Well. Now that we are back to writing in our blog...we had a true Northern experience this past week, that I figured we could share with all you folks back home...most who still don't even have snow!
Monday afternoon we got word that a crazy blizzard was coming in. We were not at all surprized to get the news that we wouldn't be headed into school on Tuesday morning. We got the whole day off, but we took a wander out over to the school- mostly to use the internet. There wasn't too much snow, it was the wind that was crazy. Most storms in the north aren't too snow-based. The winds just rip across the tundra with nothing to slow them down and create these massive snow drifts. They absolutely tower above your heads and can bring the town to a stand still. The weather is comparatively warm during a blizzard though, which is nice.
When we settled in for the night on Tuesday, we couldn't help but notice the wind picking up. We stuck our heads out the front door and we're blown away. We could not see across the street. It was a complete white out. When we tried to check our water light (it turns on red when you run low, and we were betting with the storm the water trucks would not be out) the garbage bag we use as a curtain got ripped out through the window. It was like a vaccuum.
Wednesday was easily the worst day. The snow was piled up against our door well past my hip, and we were told to stay inside no matter what. As if we would want to do anything else. We were officially snowed in- a la Little |House on the Prarie. The winds got up to 90 km an hour. It was simply not safe to go out. It ended up being kind of a surreal day. We haven't had such a lazy day since we got here. We woke up at 11 and it was pretty grey outside, watched a movie and by 1 in the afternoon it was midnight dark outside. The day flew by and it was eleven at night before we knew it.
It was definite confirmation that we need to come home for all our Christmas breaks. With storms like that, we would end up spending most of our holiday holed up on the couch. We're looking at two crazy weeks at home, but it will be worth the plane ticket just to see everybody.
Anyways, the storm finally calmed down mid-morning. This afternoon we were back in school. Everyone is gearing up for the Christmas concert, and school is just down right pleasant, so I was happy to get back and see all the kidlets. We are also planning our big YMCA exchange trip to Toronto for the spring and we wanted to get a parent meeting in before we leave for the break- hopefully the weather will cooperate!
One last thing...anyone looking to learn more about the north, try giving 'An Arctic Man' by Ernie Lyall a read. He lived in Taloyoak in the 70s- or Spence Bay as it was known then- and he puts a really interesting spin on it. Tons of his descendants are still in town today and we know them well.
Thursday 8 December 2011
Sunday 4 December 2011
Part 2 of Hiatus of Sorts
Housing Update:
So we do enjoy where we live. The place is quite nice and we would be quite content to stay there. However it is an elders complex so we are not allowed to stay. We're waiting on word from our Education Authority on what progress has been made on getting us our own house right now, so we'll see on that.
Shawna posted on facebook some pictures of the house and things. If you didn't see - I made an awesome walk-in freezer. It's approximately the size of our porch. It consists of snow and boxes. It works well.
So at this point I've got a few fish in one of the boxes, a bunch of bread that was on sale in another, and I think there's some Ice Cream somewhere in there too.
This is me with my spoils.
And defrosting the fish.
An important update in regards to the house is that it is really handy for hallowe'en. There's a little hallway that leads to each of the four units in our building. So I set up shop just inside our doorway to scare kids. A few small ones cried and many others jumped. The scheme: Shawna would open the door and invite the kids in holding a bowl of candy (to give a false sense of security) and as they entered the house I would yell and jab them with my pole.
We also put up our Christmas Tree. I picked up a bunch of decorations when I was away in Iqaluit. We got the tree from one of the RCMP officers that was leaving town. He forgot to give us a tree stand, so in the picture below the tree is held up with a box that has a hole in the top filled with a case of cream of mushroom soup to weight it down. It works, you just can't walk real quick by the tree as it's not terribly stable.
Weather Update:
The weather hasn't been too bad - it's totally manageable. Rule of thumb, as always, is be prepared. Everyday is a parka day now. The big thing, as always, is trying to stay out of the wind. The air is certainly cold, but the wind is the killer. Our parkas have huge hoods that work really well, so we've never really been that cold. If we didn't have those, I'm not sure how we would fare. Probably poorly. I should mention though, Shawna has said she's been cold a few of the bad days - but I've written that off as an effect of her poor circulation. I don't think any boot or coat could keep her warm. Her toes seem to get cold even though her boots are rated to -100. So, we're going to have to get that figured out.
We're pretty well in 24hr darkness. It's more like 20hr darkness and four hours of dusk sort of thing. We don't see the sun anymore, but there is horizon that suggests a sun is nearby. The picture below was taken at about 1:00pm. The suggestion of the sun hours are from about 10:00am - 1:30 or so right now. I'm pretty sure when at the end of December its totally dark, but I'm not positive.
Last week we scored two days off of school. There was a blizzard zipping through the area that began on Sunday night and carried through to Tuesday night. We were told that our principal rarely cancels school even once in a year, so to have two days off was quite the treat! We did venture out during the storm. The winds were the main concern that prevented school from going on. The snow drifts that were built up on account of the winds were insane! We're dealing with like 15' snow drifts. Simply nuts. Two of them spread across roads that were that large. Due to this, the school bus can't get around, so school was cancelled for that reason. We took some pictures of our adventure outside during the storm, but the pictures don't really do the winds justice. I didn't get pictures of the drifts, my bad. Perhaps next time. The plow has taken care of them by now.
So there's a bit of an update for now. We'll be home in two weeks as mentioned before. We're both uber excited to see everyone! Post a comment if you have a question about anything at all!
So we do enjoy where we live. The place is quite nice and we would be quite content to stay there. However it is an elders complex so we are not allowed to stay. We're waiting on word from our Education Authority on what progress has been made on getting us our own house right now, so we'll see on that.
Shawna posted on facebook some pictures of the house and things. If you didn't see - I made an awesome walk-in freezer. It's approximately the size of our porch. It consists of snow and boxes. It works well.
An important update in regards to the house is that it is really handy for hallowe'en. There's a little hallway that leads to each of the four units in our building. So I set up shop just inside our doorway to scare kids. A few small ones cried and many others jumped. The scheme: Shawna would open the door and invite the kids in holding a bowl of candy (to give a false sense of security) and as they entered the house I would yell and jab them with my pole.
We also put up our Christmas Tree. I picked up a bunch of decorations when I was away in Iqaluit. We got the tree from one of the RCMP officers that was leaving town. He forgot to give us a tree stand, so in the picture below the tree is held up with a box that has a hole in the top filled with a case of cream of mushroom soup to weight it down. It works, you just can't walk real quick by the tree as it's not terribly stable.
Weather Update:
The weather hasn't been too bad - it's totally manageable. Rule of thumb, as always, is be prepared. Everyday is a parka day now. The big thing, as always, is trying to stay out of the wind. The air is certainly cold, but the wind is the killer. Our parkas have huge hoods that work really well, so we've never really been that cold. If we didn't have those, I'm not sure how we would fare. Probably poorly. I should mention though, Shawna has said she's been cold a few of the bad days - but I've written that off as an effect of her poor circulation. I don't think any boot or coat could keep her warm. Her toes seem to get cold even though her boots are rated to -100. So, we're going to have to get that figured out.
