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On the picture above you will find Norway on the western edge of the Scandinavian peninsula, and Saltdal has been marked with an arrow. The picture below shows the Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden. As you can see, Norway and Sweden shares the same peninsula. The picture will also make you understand why Norway with its veeery long coastline is one of the fish-superpowers of the world (note: fish not fishy)
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On the picture above you will find Oslo, the capital of Norway as well as Rognan in Saltdal 1200 km further north.
Let's get much closer, now...
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This Googlepicture gives an impression of the landscape in which the municipality of Saltdal is situated. The municipality, which covers appr. 2500 km², is inhabited by 5000 people, and it is dominated by steep mountains, deep valleys and a 100 km long fjord streching all the way from Rognan to Bodø. On the picture the "80" sign indicates the road to Bodø, the county capital, 100 km to the west.
The little arrow is placed on the spot where I took the photo below and it is pointed in the same direction as my camera.
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One of the really nice advantages by living up here is the nice scenery we may view when we walk to school. The picture shows you the lower, northern part of Saltdal.
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And - this is our school: Saltdal upper secondary school
It is a small school, but it has a lot to offer! Some students attend academic courses while others prefer vocational courses like mechanics, electrical engeneering, carpentry, arts, domestic science, etc.
However, the most peculiar thing about our school is its international engagement. Being a very small school far away up in the north its 'triangular' programme involving schools in Africa, America and Europe may be a bit surprising.
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23/10-05: Grethe has been very busy today. The Trinis are at Oslo airport and the Tanzanians in Trondheim. Lots of things have to be arranged. Autumn in Norway is usually very colorful with yellow, red and green as the dominating colors. As you see, the birches turn yellow.
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Roughly speaking the Saltdal valley has a north/south direction. The left picture above gives a view to the south, and the right one to the north including a part of Rognan, the municipality center.
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New Year's Eve is celebrated with parties and fireworks. It is mostly dark here at that time. North of the Arctic Circle we do not see the sun in the middle of the winter. In the summer-time, however, the sun shines both day and night. This phenomenon is called the 'midnight sun', and therefore we often call Norway 'The Land of the Midnight Sun'.
The pictures to the right are taken in January. As you see the 'daylight' is a bit peculiar.The two winter pictures (the sun and the moon) are taken at the same time. The sun is in the south and the moon in the north.
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Gradually the sun raises higher and higher on the sky, and after some snowy and ice-cold months we finally get to the month of May. Then the small children are roaming the forests picking flowers for their parents - and grandparents :)
The girls and guys in red are students from our academic course (3 year). In May the year they graduate, they wear red uniforms and celebrate heavily!!! The peculiar thing is that they do the partying BEFORE their final exams - not after...
This is probably not the smartest thing to do.
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In the summertime a lot of people do their shopping, etc. in the tiny center of Rognan. When the weather is nice there may also be plenty of activity in the little harbour.
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The summer may be surprisingly nice so far north, and even tiny flowers grow far up in the mountains. As you see we live in a mountainous region.
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Norwegians are keen hikers! Whenever it's possible a lot of us leave our homes for long hikes in the mountains. Up there we often meet sheep which are roaming the forests and the mountain plains on their own all the summer. Except for certain dramatic conflicts with lynx, wolves, bears and wolverines they enjoy happy summers up there.
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As you see our summers are really nice. Of course, it isn't as hot as in Trinidad&Tobago, but being situated as far north as the arctic parts of Canada it is definitely much better than you could expect.
The students above have a lottery making money for their trip to T&T.
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