Have harp, will travel...

Reflections and Ripples...

2011-05-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

I thoroughly enjoyed writing about my experiences in Cape Dorset. I'm missing writing every day... this blog became an obsession with me- I wanted to keep a record for myself, stay in contact with my family and offer a commentary for anyone who might be interested. Although when I began writing I had no idea how many people would be interested!

As a result of my CBC interview (which has been aired a couple of times now) and folks sharing my blog while I was away and afterwards, I seem to have even more people coming to check out my blog now. So I'd like to offer a bit of an apology...

This is a sprawling play-by-play of my time in the North. I wrote every day about what I was doing, thinking and feeling. I wish I'd thought to make it more structured, but at the time I was just madly writing. So, welcome! I'm pleased that this blog has a life of its own. I hope that it will inspire people to learn more about this fascinating part of our country. For me, it was just the beginning of a new relationship with teaching, and possibly a new relationship with writing...

My bad! CBC Interview on Monday...

2011-04-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

I'm really sorry for those folks who got up early on Tuesday to hear me on Information Morning! They pre-taped it on Tuesday and they now tell me it will be aired on Monday at around 6:40. But they do keep podcasts of their shows, so that might be the safest way to go!

And I gotta say... Thanks again to all of you for watching and supporting my blog.

I kind of miss writing... I may start up again at some point- my harp is always travelling!

"Postscripts from the Edge"

2011-04-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

P.S. (I just couldn't leave the blog alone, could I?)

I have been asked to do a CBC radio interview about my experiences up North, so I thought I'd let you know about it.
I'll be on CBC's Information Morning program (out of Halifax) Tuesday morning (April 26th) around 7:15.

I think it will be livestreamed on sirius satelite radio- If you click on their website:
http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns
and then click on "listen" you should be able to join us.

It will only be a short interview, but hopefully I'll be able to sum up some of the amazing experiences I had... I hope you can join us!

Goodbye

2011-04-16T07:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I watched Cape Dorset dissappear through the window of the plane, I tried to formulate some final thoughts about my experiences here. The Inuksuk that waved to me seemed to be saying, "come back soon!", but I don't know when or how or if that can happen.

There is no way to sum up my trip and put it in a nice neat little package.

I arrived in Iqaluit, had a lunch meeting with Nick where he "debriefed" me, but I found myself really searching to answer all the questions he had. After our meeting, I got into the hotel room, called Sean to let him know I had made it this far, and then decided I should go for a walk around town. I walked for about three hours, stopping in little stores and looking at the art work- one store in particular had huge stone carvings and a polar bear skin for sale- it was like being in an art gallery.

To make a long story short, I spent a lovely day walking around Iqaluit, had a nice meal and a glass of wine, then a long bath and headed to bed. The whole day I kept thinking, "I really must write one last blog entry", but I just wasn't sure what to write.

Now I am sitting in my hotel room with all my bags packed and I still don't know what to write.

I can say that I will miss all my friends in Cape Dorset- this community really gets under your skin. I will especially miss working with Emma, who is a fabulous, inspired teacher. She drove me to the airport today and then went back to get Frances and picked up a few of the kids who were slowly making their way to the airport to hug me goodbye.

The airport was really busy since there had not been a plane the day before, and then on top of that there were quite a few people there to say goodbye to me. As the plane was finally called (we were delayed leaving because we were waiting for a couple fo the passengers... only in Cape Dorset!) I lined up and all the kids came to give me hugs and high fives. It was hard to say goodbye to them.

I have to also say what a great pleasure it was to stay with David and Frances. They were the perfect hosts and made me feel completely at home... I've told them and everyone else who was so welcoming that they have to come for a visit if they are ever in Nova Scotia.

I am looking forward to being home, though- it has been an incredibly busy time and it will be nice to just relax a little and get back into the swing of things.

I feel like it has all been one big, long, crazy dream and I am really glad that I started this blog so I can go back and remember all the incredible things I've done over the last month.

I am saying goodbye to the North today. The weather is perfect- it is sunny and -24 with a wind chill of -37. I am also saying goodbye to my blog... thanks to all the folks who were listening and commenting- it helped me remember to write every day and now I have a wonderful record of my stay in Cape Dorset as well as all the memories and thoughts and faces that will stay with me forever.

Here I go for the last leg of my journey home...

"We will miss you..."

2011-04-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

It is with mixed feelings that I begin to write my last post from Cape Dorset. Tomorrow morning I am scheduled to get on a plane and fly to Iqaluit. On one hand I am more than ready to go back- it has been amazing and incredible but also exhausting and hard.

On the other hand I am really going to miss a lot about this strange and wonderful place.

Today was an unbelievable roller coaster ride with classes in the morning, a presentation of our play, a great farewell party, a visit to the printmaking shop (finally!), a lovely supper with some good friends and one last snowmobile ride up over the mountain.

The day began just like any other day at Sam Pudlat, with breakfast.

The kids made toast and mixed up frozen juice, poured themselves cereal and sat around eating and talking. A lot of the talk centred around the fact that I was leaving, but we mostly kept to our routines. After cleaning up and brushing our teeth (complete with Raffi's song of course) we had our weekly spelling test, and then headed over the the elder's room to videotape our play.

I was amazed at how well the kids presented this wonderful script. They really seemed to enjoy it and understood that it was a way of interpreting the meaning of a text and presenting it in a different way. I only wish we could work on it for longer.

After the play we had a few short lessons and then the kids had a party to say goodbye. I had made them gingerbread cookies since we have been reading books based on the Gingerbread Boy story and they had a great time decorating them. Once again I was blown away by their ability to share and work as a team. We only had room for four kids to work at a time and everyone was really good about taking turns and sharing the icing and sprinkles (what's a cookie without a sprinkle?)

The kids and the staff had prepared a wonderful farewell package and card. I won't deny that my eyes were a little misty... This is an incredible team and I will really miss them all.

After school, Frances and I headed down to the art cooperative to see how they make the famous prints. It is labour instensive, to say the least.

It was incredibly interesting to see the process in action.

After the print shop visit, Frances and I headed to the store to get a few things for tonight. She had invited Cecil and Betty over and we wrere going to celebrate finally getting rid of me (yay!).

We had a lovely supper and a great visit, then someone mentioned the fact that I hadn't gotten my snowmobile ride in yet. I had already packed up my survival suit, as I mentioned in my post from last night, but I'll tell you, it was well worth unpacking everything just to get one last chance to ride on a snowmobile up over the mountain and around by the ocean. I'd love to say that I learned how to drive a snowmobile while I was here, but this is a posed picture. David and Frances' friend, Cecil drove it. He let me take the classic tourist shot of me pretending to drive it, though (thanks, Cecil!).

In this case the photos were not worth even close to a thousand words, since it was starting to get dark and there wasn't enough light to take any good ones, and even if there had been enough light, the pictures just couldn't do it justice. My head is full of the gorgeous scenery still. We headed up over the mountain and around by the sea. I hadn't seen the open ocean yet and it is impressive to say the least. The ice flow edge extends out quite far and Cecil says the ice there is around three or four feet thick. I've seen the skidoos heading out dragging their boats across the ice to go walrus fishing, but now I finally got to see where they would launch them from.

I think I packed as much into the last day as was humanly possible and now I'm exhausted.

On our way back from the print making shop and the store, the weather kicked it up a notch and we saw the plane that was due in circle a few times and then give up and head back to Iqaluit. No one flew in or out of Cape Dorset today- the winds and the blowing snow were too much (Yet I was able to go for an amazing snowmobile ride after supper with clear skies).

This is a strange and beautiful place. I will try and write a litlle bit more tomorrow from Iqaluit, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do this experience justice, even if i write about it for the next twenty years!

Packing

2011-04-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

Has it really been a month?

I'm sitting in my room wondering how to pack and realizing that I have already packed everything I possibly could into this experience.

I have one more day of teaching... we're going to videotape our little production of A Promise is a Promise and then we're going to have a little celebration of our time together. We've been reading fairy tales and specifically we've read three different versions of the Gingerbread Man, so I've made some gingerbread cookies for the class. I think they'll like them. I also have a couple of treats for them from Sean (he got some awesome frisbees from the Navy family resource centre and some great pencils) and I brought some maple sugar candy (which I'll be sure to give them at the end of the day!).

Every day the kids have a class in Inuktitut and today I showed the teacher a copy of "A Promise is a Promise" that was written in Inuktitut, so she took the time to read it to them. It was reallly interesting to know the story and anticipate all the parts but not have a clue what was being said. I will miss hearing the language and hearing the kids with their strong accents.

As usual, school today included many things that could only happen in the North. Emma brought some caribou antlers into the class- she had found them while she was out on the land. We laughed about how she was going to take them back on the plane... maybe as carry on luggage?

Another couple of teachers were heading after school out for their Easter holiday and one was proudly going to wear the homemade parka and Kamotiks (beaverskin boots) that she had made on the plane. She joked that her boyfriend was going to wonder who this "mountain girl" was when she arrived. We also joked about how many of our stories from our time here start with the phrase, " I thought I was going to die when..." It is definitely completely different from anything else I've ever experienced.

There's no question that this place gets under your skin and changes how you look at the world.

I was too busy working with the kids and teaching to take a lot of pictures today (I'm hoping to get at least one good group photo tomorrow and maybe a few pictures of the play), but the kids got a chance to use my camera if they were really careful. I got a lot of Calvin and Hobbes style photos of tops of heads and feet etc, but there were a couple of gems and even when they are a little blurry, there are some great pictures to remember the faces of my little class from the North.

