Sunday 07/10
Today was the last day at camp, and this was my first thought when I woke up, and the last before I fell asleep at the hotel in Winnipeg. But in between this, I did actually think about other things, but naturally, it was something that we all talked a lot about during the day.
After breakfast we had some time to discuss and write our forward action plans. These are individual plans about, what we are going to do, when we get home. I had really been looking forward to doing this, because I thought it a very good thing to have something very concrete and realistic, instead of just having a lot of great plans, which I would never be able to complete. We also set a time limit to our plans, which is another way of making sure, that our visions will in fact become reality. My forward action plan is to try and save more energy, for example by cycling to school, turn off my mobile phone at night (since I’m not using it then) and remember to turn off the light, whenever I leave a room. I am also going to create an environmental group at my school, which won’t be a branch of any organization. This means, that the members will decide, which projects, we want to work on in the group. This group should be established and ready to start working by the end of the school year 07/08.

Another important part of my forward action plan is sharing my story of my experience in the tundra. I’m going to give some presentations about climate change, the arctic, polar bears and my trip to Churchill in Scandinavian Wildlife Park, to my class, at some elementary schools and maybe to my high school, and I want to do this before Christmas. Some of the other students at Leadership Camp created an “Eco-day”, which is a theme day in schools, where the students learn about the environment through games, lessons and other activities. I think this is a great idea, and have made it my summer holiday project to try and make a complete plan of what such a day could look like in Denmark and then I’m going to try and make some schools in Aarhus have “Eco-day”.

And then it was time to get packed, clean up the lodge and leave. This was terribly sad, because it brought the goodbyes so much closer. I tried to concentrate completely on my packing, so that I wouldn’t have to consider leaving, but would instead be able to enjoy my last time at camp with all those wonderful people.

Safely arrived in Churchill after a quite long and very bumpy ride on the tundra buggy, we went to the gift shop. I bought all the postcards, that I should have sent long ago, so all my postcards have arrived shamefully late. I also bought some memories of Churchill and a few gifts to my family.
We then went to the PBI-house in Churchill and talked, ate dinner and had a “goodbye-session”, where we gave the facilitators some small gifts. We entertained each other with songs and poems, – a tradition from previous Leadership Camps – and we started to at least try and accept the fact, that this wonderful, life changing experience was about to end.

At the airport in Churchill, it was time to say our first goodbyes starting with Stephan, who lives in Churchill, Robert Buchanan of PBI, Karyne from Parks Canada, and Frank (who was “my” teacher, as he is from Denmark too).

As I sat in the plane, I suddenly burst into tears, because I knew, that all the people at the camp, who I care so much about and have gotten so close to very quickly, live so far away, and that it will be so long, before I see any of them again. As soon as the people around me saw this, I had four of the loveliest girls imaginable sitting around me, trying to comfort me. Even though my reason for crying wasn’t solved, I stopped crying because they were (and still are!) so sweet, and well… who can cry, when they are among such amazing people? After all, I am so blessed to have had this experience, that even saying goodbye for a very long time, couldn’t make me think anything else than “Wow, what did I do to be so lucky?”

Saturday 06/10
Today I’m writing in Danish again.
I dag har været en utroligt begivenhedsrig dag, så jeg kan vil bare skrive om det, der betød mest for mig, for der er simpelthen ikke plads til det hele!

Den største oplevelse i dag var en tur i helikopter over tundraen til et område med huler, hvor hun-isbjørnene føder og opfostrer deres unger. Turen var fantastisk, tundraen så helt anderledes ud fra luften. Vejret var perfekt med næsten ingen skyer og masser af dejligt solskin. Vi kunne se ud over bugten og ned på tundraen med små søer og grøne, røde og brune farver, indimellem brudt af den hvide sne. Jeg var fuldstændig tavs under hele turen, jeg sad bare og sugede det hele til mig. Og så nød jeg da også lidt at være rigtig sej med headset, og at flyve i helikopter. Bare det var i sig selv en enorm oplevelse.

