November! A minor update that turned into a ramble.

So here I am again, apologizing for my long absence. I am just going to say it outright that it may become a regular thing with me disappearing for a long period of time. It isn't that I don't check other people's blogs, because I do, I just don't find I do enough in my life to have anything to write about! All I do is work and sleep for the most part. I mean there is a bit more, but nothing terribly entertaining.


What IS kind of interesting to me is that my gauge of what is cold and what is warm has most definitely shifted. It was -22C to -25C (with windchill between -35C to -40C) for a few weeks and then warmed up for a couple days and I have honestly never thought of -9C with -16C windchill as warm before! I thought it felt so warm outside! It is amusing to think about how warm I'm going to find Halifax at Christmas. As a friend put it, it's going to feel like the Bahamas when I get off that plane.

I received my H1N1 vaccine about a week ago. Did anyone else have arm pain of doom? My arm was aching quite badly for almost 3 days. I'm glad I have the vaccine, particularly with all the traveling I'll be doing over the holidays, but it DID hurt.

Have yet to see any real Northern lights since the last post, there were a few really really faint streaks in the sky yesterday, and they were definitely the lights, but they were so faint they almost looked like clouds on a really dark night, nothing to take pictures of for sure. We seem to be too far NORTH to see the Northern lights in the way you would a bit farther south. I have heard from people who have lived here a long time/their whole lives that they aren't that common and aren't really that great, so I'll see if I can get my fix in Yellowknife while traveling through.

The darkness is coming! We are down to about 4 hours of sun now and losing around 10 min of sun a day. Just to clarify, Gjoa Haven IS above the Arctic Circle, we are above 68 degrees, so we aren't that far above it, but we do have weeks of no sun. Now if only Environment Canada would change our icons from suns to moons I'd be satisfied. They have changed over Cambridge Bay which only has about 15 min more dark time than we do right now, and I want a screenshot of those moons!

The darkness is in fact getting to me, at least I think it is. I thought it wasn't affecting me except to excite me, but in actuality I DO feel significantly more tired and I find it a lot harder to pull through the day now that the sun sets shortly after 1pm. 9-10 hours awake after it gets dark is a long time! My students are getting crankier and more tired too. They openly admit it is because of the time of year and the darkness, even in the locals it can throw their internal clocks for a bit of a loop.

I have my fingers crossed that a job will come up here in Gjoa that is suitable and pays enough for my boyfriend to come move up with me! I think my adventure would be a great deal more adventurous and enjoyable if I had his company. A lot of people have told me that they broke up with their significant others, or were trying to escape them, when they came to Nunavut but I never ever had that feeling. In fact, I'd say our relationship seems stronger than ever, but I sure do wish he was here with me. I'm working on it. If you know of any decent jobs available in Gjoa, please let me know! I think Chris would LOVE it here.

Hello out there and Northern lights.

I finally saw them! Gjoa Haven has a tendency to be cloudy all the time, and last night I could see the moon for only the second time and decided it was worth the effort to get dressed up in my gear (over my pjs) and go search for the lights. Well low and behold I saw them :D They weren't terribly bright or clear like I have seen posted here, but my roommates told me that they were really good for Gjoa! I was so excited I was jumping up and down! :D


Secondly, I just wanted to say hello to everyone reading. A teacher I know told me someone in another community asked her about me because of this blog. So hello! I'm going to try to post more often, which means of course I'm going to have to try to do more exciting things with my life. Hopefully this will also help pull me out of this funk I've been in.

Thirdly, don't forget about time change this weekend folks! Something about it thrills me because it means the sun will set earlier than I've ever seen it set before, which although probably not good for my emotions (though I'm not sure they are linked at this point), it is very exciting to my inner child!

Lastly, thank you to all who posted on my last post. I have been taking vitamin D (along with calcium, zinc, vitamin C and a multivitamin) and I will look into getting a sun lamp. I am going to put more effort into going out into the community even when I'm feeling down, because usually once I drag my butt out of the house I feel a lot better. I'm also starting more regular exercise, which for my unfit butt is a big feat, but it can't hurt my moods and will help my body. So thank you again.

