The two boys had been playing all day and, with dinner approaching, I told my son’s friend it was time for him to head home. “Dad can’t pick me up at the moment,” he said, disappointedly packing his bag to head down to the bus stop, “He’s butchering a reindeer.” The first of August is …
A white orb shimmers in and out of watery focus, framed by liquid blue that shields this pale sun from reflected clouds in the silvery, mirrored surface of the sea. The inlet that leads to the old settlement of Kangeq narrows as we approach, rocky walls closing on both sides. Irridescent green vegetation clings to …
We were getting sick of having our boat in the main marina in Nuuk. The draconian rules were designed to take advantage of every opportunity to squeeze more extortionate fees out of boat owners. Any change of ownership, common here where friends often co-own boats, required payment of a new full registration fee of about …
I last visited Narsarsuaq years ago. It’s an abandoned American military airbase and a settlement entirely devoted to supporting the only airport (at present) in South Greenland. Out of season, like this, the Hotel Narsarsuaq has a edge of The Shining to it, with it’s enormous capacity, long brightly lit corridors and it’s distinct lack …
If you want to be anonymous, Greenland might seem like a good idea. Greenland’s towns and settlements are so small, so remote, so distant from each other. You could easily be fooled that this is a place you might find solitude, isolation, privacy. But you’d probably be wrong. Greenland has a population of fifty six …
*Photograph by Hans Peter Kleemann . Child abuse. It’s not a subject most people want to talk about. And certainly not at the up-beat, pro-business Future Greenland conference, which brought about four hundred and fifty participants to Nuuk last week. There’s enormous interest in the future of Greenland. From long-time allies like the Americans, to …
Normal people collect flowers, rocks. But we’re not all normal, are we. I once knew a cat that collected leaves instead of dead mice, mewing at the front door until someone would acknowledge the beautiful green catch between his paws and add it to the bowl filled with similar leafy trophies. People collect strange things …
“How high are we above sea level?” asked a middle-aged woman, as the zodiac carrying her and a half dozen other high-end tourists skirted along the icy shoreline toward their landing point by the outlet of another monolithic glacier. My husband, the tour guide, frowned and his mouth opened and closed, but no words fell …
The multicultural festival in Nuuk this week seems like a good time to think about embracing diversity. There were activities involving food, art, and culture to celebrate Nuuk’s limited diversity. It’s needed. Since we moved to Greenland from Australia, I have noticed a marked change in my young son’s attitude toward foreigners. He notices people …