Northern Lights

The one good thing about having to leave your house to use the restroom here is that it forces you to go outside occasionally. It's already well below freezing here, so we're not hanging out in the yard late into the evening anymore. But, thanks to the lack of indoor plumbing in Nyurba, I finally got to see the northern lights yesterday night. And it was spectacular. My friends were unimpressed...apparently a comparatively weak show. But, for a person who has never seen them before, it was breathtaking. A line of dancing green clouds lit up half the midnight sky, flickering like neon flames out of the heavens. They flickered and, very slowly drifted, fading in and out. Now stronger, now weaker, but bright bright green. I watched for around 10 minutes, before I was dragged inside to keep from freezing. When I went out again an hour later, the sky had turned black again.

My friends told me the event was unexciting at best. This time of year, they show up regularly, they say. A good show will fill the whole sky with not just green but all sorts of colors. I get different stories on this, however. Some say this almost never happens, others say quite regularly. I'll have to start making a habit of checking every evening, a couple of times. I spent my childhood wondering at those photos in the National Geographic, always dreaming to see Aurora Borealis. I came to Yakutia the first time in February and last winter also in February and had hoped to see them then. But,apparently, here, the northern lights are primarily a fall phenomenon, so I wouldn't have had the opportunity before.

I think putting up with the cold and the long winters might possibly be worth getting to see the Northern Lights.