Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Day of departure, I’m afraid. The suitcases are all packed, the lodge is clean and now we’re blogging. The weather is terrible, rainy and windy and really cold compared to the other days. We’re leaving the lodge after lunch and then we’re going back to Winnipeg. I think I’m the last to leave the hotel, but then I have a lot of time repacking my suitcase. It’s stuffed full and I still have to put my new parka and boots in there. It won’t be easy!
I don’t want to go home, because I’ve made some great friends here and there is plenty of room for more experiences in my head. But I’m looking forward to going home and change the world! It sounds so dramatic, and it is, but right now I have a feeling of power. I will help the world by telling others what I have experienced and help them see all the problems we are causing. I know it’s not easy; I may never know if I made that difference, but I want to fight. I have set my mind to help this world. It’s my goal and I’ll do everything within my power to reach that goal.
This journey has been amazing for me. I have made great friends from around the world and now I want to go home a work on changing the world.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
This has been a trip of so many experiences, and today there were more to add to the list. First of all, I would like to tell what happened last night when Stacey gave a presentation about the science of global warming. All of a sudden, Robert Buchanan said: “Sorry to interrupt, but the bears are here.” And everyone had – of course – to see the bears now that they were that close to us. We used a lot of time watching and taking pictures, but it was difficult because of the darkness. So this morning, while we were getting ready for the day, the little polar bear family came to the lodge again. Or maybe they had been there all the time without us noticing them. One of the buggies has a ‘basement’ that can be compared to those ships that have a glass bottom, so that you are able to watch the fishes. But in this case we were able to be so close to wild polar bears. It was just amazing! I took several videos of the bears, both the cubs jumping up against the buggy and the mum doing what sometimes needs to be done…
We didn’t have too much time because we had to get on board the Tundra Buggy and drive away from the lodge to meet the helicopters – the adventure of the day! We waited for quite a long time, but it was worth it! The ride in the helicopters was amazing and on the way ‘out’ I sat in the front seat and got to see everything. It was really a big experience for me, and I know it was for the others, as well. We went to an abandoned den, which was a bit more collapsed than I had thought, but it was great anyway! The ground was really spongy because of lichens and it was so great to roll about in, especially because we have been in the buggies the last couple of days. I think I was the only one who had seen lichens before, and the others were so amazed by it. We had fun playing in the den, and I am now officially Sam’s Danish cub. We took so many pictures and really had a good time. On the way back some in the other helicopters saw caribous, but unfortunately those in our helicopter didn’t. I saw more than fifty swans, and they looked very small from the altitude of the helicopter. It was a great trip!
An amazing day and it isn’t over yet! I really enjoy this camp and I’ve made a lot of great friends. I don’t want to go home! I probably won’t see any of these people again because I live so far from every one of them. But we can talk through the internet, luckily. I’m just enjoying the last time here with these amaz-ing people, all with great intentions.

Monday, October 6, 2008
Today has been another fabulous day. We saw the three polar bears again. I was – as usual – looking out the windows with my binoculars when suddenly, I saw the bears. At first we only saw the mum and one of the cubs, but the other was around and we could see just a bit of its back. We watched them for a while, and sometimes they changed positions or moved to another spot.
We left the windows and started rehearsing our videoconference questions. Everyone had some ques-tions to answer, and all in all, we are making four videoconferences. We’ve just finished the second one, questions from a grade four from a suburb of Winnipeg. It went very well even though they asked us some questions we didn’t expect. Unfortunately the first conference was canceled, but now the other ambassadors are making a video for the class with our answers. I think it’s a great idea! And my friend Sam just said that it is going to be hilarious!