We're pretty well in 24hr darkness. It's more like 20hr darkness and four hours of dusk sort of thing. We don't see the sun anymore, but there is horizon that suggests a sun is nearby. The picture below was taken at about 1:00pm. The suggestion of the sun hours are from about 10:00am - 1:30 or so right now. I'm pretty sure when at the end of December its totally dark, but I'm not positive.
Last week we scored two days off of school. There was a blizzard zipping through the area that began on Sunday night and carried through to Tuesday night. We were told that our principal rarely cancels school even once in a year, so to have two days off was quite the treat! We did venture out during the storm. The winds were the main concern that prevented school from going on. The snow drifts that were built up on account of the winds were insane! We're dealing with like 15' snow drifts. Simply nuts. Two of them spread across roads that were that large. Due to this, the school bus can't get around, so school was cancelled for that reason. We took some pictures of our adventure outside during the storm, but the pictures don't really do the winds justice. I didn't get pictures of the drifts, my bad. Perhaps next time. The plow has taken care of them by now.
So there's a bit of an update for now. We'll be home in two weeks as mentioned before. We're both uber excited to see everyone! Post a comment if you have a question about anything at all!
Saturday 3 December 2011
Hiatus of Sorts
Alright - so we took a brief hiatus from blogging, but there were sort of some reasons. Well, not great ones, but ones at least. We became real busy with school around report card time getting final assignments done, catching up on marking and record keeping, then doing comments and such. Then we just neglected the blog pretty much. We couldn't blog from home either because Shawna conveniently let our router fall from the window sill. I was like, hey this router should be able to handle a fall. Then I found out it fell many times, and she only told me about it when it broke. So, I say it's her fault. haha
Synopsis of this blog:
School update - it's busy but still going well. Christmas time comes with lots of interruptions.
Housing update - we still live in an elders complex. Not sure when we'll move.
Weather update - it's pretty well 24hr darkness. Parka is a daily attire. We had a blizzard. We're good.
Home update - we fly out on the 17th and are home for two weeks. We're pretty really excited.
Various Funness - we played in a mini concert that was unreal, I am back from Iqaluit trip, Shawna wants a dog ... still
School update:
So what's been up at school. We both feel like we're getting into a pretty solid groove planning and teaching wise. We no longer spend outlandish amounts of time at the school, though we both spend the most time of all the teachers here we think. It might have something to do with the fact that there's not a heck of a lot to do during the day, so it gets us out. While we're here we can give each other company so that works well.
It takes us probably an hour or so to hash out the coming week. And then a few hour chunks to get the lesson part done. We can usually get it done in one go if we're feeling really keen, or just space it out though the week and our preps. So we're getting the hang of things and actually feel like we're making some progress with teaching. GOLDEN TEACHING BREAKTHROUGH: chunking. Have 5 questions? Insteaaaaaad of giving a page of 5 questions, we give a small piece of paper with 1 question, and then when they're done that they get question 2 on a new paper. It works wonders and we are pumping that into many of our lessons. So that's awesome.
okay - well apparently I have to leave now because Shawna needs to put some potatoes in the oven. I will complete the blog tomorrow.
Shawna is trying to claim I'm chunking the blog - but I think to all who read this you will see who is causing the blogs neglect.
Synopsis of this blog:
School update - it's busy but still going well. Christmas time comes with lots of interruptions.
Housing update - we still live in an elders complex. Not sure when we'll move.
Weather update - it's pretty well 24hr darkness. Parka is a daily attire. We had a blizzard. We're good.
Home update - we fly out on the 17th and are home for two weeks. We're pretty really excited.
Various Funness - we played in a mini concert that was unreal, I am back from Iqaluit trip, Shawna wants a dog ... still
School update:
So what's been up at school. We both feel like we're getting into a pretty solid groove planning and teaching wise. We no longer spend outlandish amounts of time at the school, though we both spend the most time of all the teachers here we think. It might have something to do with the fact that there's not a heck of a lot to do during the day, so it gets us out. While we're here we can give each other company so that works well.
It takes us probably an hour or so to hash out the coming week. And then a few hour chunks to get the lesson part done. We can usually get it done in one go if we're feeling really keen, or just space it out though the week and our preps. So we're getting the hang of things and actually feel like we're making some progress with teaching. GOLDEN TEACHING BREAKTHROUGH: chunking. Have 5 questions? Insteaaaaaad of giving a page of 5 questions, we give a small piece of paper with 1 question, and then when they're done that they get question 2 on a new paper. It works wonders and we are pumping that into many of our lessons. So that's awesome.
okay - well apparently I have to leave now because Shawna needs to put some potatoes in the oven. I will complete the blog tomorrow.
Shawna is trying to claim I'm chunking the blog - but I think to all who read this you will see who is causing the blogs neglect.
Saturday 24 September 2011
Barge Orders and Puppies!
We also got our barge order in, finally! The skid (which was piled up about six feet high) got dropped off in the middle of the pouring rain. Thankfully some of Jon's students were around and helped us carry it in. We rewarded them with chocolate bars and pop, which they seemed to think was an excellent deal. We had ordered from a place called Hay River, and everything came through as we wanted, except for quite a few boxes of Diet Ginger Ale that we are hoping the CO-OP here will take in exchange for the real stuff. Jon is adamant that he won't be drinking diet. I think next year though we will just buy from Dan's store and ship it up through the shipping company...better selection and we can know exactly what we're getting.
Other funny items: 4 2.5 kg bags of skim milk powder because we didn't think we'd be able to buy milk. It's funny to think back about how little we knew when we were planning on moving up here. though to be fair a jug of milk costs around 15 bucks on a good day. We mixed some of the skim up though, and it's not bad...it will be good for cooking. It sort of tastes like milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl. It's surprisingly sweet. We also got so many cans of flaked tuna, ham and chicken because we weren't sure how easy it would be to buy meat.
Speaking of meat...we got a ton of caribou off a guy so we have been making roasts, and steaks and getting use out of our slow cooker. Caribou is quickly becoming my favourite meat...it is really comparable to beef, except about ten times tastier.
That's all for today...time to get back to our mountain of planning!
Wednesday 14 September 2011
Long Awaited House Photos
I am finally getting around to posting some pictures of the new place! It's a pretty sweet little place...with heated floors and wheel chair accessible shower and counters for the elders who are meant to live there. We really wouldn't mind staying here, but we know as soon as we get a house we'll have to head over there. The apartment is really meant for elders, and we're very lucky no one wants it right now and that Housing was generous enough to put us here.
We had snow yesterday. Jon doesn't believe it was snow, but it was white, blowing in my face and below zero. Also the lakes have started to freeze, we have our heat on and I've switched over to my ski jacket. If that isn't winter, I don't know what qualifies. Yikes.
On the school front, things are going reasonably well. We've definitely noticed we are getting into the swing of things where lesson planning is concerned. We can get all our weeks planning done in about fie solid hours of work over the weekend, whereas before it used to take us almost the entire weekend. Having our own place and some time to just breathe occasionally is really making life up here THAT much better. We are supervising a dance this weekend and getting ready for our barge order that should come in soon. I can't even imagine how much food is going to come in on that thing. I'm sure it will fill up our little apartment.
Anyways...on to the pictures.
I have pictures of the kitchen as well, but the internet is being ridiculously slow, so I will try to upload it later on.
