The World, from my perspective

It's very easy to go overboard on the superlatives when you're up here, but the fact of the matter remains that it's true. This is truly an amazing place and it's very hard not to have a really great time. Let's use this last week as an example. I had a buddy from Germany come visit me and while I had to work for half his stay, I did manage to pull some crazy stunts and do some awesome stuff while I was off. I had a great four course dinner at my job (the chefs are really, really good) last Saturday with a bunch of other co-workers and other mates, spent a lot of time down in the village and also managed to pull a full work-week in 3,5 days... in other words, I was busy. But the real fun (for me) didn't start until Wednesday when my four day weekend started. First, we rented some ATV-s and goofed around for a couple of hours, trying to take in as much as possible of the 50 km of road we have up here. This proved to be quite the challenge, since they don't go...

First things first; the snow is gone from the village! Sure, it's still up in the mountains all around, but at least it's gone from where I wander on a daily basis. Feels very good to finally have switched from hiking boots to sneakers, even though the sneakers need to be cleaned pretty much daily due to all the rock-dust that's on all the roads.... And ok, the snow actually went away maybe two weeks ago but I haven't really gotten around to writing this before now, so I'm sticking with my story. Second things second; it's still kinda cold. But since I'm getting used to the cold, I've decided to put my winter cap away for summer storage and just be a man about frozen ears. Also, I'm not going on very long hikes to be able to jump inside when the numbness gets to me. Third things third; I'm going for a one week vacay to Sweden in two weeks! Man, it's gonna be grand to get some real summer, heat and trees! Yes trees goshdarnit! I haven't se...

Yes, today is the Independence Day of Norway... WOHOOO! The day every Norwegian takes to the streets to wave flags and celebrate King and country with a mass-hysteria of nationalism. Kudos to them, I say! Iceland does the same thing (except for the King-part) on June 17.th and from what I recall it was a very nice day off that I personally mostly spent waking up late and drinking coffee with friends and family. Still, a nice day. Sweden's on June 6 for some unknown reason (I've heard several reasons for that date, but none make sense) and it's only been a day off for the last couple of years. Hence I've mostly spent it either at work or school... no fun there. But to round off these ramblings... Happy 17 Maj all you Norwegians!

At 83 degrees north in Greenland, a major mining company has set up a "recon camp" to see if there's Zinc in them hills (or rather, mountains). Heading out from Longyearbyen are the intrepid pilots of a Hercules plane, giving those poor souls up there all the supplies they need. And standing behind a bar there's me - supplying these gentlemen with all they require in the way of booze (and some food). So to go on with the story. At 7 AM this morning I was awoken from my slumber by the cell phone ringing. On the line was the night shift receptionist asking me if I wanted to go to Greenland? "Hell yeah!" I said "Well, be here in ten minutes then" "Ugh... ok" So I jump out of bed, into some clothes, grab a slice of bread and haul my ass up to the hotel where the flight crew is waiting for me to tag along on their first trip of the day. There really wasn't all that much to see at the landing strip on the fjord where we touched ground and ...

I've started looking for what to do, once I'm done up here and for the moment I'm leaning towards heading back to the office . At least for awhile until something else might happen.... To start of this search, I went to my usual job-related sites online and decided to give this recruitment firm I've applied to before another chance. I've never gotten an interview through them (mainly since I've never applied when living in mainland Norway). But it so happened their CEO happened to be trapped up here while Eyjafjallajökull had some hickups. One evening, he and I chatted for awhile, he gave me the e-mail and number to his no. 1 in O&G-recruitment and told me to say hi from him when I send her an e-mail. So I update my profile (not much office-related to update, but still), fill in two related applications and sent her an e-mail this last Friday evening. When I wake up on Monday I see that she's read it and already told two guys to get in touch me regarding...

Well, this song seems to have been one of my themes for the last couple of months. So why not share it? Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy! By Big & Rich and yes, it's country ;)

...or in this case, a simple Volcanic Eruption. Yeah, I'm staying at 78 degrees north, which should be way above any consideration since the current blast from Eyjafjallajökull is heading southwest from Iceland. Think again. Where do all those planes to us come from? Yup, you got it right. So we are at the moment stuck with the "guests" we had yesterady, which most of the time is pretty fine. Except for the fact that they've already spent all the money they were going to spend and get their continuous stays (and meals) at a very low rate (since SAS has pretty damn good rates up here, considering they're the only ones who do the trp). So (yes, I know I shouldn't start to paragraphs in a row with that, so sue me) what we have to play with is upping them on the wine (since the food is free) and trying to get them to do........ well, not much more. So (yes, for the third time in a row), I'm - for all sorts of reasons pretty much no one else has - hoping that m...

