Anthroplogy

I must first post a disclaimer: it is late, I am tired. We worked a 16 hour day yesterday, which pales in the face of my old days, spent on the back of the Bering Sea, but is very tiring once one has grown used to more land- lubberly hours.
Another busy flight week is upon us. Hercules, it is said, had 12 "ardours" tasks; and though we did not have to clean the 3000 ox stables, as he did, we were sent to hand load 8000 lbs of science cargo into a Dash 8 aircraft today.
Batteries, GPS units, solar panels and empty fuel drums (to be filled and then staged along the east coast for helicopter support) were all hefted from the ground by us (humble schleppers) and stowed by a magician of geometric spaces (Icelandic Air's flight engineer).
The mosquitoes are thick. I have learned, by observing, that though a hundred may sit on my skin, only a few will ever bite. The wind all but eliminates the hordes. Never scratch, and do not allow the buzzing to disrupt your mind; wear ear plugs!
A group of anthropologists from Bowdoin College, in Maine, is passing through on their way to Inglefield land. Inglefield land is north of Thule on the west coast. They are studying the interface between Peary and the Inuit that lived at this site. The lead researcher, known as the "PI" or, principal investigator, Genevieve Le Moine, and her colleague, Christine Darwent, and I found ourselves standing around in the thrumming peak of the tourist season at Kangerlussuaq airport awaiting the arrival of another college, Hans Lange from Nuuk, the capitol city (pop 20000) of Greenland. As we loitered, we talked. I learned that both Genevieve and Christine hail originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, where legends and facts, knowledge of the arctic, are instilled in every child's imagination. I also learn that Bowdoin College has an arctic history museum, which Genny is the archival director of. What i don't learn until later, is that the group is carrying around a Robert Peary doll, which they have their pictures taken with all over the Arctic at odd places, such as in front of a ski equipped military cargo plane, or a big red cement building that says KISS.
One of the things that makes me really happy is seeing toddlers out playing with their older siblings when most of the world would think they should be in bed. Ten pm seems to be the local high point of play ground activity here; teens on the soccer field, 8 year old girls learning to do pop o wheelies, pods of kindergartner's waiting for turns on the slide, moms on swings, the night is alive with the light of the sun and the buzz of insects and the speed of the river's course.
Trucks are running back and forth to the harbor, 9 miles west, collecting and depositing 20 ft containers. One of the two annual freighters is in port, delivering the bulk of Kangerlussuaq's commodities.
The river is positively galloping!We are coated in fine, silica dust, baptised by time, and sparkling sun. We shclepp boxes for research and inquire the "whys" of other's passionate intellect. The weather is wonderfull and warm. I walk barefooted in the sand dunes looking at the almost, constant, fair weather sky though I should be sleeping......... I spent Sunday reading, "from Walden", by Thoreau, in a camp chair by the Watson. I spoke with my niece, in Montana, about Polar bears ("no, Willa, I have not yet been lucky enough to see a Polar bear. They do not live this far south). I promise to write her a story about how a Polar bear spends it's life. She promises to send me a drawing of what she thinks a polar bear looks like. I sense the beginning of something wonderful.