We had snow yesterday. Jon doesn't believe it was snow, but it was white, blowing in my face and below zero. Also the lakes have started to freeze, we have our heat on and I've switched over to my ski jacket. If that isn't winter, I don't know what qualifies. Yikes.
On the school front, things are going reasonably well. We've definitely noticed we are getting into the swing of things where lesson planning is concerned. We can get all our weeks planning done in about fie solid hours of work over the weekend, whereas before it used to take us almost the entire weekend. Having our own place and some time to just breathe occasionally is really making life up here THAT much better. We are supervising a dance this weekend and getting ready for our barge order that should come in soon. I can't even imagine how much food is going to come in on that thing. I'm sure it will fill up our little apartment.
Anyways...on to the pictures.
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| Living Room |
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| The reading corner with our bookshelf...we're very proud of our books! |
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| The bedroom, which remains pretty undecorated |
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| My Audrey Wall...aka Best Part of the House |
Friday 2 September 2011
Exciting News =)
Well, we got some very exciting news in the last two days. Tomorrow morning we are moving into an one bedroom, brand new apartment! We toured the place this afternoon and it looks great. There is a great wide open kitchen-living room concept, as well as plenty of places to put our barge order when it comes in the next couple of weeks. We will be staying in the apartment until our house is finished. It is close to being purchased now, and after that it is going to need to be renovated. So when we move in there, whenever that may be, we should have an almost new interior. We're planning to get comfortable in the apartment though. Things don't tend to move very quickly here in the North.
We've had an insanely busy couple of weeks. We were working non-stop on our year plans, which we handed in this afternoon. Now that we have an idea of where we're going, the planning of day to day materials should become a lot easier. We also had Environmental Camp this week. It was a great day with good weather to get out on the land. Elders came along and showed the students how to make traditional sod houses. We also had caribou stew and bannock, and listened to a story in Inuktitut. I had a shocking look at what danger the Inuit culture is in that day. One of my students mid-story plopped down beside me and whispered 'What is she saying?' I was probably the only non-Inuit person for miles, but very few of my students, who have been studying Inuktitut for eight years, could understand the story.
Just a quick little post for now- with a few pictures of my students building our mini-sod house.
We've had an insanely busy couple of weeks. We were working non-stop on our year plans, which we handed in this afternoon. Now that we have an idea of where we're going, the planning of day to day materials should become a lot easier. We also had Environmental Camp this week. It was a great day with good weather to get out on the land. Elders came along and showed the students how to make traditional sod houses. We also had caribou stew and bannock, and listened to a story in Inuktitut. I had a shocking look at what danger the Inuit culture is in that day. One of my students mid-story plopped down beside me and whispered 'What is she saying?' I was probably the only non-Inuit person for miles, but very few of my students, who have been studying Inuktitut for eight years, could understand the story.
Just a quick little post for now- with a few pictures of my students building our mini-sod house.
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| Angus cutting sod. |
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| Chris listening to the Elder |
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| Charlene and Alishia in our sod dog house |
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| Long Lake where we stopped for lunch |
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| Chris and Angus being boys |
Saturday 20 August 2011
Feels Like Home to Me
The other day Jon and I wandered into the Northern, and were struck by how at home we felt. Our principal was making fun of Jon's grocery choices, kids were wandering by giving us high fives, and we even made a few inside jokes with one of the workers. A new guy has come up North (actually from Carleton Place- which is a little nuts) and all the kids were whispering at us to watch out for the giant. We left the store feeling as though we had really found our new home. When we first arrived here, I was a little reluctant to say we would be here for five years, but as time goes on, I am beginning to see that as more and more of a possibility. Even our little hotel room feels more homey- now that we have the internet and hangers. Our stuff is trickling in, and I feel sure it will all be here soon.
We continue to meet new people and Jon got out fishing with one of the local RCMP, while I went out berry picking with his wife and some local ladies. I had my first Honda ride out into the land. It was a little bit terrifying, I'm not going to lie. I think we'll definitely be going the snowmobile route. The blueberries here are delicious, but pretty different from down South. They grow really close to the ground, so we were pretty much laying down in the turf. Everything has a really short growing season, but apparently there are still cranberries to come which will be really delicious. The weather is pretty warm today, but in general it's been getting much cooler, and the nights are slowly creeping up- although the sun is still back in the sky by three in the morning.
We've been starting to get tradition into our classrooms. Our kids learned a bit about sod building houses last week, and we'll hopefully continue that lesson in two weeks at environmental camp, where we'll get to go out on to the land and actually build a small sod house. I'm also hoping to have an elder come in for gym class this week and lead the students in traditional Inuit games. We also did home visits last week, which gave us a really good idea of where our students come from, and who has support at home, but everyone was welcoming and friendly. We've been getting good reviews about how we're managing the grade sevens, and hoping to keep up that good reputation. I think as we go on, we realize even more the value of hands-on lessons. We also had the opportunity to meet the new Supervisor of Schools for our region, which is basically like the Superintendent. He was very nice and had some updates on our housing situation. He was also shockingly tall...like actually seven feet tall. Its his first year at the job- so I'm sure he's got a busy year ahead. As well as plenty of flying- anytime he wants to visit a school it means a flight. You would think they would have discovered Skype technology.
We miss everyone so much, but we are really happy to be here and I think we both feel that this is absolutely where we're supposed to be :)
We continue to meet new people and Jon got out fishing with one of the local RCMP, while I went out berry picking with his wife and some local ladies. I had my first Honda ride out into the land. It was a little bit terrifying, I'm not going to lie. I think we'll definitely be going the snowmobile route. The blueberries here are delicious, but pretty different from down South. They grow really close to the ground, so we were pretty much laying down in the turf. Everything has a really short growing season, but apparently there are still cranberries to come which will be really delicious. The weather is pretty warm today, but in general it's been getting much cooler, and the nights are slowly creeping up- although the sun is still back in the sky by three in the morning.
We've been starting to get tradition into our classrooms. Our kids learned a bit about sod building houses last week, and we'll hopefully continue that lesson in two weeks at environmental camp, where we'll get to go out on to the land and actually build a small sod house. I'm also hoping to have an elder come in for gym class this week and lead the students in traditional Inuit games. We also did home visits last week, which gave us a really good idea of where our students come from, and who has support at home, but everyone was welcoming and friendly. We've been getting good reviews about how we're managing the grade sevens, and hoping to keep up that good reputation. I think as we go on, we realize even more the value of hands-on lessons. We also had the opportunity to meet the new Supervisor of Schools for our region, which is basically like the Superintendent. He was very nice and had some updates on our housing situation. He was also shockingly tall...like actually seven feet tall. Its his first year at the job- so I'm sure he's got a busy year ahead. As well as plenty of flying- anytime he wants to visit a school it means a flight. You would think they would have discovered Skype technology.
We miss everyone so much, but we are really happy to be here and I think we both feel that this is absolutely where we're supposed to be :)
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Updateroo
Good day all,
So what's up here? The Cole's Notes:
- things are getting darker, sunset 10ish, sunrise 1am ish
- we still live in a hotel
- we do not know when we will leave
- i have a pink ironing board
- kids still throw rocks
- school is long and tough, but we're making it just fine
- we cook meals in the home-ec room. yes, we're the teachers who live at school
- we're going to make sod-houses today
- our superintendent is coming here today, we meet him tommorrow
- some of our effects have arrived, 35/70 pieces, some of them got wet - everything is basically fine
The long Version: (if you are on the run, or only like the jist (that's for you Joe!) you needn't read on.)
