Randomness

Here's a random collection of pictures for you that--with explanations--hopefully gives you more glimpses into life at Summit camp.

At Memorial Day, we flew the American flag in camp, which also involved (either out of respect for our hosts or by official agreement, not sure which) flying the Greenlandic flag. Which is when I learned that any time the Greenlandic flag is flown, the flags of Denmark and the Faroe Islands must also be flown. So this was our Memorial Day scene.

We had a nice dinner on Memorial Day to mark the occasion, and someone from the construction crew had brought up to Summit some musk ox meat, which was grilled up for that dinner. I'm not much of a meat eater, but I did try the musk ox, as something new and typically Greenlandish. It was fine...not sure I'd eat it again, but now I've tried musk ox!

Also notable recently: at the very end of May we saw a sight we hadn't seen for the 3.5 weeks since we arrived here: a plane! The first weekend of June was very busy at camp, with seven flights, visiting scientists, safety inspectors, and some personnel turn-over. When the dust settled on Tuesday, we had a new group of scientists staying here, but with departing personnel the balance landed with only about three more people on base than there had been before the flight period. It was a relief to have camp feeling quiet and insular again.

One of the planes brought in three more fish huts (yes, the kind that people use for ice fishing in northern North America) as berthing mods, so that now there's a little village of fish huts that looks so cute and colorful against the stark white and blue of the landscape. (There's also a red fish hut, but it's set apart from the others at the back of the station because it's where our overnight bear watch sleeps, and we want her to have the greatest chance possible of getting decent sleep during the day.)

I also FINALLY took a walk on the runway last weekend, which I've been wanting to do since I got here, but which I'm always too tired at the end of a work day (and on Sundays) to actually do. But I think I'm finally well-acclimated to the physical labor of my job and the altitude and all else, because taking a walk on Sunday with one of my friends here and appreciating the quiet and the gorgeous day was exactly what I wanted to do.