Dog Sledding

 Now that the snow is here the dog sledding tours are finally running. In Breivikeidet just 45 minutes from Tromsø city centre 120 Alaskan Huskies are waiting to run through the snowy valleys. I decided to join one of the tours together with my roommate Janne. After we got dressed with thermal suits, mittens and warm boots to withstand the Arctic cold and listened carefully to the safety instructions we got to meet the dogs for the first time. We could hear them from far as they were barking loudly. They know when the tours start and it is time to run. Then all participants paired up in teams of two and every team got a team of 6 dogs and of course a sled. All guests are allowed to do the mushing themselves. One of the team is sitting on the sled and the other one is standing doing the mushing. Throughout the sledding it is possible to changeover. The mushing is really easy, it is just about using the breaks appropriately and steer the sled by shifting weight. Sometimes you have to help the dogs by running behind the sled eg when the track goes uphill.

As soon as you stop the sled the Huskies will start barking again. They only want to run and run and run. Once you go again they will be silent and enjoy running through the valleys. 

During the tour we enjoyed the fantastic landscape with the view of the Lyngen Alps and the relaxing silence in the valleys. After the sledding was done we had some time to pet the dogs and get to know them a little more. It was also possible to ask the guides and hosts some questions about the dogs.

During a stop there was time for a snow angle :D

Our team

Every Husky has a name and his own hut

Credits to Tromsø Husky :)

The snow is here!

Better late than ever it finally snowed here in Tromsø. Just in time for the first Sunday of Advent. In fact the snow has never been that late since 1944 ! The last days have been very icy and slippery due to the lack of snow. Also many tourists were disappointed as they booked snow related activities from home like reindeer or husky sledding or snowmobile rides which then had to be cancelled.
On top of the mounains we have had snow for some time now and it is also icy up there which made hiking a little dangerous in the end. On my last hike it was that cold on the top that my phone ran out of battery almost at an instant. I only managed to take one shot:

on top of Fløya in Tromsdalen

Now that the snow is here the temperature will rise a little also. The air has been very humid but now that it snows the air will be less humid and therefore it will feel less cold. Also it will feel a little less dark because of the bright, white snow.

Sunset with great colours at 3 pm

Further, the dark time has now begun. That is the time when we don´t see the sun in winter as the sun doesn´t rise over the horizon . The offical dates for the dark time are 27th of November til 15th of January. As Tromsø is surrounded by mountains we didn´t see the sun in the city centre for a week now. This does not mean that it is now dark 24/7 in Tromso. Darkness 24/7 is found at the north pole. We still have twilight between about 10:00 and 14:00. It is not as bright as daylight but still light. For now the darkness did not really effect me in a bad way. In the beginning when gets dark earlier and earlier every day you might feel quite tired all day but you get used to that really fast.

While the sale of christmas decorations and sweets in Germany starts already in September and you have christmas markets in every bigger city there is no such thing in Norway. The christmas decoration in the city was put up this week and the first christmas sweets were sold at the shops at mid November. They dont have a christmas market here and it is also forbidden to drink alcohol outside in the streets.
There are very strict regulations about alcohol in Norway. All acohol which is stronger than beer is not sold at all in general super markets. In Tromsø there is a shop called "vinmonopolet" which means as much as "wine monopoly" and it almost like they do have a monopoly on wine as general shops must not sell it. All wine, rum or other strong alcohol is sold in special shops which have limited opening hours.

The christmas decorations can be used for Valentine´s day also :D

At least the milk spreads some christmas feeling

Whale Watching

Last Sunday I had the chance to join a whale watching tour. I am telling you that this has been a once in a lifetime experience! It is still very early season for whale watching here in Norway but at least the orcas have arrived while the humpback whales are yet to come. The big catamaran "Aurora Explorer" with berth  in the harbour in Tromsø city centre took us out further north to the open sea where the whales arrive these days. Next to some pictures and an amazing video I took throughout the boat trip I will also provide you with some scientific information in this entry.

