Welcome to Tasiilaq, my home for the autumn

During my semester in Nuuk in 2018-19, I fell in love with Greenland and so I started making arrangements to come back while I was still there. During a uni class one day, I met the museum directors from several local museums in Greenland, and decided to ask the director from Tasiilaq if I could do an internship there. And so the planning began. I was going to take my last BA course in Tasiilaq, the largest town on Greenland’s mostly uninhabited and less visited East Coast.

Fast forward ten months, and I was finally back in Greenland again. First for two weeks in Nuuk to visit friends, and afterwards in Tasiilaq, where I arrived a week ago.

After a brief stopover in Kulusuk, I caught the helicopter to Tasiilaq and arrived at 6.15 PM on September 14th, excited and slightly nervous to spend eleven weeks in a new place. Lars, the museum director, picked me up at the heliport and drove me around town to show me all the important places.

Despite having only about 2000 inhabitants, Tasiilaq has a lot to offer, including a large supermarket, Pilersuisoq, and a smaller convenient store, a clothing/souvenir shop, a FREE fitness center, a church and – of course – the museum, my new workplace. And like many other Greenlandic towns, Tasiilaq also has hundreds of sled dogs on leashes (when they are not out running) which are impossible not to run into.

Just three days after my arrival, one of the few yearly transatlantic ships arrived in the harbour. The arrival of those ships means fresh produce for the town. The ships come about 7 times per year depending on the amount of ice in the ocean, but they are all within the period June-November, meaning that Tasiilaq doesn’t get fresh produce for at least six months after November. I definitely chose the right time of year to come here!

After showing me around town, Lars cooked me a wonderful vegan dinner while telling me stories from the town, and then drove me to my new accommodation, a furnished apartment with the most beautiful view over Tasiilaq.

The apartment has three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a large bathroom. It’s large enough to fit at least two more people, but I’m alone so far. Lars has said that I will have to move to another apartment, my own apartment, eventually.

In my head, I had planned to spend the next day, Sunday, exploring the town, but instead, I got to experience something Tasiilaq is well known for; Piteraq, meaning ‘that which attacks you’ in East Greenlandic. Piteraq is a storm that originates on the Greenlandic ice sheet and sweeps down the coast. It can get VERY rough, with wind speeds typically reaching 180-288 km/h, which can ruin houses and blow over stuff that weighs hundreds of kilos. However, it can also get much much worse. In 1970, Tasiilaq was hit by the worst documented piteraq ever at an estimated 325 km/h, which caused severe damage to the town. Several houses were ruined, the school disappeared and authorities even considered closing the town afterwards. But instead, the town was rebuilt and special piteraq warnings were issued.

Tasiilaq and the nearby village of Isortoq get them more frequently and worse than anywhere else in Greenland. Luckily, the warning system in town now alerts the inhabitants 24 hours before a piteraq is forecast to hit so they have a chance to prepare for it. Therefore, I knew that I had to stay inside that Sunday, so instead of exploring the town, I worked on some blog posts and watched tv. With no wifi in the apartment, it was actually quite relaxing. You never really know when a piteraq is over or how bad it will be, so it’s safest to just get cozy inside. Luckily, this one was not that bad and only lasted until Sunday evening.

I started work on Monday the 16th. I’d woken up to a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, and with almost no wind. Just perfect. I walked to the museum and was met by Lars who introduced me to my other colleague Rasmus over breakfast. Afterwards, he gave me a detailed tour of the exhibition, and then I spent some time making a plan of what to do for the next eleven weeks.

My internship will consist of ethnographic investigations in relation to Sofie Jørgensen, the first midwife in East Greenland, Harald Boassen, who hunted traditionally by kayak until the 1980s, and Eigil Knut, an artist who created busts of villagers from Tasiilaq. I will be interviewing locals who knew Sofie, Harald and the people that Eigil Knut made busts of, and then put together an exhibition with stories and pictures. As well as these tasks, I will also be doing some paid curator work, keeping the exhibition open to customers and showing them around the exhibition.

The weather was amazing for most of my first week, so I spent a lot of time outdoors after work. I’ve been exploring the town and even going for short hikes to some incredible viewpoints, and this weekend, I climbed a mountain.

Tasiilaq sure has a lot to offer. There are plenty of mountains and trails to hike and sights to explore, so I will not be bored here. I’m excited for the upcoming ten weeks!