*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), I found myself in a conversation with friends about how to butcher a reindeer in the field, the relative merits of silencers for different hunting scenarios, and of sawn-off rifles for close-range polar bear attack. Only after the fact did it occur to me that this might seem odd dinner conversation in some circles.
Other conversations I have found myself in include a discussion of techniques to balance maximum garden growing season with avoiding freezing vegetables into the ground, where it’s safe to walk small dogs to avoid them being taken by sea eagles, and where to buy the cheapest narwhal meat.
But more weird than the conversations with local friends, are the conversations with people who don’t live here. After a time, some of the everyday things that might seem perfectly normal for most people, take on a strange other-worldly weirdness if you live in Greenland. Recently, my husband related a story that I found hilarious, but which would probably not have raised an eyebrow with a non-Greenlandic resident. He was discussing logistics with someone who was planning a field expedition to east Greenland. Having never been to Greenland, let alone east Greenland, they had many questions. This was one of them.
“Do you know any good photographers in east Greenland?”
This might seem perfectly reasonable. But actually it is a bit like saying ‘We’re planning an expedition to the Moon and would like some photos taken on arrival. Do you know any good photographers on the Moon?’
Well, maybe it’s not quite the Moon, but it’s not far off. Parts of east Greenland are incredibly far from anywhere. There is a stretch of about 2,500 km of coastline in Greenland where noone lives – honestly, noone.
So if you’re visiting Greenland and find the locals sharing a secret smile, it may be because your concept of ‘normal’ has just collided with theirs.