The scientific name of the orca or killer whale is Orcinus orca. Killer whales are mammals which for instance means that they breathe air using their lungs. To get the air to their lungs they use a blowhole which is located on top of their head. As their lungs don´t tolerate water (just likes ours) this blowhole is covered with a muscular flap when the orca is below water. When at the surface the orca opens the blowhole by contracting this muscular flap in order to inhale. Afterwards they close the blowhole again. When diving they hold their breath. While swimming near the surface they tend to dive for 30 seconds or less. When above the surface you can see and hear them breathing. The visible spout of water that rises from a killer whale's blowhole dosen´t come from the lungs. Water that is on top of the blowhole when the exhale begins is forced up with the exhaled respiratory gases. Especially in cool air, a mist may form which is water vapor condensing as the respiratory gases expand in the open air.

Killer whales are easy to recognize because of the striking and characteristic black and white pattern.
Behind each eye they have a white eyepatch. Just behind the dorsal fin they have a gray patch called saddle. The dorsal side is black while the underside is white.

It is quite easy to distinguish between males and females. You determine their sex by the form of their dorsal fin. Males´ fins are shaped like a isosceles triangle while females´ dorsal fins are curved. The dorsal fin of a male also tends to be larger.

This is a male

A male on the left, a female in the middle and a male on the right

As you might already have guessed the orcas don´t stay in Norway all year long. They usually get here around mid-October and stay till February. They come here to feed on herring. Orcas don´t travel alone but in pods. Often several females and their offspring and just a few males live together in one pod. Further, the orcas hunt together working as a team. Orcas have the second-biggest brains among all marine mammals. They show their great intelligence for example by the use of special and diverse hunting techniques. Often they encircle their prey so that it doesn´t know where to go. Then they might even stun the prey with their tail flukes and afterwards feed on the stunned prey.

The diet of orcas differs a lot. They are carnivores. Even though they have teeth they don´t usually chew a lot but rather tear apart their prey so that it gets easier to swallow. Killer whales have no natural enemies, instead many other animals fear them. That´s why they are called killer whales. Even though penguins or seals resting on ice floes might feel safe (as orcas can´t come on land), they are far,far away from being safe. Either the orcas will hit ice floes from below to knock them of or they will create a large wave  by swiming side by side and diving below the ice floe in the last second which then washes the prey of the ice floe. Depending on where they are the orcas are able to adapt to their environment very fast and develop different hunting techniques.


Throughout the cruise we even watched different surface characteristics and special behaviours. They are hard to capture on camera but I managed to get a shot of a tail slapping orca as seen on the right.
In the bottom left corner of the below picture you can see a spy hopping orca. We saw some spy hopping on the tour as well. Orcas do this to get an overview of what is going on around them above the surface. They are very curious animals and want to know what is going on.

surface characteristics

 After all this information please enjoy the following video from the whale watching trip. As you might recognize when watching the video I didn´t even know where to look first as the orcas where everywhere and came very close! I would have expected the orcas to leave when they see a big catamaran coming but they did the exact opposite. This once again illustrates that they are very social and curious animals. These animals are not meant to be captured in way to small aquariums drugged up with tranquilizer as tourist attractions. They are meant to to live freely in the earth´s oceans and swim thousands of kilometers in their lifetime.

 

Credits to the captain Stein-Are, the guide Liga and the rest of the crew from Arctic Explorer AS for this amazing experience!

We even saw a calf!

