Winter Excursion!

Recently the school planned a winter excursion with the students.  It was at a cabin that was aproximately half an hour away from Harstad(I think, not totally sure) but was by no stretch of the imagination far out in the bush.  It was actually just off a highway.  It was a beautiful day, couldn't ask for anything better.

The Cabin

Lucky for me, my co-workers hooked me up with the essentials I would need for the trip.  This included ski's(mine were not in yet), and warm winter gear.  I really understand how important it was to have decent equipment, as getting cold really sucks.

Upon arrival, we all got settled into the cabin, and the trip started out with a competition.  It was a relay bi-athalon, in which two teams of 4 raced (boys vs girls) raced against each other.  The bi-athlon part was to throw a snowball at one of the teachers, and if you missed you had to penalty lap.  Skiing at a nice pace is fun, and not overally difficult, but when I had to sprint this course, I was sooooo tired towards the end.  It was lots of fun, and the girls team barely won. 

After that, we had some relaxing time, where the students continued to get settled in, and some of the students prepared to set up the out door tent.  I have never imagined sleeping outside in winter, and thought it was slightly crazy.  They cleared out a base for the tent, put up the frame and covered it with the tarp like cover.  What was cool is it had a stove in the middle, that had pipes up to the top to get rid of all of the smoke.  Essentially, it was like a first nations tipi.  Once the floor was put it, it was covered with reindeer hides, and was very very cozy.  Some of the students spent the majority of the time in there. 

Prior to being set up

Set up!

Exhaust system

The Stove

In the afternoon, we went for a small ski trip, and it was snowing the crazy.  The climate here is so interesting, it could be a huge snowstorm at one point, then 15 minutes later it can be clear and sunny out.  I decided that I would save my energy for the night sky that was going to be happening later, and only went for a small trip.  Once we returned, we made supper and relaxed by talking and playing cards.

At about 9:00 PM, the whole class went for a night ski.  It was beautiful, although it is much harder then skiing at parks, you have to break your own trail.  That is ok though, it was lots of fun and nice to see all of the students out either skiing or walking. It was definitely dark though, and those with headlights were very useful. 

Once we returned home, I thought the night was over, but I was wrong.  The students had this great idea to go for a snow bathe, which seemed crazy to me.  Basically you only wear the essentials(boxers and underwear) and run into the snow, roll around and come back in side.  Some of the students even did it twice!  I couldn't believe how cold this seemed, but these students showed some tough skin, that is for sure.

After that, it was time for ghost stories and bed time.  I even had a translator to tell some of these stories.  Actually many translators, I never felt lost.   When it came time for bedtime, most of the students stayed in the cabin to sleep, but a brave bunch decided to stay outside in the tent.  Not sure how much sleeping they did(I was the supervisor in the tent), but after I realized they planned to stay up all night, I went inside. It wasn't because it was cold in there,  I was way to tired haha.

The next day, we woke up and essentially just packed up.  For those who wanted to go for another ski, they got out of having clean up.  I opted to go skiing, it was way to beautiful to turn down this offer.  We went the same route as the night before, then further onto a snow covered lake.  The scenary was beautiful out there!  We had a mini competition even to see who could correctly predict how far 500m was from the starting point.  It was the perfect ending to the trip!

Scenary

Me, with my awesome co-worker, and awesome students.  They told me that they were actually born with ski's on.  The one in the snow was just resting :)

Once we returned, we finished packing up and went home.  It was an amazing trip, and am so glad I got to experience something like this.