Actually, I currently live in Aarhus, Denmark,
but it is a rather ordinary small european town so I will instead tell you
about Greenland, where I was born and lived for fifteen years.
My etnic background is inuit, which is the native population of Greenland.
Firstly, I would like to say that contrary to popular belief,
we do not live in igloos. Igloos were never used for permanent residence
and you are unlikely to find them on Greenland.
We mostly live in pretty average single family european houses
with reliable electricity, water, TV (one channel in Nuuk and two
american channels if you pay for a decoder), etc.
I frequently get asked about this so it is time to dispell a myth: polar bears do not
walk around in towns, at least not on Greenland.
I have lived in Nuuk ("Godthaab", the major town in Greenland, pop. 12000) and
Qeqqertarsuaq ("Godhavn", pop. 1000).
I am somewhat fond of telling about it so the following may be close to a rant.
What cultural opportunities do you have?
For western culture, Nuuk is fairly modern and has the following:
A cinema, library, lots and lots of bars and discotheques (did I mention
the severe alcohol problems?), a couple of restaurants and fast food shops,
two churches (not counting the minor ones such as Jehovas, methodists, and others), a small stadion, a small museum, and something claimed to be a "university".
In size and wisdom, the university of Nuuk may not be quite as prestigious as
a typical european university. It is no Oxford but supposedly the
Eskimology faculty is decent.
I was not very old when I lived in Qeqqertarsuaq, but I do recall the
following:
A school library, a small stadion,
some sort of science or research station where there were sometimes
various events and parties.
A fast food shop where you could buy sausages...
Well, Qeqqertarsuaq is not the centre of western civilization.
While few spoke of Sartre on the streets,
Greenland does have its own unique cultural life
in the interaction of the people.
What recreational opportunities do you have?
There has been bungee jumping from a crane a few times in Nuuk which was quite popular,
but I suppose you would rather hear about more traditional forms of greenlandic entertainment.
Personally, though I have tried it, my idea of fun is not nearly freezing my toes off
while being in the middle of nowhere in bad
visibility with only me, my sled, a rifle, ten dogs,
and lots of snow and ice, but I
know some people like that kind of life.
What can be fun in some parts of Greenland is:
Dog sledding, hunting, fishing,
racing a snow scooter, skiing,
ice scating,
harassing the penguins (ok, I never saw a penguin. This was just for fellow linux users).
The sled dogs live tough lives and are not treated as pets. They are rarely patted,
cuddled, or kissed, except as a reward if you try to teach them something.
They never get inside and have no cover except themselves,
except the bitches and their pups when
the weather is terrible.
They get whipped and kicked once in a while which is necessary as they
will otherwise run in separate directions or
fight eachother, but they are not treated with malice.
They also get eaten by their masters in the
fortunately rare cases when someone gets lost or stranded
in a snow storm for an extended period of time.
Hunters have fair opportunities for hunting seals
(we do not club the baby seals!), reindeers, polar foxes, various
birds, and whales.
Capelin fish come in huge steems to breed on some beaches and can be
easily caugth with a net from shallow water because of the sheer number of fish
and because they are not afraid of humans.
Whales are typically hunted with 20-30 other people from small open
plastic fiber boats.
The hunting party circles around where the whale is thought to be
and shoot it repeatedly with powerful rifles everytime it needs to breath,
while shooting plastic balls in it with
harpoons so it does not sink when it dies. This can take a while.
Polar bears can be hunted but there is a limited quota and it
requires a somewhat expensive license, experience, and skill.
It is perfectly possible to live of only typical european food,
all of it imported by ship from Denmark.
It is also easy to buy meat from the
various kinds of animals I have mentioned.
Whale fat is, IMO, particularly tasty :-)
Private access to the Internet on Greenland became possible a couple of years ago.
It is possible to get ADSL but the bandwidth is limited by the link
to Denmark and the ping is bad so it is not a major advantage.
Think of the huge greenlandic market the next time you design a web site
and think everyone has speedy internet access ;-)
What do you like about it?
I really was not very fond of it and
longed to live in a more urban area with a more temperate climate.
I do not expect to go back anytime soon because of that.
What do you hate about it?
Severe alcohol problems,
it is rather isolated because travelling is expensive and can sometimes be impossible for weeks,
it is very cold except for a month or so every year and even then...,
sour milk during the winter because ships cannot break through the ice to the Disko fjord
This is not a problem everywhere in Greenland.
No trees, except a few in the southern most region of Greenland, which
can be as tall as a man.
There are a lot of plants and grass during summer but little variety. Few different types of plants.
Racism (not white pride but etnic greenlandics who dislike danes).
It seems rather etno centric; one could almost believe Greenland
was the center of the earth, judging from the local news.
Some corruption.
In the summer, you notice all the garbage people throw on the street.
I have not seen anything like it anywhere else. It is like walking in a dumpster, but
fortunately, you do not see it outside of villages.
The home rule presidents (landstyreformand) on Greenland has
always, to my knowledge, been alcoholics.
More than a few times I have heard women getting beaten up by their
husbonds while walking through Nuuk on a friday night (when a lot
of people, both young and old gray haired people, go to drinking parties).
There are also thugs who want to fight for the fun of it when they
get drunk and seek out random people on the streets.
I do not consider it a dangerous place but you may prefer to be a little
more careful than in Denmark sometimes.
Would you recommend it, and why?
If you find yourself indoors most of the time or walking
around in an urban area then I think Greenland may not be
for you unless you really want to try something different
and you do not mind the downsides too much.
Some people cannot stand the cold, the darkness,
the isolation, and the social problems.
If you belong to that group, you might still consider
going there as a tourist, though it is very expensive.
If you enjoy hunting, fishing, wild life, extreme nature,
and parties where everyone drink themselves senseless
(not everyone do that but it is common in all age groups), then I
imagine you could be interested in living there for an extended period
of time.
If I were to move there, what would I really need to know?
You should never walk alone too far outside of the village
before you know the area and have some feeling for
the climate, which can change from being somewhat cloudy to extreme snow storm
within minutes.
Remember that a search party may have difficulty in finding you
during a snow storm, especially if the weather is too bad for a helicopter to be used.
It may be problematic if you are afraid of or allergic to dogs.
You should be aware that the dogs howl in the afternoon, bark during the day, and sometimes
fight among eachother.
There are many more dogs than people, they howl, and
no one is going to do anything about it if they keep you up when
you try to sleep.
If you meet a stray dog you should not
show fear. Rabies (dog madness) is rare but there have been a few cases.
If you plan to live there for more than a year and plan to
socialize with the locals, you should consider learning
greenlandic as a lot of greenlandics dislike people who
do not try to learn greenlandic. You are more likely to
be accepted if you try.
Emphasis on "try" because it is very different from
european languages. A lot of people give up.
If you do not pronounce it properly, you risk insulting
people because small changes can significantly alter the
meaning of sentences. The most popular example is that arnaq
means woman while arnak means "shit" or "idiot".
The greenlandic language makes heavy use of the letter
"q" and it does require the use of strange throaty sounds.
You should be aware that alcohol is expensive in Greenland.
If you enjoy good wine, you may want to cut down on it when
you see the outrageous prices.
There are some things to consider when choosing where to live;
dog sledding is not allowed in some towns
and alcohol is rationed in a couple of villages because of serious abuse.
How is it different from other places you have been?
It is cold and isolated, there are few TV channels,
the library and book shop does not have the latest
books, there are not as many restaurants, alcohol
is expensive, Internet access is slow, and you can hunt whales.
That should pretty much cover it, I think.
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