A new era!

Amazing! Got a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy S2 and I've managed to sync my accounts. This update comes to you from a bus - I'm on my way to the airport & Vienna!

Day 12: FAVORITE PHOTOS Confirmation, "kaffimik" & soccer

(Sun 1/7/2012)

I went to church to see youngsters of Nuuk get their confirmation. This was the most interesting thing so far! People were in national dresses/costumes. This was actually "a re-confirmation" since the actual confirmation was already earlier this year so this was an event arranged for far travelled relatives & friends. Getting confirmated is an important rite of passage in Grl.

Interesting observations: It was quite a hassle in the church. People were going in and out as they pleased, f.e. an elderly lady with a "rollator" (walking aid?) repeatedly going out for smokes between psalms! Kids were running around and clinging to the benches, standing on the benches and doing all sorts of annoying things!:)

Maria A. was invited to a "kaffimik" at a colleague's house. "Kaffimik" is a Greenlandic tradition and it's something you have to celebrate a special day (christening, graduation, birthday etc.). Basically "kaffimik" is a day to have a "open house" with food and coffee throughout the day for friends, relatives, neighbors or for anyone who passes by. Today they celebrated the colleague's daughter's confirmation day.  I got to tag along with Maria and this was quite special.

The mother was Greenlandic and the Father was Faroese and their daughter (the jubilee) was a sweet teenager who kept her iPhone in her "kamiks" (=long boots made of seal skin) :) Lots of different local specialities, mostly fish and other "frutti di mare" were served - with several kinds of different delicious cakes!

The rest of the day we spent at Nuuk Brewery/Pub (Godthåb Bryghus in Danish) to watch Spain kick Italy's ass in soccer. I was there not so much for the soccer but mostly for the company.

Arriving guests I.
The "poncho" part is made of tiny pearls and they are very expensive.

Arriving guests II.

The youngsters.

The priest.

Tradition: When/if you know the confirmee (aka family and friends),
you stand up.

From the loft.

Our team :)

"May The Lord bless you and keep you."

This long confirmation service had come to its end.

At "kaffimik" the mother and grandmother are happy for all the guests that were arriving.

Just a small sample of what was baked for the guests!

Aviaja in her national dress.
Her grandmother had made the upper part of the dress for her.

Aviaja receiving a congratulation call from her father's side grandmother,
who lives in the Faroe Islands. Tradition and modern age meet!

Day 11: Second hand shopping + visited Maria

(Sat 30/6/2012)

- sleeping late

- Red Cross second hand shop 
- coffee at Barista

- GRL litt

- GRL language

Our teachers do not mind that it's Saturday... Studying all the time! :/

The red cross shop had the following info:

Genbrugsbutikken i Nuuk (second hand shop in Nuuk)Adress: Perngarfik 9 (under Cafe Chili) 
Postbox 148, 
3900 Nuuk

Åbningstider. (Open)Torsdag (Thu) og fredag (Fri) kl. 13.00 – 17.00 
Lørdag (Sat) kl. 10.30 – 13.30 

I didn't find anything special, I was on the lookout for a nice woolen shirt but didn't find one. We finally went to have coffee (for me it was finally) at Barista and it was great! Had a beautiful, tasty cafe latte and a super delicious muffin!!!

Later, after the lessons, I went to visit Maria, my friend from Finland who currently lives and works at the University of Greenland. She lives in a very nice part of Nuuk, new tall houses and they're also building shops and schools in the area. She can spot whales, look at the mist coming in and other wonders of nature from her window!

Anne, Nina and Maria at Barista.

In Nuuk you always think distances are not long
because you can see buildings from a far (if there's nothing in the way).
DON'T LET THAT FOOL YOU. You will probably be walking for quite a while!

"Cheers!", Maria says

Day 10: T.G.I.A.F. + poet Katti Frederiksen

(Fri 29/6/2012)

That is, "Thank God it's almost Friday!"

- GRL language

- GRL history, ethnicity

- lunch

- Katti Frederiksen, GRL author and poet came to give us a talk. It was very interesting. Also interesting that she travels a lot abroad to read her poems, but the locals don't really care. Or so it seems since she has very few bookings in GRL.

I spent some time surfing to find return flights to Finland. Key words: HOPELESS. FRUSTRATING.

Later we had a so called "Finnish evening". This was our recipe: bake "pulla" (wheat buns), make "karjalan piirakka" (Karelian pirogs) and have fun! :)

Katti Fredriksen, poet.

Housing area between the Uni and Nuuk city center.

Boat.

Hanna preparing Karelian pirogs.

Finnish evening at its best.

Day 9: Insanely long days studying GRL

(Thu 28/6/2012)

- GRL lang

- GRL litt

- lunch

- pause

- GRL lang

To finish the day I went out jogging on the hilltops. There was not so much jogging because it was such a beautiful day. I bathed in sunlight and admired the beautiful view from the hilltop(s). 

Day 8: Today felt like Monday all over again! (And tips how to travel lightly)T

(Wed 27/6/2012)

Phew, what a long day studying. I'm beat.

