Living in Lapland
I can't help but noticing that its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Towns throughout out the UK have had washed up celebs turning on the lights, festive adverts have been on TV for weeks and Christmas tat has been cropping up in shops as far back as September.
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| This part of Finland is just inside the Arctic Circle |
Not that I don't love that stuff- I do! But this year I have been working at a resort in Lapland, trying to have a bit of a different Christmas. The resort does its best to distance itself from the cheesy and provide a more down to earth winter holiday.
It does achieve this largely, but as I'm only here for 39 days I've been focusing first on trying to quickly get used to the strange wonderland before I have to leave it.
Due to the harsh environment up inside the Arctic circle there are some things that you'll just have to start finding normal. The average temperature has been about minus eight centigrade (17 degrees Farenheit) so far, though one day it did reach 18 below (which is -0.4 in Fahrenheit). That sounds extreme by English standards but it was not noticeable here as I was well wrapped up. I only ever get cold toes here thanks to the layers on my body and my thermal all-in-one suit.
During our training period, girls were advised not to wear make up as it will freeze on their faces, and a warning was given that if you go outside with hair wet from the shower, it will freeze and might even break off. I have often seen people's eyelashes gathering frost which looks pretty.
My friend Holly has avoided peril this as she donated most of her hair to a wig-making charity before she came here. Selfless and smart!
The fleeting daylight is another thing to get used to. It begins to get light around 10 each morning and it was getting dark today just after lunch at half one. We do have some daylight for two hours but the sun never rises high. Either side of the sunlight there is a lot of twilight, and as December advances, this will only shorten.
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| Oh hi there it's 10am! |
Gratefully, the accommodation is amazing compared to staying in 'the Palace' last winter. During my time in the Palace, I shared a room with five other guys, in a house of 12. It was cramped and the mess that was created was impossible to police with such numbers. I did try to help keep the place tidy but the cleaning chart I made only lasted a few weeks before being forgotten.
Now that I am in Finland, I bunk with just one other, in a cosy chalet for six. All of us get on really well and enjoy hanging out together in the sauna. Our very own sauna!
The rooms were randomly assigned but as luck struck I am living with the people who I hit it off with on the arrival day.
We soon bonded well and are happy family inside our little house. During our first meal together, a guy called Reiss sat at the head of the table which set him up as the father of the group. This may have been a rash decision as he spends much time grafting* and is also the biggest child in the house, but the title stuck.
My family role is "Mother Bear", due to my caring nature and for the fact that it was suspected I'm actually a girl. Yes I did bring my sewing kit and home-made pin cushion but its called being prepared!.
Unfortunately motherhood inevitably involves nagging. It needn't though if only people would just "close my front door!" and "turn off the lights!" and we wont have a problem.
*Grafting: a slang term used when someone is putting in a lot of
work chatting up a member of the opposite gender,
often with the goal of penetration
My other family members are:
Cameron, the Scottish son. He is good at making cups of tea and accidentally cock-blocking.
Simon, the house baby, gets the most undeserved abuse but always brushes it off.
Hannah, the moody daughter who makes deeply cutting remarks with a smile on her face.
Sarah, the uncle, who emerges in the morning with squinty eyes as if every night has been night of heavy booze.
Another bond maker is the absence of wifi, so we talk to each other rather than becoming phone zombies. I like this.
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| Hanging with the huskies- just as cool as you'd imagine. Pun not intended. |
So our house is settled and we are enjoying the job but tomorrow we have our first day off. This means that tonight will be one of the few times we get to hang out with the elves outside of work. They are usually confined to the indoors in their free time so that guests don't see them out of character.
I think this is ridiculous, but more on them later.
For now, enjoy your advent and get Frozen on the TV.
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