This picture shows where we anchored our boat on the weekend. Do you notice something odd? Our boat was apparently on land. It’s not because we ran aground. We were indeed afloat. It’s because the maps are wrong. The coastline of Greenland is probably one of the worst mapped coastlines in the world. The Danish …
*Walrus stew with Yorkshire pudding – a first? Today, when I did the following Google search: ‘How long should I boil walrus?’ I was reminded of some of the weird things that come up in conversation when you live in Greenland. At a high end pop-up restaurant in Nuuk recently (yes, there was one), …
Greenland was colonised by the Danish. This statement might seem neither here nor there to most, but the concept of colonialism is outright offensive to some Danes, particularly if referring to Greenland’s current status. It’s taken me a while to really accept this information, as it is so strange to me that people can reject …
*File photo of a crevasse It happened again. But this time it was worse. On April 6, a group of alpine touring skiers were descending a glacier not far from Maniitsoq on the west coast. It was a beautiful afternoon. And then the ground gave way. One of the party fell suddenly with the …
Election Day, April 24. The morning commute was slow, like every morning this last week since the tunnel – the only other route – was closed because of falling rocks. Low, grey clouds hung gloomily overhead, threatening more than just the few fluttering wispy, white flakes in the air. Spring seemed darker than usual. As …
Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark – a constitutional monarchy that also includes the Faroe Islands. Having long yearned for its independence, the desire now is as strong as ever, if tempered by the realisation – by some at least – that it is economically impractical. Nonetheless nationalist feeling lies simmering just beneath …
We have a six hundred metre roll of cling film in one of our kitchen drawers. We’ve had it for three years and I reckon it still has some life left in it. It’s been around so long that I’ve grown rather fond of it and I expect I’ll feel a tinge of sadness when …
We’re a three-weapon household. As I write, my husband is cleaning one of his rifles on the kitchen table, preparing it for the coming hunting season. All of his weapons are high calibre hunting rifles – a .308 and two 30.06s, the weapons of choice for reindeer hunting. The latter is also the recommended weapon …
*Photography by Kim Hansen, Creative Commons Polar bears occassionally turn up around Nuuk. Maybe once every year or two. But they don’t belong here. Normally they would stay with the sea ice, and there is no sea ice this far south on the west coast. But changing times mean that the bears are being blown …