Category: Culture
Toornaarsuk – impervious, indispensable, and apparently indestructible
Greenland is full of interesting characters and P is one of them – a Greenlander who has worked with my husband on and…
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“Why do you need to send her a picture of your penis?”
“I need to send a picture of my penis to Kate*,” said my husband. I looked up slowly from my laptop. “Why do…
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High living standards, free education, free health care. What’s the catch?
The other day I saw a video of someone extolling the virtues of Greenland’s living standards and free health and education systems over…
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A small and sacred space
The tide is low as we creep through thick fog toward the small harbour of Napasoq, a tiny settlement on a rocky island…
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Foods to cut down on while pregnant – polar bear
The antenatal classes I attend in Nuuk are a two-and-a-bit language affair. Our Greenlandic midwife speaks mostly in Danish, a little in Greenlandic,…
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Ghosts in the living world
Each morning on the bus to work, I pass the cemetary in the centre of Nuuk, a field of sparse, white crosses against…
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Violence, vandalism and general disorder – back to normal?
Greenland has a difficult relationship with alcohol. Thirty years ago, Greenlanders drank more than twice as much alcohol as Danes, resulting in the…
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Greenland in the zombie apocalypse
A few years ago in Australia, I was buying supplies for geological field work from Bunnings, a hardware store. As the young man…
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Taking a break in Ilulisat
Greenland has eleven diagnosed cases of coronavirus, all in the capital, Nuuk. The first reported case was on March 16. Ten have now…
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