The Frozen North

2011-04-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of the walk home from school tonight... yes- it's that cold. There was a 54 degree difference between the temperature here today and the temperature back home (Halifax was reporting +14 and Cape Dorset was at -40 with the wind chill). Now I know this may be hard to believe, but I really do still think it is very beautiful. As I walked back from the school my eyelids froze together and the wind took my breath away, but I just had to take a picture of the sunset. Not to mention the fact that this was taken at nine thirty at night... the days are getting longer!

Tonight we missed sewing because there was a penny sale at the school to raise money for a member of the community who is trying to get home from Pangnirtung for a funeral on Saturday. The whole community was out and hopefully they raised enough- The cost of travelling anywhere is astronomical when you live in the North. Once again, I was reminded that the isolation up here could be really hard to take.

It was awesome to see so many people out supporting the cause. I guess I thought the cold would keep everyone home, but I keep forgetting that they're much more used to it than I am. There were tons of kids and babies... Etugaluk brought her granddaughter in her amauti and I got a picture of Mary's granddaughter trying to win a cake in the cakewalk. With all the kids running around and neighbours visiting it seemed like the place to be on such a cold and windy night. And it was a great ending to a bit of a rough day...

I don't know why, but today was an interesting day at school. For some reason everybody was wired for sound and we had a hard time getting the kids to settle in and work on anything. I am reminded on a regular basis of the cultural gap that exists here... I'll start to tell a story in class and realize that I have to explain everything! These kids have a very different background from mine and when I told them a story about a raccoon trying to get into the attic of my house, I had to spend the first five minutes explaining what a raccoon is. Fair enough- I need to have lots of stuff about the snow and ice explained to me!

We worked for a little while at the end of the day on "A Promise is a Promise", but I am expecting an awful lot from them to make the leap to presenting a play in front of an audience. I am incredibly proud of the props we have made and the work the class has done already on this theme. I'd like for them to get a chance to show off what they've done to the rest of the school, but they are very shy about presenting and I really don't want to force the issue- they have already learned so much about imaginative play and interpreting texts visually. Emma and I talked about it and we think it would be better to videotape it. Emma may show it to the class and get them to work on it some more after I leave if they really want to do it for a live audience. As it is now it would be a very quiet play!

I only have two more teaching days before I head home. I think my professors would be proud because I'm probably going to be "reflecting" on this experience for the rest of my career.

From traditional knowledge to the "big league"

2011-04-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

How cool is it to start off your Monday learning how to get lamp oil out of whale blubber? Today in school Hopi explained to the kindergarten class how to make the oil for the Qulliq, which was the lamp used for light, heat and cooking in traditional Inuit snow houses.

I wish I could bottle this woman up and take her back with me. She is one of the most amazing teachers I have ever met. Not only can she hold a class full of kids and teachers in rapt attention, but she knows so much about the traditional way of life as it was here not so very long ago. She used an ulu or woman's knife to scrape the oil from the meat and it looks a little like jelly, but when it burns it hardly smokes at all. I think it so awesome that the kids here are learning about their history in such a tangible way. It is no wonder that they are strong and proud of their heritage.

The rest of the day was what you might call a typical Monday other than the fact that it was bitterly cold out on the playground first thing in the morning... The temperature was only about -16, but once you added in the wind chill factor, it was down around -32. Yikes. I had a great time with my class, though- they were enthusiastic and sometimes overly energetic, but we managed to paint our rainsticks and get some organizing done for the play even though we had a fire drill interrupt us at one point. Believe me, going outside for a fire drill when it feels like -32 is no joke!

After school I went to the arena to watch a couple of the kids from my class play hockey. They are heading to Iqaluit in a little over a week for a big tournament and they've been practicing really hard. I think they were glad I came out to support the team, and it was nice to see my students in a different venue. They sure take their hockey seriously here- and they're good at it.

I was impressed with their skating and puck handling, but I was most impressed with their team work. I'll be rooting for them in Iqaluit next week- Go team, go!

Stormy Sunday

2011-04-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems like I only just arrived and sometimes it feels like I've lived here for a long time. Today, as I look out my window, I realize that I have less then a week left before I head back to Nova Scotia. I know I'm going to miss the people here, especially the kids at the school, but I think it will be good to get back where things are starting to get a little green and there is the smell of summer just around the corner.

It has been snowing off and on and I spent most of the day working on lesson plans, getting laundry done, cooking supper and hanging out in the house. I did go out for a short walk before starting supper, but it was kind of grey and not very photogenic. They tell me this is typical winter weather and that I have been extremely lucky so far to have seen so much sun.

I walked by the Kinggait Arts Coop, but of course it was closed up tight as a drum. I have yet to even make it inside the building since I am at school all day while they are working. I am going to try and call tomorrow and see if they are going to be there on Thursday afternoon (my last day here!) because we have parent/teacher meetings and I might be able to get down earlier that day.

I know that I have been packing so much into my time here, but I am constantly reminded of all the things I have not yet had a chance to see.

After supper Frances and I went out for another walk just to "blow the stink off" as my mom used to say. It was still grey and windy and getting greyer and windier by the minute.

Speaking of stink, I managed to get a picture of one of the frames people use to tan seal hides here... They don't cure them like we would and to be honest, although the traditional seal outfits are gorgeous, they don't smell very nice! When we went out on the land Etoogaluk (one of the Inuit teachers) had one and for the longest time I couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from. David tells me that most people keep their sealskin suits in a deep freezer to try and keep the odour down to a minimum. Although it isn't very sweet smelling, check out the picture- it really is a work of art.

While Frances and I were out walking we ran across the cutest little sled dog puppy- I joked that I was going to find another suitcase and pack him in it to bring home with me. He was just out wandering and kind of attached himself to us for a bit... he seemed a little lost.

When we were getting close to home the wind started to pick up and the snow started to blow... I hope he'll stay warm tonight. We may be in for quite a storm and tomorrow is supposed to get really cold (-21 with a wind chill of -36!)... I might get more use out of that survival suit after all! This might have been one of the last mild days I'll have to get out for a walk around town so I'm glad I rustled up my "get up and go".

There is so much about this place that will stay with me forever (unfortunately not the cute puppy, although I am tempted!). I have been extremely lucky and have seen a lot in my short time here but I am certainly aware of the fact that I have barely scratched the tip of the iceberg.

Kitchen Party Cape Dorset Style

2011-04-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

Well. They sure know how to have a good time in many different ways in Cape Dorset!

I often say that the people who live in the smallest communities where there aren't a lot of options for entertainment are often the ones who learn how to make their own fun- That is certainly true here. From a day out on the land, to school activities on the weekends and evenings, to a night with some of the teachers and friends of David and Frances, these guys know how to live.

Tonight we had a real honest-to-goodness kitchen party in Cape Dorset with music, food, dancing and lots of great company. The evening started out early for me with a great supper and excellent conversation at one of the teacher's houses (Thank you so much David and Carol Ann for inviting me!).

After supper, as the sun set on Cape Dorset, we all headed out and I hauled my harp over to another house for the kitchen party (not that anything is very far away from anything else here). I must have made quite a sight dragging my harp over the snowdrifts... incidentally, she seems to have survived quite well and she loves the snow!

When I got to the house there were a few people already gathered, but as the evening wore on, more and more arrived... I tried to get a picture of one of the guitars arriving on skidoo- that's got to be a first for a kitchen party for me!

We played everything from blues to country... the Tragically Hip, Sinead O'Connor, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Pink Floyd- you name it- nothing was sacred!

Lots of folks got up and danced and one guy got up and sang a hilarious traditional Newfoundland ballad- it was awesome.

After the incredible culture shock I've been through of coming to the North and realizing what a different world it is, it was almost as much of a culture shock to be at such a traditional Nova Scotian phenomenon all of a sudden!

Gwenivere and I settled in pretty quick, though.

Thank you to Susan and Kathy who offered up their kitchen for the event (David and Frances' house was just a little too small for all the people!). Thank you to all the musicians who hauled their instruments out and thank you to all the folks who provided awesome munchies... it was a great time.

I'm going to tumble into bed now... Gwenivere and I had a lovely walk home over newly fallen snow than sparkled under the street lights. It was a great way to spend our last Saturday night in Cape Dorset- She had a lot of fun and so did I!

Nunavut... our land

2011-04-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

Out on the land at last, thanks to Sam Pudlat school. I just have to take a moment to thank Sean (once again) for his foresight on the whole "survival suit" thing. It sure got a workout today! I think I was one of the very few "Qallunait" (non-Inuit) who didn't get cold at all. We did end up having a gorgeous, sunny day for our trip out on the land, but it was freezing when the wind was blowing and even colder hanging on for dear life at breakneck speeds across ice fields, frozen lakes, mountains and hills.

Now I know I look excited in the picture and I can honestly say that this was one of the most amazing things I've ever done in my life, but I also have to say that the 50 km ride out to "Fish Lake" was one of the scariest and most nerve wracking things I've ever done.

At around eight thirty we gathered at the school and everyone who had a snowmobile or a Kamotik (home-made sled) started packing everything and everyone up. As you can tell from the picture, the sled I was in was really just a plywood box on homemade runners. Emma and I grabbed some gym mats to put in the sled, but they didn't fit very well and we were kind of awkwardly packed in.
No sooner had we gotten across the frozen harbour and up onto the land but we capsized completely. The snowmobile dragged the kamotik for a litttle bit, but luckily we weren't going fast and Emma and I just kind of tumbled out on our sides. Everyone stopped to make sure we were all right and we heaved the wooden crate back over, packed ourselves back in and continued on.