I am alive

I've hit a wall of blog posting I suppose. I even avoided checking other blogs for a few weeks because I didn't want to feel like I had to write here.

Honestly, nothing worth writing about has come up. I've been having a rough time here in general, and although work has gotten easier and more enjoyable, I miss my boyfriend even more than before and I have almost been in a funk here. I do a few social things, but mostly I just stay in and watch tv shows and try to distract myself.

It isn't a very good headspace to be in.


Why is it that my community is so much colder than all the others? On Baffin it is always between -5 and -10 when I check. Here it has generally been between -17 and -22 lately! The cold isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would. I'm getting used to the routine of putting on a hundred layers before leaving the house.

I'm excited about the dark. Don't ask me why, it's just neat to me. I wish we had northern lights however. It's been cloudy probably about 95-98% of the nights I've been here! I guess my roommates only saw the lights a couple times really good last year. A bit disappointing, but I'm sure I'll see them at least once.

My class this past week helped organize a scavenger hunt for the exchange trip from Scotland that is here this week. That was pretty fun and I learned a lot of little things about the community. I heard it was a success yesterday, so that is great!

Um, I guess that is it. Honestly, even after a month of no posts, I haven't got much to say. I think I'm slipping toward depression and I'm not entirely sure what to do about it. I will just keep on trucking.

Wow.. just.. wow.

For those of you who haven't been alerted, Gjoa Haven made the Toronto Star today in this (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/701930) piece about the price of food in the north. The article excited me because it was neat to see the place I live in mentioned in such a big paper. That was, until I started reading the comments. The comments are full of racism and judgement, with the main points being made are that nobody should live in Nunavut, and if they want to live here it's their own fault. Yes. Seriously. There are some good comments of course, but look at these "gems" from the first few pages of comments. I just can't believe people think the solution to the high prices is to move the Inuit out of the Arctic.

Um, Yeah,

I want to live on the moon. Can you guys subsidize that for me? I don't understand why so many would live in such unsustainable regions. Purchasing and shipping small quantities of anything will cost more per item than large shipments. We are too far spread in Canada's southern half as it is. That said, the price gouging up north is sickening.

Live anywhere at all cost?

My view, despite having a husband from Labrador, is that the time to realise that just because you can live in the distant areas of Nunavut doesn't mean that you should. Especially if you live off welfare, have no employment and there's no employment opportunities in sight, this might be the time to move on. If you furthermore have to fly in perishable foods. It has very little to do with culture preservation, it is economic pragmatism.

Why live there?

Why do people live there? Business has taken me to some of these isolated communities that are only accessible by air. Invariably they are populated by miserable people, dysfunctional families, people in bad health, and riddled with substance abuse and social problems. No wonder--the environment would drive anyone nuts. It also costs a fortune for education, health care and housing. Guess who's paying? Those of us who live in more moderate environments.

Absolutely ridiculous concepts

I love how modern first nations people bitterly complain. They want 100% of the best of both worlds. In this case, they want to live in the arctic, but have a southern life style (food, housing, education, entertainment, vehicles). And ask the majority of Canadians to pay for it. BUT. They refuse to give up anything in return. You can't have it both ways. If you're an "Inuit" then you should drop the facade. If you want to live in the arctic like a southerner expect to pay for it. Stop whining about how much things cost if you want to live in the middle of no where. That's supply and demand. Get used to it

Move

This drives me nuts. These people live in the middle of nowhere (their choice), and then complain that there's no jobs (surprised?) and the food is expensive (surprised?). Hello...Hello. Move south to a community that has jobs, has cheaper food. Since you won't do that, I have to subsidize you. Why is your poor choice, my problem.

Ok, I think that is enough. I'm feeling angry about this whole thing. I'm so glad there are sensible people on this forum as well. I really should know better than to read comments of articles on the internet!

Adventures in Online Shopping - Part Two

I never did get around reviewing the rest of my purchases. This post is going to be significantly less organized than the last one because I'm really tired and don't feel like taking the time to make it all pretty.