Late last night Robert Buchanan made a slideshow with polar bear pictures and basically talked about all the problems polar bears have. I began losing hope of the whole saving-the-polar-bear-thing. That is when I decided to fight as hard as I can to make a difference. If everyone just said: “Oh, it’s too late, the polar bears will die, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” then it would be impossible to make that difference we need. So I won’t EVER say or let someone say: “Hey, it doesn’t matter if I drive my car all the time and I can use as much water and energy as I like, because it doesn’t matter if it’s just me!” I won’t let them say that without telling of all the amazing things I have seen and the problems I know of. But actually I feel that all this is quite hopeless, because it seems like nothing can make people understand the huge problem they are causing. I’ve seen ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, and I assume that if everyone saw that, and could understand it, they would start taking better care of the environment. But maybe what we need is a bit less complicated movie without many statistics. Maybe it should be shorter, and should point out exactly what is happening and exactly what we can do about it. If everyone saw that movie I think it would help. If people were aware of the real consequences they are causing by taking long showers and driving their cars everywhere, I’m sure they would want to stop those things. A big problem for me is remembering this important detail. When I’ve been in the shower for 8 minutes, I don’t think “Oh, I use too much energy, the polar bears will die!” I’ll more likely think that I have to leave hot water for the next to take a shower or that I’m busy, and that’s why I won’t be standing in the shower for twenty minutes. It’s not that I don’t know it’s a problem, but I do forget all the things we should be aware of. And I want to change that! Immediately! I know that from now on I’ll always think of the picture Robert (a facilitator) showed us of a drowned polar bear. I want to help make that difference we need! I’ll do anything I can to help both the polar bears and anyone who is suffering because of humans and our luxuries.
Almost everyone thinks that humans are the most important species on this earth and that we are the most civilized. Of course, we are more civilized than other animals, but that doesn’t mean we’re better than them. If I should choose between two worlds, one without humans or one without animals (a world where humans did not rely on animals in anyway), I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the first one. I don’t think that humans are more important than animals just because we have cell phones and vehicles. Actually, I think the animals have more right to be here now, because humans are messing it all up for them, and there’s absolutely nothing they can do about it.

Sunday, October 5, 2008
To make the blogs more ‘exiting’ to read and not just a listing of what we have been doing today, this blog will – first of all, not be so long – but more like a thoughtful blog. Today has been a great day with lots of positive experiences. We saw the three polar bears again and made our team’s presentation. We made sort of a Jeopardy game where I decided how many points the teams would get. They got points for – of course – answering correct, and for saying pretty things about our team, and we had so much fun with it. It seems like everyone was laughing and having fun – I know I was!
I have the general feeling that everyone is having fun. I have this wonderful feeling of being a part of all this and I don’t think it’s a problem that I don’t speak great English. What I’ve experienced from the beginning are some fabulous young people who only want the best for everyone – whether it’s polar bears, snow buntings or other humans. Until now it has been such a wonderful camp with great people and great opportunities. And we have had some great guest speakers. Today, a man who grew up in Churchill, Kevin Burke, told some amazing stories about the Tundra Buggies and all of us had so much fun. And his last (well, almost last) sentence was: “Follow your dreams”. And things like that are important for young people to keep in mind.

Saturday, October 4, 2008 (written Sunday, because of kitchen duty Saturday)
WE SAW POLAR BEARS! Okay, I’ll calm down and start from the beginning – Robert Buchanan singing “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day”, very loudly so that no one was able to sleep anymore. I barely had time to get out of bed and brush my teeth before me and the rest of team A (Hillary, Donald and Jules) had to go to kitchen duty. We used quite a lot time preparing breakfast, but we had fun! Just after breakfast we had a short meeting about what to do next and agreed that we wanted Karyne to answer some general questions of ours. So we did, but all at sudden we had to go to the Tundra Buggy. Polar bears had been located in the area!
I asked the driver of the buggy to stop four times. First time because I spotted… AWHITE ROCK! And I had to show the others, obviously. Second time a snow hare was sitting right beside the road and I don’t know why but the others in the buggy were more interested in that than the white rock… So, the next time I stopped the buggy it was to make them see ANOTHER rock. This rock looked like it was drinking water, but it didn’t catch the other’s interest. So I figured that they didn’t want to watch white rocks, so, as kind as I am, I spotted three polar bears. A mother and her two cubs. They were far away (God bless the binoculars) so it took a while to get closer. We used a long time watching and following the polar bears and sometimes we thought that the mum was going to nurse. It was an amazing experience and the facilitators said that we were luckier than we knew because of the fact that it was a mum and two cubs and the weather was fantastic.
