Wednesday, January 27
Who said global warming isn’t real? It has been above freezing today and raining—the locals are convinced that global warming is real, and where there used to be sea ice, there is now sea. They told me to sell my ocean front property in Australia because within 10 years it will be ocean bottom property! They may have a point.
Fascinating class today. Working with students for whom English is a third or fourth language is a challenge for all involved, but we have established the norm that when students are talking to each other they will use whatever language they want. For most of the students they choose Greenlandic as they are Greenlandic. The two Danish born students speak Danish even though they understand Greenlandic. The students who are proficient in English have taken to walking to wherever I am in the classroom and providing an interpretation—without being asked—very nice.
No photos today—didn’t leave the hotel and the weather wasn’t conducive to photography.
Food continues to be good. Last night was veal. We are served one glass of wine with dinner, after that you are on your own—beer is about $13/glass and wine about $15 a glass. A bottle of beer from the mini bar is $9—might be the most expensive alcohol I have seen anywhere in the world.
Breakfast has been a selection of meat and cheese, but cereal, bacon, sausage, and hard boiled eggs are also on offer. Lunch has been some kind of soup (today it was a curry vegetable and some kind of meat), fish, pasta, cheeses, pate…unfortunately, no exercise room…so I will be back in training when I get home next week!
In the evenings the students tend to drink coffee and visit for a while and then head to their rooms quite early to watch the news, read, etc. So, the nights have been early. The hotel only has one channel and it is in Greenlandic…so, no TV watching. There is a pay per view movie channel, but English isn’t offered. So, I guess blogging isn’t a bad idea—gives me something to do J
I have been invited to go to a fitness center after dinner tonight…so will maybe have a comparative fitness center story to report tomorrow.
OK, wireless is down, so thought I would update dinner. New taste sensation tonight for dinner. Appetizer = smoke whale. Dinner = Muskox. The whale was pretty good. Only problem was that I kept picturing that I was eating Whillie from “Free Whillie”. The muskox was a little…rare. The locals recommended it be eaten “medium” which is how I ordered it, but it was definitely rare—I am sure it made a sound when I cut it with the knife J
Now I’m off to the fitness…and will try not to mix the whale and muskox all over the fitness center!
Cheers
Geoff
Thursday, January 28
Sorry for the irregular blogs…internet is spotty…especially the wireless. Which, by the way is the reason I have no photos attached.
Visited the village fitness center in Ilulissat last night. Pretty much like fitness centers anywhere else in the world. Really a central meeting place in a small village like this with lots of kids and families exercising and playing soccer.
Pleased to report that I had no side effects to the whale and muskox J
I have settled in to a daily routine of teaching (1-5), dinner is at 6pm. After dinner most of the students drink coffee and talk, at 7:30pm they all go and watch “the news”—a 30 minute news program out of Denmark—then they disappear. They tell me they are “studying” but they will celebrate on Saturday night when the class is over. Breakfast is from 7-8am and the students go to class from 8-12—I head back to my room and read and write. And, lunch is served from noon to 1pm and we start all over again.
If you would like to see some information about Ilulissat and a short video about the UNESCO World Heritage site you could visit:
http://www.hotel-arctic.gl
If for some reason that doesn’t work, just google Hotel Arctic—it is the only one that will pop up!
Hopefully the wireless be up again soon and I can post some pictures and a video of the dogs howling outside my window for no apparent reason!
Cheers
Geoff
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1. The dogs are howling because they aren't used to Auzzie meat within reach.
ReplyDelete2. Global warming is a liberal plot to keep us from focusing on overspending.
3. Alcohol is expensive to supplement internet costs.
4. Apparently the supplement isn't enough to keep the internet reliable.
5. SOU Education if falling apart without you, the glue, to hold it together.
Hey, Geoff, thanks for sharing your un- GREENland experience with us (looks pretty much blue and white to me). My bro. was stationed in Iceland for 3 years and said the names should be reversed btwn Iceland and Greenland. Do you think that's true? Mush on!
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