Here comes the dark...

Fall behind made the darkness all that more real.  It now gets dark here in Gjoa Haven by 3pm.  It's pretty incredible how it doesn't phase the kids in the least.  It's only strange to me and the other southern people.  We lose about 10 minutes of sunshine a day building up to total darkness on December 21st.  
 

And from there we start gaining 10 minutes of sunlight a day until June 21st.  I'm not having any trouble waking up (yet) and sleeping for me has never really been a problem. The only thing that gets me is that in my mind darkness=late so I have to continually convince myself that I didn't lose 6 hours and yes, in fact it is only 3pm.

Nigel's dog socks make him sassy!

The past few weeks we've been well below the friendly negative temperature numbers here in Gjoa Haven. Instead we've landed smack dab in the -20s and -30s.  Today it was -38 which with my super parka, I'm well equipped for BUT poor Nigel, my international man of mystery, struggles in.  On very cold mornings it is only a few minutes out in the snow before he starts to limp and look at me pitifully.  It breaks my whole heart even thinking about him suffering.  So, to combat this issue, I made him a dog coat.

I cut a few buttons off a spring coat and used them as fasteners for the neck and belly strap.  The materials itself is faux lamb inside and a microfiber swede outside.  You can't see it in this pic but I even sewed a turned out collar.  

The major issue currently, though, is his cold feet.  Until his doggy booty Muttluks get here in the mail (thanks mom!) the socks will have to do.  I've switched from mismatched white socks because in preliminary trials the lost socks were impossible to find in the snow... Special thanks go out to Melanie E for the cupcake socks that practically glow in the dark because they have made sock retrieval ever better.  So far so good!

Now, Nigel the dog may look defeated in this picture but not five minutes later he frolicked outside without a limp or a whimper and I think that's fantastic.

Carvings :)

Here are my two carvings :) I have feelers out among the carvers and they know to bring me their latest and greatest carvings.

Seal Hunter

Muskox (soap stone with bone horns)

SNOW!

Nigel's squeaky chicken no longer comes inside because it is filthy.  It's kind of a step up from the regular snow angel, if you ask me.

I woke up this morning to a wonderfully crisp day and thought I'd share it with you.  I hear heat records are being broken all over Canada and while you're sweating and swearing about sweating I thought I'd help out with a little dose of shut it, it's cold here. Who am I kidding, though, I freaking love it!  Ha! I've been rocking mitts and a toque since July 30th :) 

 Standing on my porch you can see some of the crates from the construction across the street.  I also like that you've got a decent measurement of the snow on the banister.  Looking at photos from winter last year, I have to say, the information on the internet about this community is FALSE!  Last year, they received almost 16 FEET of snow but the stats online declare the annual precipitation to be 30cm.  Now, I admit to being a bit foggy on the cm-ft conversion but I'm almost certain those two numbers aren't even close... 

View of down town from up town.

I smiled the whole walk to work today :) The snow does something to the sunlight to make it so pure and the angry wind that usually blusters constantly from the north was at bay today.  Granted, by the time school was over most of the snow was gone but I can't help but think of all the snow to come!

Finally.

In a previous post, I think I mentioned a huge ridiculous hole in the middle of my couch.  Well, I have officially - after many emails and many weeks - received a new couch...finally.  I can't tell you how incredible it feels to just lounge on the couch without worrying that the middle would open up and swallow me or that I would be pierced by an errant spring or perhaps suffer some varying degree of tetanus.  

The couch, though, is just another small victory in a long line of classic north nonsense. According to my neighbour, the gaping hole was well known to housing for over a year and she couldn't possibly understand how after I re-notified them on July 30th I could still have the thing in my house.  Turns out to get anything done housing related you either have to bribe or cause some serious shit.  I chose the latter... is anyone surprised?

I started out with a CC'd email to everyone in the housing echelon including the big wigs in Cambridge Bay asking nicely about my new couch's status.  That got the ball rolling with a lot of promises and official dates being thrown around for when I would be able to relax on a whole hole-less couch.  Those deadlines came and went and when I followed up with a phone call there was some confusion as to what exactly I wanted and when - it was like I hadn't even called, miraculous! The guy on the other end said he'd get to it by Friday but he couldn't guarantee the state of the couch I would be getting to replace my old one... nor would he have time to build me new chairs so he'd drop off a box and I could do it myself.

