Pulks

The weather has warmed up and the snow is melting faster then we expected.  We heard from friends that it was still great cross-country skiing conditions in Bymarka – which is about 5 miles from us.  So on Wednesday, which is my day off, I decided to brave cross-country skiing alone.  What a great decision!  It was warm (about 45F), sunny and completely deserted which is a great changed from battling the Norwegians on the weekends.  It was quite a treat and I look forward to skiing on weekdays in the future.  I posted some photos of my trip – you can see how much snow there still is and how deserted it is – usually there would be 20 people in each of those shots!  Interesting Norwegian story from the weekend- I have a co-worker whose girlfriend is pregnant so while he was out skiing he had stopped at the local refreshment hut for a coffee and some waffles.  He ended up talking to a lady about her pulk (see below- a pull behind sled for cross country skiing), which are really common here.  She told him how great it was and what to look for when he bought one- then she cautioned him to ensure he got one with enough insulation since her neighbors baby had died in his pulk last winter!   WHAT!? Amazing that they are willing to take their babies in the freezing cold when there is a chance the baby would get too cold and die just to get a skiing trip in.  I can’t imagine what possesses them at times but it doesn’t surprise me since they also leave their babies outside in their prams in the winter to sleep – the theory being it is “good for them”.  Weird. 

One a lighter note- we leave Sunday for 6 days on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.  The Canaries are off the coast of West Africa but are a Spanish territory.  We are excited for sun and warmth – although it might only be 65 or 70 most days that will be very “warm” for us. J  I will update the blog with photos and stories when we return.  Hopefully images like this will be what we see all week.