Ude ved hulen var der sne, fordi det var lidt inde i landet og derfor var koldere end ved kysten. Dette førte til en støre sneboldkamp, som især begejstrede vores australiere, som jo ikke har sne derhjemme – en af dem havde rent faktisk aldrig før set sne! Det var meget hyggeligt og barnligt og befriende, fordi vi så ofte diskuterer virkelig alvorlige ting, og der opstår sommetider en lidt trist stemning, når vi tænker på og snakker om, at vi er ved at ødelægge vores planets klima og at alt dette vidunderlige, som vi ser heroppe, er ved at forsvinde pga. det varmere klima her.

Nå, men vi var der jo sådan set for at se en fødehule, så det gjorde vi så. Det var fantastisk, vi fik rent faktisk lov til at kravle ind i hulen. Jeg var overrasket over, hvor lille den var, jeg kunne lige være der, så hvordan en stor hun-isbjørn og en eller to unger kan være der, går over min forstand! Vi fik taget nogle super billeder på vej ud af hulen, så dem glæder jeg mig til at have!

En fantastisk helikoptertur hjem, og så har man opskriften på ekstatisk glæde fulgt af den bedste udmattelse, jeg nogensinde har følt!

Friday 05/10
Today we have had problems with the internet out here, or rather, we haven’t had any internet at all…
Unfortunately this meant, that we had to cancel a videoconference with some 5. graders, who had went a long way to “meet” us on video in Oregon Zoo. I was really sorry about that, because it was a great opportunity to spread the message about climate change. But we did tape our answers to the questions they had e-mailed to us, and we are going to send that to them. But still, it’s just not the same.

In the morning we presented chapters from a book, we read before coming here, which is about climate change in the arctic. These chapters were presented in many creative ways, such as a panel debate, a group playing university professors, an edition of “Romeo and Juliet” with UV-radiation involved. This was interesting, partly because of the amusement, and partly because I realized, that being unique in your way of presenting actually gets your message out really well. For example, I think it will take quite some time, before I forget Michael (student) playing a hostess of the “The not so great debate program”.

After that we went out on the tundra in the buggy for a little while, and saw a bear and some raptors hunting ptarmigans. That was actually just as fascinating as the bear, because we could see them diving, trying to get some “afternoon tea”.

Dinner today was prepared by my group – the black and white group – and we have been really busy preparing, because we wanted to do something that would match the “Arctic Swan”, the restaurant from the other night. We ended up doing an airplane with captain, co-pilot, stewardesses and safety instructions. I think it went pretty well – at least we had fun preparing all the gestures to show fire, emergency and cloudy, cool weather.

Tomorrow we’re going on a helicopter flight to a polar bear denning area in Wapusk National Park. It will be so exciting, it’s really difficult to wait!

Thursday 04/10
And another blog in Danish:
Tænk at være midt ude på tundraen og stadig have internetforbindelse, som er god nok til at have en videokonference! Det lyder utroligt, men ikke desto mindre er det det, vi gjorde i dag. Vi holdt en konference med en 4. klasse fra Manitoba, som kunne stille os spørgsmål om isbjørne, de arktiske områder og global opvarmning. Jeg var enormt nervøs for at skulle svare på engelsk, men det gik fint, tror jeg – på trods af, at jeg ikke kunne høre et ord af, hvad de sagde i den anden ende på grund af den dårlige forbindelse. Men det var virkelig dejligt at komme i gang med det, som vi faktisk er her for, nemlig at undervise andre, så vi alle vil udvikle en mere ansvarlig opførsel overfor miljøet. Og børnene var utrolig kvikke, jeg var overrasket over, hvor dybe deres spørgsmål var! Der var dog også enkelte meget underholdende imellem, så som ”Bor isbjørneunger sammen med deres far eller deres mor?”.

