Dust . Helpfulness . Noise . Curiosity . Traffic . Smiles

As I'm writing this, I am sitting on the roof of our building in Amman enjoying a magnificent view of the craziest city I've ever visited.
All around me the minarets tower up over the insanely noisy and crowded streets of Amman. I have never (I can't not emphasize 'never' enough!) experienced a so scary traffic. To cross a road here in Amman or to go by car to somewhere else is literally like playing russian roullette.
There are hardly any traffic lights and speeding limits is something you only respect when there's a police man nearby (and even then, not always). Besides from these two seemingly harmless facts, there are no lines to separate the lanes on the road. And the drivers are certainly not trying to make an effort to keep the traffic calm and regulated.
It is absolutely crazy. It's sort of like crossing the German Autobahn.

The reason why I am in Jordan is that I've been fortunate enough to get a job here (just for 9 days) as an workshop-instructor for school teachers in a city north of Amman called Zarqa.
The workshop we are doing here is focusing on how the teachers can use Ultimate Frisbee as a tool for developing the life skills (cooperation, communication, conflict resolution, hightened self-esteem) of the children in the schools.

Coming here there was a lot of uncertainties regarding the workshop: how many participants would we have, how many of them would be women, in what kind of gym hall would the workshop take place, and many many other things.
Tomorrow we have Day 4 of the workshop and most of the questions have (fortunately) been answered.

We have about 23 participants, of which 7 are women. The ages of the participants range from 18 to 60, which isn't as big a problem as I would have thought.
Most of the participants are teachers in Zarqa in what is considered underpriviliged schools.
The workshop itself is being held at an all-girls school in Zarqa. Because it's an all-girls school we are pretty limited in where we go on the school. We are allowed to be in the gym (of course) and do short breaks in the school yard (but not when there's a break between classes for the girls, because the girls are not really allowed to look at all these men).

We had been talking a lot about how it would work with the women as a part a group with all of these loudmouthed men with huge egos (we've heard a lot about the men from a former workshop).
But I must say: It's been a great eye-opener for me to be here. At first when I saw the women at the workshop, I thought that it would be a tough job to get them to understand and be enthusiastic about what we would be doing. But no.
Sajera, Raja, Rayya, Saja, Eman, Islam, Sadiqa and Jasmin are some of the strongest and most comitted people I have ever met. And for that I can do nothing but take my hat off.
They have an open mind, they are curious, and most importantly, they want to learn and to get better.
Watching those niqab-wearing women running around after a disc gives me a smile on my face that nothing can ruin.

Therefore my thanks goes out to you!

Back in Cph

Wow..

This is kind if weird.

Louise and I flew from Reykjavik last night at 1:00 am local time (3:00 am Danish time) and landed 3 hours later in Cph (6:00 am Danish time). My dad was there to pick us up and took us to his house north of Copenhagen, where we had breakfast.

Now Louise is at work and I'm sitting in our apartment looking out on a gray, windy, rainy backyard. Could it be more different from what I have been used to for the last 3-ish months?

I can never get my head around how much things look the same even though you've been away for a while.
So different, but still so familiar.

I wonder what it would've been like without the 4 days of acclimation in Iceland.. It's almost a scary thought.

But I'm looking so much forward to seeing you all. No doubt there!

/ Aslak

Tip #4

Jeg beklager den dårlige lyd, men det er sgu lidt svært at finde læ, når man står oppe på en gletscher.

Tip Lyngmarksbræen from Aslak Lau Rolvsen on Vimeo.

3 days in heaven is better than 1 day in heaven

Fra bunden af mit hjerte, tak. Tak. Tak.

Hannah, Jon og Kristine.

Tip #3

If you think that 4 days is enough for doing the things you want to do here, book 7 days.

There are two reasons why you should do this:

Reason no. 1:

It is when you don't have any plans a lot of the unforgettable things happen.
For example, yesterday was the first day of school for the new 1st graders.

We didn't have any plans, so I could just enjoy this fantastic scenary. All the small boys and girls in their national costumes sucking their thumbs and crying when daddy left them in front of the crowd. Unforgettable.

Reason no. 2:

There is this word in Greenlandic : "Immaqa". The best translation of Immaqa would be something like maybe.

Immaqa can be used in a lot of different contexts, but mostly we (the guides) use it for our guests to describe the insecurity surrounding the completion of the excursions.

Today two of our guests was supposed to go on a helicopter ride to the glacier front. A trip they have been looking forward to very much.

And then we woke up today and saw a very wet, foggy Ilulissat.

At first the heli ride was postponed for an hour, but then after an hour we had to go tell the guests that their trip was cancelled. That will never be my favorite part of the job.

