Greenland from the Outside In

A plant I cannot kill

I frowned, pressing my fingers into the soft, dark soil. “They look a bit droopy, don’t they?” asked my husband, unhelpfully. “Yes, but…

“Isn’t it supposed to be summer?”

The cold sting of rain blew relentlessly on our faces as we trudged down the hill to the bus stop. My son pulled…

“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…

Political change and a whiff of dried fish

In Greenland, the winds of political change usually come with a whiff of dried fish or mattak. So it was last week when…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

An invisible world

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash The boat pulls away, leaving the three of us standing silently in the sand by our rucksacks, watching…