Die ersten Punkte auf dem Konto / The first win

Vor dem Spiel am Samstag / ahead of Saturday´s game

Am Wochenende des 1. und 2. Oktobers hatten wir unseren ersten Doppelspieltag. Zugleich waren die Spiele gegen Storhamar und Elverum auch die ersten Auswärtsspiele der Saison. Am frühen Samstagmorgen ging es los von Tromsø per Flugzeug nach Oslo. Von dort ging es weiter mit Mietwagen zum Hotel. Dort hatten wir ein wenig Zeit zum Entspannen, ehe es dann zur Boligpartner Arena in Hamar ging. Storhamar war der erste Gegner des Doppelspieltages. Der Start war ein wenig holprig, aber wir übernahmen trotzdem schnell die Führung und konnten diese über das ganze Spiel bei mindestens zwei Toren halten. Immer wieder kamen wir aus einer stabilen Abwehr heraus zu schnellen, einfachen Toren. Phasenweise viele Fehlwürfe und andere Unkonzentriertheiten machten es nicht möglich, das Spiel vorzeitig zu entscheiden, denn Storhamar spielte immer weiter egal wie es stand. So blieb es bis zum Ende spannend und die Freude über die ersten beiden Punkte war nach dem Abpiff riesengroß. Das Endergenis lautete 23:19 für Bravo. Hier  kannst du den genauen Spielverlauf einsehen.

The weekend of the 1st and 2nd of October we had 2 games. Both of them were away games. On early Saturday morning we went by airplane from Tromso to Oslo. From there our journey continued by rental cars which we collected at the aiport. When we arrived at the hotel we had some time to get some sleep or just relax before went to Boligpartner Arena in Hamar. Our first opponent was Storhamar. After a little uneasy start we very soon took the lead and did not give it away at any time. Based on a stable defense we were able to score many easy goals. Still, too many technical mistakes and missed chances prohibited us from deciding the game at an earlier stage. We kept the suspense in the game which then ended 23:19 in favour of Bravo. Here you can see how the game developed in detail. The happiness after the game was huge. Finally ,we added the first two points to our account!
 

Der Siegerjubel / celebrating the first win

Am Sonntag waren wir leider weniger erfolgeich. Obwohl die Abwehr zu Beginn des Spiels deutlich schlechter stand als am Vortag, lagen wir nach 18 Minuten beim 9:7 für Elverum noch gut im Rennen. Trotzdem nahmen wir einen 5-Tore-Rückstand (13:8) mit in die Pause. Nach der Pause zündeten wir ein kleines Feuerwerk und glichen zum 16:16 aus. Doch gerieten wir danach  wieder mit 4 Toren in Rückstand. Somit kam die zweite Aufholjagd zu spät und der Enstand lautete 22:21 für die Heimmannschaft Elverum. Hier kannst du den gesamten Spielverlauf einsehen.

It is a pity that we were less succesful the next day. Even though our defense was way less stable than the day before we were still in the game after 18 minutes at a score of  9:7 for Elverum. Still, we were down 5 goals at half-time. In the beginning of the second half we set alight a little firework and reached a draw at the score of 16 all. Afterwards we got down again by 4 goals. Our second comeback in the game was too late and therefore the home team got to a narrow 22:21 win. Here you see how the game went in detail.

Unser nächstes Spiel ist erst wieder am 29.Oktober. Dieses Mal zu Hause gegen Nit/Hak.
Our next game is scheduled for October 29th. We play at home against Nit/Hak.

Die traumhafte Landschaft und das Klima (Deutsche Version)

Die traumhafte Landschaft und das Klima

Das Klima hier oben nahe des Polarkreise ist sehr besonders. Dank dem Golfstrom, der aus Mexiko und Mittelamerika kommt, haben wir milde Temperaturen. Im Winter liegen die durchschnittlichen Temperaturen bei etwa -4 Grad. Ohne den Golfstrom würde wahrscheinlich keine Menschenseele hier oben wohnen, weil es viel zu kalt wäre. Im Sommer werden 15 Grad schon als warm empfunden. Manchmal klettert das Thermometer sogar auf 20 Grad oder ein bisschen mehr. Aktuell Ende September haben wir meistens um die 10 Grad oder ein bisschen weniger.