My message is this: You never know what happens here. An engine can get a leak, the fog can come in, the captain of the boat can be drunk.. It's waaay better to expect your trips to be cancelled or rearranged - and to have the time for it.

Tip #2

Find great people that make your days beautiful

I thank you all very much

Tip #1 - and more

Tip 1 from Aslak Lau Rolvsen on Vimeo.

Project "Quiet Friday nights in Ilulissat"

When people set up a blog, they usually have some kind of agenda. I haven't really succeeded in this so far - well, only regarding hating on Mr. Niemann (yes, I'm still bitter. Sorry).

But.

During the next couple days I will try to serve you a guide on what you should do and what you should leave be in Greenland (of course based on my experiences here)

Doesn't that sound exciting?! Yeah!

Veni, Vidi, enjoyed

It is actually incredibly simple. I couldn't be more happy. Well, I could; but that would require a special someone getting on a flight to Greenland.

Ever since I landed in Ilulissat and saw Kasper's beautiful face at the airport, I've had the time of my life.

Every morning you wake up to a different day. Some mornings are quiet, some mornings are hectic. Some days you only have to be at the airport to meet new guests, some days you are going on a helicopter-ride.
It's surprisingly difficult for me to describe in words, therefore I'm posting some snapshots from the time spent in Ilulissat. Maybe that will give you an idea of what it is like here?


Presenting: Kasper, AnneKatrine and Hannah. Chilling and waiting for one of the cruiseships


Almost every day we go by the local fish market (Brættet / The Board) where the fisherman sell what they catch. This day a minke whale had been killed. We got 1,6 kg of fresh whale-meat for just 80 kr. The fish and whale is unbelievably cheap :-)


Hannah and I enjoying whale burgers!


Lyngmarksbræen. Of course the picture is taken from my seat in the helicopter


Yours truly on Lyngmarksbræen


Lyngmarksbræen is the only place in the area where you can go dog-sledging in the summer.


Vuf


The helicopter went back and forth between the glacier and Qeqertarsuaq with the people that were going on the sledges


Taken on last nights midnight cruise. The sun is now gone for an hour during the night.
The ice is partly black ice, partly white ice. Anybody know the difference?

Schüss!

BTW

A gigantic thanks to Kun, Hack, Joan, Michelle, Birthe, Louise, Quincy, Renato and Ramiel for giving me something to look back on with great great joy.




I wish you all the best!

Me, Myself and Arne

So, arrived in Ilulissat 2 days ago. To begin with I wasn't supposed to go to Ilulissat until mid-August, but then everything turned crazy.

My boss in the hotel in Uummannaq was never an easy guy to work for. In fact, I have never (and I mean NEVER) met a worse boss and/or personality. No trust, no people skills, no boundaries, no nothing.
I consider myself a fairly tolerant and patient person, but still I got stomach aches every time he walked in the door.

It's no secret that I was doing a lot of (hotel)work which wasn't what I had signed up for back in CPH. But slowly it was ok; I was focusing on the fantastic people and the amazing nature, trying to ignore the fact that Arne was there.

Then, out of the blue, I got a call from the Arctic Adventure Office in CPH. It was Hannah asking how I was doing.
I told her that everything was the same (I had send the office a mail about how I was doing in Uummannaq - not withholding anything). Hannah then asked if something had happened between Arne and I. Not really. Same same every day. He's a dick - I avoid him as much as possible.
Then she told me that Arne had called the office earlier that morning asking for a replacement. Apparently he was not satisfied with my work, but he had not given more specific details as to what I had done wrong. Still, Arne has not said anything to me about all of this. All of the information I've received is from co-workers in Arctic Adventure (AA) and in Hotel Uummannaq.

Arnes wish to get a replacement combined with my willingness to leave him triggered the office in CPH and the coordinator in Greenland, Kasper, into getting me out of there as fast as possible. Unfortunately I couldn't get on a helicopter before saturday, so I had to stand up with this crazy man for 4 days.

I didn't see much of him (he was avoiding me big time. Each time I stepped in a room, he hurried out), and he never gave me an explanation of why he didn't want me around.
I've been told by the office in CPH that he said that I wasn't working enough and the things I did, I didn't do well enough.. That I was disturbing the guests on the tours, overloading them with talk about myself and not about Greenland.. That I was telling the wrong things about Greenland..

Everytime I think about it, it just stuns me. I have a real hard time seeing where he's coming from.
But now I'm sitting in a house far far away from him. So fuck him.

By the way, nobody wanted to take my place (not even the other guide companies in the area). Maybe he will do the work I wasn't doing then?