Senere holdt Frank, som er direktør for Skandinavisk Dyrepark, et oplæg om sit isbjørneanlæg, som virkelig er revolutionerende, idet det giver bjørne forhold, som er større og bedre end nogensinde før. I forlængelse af det havde vi en meget spændende debat om dyr i fangenskab, hvordan deres forhold skulle være og hvordan man skulle forbedre dem. Der var en del uenighed om, hvorvidt forandringerne skulle ske ved at handle selv, eller ved at få politikerne til at handle. Personligt tror jeg på, at begge dele er nødvendige, som de jo er i så mange andre spørgsmål.

Michael, som er fra Australien, og jeg har lavet en videoblog med billeder fra Tundra Buggy Lodge i dag, men lige nu virker det ikke så godt med at få den ud på computeren, men når den kommer, siger jeg til, for det er filmkunst i verdensklasse! Ej, men vi syntes bare det var sjovt at vise, hvordan vores hjem for denne uge ser ud, så hold øje med, hvornår den dukker op!

Og så har vi i min middagsgruppe forberedt en fantastisk middag til i morgen, hvilket er en stor hemmelighed, fordi det skal være en overraskelse, men ”We are gonna rock!”. Men det vil jeg skrive mere om, når det er ovre, for vi ved stadig ikke helt, hvordan det kommer til at foregå – vi har lidt travlt! Desuden kunne der jo være spioner, som forstår dansk, og som læser min blog og sladrer til de andre i lodgen.

Og nu vil jeg over og lege Gæt og Grimasser med de andre. Vi havde tænkt os at lege Tundra Buggy-gemmeleg, men det er lidt for larmende om aftenen, når der er folk, der gerne vil sove. Men I hører jo fra mig…..
Herlige hilsner
Astrid

Wednesday 03/10
The weather has been beautiful today, with lots of sunshine, which makes the tundra look a lot friendlier and milder. Right now the sun is going down and spreading a warm, orange colour on the sky and in all the little ponds.
So many things have happened here at Leadership Camp, and I have been so full of new knowledge and impressions, that it has occasionally made me quite confused. But at this moment, as I’m sitting writing my blog, while looking out at the tundra on one side and the bay on the other, both seeming endless as they go beyond the horizon, I am more peaceful, than I have been for a long time.
Tuesday evening brought yet another amazing experience. Three trappers were our guests at the lodge, and they told us bout being a trapper and showed us some skins from different animals such as wolf and beaver. I was especially fascinated by Betty, who has been trapping for all her life, and has actually lived permanently on the tundra. Her knowledge about the nature and it’s inhabitants is enormous and I felt extremely honoured to meet such people, who know so much and are still so humble and respectful towards the earth. It was a lesson for me, to realize that I should always be thankful for living and for seeing all the wonders of the world, and that I can find these wonders anywhere, no matter whether I’m at home in Denmark or amongst polar bears on the tundra.
Because of the fine weather, we have been driving around in the Tundra Buggy, and we went to a place called Gordon Point. We were allowed to get out of the buggy – after having checked thoroughly for polar bears, of course – and went to the coast. It was strange to walk on the ground after two days of being stuck in the lodge. The amazing thing was, that even though I was so far from home, the coast reminded me of Denmark with the rocks, the seaweed and the running around and playing – some people were getting their feet wet, to.
But now I’m going to go to dinner in “The Arctic Swan” which is a restaurant, that today’s cooking team has made. After dinner I have to do the dishes, so apparently I’m one of those guests, who can’t pay for their dinner.

Tuesday 03/10
Today I’m going to write my blog entirely in Danish, so the younger students in Denmark have a bit more to read:

Når man bare er en lille dansker i det store nord, er det virkelig svært at se noget, som ikke er nyt – eller sådan er det i hvert fald for mig.