The hotel is the Bootia Inn, the only hotel in town. It's pretty good, to be fair. Very clean rooms, new towels daily, and made beds every 3rd day or so. haha. There is a meal plan at the hotel, but it's one of those dinner is served at this time, be here or don't get it. Cost is $130/day each for three meals. So we have decided to just make our own meals and save the money. It's working out pretty well. We had dinner at one of the RCMP officer's house last night. Really, Really nice people - he and his wife, and their daughter. We're headed there tonight again, I'm teaching him some guitar and his wife and Shawna are doing ... something.
We got some good news about housing. Apparently there is an apartment available for one month by the co-op - and it has full amenities, kitchen is the big one. So we might do that, because we think we're spending far too much time at the school. We ad to be out early last night, and we're gonna move quick tonight. We find if we are at the school we end up doing more work and creating stuff to do - so we have been told by a bunch of teachers and others in the community to relax school a bit - get work done - but to get out. They say we need to enjoy the nice weather while we have it because, well, we will be shut ins by no choice of our own when winter comes. (i say winter ominously in my head)
I score'd a pink ironing board and an iron from one of the ladies here it the school. I looked pretty badass carrying it across the field and to home when I picked it up from her. I try to keep up with my southern teaching attire. Many teachers here opt to do the jeans and vest or standard Lombardy Church in the Summer sort of deal. I think I need to earn some respect and distance myself from the kids more as a new teacher - so I'm staying dressed up. Of course on recess duty days I wear the khakis bc the playground is a giant sand pit - so that does a number on dress pants. Believe it or not, there is no dry cleaner up here, so I have to be careful with my dress clothes.
The superintendent is coming to the town tonight. He's going to be meeting with the special people tonight, and then with us and the teachers tomorrow. We are done at 11 tmrw actually because from 1 till 3:45 all the teachers are going around to their student's houses to do 'home visits". We will have a translator with us, so that should be quite the experience. Apparently the superintendent is in the loop of what we are doing for housing, so he should know more of what we can expect and we're going to ask him about the apartment idea.
and finally, sod houses! no idea what to expect. We're going out on the land with en elder last period of the day, one of the primary teachers organized it and our two classes are going to tag along. We're pretty excited, and it should be fun. I'm going to try to take some pictures so ya'll can see a Kitikmeot (our region) authentic sod-house.
till tmrw or the next day when we get the pics up, be well.
So what's up here? The Cole's Notes:
- things are getting darker, sunset 10ish, sunrise 1am ish
- we still live in a hotel
- we do not know when we will leave
- i have a pink ironing board
- kids still throw rocks
- school is long and tough, but we're making it just fine
- we cook meals in the home-ec room. yes, we're the teachers who live at school
- we're going to make sod-houses today
- our superintendent is coming here today, we meet him tommorrow
- some of our effects have arrived, 35/70 pieces, some of them got wet - everything is basically fine
The long Version: (if you are on the run, or only like the jist (that's for you Joe!) you needn't read on.)
The hotel is the Bootia Inn, the only hotel in town. It's pretty good, to be fair. Very clean rooms, new towels daily, and made beds every 3rd day or so. haha. There is a meal plan at the hotel, but it's one of those dinner is served at this time, be here or don't get it. Cost is $130/day each for three meals. So we have decided to just make our own meals and save the money. It's working out pretty well. We had dinner at one of the RCMP officer's house last night. Really, Really nice people - he and his wife, and their daughter. We're headed there tonight again, I'm teaching him some guitar and his wife and Shawna are doing ... something.
We got some good news about housing. Apparently there is an apartment available for one month by the co-op - and it has full amenities, kitchen is the big one. So we might do that, because we think we're spending far too much time at the school. We ad to be out early last night, and we're gonna move quick tonight. We find if we are at the school we end up doing more work and creating stuff to do - so we have been told by a bunch of teachers and others in the community to relax school a bit - get work done - but to get out. They say we need to enjoy the nice weather while we have it because, well, we will be shut ins by no choice of our own when winter comes. (i say winter ominously in my head)
I score'd a pink ironing board and an iron from one of the ladies here it the school. I looked pretty badass carrying it across the field and to home when I picked it up from her. I try to keep up with my southern teaching attire. Many teachers here opt to do the jeans and vest or standard Lombardy Church in the Summer sort of deal. I think I need to earn some respect and distance myself from the kids more as a new teacher - so I'm staying dressed up. Of course on recess duty days I wear the khakis bc the playground is a giant sand pit - so that does a number on dress pants. Believe it or not, there is no dry cleaner up here, so I have to be careful with my dress clothes.
The superintendent is coming to the town tonight. He's going to be meeting with the special people tonight, and then with us and the teachers tomorrow. We are done at 11 tmrw actually because from 1 till 3:45 all the teachers are going around to their student's houses to do 'home visits". We will have a translator with us, so that should be quite the experience. Apparently the superintendent is in the loop of what we are doing for housing, so he should know more of what we can expect and we're going to ask him about the apartment idea.
and finally, sod houses! no idea what to expect. We're going out on the land with en elder last period of the day, one of the primary teachers organized it and our two classes are going to tag along. We're pretty excited, and it should be fun. I'm going to try to take some pictures so ya'll can see a Kitikmeot (our region) authentic sod-house.
till tmrw or the next day when we get the pics up, be well.
Monday 8 August 2011
School Days
Wow! We have been so busy it is unbelievable. I thought we would be able to post a lot more often, but between school work and the internet shorting out (which it did all weekend), I will have to try to cram a lot in in a small space.
To start off, school has started and so far it's been great. I have a class of JH1 with 22 students and Jon has 21 JH2 students. JH2 is kind of grade 7 part two. After grade seven, the students are put on the credit system, so the school tries to hold off as long as possible before they are forced to take on that responsibility. So in general, Jon's kids are a lot older and a lot more rambunctious than mine. They can be a bit of a handful, but I can't stress enough the fact that in general every kid is a good kid. As soon as you tell them they are being wrong, they apologize and everyone moves on as though nothing has happened.
Outside of school, we are still managing to be pretty social. Last Saturday night, we were actually invited to not one, but two BBQ parties, and in true Jon form, we didn't turn either down, but attended both. For those of you who don't know, our furniture and stuff has gotten kind of mixed up, so for now the school has put us in a hotel. They're doing everything they can to help us as the hotel is 250 dollars a night or something outrageous like that PER PERSON. We spend a lot of time at the school...mostly for internet and a kitchen, so it's really become like a second home. Neither of us are complaining though...it means we're just putting away money since our only expense is groceries.
I'll close with a transcript of a conversation we had with some of our students outside our hotel window. I hope you find it as funny as we did. We woke up to the sound of rocks banging against the hotel and teacher-Jon kicked in.
Jon: Hey! Stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid: Oh...hey, Jonathon.
Jon: Hey...what are you doing throwing rocks at the hotel?!!
Kid: We're not throwing rocks at the hotel. We're throwing them at the birds.
Jon: But the birds are in front of the hotel! Go throw rocks at them in the field or something.
Kid: There aren't any birds in the field.
Kid Two: Oh hey, Jonathon...I just peed in a cup.
