;)
Last night, after the delegations from Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland had ratified the Nuuk Declaration of 2010, elected Aqqaluk Lynge of Greenland to be the ICC Chair and had chosen Canada to host the next General Assembly in four years, they gathered for a farewell feast.
The after-dinner entertainment was provided by Artcirq - or Arctic Circus - from the Canadian High Arctic Community of Igloolik. According the Artcirq website, Igloolik, population 1500, suffers a suicide rate of four to six young adults every year.
Artcirq was formed in response as a way to present young people with something that was fun and healthy, as an alternative to substance abuse and suicide.
Based upon acrobatics, juggling and clowning as has been traditionally practiced in Inuit culture, a group of youth formed a circus and then went to Montreal for professional training at the National Circus School. They have since performed in many Arctic Communities.
As for me, I need to figure out how to cover a few of the cultural events taking place here in Nuuk today as well as how to explain the Nuuk Declaration and prepare a wrap up from the thousands and thousands and thousands of words and statements that I have gathered and the two or three or four thousand images or so that I have shot.
I am suffering from a severe lack of sleep and horrible chest and sinus congestion that at times seems to border on pneumonia, so it is going to be a bit of a challenge, but one way or another, I will do it.