You know it's gonna be alright!

I'm smiling today:  not a cloud in the sky, negative 10 with a breeze from the north north west, and sunshine.  I headed to the school just after lunch to get crackin' on some paperwork and I walked the whole way with the wind at my back, the sun on my face, and a great big grin. I've been lamenting about the quality of the sunshine here in the Arctic since 2008; it makes everything look like it is part of some ethereal winter fairy land.  Yes, I said ethereal winter fairy land.  I have an English degree that I use intermittently but mostly I just forget the commas, and run my sentences together.  This is quite possibly the best argument for me to go back to school: my mental degradation.   

Back to my point about the light - Look back at my pictures from 2008 and see for yourself or maybe just look at my profile picture for proof.  It's straight up magic and it makes me happy.  Anyway, I'm also smiling because I got some great news about my tax return - I'm not going to say much but just know that you should all come work in the north because the T2222 form is all sorts of awesome and yet another reason why I'm smiling.

We decided to stay in tonight - the hustle and bustle of Gjoa Haven's night life was almost too much to handle...  I kid! I kid!  Other than some intense radio BINGO and a teen dance, nightlife in Gjoa is relegated to kitchen dance parties and card games. So I got crazy and Frankensteined a pot of chili (which was all sorts of yummy) and talked Kelli into watching Across The Universe and Silver Lining's Play Book.  I love belting out Beatles songs but I get a bit itchy when I watch things about mental illness :s So it was a draw on the movies. The only reason I'm admitting to watching either of these movies is because of the pictures that follow.  In between the movies (see, I have a point), I took Nigel the dog out and then promptly forced my housemate Kelli to get her coat on and bring out her Ipad for a photo op.  Poor girl was a bit shell shocked when she stepped of the plane in August so I go out of my way whenever possible to show her the beauty of the north.  It was just after 10pm here in Gjoa Haven, minus 24 with windchill and a clear sky, perfect for taking pictures of civil twilight. 

First we have a view of down town.  No light pollution here, folks.  We are the only 1200 people on the island of King William in the North West Passage.  Not quite the top of the world, but pretty darn close.  To orient all you map lovers out there, the pictures is shot facing south from across a ravine that separates up-town and down-town.  

This next photo is my favourite of the three.  Facing west-south-west at 10pm Saturday April 6th you can see some of (because it never really translates properly in photos) the pretty colours of our civil twilight and one star for good measure.  

And finally, facing west into the civil twilight with our neighbour's house to the right.  Look at all the light!  And here you felt sorry for us when I posted those pictures of the pitch black at 3pm just before Christmas.  I was talking to Kelli about the light here, and I actually feel as though there is more light than dark here. 

Now before you go getting all scientific on me about the earth's rotation and actual hours of daylight bla bla bla, hear me out.  It FEELS like there is more light.  Sure the darkness is disorienting but at night we sleep through it and during the day we work through it.  Leaving the school in the pitch black in December isn't so bad, not any worse than it being dark by 5pm in the south or on days that it's overcast and grey.  Point being, you miss most of the darkness because of work and sleep and it's not unheard of for it to be dark during the day.  But if feels like there is more light because of the 10pm sunsets in April, and the midnight sun in May.  You get up to pee in the middle of the night and you have to squint into the daylight streaming through the bathroom window.   The light is everywhere all the time for a good part of the year.  Suntans in the middle of the night are not possible in the south.  Daylight at night is weird, hence why it FEELS like there is more of it.

An analogy if you will: my perception of the amount of darkness is like sitting beside a big man on an air plane in coach who sits still during the red eye and reads his book, uncomfortable but relatively unremarkable. Now my perception of the amount of daylight in the north is like sitting beside that same big man in coach but instead of quietly reading his book he talks you into drinking the complementary red wine and singing show tunes with him for the duration of the night flight - significantly more noticeable and frankly out of place because really, what airline doles out complementary ANYTHING never mind red wine?

So yeah, there's more light.  

Cheers to tax returns, Beatles songs, and daylight!  
Smile!
You know it's going to be alright!