Saying goodbye to Uummannaq - apparently

Yep. It's true. I'm being shipped off to Ilulissat on Saturday already.

I will get back to you with the sleezy details once I arrive in Ilulissat - and I promise you, it's ok sleezy.

Og så på dansk:

Et godt stykke tid før tid, bliver jeg lørdag fløjet til Ilulissat, hvor jeg skal være resten af sæsonen.
Jeg venter med at gå i nærmere detaljer til jeg befinder mig i Ilulissat, men jeg kan sige så meget, at der er dømt sladder - og bagtalelse :-)

Done and done

Ever since I realised that the town of Uummannaq is placed on an island, I've been wanting to do a trip around the island.
I'm not sure how long it is, but I had heard that the east side of the island would be the worst part mostly consisting of loose rocks of shales.
So today was the day where I went on the east side of the Uummannaq Mountain to see for myself, if it it as bad as the rumours says.
There was nothing much to do in the hotel and my guests didn't need my help, so I got the rest of the day off, packed some water, raisins and my cap (this turned out to save my day later on) and headed of towards the east of the island.

Just so you all have an idea of the geography of Uummannaq Island. The island is actually one big mountain; the top of the mountain is placed on the middle of the island meaning that there are hardly any nice flat areas to walk on. But. On the west side of the island the mountain side is not at all as steep as it is on the east side – and on top of that the surface materials you walk on changes with every stone you cross – today I have been walking on huge rocks, in sand, in shales, in turf, on hard rock, in water, on loose loose rocks.. And almost all of it was on the mountain side with a declination of 25-70 degrees.

I started off at 12:00 and had the plan that I would turn back at 14:00. In that way I would be back for the semifinal between Germany and Spain :-)

The slopes on the east side was everything I had imagined and a bit more. I was struggling in the loose material and for every step I took, I lost at least 75% stepping through the gravel. But it was beautiful and silent. I was loving it – and because of that, I continued further and further away from the town.
Suddenly the time had reached 14:00 and I had come a much longer way than I would have expected. I was still fresh and believed that the north end of the island wouldn't be that far away – besides from that, I would never ever go back the same way I came.
Therefore Mr. Rolvsen continued along the high mountain sides determined to do the Tour de Uummannaq today.

My high moods caused by the anticipation of seeing the northside of the island quickly turned into a more limited joy. I was getting a bit tired and the shales and loose rock just continued on and on.
Apparently I was nowhere near the north end, but when I eventually found out I had gone to far to turn back.
The goal was now to find that north point and to find some more water (I knew that the trip would get a bit (danish understatement) longer than I originally had expected and my water supply was running out).
Finally the steep slopes of loose rock and sand turned into a more rocky surface. The mountain side was still very steep, but at least now I could count on the surface not underneath my feet.

Since the north side is as hard to get to as it is, it's a very unspoiled and pristine place. And more importantly: since the sun isn't that hard on this side of the island, the moss, flowers and herbs bloom here in abundance. It's one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Hands down.
Of course I had forgotten the memory card for my camera in my computer (how stupid can you be..), so you will just have to take my word for it.

But just as beautiful as it was going around the north end of mountains, just as hard it was.
The mountains have arisen in such a way that the ledges all go up and up until you find yourself looking down 200 m of shear vertical rock. Because of this I had to climb down seemingly unclimbable walls to get to the bottom – all of this just to go around the wall and walk up again through one of the gullies.
Slowly I was making progress and little by little I could recognize the view to some of the surrounding islands.
But I must confess that when standing on a ledge 200 m up looking for, but not finding a way back or down... I felt like just sitting down and wait for something to happen. Fortunately I got my head together again and climbed/jumped/crawled my way down.

After almost 6 hours of struggling I made it back to the hotel and the last 15 minutes of the football game. A lot of scratches, bruises and experiences richer.
It truly was a huge experience, but I'm not sure if I want to do it again. The reason: That goddamned east side of the island. The rest of the trip I would love to do again, but there's no way I'm going back to those steep, treacherous slopes.

Getting back to the hotel I also found out that the Danish Ultimate Frisbee team Ragnarok ended up 12th at the World Championships for Clubs in Prague.
Therefore; this one goes out to you guys! Well done!

/ Aslak

Videopost

Ja, så er der nyt videoklip :-) Det tog mig også kun 3,5 timer at uploade det..

Ud i det blå from Aslak Lau Rolvsen on Vimeo.

I øvrigt var gæsterne meget søde og var meget spendervillige :-)

A little bit of everything

Usually this is the way I go with my guests on the hikes. Just behind the big rock to the left in the picture there's a small water stream - it's the best water I've tasted for a looong time!


