[BlueGerbil]

New photos are online at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...id=41595873841

February 07, 2010: 111th short message (02:27 a.m. CET)

Today, a story about Victor which he allowed me to tell. As a former helicopter pilot, Victor knows many people in Tschukotka and just as many know him. He often gets recognized; even when his last flight to that place was ten or more years ago. People who live in the small villages don?t need time. They have plenty of it. Victor once asked a tschukot man who hailed him: ?Do you even know when we saw each other the last time?? The man answered: ?Well, a couple of winters ago.? But it has been 14 years.

There?s also a nice story about Victors tooth. He either didn?t have enough time or enough money, so he made a tooth from fossilized mammoth bone. Of course this has to be renewed as well, therefore he occasionally rasps at mammoth pieces that he always carries with him. Surely he is the only man who has a 10.000 or more year old tooth. By now it is also a lucky charm, he says. We definitely laughed a lot about his jokes concerning this issue. Victor is a very funny man in general. Sometimes he looks like Sean Connery, sometimes like a very strict officer and sometimes like a clown. A strong, versatile mimic, combined with his charming humor, his guitar playing and his singing, he made us laugh many times. Due to his speaking ability, I think he should become a radio reporter or due to his certainly strong acting talents, become a TV actor. Maybe a producer will read this.

February 07, 2010: 112th short message (02:40 am CET)

On Friday we were invited to visit Providenia?s court. We learned a little bit about the Russian law and saw what a court room looks like. Afterwards we had a very interesting conversation with the judges which proved the trust in us once again. Yesterday we had our last ? appointed with the administration ? official visit of a school. It was the school of sports. It is located in the ski base. More than 50 children have been there; it was lots of fun. As always, we brought chocolates (altogether we gave out hundreds of chocolates to the children of Tschukotka. The little store where we always buy them, e.g. in Providenia, has high season for chocolates.) and did our little questions/ answers game.

By the way, here in Providenia is Russia?s easternmost ski slope and the second westernmost slope of the world. How can that be?
The easternmost part of Russia is in the westernmost part of the world and the westernmost part of the world is in the easternmost part of Russia.

Explanation: The 180th longitude is right between Belibino and Egvekinot. About 40 km before Egvekinot. Therefore, every part of Russia that?s north from there, is in the West of the world. That means that the westernmost part of the world is in easternmost Russia. Hence, Egvekinot is one of the westernmost settlements, has the westernmost ski slope of the world (Providenia has the second westernmost ski slope), Providenia only has the easternmost ski slope of Russia (after Providenia there is nothing else).

Today we have been invited to try the slope by ourselves. It?s an adventure and at the same time it is remarkable how joy is given to someone. Of course everything is a little bit more basic but ingenious in its function. It was like a holiday for the team. The following dinner with Ludmilla and her daughter topped two good days off.

February 08, 2010: 113th short message (12:41 p.m. CET)

Concerning the delivery of the spare parts I have decided that I will not ask the people from AEWC for help any longer. We found another possibility to bring the parts to Providenia. I hope that they will arrive on Thursday, even though we are expecting bad weather with a storm and lots of snow. Let?s see how this will turn out. Anyway, everything is ready in Nome.

We now know something very interesting:
We were told that we are the first expedition ever that came to Providenia from Europe with wheeled vehicles. And Rudi and I are the first Germans that went skiing here on Russia?s easternmost ski slope. Not bad