At this point the cavalcade began to pick up speed and I started to get really nervous. I had drawn the "short straw", and was facing backwards, sitting at the very front of the kamotik, where the lack of shock absorbers meant that I was dropped unceremoniously over every bump and turn. I couldn't see where we were going, and had to rely on Emma for cues about how to lean to keep this contraption from spilling over again. It felt as if I was sitting in a wooden box that was being dropped about two feet every two and a half minutes and manhandled around corners, over mountains and through narrow passageways. Not to mention the fact that the wind from the speed was bitingly cold.

Once we got over the first part of land and started out over another frozen harbour, our driver kicked it up a notch and I thought we were going to die.

Just when I thought we couldn't possibly go any faster, we heard a noise and the kamotik slowed down and then stopped completely. Emma started laughing and jumped out, pointing ahead of us at the receding snowmobile, which was happily continuing on the track without us, oblivious to the fact that the hitch had broken.

Pretty soon it was just me and Emma and the kamotik, with not a snowmobile in sight! We laughed and shrugged our shoulders, hoping they would figure it out eventually, and sure enough, they did. They came back, jury-rigged the thing back together and we headed out again at breakneck speeds. Needless to say, by the time we got to Fish Lake about an hour later, I was ready for a rest!

Once I recovered from the journey, which really didn't take long for me (It took a little longer for Emma who had gotten quite cold and needed help getting out and activating some hand and body warmers she had brought), I started to look around. I just couldn't believe how incredible it was. Once again, I'm glad that a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think this experience is worth an entire library's worth of words.

Some people started setting up a tent and others got to work digging holes for fishing. Most of the Inuit had holes they fish at quite often, so they only required a little bit of ice-breaking and slush removal, but we had brought a big gas-powered auger with us to help dig a few new ones. The ice was unbelievably thick... on more than one occasion the auger wasn't long enough to reach the water!

It was really cool to see them work the auger- it would dig deep into the ice and then they would have to haul it up to clear the crushed ice. At one point they hit water, hauled up the auger and threw a huge mound of slush and water up out of the hole and all over the ice.

The best part about fishing, though, was watching the Inuit set up their holes and patiently wait, bobbing their lines up and down to attract the fish. They scooped out the slush with their bare hands quite often, and laid on their stomachs for hours to look down into the hole. if you looked in the hole, you could see the bottom of the lake, and the idea is you watch for a fish to go by and then you jerk the line.

I asked Mary (one of the elders who had come with us) if she had put anything on the end of the line, and she said "No, you don't have to. Sometimes I put a little piece of orange peel and today I put some white plastic."

She was pretty quiet, but I offered her a granola bar and she let me look after her line while she ate it. Then she started telling me her fishing stories... According to her story, she was fishing one day and caught thirty fish in one hour. Apparently everyone who was with her started digging holes near hers, but no one was able to catch anywhere near as many fish. Now there may be a bit of exaggeration going on, since I think she only caught one tiny little fish today, but it was nice to hear the story anyway.

We stayed out on the lake for about five hours. Ina, the school ESL teacher and trip organizer, had brought bannock, caribou stew, Atlantic Char and hot chocolate, which they kept piping hot all day on a couple of burners in the tent. It all tasted incredible... especially seasoned with all the fresh air.

I didn't have any luck fishing, but I did manage to score a snowmobile ride out further into the wilderness. Cecil, the high school principal, took me out about three or four kilometres past the lake, up onto a mountain. After surviving a pretty harrowing and uncomfortable ride on a kamotik, the cushioned snowmobile seat with its gentle, shock-absorbing ride seemd like a luxury cadillac. And the million-dollar view is something I will remember forever.

When we got back to the camp, lots of people were still hard at work fishing. I couldn't believe how long some of the women could lay on their stomachs in the snow and just watch for fish!

All good things must come to an end, and eventually we had to pack everything back up for the long ride home. I was kind of dreading the bumping and banging, but I didn't want to seem like a wimp, so I put on my brave face and hopped back in the kamotik.

We only drove a short way before we stopped to check on another group that had been fishing at a different lake. One of them had found an arctic fox along the way, and being a complete tourist, I had to take a picture. I mean how often am I going to have the opportunty to see and arctic fox this close? It was quite small, and had apparently been injured, possibly in a trap. The guy who found it was going to take it home and use the fur... it sure was soft! When we were ready to start on our journey again Emma offered to change seats with me, and after a reasonably convincing amount of protesting (I thought), I agreed.

Well I wish I could describe the incredible journey back! Firstly, Emma said, "How in the heck did you do this?? I can't hack it- I just have to see where we're going!". She proceeded to turn around, but even turned the other way, she agreed that the bumps were excruciating. I felt really bad for her, but a little vindicated... I was beginning to think I was a wimp!

And as for me? Well, I had the most incredible ride through the most amazing scenery... it was like being in another world. The bumps were no where near as bad sitting in the back, and I could see this frozen wasteland stretched out for miles in front of me. I was sorry to see Cape Dorset appear on the horizon about a half an hour later... I could have gone on that way for days.

The kamotik ride out was definitely a little rough, and I just had to take a picture of my "war wounds" when I got back to prove it. Both arms got pretty banged up from the hard plywood sides.

I also took a picture of the two Atlantic Char we managed to get from one of the guys who had more luck fishing than we did. They were huge and you just can't get them any fresher!

All in all, I have to re-iterate... This was a trip of a lifetime. I am so incredibly grateful to the folks at Sam Pudlat school and especially Ina, who organized the whole thing and David and Frances for making sure I felt welcome on this amazing experience. I had no idea what I was in for when I prayed for good weather last night as the dancing bears and kids sent me to sleep, but I will be saying my own private "thank you"s to whoever answered for a long time.

Dancing bears and dancing kids

2011-04-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

Johnny Papigatuk, the carver who comes by David and Frances' house sometimes to show off his work, is famous for his dancing bears. They are made so that they can stand many different ways, and they all look a little like they are dancing. Johnny uses only hand carving tools, which gives his bears a unique, quirky look. These three little bears are only about two inches high, but they have so much personality... I just had to take a picture of them. I am starting to get to meet some of the artists now and see some of their work. The stone carvings are worth about a hundred dollars an inch in galleries, but if you could see how much work goes into them, you'd think that was cheap. The constant hum from the stone grinders and the sound of chipping and stone hammers punctuates the air here day and night.

Meanwhile, bringing it back to modern times and speaking of dancing, there was a dance tonight at the school. I think the kids must have been looking forward to it all day so needless to say things were a little crazy during class!

In some ways we had an awesome teaching day with lots of creativity and some wonderful breakthough moments, but we also had a lot of wild and crazy stuff going on. I did get to read through our play with all the of the kids and we managed to finish painting our Qalllupilluit masks... We had a great math activity, which involved learning centres and a couple of math games... I got to make rainsticks with the other grade fours class while our class was in the library... and I had a couple of great moments with some of the kids who have been struggling a little bit with writing.

I had volunteered to come back for the big dance, so after school I went home, whipped up some chicken noodle soup with cheese biscuits (comfort food!), ate and then raced back.

There was a little committee of kids that helped set up a canteen and some chairs and of course they had to make a crown for the "king and queen" of the dance.

Again, in many ways this was just what you might expect of a dance for grades three to five... there were lots of kids who were shy about dancing, but they ended up joining in eventually. Many kids just goofed around laughing and trying everything from hip hop moves to the macarena.

The fact that they played hockey on the front step while they were waiting to be let in (just to keep warm- it is a desparately cold night!) is a little different, but essentially this was a typical pre-teen night of giggling fun.

Near the end of the dance one of the teachers announced that everyone should find a partner for the "Inuktitut Dance", so I was swamped with offers... I ended up being partners with quite a few kids and they swept me up in a sort of Scottish country dance meets drum dancing... I wasn't really sure what was going on, but the kids helped me figure out, and they were unbelievably enthusiastic. It was great to see them blowing off steam and nice to spend the evening being silly with them.

Tonight as I finish off my post for the day, I can hear the howl of the wind... we are supposed to go out on the land with all the teachers tomorrow, but it sounds and looks like a blizzard out there. Even the nightly snowmobiles are not as active tonight. I'm going to head to bed and hope that the weather turns before tomorrow morning so I can have a taste of what it's like to be on the land before I leave.

And tonight, thanks to Johnny and to the kids at the school, I will be able to count little dancing bears and little dancing kids to send me off to sleep.

Another incredible day in the life of Sam Pudlat School

2011-04-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

What a day.
Only in the North could you have a day like today. We started out with all sorts of great lesson plans, but things went a little sideways when one of the teachers brought in a seal for her class to study.

Pretty soon the whole school was involved and we got a very detailed lesson about traditional hunting methods, seal preparation, tanning hides... it was amazing. Hopi explained how the hunters would watch for seal dens and then collapse them, trapping the seals inside. The kids were fascinated (and so were we!).

As an interesting side note, we've been doing fairy tales with my class and I had just finished telling them about the Selkie legend, where a person becomes a seal by putting on a seal skin. I shared that story with Hopi and she really seemed to like it... I'm going to try and bring some information on Selkies to her tomorrow and maybe even sing the Great Selkie for the kids.

After Hopi had skinned the seal each of the classes was able to take some time and examine the skin and the flippers. Then Hopi got a smaller number of students together to show them how to prepare the meat. She showed all the parts of the seal and talked about who they were meant for according to tradition. The women would eat the ribs, the men would another part and the children yet another, etc.