Jon: Why are you peeing in a cup? Go use a bathroom.
Kid Two: I filled up three cups.
Jon: Errr....uhhh
Kid Two: (holds up cup to show Jon. Spills pee on his hand and drops the cup.)
Kid Two: Can I come to wash my hands off?
Jon: No, you can't come in. Get outta here and stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid One: We were throwing them at the birds, Jonathon.
Kid Two: We'll go away and come back when we have more questions.
[FIVE MINUTES LATER]
Several children: JONATHON! SHAWNA! JONATHON! SHAWNA!
Jonathon: WHAT?
Kid One: Ralph has a question for Shawna. [Nudges Ralph]
Ralph: Shawna...what are we doing for gym?
Jonathon: Find out what your classmates want to do...come to an agreement and tell Shawna on Monday.
To start off, school has started and so far it's been great. I have a class of JH1 with 22 students and Jon has 21 JH2 students. JH2 is kind of grade 7 part two. After grade seven, the students are put on the credit system, so the school tries to hold off as long as possible before they are forced to take on that responsibility. So in general, Jon's kids are a lot older and a lot more rambunctious than mine. They can be a bit of a handful, but I can't stress enough the fact that in general every kid is a good kid. As soon as you tell them they are being wrong, they apologize and everyone moves on as though nothing has happened.
Outside of school, we are still managing to be pretty social. Last Saturday night, we were actually invited to not one, but two BBQ parties, and in true Jon form, we didn't turn either down, but attended both. For those of you who don't know, our furniture and stuff has gotten kind of mixed up, so for now the school has put us in a hotel. They're doing everything they can to help us as the hotel is 250 dollars a night or something outrageous like that PER PERSON. We spend a lot of time at the school...mostly for internet and a kitchen, so it's really become like a second home. Neither of us are complaining though...it means we're just putting away money since our only expense is groceries.
I'll close with a transcript of a conversation we had with some of our students outside our hotel window. I hope you find it as funny as we did. We woke up to the sound of rocks banging against the hotel and teacher-Jon kicked in.
Jon: Hey! Stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid: Oh...hey, Jonathon.
Jon: Hey...what are you doing throwing rocks at the hotel?!!
Kid: We're not throwing rocks at the hotel. We're throwing them at the birds.
Jon: But the birds are in front of the hotel! Go throw rocks at them in the field or something.
Kid: There aren't any birds in the field.
Kid Two: Oh hey, Jonathon...I just peed in a cup.
Jon: Why are you peeing in a cup? Go use a bathroom.
Kid Two: I filled up three cups.
Jon: Errr....uhhh
Kid Two: (holds up cup to show Jon. Spills pee on his hand and drops the cup.)
Kid Two: Can I come to wash my hands off?
Jon: No, you can't come in. Get outta here and stop throwing rocks at the hotel.
Kid One: We were throwing them at the birds, Jonathon.
Kid Two: We'll go away and come back when we have more questions.
[FIVE MINUTES LATER]
Several children: JONATHON! SHAWNA! JONATHON! SHAWNA!
Jonathon: WHAT?
Kid One: Ralph has a question for Shawna. [Nudges Ralph]
Ralph: Shawna...what are we doing for gym?
Jonathon: Find out what your classmates want to do...come to an agreement and tell Shawna on Monday.
Thursday 4 August 2011
First Day O School
Good day all. Sorry for the gap in posts - we've been running around faster than OJ when he was in his Bronco. That's o.k. to say, right? Meh. Point is - preparing for the first day has been crazy.
First day of school was today. Shawna and I were technically working since Tuesday, but kids didn't come in until today. Our first day (Tuesday) we just had a staff meeting, that lasted all morning! and then we were given the afternoon to get ourselves together with regards to our classrooms, and also for departmental meetings. There is certainly a lot to worry about being a full on teacher. People always told us that teaches college and practicums didn't give you a real idea of teaching, and they weren't kidding! Lead up to first day, reading the records over for the kids, logistics for classroom, health and safety, record keeping ( I SAY THAT TWICE: RECORD KEEPING!!!), keep you running until the first bell goes. But alas, Shawna and I have survived our first day. The kids are pretty great and for the first day of school were pretty well behaved. They try to push you here a bit, but if you push back, they respect you more. Shawna and I have agreed that the kids are like a workplace class back home - focus wise. The only difference, is that up here, when you are stern with a kid and correct them, they don't hold grudges it doesn't seem. That's what other teachers told us here, and we agree - so far! Yesterday was pretty fun - Shawna and I got to go out to our principals cabin on Middle Lake (2.5 miles away from town). All the staff went, and it was pretty fun. Shawna and I were given our Inuk names out there. Everyone has a separate name based on your personal characteristics that is said in traditional language. I can't write mine because it's a word in Inuktitut, but the English translation is Fire Keeper, or Fire Man, or Fire Person ... they named me when I was tending to the fire. It's pronounced something like "Ee-qwa-la". Shawna's name is something like "nig-ling-nook-took", it means loving in English. The phonetic spelling might be a bit off - but I doubt ya mind, haha. You get the idea. We are having a blast up here so far. We're both missing home, but feeling good - probabaly because we are surrounded by so many good people. Days are getting shorter, and a bit cooler. That's all for now.
*********************If you're done reading - you may stop. I'm gonna rant a little.***********************
1. Good advice given by Claude, a Jamaican fellow who is going into his 6th year teaching here.
"You must not be firm like the Oak. When the wind blows the Oak will fall. You must be flexible like the Willow. When the wind blows, the Willow moves with it, and when the wind dies down, you will stand tall again."
Pretty cool, I thought.
2. For you computer people - and those who know me and my dying defense of Windows based computers. (Doug F, I'm looking at you).
DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED. Well, they have.
This whole school is based on Mac. 2 mobile computer labs, macs. Ipad lab. Computer lab, mac. Teachers computers in rooms, mac. Routers, mac - or wait "airport" ohhh, ahhh. Look at me, I'm Steve Jobs and I'm too cool to call things what they do. It's an airport, not a router. Don't be fooled, they suck. I had one in second year - if any of the Bolivar crew is reading - you agree.
I hate macs. I hate, hate, hate, hate them. Okay, fine. I don't hate them, but I don't like them much. WHY THE HECK DO THEY INSIST ON NOT MAXIMIZING WINDOWS???? WHO USES A COMPUTER AND WANTS TO SEE ALL THE GARBAGE IN THE BACKGROUND. I have a splash of ADD, and when there are other things to occupy my mind - BIRD!!! - I can get off task. I know, I know, you can pull the window over and make it big - but I shouldn't have to findangle with the damned thing just to make it screen size. Also: what's with all the floating menus in Office? Like what the heck?? Put you toolbars on the top like every other sensible program. Ef.
I may be wrong, but I'm probably not, the mac basic setup for finding crap is ridic to figure out. It's so cluttered and burried. It's like I've been given some 2 year olds toy to get my work done on. Windows seems to be like a nicely organized tree of stuff. Computer-->Hard Drive --> Users --> Me --> Documents/Pictures/Everything. Maybe I just need more lessons on this thing, but it seems like they don't want you to know what's going on. I want to know what's going on. When you don't let me know what's going on, you remind me of Stalin. Ya, I said it. Mac is equal or worse than the former Soviet Union under Stalin with regard to secrets. I don't know if you're all up on your Soviet history, but Stalin's secrets were bad news. My only logical assumption is mac is hiding things just as bad.