One of the best things about working as a bartender/waiter is all the interesting and fun people you meet while at work. While most customers (yes, I know I'm supposed to call them guests but a business degree apparently has its influences) are as forgettable as yesterday's lunch, a few do stand out from the crowd. The polar explorers : We've had a bunch of people heading up for the North Pole; most of them are regular joes who've forked over a big wad of dough and go there by snowscooter or helicopter, but a few of them are the real deal. One of them is here with his ten year old son (who will be the youngest ever on the NP); he's a nine time pole-visitor and this time he will be leading a group of crazy chinese on skis from the Russian base to the pole (his son will take the chopper). Another, who is preparing for an altogether crazier stunt is Mark Woods . This guy is going to take a solo-hike to the South Pole, then pretty much jump on a plane up north and do an...

Q: Why are all the numbers afraid of 7 A: 'Cause 7 8 9

Just watched Avatar at a buds place on his massively huge screen projector (it's an ordinary projector which makes everything friggin' huge compared to my 9" lcd-screen). First, I have to agree with most everyone that the CGI was pretty durn awesome! It definitely raised the bar for all coming movbies and also proved that you can make a proper flick using tons of CGI. But why, I continually asked myself, do I always cheer for the bad guys? They were simply so much cooler with their Space Marine suits and wicked helicopters, while the good guys just looked like wusses... also, I liked their (the bad guys that is) go get some attitude. But maybe that's because I want to work in O&G? Still, it was a darn good movie and I really enjoyed it. I'm giving it SSSS out of 5 possible ones.

I've now spent a bit more than a month up here where the Polar Bears roam and the Northern Lights go when they need a brake. And so far I've managed to see neither, which is kindof a bummer. Don't care that much about the Lights (since it's hard to top gazing at them when you're soaking in a 40 degree hot tub after a hard days work), but I really, really, really want to see a white Teddy. Well, I'll get my best chance for that come Monday, when me and a bud are heading out on a snow scooter trip to Tempelfjorden. It'll be my first scooter trip since I was about 15, on a ski trip in Sweden, and managed to flip it over at an attempted turn. I do hope that will not happen this time; especially if we're being chaced by a grumpy, hungry, bear. Enough about the bears now already. So what I've mostly been doing is three things: I've worked, slept and spent time on the computer. Sounds utterly fascinating doesn't it? Three things I have no chance o...

I went on a flight today; well actually I went on three flights today but they all led to the same place. A place so distant and far north that I'm even impressing some of my very-well travelled friends. The place? Svalbard! Yes, I'm in friggin’ Svalbard, and will hopefully stay for the next six months waiting tables at a pretty damn nice restaurant up here. Now how did I ever end up at the top of the world? It all started before I went to Norway this autumn to work as a butcher when I a few weeks into August still hadn’t gotten a reply. So I set about applying for jobs pretty much everywhere and this included Svalbard. Come September and the maitre’d sent me an e-mail and after a few phone-calls and several more e-mails we came to the conclusion that I was suitable for the position and should stay over the summer season. So early this morning I boarded a flight in Stockholm and seven hours later, after a truly magnificent view from the plane, I touched frozen ground in Longyea...

I left Israel two weeks ago now and am just about to head off on my next "grand adventure", this time up to the frozen north where the polar bears roam and the icebergs are born. But I've been keeping myself busy with all sorts of things while waiting for my flight to leave and my imminent transformation into a human popsicle (I'm hoping I'll be lemon flavoured, but the odds say vanilla). As you may guess, most of my time was spent buying clothes so I'll survive. Clothes I also need here in Sweden, since Lord Winter has completely taken over and holds the lands hostage under his white snow coat. Basically, it's really friggin' cold, which I didn't really approve of at first, but now I'm getting used to it. Considering I'm now the proud owner of a really thick down winter coat and some other great winter gear, I bloody well should be used to it (don't ya think). But anyway, buying clothes isn't much of an adventure according to me (t...