Advent

Tuesday was overcast with snow. Both Wednesday Thursday were clear. The sun is now hiding behind the mountains. We won’t get direct sunlight until the end of January. The quality of light is very unusual. It seems like a very long twilight. You can see the sun shining on the mountains to the north. As of Thursday, the 18th of November, the sun rise is at 9,05 am, the sun sets at 2,40 pm.




Nothing unusual this past week. On Sunday there was a full moon. It was very beautiful both at sunrise and at sunset. The temperature dropped on Sunday. It was about 20 F (-6 C). The Norwegians don't say minus. If it's below zero Celsius they say cold degrees. Above zero they say warm degrees. I also learned the word for step ladder: curtain ladder (gardintrapp). The Sunday morning service at Alstahaug was well attended: the youth participated and sang several songs. The Sunday evening service in Sandnessjøen had to be moved into the parish center because it was too cold in the church (about 40 F). It is interesting that if the temperature goes below 17 C (about 60 F) a church service can be cancelled or moved. It looks like the Siberian cold snap will stay here a bit longer. At least the weather will be clear. Sunday afternoon I had a nice walk in the woods with my friends Magnar and Lill. They each have dogs.



This past week was very cold, but clear. It never got above freezing. I rode my bike to work each day, except for Friday. There was a funeral at Tjøtta at noon on Friday. It was so nice to see the sun there. Again the church was stone cold on Sunday morning, so we had to move into the parish house for the service. It appears that no one is taking responsibility to fix the problem. There is a funeral scheduled for this coming Wednesday. It had better be fixed. (Not that I can do anything, except quit). The weather patterns will bring milder weather this coming week, but with that comes precipitation. Who knows what form that will take. If it rains it will be very slippery with the deep frost we've had over the past two weeks. On the first Sunday of Advent (28 November) the sun rose at 9:45 am. It set at 2:10 pm. Total daylight is about 4 ½ hours, adding an hour on each end for dawn and dusk.



This past week we had milder weather, but that usually means precipitation in one form or another. It snowed a little. Fortunately there was no rain. It is very odd to go to work in the morning when it is dark and come home when it is dark in the evening. On Thursday we began «Julevandring», almost like a Christmas pagaent, but without an audience. It is just for kids, ages 4 through 7, plus a couple school teachers and a teaching assistant. I dressed up as the Angel Gabriel and had a few lines to recite (in Norwegian), and a few carols to play on the piano. Helga was in charge of these skits. She is the religious education person on our staff. There were 2 presentations on Thursday and 3 on Friday. Next week there will be only 2. The heating problem in the church seems to be fixed. Today (5 Dec) the sun rose at 10:05 am and set at 1:50 pm. (Dawn begins at 8:40 am and dusk ends at 3:15 pm). Just two more weeks of decreasing light.