I have to confess it was a little gruesome... but I guess it's sort of like a biology lesson in the South. I remember dissecting frogs and talking all about the parts of the body, so this was similar.

One of the neatest things she did was to remove all the bones from one of the "paws" leaving just the fur and nails. It looked a little like a mitten, all soft fur on the outside and floppy but with five sharp nails on one end (that's the picture at the beginning of this blog).

After all the excitement of the seal in the morning, Emma and I were scrambling to get through all the stuff we had planned to do for the day...

The kids worked really hard. I was especially pleased with the book-making we did in technology. On the first day we had a little trouble with the template, and then the kids kept saying, "I can't think of an idea" so before heading to class this time I had them fill out an "entry ticket" which had a space on it for the subject of their book and then three lines for three ideas they were going to include. If they hadn't filled out their "ticket" they weren't going to get to work at the computer. It worked really well! Everyone had at least three pages done in their books by the end of the class and many kids were working on editing and adding more pictures, formatting the text etc. It was a very productive time.

At the end of the day we had reading and while some of the kids were working with Emma I helped the rest paint our "icebergs". Once again, they wowed me with their team work and their super-cleaning abilities. We're getting closer and closer to being ready for our play!

After school I had told some of the kids who wanted to work on their books that they could stay and work with me in our "author's club". I had seven kids who stayed and worked really hard for about an hour... They were adding photos, changing fonts and editing their texts. We talked about all the different ways you can edit and they've all decided that they'd like to stay another day after school for "peer-editing" (hopefully they'll understand what that means by the time we get to it!).

So, from traditional seal hunting to high-tech book writing, these kids passed from the stone age to the future in one day, bringing me gasping for air along with them.

What an amazing place.

All the amenities...

2011-04-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

If there's anything you need in Cape Dorset, you can always look up the number in the extensive phone page (no kidding, there is one page of numbers for the entire Hamlet).

There`s no denying that this is an amazing place, but let`s face it, there are some limitations...

If you want to stay in shape and you find it hard to run in minus double digit weather or when it's so dry and cold, you can always work out at the "gym". Some teachers have managed to put together a few machines in the attic of the school. Sure, the air is stuffy and the view is less than inspiring, but they work fine. It reminds me a little bit of some of the places they've managed to put excercise equipment on the navy ships... I guess it pays to make use of whatever space you can find!

Speaking of maximizing space, there are some really ingenious concepts... In our classroom there is a "fridge/freezer" mounted in the window. Essentially it is an un-insulated container that is on the outside of the building with a door to get into it from the inside.

When we bring our lunches in the morning we put them in this little cupboard and they stay cold (or frozen even!) until lunch. I guess it works pretty well as long as the Polar bears don't think it's "bait"!

As far as activities and amenities go, there aren't really any extensive shopping options (read- "none"). But the carvers occasionally turn into door-to-door salesmen. This guy (his name is Johnny Papigatuk) sells incredible dancing bears that balance on one foot (any of about three or four ways). David and Frances have bought a bunch of sculptures from him and they are amazing. He came by tonight with one and I managed to get a picture of it.

It is a little strange to feel so incredibly isolated and at the same time be surrounded by such welcoming people. I went to sewing again tonight with Lisa and there were fourteen or fifteen women crammed into a fairly small room. I really felt like I belonged there... I knew most of them by name and we had a great time talking.

On the way there and on the way back I got a half a dozen hugs from kids that were out playing or sledding.

I figure they're all set in Cape Dorset. A great community, lots of ingenious ideas... all they need now is a travelling harpist.

(this is taking "have harps, will travel" to a whole new level!)

A full teaching day after the Northern Lights (at last!)

2011-04-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last night after I turned off my light to go to sleep I could see a faint green light in the sky above the town. I sat up and looked, and sure enough... the Northern Lights were out! It was almost midnight and no one else was up, but I decided that I had to try and get a photograph of them. I snuck downstairs and opened the kitchen window, where you can take out the screen and get a clear view.

It took me a while to figure out how to prop up my camera since you need to take a really long exposure to catch them and the air coming in from outside wasn't very warm! I finally got a couple of pictures...

They were gorgeous. You can't see it in the photo, but there was tons of action in town... skidoos going all over the place and lots of people (children included) out walking and playing games. I have started to get used to the idea of a town that never sleeps and it doesn't seem so odd to me to hear the roar of the snowmobiles in the middle of the night. I almost didn't notice them and I was really glad to finally have a chance to capture the elusive Northern lights.

Today was a full teaching day for me since Emma was still in Iqaluit with the Table Tennis team (who came in third- go team!). I was, needless to say, a little tired from my midnight photo op, but we had a lot of fun and the kids were pretty good for me considering I am such a newcomer. Frances came in as the substitute for the day and it was great to have her help when some of the kids hadn't finished their writing and we were ready to get back into paper maché. I was able to help everyone finish their rainsticks and get one huge iceberg done while Frances got four reticent writers to finish working on ideas for their books. Team teaching is such a great way to go!

We were duty, which meant that we had to be on the playground morning, recess, noon and night (well after school). Man these kids have a lot of energy! The playground looks a lot like any other playground I've ever seen, but can you imagine swinging from monkey bars in a full snowsuit? There are swings, monkey bars, a slide and lots of climbing structures.

I have noticed that the air seems thinner here. I'm not sure why... we're right by the ocean, so we're not at a high altitude, but that's how it feels when you're outside. Lisa (the technology teacher) and I were talking about it today and wondering if it's the lack of moisture... The relative humidity in the school stays at about 8%, where Sean and I have a hard time trying to keep our house down around 50%. Whatever it is, it makes you feel like you're living on mount Everest...

After a midnight romp with my camera, a busy day of teaching and all the fresh air of being duty, I can honestly say that I breathed a sigh of relief when the kids headed home (whatever way they could!).

It is still so much fun for me to see all the kids arriving and heading home. They have one awesome school bus (the school "limousine" as they like to call it) but most kids either walk or come in by skidoo or ATV.

Lots of kids opt out of the journey home and stay around for a quite a while playing on the equipment if it's a particularly glorious day, though!

Book Club

2011-04-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

I was so interested in the feast last night that I forgot to mention the rest of my Saturday, which was busy as usual! Like any school, Sam Pudlat Elementary has lots of school activities. Saturday mornings Frances and David run a book club. This week they were starting a new book (Holes by Louis Sachar) and David had decided to start a cribbage club at the same time, so I was invited to tag along. The children had to sign up ahead and it was limited to the grade five and six classes, since we only had a few copies of the book to share. We ended up having six readers and two cribbage players, which was a really nice number (and a great group of kids!).

Frances introduced the book and then we shared reading it for about an hour and talked about the story, the author and the setting, which was quite different for these kids... not many of them can easily picture a desert! We talked about the kinds of animals that live in the desert and what the climate is like. I think they really liked it so far.

After reading we had lunch- some carrot and celery sticks to start with and then pizza and Frances's home made cookies (yum!).

I asked the members of the book club if they would be interested in making some books themselves with the project Jane Baskwill has me working on ("Publish It") and they were very enthusiastic... I think we're going to try and meet after school on Wednesday to start them and then again next Saturday after their lunch. They had lots of great ideas and one girl said she wanted to start taking some pictures for it with her camera. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things go on Wednesday.

It was a wonderful beginning for this edition of the book club... everything was fun and relaxed. The only little hitch was that when we arrived there were some dogs outside and we worried that the children might get bitten while they were outside waiting for the book club to start, so we opened the doors a little early.
I guess everything up here has a little northern touch to it!

A Feast

2011-04-02T19:55:00.000-07:00

I was honoured to finally be able to attend a traditional "country food' feast. What an experience. I tried to take a few pictures, but I didn't want to be disrespectful, so I mostly got the "before and after" pictures. The meat was caribou and char and I guess they usually just bring the whole animal in and let people cut off what they would like, but this time it had been chopped into smaller pieces ahead of time, so people didn't have to use their knives to cut off portions.

The raw caribou is served frozen, so it really doesn't have much taste, but the fatty parts were not all that appealing to me. Tirak (the elder I met at sewing) said that she loved the fatty parts, though, so she made up for the fact that I didn't really want to try it.

We arrived at the community centre a little after six and found the "parking lot" packed with snowmobiles. If you'll notice in the picture, there was not a car or a truck to be seen... I'm not kidding when I say that I'm more surprised to see regular traffic on the road now- I've come to expect the roar of skidoos.

It was amazing to suddenly see so many people at once. I'm starting to realize that I will have a huge adjustment to make when I get back to Halifax... It was a shock for me to see so many people, but there were really only about two hundred or so. After spending the last two weeks here, it seemed to me like the whole world was there.

This is such a lovely community. There are so many children and they are so well loved by everyone. The children and babies just run around all over the place, tumbling in and out of people's laps. It really does feel like one big family in a lot of ways.

There were two feasts, really. There was the "country food" and there was a good old fashioned turkey dinner just like you might have at a community supper in Nova Scotia. There was a blessing of some sort that was given in Inuktitut, then everyone headed for the cardboard boxes in the middle of the room. After grabbing a bag full of traditional food (most people brought a grocery bag with them), they lined up to get a paper plate and some plastic cutlery and were served a very traditional turkey dinner. Most people were eating the raw caribou and char as they waited in line and some people just ate the "country food" without evem bothering to line up for the other feast.

