With the snow, there is more work to do, snowmobile trips, dog and reindeer sledding are already in full swing. I have only had one snowmobile tour so far, but even that was great! I have a great respect for it, but it is a lot of fun! The weather was kind to us that day, the sky was clear, a snow-covered forest, through which the sun shone... Only us on the snowmobiles, otherwise everything was quiet and peaceful. Beautiful! It was a feeling of immense joy and gratitude. I hope I will have more tours like this!
I also had classic visits to a reindeer farm and the northern lights tour. Two situations stuck in my memory. One evening, I had a car full of three Mexican families - three couples and three children - girls about the same age (5-6 years old). At first, the parents were surprised that I didn't speak Spanish, but they were very nice and cheerful. And they took a bottle of tequila with them and drank it all during the trip. They also offered me, but I was their driver… We saw the Northern Lights that evening, but fortunately not only thanks to their tequila. Another interesting situation occurred the very next evening, when Sean and I accompanied a bus of customers from China. Sean looked after them and translated, and I was in charge of the photos. One of the girls from the large group asked me if I would help her set up the camera to take pictures of the northern lights. When I finished my part of the work, we spent some time together and I explained everything about the correct settings to her. We didn’t see the northern lights, but we still took a few test photos. She was excited. She wanted to stay in touch with me, so we became friends on facebook. And after the tour ended, she came to hug me. Isn’t it beautiful?
However, the strongest work experience of the week came on Thursday, when I accompanied a group from the Philippines. They wanted someone who would be with them and accompany them throughout their program. Thanks to the miscommunication, I arrived at their hotel an hour early, the nice lady at the reception gave me free coffee and my wait was cut short by a couple from Singapore who really wanted to chat. Well, the lady wanted to chat. And it was more of a monologue… I learned a lot and we laughed. Then I found my group and we set off. First to a reindeer farm, where we also had lunch. During the trip, we became friends and laughed. I told them everything I remembered. During lunch, Gloria (the tour leader) asked me how many children I had. When I answered that none, that I didn’t have a husband, she was very surprised how it was that I wasn’t married. And then she said: “Then you have to come to the Philippines, there are good men, you’ll definitely find one there!” So I might to to the Philippines after Finland! After lunch, we stopped in Rovaniemi at the church and then at the husky farm. We learned everything about their dogs, breeding, training, work… Lots of new information! Then they had a dog sled ride, I escorted them to the bus and that was the end of my work. They then continued north to another city. It was an unexpectedly pleasant day!
As we know, work is not everything! There was also time for some after-work activities. The guys from the apartment next door invited us to an evening together, beer and games. So I played a video game for the first time in my life! We laughed unbelievably! Especially at how we all were fully engaged in it! The next evening was very special because NO ONE was working, so we could invite Andrés for a beer. Almost all of us guides got together and it was a very nice evening. We had time to informally chat, share and spend time together. Just awesome!
There were also walks through the snowy and frozen landscape. When I was returning home one night, I saw a very strange phenomenon. Exactly this:
It looked a bit like aliens were landing here. I didn't hesitate to google it when I got home. And thanks to that, I learned something new. So Wikipedia says: “This is an atmospheric optical phenomenon (light pillar or ice pillar) in which a vertical beam of light stretches above a light source. This effect is caused by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals scattered in the atmosphere. Since light pillars are created by the interaction of light with ice crystals, they are classified as halo phenomena. The crystals responsible for this phenomenon consist of hexagonal plates that, when falling through the air, line up more or less horizontally. Each crystal acts as a small mirror that reflects the light sources below it. The presence of crystals at different heights then causes the reflection to stretch vertically into a column. Unlike a real light beam, a light pillar is not physically located above the light source. Its appearance as a vertical line is an optical illusion that is caused by the collective reflection from ice crystals.”
We had a pretty cold weather here, so we were able to observe this phenomenon almost daily. But now it's getting warmer, instead of -20°C (one evening my car even showed -27°C!) it's "only" -7°C, and there's more snow, so everything remains beautifully white. It's stunning!
