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..