Cut! Until We Meet Again....

Cut! Until We Meet Again....

By Nancy Wachowich

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

No long goodbyes

My traveling baby Hector and I left the filming camp at Siuraarjuk late last week. A two-day break was called for cast and crew, so we prepped ourselves for another qamutiq ride back across the sea ice to Igloolik.

This time, I borrowed Bonnie's purple amautiq and carried Hector myself. Bumpy bumpy ride on the Sila qamutiq. Soon after stopping for (frozen) ham & cheese sandwiches in the middle of the sea ice, we saw a lone husky sled-dog running towards Igloolik. How did he get there? Where did he come from? Where was his team? We hadn't a clue.

Most of the cast and crew have returned to Siuraarjuk now to continue filming, but Hector and I are starting our journey back to Scotland this afternoon. I have to resume my work at the university and he has nursery school to attend. Real life beckons. We are leaving Igloolik on the same plane as Jens Jørn Spottag, who goes home to Denmark after six weeks of playing Knud Rasmussen.

In the Inuktitut language, there is no direct translation for the English words hello and goodbye. Formerly a nomadic people, they travelled in nuclear or extended family groups throughout vast territories. Sometimes they would not see their relatives or friends for months or years on end. Everyone was moving, so you just never knew.... Inuit life in the past was all about greeting and then parting with those whom they loved. So why make a big deal about it?

On that note, this is my final blog.

Until we meet again..

NW