Da vi overnattede i Churchill så vi nordlyset, som var noget af det mest utrolige jeg nogensinde har set! Jeg havde ikke engang overvejet, at jeg måske ville se nordlys, fordi jeg havde været så optaget af at tænke på isbjørne og klimaforandringer. Men nordlyset kom, og så snart det var blevet opdaget, løb alle ud i hvad de nu havde på, så vi stod om aftenen med temperaturer under frysepunktet i vores t-shirts og hjemmesko. Det var utrolig koldt, men jeg var ligeglad, faktisk mærkede jeg knap nok kulden, fordi jeg var så optaget af de strålende grønne bånd over himlen. Farverne var klare selvom vi var i en by med lys, og båndene hen over himlen blev ved med at forandre sig, udvide sig, forsvinde, og pludselig kunne man se et nyt bånd, hvis man gik rundt om det næste hjørne. Jeg hørte udtrykket, at nordlyset ”danser”, og det er faktisk meget præcist, lyset flimrer og hopper omkring. Det var et af de mest utrolige øjeblikke for mig, fordi jeg aldrig har set nordlys før, og jeg håber bare, at vi kommer til at se det igen herude på Tundra Buggy Lodge, hvor der ingen huse, og derfor ingen lys, er. Lodgen er et fantastisk sted, bare en række af skurvogne på to meter høje hjul midt ude på tundraen, som vi bor i. Så vi er virkelig midt ude i ingenting eller ”in woop woop”, som de siger i Australien.

Det virker helt uvirkeligt at bo næsten normalt med toiletter og bad, og alligevel sidde og skrive blog mens jeg kigger ud af vinduet på en isbjørn, som er maks. ti meter væk og ligger og ruller rundt for at klø sig på ryggen. Vi har været usædvanligt heldige med dyrene: Vi har allerede set snehare, en masse forskellige fugle, hvor en var en truet art, rensdyr og masser af isbjørne. Og jeg mener virkelig masser! Allerede på vej ud til lodgen så vi tre, hvor de to kom helt hen til vognen og stillede sig op ad den for at se, hvad alle de mærkelige væsner inde i den store hvide ting mon foretog sig. Senere samme dag (i går), så vi en isbjørn, der luskede rundt omkring lodgen og snusede. Og lige nu sidder jeg så og kigger ud på dagens anden bjørn, som har gået rundt her længe og kigget, lænet sig op ad vognen og måske nydt al den opmærksomhed lidt – sommetider spekulerer jeg virkelig på, hvem der betragter hvem, det føles som en omvendt zoo, hvor menneskene er spærret inde i et bur og opfører sig mærkeligt, hvilket virkelig underholder bjørnen. Men hvis det morer bjørnen, lad dem more sig! For jeg ville ikke for noget have undværet oplevelsen af at være mindre end en meter væk fra en vild isbjørns ansigt, at se ind i dens øjne og se, at tænderne rent faktisk er store og skarpe!

Det er fascinerende at opleve et dyr, som det ene øjeblik kan se ud som den mest nuttede teddy-bjørn, som ruller sig i en mudderpøl, og det næste være elegant og majestætisk og virkelig et væsen, man må respektere og beundre.

Tiden ude på tundraen (som heldigvis ikke er ovre før om nogle dage) har været eventyrlig, som om jeg har været i en helt anden verden, med bare en lille flok mennesker fra Jorden som selskab på vores lille ø – in woop woop!

