They sleep, eat whatever is within sight, and would rather hang with their friends than spend any time with a teacher during the summer. Even if she is cool, funny, hip, groovy, rad, and is from California in the United States. I have survived two teenagers, and am in the midst of two more. Why am I surprised that a few degrees north of my home teenagers are reluctant to meet a teacher that they don’t know, who is from somewhere they don’t care about, at the precious end of a summer holiday?
For two days I waited on the steps of the school for those who had verbally committed to coming to meet me. One parent dragged her son to fulfill his commitment, then tried to help me round up some additional students. I had lessons ready for them, plans to explain to them all about the Kap Höegh research, and was prepared to set them on fire with my teaching. But no, they were just like my son, and countless others like him all over the globe. They would rather sleep, hang with their friends and listen to tunes than meet another adult. Especially over summer vacation.
Friendly community members who spoke English were approached with my dilemma. Suggestions were made, go here, talk to this person, through a rock up at the window to see if he is in. All were attempted, with few results until Sunday. I was introduced to the new teacher for the public school. Pierre Knutsson, the new teacher is Danish Formerly a violin maker, then a self employed repairer of instruments, and most recently certified in teaching with an emphasis in special needs students, Pierre comes to Ittoqqortoormiit to calm himself, or to see if it might occur.
The beauty of this location convinced Pierre to spend a year teaching in Ittoqqortoormiit.
Willing and interested in whatever cultural immersion might be obtained, he would like to join in a hunt: seals, narwhal, even polar bear. No hunting license is needed in Greenland, just the ability to aim and the willingness to share in the take. One may even participate in a portion of the meat, if their aim is true. Karina, of NANU travel, explained that the local spoken law allows that anyone who cast a stone at a freshly downed animal may have a portion. She brought home a large piece of polar bear that had been shot near the post office last week. "I picked up a rock and hurled it toward the dead beast. My stone was recognized so I went home with a slab of bear for my freezer. It is local law, nothing is written down.”
Pierre and I have talked about science education here and about working within the natural resources available here. We will have our students improve their word processing skills by emailing to each others classrooms. We are discussing a multi-classroom project to sample invertebrates near our available water ways. Considering the interest my Hawaiian colleague has in developing cross cultural links, we have discussed additional science concepts. Fish are available in all three locations, so a comparative study of endemic fish might be possible. If each can upload photos, we can send images of dissected stomach contents to see if the fish are consuming the same types of fuel. We will inspect the science facilities today and see what we can brainstorm to share.