- History lesson in the morning with Daniel Thorleifs. Learnt about the GRL fishing industry, collapse of the torsk industry (Atlantic Cod), economics, KGH = Kongelige Grønlands Handel, The Royal Greenland Trading Dept. I liked Daniel's presentation a lot, it was interesting and interactive. Looking forward to learning more on Friday! 

Then we had:

- lunch

- GRL literature x4 hours (!). Luckily we had coffee.

- GRL language

- long session surfing online!

We had in total spent 10 hours at the university. By the time that we left the last bus had already gone… It takes 35-45minutes to walk to the uni, so we (Mareike & me) decided to hitch hike! We walked pretty far with our thumbs in the air, but then we got a ride with a local driving elderly people from the airport. The driver was very kind - and we probably looked like harmless and proper school kids with our backpacks:)

But during today I finally got online and to surf the Internet! So nice. And at this very moment I should be reading a novel OR studying GRL, but it's more fun to update my diary:) Well, maybe I should study now, then sleep.

Links:

KNI, earlier Royal Greenland Trading Dept. (KGH)

Torsk (Atlantic Cod)

This is my tip on how to travel light.
Pack very small things! :)
I had many small tester perfumes,
that you can throw in the garbage when they're empty:)
The tooth paste is just for fun, found it at Stockmann accidentally!
(products: Perrot, IsaDora, Marc Jacobs)

Day 7: Boat tour & whales & arctic swimming!

(Tue 26/6/2012)

Nordkurs (aka probably mostly Karen) had organized a lovely half-day boat tour in the nearby fjords. We started in the Atlanthavnen (Atlantic Harbor), went along the cape of Nuuk, past Kolonihavnen and out in the fjords*.

We stopped at Björnö (not sure? means 'Bear Island') for lunch and to admire the mosquitos!!!!!

Naah. The mosquitos weren't the main attraction, but they were there in HUGE CLOUDS.

I was curious to see what Mareike was up to. I found her figuring out how to surf on a block of ice, a small iceberg if you will. I needed some convincing, but a Finnish word "yllytyshullu" describes me in that moment quite well. Me and Mareike ended up being trend setters as we went and swam in the icy water! 

There were literally blocks of ice floating next to me! On the first try we were alone, but when the others heard us scream in SHOCK they came to see what was going on. Hence we had some extra hands to take photos and provide the evidence, that we actually swam with ice blocks!:) It was very cold and there was not so much swimming but now I can say that I did it. The spontaneity of the moment left little choice in what dry clothes to wear afterwards: I swam in my panties and a top and just took them off and pulled dry clothes on (while mosquitos were having a FEAST with my pale Finnish blood!). After us Oda, Olga, Marie and Maria (in total three courageous Finns, one brave German, one feisty Norwegian, one confident Swedish girl) also went swimming!:) 

Everyone was awfully proud of having this exotic experience, but were in a hurry to leave so that Mareike forgot her wet clothes on the Island as a memento for polar bears, seals and birds!:)

The boat tour continued on the sea in the fjords WITH NO MOSQUITOES. Nice.

We also got to see some whales! They were small ones, Karen and Per were guessing that they were  common mink whales (swe. 'vikval'), but nobody could really tell. I didn't really manage to get a good shot with my camera… The surroundings were magnificent and light surrounding us and the sea and the mountains was a pale blue light… Beautiful.

Later in the evening we had been invited to dinner at Karen's (and Per's) house. The menu consisted of - entré: seal soup ('suaasat' in GRL) and seal meat + mustard on the side; main course: fish, rice, vegetables and curry sauce. White wine to go with, and GRL music playing in the background.

The dessert coffee was then served at the university, where we still late that same evening(!) saw a GRL musical telling the classic Inuit saga about how the Norsemen and Inuit became separated and the Norsemen left the island.

Links:

Fjord

Whales

Polar bear swimming
Yllytyshullu

Boats in the harbor. Royal Greenland fish/shrimp factory in the background.

"This is where the magic happens." Or.. wait! That's on MTV :)

My first pictures of a slightly bigger iceberg.

Maria in the sun.

Marc in the sun! 

The watery trail of M/S Immanuel.

Gunhild & Anne.

Nuuk seen from the sea

Yup. That's me!

Auto correct in Lightroom..

Detail of blue ice.

Scenery I.

Anne (and Anne in the back).

Sofie taking in the sun in her soul!

Maria.

Auto correct in Lightroom does funny things, but I kinda like it.

Phenomena I.

Phenomena II.

Scenery II.

Scenery III.

Scenery IV.

Ice I.

Ice II.

Getting on Bear Island.

Suopursu = Rhododendron tomentosum

Olga & her treasures ("come here my precioussssss...";)

"How should I do this?"

Yoga on ice! Probably a genuinely first-original-idea-in-a-long-time!

I WILL SWIM IN ICY WATER.

Totally worth it! I

Totally worth it! II

First whale spotted - check!

I couldn't get enough of the scenery!
(This is also auto correct and the color were not like this, they were more blue.
But I like the retro feel of the colors in these!)

More scenery.

Seal soup = suaasat

Unsharp, but this is nevertheless seal meat with bread and mustard.
Better than the soup. Don't be fooled by the beefy look,
the dark meat tasted like fish!