This is Kaitlyn writing on Kaitlyn and Astrid’s joint journal for the day.
I should explain that we’re doing a joint journal because the day was so full we didn’t have time to do one full one each. So therefore, my usual behemoth of a journal will be temporarily reduced.
This morning, we started off with a delicious breakfast of toast, potatoes, and eggs (not my favorite, but apparently they were good to the egg eaters) at Gypsy’s, a local hot spot. The proprietors, like so many Churchillites and other people Manitobans, have been so generous to us. Thanks so much to everyone who has donated or provided time, money, and facilities to us at Leadership Camp!
After breakfast, we were led on a tour of the Polar Bear Alert/Manitoba Natural Resources facilities, including the old town dump (a magnet for hungry bears), the new town dump (indoors – the ultimate bear deterrent), the grain dump yard for bad grain from the port, and the famed polar bear jail, where troublesome and dangerous bears are housed until they can be safely released. The NROs are so dedicated to their work and to the safety and well being of the bears, it’s truly inspiring.
One of the most thought-provoking locations on the tour was a former bear research lab. In this lab, out of service for over thirty years, scientists conducted studies on live bears. Although live bear research is no longer conducted, the emotions the researchers and bears must have experienced were still palpable – the fear of the bears in their last moments, the curiosity and sense of duty of the researchers. The visit also forced consideration of an ambiguous issue – should live animal research be conducted, sacrificing the health or lives of a few individuals for a possible benefit of the whole population; or risking the loss of all for the sake of saving a few in the here and now. I’m not sure which choice is the better, or even if there is a better choice. There’s always a grey area to an issue, a middle ground between the two extremes. Nothing is black and white.
On a brighter note – we finally boarded a Tundra Buggy and headed out to see some wildlife! For the first 45 minutes, we didn’t see anything at all, and then the animals seemingly exploded out of the landscape as though they had been fired from cannons just below the ground out of sight! In about two hours, we sighted eight species of birds, a caribou (a rare treat – caribou are almost never seen from buggies), arctic hare, and the crown jewel of them all – three polar bears! The second and third bears came right up to the buggy and stood on their hind legs to examine these bizarre intruders in overgrown school buses in their territory. However, the one that will forever remain in my mind, like the northern lights last night, will be my first bear. The bear was relatively far from us, maybe two hundred yards. The caribou, walking along the edge of one of the many permafrost lakes, alerted the bear to its presence once it was too close. The bear stood slowly, examining the caribou, which promptly ran off to safer territory on the other side of the lake. The bear then slowly, majestically, leisurely turned to face us and sat, stock still, unwittingly presenting himself for our benefit. Then he slowly lay back down in the grasses and we drove on. This moment will never leave me. For the rest of my life, I will picture that bear in perfect likeness, I will linger, and then I will drive on in my memory, but the bear will linger on.
More tomorrow,
Kaitlyn Casimo
This is Kaitlyn and Astrid writing together, with Astrid doing the actual typing.
Today was our first day on the tundra, and already we’ve seen lots of animals. Right now, there’s a polar bear on the left side of the buggy! That makes us realize, that we’re actually in “the land of polar bears.” The ride in the buggy was not the smoothest, but it was still an enjoyable ride, for example when Kaitlyn crawled on her knees to get a nice picture, and still almost managed to fall down.
Everyone was so excited to have the opportunity to finally photograph the bears and other arctic creatures. We’re both excited to share these visual representations of the arctic with everyone in our journals and when we return!

Here’s a bit about Astrid’s experience of the day:
Today was amazing, fantastic, incredible and every other positive adjective that I can think of (and I know a lot more in Danish…). I really loved going to Parks Canada and hearing about the Wapusk National Park (Wapusk means polar bear in Cree, by the way), the history of this area and lots of other things. It was also really interesting for me as a Dane to learn about the national park organization, because we don’t have any national parks in Denmark. So today I learned that a national park is a governmentally protected area that preserves the landscape and the wildlife.
On the way to the tundra buggy lodge we saw a lot of animals – I can’t believe that we were so lucky on the first day on the tundra! We saw three polar bears! The first one was about 20 meters away, but still really exciting, because it was our first bear. I was just so thrilled; I made all sort of funny noises, just to get all that excitement out of my body. And as we were getting close to the lodge, we saw two more that were really curious, so they went to the tundra buggy and actually leaned against it. It was an amazing moment that I’ll never forget! We were so close to these magnificent, majestic creatures, and I could almost imagine them wondering, why all those funny creatures were staring at them. So in the middle of this once-in-a-lifetime moment it was actually quite comical to watch everyone climbing on boxes and craning to get a better view of the absolutely indifferent polar bears.