Das Wetter verändert sich sehr schnell. Es ist mir schon mehrmals passiert, dass ich mich morgens in Jacke und Pulli auf den Weg zur Arbeit gemacht habe und als ich bei der Arbeit im Stadtzentrum ankam, war es so warm , dass ich in T-shirt rumlaufen konnte. Man weiß nie genau, was man anziehen soll, denn auf die Wettervorhersage ist nicht immer Verlass. Von einer Minute auf die andere kann es von Sonnenschein auf Regen umschlagen. Und es regnet sehr oft. Als ich Tromsø nach meinem ersten Besuch verlassen habe, hat es geregnet. Als ich dann nach Tromsø gezogen bin und am Flughafen ankam,  hat es wieder geregnet. Oder immer noch ? :D Der Regen wird jedoch bald vom Schnee abgelöst werden. Oftmals schneit es schon im September, habe ich mir erzählen lassen. Bis jetzt hat es noch nicht geschneit, obwohl ich auf den Bergspitzen schon Neuschnee gesehen habe.

Desweiteren ist die Luft hier sehr frisch und klar. Es fühlt sich fast an, als könnte man die schöne Natur um sich herum einatmen. Manchmal ertappe ich mich selbst dabei, wie ich einfach dastehe und die Landschaft bewundere :D Man kann die Berge sogar vom Hafen im Stadtzentrum aus sehen.

Im August kann man die Mitternachtssonne in Tromsø genießen. In dieser Jahreszeit haben wir 24/7 Tageslicht. Aber schon jetzt im September beginnt es um 19 Uhr dunkel zu werden. So geht es weiter bis dann Ende November die "dunkle Zeit" beginnt. In der Zeit wird es nur von 10 Uhr bis 14 Uhr ein bisschen Dämmerlicht geben, während es den Rest des Tages dunkel bleibt.

Die Polarlichtsaison hat auch schon begonnen. Diese Woche am Dienstag war die Aktivität so stark, dass wir die Polarlichter direkt über der Stadt sehen konnten! Ich freue mich, mehr davon zu sehen und werde den Polarlichtern einen eigenen Blogeintrag widmen :)

Weiter unten ein paar Fotos, die ich im August gemacht habe und dir einen Eindruck davon geben, wie schön Tromsø ist :)

Auf dem Weg zum Training 

Ausblick beim Abendessen

Blick auf die Brücke zwischen Tromsdalen und Tromsø und die Ishavskatedral

Die traumhafte Landschaft und das Klima (English version)

The wonderful landscape and the climate

The climate up here close to the Arctic circle is very special. Thanks to the gulf stream coming from Mexico and Middle America we have moderate temperatures. Average temperatures during winter are -4 degrees. Without the gulf stream no one would be living that far north here in Tromsø as it would be way to cold. In summer 15 degrees are considered as warm already but sometimes you even have 20 degrees or a little more. Right now in the end of September we mostly have temperatures around 10 degrees or a little less.

 The weather is shifting very fast. It has happened several times to me that I left for work wearing a sweater and a jacket and when I arrived in the city after a 15 minutes bus ride it was so warm that I went on in T-shirt. One minute it can be quite sunny  and 10 minutes later heavily raining. Oh yes and it rains very often. When I left Tromsø after my first visit it was raining and when I moved to Tromsø and arrived at the airport it was raining again :D The rain will soon be displaced by the snow though. Often it is already there in September I was told. I did see some new snow on the  mountain tops but not more yet.

Furthermore, the air up here is very fresh and clear. It seems like you can inhale the beautiful nature around you. Sometimes I catch myself at just gazing at the beautiful landscape you can even see from the very city centre at the harbour.

In August you can enjoy the midnight sun in Tromsø. At that time of the year we have daylight 24/7. But already now coming to the end of September it starts to get dark around 7 pm. It will continue like that. Every day it gets dark a little earlier until in late November the dark time starts. During that time there will only be some dim light from around 10 am to 2 pm and the rest of the day it will be dark.

