KAFFE MIK. Uummannaq, Greenland. We got a bit of a snowstorm yesterday, which makes the roads at once slightly treacherous and quite lovely to walk on. The sound of the snow, which is very dry, is very pleasant... I am given to understand that the people here can tell how cold it is by the sound that the snow makes underfoot. I'm not surprised. I AM surprised that more baby carriages don't go hurtling down the streets here, which are pretty hilly. But I digress... My housemate is excited about the snow both because it means that dog sledding on the lake is near, AND because it has been very calm in the harbor and beyond, and that makes for good seal hunting weather. Our neighbor Rasmus, who doesn't speak a word of either Danish or English, downed 4 seals two days ago. His porch is still awash in frozen blood and is decorated with intermittent dollups of seal fat and assorted guts. Yummy. The rest has gone to his dogs. They were pretty happy about it.

One of the teachers at school had a birthday this week and though she is one of the many Danish teachers here, she celebrated with a cool Greenlandic tradition called a Kaffe Mik. How it works is that when someone has a birthday or a big anniversary or something, it becomes known by the town (by word of mouth and some sign-age), and the person whose occasion it is hosts a celebration. People from the whole town, really, will drop by at some point during this Kaffe Mik and they are first welcomed in, take off their shoes and jacket, etc., and then they proceed to the kitchen, where they eat... something (I'll come back to this in a second). Then they move on to the dining room for cakes and coffee, then to the living room for a little snort of booze of some kind (Bailey's and Grand Marnier are favorites), and then they say goodbye and leave. The whole schmoozing progression usually takes about 20-30 minutes per person. This way, people can be funneled through and everyone gets a chance to talk to the birthday/anniversary person, as well as hang out and socialize a little, but not too long.

If it's a big anniversary or birthday, in the kitchen, there will be a smorgasbord of Greenlandic delicacies, like whale and seal and reindeer dishes; then the dining room will have cakes and coffee and tea, and the living room, the liquor. Tina, the teacher, turned 29, and it was a more modest thing. So she was only baking for about a week and half ahead of time. She had about 12 different kinds of cakes and tarts and cookies and biscuits. It was pretty nice. I was only there for about 30 minutes, but I saw a bunch of teachers from the school and a handful of students, most of whom belonged to the teachers who came by. I had to dash home to prepare for soccer practice.

There is one cute story to tell about soccer- well, two. I find it charming and kind of funny that for a town of 1000 people, there are 2 different soccer teams. I guess it's not so funny, EXCEPT that there is this rivalry between them that is very real. They have practices on different days, and team colors and names that are graffiti-ed all around town... And people are pretty fiercely loyal to their team. When I mention to anyone that I play soccer, they immediately ask, "Are you with Malamuk or UB-68?" I am lucky- since I'm only here a short time, I won't choose- I'll just play with both.... which keeps me from instantly alienating (only slightly) whomever I am speaking to. In any case, the other cute thing about it is that soccer takes place at night, indoors (of course) in this sports arena, that has some bleachers and a big gym floor. Since there's not a lot of "stuff" to do in town- no real restaurants, 1 bar, no movie theatre, etc.- there are ALWAYS spectators, even for the Old Girls' practice that I attended last night, that had 12 ladies ranging in age from 28 (me) to mid-50's. It's pretty funny. Lots of young kids, a bunch of random friends and spouses and a handful of drunks from the bar up the street can be found on any night, spectating soccer or badminton or handball, and the sports hall has a grill that sells sodas, hot dogs, burgers and fries. And LOTS of candy.

Anyway, it's nice that it's snowing, except that the dark comes in earlier when it's cloudy, and there aren't too many days of light left. When the darkness comes, I will have to reach into my archives to dredge up photos from when it was (is) still light. But it's pretty amazing, and I'm feeling quite at home here. I am even learning a little Greenlandic, which people are delighted to hear me speak, even if I butcher it. (which I do. a bit.) Takuss...