View over my camp on a trip to the mountains. Pretty ok view waking up to :-)

Guess who. Taken on a trip to the mountains


One of many many pictures of icebergs I've taken so far - they never stop impressing me


I present to you: Uummannaq


Trip to Qilakitsoq. The mummies were found in graves under the rock, where the guy in the khaki shirt is standing.


"The Bird Cliffs". The cliffs goes 1000 m in the high working as a nesting site for thousands and thousands of birds.
The small black spots around the cliffs are not dust on my lense - it's birds soaring on air streams. Pretty amazing view.


Nature's own compass in "The Desert". The stone is completely scolded on the south side and mossy on the north


"The sleeping man". Do you see him?


Saattut. A settlement north of Uummannaq. The settlement has 231 living souls, a supermarket, a school, laundry facilities, and a lot of happy kids.

Good times in North Greenland

My apologies to those of you who doesn't speak any Danish.

I'm simply to tired in my head to think in English – and more important, I'm dedicating this post to my grandparents who (I believe) would appreciate if I once in a while did my posts in Danish.

Tiden går vanvittigt hurtigt heroppe. Det må siges.

Jeg tænker, at det primært bunder i, at jeg stort set har arbejdet siden jeg ankom til Uummannaq.

Godt nok var de første dage ikke så stringente, eftersom det hovedsageligt handlede om, at jeg skulle sætte mig ind i, hvordan byen er indrettet, hvordan tingene fungerer her, hvor vandreruterne er sat, hvordan jeg skal lave mine ture med gæsterne, osv. Men arbejde, det gjorde jeg.

Efter den indledende tid her, er jeg til gengæld blevet et velkendt ansigt på hotellet.

Mine dage starter kl 8 med morgenmad (både egen og hotelgæsternes), derefter gøres klar til frokost med efterfølgende formiddagskaffe.

Fra 12 til 13 serverer vi frokost for hotelgæster i den ene restaurant og for de lokale i den anden. Menuen er fuldstændig ens, men prisen er meget forskellig – gæt engang hvorledes.

Efter frokost gør vi klar til middagen, for derefter selv at nyde en velfortjent spisepause.

Derfra sker der som regel ikke meget før middagen begynder, hvilket betyder, at jeg ofte har noget tid til at gå en tur, læse, drikke kaffe, eller noget helt fjerde.

De sidste par dage har dog (heldigvis) været en lidt anden historie. Jeg har haft 4 gæster boende her over weekenden – og vigtigere endnu: 4 gæster som har været enormt nysgerrige på at opleve noget heroppe. Jeg har haft dem med på udvidet vandretur til fjeldet med frokost på bjergskråningen, haft dem med på byrundtur, samt på heldags-bådtur. Og det er især bådturen, der gør, at jeg må skrive dette indlæg.

Bådturen er en tur rundt i fjorden, hvor man først tager til Qilakitsoq, hvor der i 1972 blev fundet 8 ekstremt velbevarede mumier (derudover er her en masse husruiner og grave fra 1400-tallet). Dernæst tager man forbi Ikerasak, hvor Flemming Jensen boede i en årrække i 70'erne (det er denne bygd hans bøger ”Vejledning i Sælfangst” og ”Imaqa” tager udgangspunkt i), på vej mod et utroligt, geologisk fænomen på østsiden af Storøen. Her er der den massiv forekomst af svovl og mange andre mineraler, der har ætset og formet landskabet til et ørkenlandskab uden lige. Den store forekomst af forskellige mineraler giver et utroligt farvespil i landskabet, samt en god chance for at finde rubiner, guld, granater og mange andre spændende ting.

Efter besøget i ”Ørkenen” sejler man ud forbi et fjeld, der rejser sig 1000 meter direkte ud af vandet. Udover at være imponerende i sig selv, huser fjeldet tusinder af ynglende mallemukker og tejster, hvilket giver et vanvittigt syn, når man lægger sig ind til fjeldvæggen og kigger op.

Til slut sejler man ud til en virkelig velfungerende bygd kaldet Saattut, der har en befolkning på omkring 231 mennesker (hvilket er en stor bygd). I Saattut er en Royal Greenland-fabrik (selvfølgelig); et Pilersuisoq-supermarked; en meget smuk lille kirke; et servicehus, hvor folk kan tage et bad og få vasket deres tøj (der er intet rindende vand i bygden); en skole (1.-9. klasse), hvor samtlige lærere er uddannede og lokale (et meget sjældent fænomen i Grønland, men et tegn, hvor godt bygden fungerer); en masse hunde og en masse glade børn.