Sunday 30/09
I've experienced so much these last 24 hours, I hardly know what to write.

Today we're in Churchill. We left Winnipeg at 10:30 am. and had the most amazing flight with an incredible view of the tundra. It made me think of a carpet with red, green and brown colours and little ponds in between.

Coming to Churchill was wonderful and just a bit surreal. We went to the Tundra Inn, where we're staying, and then went to explore Churchill. I was surprised, that we were allowed to walk around because I had heard a lot about polar bears in the streets. We did get to experience what it's like to live close to polar bears though, when we went to Hudson Bay. While we were there, we were suddenly told to get inside because of a polar bear that was close by. So we went into "The Complex" which is a building with school, library, playgrounds and a gallery with pictures of some of the first inhabitants of Churchill. It was fantastic to see those pictures, I could almost feel how strong those people must have been and how hard they most have worked. These pictures really expressed the history of Churchill, so we experienced both the past and the present Churchill.

And a bit in Danish:
Det er helt mærkeligt at skrive på dansk igen efter at have talt engelsk hele dagen. Dagen i dag har været ufatteligt skøn! Churchill er et fantastisk sted, så anderledes end hvad jeg kender, med tundraen, Hudson Bugten (som på trods af navnet faktisk er på størrelse med Nordsøen!) og bevidstheden om, at der rent faktisk kan være isbjørne på gaden. I morgen ska vi ud på tundraen og bo, jeg kan næsten ikke vente! Men det kan I jo læse meget mere om i morgen.

Saturday 29/09
How glad I am to finally be in Canada, about 30 hours late! The journey from Denmark was chaotic, as we missed a plane in Frankfurt and were stuck there for 12 hours, had to split up to get to Canada, and missed a plane in Toronto as well. So I’ve been traveling for about 48 hours, but it’s going to be worth it all, I’m sure.

As I’ve missed all the activities on Friday, I had to meet everyone a bit later and hear the rules on this camp by the by. But it’s really not difficult rules, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.
So today I’ve met everyone and I’m amazed at how nice they all are. Just after breakfast Bob Taylor, a wildlife photographer, showed us some of his fantastic pictures, which was really inspiring! It was great to see and hear what the arctic is like in real life, after having read a lot of theory about it.

After that we went to see Winnipeg in a bus, and the zoo and a beautiful sculpture garden in Winnipeg on foot. Being in a zoo was interesting, and especially our discussion about whether animals should be in captivity or not.

As soon as we got back, I went straight up to take a nap, as I was really tired after the journey and had major jetlag. Waking up was tough, but it helped a lot to listen to Jack Dubois from the Manitoba Conservation’s Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch, who gave a very interesting and inspiring speech about the international cooperation and bureaucratic aspects of polar bear conservation. It really made me want to work with something like that, but I’ll probably feel like that several times on this camp!

And now I’m probably going to be a bit boring and go back to bed. I usually enjoy flying, but I have to say, that right now I’m ready to go back to Denmark on boat!

The next part of my blog is written in Danish so the younger students in my community can enjoy reading about my trip too.

Og nu har jeg så fået lov at skrive lidt på dansk herinde i min blog. Tænk, at jeg faktisk er i Canada, jeg kan næsten ikke forstå det efter at have været i en lufthavn “et eller andet sted” i 48 timer i træk. Vores rejse fra Danmark blev voldsomt lang pga. diverse forsinkelser, 10 timers kø i Frankfurt og et par andre dejlige ting. Men det er det hele værd at opleve Winnipeg, alle de nye mennesker fra resten af verden, de utrolig spændende og inspirerende oplæg og at kunne se frem til endnu flere fantastiske oplevelser.
Men i øjeblikket er den mest fantastiske oplevelse jeg kan forestille mig at komme tilbage i seng og få sovet ud efter en lang rejse og jetlag.