Gällivare in Lapland

Hello from Gallivare,
We took the train from Kiruna to Gallivare, a little over one hour´s ride. Not to be missed, the local Rotarians, led by Sven-Eric, met us carrying a large American& Swedish flags. Sven-Eric and his fellow Rotarians and have gone out of their way to make our time here well spent.

Host families have been more than accommodating. All of us have private rooms and comfortable surroundings. The food has been amazing with a lot of reindeer and moose - no meatballs so far.

We had our first vocational days. Laura spent the day with a vet in town, Sandy went to a greenhouse plant grower in the Arctic, Erin is staying with the chief of police and both she and Alex visited the largest emergency helicopter service. Vanessa learned about working in Sweden at an insurance agency. The Rotarians have been great in setting up the vocational days for us.

Lastly, we visted a large gold, siver, copper mine and actually went into the working part of the open pit mine. Photos will be added.

Our final evening in Gallivare was magically spent in a Sami tent around an open fire hearing a Sami tell us the stories of his people. We sat on reindeer skins, drank vodka, and had reindeer served in a type of bread wrap. More posts to come.