Hi everyone,
Upon general request, I will keep updating my blog this coming winter. For those who haven't heard from me over the Summer, well, there is quite a funny story to tell.
First of all, I had a really nice time in France back in June and July with my family. It was the longest time spent in France over the last 11 years and, although it is quite difficult to re-adjust to the French way sometimes, it was nice to be back in my homeland.
As a very organised person (humm), I had found a Summer job in Norway as a bus guide. The job itself did not sound really exciting but I was told that it would be fairly good money. To cut a long story short, I was given the details of this tour guide company by a guy who lived nearby the kennel in Sweden. I got in touch with them via emails. After a couple of emails, it was agreed that I would work for them in August only. Very few details were given to me and a job contract was not even available. This should have started lighting up the warning lights for me but I was in such a relaxed state after this hard working season that I was ready for a little adventure.
Well, adventure and chaos... I got. I turned up in Norway and was picked up by a German girl and her weird boyfriend. Nothing was said to me and I was left on my own in a tiny room in the middle of nowhere, about 37km away from any town. Anyway, I got in touch with the tour guide company, someone came to visit me at the house where I was staying and I was promised training and scripts of the tours. The only training I got was a 40 min chat with a young guide who gave me one script. My first tour was arranged 3 days after my arrival but I was only told the evening before the tour. I was picked up at 7.00am and on my way to the tour, I was told that I would guide in French, not in English as I was told, that the tour I was going to do was not actually the tour I had been briefed on and that I was not allowed to read the script on the bus. I was sent on a bus in an area where I had never been and was asked to describe particular points of the landscape as we were driving through the area. I had no bloody idea what these points looked like. I was in the North area of the fjords surrounded by mountains and had to point at particular mountains. Being resourceful and liking a bit of challenge, I accepted to do the tour and thought that I might see signs on the road indicating those points of interests. But there were no signs.... I did my best and even started talking about the Northern part of the country based on my experience in Lapland. I really didn't think I had done a good job and wanted to run away when a tourist gave me a tip.
In the afternoon, they told me to get on a bus with an Italian guide so I could get some training... I don't speak Italian but I could understand when the guide was pointing at certain parts of the landscape. I realised that I told my tourists that something was on the left side of the road when it was in fact on the right, 3 km behind us... Oops...
At the end of the day, I spoke to the organisers and they showed no concern of the poor guiding I gave on that day. They even wanted me to guide a complete different tour a few days later. I then decided that the whole situation was a joke. I called some friends in Sweden and decided to head up North as soon as I could find an available flight. It took me 36 hours of travel via aiports, train stations and bus stations before I arrived back in Kiruna, relieved to have escaped from this crazy Norwegian company.
A few days later, I discovered that the whole matter could have been avoided if the company had told me that they could not give me any training when coming mid Summer season...
Anyway, a few days after my arrival in Kiruna, I acquired an alaskan husky puppy from a friend. This little fur ball is named Indi, after Indiana Jones (thanks Victor for giving me the idea of the name after calling me like that last Winter). You will see soon plenty of pictures of this little treasure. :-)
The dog training season will start in a couple of weeks. I will train them, along with the new handler, then the guests will arrive around mid-November and I will start this new winter season as a full time sled dog guide, until the end of April.
I am sure that this winter is going to be full of surprises and will give good story material to relate on my blog. I hope you will enjoy reading it this coming season.
Big hugs from rainy Lapland,
Steph(ie)