Just like any other community supper I've been to in my life there was a not-so-awesome sound system set up and people made announcements and presentations leading up to a draw for door prizes. The kids and babies wandered around playing and making all sorts of noise and folks only half paid attention to the announcements.

I saw many beautiful hand made boots and parkas and a few gorgeous hand beaded hairpins and decorated amoutis. It was a really fun evening for me. Once again all the kids from school really made me feel welcome and introduced me to their parents and siblings. I feel so lucky that I have been able to become a part of their community so easily. I'd love to say that it's because I'm at the school and I have a role to play, but I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that everyone here seems so welcoming and accepting.

There are still a lot of things here that are very different for me. I'm not sure that I could ever really get used to the idea of "country food"- it seems so strange and far away from anything in my own experience. I understand that it is a delicacy and that the traditional feast has roots that run deep here. And I saw with my own eyes how much people enjoyed it and how much of a great community celebration it was. I have to say that tonight I really developed a new understanding and respect for this community and for the unique traditions that are such a huge part of their lives.

Gorgeous Sunset

2011-04-02T06:53:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a quarter for everytime I thought "a picture is worth a thousand words" here.

Last night as the sun set there were the most incredible cloud formations behind the mountains. I could write until I was blue in the face and never be able to decribe how impressive this landscape is.

Honestly, even the pictures hardly do it justice.

The sun is setting later and later every day and getting up earlier and earlier. I can see how it might be very hard to sleep at all in the summer- I wouldn't want to miss a moment of the sun.

But even the night is beautiful here.

Hamlet Days

2011-04-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

You just have to have a sense of humour when your provincial holiday falls on April Fool's Day. Nunavut was officially formed on the first of April, 1999 and coincidentally, if there's one thing I've noticed about the people in Cape Dorset, it's that they love to laugh!

In celebration of "Hamlet Days" everyone gathered in a central spot and played some traditional Inuit games. It was very impromptu. I think everyone just looked out their windows and when they saw people heading towards the centre of town, they headed out too. Certainly that's what we did. I was all excited to see the "parade" that was supposed to happen, but in the end there was no real parade other then the informal one as more and more people arrived "downtown". When we got to the centre of town, there were quite a few people there and they were playing all sorts of games. There was a race where you had to go as fast as you could on your hands and knees (this was hilarious to watch as people tripped over their coats and fumbled through the newly fallen snow).

There was a harpoon toss, which I tried myself after much urging, and luckily no one was hurt! (I have a notoriously bad aim for throwing anything, but when I was throwing a sharp weapon I made sure everyone got well out of the way!). There was also a sort of individual "tug of war" where two people pulled on a rope until one fell over- this was lots of fun to watch, but I wasn't going to give it a try... they were all pretty strong.

There were lots of people out and everyone was having fun. It was quite cold again, with a bit of a wind chill, but no one seemed to mind. And they were definitely dressed for it! So far I have spent a lot of time with the children and a little time with the elders, but I hadn't really met many of the parents. It was great to see everyone out... the young and the old and the in-between.

The lady who won the hands-and-feet race was a young mother who did the whole thing in her amouti. Someone was holding her baby while she raced, but still... I can't imagine doing that whole race with an amouti on! I guess that's one way to keep warm. When she finished the race she just collapsed in a heap laughing.

After a great afternoon of games we had a wonderful celebration of our own. David and Frances invited the neighbour in and we had a great barbeque supper. I got out my harp and we all sang a few songs... we started thinking that we should have a Nova Scotia kitchen party right here next weekend. We're going to see if we can find someone with a really big kitchen who might be willing to host it. I think it would be nice to have a little taste of home here before I leave.

Hamlet Days was a lot of fun and reminded me just a tiny bit of the Highland games- the activities they had were tests of strength and endurance just like the caber toss and the shot put. Even though the Inuit live in a very modern world now, it seems like they still enjoy their traditions.

A Day in the Life of Cape Dorset

2011-04-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's really hard for me to describe what it's like here. I'm finding that there are so many things I'd like to write about and it's sometimes the simplest things that I forget to mention. I was talking to Sean on the phone and he remarked on how strange it was to see an ATV driving straight down the middle of the road. I'm finding that after having spent more than a week here, I'm much more surprised to see a truck or a car! So... this post is sort of a "catch-up" post about some of the things I haven't had a chance to mention.

To begin with, as I arrived at school one morning this week, I saw a dentist and a dental hygeinist had moved into a room across from our classroom. I went over to see what was going on and found that they were a "travelling dentist show". They travel from hamlet to hamlet and set up for a few weeks to see everyone at once. Amongst other things, they were able to help me with one of my students when she decided to sample the popcorn kernels we were using to make rainsticks and got one stuck in her teeth (thank you!).

Another interesting thing I've noticed about Cape Dorset is that there is a completely different sense of time here. I have a theory that since the sun plays such strange tricks here, disappearing almost completely in the Winter and hanging around 'til the wee hours in the summer, there is a sense that time doesn't matter quite as much. The stone carvers are out all day and all night. One of the teachers at school was complaining that she hadn't been able to sleep very much because she could hear the stone grinders all night long. As she headed out to school in the morning she saw them packing it in for the day.

I know I've already mentioned how surprised I was to find fresh produce in Cape Dorset, but I didn't mention that in addition to being able to shop locally for produce, there is a store in Montreal that ships fresh food to Cape Dorset (and probably to some of the other small towns in Nunavut too). We received our food order (delivered to our door!) and I swear, the mandarin oranges are the sweetest I've ever had. The food arrives packaged up in big boxes and it felt like Christmas to open up our box and find brie, blue cheese, fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes and pears.

School is still a central part of the children's lives, but the fact that it is run on a schedule with very specific activities at particular times is sometimes hard for them to understand. Often children won't show up until the afternoon or will fall asleep in the reading corner during story time but since you see them out on the road playing hockey and soccer in the middle of the night, that's not surprising.

Yesterday in school there was an assembly and like all school assemblies, the kids were excited, the teachers were proud, some of the parents came to watch and there were some awards given.

We were celebrating "Pillimaksarniq", which is the Inuktitut word for "learning through hard work, effort and practice". They awarded medals to the hockey team and certificates to some of the students who had worked especially hard.

Emma and I chose two students who always work hard and help create a wonderful learning atmosphere. It was hard to narrow it down- these kids are all pretty great in my books!

After the assembly, our class went to the arena for a skting trip. Hockey is HUGE here and almost half of the kids brought hockey sticks. There was only one girl who didn't bring skates, so I told her she could be the photographer for the day... she had a blast taking pictures (filled up my whole memory card!) and the rest of the class had a lot of fun pushing her around on the ice in a chair so she could get some action shots.

There's so much about Cape Dorset that is just like any other small community... Everyone knows everyone else, the parents come in and help when there are school activities, the kids all have fun playing, they like goofing around and being silly and everyone is friendly.

Today is "Hamlet Days" all across Nunavut. Every community has a celebration of some sort. We don't have school today, so we're hoping to catch the "parade" and maybe the traditional feast. Once again, those little differences show up... we've been trying to ask people when the parade will happen, and they look at us like we're crazy. The answer is sometimes, "what parade?" or sometimes, "today." or sometimes, "ask so-and-so, they might know." We figure when we hear the roar of the skidoos we'll get dressed and head out to see what's going on.

I'm starting to get the hang of living in a place where there is no official time for anything.

Qallupilluit (and messy fun)

2011-03-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Qallupilluit are mythical creatures that live under the sea ice and gobble up children who go fishing alone. This myth was probably invented by parents to keep children away from the ice flows where dangerous creatures like polar bears and walruses might get them, or where they might fall through the cracks and into the ocean.

Robert Munsch was inspired by stories he heard from Michael Kusugak, an Inuit writer to write a children's book about the Qallupilluit called A Promise is a Promise.

Emma and I had already decided that we would like to focus on this theme using Robert Munsch's book and help the children interpret it with some kind of presentation or "ExtravaGAHnza" as Emma puts it.

Emma created a wonderful reader's theatre style script out of the book, which we read together and we started talking about the Qallupilluit and imagining what they might be like. I had the children draw some pictures to start with and they had great imaginations!

All the children knew about the Qallupilluit as well as you or I might know about the tooth fairy. These creatures are definitely a part of their everyday lives.

We talked about how we might illustrate the story with a play and about how we could make something to represent the Qallupilluit. We decided that we would create three huge masks and that's where the "messy fun" began...

Anyone who knows me knows I love paper maché... so I suggested huge paper maché masks, and we were off to the races.

Paper maché is always a hit with kids, but these guys were awesome at it. It was incredible to see the team work and cooperation. They sit at three tables, so each table was responsible for designing and creating a mask. They used newspaper and masking tape to give their masks some three-dimensional features, then the goopy, messy fun began!

I hope that we'll have enough time to work on all the little projects I have in mind for this... we need some scenery, and some props, and of course, we'll have to act it out. I am hoping to make some rainsticks with them so that we can use them for sound effects and instruments during the play- but the time is just flying by... I can hardly believe that my second week is almost over.

If today is any indication, though, we are going to be able to get a LOT done in a very little time. These guys worked really hard and really well, and best of all, when it came time to clean up, they had that class looking better than it did when we started. WAY TO GO, 4A!

Connections

2011-03-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

Music is the universal language. When I visited the younger grades who don't speak very much English, the teachers acted as translators. I especially liked playing my instrumental tune "Snow" for them... I asked them to close their eyes and imagine what it was about. Some of them could guess, but it was awesome when the teachers explained it in Inuktitut for me while I acted out a blizzard ( I got the kids to make wind noises).