That stuck with me: he couldn't guarantee and didn't have time.  One of my co-workers asked if I was getting a discount on my rent since I was paying for a furnished unit and only part of the furniture was safe/functional.  It was that exact moment when I lost it and CC'd a far less friendly email to everyone in the housing department. 

I seem to use this blog as a place to rant and rage but really in real life I'm only this angry sometimes.  So please, when you read the list of - shall we say - requests that I made, somewhat sarcastically, don't pity me for having so much anger in my heart.  And just know how satisfied I am to have a real hole-free couch.

Request 1
Since no one had any time to help, I asked for wood glue and permission to fix my old chairs, as well as a time sheet for me and the shop teacher to fill out so that my and his time could be credited against my rent.

Request 2
A new couch, or a couch that was in SIGNIFICANTLY better condition than my old one.  OR permission to buy my own couch and submit my receipts to be deducted from my rent.

Request 3
A break down of the cost per unit of furniture that my "furnished apartment rent" covers.  I offered to use my own time to calculate all the rent money I should be credited for the 6 weeks I went without a couch and chairs.

I followed these three little requests up with a gentle suggestion that I would be seeing them in small claims court should the results not be to my satisfaction... a bit heavy, I know, but much needed.

The CC'd email was followed by radio silence on their end... AND I even had to call on Friday to remind them that they had promised me a new couch BUT it did the trick and I came out of it up one comfy chair, too!  I still don't have any safe kitchen chairs, they will be the focus of my next CC'd email :)

Behold!

The new couch.  It's cheap as hell, and came with a rip on the left side but it's better than the other one.

Juxtaposition of the old chair (front) and the new chair (profile)  I made them leave the old one. 

My living space.  Complete with ridiculous Ikea curtains to jazz up the place.

Wall art in keeping with Nunavut McThompson Northern Tradition.  

You asked for it :) Food Prices in Gjoa!

I walked down to the Northern today with Catherine.  She just arrived and needed some help bringing the necessities back up the hill so I offered my pack mule services. I also used this opportunity to snipe some pics of the prices up here...enjoy!

 Bananas have actually come down in price from $8/kg to $6.39/kg and the oranges are a better value in the mesh bag for $15.  Apples seem outrageously prices to me but that could be because I usually don't buy Gala.  I'm more of a Granny Smith girl - which they don't seem to carry.
 

I grabbed this picture of Nutella because I usually guffaw down south if it costs more than $7...and I figured mom would appreciate it ;)

I don't actually drink Red Bull because I think it tastes like ass but for all you fun loving folks who do, I wanted to keep you up to date on currently prices here in Gjoa.  You can't see it here but the 710ml actually costs $8.

I think my biggest beef right now is the cost of flour since, in my mind, I've always been under the impression that the staples are subsidized.  For example, milk, eggs and cheese are all regular (southern) prices.  However, this "sale price" for a bag of flour almost made me choke today... the stuff beneath it was closer to $30 because it wasn't almost   expired...err...on sale. 

  Now a picture for all you pop drinkers out there.  I have been assured that the price of pop will go down once the barge comes in September....and by go down I mean it will be about $1/can again.

And last but not least, I was thinking about all you combat juice drinkers out there currently sitting on a dock at the cottage, drinking beers with breakfast. Combat Juices simply isn't the same without a health dose of Sunny D(isgusting).  Yes, that orange crap that you wouldn't feed a child and you often second guess ingesting yourself if it didn't mask the flavour of the swill you mix into it costs a grand total of $25.89... gross on so many levels!

I'm fighting with the blog formatting right now so bear with me if it seems that parts of sentences are missing - I have republished the damn thing 3 times now.

Bom-ba-deers and bicycles

 

    As the first full week of school comes to an end, I can honestly say I'm exhausted.  To start the semester, we began with a week-long CTS course offering.  My section happened to be a health course with a smattering of information from the furthest reaches of the health field(s).  Starting with the 12 things Health Canada says directly effect your health, dabbling around in the Canada Food Guide (which has changed by the way *hint* fruit and veg have replaced grain products on the bottom of the pyramid), blasting through physical and mental fitness and well being, and ending smack dab in the middle of condoms, RCMP alcohol and tobacco lectures, and a pancake breakfast.  To break up the dry kill and drill Canada Food Guide information, I took the girls out on walks around the community and out on to the land (walking is also heart healthy but for all intents and purposes, I really just wanted out of my classroom).  I managed to snap some pictures with my crappy Blackberry phone camera (still no camera cord).

