home sweet tent

This is my home for the summer - a very cozy, mostly bug-free, 'tent'. I think 'cabin' is more the thing but the walls are flexible, so it's not really your average cabin either. It's not yet battened down in this picture.

The inside is quite comfy, with a small cot and foam mattress, night table, and a little closet for each person. I'm on my own in mine for another 10 days or so, and while I wouldn't mind company I kind of enjoy the privacy and the peace and quiet (of which there is an ample amount here!).


This is the inside. I have since switched my sleeping bag's direction so my head isn't right next to the window, plus I have a mattress now. It's still too cold in the night to have the windows open - it doesn't get dark, but it gets chilly. So I turn the heater on until it's borderline uncomfortably hot, turn it way down, and hope it's not freezing when I get up. Yesterday morning it was cold enough that I sort of shuffled over to the heater while still in my sleeping bag to turn it on - it was probably somewhere near 6C or so.

I don't see my breath here, which I think might be connected to how dry it is. It hasn't rained for about 3 weeks, which may be a little unusual, but it looks like rain later in the week. Walking on the moss and grasses that make up the ground cover sometimes sounds like walking on crunchy snow.

All things considered this is a very posh camp - the girls (all three of us - eventually it will be 4 and maybe 5) have our own shower and sink in a little cubicle in the wash tent, which is about twice as big as the cabin tents. There's lots of hot water and a place to wash our clothes when we need to. It will get a little more stretched when the drilling starts as the drillers will be coming in and out and also need to do laundry and things, but so far it's pretty good. And the cook makes really good food. So, things are going well so far. I got out in the field again yesterday and came back windburned, today I have been in the office, therefore, update. :)

wildlife count: arctic hare; grouse; eagle (all yesterday). Jose Luis saw a fox this morning.

the landscape

This is a picture of the lake on the south side of our camp. There's no fish in this one, as far as I know, but a couple of my coworkers caught some fish at the next lake down. We'll be having them for supper as soon as there's enough. I'm sure Gary's crushed about having to go fish some more. :)

And, the picture below is what we're here for. We all got the talking-to before we got out there about what we could and couldn't bring back... so no samples, sorry guys. ;) However I did get some nice pieces of some other minerals, and I'll post some pics once I have a suitable setup for my camera.

wildlife count: duck and duckling family; 6 (!!!) eagles of some kind.

even Greenland has graffiti.

The place we are closest to is called Fiskaenesset (or Qeqetarsuatsiat if you speak the language. I don't. I'm not nearly good enough at swallowing my q's.). Obviously someone had some pretty strong feelings about it at one point...

welcome to greenland.

So here is the promised Greenland blog! Huzzah! Welcome. :)

For those who come across this blog randomly, a little about myself and what I'm posting here. I'm a geologist working in Greenland for my first field season. It's a pretty interesting place (not to mention beautiful), and I'll be posting pictures here of my work this summer and fall.

On to the pictures. Hope you enjoy them!