Okrittok Assiangorpok (Light becomes totally different)
Saturday, 17 April 2004
Things are getting brighterThe change in the levels of light have been dramatic over the past couple months. When I arrived, we were still in 24 hours of sunset. Now we are close to 24 hours of sunlight. Last night near midnight, I was out by the bay, photographing close-to-the-last sunset for the next few months. It was absolutely exhilarating! From the vantage point of the Pavilion, I could overlook the cliff-side down to the icy bay, where, resting on the snow were teams of sled dogs. Along with my friend Sudha, we also went to check out the Thule Tug (the Air Force's only tugboat), which is currently dry docked on the land near the bay.
Today, a few of us were supposed to go for a trek to Dundas village, where there are some very old "sod houses" where the Inuits (Eskimos) lived for many years. But a storm came in suddenly this morning, so those plans are postponed until tomorrow (assuming the weather clears).
Last weekend, for Easter, Thule had an Open House, which invited Inuits from the local towns (the closest of which is 2 days away via dogsled) to join in our Easter festivities. During the Open House, Air Greenland offered helicopter rides to Mount Dundas and around the base; there was an ice-golfing competition; the Inuits had a dogsled race; and of course, an egg-hunt. Prior to the dogsled races, the teams were scattered about on the ice, showcasing their dogs and sleds. I met quite a few of the people, talking with the elders, playing with the kids and offering dog snacks to the hounds. One of the Inuits taught me how to use a dogsled whip to smack around an aluminum can on the ice. These folks are very kind and giving. One was giving enough to offer me a piece of fish he had just hacked from the frozen carcass with his mini-ax. Uhhh Yummy?! The helicopter ride was nothing less than awesome. After flying to the top of Mount Dundas, we went down the back side like falling from the top of a roller coaster. The egg-hunt was held indoors following a large BBQ-style dinner, at which I helped out as a food server. The hunt involved creating teams of one American, one Dane, and one Inuit. You had to answer questions, which led you around the building finding clues to answer a riddle. And fun times were had by all.
A couple weeks ago, we also had an opportunity to build igloos! The day was perfect for it; temps were decent and the sun was shinin'. The project began with us cutting out huge blocks of hardened snow from the ground using a saw and shovel. It's just unfathomable how deep the snow really is! After cutting from tip to handle on the saws to create the blocks, it didn't even seem we scratched the surface. The actual building of the igloos though was more difficult than it seemed, and after a couple hours we hadn't made much headway on the larger one. But the smaller of the two came out pretty good. It's still standing strong today, with a snowy Snoopy on top. The other, however, has warped and is almost completely caved in. Glad our dorms aren't igloos (at least not igloos made by us!)
Earlier the same week, a group of us went on a hike to the local waterfalls. One of our team was new to hiking in the snow, and she didn't like the noises the rest of us had become used to hearing; like the sound the snow make when you walk over hallow spots where it sounds like you'll fall through.Anyway, the falls were, as they should be, frozen over, but they were frozen in the perfect shape of what the falls would look like un-iced. Getting there took a couple hours, and we past by a cabin house, which, during the summer can be used for BBQs, etc. But now it was engulfed in snow, from the inside. After spending a little time at the waterfalls, we went out to the inner bay and checked out some icebergs before we headed back to the truck.
Well, that's about it for now ... time for sleep. Until next "times"...
Dan