A view of down town Gjoa from the Amunsen Monument  (south)

Standing at the Amunsen Monument looking up town (north)

My class 

As we were walking around on the land, I spotted a yellow "tank" down by one of the inland lakes and I asked the girls what it was.  The damn thing looked like a skidoo/tank/joke that I couldn't fully comprehend and the girls called it a BOM-BA-DEER which I later established meant Bombardier and after some research I figured was actually a Bombardier Snow Bus.  Unfortunately, my pictures of this specific archaic monstrosity were too dark and grainy, so I found a photo online of one in significantly better condition but with the same tongue in cheek joke quality that one can only approach these Frankensteins with.  Just picture a busted-ass, boxier, rusted-out, skidoo-tank and you've got yourself a BOM-BA-DEER.

To end the long week, I came home to find a super-fantastic bike (read - free) sitting on my porch!  Have you ever wondered where that thing you ordered in the mail went after the 3-6 weeks promised for shipping? Well kids, I'll tell you.  Your random crap ends up dead ending on freakass little islands in the Arctic circle.  One of the RCMP guys had his stuff shipped in when he moved up here and low and behold, he also got a woman's bicycle.  Now being the fair-minded officer of the law that he is, he tried very hard to return the bicycle to its rightful owner but alas, as the solution to most problems up here, it was deemed a write off by the shipping company because it was actually cheaper to pay out the $300 worth of insurance than it would have been to ship the $250 bike to its rightful owner.  Fortunate for me that the RCMP guy is too manly to ride a girl-bike because this heavy, jacked up, easy rider is allllllll mine! HUZZAH!  Far be it for me to look a gift horse in the mouth, that is unless it was spitting out free bikes... I mean, serious, who doesn't want a free bike? All the cool kids ride them AND it will cut down my commute by at least half! Now I can take the road without feeling like a wuss for not taking that godforsaken sand-hill that divides the upper(where I live) and lower parts of town (the main part).  

The other update for all of you fine folks wishing to lavish me with gifts is that I made a mistake in previous posts about my PO Box.  You can send your gifts and fan mail to:

Jennifer Thompson
Qikirtaq High School
PO BOX 117
Gjoa Haven, Nunavut
X0B 1J0

The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!

Nigel the dog looking for Pinkos

Distant Early Warning Line Gjoa Haven, Nunavut

 Went walking tonight with the dog up to the DEW Line - a throw back to the Cold War.  Took some pics for my history kids and used RED font in their honour. All the rest of you should Google it 

Yeah, that's right, I walked right up to Canadian military history and touched it.

Gjoa Haven from the DEW Line

Walking in the sand pit

The flight into Gjoa Haven had about 5 other teachers on it who were headed on to another community.  This one really large man in fake Adidas pants looked me right in the face when we touched down and said “welcome to the sandbox”.  At first this statement made me not like his face – so negative about a community that wasn’t even his.  Then I soon realized the man had a point; the place is a gravel pit.  There is sand and gravel everywhere and not just the larger gravel used on seasonal roads, oh no, we’re talking white beach sand all the way up to large rocks – everywhere! It’s a vacuum nightmare and it make walking anywhere an aerobic exercise.  My short cut into town (When looking at a google earth shot of Gjoa Haven, I am located in the newest section north of “down town”, across the gully.  My housing complex wasn’t built when the satellite photo was taken https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&q=gjoa+haven+nunavut&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x51f9f00f8dc44879:0x4e39c0d417fe92a7,Gjoa+Haven,+NU&gl=ca&ei=DVAYUIe9JOnp0QHLzoDgBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAsQ8gEwAQ) is through the sand dune gully.  Based on how my legs feel today after hiking that twice yesterday, I may just opt for the longer flatter road option.  

                After my initial walk about town with Nigel, I have started taking him north of town for walks.  This serves two purposes: allows me to let him off leash, and gets me off the sand.  North of town the land is covered in moss and lichen.  It looks like golf course grass from a distance but up close it is this incredibly complex ecosystem.  Nigel runs full tilt out here off his leash and he happily carries his squeaky chicken all the way out there so that I will throw it for him. North of town is also the DEW Line site which I plan on walking to after supper today with some other dog people.

I managed to grab some quick photos with my blackberry of my digs for all you curious cats out there. I still can't find my camera cord so the really good pics won't be uploaded anytime soon but at least you'll have an idea.  Enjoy!

 My front door is the one on the right.  I share the porch with a nurse.