The tool bar. Oh the tool bar. Yes, it's fancy and it has fun little clouds when you delete things, and when you scroll over it gets bigger. Ohhh, ahhh. Okay jerks. For those of us who aren't satisfied wholly with shiny objects, you come to find this jerked off thing (Gord Rivoire term) is just cluttered and poor. Get a tool bar, man. I don't want to open a window to find my applications. And I don't want 40,000 things on my tool bar. Ef.
GET A MOUSE WITH A RIGHT CLICK. HOLY HOCKEY!!! Ya wanna copy something? Can't do that with one hand. Wanna get into the details of something? Can't do that with one hand. Okay, I'll give it to you, the scroll ball is cool. That's all you get.
I have to leave now, or Shawna will get mad for eating too late.
I'm not done with this though.
Feel free to comment. :)
First day of school was today. Shawna and I were technically working since Tuesday, but kids didn't come in until today. Our first day (Tuesday) we just had a staff meeting, that lasted all morning! and then we were given the afternoon to get ourselves together with regards to our classrooms, and also for departmental meetings. There is certainly a lot to worry about being a full on teacher. People always told us that teaches college and practicums didn't give you a real idea of teaching, and they weren't kidding! Lead up to first day, reading the records over for the kids, logistics for classroom, health and safety, record keeping ( I SAY THAT TWICE: RECORD KEEPING!!!), keep you running until the first bell goes. But alas, Shawna and I have survived our first day. The kids are pretty great and for the first day of school were pretty well behaved. They try to push you here a bit, but if you push back, they respect you more. Shawna and I have agreed that the kids are like a workplace class back home - focus wise. The only difference, is that up here, when you are stern with a kid and correct them, they don't hold grudges it doesn't seem. That's what other teachers told us here, and we agree - so far! Yesterday was pretty fun - Shawna and I got to go out to our principals cabin on Middle Lake (2.5 miles away from town). All the staff went, and it was pretty fun. Shawna and I were given our Inuk names out there. Everyone has a separate name based on your personal characteristics that is said in traditional language. I can't write mine because it's a word in Inuktitut, but the English translation is Fire Keeper, or Fire Man, or Fire Person ... they named me when I was tending to the fire. It's pronounced something like "Ee-qwa-la". Shawna's name is something like "nig-ling-nook-took", it means loving in English. The phonetic spelling might be a bit off - but I doubt ya mind, haha. You get the idea. We are having a blast up here so far. We're both missing home, but feeling good - probabaly because we are surrounded by so many good people. Days are getting shorter, and a bit cooler. That's all for now.
*********************If you're done reading - you may stop. I'm gonna rant a little.***********************
1. Good advice given by Claude, a Jamaican fellow who is going into his 6th year teaching here.
"You must not be firm like the Oak. When the wind blows the Oak will fall. You must be flexible like the Willow. When the wind blows, the Willow moves with it, and when the wind dies down, you will stand tall again."
Pretty cool, I thought.
2. For you computer people - and those who know me and my dying defense of Windows based computers. (Doug F, I'm looking at you).
DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED. Well, they have.
This whole school is based on Mac. 2 mobile computer labs, macs. Ipad lab. Computer lab, mac. Teachers computers in rooms, mac. Routers, mac - or wait "airport" ohhh, ahhh. Look at me, I'm Steve Jobs and I'm too cool to call things what they do. It's an airport, not a router. Don't be fooled, they suck. I had one in second year - if any of the Bolivar crew is reading - you agree.
I hate macs. I hate, hate, hate, hate them. Okay, fine. I don't hate them, but I don't like them much. WHY THE HECK DO THEY INSIST ON NOT MAXIMIZING WINDOWS???? WHO USES A COMPUTER AND WANTS TO SEE ALL THE GARBAGE IN THE BACKGROUND. I have a splash of ADD, and when there are other things to occupy my mind - BIRD!!! - I can get off task. I know, I know, you can pull the window over and make it big - but I shouldn't have to findangle with the damned thing just to make it screen size. Also: what's with all the floating menus in Office? Like what the heck?? Put you toolbars on the top like every other sensible program. Ef.
I may be wrong, but I'm probably not, the mac basic setup for finding crap is ridic to figure out. It's so cluttered and burried. It's like I've been given some 2 year olds toy to get my work done on. Windows seems to be like a nicely organized tree of stuff. Computer-->Hard Drive --> Users --> Me --> Documents/Pictures/Everything. Maybe I just need more lessons on this thing, but it seems like they don't want you to know what's going on. I want to know what's going on. When you don't let me know what's going on, you remind me of Stalin. Ya, I said it. Mac is equal or worse than the former Soviet Union under Stalin with regard to secrets. I don't know if you're all up on your Soviet history, but Stalin's secrets were bad news. My only logical assumption is mac is hiding things just as bad.
The tool bar. Oh the tool bar. Yes, it's fancy and it has fun little clouds when you delete things, and when you scroll over it gets bigger. Ohhh, ahhh. Okay jerks. For those of us who aren't satisfied wholly with shiny objects, you come to find this jerked off thing (Gord Rivoire term) is just cluttered and poor. Get a tool bar, man. I don't want to open a window to find my applications. And I don't want 40,000 things on my tool bar. Ef.
GET A MOUSE WITH A RIGHT CLICK. HOLY HOCKEY!!! Ya wanna copy something? Can't do that with one hand. Wanna get into the details of something? Can't do that with one hand. Okay, I'll give it to you, the scroll ball is cool. That's all you get.
I have to leave now, or Shawna will get mad for eating too late.
I'm not done with this though.
Feel free to comment. :)
Saturday 30 July 2011
Pictures, actually.
 |
| This is about a 20 minute walk from the town. There are a lot of Inukshuks around here - but they actually serve a purpose, rather than aesthetics. They are built by basically anyone, but are put on top of the large mountains to let you know you are near something. So around towns and things you will see a lot of them. They don't necessarily have to be the 't' shape that most take in the South, essentially an Inushuk is a pile of rocks - or so we were told. There are a ton of rock formations all around here that used to be mountains, but were mowed down by the glaciers during the Big Ice Age, the one that was like 25,000 years ago. Oh, and it's also covered with Falcon poop. There are a ton of them milling around. If we can put a video up, we have some footage of a Falcon swooping down at us right around here. He came down at the dog we were walking with. It was pretty intense. I had a rock in my hand and was confident I could fight the falcon. Shawna suggested to go back to town. |
 | ||||||||||
| This makes up the majority of the landscape, the low lying areas are grass and moss covered with various low lying plants and rocks jutting out everywhere. To the left where you see the hill, that is a whole bunch of large, small, and crushed rock leading up to the top of a mountain that's been destroyed by nature. In the distance you can see the Arctic Ocean. Our town is built directly around a small bay that leads into the Ocean. Apparently whales will swim right into the bay (they haven't for about three years though) - for those of you reading who are familiar with my home - the bay in Taloyoak is about the size of Millers Bay on the Rideau, and cuts off at the point across and to the right if you were standing on my dock. |
 | ||||
| From Cambridge Bay to Taloyoak this is what the landscape looks like. A ton of fresh lakes and ponds created by glaciers moving around and melting. Of course, the holes that are made are just filled with the snow from each winter melting. Some ponds last the whole summer, some don't. As you move further North towards the Boothia Peninsula the landscape becomes more mountainous and these lakes take shape around them. You can swim in any of them if you like, they are also pretty well fine to drink out of - no worse than lake water. I've been trying to take a swig out of at least a few each time we go out on the land. I'm still feeling ok, so I'm going to keep doing it. Shawna is not a fan of my antics. |
 | ||||
| And this is just another idea of what the land looks like with Shawna in there. The rocks you see in the foreground are standard size, and are the same as what you see in the background. Going up and down these mountain will make you might agile, and certainly will give you a work out. Good shoes are a must. No cheapies here. We've got shorts on now, the weather is uncharacteristically hot right now. Every day has felt like a standard warm September, with a bit of cooling around 9 or so. Sun still doesn't really go down. It does this little dip thing around 2:00am or so then mills back up. |
Friday 29 July 2011
Pictures at Last!
