Life After Teaching: Nuuk Greenland October 1 2024

Rainbow in Nuuk

I felt quite smug today. I found my way right to the town centre and then down to the museum. I made a brief stop in the museum to see the Greenlandic mummies. They were around a corner very carefully lit. The rest of the small room was dim. I stood there for a few minutes letting my eyes move over every detail of their bodies and clothing, thinking how all humans past and present are related. I wanted to make some kind of a gesture of respect but I couldn’t think of anything so I said a mental thank you for their lives and their exquisitely preserved remains. Before I turned away I hoped that they had lived well and were valued. In the gift shop I bought a book on the mummies. On a previous trip we actually saw the place they were found. Then, still a little pensive, I headed to the qiviut store.

Mummy's hands by Liz Carlson

I looked around for quite a while before buying a toque, and neck tube for Richard and an ear band for myself. Because one Danish kroner is worth about 20 cents, it’s easy to lose track of how much things actually cost. Qiviut ain’t cheap! Purchases in hand, I walked back to the ship. I’ll probably go into town again this afternoon with my sketchbook. I also didn’t feel much like taking photos today. I got a few including one of a rainbow over the harbour.

It is weird to be here when it is dark in the morning. I was in town when the sun came up this morning. It’s now bright and sunny with a few clouds. I went the wrong way when I left the ship. Instead of going through the border control which I didn’t see, I went the other way and simply walked around the fence. One of the workers gave me a rather strange look but I just smiled and carried on. It’s amazing what you can get away with if you just look like you know what you’re doing. When I came back to the ship I went the right way.

There is a lot of construction going on here at the moment. The woman in the qiviut shop said she was surprised that I knew how to get around because of the construction. I’m sitting in the Compass Club on the ship as I write this and the lady in the next bay window is coughing like crazy so I moved back one. Now I have a tickle in my throat.

Construction

Looks like the shuttle buses are doing a good business. I enjoyed getting out and walking this morning. BTV and Janet are taking the bus tour which I’ve been on before and then going to the museum. I feel like I needed unstructured time today. Adventure Canada doesn’t want you to be bored and I know from experience that it’s up to me to carve out down time.

We always get a wake-up call in the morning beginning with, “Good morning, good morning, good morning.” After that the expedition leader gives the ship’s position, the temperature, and the wind status, he usually reads a quotation that has something to do with our kind of trip. This year rather than the quotations we have Tony who makes up a song about yesterday’s activities. He often borrows the tune which he plays on his harmonica before singing the song. The people I’ve talked to seem to think it is fantastic. Barbara and I aren’t as convinced especially when MJ follows the song with some ‘poetry’ reported to be composed by AI. I believe the AI part unless MJ spends more time writing bad stuff than I think he does. To give Tony his due, it's not easy to come up with song lyrics each and every day based on the previous day's events.

Last night I met Kaili who was so nice on the phone when BTV and I were trying to get things arranged for this trip. She wanted to meet BTV so I made sure I introduced the two of them this morning. I really hope AC keeps her on. She was the best of the bunch on the phone.