I still have not ordered from Chapters or Amazon, so I can't give you anything there.

I can tell you that Lands' End is fabulous for shipping quickly and for not having to worry about paying duties or customs because it is shipped from within Canada.

Rickis.com has really nice stuff. Once again I reiterate that you need to go a size down in most of their clothing as it runs large like Old Navy clothing.

Gear-up.com has wonderful customer service, they personally emailed me regarding my order and continued to correspond with me until the issue was settled. This makes me want to shop from them more! Also, my -100 degree boots were very quick to arrive after being shipped.

Well.ca has become my favourite browsing website. I have ordered from them twice, and they are awesome! The pack everything really well and my order has never taken more than two weeks to arrive.

Lowest on my list of likes is Mountain Equipment Co-op. They shipped quickly and it was free when you spend over $150, which isn't hard at MEC, but their products didn't match up with what they appeared to be on the website. I was particularly disappointed with my backpacks, which were described to be quite large (and the size was given in Litres, but I had no idea what a 30L backpack looked like), but when they arrived they were actually more of a smallish to medium size.

My new favourite fun place to browse (and shop when I can afford it) is Bath and Body Works, their shipping is not too bad, and it is very quick. I got some really nicely scented candles and body sprays and now my apartment smells delicious (I got Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin, Vanilla Caramel, Warm Vanilla Sugar and Kitchen Spice candles).

Anyone have any others they want to throw in? I'll do more organized reviews again sometime soon, when I'm feeling less drained. To think, it's only Monday! I'd say it is going to be a long week, but I find the weeks fly by here.

September 26th 2009 - The day the snow stuck :)

We have had quite a few snowy days that haven't really led to anything. A few times they would stick at night but be gone the next day. Yesterday was an example, back and forth from rain to snow it went all day, resulting mostly in slush and huge huge puddles. Then, last night things turned white and it was snow all night long.

Today I woke up to see this out the front of the house. Out the back it looked like the snow went on forever, it isn't as pretty as our front view though.

I am so freakin' excited. I didn't know I loved snow this much. I remember loving it as a kid, but I grew out of that when I started driving in the winter. I hate driving in snow. If you know me, you know I got into a car-totaling accident about 4 years ago because of black ice. This totally changed my opinion on what snow meant. Here, I don't have to drive! I have to walk in the cold to get to work each day, which will probably make me miss having a vehicle, but it is so lovely to see snow and have my first reaction be happiness and excitement.

I'm not excited for the cold itself, but I realised when checking the sunrise/sunset times that I am kind of excited for the dark! It is just all so novel and interesting to me. I was looking at pictures of my roommate last night standing in a huge hole they had drilled in the ice and she barely stuck out the top (there was still a foot of ice to go through at that point). I almost got giddy thinking that as long as I'm not too round to fit, I could do something silly and crazy like that too. Very cool!

How long does this excitement for winter last? Will it fade out long before I make it to June (the snow is still here when I go home for the summer)? Will I stay excited as winter changes and shows me new things? Is it just your first year you are excited for it? Are YOU excited for snow if you are up north? Were you excited for snow down south too?

It's almost a blizzard! Yay!!

I didn't know I'd be so freakin' excited about the snow! It's been snowing and raining off and on all day. What a fantastic day to have the Terry Fox Run! There was slush and puddles everywhere! Now we are under a wind warning with snow blowing all over the place. It is making me very excited. I thought I'd be sad when the snow came, as I'm not sure how I feel about it not leaving until I'm gone for summer break, but I am so excited about this pseudo blizzard outside!

This was week 8 for me here in Gjoa, and it wasn't too bad of a week :) I think I'm finally really settling into my job and feeling comfortable with it. It was a lot of adjusting just to be a first year teacher, and even more adjustment to be in such a different school environment than what I was used to.

There are a lot of personal things I've been going through this week, and there is a bit of homesickness still going on. But in general things are better than they were before.

Aww, it looks like the snow has turned into rain, it has been back and forth all day long, but it is still exciting!