I got my voice partially back today, so I was able to sing "Carrion Crow" for the kids. I explained the story ("Crow" is "tulugaq" in Inuktitut) and the kids kept the beat while I sang.

Some of the kids (especially in the younger grades) danced while I played Morrison's Jig. There is a traditional Inuit dance that looks a little like highland dance and goes really well with a jig!

I spent the day with the rest of the classes and then after school I took my harp to choir. Susan has done a wonderful job teaching the kids some great little songs and dances. I brought a few new warm ups to them and taught them a couple of simple silly songs. The choir has only just started this year, and they are working on finding a balance that will suit all the different ages and abilities. The kids seem to have a wonderful sense of rhythm and really got a kick out of singing Raffi's "Brush Your Teeth" song.

I found it really interesting that through my music it seemed like I was able to connect a lot more with some of the Inuit teachers. It was as if music broke down a few of the language barriers.

After supper Frances, Lisa and I went to sewing again. It was wonderful for me to go to the sewing group tonight and feel like I had a new connection with the community. I especially liked talking with Tirak, one of the elders. She teaches the kindergarten classes, and I think she really enjoyed the harp.

I didn't get a lot done on my parka, but Tirak and I layed on the floor and talked for quite a while. Her son works at the airport- she was very proud that he was one of the few people chosen to go to Rankin Inlet and take the course so that he could work there. I told her how amazing it was for me to arrive at the airport after seeing nothing but snow for so long and how I felt like we were almost going to land in the water. She was telling me how her son helped the pilots navigate their way in and then she was telling me all about how people can find food in this harsh environment. I asked her what the Caribou eat. and she said that there aren't many Caribou anymore, but they dig down in the snow for roots and moss to eat during the winter.

It was an incredible amount of work for Sean to make me the case so that Gwenivere could get all the way up here with me... And I wish I could have had a recording of each class's reaction when I told them he made the harp and the case... but it was so worth it. It was amazing to connect with the kids and their teachers and amazing to break down a few of those language barriers and connect with the community too.

Gwenivere goes to school...

2011-03-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

So I decided to bring my harp to school today finally. She was a big hit! I set up in the elders room in the morning and the library in the afternoon and the classes came one by one to visit with me.

It was really interesting what the kids did and didn't know about music or about harps or even about Nova Scotia. They had tons of questions. They were very respectful and interested in anything I could tell them. The kindergarten classes had a great time dancing to my music and all of the kids sang Inuktitut songs for me while I played.

I tried to learn some more words in Inuktitut... I learned how to ask "what's your name?" ("Kinauvit?") and I made good use of my "thank you" and "you're welcome"s ("Nakumiik" and "Ilaali").

I am going to visit with the other half of the school tomorrow and then after school I'm going to meet the choir. Their director has asked me if I will teach them a few songs, so I'm trying to get organized for that. There are just enough cultural differences that I am not sure what to expect, but they are such a good audience! At some point I hope to go to the high school as well... I wonder what that will be like?

A (warm!) relaxing Sunday.

2011-03-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone was out this afternoon and who can blame us? It was only -2 with absolutely no wind. I think I might have gotten a sunburn!

I ran across Sheojuk (in the middle of the picture), who is in my class. She introduced me to her friend and her sister and we spent the next hour or so walking around town. They introduced me to all the puppies and dogs (SO cute!) and took me sliding down a very short hill.

We had to stick to walking around town today because there are a couple of polar bears in the area. Apparently the RCMP had to chase them out of town at about four in the morning last night. (YIKES!) I keep saying that I'd love to see one, and Hopi (the elder who is helping me with sewing a parka) just shakes her head and says, "no, you don't."

It was really interesting to walk down by the water and see all the boats. There are even a couple of boats out on the ice- it looks as if they just leave them there to freeze over the winter. After supper I just had to go back out for an evening walk on my own again. It was really nice to explore the streets- so far most of our walking has been on the land.

I feel a bit like I'm invading people's privacy when I take pictures, but it is all so fascinating. I managed to take a few candid shots of a couple of ladies out for a walk in their amoutis with their children on sleds and a little boy playing with a tonka truck (tonka trucks are obviously a hit all over).

As I headed back to the house I could hear the sound of a grinder and managed to catch one of the carvers creating a huge cloud of dust by his house. It seems as if there are a lot of carvers around, but the ones you see out and about selling their carvings in the street are not the really serious ones. I didn't want to interupt this guy, but I wish I could have gotten a little closer... I'll bet he was creating something amazing.

I have been invited by a painter named "Tim" to go over to the coop tomorrow after school and see some of the artists at work. I hope I can get there before they finish for the day!

More gorgeous scenery

2011-03-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know why people didn't rave about how gorgeous Cape Dorset is. It has been one incredible day after another and thankfully Frances shares my love of hiking, so we've been able to explore together.

As if my Saturday hadn't been busy enough already with all the activities at the schools, Frances and I decided to go out for another walk after the penny sale.

We managed to walk for quite a while- it was so sunny and even though there was a wind, we managed to keep warm. The mountains are so beautiful and we ended up quite high up with a great view of the island.

We walked up through the town and then back again on the skidoo trail, so there was lots to see. We passed the little Anglican church and the graveyard. I would like to go to church one Sunday even though it is apparently all in Inuktitut. I think it would be really interesting.

As we finished up our walk we came across some more kids sledding. It looked like a lot of fun. I'm hoping I'll get a chance to try that too one of these days.

Our Saturday finished up with a wonderful home cooked meal at Cecile and Betty's (the high school principal and his wife)... we talked and laughed until quite late, then I tumbled into bed. I can't believe how much I'm packing into each day- I thought I had to bring lots of things to occupy my time, but it seems like I'm busier here than I am at home! I am going to make supper tonight, but this afternoon we are hoping to either go out for another walk or maybe even a skidoo ride- the time is just flying by.

Saturday is a busy time for teachers!

2011-03-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Emma invited me to come down to the High School in the morning for the table tennis club. I walked down and when I arrived at around eleven, there were about thirty kids doing Judo in the gym. I watched for a while, but I didn't want to interupt, so I decided to go exploring...

It wasn't long before I found the principal and his wife working in the kitchen preparing a lunch. The principal offered to take me on a tour, and I was impressed once again by the technology! Every class had a smart board and their computer room had about thirty brand new macs. The school has a wonderful kitchen/lunch room, a gorgeous library where they have quite a few artifacts from traditional ways. They are hoping to turn it into a community museum, which would be awesome.

The school has become a focal point for the kids on weekends and there were quite a few teachers and Raymond, one of the RCMP officers there to help with the day's activities.

After Judo there was table tennis and then at one we served a lunch of chicken burgers, poutine and ice cream for desert. These kids sure can eat!

After lunch, I helped clean up and then Emma got us a drive up to the elementary school in the RCMP pickup truck. I got to ride in the back with all the kids and made some new friends. As we left the high school some girls on an ATV threw a mitten at one of the girls in the back of the pickup with me. She caught it and we took off, so the chase was on... They followed us all the way to the elementary school trying to catch up and get their mitten back!

The elementary school was packed since they were having a penny sale and cake walk to raise money for a new fitness initiative they are starting at the school.

I have never seen so many skidoos out front... it was definitely the place to be on a Saturday afternoon.

It is really great that all of the teachers have become so involved in the community- Everyone was busy with one activity or another and the kids are learning that school is a place where fun things happen. I'm sure it can be exhausting at times- there is always so much going on, and it all needs to be organized by the teachers, but I was really glad to be a part of it!

Grocery shopping

2011-03-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

Everything you need to do just takes a little bit more time and a little bit more planning in Cape Dorset. It's not that there's much you can't get here, it's just that you have to plan ahead.

You don't want to wait until the last minute to go grocery shopping, and you definitely don't want to save it up and do it all at once unless you happen to have a skidoo!

The two stores in town are about a ten minute walk from Frances and David's house, so after school yesterday, Frances and I went grocery shopping. It was gorgeous out and the thermometer was reading only -8, so everyone was out enjoying the sunshine.

It is such a wonderful community here that you can't get far without someone calling out "Hi Jennifer!" or sometimes "Hi Emma!" (since we have the same silly hat!). The kids were all out sledding and playing, so I got lots of hugs hello. There were lots of women out with their "Amouti"s, which is the traditional Inuit coat that has a spot in the back for a baby. They seem to carry children in these right up until almost two years old- and it looks like a really comfy ride for them!

Once you get in the store, it's clear that you need to plan ahead and be flexible about what you want to cook! There is fresh fruit and vegetables, but sometimes not the ones you had in mind. You kind of have to go with what you find. And at these prices, it doesn't pay to buy something unless you have a definite plan for it- it would be terrible to have it go to waste!

Frances came prepared with a backpack and a grocery bag to carry things home in, but most folks brought their skidoos. I saw as many as five people all piled onto one skidoo!

On our way home we ran into a couple of young carvers who were selling Inuksuiks they had just carved. They were lovely, but I had already said that if I wanted to buy a carving, I thought I would like to have a polar bear, so Frances said, "Thank you, they are very nice, but she is looking for a polar bear". The two carvers then said that there was another carver who was working on a polar bear just around the corner, so we went to see. He had roughed out the shape and was working on smoothing it out. I wish I had gotten his name! I said that I might be interested in buying it when he was finished, and France told him where we lived, but he likely sold it to someone else. I'm sure I'll get another chance at some point.

As we made our way home, we saw lots of children playing and had to stop and say hi, patting dogs and meeting new puppies. All in all the grocery trip took well over an hour and a half, but when there aren't tons of things to do, I can't think of a pleasanter way to spend an afternoon.

