Arrived and still not speaking a lick of Svenska

The journey is over, or more so, a new one is beginning. I left Seattle with a heavy heart, leaving behind the comforts of my routine life, the ins and outs of a country I know and a way of living I understand. More importantly, I left behind friends and family. Upon take off, we passed through rain clouds, steadily gaining elevation until the plane leveled off above a sea of puffy white. Passing over the Cascades, pesky summits broke through the white barrier and rekindled the my desire to stand among the giants. Clouds covered my view until the central planes of Canada, where I saw only meandering streams, isolated lakes, and unending grass. A shoreline appeared, the land disappeared, and small white dots littered the blue expanse. A new line appeared, now white and cracked. I was over Hudson Bay and the spring breakup was far from over. Clouds once again covered my view, this time ranging in the vibrant colors of a sunset. Except the color faded to white, never to the black that has always accompanied sunsets. As I looked at the whiteness below, shapes began to form. Longs lines of a windswept landscape. Crinkles of tension. Crevasses. The Greenland Icesheet flowed out to the coastline. Rivers of ice flowed down valleys. Windblown snow and rock bands alternated on carved ridges and still more icebergs calved into the ocean. The desent into Iceland was through thick fog, with visibility limited to a couple hundred meters. At least I could see the fields of lupin-like flowers surrounding the airport. The clouds closed in until the coast of Norway, where fjords gave way to glacial mesas. Sweden arrived, looking pastoral and calm. The Stockholm airport offered a few hours of sleep, where I was able to tuck away into a quiet corner. Onto another plane, this one small, but the final leg of a journey. After one short refueling stop, I landed in the Storuman airport, walking the final stretch from plane to building. There I finally met Annette and Dave, the two people responsible for my being in Sweden. Off to the car and a drive to Slussfors, where we could finally talk without the hinderance of email and cyberspace. We grilled moose burgers for dinner and I met a couple from the UK who are also staying here. My accomodation consists of a small one room cabin, about 200 meters off the river and the land is in perpetual daylight. There are 28 young dogs in the kennel, many from good blood lines. There is also a resident cat in the vet and two strong horses out back. Work starts tomorrow, but for now it's rest and relaxation.