Fra Saattut kan man derudover se klippeformation (Den Liggende Mand), som har form som ansigtet på en liggende indianer.

Slut går turen hjemover mod Uummannaq. Den store udfordring er her at fordøje alle indtrykkene.

Udover det planlagte program er der på turen selvfølgelig udsigt til smukke fugle, isbjerge og klipper. Og sidst men ikke mindst er der udsigt til Indlandsisen, der rejser sig ude i horisonten.

På turen i går fungerede Arne (min chef heroppe) som guide, eftersom der også var en gruppe danskere med, og jeg var så tolk for mine 4 gæster (og så gav jeg lidt bonusinfo til de gæster, der var omkring mig, når jeg mente der var brug for det :-)).

En ting var at turen var ubeskriveligt fantastisk, men en anden ting for mig var, at gæsterne (både mine egne og de danske) gav udtryk for, at de var rigtig glade for min deltagelse på turen. Altid dejligt med lidt ros :-)

Så hvis du/I nogensinde skal til Grønland: Drop Ilulissat, Nuuk, og alle de andre byer. Kom til Uummannaq. Naturen og byen her er alle pengene værd.

Mine gæster tager så hjem i dag (mandag), og hverdagen på hotellet begynder igen. Men jeg skal sgu ikke brokke mig. Jeg står lige nu i restauranten og nyder en udsigt over Uummannaq-fjorden inden jeg skal op og lukke øjnene i et øjeblik – de sidste dage har været helt vidunderlige, men også 14-16 timer lange, så jeg er lidt træt.

Jeg har en hulens masse billeder jeg så gerne vil vise fra bådturen og fra min overnatning i fjeldet, men det kræver lidt mere tid end jeg har til rådighed nu, så det må blive senere. Men de skal nok komme!

Jeg håber I alle det fint!

/ Aslak

Life in Uummannaq

Slowly I'm getting a bit more settled in the daily chores.

I have some long days here, beginning at 8 am and ending at 10 pm closing down the restaurant after dinner.
Fortunately though it's not like I'm working every minute in this time gap. Usually I've got time to go for a good walk and to read a bit.

Of course this is only the case when I have no guests to attend to. Right now there are only two Arctic Adventure-guests here, but two guests that don't want my assistance. It's two German women in their 40's, and they hardly speak any English.
They are afraid that they will crowd their program and overload the experience, which is why they just wander around the town and island – on their own.
If it was me that had 3 days up here, I would try to experience as much as possible, but hey! That's just me.
But fortunately I was able to set up a Kaffe-mik for them today (the only thing they wanted help with). So today I'm picking up the two ladies and taking them to a local woman called Elisabeth, who has prepared a traditional kaffe-mik for them.
That'll be fun to try!

I wont have any guests before next Friday, so until then I'll just work in the hotel.

I can feel that I've been here for a while now, and that I can recognize people around the town – and that they can recognize me as well (at least that's what I tell myself). It gives my stay a stronger ”home-like” feeling, which is a nice feeling.

Well, I just wanted to say hi, and show you some pictures I taken during my time here.

Oh, before I go: I had the strangest but coolest experience here on last Friday. A German acting group (Das Letzte Kleinod) had set up a play about the meeting between the Inuit people and the German whalers back in the 17th and18th century.
They used the old house for storing all the blubber from the whales, which gave the whole thing a real authentic impression.

The inuit was portrayed by a famous Greenlandic actress (whose name I don't remember now..). All her lines were done in Greenlandic which meant that I didn't understand a word, but they were good at showing the moods with their faces and gestures. So you kind of had an idea whether to cry or laugh. The rest of the play was done in a combination of English and German.

Great experience!

The village of Niaqornat. Situated on the Nussuaq Peninsula


One of the hundreds of puppies. Taken in one of the villages north of Uummannaq


The newest cemetery in Uummannaq


View from a trip north of Uummannaq town. The town is placed on the far side of the land from where I took the picture. Maybe you can see it?


Probably the best placed football field in the world. But definetely not the best football field quality-wise. Taken in Uummannaq


Typical Uummannaq houses



Storøen (The Great Island). The neighbour of Uummannaq. A beautiful view to wake up to


The view from the hotel's terrace. You can see the church, the old house where the doctor used to live (the yellow house next to the church), the supermarket (the big red house on the left), the water-cleansing facility (?) (the big silo behind the supermarket), and last but not least, the Board (Brædtet) all the way in the front of the picture. This is where the fishermen sell their catch.


It can be like this also.. You can just see Storøen under the clouds.



Guess who. Taken at the same time as the previous picture