Of the map...

Of the map...

søndag den 7. februar 2010

My first two weeks in Nuuk

Prevously I mentioned that this weekend would be the weekend where I would write about my first two weeks here in Nuuk, and so I'm here at the computer trying to figure out what to write. I have certain limitations as to what I can write about in this input due to the fact that anybody can read this blog. This means that I won't be writing any detailed information about my job or my co-workers (not that I actually have any...), or any other issue that I consider inapropriate for a blog. At the same I don't want this blog/input to be an actual log of all my movements because that would be far to boring for me to write and way to boring for you to read:-) So, I imagine this input to be more of a desciption of what I've experienced during these first two weeks combined with some actual events.


So, what have I actually experienced?... That seems to be the million dollar question now that I'm sitting in front of my computer. Well, for starters I did quite a lot of basic reading about Greenland before I left. I especially looked into the society and political situation in the hope that this would help me once I started working here. However, coming here I realized that it's just not possible to prepare youself for a society such as this one. No matter how many books you'll read I'm quite sure that once you're here your own opionion will differ substantially from most of what you have read.

Personally, I find it a rather hard society to live in. Not like any other I've lived in before. To me it feels like I have open a door an walked straight through to the 1950'ties. Everything here somehow has a slower pace and people seem to be concerned by other problems. And yet, Nuuk as a city has everything you'd find in a modern capital. There are plenty of stores with a decent variety, places to go out both for eating and dacing, crimes, gangs, the latest fashion and newfangled gadgets. And still, I feel as if the people here have somehow not moved with the same speed as the city itself. I see it in my work where I deal with citiziens and politicians on a daily basis and where I'm closely connected to the whole administation that runs this society. And I feel it walking down the streets watching the people around me. Nuuk is a capital in every way that defines a capital, but at the same time it's also a provincial town. It has fewer that 16.000 inhabitants and I think it's because of this that all things good and bad in a capital becomes much clearer up here. When so few peolpe live in such a "big" city lines become very visable and opposits inforced. The city might be a capital but its inhabitants are like farmers from a provincial town. As a result, I can't help sometimes feeling more isolated that I really am. Being on an island far a way the rest of the world is one thing, but not feeling part of a society is something else entirely.

What I've come to realize this short time I've been here is that my type of lifestyle which in many ways focuses on the selfish individual is not really compatible with this type of society. Here, a familybased lifestyle is valued and expected. Most young people I see on the street are surrounded by children. Young people don't necessary get married but they get children at a young age and seeing a girl at 18 with 2 children is not frowned upon in any way. Children here are simply seen as blessings to society. In confirmation of this you see almost no people walking alone, neither young nor old. People move in groups were you can clearly see the different generations. To me this is striking since I come from a society which in these days, in many ways, propers on my type of lifestyle. So coming here has certainly taught me valuable information about both myself and the society I used to live in. It as given me some insights as to what type of society I would like to live in in the future and what I value in my daily life. I think people at my age with my kind of options and possibilities take many small but important things for granted and having lived now in a society so different from my own has made me realize this much more than I did previously.

So, I guess at the bottom line you just don't know what you got until it's no longer there;-)

3 kommentarer:

  1. you are perfectly right, we take many things for given - and in fact appreciation often comes, when you miss something.

    SvarSlet
  2. i don't think i take things for given - except the money my mother gives me maybe... but i've noticed that attitude from others in Paris
    i'm still shocked by people buying a lot of food at the canteen and eating a small part of it, especially when it's meat... i think the poor cow died for nothing !
    Anyway... so what kind of society do you want to live in ? one with a good internet connection i guess but...
    Nina

    SvarSlet
  3. It looks like you have been learning somthing about youself - that is always special.

    SvarSlet