Life at school

2011-03-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Every day starts with a breakfast served in the classroom. The kids are awesome at setting up the food and cleaning up afterwards. This morning was special because it was "Fun Friday" and we had fresh cooked sausages along with our regular cereal.

Classes were held as usual in the morning, but after lunch we had a fun fair where the whole community was invited in and the kids had sack races, "Pin the Nose on the Polar Bear" games, "Cupcake walks", musical chairs... you name it.

It was great to see the whole school having fun and to meet some of the families of my students.

Just when I start to think about all the ways things are different up here in the north, I find something that reaffirms the fact that kids are just kids wherever you go...

The community

2011-03-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

It was a really warm day today. Only -10 and very sunny. After dinner Frances and Lisa (the school tech teacher) asked me if I wanted to join them at "sewing night". "Why not?" I thought, so we headed downtown. I had to take a picture of Sheba, the high school principal's dog on the way by- she has the most incredible eyes!

On the way we took a short cut over the hill by some sled dogs. Frances assured me that they couldn't get over to the path, but I kept my distance anyway. They were absolutely gorgeous- Strong and proud.

As we walked through the town, lots of people were out and about. They all said hi and a few of the kids recognized me from the school. There is a constant hum of skidoo engines in town. It's much more likely to see a skidoo than a car on the road, and they go at ridiculously high speeds! Down by the store seems to be a local hangout and the boys try to impress by spinning doughnuts.

The children were all out playing. It was great to see them sledding, running, playing hide and go seek, tag etc. It made me realize again how important community is. I remember when our girls were little and we used to have community soccer games. Everyone played... parents, big kids, little kids. And no one kept score.

I think we could all learn something from Cape Dorset about community.

We walked past the store and the high school and came to the door of the community centre. As we entered I started thinking the whole community must be in there! They were having a "penny sale" to raise money for a community member who was in the hospital in Iqaluit. Lots of the kids from our school were there, and they all came over to give me a hug. I met many parents and sisters and brothers of my kids as I took a walk around the community hall. I could have stayed there all night, but the sewing club was about to begin, so I headed to the sewing room.

Inside were several elders (Hopi from schol included!) and they were helping people make traditional parkas. I settled in to learn how to do it and for the next two hours there was a steady stream of visitors and sewers. It was a wonderful night.

Reki and Hopi are sisters, and they seemed to be in charge. They helped people find patterns, cut out pieces, choose trim, and just generally have fun. I only caught the gist of what was going on, since everyone was speaking in Inuktitut, but they made me feel incredibly welcome.

Tomorrow we're having a fun fair at the school in the afternoon and on Saturday there is another penny sale to raise money for the school book fair.

It strikes me that here, in the middle of nowhere, with so few people, I have met more new friends and been involved in more community activities than I ever am at home. These folks sure know how to make people feel at home!

Kinngait

2011-03-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

After I got home from school, Frances and I decided that it was too beautiful of a day to sit around inside. Cape Dorset is called "Kinngait" in Inuktitut, which means "mountain" and we decided we would try and climb to the top of the mountain that is beside the village. It looks small in pictures, but it is quite imposing in person!

We got half way up and I started to get a real feel for the "lay of the land" as they say. It seems like you're on the top of the world every time you step out the door here (and maybe we sort of are!)... There is so much sky and sun and snow.

Once we got to the top and turned around to see where the village was, I was amazed to see how far we'd come. Luckily it was still fairly warm and the trip down was a lot easier than the trip up!

Once again, I tried to capture the incredible beauty of the area, but it's impossible to give you the feeling of all that incredible expanse of snow.

We kept ourselves warm with all the hard work of walking in the snow, but our hair and eyelashes were frosted over by the time we reached home. As we neared the house Frances told me that David knew how to make a great expresso/hot chocolate drink and we decided we'd try and convince him to treat us to one before starting to make supper.

Yum. What a nice way to celebrate our walk!

photos at last...

2011-03-23T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well here's my school! It was a beautiful day today... only -15 with hardly any wind. As I got to school there was a gorgeous "sun dog" in the sky. This is a phenomenon little bit like a rainbow, which is also called a "mock sun" or a "phantom sun" (the scientific name for it is parhelion from the Greek for "beside the sun"). I tried to take a picture, but it just didn't come out like I wanted it to.

At school today we had our regular classes to begin with, but then we were lucky enough to have one of the local elders (Hopi) teach some songs to go with our drum dancing. She was wonderful with the kids- she spoke only in Inuktitut, so they had to help me when it was my turn to try playing the drum. Luckily Nebeya took a turn and I got a couple of photos of her wild drum dance (she was a little too animated to catch, so the photos were all a little blurry!).

I am still amazed at how much of their education is in Inuktitut. It is awesome to hear it spoken everywhere and see the children's writing on the walls of the school. Today as we played with playdough I molded different animals and the children taught me the inuktitut words for them. They also helped me to make a name label for my desk using the Inuktitut alphabet. I am learning way more from them than they are learning from me!

My first day at Sam Pudlat School (sorry, no pictures yet!)

2011-03-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

This morning I got up fairly early, bundled up and headed over to Sam Pudlat Elementary, which is only a "hop skip and a jump" from the house. We arrived around 7:30, before anyone else was there and David showed me around the school. Emma (my cooperating teacher) arrived just as we were finishing our tour to show me where the "good coffee" was (Thank you, Emma!;*)) and take me around to meet the staff. Everyone welcomed me with smiles everwhere I went. I hope I can remember half of their names!

Emma is a wonderful, bubbly, welcoming face, and as the children arrived for breakfast, you could see how much they love her. There are sixteen in the class, although Emma says they don't all come to school at once, so we'll rarely have that many (if at all). All the children knew I was coming and made a point of welcoming me with little secret smiles, saying "I know who _you_ are!" and on the morning announcements, they welcomed me officially to the school ("all the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia!"). The school is extremely well-equipped, and Emma's students laughingly showed me how to use the smart board (tricking me every once in a while and erasing my writing when I wasn't looking). As the day began, the students were working on spelling in turns with smaller groups, so the children who had finished their spelling helped me read a book in Inuktitut. I think they really enjoyed teaching the teacher!

After spelling, the students wrote in their journals. Emma allowed them to choose whatever topic they wanted, which was a first for them. There are so many little differences from the classes I've seen in the South, that it's hard to put my finger on them all. Firstly, the students had a very hard time coming up with their own ideas for the journal entry. I tried to encourage them, but they really seemed at a loss without more guidance. Slowly I was able to get them to loosen up and tell me some stories from their lives, and we worked on how to write them. The writing level was definitely more simplistic than I was expecting, but the children were much more precise than I expected too. If they needed to spell a word and weren't sure how, they looked it up in a dictionary, or asked for help. They were very meticulous with their writing and corrected everything very carefully.

After writing, they brought out traditional drums and took turns drum-dancing while the rest sat in a circle and sang songs like the alphabet song in Inuktitut, or another traditional song that they said they didn't know what it was about when I asked. one girl (Nubeya) got the whole class laughing by imitating the traditional dancers with great huge, exagerated movements.

To end out the morning (it was only a half day today), the children had technology class. I was once again blown away by their concentration and precision. They were completely silent working away at their computers, and seemed to be very competent. Emma and I said goodbye to them at lunch and after an afternoon planning session with the staff, she took me "downtown" to the Coop and the Northern (the two stores in town). Everyone we met was introduced to me and I gave up trying to remember all the names! It was quite warm comparatively speaking- only about -18 and I actually got quite hot hiking around in all my winter gear despite the wind, which was biting.

After we had visited all the hot spots of Cape Dorset (which was a fairly short trip) Emma pointed me in the direction of home and I made my way back to Frances and David's house just in time for another wonderful supper of fresh Atlantic Char. One of the teachers at school had caught it the day before, and I have to tell you, it put the meal I had in Iqaluit to shame. So fresh and tasty!

We were thinking about going out to a sewing club tonight... Frances is making herself a parka and she thinks I might be able to make one too while I'm here. We decided, however, that we would wait until the next sewing night, since it is quite a long walk and we were both feeling a little tired. I don't know if I'll be able to make a parka or not, but I'm looking forward to going to the sewing club- it is a group of Inuit women who are helping Frances make hers in the traditional way, and I think it would be quite the experience to talk with them.

Phew. That's a lot for one day.

Emma and I have already started to plan our little musical/theatre production and I'm looking forward to introducing the idea to the students tomorrow, but maybe tomorrow I will be able to take some pictures, and since they'll be worth a thousand words, I won't have to write as much!

Monday morning in Iqaluit and then a flight to the end of the world...

2011-03-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to see the mace for Nunavut's legislative building for myself ever since I saw pictures of it. It was created by six different artists from six different communities: Inuk Charlie from Cambridge Bay, Paul Malliki from Repulse Bay, The late Simata Pitsiulak from Kimmirut, Mathew Nunqingaq from Iqaluit, Mariano Aupilardjuk from Rankin Inlet and Joseph Suqslaq from Gjoa Haven.