We just got back from another breathtaking walk across the Arctic Tundra with Sheldon, the AM of the Northern Store and Echo, his beautiful dog. I wish I could put into words how absolutely amazing the landscape is around town. It's the best backyard you could ever hope for. The best way to describe it is untouched or even prehistoric. There is no sign of man anywhere...no telephone poles or anything. Just lakes and beautiful rock formations. We have ever seen anything quite like it.
We've been spending most of our time at the school trying to get everything ready and planning as much as possible before the students arrive on August 4th. There is still no news on our stuff, but we're pretty comfortable at our VPs house until it arrives, especially now that we've managed to cool the place down. I'm sure when he gets in he'll know who to call to make things happen a lot quicker. We've met lots of fun people and were invited to a BBQ last night. Whenever people get together for dinner, it's always pot luck style, so we eat well and everyone saves money. We had steak, broccoli salad, Greek salad and then cupcakes for dessert. There were potatoes too, but we forgot to put them out. You can get pretty much anything you wish here, as long as you're willing to pay. We're starting to learn to close our eyes. Jon is, Shawna is not.
Very excited for dinner tonight! Last night a fellow named Noah stopped by and offered us four nice Arctic Char fillets for 15 bucks...which is a pretty solid price. Probably go for quite a bit more down South at a butch shop. It was delish, and we're excited to get into the caribou soon! We're going to cook up the rest tonight. I (jon) got excited when we bought it and had to cook some up right away. So now we're going to try it in meal form.
FYI TO EVERYONE: WE HAD SOME PICTURES UPLOADED, BUT THEN, SHAWNA REALIZED THAT SHE WAS HUNGRY. SO, NOW YOU DON'T GET TO SEE PICTURES. BECAUSE SHE PRESSED CANCEL. THE INTERNET IS REALLY SLOW, SO IT TAKES A WHILE. IF YOU'RE PATIENT, IT'LL GET DONE, BUT SHAWNA WASN'T. HOPE TO POST SOME SOON. I'LL HAVE TO DO IT WHEN SHAWNA IS AWAY. -JON
We've been spending most of our time at the school trying to get everything ready and planning as much as possible before the students arrive on August 4th. There is still no news on our stuff, but we're pretty comfortable at our VPs house until it arrives, especially now that we've managed to cool the place down. I'm sure when he gets in he'll know who to call to make things happen a lot quicker. We've met lots of fun people and were invited to a BBQ last night. Whenever people get together for dinner, it's always pot luck style, so we eat well and everyone saves money. We had steak, broccoli salad, Greek salad and then cupcakes for dessert. There were potatoes too, but we forgot to put them out. You can get pretty much anything you wish here, as long as you're willing to pay. We're starting to learn to close our eyes. Jon is, Shawna is not.
Very excited for dinner tonight! Last night a fellow named Noah stopped by and offered us four nice Arctic Char fillets for 15 bucks...which is a pretty solid price. Probably go for quite a bit more down South at a butch shop. It was delish, and we're excited to get into the caribou soon! We're going to cook up the rest tonight. I (jon) got excited when we bought it and had to cook some up right away. So now we're going to try it in meal form.
FYI TO EVERYONE: WE HAD SOME PICTURES UPLOADED, BUT THEN, SHAWNA REALIZED THAT SHE WAS HUNGRY. SO, NOW YOU DON'T GET TO SEE PICTURES. BECAUSE SHE PRESSED CANCEL. THE INTERNET IS REALLY SLOW, SO IT TAKES A WHILE. IF YOU'RE PATIENT, IT'LL GET DONE, BUT SHAWNA WASN'T. HOPE TO POST SOME SOON. I'LL HAVE TO DO IT WHEN SHAWNA IS AWAY. -JON
Wednesday 27 July 2011
A bit of a longer post for today now that we are a little bit more settled. Our furniture has still not arrived, so we're currently staying at the VPs house. He is coming back into town by August 31st, so we're really hoping we can be out of his hair by then. The house is very similar to what we're going to be moving into, so it's giving us a good idea and it's really nice. The ground floor is a living room/dining area with a nice big kitchen. Then there is a bathroom on the landing to the stairs upstairs and two bedrooms/laundry room with a bunch of shelves on the top. The house also has a massive porch that is also used for storage.
Craziest thing here is probably the sweltering heat. I guess the houses are built to take in as much heat as possible which will be amazing in the winter, but right now the temperature of the house is 27 degrees...same temperature as Kingston today! Outside its not too warm, but we went for a walk around town in capris and sweatshirts last night. The landscape can be described by its absolutely stunning rock and ocean views. The kids just run around everywhere like wild things, loving the land and the long hours of daylight they have this month. They are very curious about us and clearly knew we were coming and that we would be together. I can't say enough about how friendly everyone is...everyone says hello when they pass on the road, and they all welcome us and ask what grades we'll be teaching. We were wandering around last night and people kept driving up and making sure we weren't lost. The town just keeps growing...there are actually about a thousand people. So maybe one day soon we'll get a fast food restaurant :P
Only a couple things have gone wrong...two of Jon's bags, including his guitar didn't get here with us, but they arrived on a plane today and were delivered to our door. Also...mid-walk last night we were in the middle of town and what we assumed was a wolf walked right in front of us (Note by Jon: We saw it in the distance). Thankfully it turned out to be a wolf-dog who was chained up and didn't seem too bothered about us. Grocery prices are STUPID high. Last night we bought a pizza, a loaf of bread, some jam, popcorn and a frozen ice tea and it came to 48 DOLLARS! Thankfully the VP is going to bring us some stuff from Yellowknife when he flies in, like vegetables.
We had the opportunity to get into the school today and see our classrooms, as well as get an entire box of curriculum material, so we've spent the afternoon planning. We're going out on a walk this evening with the assistant manager of the Northern Store we met this morning, so hopefully we'll be able to post some pictures soon!
