This is Anouk. Anouk is seven years old and comes from Greenland, a massive island between Canada and the Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Denmark. Anouk lives with his parents and grandparents.
Before he goes to bed, his grandfather tells him stories about when he was younger. Anouk loves listening to his grandfather's stories. As a child, he did not live in a house, like Anouk, but in a self-made igloo. An igloo is a dome-shaped house of snow. Anouk thinks it must have been terribly cold living in an igloo in the winter. In fact, it's very cold all year round in Greenland. It never gets to more than about 10 degrees Celsius there, and that's in summer! In the winter, thermometers regularly show readings of minus 20 degrees. To make sure they did not freeze in the igloo, Anouk’s ancestors had to line its walls with thick furs. They stored the heat and life was actually quite cosy inside.
Anouk’s grandfather grew up with eight huskies. Huskies are sledge dogs with really thick black and white fur and strikingly blue eyes. You can harness them in front of a sledge and have yourself pulled along. In former times, Anouk’s grandfather always travelled by sledge because there was no alternative. Once, he was out on the sledge with his father when they happened upon a polar bear. The polar bear followed the sledge for quite some time before it finally gave up. Luckily, sledge dogs have a lot of stamina and, what’s more, are really fast. Anouk's grandfather has promised his grandson he will be allowed to drive a sledge some day when he is grown up. Anouk thinks it would be best to do this on a dark winter's night because then they would have a chance of seeing a genuine wonder in Greenland’s sky: due to the inclination of the Earth's axis, the poles are not illuminated by the sun for half a year. Because of the extreme darkness that prevails there – there are no street lamps or other light sources – you can see countless sparkling stars in the sky. Every now and then you will see a shooting star. But the polar lights are without doubt the most beautiful sight. These can only be seen in the most northerly parts of the world. Polar lights are like multicoloured, glowing veils that appear in the sky. They can have lots of different colours. Red, green, blue and pink - a genuine rainbow of colours.
Before he goes to bed, his grandfather tells him stories about when he was younger. Anouk loves listening to his grandfather's stories. As a child, he did not live in a house, like Anouk, but in a self-made igloo. An igloo is a dome-shaped house of snow. Anouk thinks it must have been terribly cold living in an igloo in the winter. In fact, it's very cold all year round in Greenland. It never gets to more than about 10 degrees Celsius there, and that's in summer! In the winter, thermometers regularly show readings of minus 20 degrees. To make sure they did not freeze in the igloo, Anouk’s ancestors had to line its walls with thick furs. They stored the heat and life was actually quite cosy inside.
Anouk’s grandfather grew up with eight huskies. Huskies are sledge dogs with really thick black and white fur and strikingly blue eyes. You can harness them in front of a sledge and have yourself pulled along. In former times, Anouk’s grandfather always travelled by sledge because there was no alternative. Once, he was out on the sledge with his father when they happened upon a polar bear. The polar bear followed the sledge for quite some time before it finally gave up. Luckily, sledge dogs have a lot of stamina and, what’s more, are really fast. Anouk's grandfather has promised his grandson he will be allowed to drive a sledge some day when he is grown up. Anouk thinks it would be best to do this on a dark winter's night because then they would have a chance of seeing a genuine wonder in Greenland’s sky: due to the inclination of the Earth's axis, the poles are not illuminated by the sun for half a year. Because of the extreme darkness that prevails there – there are no street lamps or other light sources – you can see countless sparkling stars in the sky. Every now and then you will see a shooting star. But the polar lights are without doubt the most beautiful sight. These can only be seen in the most northerly parts of the world. Polar lights are like multicoloured, glowing veils that appear in the sky. They can have lots of different colours. Red, green, blue and pink - a genuine rainbow of colours.