The Northern Lights season has aready started. Tuesday this week there was so strong activity that we could even see the Lights just above the city! I am very excited to see more of  the  Northern Lights or "Aurora Borealis". I will dedicate a seperate blog entry to them :)

Below you see some shots taken in August giving you an idea of how beautiful Tromsø is :)

Auf dem Weg zum Training / on my way to handball practice

Ausblick beim Abendessen/ the view at dinner

Blick auf die Brücke zwischen Tromsdalen und Tromsø und die Ishavskatedral/ view of the bridge connecting Tromsdalen and Tromsø and the Arctic Cathedral

Nordlys berichtet: Rooney und Cech dürfen - aber nicht Hanna

Rooney und Cech dürfen - aber nicht Hanna

Bravo-Torhüterin Hanna Belgardt (19) hat die letzten beiden Spiele für Bravo ohne den Kopfschutz gespielt, den sie in Deutschland letztes Jahr benutzt hat. 

Der Grund dafür ist das neue Regelwerk des internationalen Handballverbandes, das im Sommer eingeführt wurde. Kein Spieler darf mit Kopschutz spielen. Während die Fußballspieler wie Manchester Uniteds Wayne Rooney und Arsenals Peter Cech die Erlaubnis erhalten haben, nach Verletzungen mit Kopfschutz zu spielen, wird dieses Recht der Bravo-Torhüterin verweigert. Der Klub hofft auf eine Befreiung von dem Regelwerk, Wir werden eine Befreiung von der Regel beantragen, weil Hanna mit Kopfschutz spielen können soll. Wir werden Atteste vom Arzt beifügen und hoffen, dass es ihr die Erlaubnis verschafft, den Kopfschutz zu benutzen, sagt Bravo-Trainer Bo Andersen und räumt ein, dass er von dem Regelwerk erschüttert ist. " Das ist vollständig hoffnungslos. Kopfverletzungen sind ein ernster Teil des Spiels und der Kopfschutz dient nur der Sicherheit", sagt er.

Pokalspiel / cup match

Unser Pokalspiel am Mittwochabend gegen den Erstligisten Rælingen HK endete 10:33.  Zur Halbzeit stand es 4:20. Hier kannst du den genauen Spielverlauf einsehen. Der Klassenunterschied war von Anfang an klar zu erkennen und wir waren chancenlos, aber trotzdem war es für uns ein sehr lehrreiches Spiel.

Am Sonntag steht schon das nächste Ligaspiel an. Das ist somit das dritte Spiel innerhalb einer Woche für uns. Gegner ist Hønefoss. Hønefoss hat am Samstag bereits gegen Ankenes gespielt und 19:21 gewonnen. 

We lost our cup game on Wednesday night 10:33 to Rælingen HK. At half time the score was 4:20. Here you can see the exact course of the game. It was clearly to be seen from the beginning of the gamme that Rælingen plays two leagues higher than we do. Eventhough we were chanceless we still learnt a lot throughout the game. 

On Sunday we already have our next game which then will be our third game within 7 days. We play against Hønefoss. They played against Ankenes on Saturday this weekend already. The result was a 19:21 win for Hønefoss.

iTromsø zum Saisonauftakt

Optimisten trotz Niederlage

Unter Bravo Børsen hat jede Spielerin eine Note von 1-10 bekommen, wobei 10 das beste ist. Mein Name wurde gleich schon einmal der skandinavischen Schreibweise angepasst: Belgaardt :D

Saisonauftakt gegen Gjøvik

Vorbericht zum Saisonstart und ein bisschen über mich und meinen Kopfschutz/ the local newspaper about the season start and a little bit about me and my head guard