 Handsome Nigel 

 My unit number is 37-027 but if you want to mail me something fun, you have to send it to PO Box 213 General Delivery for the School (hint hint)

 The back door and storage room complete with washer/dryer and laundry tub :)

 View from the mud room.  Bedroom/bathroom/bedroom to the right.

You know you wanted to see it ;) 

Sitting on top of the world :)

I’m finally here and it’s awesome.  It might be made more awesome by the fact that I had to earn it on the trip up, though.  Thursday July 26^th marked the start of a long and often tedious trip.  It was early when Nigel and I met our first challenge.  West Jet, oh West Jet I really did want to like you but alas I do not.  In fact, I may just hate you… it all depends on how you respond to my strongly worded letter, I suppose.  Anyway, I was told IN WRITING to show up to the West Jet Cargo building 2.5 hours before my scheduled flight so that Nigel the dog could be prepped for flight.§  Dark and early, at 4:00am I stood like a confused child at the empty West Jet Cargo counter and blinked dumbfoundedly at Doug (the forklift driver) as he told me that the West Jet guy never shows up before 5am – putting me less than 2 hours before my scheduled flight with 4 over sized extra large bags to check.  Doug also informed me that my water dish wasn’t right – despite all my phone calls and questions to West Jet.  I wasn’t going to cry.  Oh no, I was pissed.  Have you ever dealt with an automated system with “voice recognition” when you are right steaming angry?  Well I did, at 4am in the pouring rain.  It went a lot like:
                “For service in English, say English”
                “OPERATOR!”
                “I’m sorry, did you mean English?”
                “Yes.”
                “Please listen to the following -
                “OPERATOR!”
                “It sounds like you would like to be redirected to a sales super agent, although that may require               some wait time or you could stay on the line and I could help you right now.”
                “SALES SUPER AGENT!”
                “Did you say sales super agent?”
                “For the love of all things – YES!”
                “Ok, redirecting you call now.”
Anyway the lady who I eventually spoke to was very nice despite my obvious frustration and checked me in while I was waiting for this guy to come fill out the paper work on my dog. I have a feeling she also noted on my ticket that I was really, really, really dissatisfied because when I actually did make the counter in the airport, the girl waved my overweight and excess baggage fees (which is unheard of because West Jet charges FOR EVERYTHING - thank you, but not enough). Doug the fork lift guy really helped me out by giving me a proper water dish and he confided in me that West Jet always sends people to cargo without the proper information.  Whatever, I made the flight and my dog made the flight and we both made it to Edmonton safe and sound.  I just have an uncontrollable urge to spit and shake my fist every time I hear the words “West Jet”.
                Edmonton was humid and about 15C, other than walking Nigel the dog around until he was exhausted, I spent most of my time napping and eating room service.  I was able to store all my luggage for $5/piece overnight so I only had to worry about Nigel’s crate.  Friday, the first leg of the trip was Edmonton to Yellowknife.  I’d like to think that you can plan everything and get all the answers by calling  ahead and saying please but I can honestly say, it’s impossible.  I spoke to First Air and asked the girl at the counter where I needed to bring Nigel’s crate in the morning and she said to the counter and I asked “even with my 4 overweigh, oversized bags?” and the answer was yes. So I brought my dog and overweight bags to the counter – and didn’t they look me right in the face and say you can’t bring them here, they have to go to the oversized baggage counter.  I didn’t bother hiding my frustration. I explained that I asked yesterday and was told to bring it all here to THIS counter and that if I was going to have to bring my bags anywhere someone was going to have to help me since I busted my butt getting them here.  I got help.  Nigel the dog and I made it safe and sound to Yellowknife. 

It was a happy surprise meeting up with Tammy my RCMP officer friend who I originally met in Qikiqtarjuaq in 2008.  Now what was supposed to be an hour layover turned into an overnight stay due to a mechanical issue with the plane.  Tammy took me out to a steak and lobster military fundraiser and then on to an animal shelter fundraiser. I came away with a full belly and a “Sexy Northern Man” calendar.  I also came away with several new RCMP friends J Thanks Tammy!  I also got a bunch of travel and food vouchers thanks to First Air.  The rescheduled flight was supposed to leave Saturday at 10:45am but ran late and we didn’t board until 2pm.  Thankfully, Yellowknife Airport is super chill with dogs and let Nigel hang out with me in the waiting area.  He loved all the attention from other travelers who missed their own animals.  

