Greenland is full of interesting characters and P is one of them – a Greenlander who has worked with my husband on and off on mineral exploration projects for many years. P is one of those rare guys who, with limited formal qualifications of any kind, is nonetheless utterly indispensible. Like toornaarsuk – a Greenlandic …
“I need to send a picture of my penis to Kate*,” said my husband. I looked up slowly from my laptop. “Why do you need to send her a picture of your penis?” I asked. “I need another one,” he replied matter-of-factly. “The one I have is too big. I need a smaller one.” Seeing …
The other day I saw a video of someone extolling the virtues of Greenland’s living standards and free health and education systems over other ‘developed’ nations and I felt a stir of dissent. It is likely that most people probably think the living standard in Greenland is significantly lower than it actually is. Measured using …
The tide is low as we creep through thick fog toward the small harbour of Napasoq, a tiny settlement on a rocky island fifty kilometres southeast of Maniitsoq on the west coast. We pass the deserted pier jutting out from the rocky shore, towering over the still shallow water, and pull up alongside a ramshackle …
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, and – for my benefit – throws in a few short explanations in English, which is necessary now and then. Although I can manage pretty well in Danish, in antenatal class there …
Each morning on the bus to work, I pass the cemetary in the centre of Nuuk, a field of sparse, white crosses against a pale blanket of snow. The bus pauses there by that bare white field with its rigid crosses, gathered in by a wooden fence that holds back the steadily encroaching apartment blocks …
Greenland has a difficult relationship with alcohol. Thirty years ago, Greenlanders drank more than twice as much alcohol as Danes, resulting in the typical social problems with alcohol abuse. To combat this, higher excises were brought in from the early 90s. Periodically, restrictions have included rationing and reduction in limits of duty free alcohol (at …
A few years ago in Australia, I was buying supplies for geological field work from Bunnings, a hardware store. As the young man at the checkout tallied up my items, which included a sledge hammer and some rolls of duct tape, he commented casually that it looked like I was preparing for the zombie apocalypse. …
Greenland has eleven diagnosed cases of coronavirus, all in the capital, Nuuk. The first reported case was on March 16. Ten have now recovered, leaving one person still ill in home quarantine. One person in Greenland’s population of 56,000. One person in Nuuk’s population of almost 18,000. The Premier’s updated response yesterday was to extend …