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These are my new skiis, they are norwegian (madshus).

Beautiful sky over lapporten

Skiis

Ha finally I got myself a pair of skiis. On wednesday afternoon Camilla and I headed into Kiruna and went straight to Intersport to buy some skiis for me.. I was so excited but I was soon let down as the salesperson informed me that, no there were no skiis in yet (or not the ones I wanted). Anyhow, I had given up getting a pair of skiis that day but had to go back to Intersport to pick up some "spiky plus" (which is actually the name of them!) antislip protection things that go on your shoes or your trainers to be precise. This allows me to run even when the running track is covered in snow and ice. So I walk into the shop and the guy that talked to me last time I was in Kiruna and inquired about skiis was there and I said hello and said hey you do not have any skiis in yet. He goes oh yes we have. Bare in mind the time is now 17.50 and the shop is closing at 18.00. He takes me upstairs to the storage and there they are my new skiis ahhh. Happiness is complete! He gets them down and looks for skiiboots and yes they have it in my size, Sweet! Then he goes I take it you want them tonight... I go oh yes please. He mumbles a bit and think it over and decides to put on the bindings on the skiis as well for me so I walk out from the shop at 18.20 with a new pair of skiis =) Camilla and I then head back to her parents place and her dad puts on "glidvalla", not sure of the word in English but sort of waxes the skiis for me. And then we take them for a run on the track nearby and they work brilliantly. They are like crosscountry skiis but got steel support lines on the outside which makes them better for going out in fresh snow and going out in the mountains. Perfect for here. However, there is not enough snow in Abisko to go skiing so now they are just standing inside my flat and waiting for more snow. They are beautiful my first pair of skiis he he he. I will soon add a photo of them on here so you can all admire them.
Workwise everything is plodding along but I have some lack in motivation to do things. I reckon it is because holiday is coming up soon and I have been stuck up here for quite sometime now and November is probably the worst time here I have gathered. Next week Janne will be here and we have some fieldwork to do that will be something different and fun. Also CIRC is celebrating 10 years and there is a big meeting in Kiruna with Umeå uni so the whole CIRC team are going in there on thursday night for a meal that will be fun and nice with a free meal =)
I also have been talked into doing the local newsletter for Abisko (Abiskobladet). Well I do not have to write it but I am gonna print it out on the station. So I went along to the monthly village meeting yesterday night which was interesting as I got to know a little about what is going on around here. However, I do find that I have too much to do to get too involved in all that and once you take on something there always seem to be more things they want you to do... tricky situation.
Just got back from a run using my spiky plus things and they work wonders, now there is no excuse not to go out running. If it less than minus 10 running is deffo a go!

So another weekend has passed here in calm Abisko. I went into Kiruna (the big city!) with Camilla on saturday after lunch as we were gonna check out some dog-skiing competition, there is one person on skiis attached to his or her dog so the dog sort of pulls you along. They use these special skiis called skater skiis, sort of look like cross country skiis but you have to skate with them. Wow did they go fast with the dogs pulling them, and the dogs were mad so excited about running barking and jumping up and down funny to watch. After that Camilla wanted to take Anok for a skiing session and I borrowed Camilla's dad's skiis (skater skiis) to give it a try. Well that was a little bit harder than it looks! I managed to get around the 2.2km track but I was struggling man it is hard to push sideways and try to skate on skiis, my legs were getting wider and wider for each skatemovement so I had to stop now and then to put my legs together again to start all over again. I was properely knackered when I got back. After that bit of exercise, Camilla's mum had cooked a lovely raindeer roast for dinner which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then we drove back to Abisko, it is rather far and the weather was absolutely rubish, snow and bad visibility so Camilla had stop and a couple of times to go out and stretch her legs and wake up a bit, even though I was talking constantly to keep her busy. The road from Kiruna to Abisko is very dark no lights along the road as there are only mountains or mires around so can be tricky to drive I imagine. Anyhow we got back safely and I was happy to have tried out skater skiis. I have to get my own skiis... but then again there is hardly any snow up here in Abisko when compared to Kiruna. We have had some wind, pretty windy actually so some of the snow has blowed away and it doesn't snow that much here really. Anyhow work is going well and I have finished my first version of my polar virus review so waiting to see what the co-authors think before I proceed. Oh yea tomorrow the whole of Abisko will be without electricity from 9 to 12. We have had some problems with the electric here recently and it is not just off for a little bit when it goes but more like hours. So finally they are taking a look at it to see what the problem is. It has got cold again, the weekend was rather warm only minus 1 or 2 but today at lunch time it was down to minus 12.

Happy!

This afternoon I talked to my good friend Benny in Canberra and as it is soon his birthday he opened his pressies I had sent to him. It seemed like they were much appreciated. It is always fun to buy something for someone and even more so when you know that you bought the right thing. Making him happy made my day today so I am all smiles =)
And what's more it is friday and tomorrow I can sleep in oh yes my bed is my kingdom!

No more sun!

So today I got told that now we won't see the sun for awhile... The sunrise is not visible anymore because of the mountains, you can apparently see the sun in Kiruna for a bit longer. As I am typing this (15.18) it is pitch black outside so days are very short at the moment. There is no change in the weather really been around minus 10 or less. Actually on tuesday it was only minus 5 so I was out for a run then as I had had a shitty day at work and the best way to relief some stress is to exercise. I have not been able to isolate any viruses yet however I got some great respond from my phd opponent about what I have done wrong so I will now try the way he does it. A bit hard up here as there are no "dedicated" microbiologists here to confer with. The review paper is going rather slowly at the moment. Sort of just want my holiday now. I think it must be that month when everyone is a little bit annoyed with autumn and it is getting dark as well which do not help. We don't have any good snow here either and no ice on torneträsk so there is not much to do, except work work work. Good things today though; I got a parcel from mum with legwarmers (that she knitted and it only took her a couple of months he he he, last time she knitted something which was a great jumper it took a couple of years so I am impressed as you can understand). I also finally found out what I had been doing wrong for my viral assays what a relief that all my time is not totally wasted. It is now only 21 days left til holiday holiday. I want sunshine and white beaches and plenty of bundy and coke in my glass and then I will be back to normal happy Christin.

Abisko summer houses

In the snow

Sunday in Abisko

So we have about 30cm snow here and the temperature has been around minus 10 for quite some time now. Today I went for a long walk. They have a path up towards lapporten and on the way they have a few hills and on them they have a little book you can write in that you were there. So I went to these three "nabbar", as they are called in Swedish (there is a photo of one of the spots were you can write your name in the book). Was a really nice walk but unfortunately not glorious sunshine.

Kiruna

Last thursday I was in Kiruna with Camilla and Anok (her huskie). We were going to get me some skiis but unfortunately they did not have any (or at least not the ones I was after). So maybe next week I will be able to get some when they get the new stock in. However, they will not do the track here in Abisko until December which means I will have to skii in Kiruna which of course is possible. I got myself a down jacket as it is great to have as you do not need so many layers and it is mega warm. Be well nice to walk to work in that. Then in the evening I went along and checked out Anok and some other dogs in the dogsled. There were four dogs, three huskies and a bird dog - the one on the front right in the photo (not sure the name of these dogs in English so that is a straight translation from Swedish). Managed to get some photos however a bit tricky as the dogs keep on moving. The black and white one is Anok, he is lovely.