Really!

Tromso is a happening place despite the first picture of a graveyard!  I just can't get this picture moved.  This is at the older Tromso Domkirke (cathedral).

The Happening City of Tromso

This college town of about 65,000 people is one happening place. While walking to and fro from the university I have found a Godfather's Pizza, a 7-11, a Thai restaurant,  a Chinese restaurant, three kabab places, one of them Turkish.

 Thrilled to see donner kababs outside of Turkey, I went in and had a nice conversation, in English, with the owner.  Over kababs he told me how he and some friends came to Tromso on a college break.  They wanted to see the northern lights.  His friends returned home, but he found odd jobs, and got the Norwegian equivalent of a green card.  He started his own business, married a nice Norwegian girl, who works for a vet, and he has been happy ever since!

Tromso is the starting point of many Arctic expeditions. People have lived in this area for thousands of years. While on a break this morning, I got to look through the rest of the museum our class was at.  I learned that stone age people did not have cavities!  Also, they have found tar with teeth marks in it, perhaps the first chewing gum. 

We even have a branch of the LDS church here.

The Sami People

I have a break between sessions and I want to write this down while it is still fresh.  I told you to look on wikipedia.org for Sami people.

Today I learned that the Norwegians tried for over 100 years to stamp out this race of people by forcing them to attend schools that taught only in Norwegian.  Many Sami integrated themselves into Norwegegian culture so that they would not be discriminated against.  We saw a slide show of a Sami conference where they compare themselves, rightly so, with American Indians, the Native peoples of Central America, and other oppressed people who  were there first, and then someone comes in and tries to erradicate them.  Many Sami immigrated to America.  Their descendents most likely have no idea that they are Sami.  So sad!  One of the places that many of these people immigrated to was Utah!  I had an interesting discussion with our professor when he learned I was from Utah.  Well,  I gotta get ready for this afternoon's class.

A New Food That I am Not Going to Try

Today, I learned about surstromming.  This is a delicacy of northern Sweden - which I am very close to right now.

In the spring. herring are caught.  They are left for two months in barrels to ferment (rot). Then the fish are canned so that the fermenting process can continue. Six months to a year later, when the cans have bulged out from bacteria, the herring is ready to eat!  People either like this stuff or they don't.  I am told it does not taste like it smells.  Because of the extremely strong smell, the cans have to be opened outside, or under water.  The fish are traditionally served on a flat bread with different toppings.  Most adults like to drink beer with this sandwich.  Children eat it with milk.

Because of the unlikely event that the cans could burst on their own, several airlines have forbidden the transfer of surstromming on many airlines. (You also cannot carry the fruit Durian on planes because of its smell.) Go to google images and put in surstromming.

Tonight, I am in the northern city of Tromso (trom suh).  This college town of about 65,000 is located about 130 miles north of the Arctic Circle.  I am here for a symposium on the Sami People at Tromso University.  See http://www.wikipedia.org/ Sami People for a better explanation than I can give.  I saw a Sami woman tonight as I was walking around town.  I wish I had my camera, then again, I don't need to be an uncouth tourist taking pictures of the locals. Go to google images for Sami People.

It is surprisingly warm.  It is cold, but not freezing. The gulf stream reaches up here.  There is snow on the mountains.  This place is magical!

Blogger's complaint

Below are two entries.  The canning one is okay.  The other one bugs me as I want to type words, then when I add pictures, they are placed before my explanations. It is very annoying.  Also, I cannot always position my pictures how I want to.

The Canning Factory

Stavanger, before it became an oil city, was once the hub of sardine canning factories.  In an old factory building is a small museum about canning. It actually is quite interesting.  I was there when they were having  fieldtrip of school children.  I stood back and got the basic idea of what they were telling the kids.  The picture to the left is of a drying rack of sardines. (the sardines are rubber.)  Below, I am holding a rubber sardine.  They told the kids how to pack them in cans and explained that they had to do so many cans in a time period.  Then they let them pretend to be factory workers and timed them.  It was a hoot to watch!  The factory workers had to cut off the head of the fish with scissors until someone invented a machine to do it.

Rubber Sardines to the right and below.

I missed the part where they showed the kids how to make cans from tin sheets.  I don't think they let the kids do this as there are warning signs next to the press.

Canning sardines - one job I am glad I never had to do!

Old Stavanger with photos

The Shtandart is a replica of a ship built in 1708 by Peter the Great of Russia. This replica was completely handcrafted in Russia. It was then sailed to Norway through the Arctic Sea. Given that we love pirate movies in the U.S., it is amazing how small this ship is.  Where the housed 40 crewmen and supplies would make for a very tight squeeze.  

 

Old Stavanger is filled with 200-year-old whitewashed homes with cobble streets.  People still live in these homes. Nearby is the harbor with modern ships.  The toddlers are out walking the harbor area with their caregivers.

This is the Stavanger Cathedral

or Domkirke.  Parts of this building date back to 1125 A.D.  Just as I was about to go in, a sign, in Norwegian, was put outside.  I could guess enough of it to tell that the building was closed for the day.  I hope to go inside before I leave for home.

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