it's raining. it's pouring

Even as an elements-hardened Wyoming woman, I am struck by the way that weather controls peoples’ lives in the Faroe Islands. I grew up in a place with a lot of wind, but I have never experienced the kind of force that I saw today. Anything in Klaksvik that was not nailed, cemented, anchored or tied down is now on its way to Greenland. One of Ben’s cousins is an engineer heading up a shipbuilding project in a nearby town. The vessel is attached to the pier as the workers put on the finishing touches. Even anchored in a harbor, the seas were so rough today that one of his fellow workers had to go home early from seasickness. Whenever Ben and I meet someone new, the weather is the first thing that we get asked about. This is a common topic worldwide, but the Faroese nurture it with zest. People comment on the fog, the rain, the wind, the cold, but most especially the dark of winter. The dark seems to be the most dreaded because of how firmly it controls peoples’ lives. In deep winter Faroese will go for weeks at a time barely seeing the sun. They go to work when it is dark, and by the time they get home it is dark again. I have been told the shortest day of the year is 21 December, and for much of that month there is only five hours of sunlight a day. It keeps people in their homes, it causes people to buy energy lights for their indoor exercise rooms, it drives people to tanning beds, and for some people it can contribute to mental illness. As if to make up for the months of darkness the summer is a glut of sunlight. Children play outside until 11 p.m. and neighbors linger to vist with each other. I have not been here long enough to experience the season, but people talk about it as a sort of Eden. The interiors of every house are filled with light-colored furniture, white walls and pale wooden floors. It is a trademark of Scandinavia, prompted by the lack of sunlight and the desire to capture a sense of summer, even as outside the sun disappears as children are released from school. Thus far, the weather has been a pleasant challenge for me and contributed to the mystique of the Faroes. As a child I saw fog so rarely that when it did appear, my siblings and I would run outside and play “inside the clouds”. Right now I am fascinated to see the fast moving clouds roll over the low mountains above the village. The gray weather makes colors look vibrant and home feel like a refuge. The biggest problem I have so far is sleeping in very late in the mornings. When the light outside still looks like it is 7 a.m., how is my body to know that it is actually almost noon? Ben says I am just making excuses for us, and he may be right. Speaking of Ben, he just came in the front door, and the wind almost blew it off its hinges.