for example, the game was much less physical than games at home, also its much less “show” and more fundamental. The skill set was as much varied as it would be at any public gym; there were a few guys who were pretty good, a few guys who were average, and a few who were just plain bad (but clearly enjoyed playing).

After what ended up being about two and half hours of playing (I was playing in my running shoes, mind you.. I’ve got some wicked blisters to prove it…) we took a sauna. Being the only American and non-native Swedish speaker, it ended up to be a great way to practice my Swedish, and get to know some of the Swedes better.

I went back to the dorm and met up with a few people. We ended up going to a bar called Café Gasskass for their late-night happy hour (comparatively, cheap drinks! ~$4 for a crappy beer). Between basketball and the bar, I think I met more Swedes in this one night than I have throughout the entire trip. (I’ve also discovered that speaking Swedish becomes exponentially easier after each drink…)


Saturday, January 31st:

BREAKING NEWS: We saw the sun today!! Someone came in and said that the sun was shining; everyone instantly migrated outside to bask in its greatness. We could actually see the big, bright ball of flames, not just its rays. I can see why ancient cultures worshiped the sun, and made sacrifices so that it would come back each day. (I think we were getting close to that point… I’m not sure who would have been first, but we were willing to try anything)

When the sun came out, I went out by the lake and just walked around for a little while, before I got too cold. It is a pick your poison situation: it is either really cold (minus-10º F) or overcast. But after two full weeks without the sun, I’ll choose cold and sunny.

Other than that, today was pretty uneventful. Our daily journals were due today, so I spent much of the day preparing those. We went out to dinner (saw the moon for the first time) to a local restaurant called Opera (we’ve been there several times before). When we got back, I started to write this blog so that everyone could stay up-to-date with my happenings.

The next week should be pretty exciting, so be sure to check back for updates as things happen.

[I should probably note that when I say “we” it could be anywhere from two of the fourteen on the trip, to 10+. We really don’t do much (outside of class) as a full group, so its usually about two to five people.]

Hej hej,

Andrew