Greenlandic day

July 6th, 11:02pm

Today had a shaky start; I woke up a little later than usual because the Greenlanders were preparing dinner early in the morning, and it was difficult to get ready for the day with everyone else rushing around. I prefer to wake up before the other students so that I don't have to wait for a spot in the bathroom or kitchen and whatnot. There was also some confusion in the morning because some boys slept in, making us about 20 minutes late. Bummer!

Interesting cloud formations on the Volkswagon road

We took a trip to a lake near the ice sheet, meeting up with two Eric Post scientists, David and Sean, who were to lead us in a biodiversity activity. After we had split into two large groups, one for each scientist, our progress was halted by the presence of a large tuttu (reindeer)! The tuttu made a wide circle around us, stopping often to pose. My group with David had a pretty good view of the reindeer, but Sean's group was maybe twenty feet away from it at one point. It was really an amazing specimen. Unfortunately I didn't bring my zoom lens on the field that day, but I will definitely bring it tomorrow.

David (L) and Sean (R)

Britta, Samantha and I also worked on some GLOBE stuff

Our tuttu. Please take a moment to appreciate Britta's comment about it stabbing me with its antlers, and also my flawless animation transition:

Our work was in a grassy plain to the side of the lake. The Eric Post scientists want to know how much the area's biodiversity will shift with climate change. Right now the majority of the plain is covered by grasses, but shrubs may gradually overtake the land as the temperature warms. Today our job was to take measurements on the current biodiversity of the field. Each group set up a huge 50-meter by 50-meter grid, marking its intersections every ten meters. We then went to each intersection with a 1-meter by 1-meter PVC pipe frame, laid it flat, and recorded the plant species we could see within the frame. We also had to estimate the percentage of the square that each plant species covered; given that there were about ten people in my group, this was the most tedious part of the whole process. Everyone had a different idea of what percentages to record. A typical conversation would go like this:

Ronin: Shrubs- 40%.
Samantha: I think it's more like 45%, with 55% grasses.
Josephine: Shrubs- 48%.
Grace: Why 48%?
Josephine: I like 8's!
Lynn: How about 43% shrubs and 57% grasses?
Everyone: Agreed.
Sheryl: Oh look, is that horsetail?
-collective groan-

Us doing work

I could see this research being fun if one had a small entourage, but since many bodies mean many differing opinions, working on that field was the most painful three hours of the entire trip so far. By the end of our activity, everyone had about had enough of forbes, horsetail, willow, and grasses. David gave us a short lecture on his research, and then the majority of students had a break while group Tuttu interviewed the scientists. I took what Lynn called a "tundra nap", and it was glorious. Moss is surprisingly soft and warm; I could definitely do fieldwork in the future if it meant more tundra naps.

View of the ice sheet from the plains

We packed up and headed back to the cars. I rode in Rikke's car with her usual group: Marie-Louise, Josephine, and Samantha. Sam fell asleep on the ride home, and you can bet she was confused when she woke up at the sledgedog pens! Rikke took us there instead of going straight back to HQ so that we could have a couple of minutes to play with the puppies. If this trip has taught me anything, it's that I love Rikke, I love Greenland, and I especially love sledgedog puppies.

When we got back to HQ, everyone was just heading back to work. My group, Nanoq, really got down to business. I labored over our sea tomato movie and finally finished it (disclaimer: it is boring. Also, I can't stand sea tomatoes), Ronin wrote our PolarTrec blog entry for the day, and Makka and Michael prepared dinner with the other Greenlanders.

We had an official dinner at the airport: pork with saurkraut, potatoes, and gravy. It was alright. I think I'll order a muskox burger the next time we're at the airport, though. Samantha and I shared a donut-type pastry afterwards, which was -of course- delicious.

After dinner, no one was feeling especially productive. We were all tired from fieldwork, even if we hadn't done much intense physical activity today. ...One thing about this program that is new for me is the exhaustion; though the days are fun and I'm learning a lot, we're being worked pretty hard. It's great. There's no better feeling than knowing you've done the most with the time you were given! ...Which reminds me that I only have a couple of days left here in Greenland ...

A little after 8pm, everyone was called downstairs for a meal of fried fin whale, potatoes, and smoked salmon on bread. It was all delicious, especially the whale! A local woman sang us two of her original titles, and they were beautiful. It's strange to hear music being sung in another language; there's something haunting about the way Greenlandic sounds to a beat. Everyone loved it.

Potato, whale, and smoked salmon

Let's see if this video works ...

We went outside to play "Inuit games", which were basically a bunch of variations on the classic egg-on-a-spoon race. My team lost about every single time, but it was only because we had all of the short people, and by extension, short legs. More games were waiting inside: a seated elbow-pulling game, a middle finger tug-of-war (I faced Samantha and dominated), a head-strap tug-of-war, and a game of strength where you have to keep your body rigid as you're picked up by the elbow/feet and pulled across the room. As you can imagine, everything was extremely entertaining to watch.

John Peter (L) and Nuka (R) showing us how elbow-wrestling is done

The Greenlandic students had prepared another small meal for us: apples, dried cod, raw fin whale, and raw narwhal. Let me start off by saying that the dried cod was excellent, as were the apples. The raw whale, however, went down "sideways with teeth" (insert an obligatory nod to Mr. Sharos here), especially the narwhal. I gagged a bit on the narwhal, and actually thought I was going to throw up; the texture was just ... Not pleasing in the least. It was rubbery and crunchy, and I foolishly swallowed it whole. I will spare you more unsavory details; yes, there are more. Many more.

More pictures from the night:

Fred not having any of Ronin's shenanigans

Me killing Samantha at middle finger-pulling

Head tug of war with Josephine (L) and Chloe (R)

At one point during that little meal, the lights turned off and flickered. The door to the spare room opened, and Sandra, Lana, and Makka came out of the darkness, hunched and swaying. Their faces were painted black with red markings, and they wore dark clothing. They grunted as they lurched around the room, occasionally sneaking up behind someone and growling menacingly in his or her ear. It was frightening, to say the least! I thought Sam Blair next to me was going to have a panic attack. A couple of tense minutes later and the three girls retreated back into the spare room; the lights came on and we applauded as they came out a second later, smiling and happy! We got the backstory to that little performance: if their children don't go to sleep when told, Greenlandic mothers put on masks, sneak into their child's room, and pretend to be spirits to scare him or her. Outstanding.

From left to right: Makka, Lana, and Sandra with their game faces on

There was some Greenlandic "cake" ready post-dinner, which tasted like Irish soda bread. Delicious! I saved some for lunch tomorrow.

Overall it was a great day. I'm dreading my departure!