Some mintute observations

             Last Saturday it was snowing very badly. Well that's my definition about bad as it was my first experience with so much of snow. My boots were deep inside the snow and I didn't know how to get back to my apartment. But lucky me, I managed to return safely. My actual concern was I might ski on the solidified snow layer but I was very cautious while walking and that helped me. I just wanted to get a feel of what it feels to hold the snow and indeed I got a really good feeling for sometime (my bare hands went numb and then bluish). The snow felt like extremely cold melting cotton. Have you read about hypothermia? The body temperature drops down if one exposes the body to cold temperature without wearing proper insulating clothing. The patient may die if left untreated. Most of our body heat is lost by uncovered body parts like head and hands. I had too much piercing pain even with cold water running down my nearly blue hands. It's a real miracle that snow can act as an insulator against it's own cold. The igloos are the so called snow houses constructed with other construction materials such as whalebone and hides. The snow bear actually swims in ice freezing cold water. I think I should have such good insulating fat layer (but an invisible one).


          

          I am going around Skovde and my curious scientific eyes have noticed a few interesting things. At times I still have somewhat difficult time to adjust to the right hand traffic rule and I end up walking on the wrong side of the road. Interestingly I have never heard any vehicle honking. I had heard about the apple trees in every house in Sweden. I didn't get to see many apples on the trees but I managed to capture one. There aren't too many apples so search it out in the photograph. All the tress over here are covered with a variety of lichens. Lichens are pollution indicators, so I know that daily I am breathing fresh air. There's a photograph of the snow from my apartment window. I still have to set my hand for clicking the best of the photographs! And then I have the photo of the really shrunken socks. Can you imagine these WERE an adult's socks.They now appear some-what like a teenagers socks I guess the setting went wrong either for the machine or the dryer. My self learned basic Swedish language especially for edibles is helping me out. Not too much but some at least I have a rough idea of what I will be stuffing in my stomach.


 

           It's time for the celestial phenomenon, the northern light. I gather that within Sweden Kiruna and Abisko are the best locations to look for them. It's a complex process to explain may be a physics student can explain it much better than I think what it is. I just want to enjoy them.


   

.....Namita......


Comments
Postat av: madhuri

Hej Namita,
Your blogs are great. It gives me nostalgia as two years back I went through all these things and what a sweet memories they are! Right from packing bags for Sweden till holding snow in bear hand for the first time in life was awesome.
Keep it up.

Madhuri

2008-02-07 @ 19:40:22
Postat av: shadab

I will really like to study in your university, especially in Biomedice.

2008-02-07 @ 22:52:18
Postat av: E

Hej Namita,
it's so interesting to read about your experiences in Sweden. As a Swedish exchange student in Mexico I loved reading that you notice the quiet Swedish cars... after almost six months in Mexico I still CANNOT get used to the incessant honking of the cars, the trucks, the carts selling gas or water... anything that can make a noise will and does! :)

2008-02-08 @ 20:52:28
Postat av: Friend

Hello,

I am really surprised that you are still not used to the honking. Life is never steady, so accept the change :)

2008-02-10 @ 19:02:17

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