When we got home, we (team A) had to go to the kitchen to make lunch. White sandwiches, chips and soft water. Lindsay made me eat chips in my sandwich which is just weird and sort of gross. The food here is not at all how I eat at home but it doesn’t matter. I like to try new things and ways of ‘living’ even though it implies Vegemite and chips in sandwiches. One thing I’ve experienced on this camp is the huge difference between Americans and Danes. The girls always say: “The boys might see you!” when I’m changing clothes in the aisle (because there actually isn’t that many places to do it), and just the HUGE difference in what we eat. I don’t understand how they can be so slim when there’re eating like that! And it’s also fun to hear them talk about their schools, and how strict their teachers are.
Our team was supposed to do a theme for dinner and we came up with the theme: Disgusting Dinner. So, we made centerpieces of trash and called the food gross names like ‘congealed seal blubber with blended arctic fox blood’ or something in that direction. It was quite funny, both to arrange and I felt that the other leaders and facilitators thought it was funny, too.
At 10 PM, I was SO tired, ready to go to sleep. But then the northern lights ruined my plan! The prettiest northern lights that I’ve ever seen, which doesn’t say much since I’ve only seen two. It was most green and someone said that it also was purple at some points, but I couldn’t see that. But it was amazing, and I’m so glad that I’ve had the opportunity to see that, and hopefully it will be even prettier another day!

October 3, 2008
Friday evening. We’re sitting in the Tundra Buggy Lodge, all writing our blogs for the last couple of days. My last couple of days have been wonderful! After a long journey across the Atlantic from Denmark, I finally reach Winnipeg – without my luggage; but I was too tired to worry about it. After some time in the airport reporting my missing luggage I went out hoping that someone was there to pick me up and there sure was! I was warmly welcomed with hugs and kind faces and an hour later I was a sleep.
The next day started early because of my jetlag, but the early start of a great day! Breakfast and then heading off for the mall (sounds so American in my ears) with two fabulous girls who didn’t seem to mind my missing English skills. Most of the day was spent meeting new leaders and, for my part, finding my luggage which wasn’t that hard.
In the late afternoon we had a meeting where we all said hello to the other leaders and facilitators and others involved in the leadership camp. We saw some amazing pictures, had some great food and actually just had a great time. After that, off to bed to get fresh for the new day, which also started early because we had to catch a flight to Churchill! At 5 AM we met in the lobby of the Four Points Hotel for a short breakfast and then we went off for the airport; which didn’t take long since we were across the street. After check-in, security and a nice flight with Calm Air (whom we love, because of the things they do for PBI), we arrived at Churchill Airport 9:15 AM. We spent some time at the Parks Canada Interpretive Center at the train station and saw the exhibition and touched a real polar bear! Well, it was dead, but it was a polar bear! After that, we walked around Churchill, saw the town and had some lunch at Gypsy’s and the last leader, from Churchill, joined the group.
After lunch a new tour around the town and to the beach with the cold water, our first look at Hudson Bay. Actually, there was a sign saying “Polar Bear Alert, don’t walk in this area.” But we were told that if we stayed together in a big group, larger than a polar bear, it wouldn’t be a problem. And no matter where in Churchill we are, we not supposed to be strolling around on our own because of potential polar bears.
Finally, we headed towards the Tundra Buggies, but even though it wasn’t that far it took us about two hours to get there. We stopped a couple of times, one time to see the ‘polar bear prison’, one of the names for the big building which can contain more than thirty polar bears. This is where the people from the polar bear alert program keep the polar bears until it’s time for them to go back into the wild. At the moment, there are two polar bears in the ‘prison’. We also stopped by some houses with nail boards at the front door to keep the bears out of the houses.
We arrived to the Tundra Buggies, and boarded one of them – Buggy 16. We had some instructions about how to act on the buggy – and how to use the toilet. We drove for about an hour looking for polar bears, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. We arrived at the Tundra Lodge, and after more information and instruction – DO NOT FEED THE BEARS – we unloaded the buggies and got comfortable in the bunkhouse. A little snack, chicken wings, and during that we had a little meeting – mostly about the blogs. We had some time writing our blogs and after about 15 minutes of writing, supper was ready. Vegetable soup and sandwiches and now we’re all sitting together again finishing our blogs.
Short personal summary of the last couple of days: it has been an amazing experience so far. Even though I’m the only one here who doesn’t speak fluent English, it doesn’t seem like a problem. Every one, both facilitators and leaders, have been so kind to everyone and everyone has open hearts and minds. I’m having a great time, despite jetlag, and I’m sure that this great feeling will last all through this great trip.