Today is Sunday, November 15. The sun rose today at 10:01 am and will set at 5:28pm. For the next 5 weeks or so, we have a lot more darkness coming. On the winter solstice, the sun will rise at 11:08am and set at 4:48pm. Now, keep in mind that we live among several hills, so it takes a while for us to actually see the sun, even after it has technically risen, and likewise, it goes down behind the hill to the south well before the official sunset. It's been amazing to watch the arc of the sun get smaller every day. The light never feels strong or full because the sun is always slanting down at us these days - never directly overhead.
Just to give you some comparison, on the day we arrived in Tununak (Friday, August 7), the sun rose at 6:51am and set at 11:21pm. And on the summer solstice, the sunrise was at 5:29am, while sunset was at 12:35am.
And in the way of further comparison, today in Portland the sun rose at 7:09am and set at 4:41pm. So as you can see, it's the morning that's really killer. When we walk to school at 8am it is absolutely middle-of-the-night pitch black. About two weeks ago we started bringing our camping headlamp for the walk up the stairs to school (we also put our cleats on our boots, but that's a different matter). If it's clear, the stars are actually pretty amazing at this time of the morning, but it's too cold to stay out and look for very long.
And speaking of cold, yesterday for the first time we got really, super bundled up. We've been postponing the use of our heavy-duty winter gear as long as possible so that we would still have something warmer to put on when it went from cold to "holy s**t" cold. I think we're still well away from that level but it is definitely getting pretty chilly and we wanted to test out our gear. So, I have a Mountain Hardwear Subzero women's parka. I put on long underwear, jeans, snowpants, fleece socks, my snow boots, a fleece jacket, fleece scarf, and my parka. I skipped a hat because my jacket has a serious hood. I also have gore-tex fleece lined mittens. So we both got all suited up and we were waiting for E to get ready (we were all going to walk to the post office) and I was sweating bullets. I thought once we got outside I’d cool down but I actually had to loosen my hood and scarf about halfway there because I was so hot! It was a relief because it means it can get a lot colder and we’ll still be warm enough. However, I have to admit that yesterday was very sunny and not at all windy, which helped. Today I walked up to school and on the way back home the wind felt like a knife. It really hurts to have anything exposed in wind like that, and I didn't have my scarf, so I had to hold up my hand to block the right side of my face while I walked.
So, how are we planning to get through this long, cold winter? Lots of tea, lots of games, lots of music practice, lots of movies, lots and lots of books. Letter-writing, phone calls, Wii, bread baking (baking in general) and, hopefully, the occasional letter or package from the lower 48.
On that final note, just want to say thanks for all the mail lovin' we're getting. It's hard to express how exciting it is to get a package or even a letter. We miss home and our "real life" so much and mail is like a little connection to that. We've been very spoiled by our parents who've sent us tons of goodies, and our friends have also sent us amazing care packages filled with books, chocolate, coffee, games, tea, vegan treats, and even 1 dried sunflower. Thanks thanks!
(I'll just add that getting mail is SO exciting that even when I order something from Amazon, it usually takes so long to get here that I've half forgotten it by the time it arrives, and then I'm like, "Oh, a package...oh, look, it's a _______! Fantastic, I've been wanting that!" )
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment