snow day

things are coming full circle. today, september 10th, i saw and felt the season's first snowfall in Sisimiut. before it happened i somehow knew it was going to be an exceptional day. the air seemed especially fresh and good to breathe, and my knee aches in the way it does to only certain kinds of cold. the mountains directly across from the kitchen window, some of the lowest in the area, are dusted with snow.

i commented to Mads and Trine (my hosts), who moved here one and a half months ago from Denmark, that the snow was coming to get them. it really is an entity all its own. the flat Mads and Trine (an anthropologist working for the municipality and a teacher, respectively), share has windows on opposite sides. one side frames an unobstructed view of the sea, the Davis Strait. directly on the other side of that immense water is North America.

tomorrow i will get up early and dress warm because through the magic of the universe i am getting a free ride up to Ilulissat with a boat captain M. & T. know. he and his crew are going up there to pick up a French film crew and the trip has already been paid for. also, i don't take up too much space. it's seven hours long, and then we will be in Disko Bay and then - the iceberg fields!

did i mention i left my laptop at my apartment in Nuuk for some reason? like, on purpose? along with most of my stuff, including my beloved maroon sweater. even now i am totally surprised that i did that. i think it was a test. i am anxious! it only made me realize how attached i've become to the things i have been carrying with me for these past 7 months or so. in my life, as it is now, they are basically the only things i can touch that are constant and available anytime, every day. they wear down much faster since they are used more, but everytime i unpack and repack these objects in a new place, in my mind i go through some slightly emotional re-telling of the how's and when's and who's associated with them. they fulfill small but real needs that make a long journey possible. i feel as if i could almost shed a tear missing my sweater, as if it were a friend, especially on a cold snowy day like today.