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dam reindeer
Alright so a few weeks back, our class biked out onto the Finnmark Plateau to see the Sami mark and butcher there reindeer.
It was big family affair. Sami of all ages were present. Even the smallest of children had long knives attached to their belts. I learned that even if they have other jobs they must be present during these events. 
We arrived just as they were finishing up for the day, so when they all left we set up our tent by this small lake. That night it was incredibly cold, when we woke up out tents were covered in snow! As soon as we finished breakfast some Sami boy came to us with his dirt bike, and informed us that they wouldn't be doing anything with the reindeer for at least 4 days. So we biked around a little bit then headed home. So my dream of riding a reindeer was slipping away. The hills were covered with reindeer! 
As we'd bike they'd run right in front of us. Oh and they make the strangest noise, its like a really low bellow/ pig snort. It is quite scary when they are in big groups the sound is so loud! Oh and they all have antlers; males, females, babies. How the Sami mark their reindeer is they carve the name of the owner into the antler. One person is only allowed to own a certain number of reindeer, so every member of the family each owns some.
The next week the international student group took a bunch of us to this dam in the Alta river. We got to walk under this mountain to get to where we could walk out on the dam. I guess there was alot of controversy over the building of the dam. It interrupts the reindeer route, and also the quality of salmon in the river. There was a big protest before it was built they had to bring 30% of Norway's police force, over 400 officers came to arrest these people. My outdoor life teacher was in on the rejection of the dam. And now it doesn't even provide very much energy.
It was big family affair. Sami of all ages were present. Even the smallest of children had long knives attached to their belts. I learned that even if they have other jobs they must be present during these events. 
We arrived just as they were finishing up for the day, so when they all left we set up our tent by this small lake. That night it was incredibly cold, when we woke up out tents were covered in snow! As soon as we finished breakfast some Sami boy came to us with his dirt bike, and informed us that they wouldn't be doing anything with the reindeer for at least 4 days. So we biked around a little bit then headed home. So my dream of riding a reindeer was slipping away. The hills were covered with reindeer! 
As we'd bike they'd run right in front of us. Oh and they make the strangest noise, its like a really low bellow/ pig snort. It is quite scary when they are in big groups the sound is so loud! Oh and they all have antlers; males, females, babies. How the Sami mark their reindeer is they carve the name of the owner into the antler. One person is only allowed to own a certain number of reindeer, so every member of the family each owns some.
The next week the international student group took a bunch of us to this dam in the Alta river. We got to walk under this mountain to get to where we could walk out on the dam. I guess there was alot of controversy over the building of the dam. It interrupts the reindeer route, and also the quality of salmon in the river. There was a big protest before it was built they had to bring 30% of Norway's police force, over 400 officers came to arrest these people. My outdoor life teacher was in on the rejection of the dam. And now it doesn't even provide very much energy.
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