The Return

I'm back, bitches.


Arrived back in Greenland yesterday. I came here to be a part of the Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival; the Nuuk Art Museum is arranging a joint exhibition for all of us who were a part of their residency. I'll be staying here about 12 days now and one extra day in Kangerlussuaq.


The first thing that I realized when I stepped off the plane in Kangerlussuaq was that I'd forgotten how fresh the air is. I pride myself in Finland having really fresh air but in Greenland, it's still so much fresher. If there ever was a need to define "breath of fresh air", you could put Greenland next to it in a dictionary. The air has this taste of ice, this brickly feeling of "wake up!". We sometimes get it during the fall in Finland but only for a few days. Here it's quite present all the time.


I got delayed a bit in Kangerlussuaq but it was okay, I got a voucher for free lunch from Air Greenland and bought my first musk ox burger! It was actually really good, I've tried musk ox before and didn't like it that much but this burger was yum-mee! It might be that I was already a bit jetlagged and emotionally vulnerable at that point, so eating a burger and french fries made me feel a bit ecstatic. I haven't eaten a burger in year, I think.


The weather was really lovely when we landed and it's been lovely today too. This place looks beautiful in the fall and I'm so happy it hasn't snowed yet. We have a lot of icebergs and the sun, while present, isn't so piercing as it was in spring. The light is softer, a bit slanted and creates lovely shadows. It might rain or snow tomorrow and the weather might be horrifying for the next ten days but, well, that's Greenland for you. Like I've said before: man plans, Greenland laughs.


The crows welcomed me again. It's funny how so many small things have become familiar to me in here and I've forgotten them when I've been away. The caws of the crows, the big Malene in sunrise, the colors in the trash containers, the way the floor moans under my feet at the art museum. I'm staying somewhere else this time, in a really nice apartment-type hotel, but I visited the museum obviously as soon as I arrived. It feels as if I wasn't gone that long even if I've been away for only little shy of six months.


Coming back here felt a bit odd, I'll admit it. I had a pretty hard time in spring, personally, and I missed home a lot. I'd been having a rough and a very busy year and a lot of it had eaten away what little I had left of any kind of self-esteem or self-appreciation. When I got back home, I just dove almost right back into work and again, had a lot of it. In the end, all of that was just too much for me and I really could have used a break. It got to a point where a doctor told me that it would have to be either chill out or burn out.


Anyway, coming back reminded me a lot of the anxiety I felt. This can be a lonely country. Traveling can be really lonely. It can be exhilarating but it can also make you feel incredibly untethered. I'm grateful for all I've experienced and got to see, in here and everywhere else I've traveled but in the end home is still home.


I've been trying to take it easier for the last month, but I've still had a lot to do. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible that I have so much projects and work going on and still no money. Maybe I really need to close my H&M online shopping account. Just kidding. Kinda. Anyway, I'm here for an exhibition and that's pretty cool, I don't have to be nervous about finishing a project anymore. I'll get to see the friends I made here and I'm hoping I could squeeze at least one boat trip in. Also hoping for some northern lights! There were some last night but I was all tuckered out with jet lag.

Oh and here's one more crow photo, this fella was scratching itself and looking a little funny. I've never seen a bird do this scratchy move.