The Last Midnight

On the outside it looked like this:

Just kidding. For whatever reason, I actually don't have a proper picture from the outside. Don't know why. But here's a cross from the yard.

The island reminded me a bit of Hailuoto in Finland. I mean, an island, fine, and then old wooden houses from about the same period so I guess it's obvious they'd look alike. Now I'm just caught up thinking about how cool it would have been to spend a few days there. There was actually talk of us doing that with a few people but it turned out they went without me, so, there's that. Sometimes I still feel surprised that some grown up people behave like they'd be in high school. We're adults, right? That's what you'd think. But no. Well, anyway. Qoornoq was nice and we passed an empty mining settlement too. I only saw it from a distance, but seemed pretty fascinating. It seems insane to imagine people living and working in a settlement here in the arctic, among mountains and floating icebergs, miles away from civilization and pretty much anything. But there's something really tempting in that thought too.

I also saw a lot of birds. Sorry that this photo is kinda crappy, it was hard to catch these little guys and this photo is cropped quite crudely. I think this is a type of sparrow, but it looks so incredibly different from the sparrows we have as ours are kind of boring brown-grey. I like the white color.

Don't know what this little bird was. Other than cute.

Also saw a lot of seagulls. We passed a famous bird rock but all of the birds were actually seagulls so I was a little bit disappointed. Not a big fan of seagulls. I see them every day back home, Plus one tried to attack me once and at least three have, uh, thrown me little gifts when they've passed me by, if you know what I mean. It's really unpleasant. Once it came from so high it felt like somebody had thrown a rock at my head. A soft, green-brown, gooey rock. Nice.

And we saw a whale! Possibly two, it was hard to tell. These ones were quite shy, they didn't show us their tail finns at all. I think the captain was a bit too enthusiastic; whenever we saw one, he immediately took the boat there and I think the whales got a bit scared. They always dove down and surfaced in another direction. I wish I'd seen more of them and had a better look. But you always feel lucky when you see a whale, I think. They're amazing.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying out. I'm really looking forward to it, I miss home and I miss my boys. I miss not feeling as lonely as I feel here. I miss the feeling of pressing my face against my cat's fluffy tummy. I miss driving a car. A lot! It still feels surreal to leave. I remember coming here, being so messed up from the flight that I thought there was a ski-lift right next to the art museum even if it actually was just a fence. I remember trying to figure out how the shower works and just not having a clue of when and how to get warm water out of it. I realize I've become a bit numb to the nature here; the mountains, the water, the ice. I guess that's quite natural. But a little bit sad. I wonder what Finland will look like now.

I miss a couch where I can straighten out my legs.

(I also remember writing on my notebook on my first day here that Air Greenland's planes smell like fart and that all the kids smell like fart. I don't even remember writing that, I was really jetlagged and out of it. It was so weird. But it makes me laugh every time I see it.)