The flight on the little plane was loud but smooth and I was met at the airport by my principal and another teacher. They drove my bags and my dog to my new house J  It’s big, with light hardwood floors, mud room, two bedrooms, big open kitchen, and laundry room. I’m impressed.  It’s nicer than the Qik.  I’m having a slight issue with the sand tracking through the house but I’m working on it.  I can’t wait for my vacuum to show up.  I’m going to have to talk to the housing people because my couch is broken in the middle and my kitchen chairs are all scary wobbly – like I haven’t sat on them, I’m terrified of it blowing apart under me.  Saturday night I stole some internet and managed to fire off an email to my family but I haven’t been able to get back on to it since.  Monday I am going to set everything up so I should have phone and internet.  Pictures will follow (or be updated) as soon as I can find my camera cord… I’m almost positive it’s being shipped…. Or maybe stored…

---

§ If Nigel and his crate had weighed at sum total of 100lbs he would have flown from the gate for $56.50 instead of Cargo for $400

One more thing on the list...

July 3 this year not only marked the 30th year of my life but it also added one more thing to the list of things to do before I leave for Nunavut.  Coming up the Kenilworth Access on Tuesday afternoon, I was rear ended into the car in front of me - yes, that was me blocking traffic on the access around 2:30pm on Tuesday.  You're welcome. 

Luckily, everyone (including Nigel the dog) in all three cars walked away unharmed.  My CRV however, isn't going to make it. I just got word today that I should start looking for another vehicle.

My original plan was to put fire and theft on the CRV and plant it on my parents' driveway for the 5 months I would be gone to Nunavut. But now I won't have to worry about all the rusting a stationary vehicle incurs nor will I be taking up prime driveway space.  

That's the sunny side - or as sunny of a side that I could make it.  The fact of the matter, though, is that I was in the middle of an accident that shouldn't have happened and there could very well have been serious injuries.

The accident required two tow trucks and a fire truck.  The police were called but the operator told me they weren't coming and was frankly quite rude to me about my insistence that we needed them... something that puts a very bad taste in my mouth. 

We were blocking a full lane of traffic on a blind curve, leaking coolant and any number of other engine liquids all over the road, and while we were waiting for tow trucks, there were almost 4 other accidents because there wasn't any traffic control.  Furthermore, from what I understand, police need to show up on scene if there is more than $1000 damage - which clearly there was.  The part that killed me was that the city crew who were blocking the right lane to cut grass and who witnessed EVERYTHING picked up their pylons and left almost as soon as the accident occured. Granted, there wasn't police on scene to take statements, but I sure as heck would have called them in as witnesses had there been any mention of me being at fault. Also, who is to say that the city had properly signed the area?  I can remember seeing one guy on the centre median with a weed whipper and wondering where the heck he came from because there were no "men at work" or "caution" signs.  The only precautionary measures taken were four pylons behind the city truck parked in the right lane signifying that the access was down to one lane.

There was also potential that I could be held partially "at fault" for the accident and have to pay.  Now, knowing me, you can probably guess my thoughts on having to pay even part of my deductible for an accident that I didn't cause. 


Good news is, I didn't have to squawk or take legal action - I was deemed not at fault and will not have to pay anything.  The guy who ran into me has been held 100% at fault for the accident.

Everyone is alright and that really is all that matters, but what a pain in the ass. I'm glad a stiff neck and some sore muscles are all that I've come out of this ordeal with. I also have a cute rental that is helping with the running around - I was spoiled, though, by the size and versatility of my CRV... the Nissan may have four doors but it certainly doesn't hold half of the stuff my Honda could.

Who needs trees?

Climbing in Qikiqtarjuaq -  Baffin Island June 2008.

On the lookout for polar bears.

Mount Thor - highest vertical face in the world.

Back to the Land of No Trees

It's been a few years and the temptation of the north has finally convinced me to head back.  I have accepted a 5 month term position in Gjoa Haven.  This community is further west and slightly more north than Qikiqtarjuaq.  It is located on King William Island, an island best known as the dead end for the Franklin Expedition.  According to census Canada, 1000 people live in Gjoa Haven.  So it's a virtual metropolis compared to the Qik at a population of 500.

I will be teaching grade 10 this time - a nice change from the junior division where I've been hiding out the past year.  I'm really excited about this opportunity.  With huge changes come huge adventures and I can't hardly wait to get started :)

I got some good news yesterday: I'll be able to get on the barge order!  This means my non perishable food will be arriving in Gjoa Haven in the least expensive manner possible: BARGE.  The only stipulation is that I'll have to order in CASES.

We'll see how that goes :)

j