Craziest thing here is probably the sweltering heat. I guess the houses are built to take in as much heat as possible which will be amazing in the winter, but right now the temperature of the house is 27 degrees...same temperature as Kingston today! Outside its not too warm, but we went for a walk around town in capris and sweatshirts last night. The landscape can be described by its absolutely stunning rock and ocean views. The kids just run around everywhere like wild things, loving the land and the long hours of daylight they have this month. They are very curious about us and clearly knew we were coming and that we would be together. I can't say enough about how friendly everyone is...everyone says hello when they pass on the road, and they all welcome us and ask what grades we'll be teaching. We were wandering around last night and people kept driving up and making sure we weren't lost. The town just keeps growing...there are actually about a thousand people. So maybe one day soon we'll get a fast food restaurant :P
Only a couple things have gone wrong...two of Jon's bags, including his guitar didn't get here with us, but they arrived on a plane today and were delivered to our door. Also...mid-walk last night we were in the middle of town and what we assumed was a wolf walked right in front of us (Note by Jon: We saw it in the distance). Thankfully it turned out to be a wolf-dog who was chained up and didn't seem too bothered about us. Grocery prices are STUPID high. Last night we bought a pizza, a loaf of bread, some jam, popcorn and a frozen ice tea and it came to 48 DOLLARS! Thankfully the VP is going to bring us some stuff from Yellowknife when he flies in, like vegetables.
We had the opportunity to get into the school today and see our classrooms, as well as get an entire box of curriculum material, so we've spent the afternoon planning. We're going out on a walk this evening with the assistant manager of the Northern Store we met this morning, so hopefully we'll be able to post some pictures soon!
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Arrival
Good Day All,
So Shawna and I have officially arrived at our destination and home in Taloyoak. Our flights flew along swimmingly and there were no problems to report. We took off from Toronto on Monday afternoon and landed in Edmonton for the night. This morning we left for Yellowknife - upon arriving there we scooted over to departures for our final leg of the journey: Yellowknife to Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay to home. The majority of our stuff arrived with us, a few pieces are supposed to meet up with us tomorrow as well. The land here is unbelievable and like nothing we've seen before. There has been lots of rain the last few months, so looking down from the plane you see what looks like thousands of puddles. Small lakes and ponds of all shapes and sizes. We'll drop some pictures up here soon of our travels, but for now we're going to go for a walk around town.
So Shawna and I have officially arrived at our destination and home in Taloyoak. Our flights flew along swimmingly and there were no problems to report. We took off from Toronto on Monday afternoon and landed in Edmonton for the night. This morning we left for Yellowknife - upon arriving there we scooted over to departures for our final leg of the journey: Yellowknife to Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay to home. The majority of our stuff arrived with us, a few pieces are supposed to meet up with us tomorrow as well. The land here is unbelievable and like nothing we've seen before. There has been lots of rain the last few months, so looking down from the plane you see what looks like thousands of puddles. Small lakes and ponds of all shapes and sizes. We'll drop some pictures up here soon of our travels, but for now we're going to go for a walk around town.
Monday 18 July 2011
Here's Where to Find Us on a Map
Our town is located on the Boothia Peninsula. If you are on the up and up on your Arctic-ness, you might know the town as Spence Bay. Then again, if you're on the up and up you would probably already know that. Many towns and villages around Nunavut have changed their names to reflect the culture within them in recent years.
If you are not a fan of my ranting about history and junk - you might as well stop reading here. :)
In regards to the name of our blog - I stumbled upon some cool history about the general region around Taloyoak and read that the magnetic north pole was first discovered in 1831 around the Adelaide Peninsula - which is slightly South-West of Boothia Peninsula. Additionally, I found out that magnetic north is not a constant, and it is always moving - hence good compasses have a calibration mechanism (I learned that one from my Godfather, Peter). Below I've attached two pictures. One is a neat looking map circa 1950 of the Circumpolar World, (Circumpolar is a new word for me too. As it literally suggests, it is comprises the countries located around the Arctic Circle and those with shores along the Arctic Ocean). And below that picture is a neat notice I found on a google search milling around looking for info on magnetic north. The notice is for the recovery of John Franklin's expedition to magnetic north which never returned - sometime in the mid 1840s. If you are interested in reading on the North and such, I just picked up S.Grant's Polar Imperative --- it's supposed to be the best overall history of the Arctic world in scholarship right now, try it on.
If you are not a fan of my ranting about history and junk - you might as well stop reading here. :)
In regards to the name of our blog - I stumbled upon some cool history about the general region around Taloyoak and read that the magnetic north pole was first discovered in 1831 around the Adelaide Peninsula - which is slightly South-West of Boothia Peninsula. Additionally, I found out that magnetic north is not a constant, and it is always moving - hence good compasses have a calibration mechanism (I learned that one from my Godfather, Peter). Below I've attached two pictures. One is a neat looking map circa 1950 of the Circumpolar World, (Circumpolar is a new word for me too. As it literally suggests, it is comprises the countries located around the Arctic Circle and those with shores along the Arctic Ocean). And below that picture is a neat notice I found on a google search milling around looking for info on magnetic north. The notice is for the recovery of John Franklin's expedition to magnetic north which never returned - sometime in the mid 1840s. If you are interested in reading on the North and such, I just picked up S.Grant's Polar Imperative --- it's supposed to be the best overall history of the Arctic world in scholarship right now, try it on.
Thursday 14 July 2011
11 Days!
This is our first test entry of the blog we're planning on keeping while we journey up to Taloyoak, Nunavut for a year of teaching grade seven. We were granted the positions at the end of May and are moving up in a very short eleven days to our new home. All of our effects were shipped up at the end of June and we're just hoping that they get there before we do. I don't much relish the thought of sleeping on the floor for a few nights while waiting for all of our furniture to arrive via barge order.
We also managed to squeeze in a big non-perishable grocery order on the last ship headed to our new hometown. It's much cheaper to get items shipped in by boat, but there is only a brief period of the year where the ice melts enough to allow ships through. Even though we ordered at the beginning of July, we won't receive the items until sometime in September.
Over the next few days before we leave, Jon and I are just trying to get in as much time with friends and family as possible- including a Jays game this weekend we are both excited for! Obviously we both want to be out in the summer heat as often as possible too. Come the end of August, we can expect to have frost on the ground in Taloyoak, which might be quite a shock to the system.
We fly out on July 25th from Toronto. In Toronto we'll also be meeting up with Sarah, who is a new hire music teacher as well. From Toronto we go on to Edmonton to spend the night. Then we catch an early morning flight to Yellowknife and finally make the last five hour trek to Taloyoak, where our principal will pick us up at the airport.
That's all for now! The rest of the blogging will continue either closer to the flight or upon arrival.
We also managed to squeeze in a big non-perishable grocery order on the last ship headed to our new hometown. It's much cheaper to get items shipped in by boat, but there is only a brief period of the year where the ice melts enough to allow ships through. Even though we ordered at the beginning of July, we won't receive the items until sometime in September.
Over the next few days before we leave, Jon and I are just trying to get in as much time with friends and family as possible- including a Jays game this weekend we are both excited for! Obviously we both want to be out in the summer heat as often as possible too. Come the end of August, we can expect to have frost on the ground in Taloyoak, which might be quite a shock to the system.
We fly out on July 25th from Toronto. In Toronto we'll also be meeting up with Sarah, who is a new hire music teacher as well. From Toronto we go on to Edmonton to spend the night. Then we catch an early morning flight to Yellowknife and finally make the last five hour trek to Taloyoak, where our principal will pick us up at the airport.
That's all for now! The rest of the blogging will continue either closer to the flight or upon arrival.
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| Family pets playing amongst boxes. They will not be accompanying us. :( |
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