Gestern war es endlich so soweit. Nach der harten Arbeit in der Vorbereitung stand endlich unser erstes Saisonspiel an. Gegner war Gjøvik HK. Gjøvik liegt 1,723 km von Tromsø entfernt in der Nähe von Lillehammer. Letztes Jahr hat Gjøvik HK noch 1. Division gespielt und gilt daher als Topfavorit für die Meisterschaft und den Aufstieg. Also wartete gleich im ersten Saisonspiel ein richtig harter Brocken auf uns. Doch dessen waren wir uns beswusst. Wir hatten nichts zu verlieren und freuten uns auf unser erstes Spiel. Gjøvik hatte am Vortag Ankenes mit 17-40 aus der Halle gefegt. Zudem verfügen sie über eine sehr breite Bank, sodass man ihnen kaum angmerkt hat, dass sie dieses Wochenende schon einmal 60 Minuten gespielt hatten.

Yesterday we finally played our first game of the season. We have been looking forward to that the whole pre-season. The opponent was  Gjøvik HK. Gjøvik is located near Lillehammer,  1,723 km from Tromsø. Last year they played 1. division and are therefore one of the big favourites of the series. The day before Gjøvik HK won against Ankenes 17-40. Furthermore, they have a big squad so that you would not recognize they already played 60 minutes the day before. So our first game was a real toughie. But we knew that before the whistle and had nothing to lose.

Spielfilm:

 Bravo HK - Gjøvik HK

15 min 2-6
21 min 4-9
25 min 7-10
30 min 10-13

 35 min 12-17
43 min 14-19
50 min 15-22
55 min 15-24
60 min 16-25

Hier kannst du den genauen Spielverlauf einsehen.
Here you see all details abou the game.

Lange konnten wir den Abstand bei 3-4 Toren halten bevor es am Ende doch 9 Tore wurden. Wir haben ein gutes Spiel gemacht und können viele viele gute Dinge mitnehmen. Unsere Abwehr wird immer stabiler und 25 Tore gegen eine Spitzenmannschaft zu bekommen ist absolut in Ordnung.

For quite a long time we were able to keep a 3-4 goals deficit before Gjøvik  could establish a 9 goals lead in the end of the game. Anyways we did a good job and we have many positive things we can  move on with. The defence gets more and more stable and recieving 25 goals only against a crack team is absolutely fine.

Frauenhandball auf nationaler Ebene hat es in Tromsø seit mehr als 10 Jahren nicht gegeben. Das erste Spiel hier in Tromsø war daher ein richtiges Event. Es gab eine Tombola mit einem Fahrrad als Hauptgewinn. 5 Minuten vor Spielbeginn ging das Licht aus und wir Bravo - Spielerinnen wurden einzeln vom Hallensprecher aufgerufen und liefen unter Scheinwerferlicht und lauter Musik ein. Für die Zuschauer gab es kleine Präsente von einem der Hauptsponsoren, die wir nach dem Einlaufen verteilt haben. Nach dem Spiel wurde dann noch die beste Spielerin jeder Mannschaft gekürt. Zudem war viel Presse anwesend, es wurden viele Interviews geführt und die ersten Artikel waren schon eine Stunde nach Abpfiff online.

Women´s handball on national level was not to be seen in Tromsø for more than 10 years. So our first game of the season was a real event. There was a tombola with a bicycle as the top prize. 5 minutes before the whistle the lights turned off and we Bravo players were all called up individually to take to the field in spot light. After we took to the field we gave some small give-aways from one of our main sponsors to the spectators. After the game the best player of each team was chosen. Some interviews were conducted by the numerous journalists around and the first articles were already online about an hour after the game ended.

Vilde wurde beste Spielerin für Bravo / Vilde was Bravo´s best player

Am Mittwoch geht es schon weiter. Es steht ein Pokalspiel an gegen  Rælingen HK an. Wir haben Heimrecht. Rælingen HK spielt in der höchsten Liga Norwegens, also zwei Ligen über uns in der Grundigliga. Das wird auf jeden Fall ein Erlebnis!

Already on Wednesday we are going to play a cup match against Rælingen HK. They play in the best league in Norway called Grundigligaen. It´s gonna be a great experience!