It was made out of a Narwhal tusk and the animals on the mace represent the connection between land, sea and a food source. The common loons carved from Nanisivik silver form a crown with a cross on top. The cross symbolizes the respect for the British Monarch. The carved people carrying the mace represent a family working together. The elder helps lead the way to the future, which is represented by the child. The man and the woman represent gender equality. The big ball is blue lapis lazuli, from Kimmirut, which one of the only three deposits of lapis lazuli in the world. The gemstones around the crown were hand-cut by the artists. The clear stones are quartz, the purple stone is amethyst, the red is garnet, black quartz, green citrine, blue lapis, white marble. At the tip of the mace is a 2 ¼ carat diamond from the Jericho Diamond deposit in Western Nunavut. I just had to take my own picture while I was there, but a picture doesn't do it justice... you really need to see it in person! There were a lot of other beautiful pieces of art in the legislative building, including a gorgeous carved caribou antler and a lovely miniature couple wearing traditional clothing.

After a very cold tour around town I made my way to the airport. I have never been to a busier airport in my life! There were people everywhere... you could hardly hear the announcements, and it seemed as though there was a plane leaving or arriving about every fifteen minutes. Thankfully we had met a nurse from Cape Dorset while we were in Ottawa, and when she showed up I felt a little bit less like I was going to be lost in the shuffle...

As it turns out, if you are not on the plane, they just call your name until you arrive, so I guess I needn't have worried!

Once our plane was finally called for boarding, I headed through the gate, following Karen (the nurse)'s lead. We went out into the cold and onto a little bus that was to take us to the plane. After a bit of a kerfuffle with one of the passengers, who had been given the wrong boarding pass, we drove out to the end of the runway, where a tiny two-prop plane was waiting for us. As we boarded and I saw that there were a total of sixteen seats, I knew we were in for an interesting ride.

Once again, nothing but snow and ice flew by beneath us as we made our way to Cape Dorset. I tried to take pictures, but it just looks like that infamous drawing of a polar bear in a snowstorm, or a white cat on an ice rink... nothing but white.

As we flew further and further away from the reality I know, I began to wonder if I was really ready for this adventure. We began to descend, and beneath us was nothing but ice flows... The ice and the water grew nearer and nearer, with (alarmingly!) no sign of land. Just at the very last minute, when I thought I was going to have to find a life preserver, the island of Cape Dorset rose up out of the sea and we landed.

I made my way to the airport building, and Frances's smiling face was there to greet me. I finally felt like I had arrived.

We got a lift home from the school bus (my own private "limo"!) and as the sun set on Cape Dorset, all I could do was stare at the beauty outside my window.

What an amazing place. And my hosts, David and Frances have made me feel right at home. We had a wonderful supper and I learned a little bit about the community. I met the principal of the high school (and his lovely husky dog), and I hope to arrange a visit there too over the next month.

I have settled in to a great room with a view of "the valley" as they call it and their house is warm and cosy. I am looking forward to meeting my cooperating teacher and all the students tomorrow...

The First Day of Spring in Iqaluit

2011-03-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

It's -32 with a wind chill of -48 and Tracy has left for Kimirut, so I'm all alone in Iqaluit. Yup, it's just me and the great white north... waiting for a plane to take me to Cape Dorset later this afternoon.

I have been fighting off a cold, and have lost my voice, which is going to be really hard when I finally get to meet all the folks in Cape Dorset. I'm taking it easy this morning in my hotel room, but I have to check out at noon, so I think I'll head out into the wild yonder to try and kill off the cold germs. Sean says the cold kills everything... it can't hurt!

I am going to try and visit the legislative buildings today. They were closed yesterday, but they should be open now. I may not get to post any more blogs for a bit, since I'm not sure if I have much internet where I'm going (one of the many questions I guess I _should_ have asked!) but I wanted to post one last blog with a "shout out" to Nick.

Nick- thank you for everything! You organized this trip so incredibly well and prepared us for every last little detail. Tracy and I were saying last night at dinner how the little pieces of advice you gave us all came into play as we walked around the town exploring. We all wanted to thank you for the hard work you've put into this and let you know we're thinking about you... we hope you're doing well!

2011-03-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Tracy and I took the time to walk around Iqaluit on this _gorgeous_ day... it’s unbelievable how breathtaking the scenery is. We walked to the store, which had all sorts of animal furs on sale. They also had an incredible collection of books, so I think I might pick some of those up when I come back through. We were both surprised to find that the grocery section had a huge selection of fresh fruit and vegetables as well as tons of items that I wouldn't have expected... like pumpernickel bread and blue cheese. I guess I'm not as immune to stereotyping as I thought I was. As we walked around town, there were all sorts of ravens and there was a constant buzz of snowmobiles. We had to carefully choose our photo opportunities so we didn’t get run over!

Everywhere we looked, we were reminded of the fact that we are “not in Kansas anymore”. Even the road signs are in Inuktitut. We saw many women wearing the traditional coats with room in the back for a baby (and many babies, too!). It really feels like a totally different country...

Iqaluit is right on the edge of the sea, so the harbour was very close. We walked down and It’s pretty easy to fall in love with Iqaluit when the sun is shining and everyone is out and about.

We ended our day with a meal at the Nova Hotel's restaurant. It was not particularly cheap, but it was a very upscale meal! I had a maple citrus smoked Atlantic Char dish that was served with rice pilaf, asparagus, red pepper, mushrooms. We wanted to order the "Thai Caribou salad" (mostly because of the name!) but they were sadly out of Caribou. We enjoyed a leisurely meal with a glass of white wine (the last wine we'll have for a while) while the sun set on Iqaluit. I can't imagine what tomorrow will bring.

Iqaluit

2011-03-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

We got up really early this morning and headed to the airport. After a bit of a mess up with shuttles, we all ended up with plenty of time to spare for checking in (harp included). Our little corner of the airport was tiny, and we knew we were on our way to another world when all of the announcements were made in three languages (French, English and Inuktitut). Once on the plane I met a wonderful French teacher who is also on her way to Iqualuit for a teaching position. We spent a lot of time talking on the plane... it turns out we have a lot in common! Her daughter works for Air Canada, so she may come and visit me in Cape Dorset while I’m there... which would be really fun.

After a very short while all you could see out of the window was snow- Miles and miles and miles of snow. As we drew nearer and nearer to Iqualuit, I have to admit, it started to dawn on me how very far away from everything I’m going to be.

We arrived in Iqaluit, donned our winter gear and headed out into the cold. Thank goodness it is sunny today! Tracy and I got our luggage, said goodbye to Mandy and Sarah, who are heading on to Pond Inlet today, found a taxi, and got to our hotel.

We are now sitting comfortably in our hotel room, drinking a brown rice green tea (thanks to Rachael!) checking a few e-mails and writing on our blogs before we head out for a walk around town. It is gorgeous and sunny here, but minus 29. We hope to visit the parliament buildings and maybe a few stores, then head to a restaurant for supper. I think we're going to take it easy tonight, our heads are spinning from the whole strangeness of it all.

The journey so far... Ottawa

2011-03-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is Mandy, Sarah and me in the Ottawa airport waiting for our luggage. Tracy was calling home...

We arrived at the Halifax airport WAY early, but I wanted to have enough time to check my harp in. I was so afraid that even after all my telephone calls and internet searches, they were going to find some reason why I couldn’t bring it! Despite my fears, everything worked out fine for the check-in and we had lots of time to spare. I said goodbye to Sean and headed through security.

The flight was easy and miraculously, my harp arrived in one piece with only a few scuff marks on the case! We took the airport shuttle to our hotel (thanks to Nick, everything worked out perfectly... our rooms were right next to the restaurant, and the hotel was only five minutes from the airport!). We grabbed a late lunch and found a bus for downtown and spent a wonderful afternoon walking around parliament hill guided by my sister, Kate (thanks for being an awesome tour guide, Kate!). We said hello to the “ladies”, visited the locks, walked through the market, making sure to stop a look at the “Obama Cookies” (where Obama stopped his limo to buy cookies), checked out the famous Château Laurier Hotel and eventually ended up at a fabulous Italian restaurant for a late supper.

We managed to hit the parliament hill walk just at sunset, and it was gorgeous!

I think we’re all feeling a little bit like we’re in limbo... we’re neither here nor there yet. But we’re all bracing ourselves for the flight to Iqaluit.

Is it really tomorrow?

2011-03-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

So the day has come. I can hardly believe that I am leaving tomorrow.

I had a wonderful day at school today and said goodbye to all my friends... it will be strange not to see them, we have all become so close over the last few months.

I came home and Sean is making me an incredible send-off supper... we started with escargots and we're heading towards prosciutto wrapped salmon and asparagus on the Barbeque. Rhiannon bought a lovely bottle of wine to celebrate. I'm going to enjoy a nice quiet evening (the calm before the storm).

I think the whole reality of it all is slowly sinking in. I am eager to meet the North, but it will be hard to leave my family and friends behind.

I wanted to post this picture. I made this ice candle on our deck in December and I love this picture of it... it makes me think of home. I may try and make some ice candles while I'm in Cape Dorset, and I'll keep them burning for all the people back home (to let you know I'm thinking of you!).

I am excited and nervous, unprepared and ready all at once. I will try and blog often to let you know what it's like, but I'll be willing to bet that I won't be able to describe it.

So- here we go... off into the unknown. Wish me well!

Uqalurait

2011-03-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

In less than a week I will be heading into the great unknown. Some friends gave me a book to read while I'm in Cape Dorset and the title caught my imagination... It's called "Uqalurait", which is apparently the Inuit word for tiny patterns that form in the snow when the wind blows. If you know enough about them, they will tell you which way to go to find shelter.

In a land with no trees to guide you, being able to read these patterns is a crucial life skill. The book is a collection of transcribed stories from Inuit elders that talk about traditional knowledge. I am hoping to get a small understanding of the culture and way of life by reading it.

Meanwhile, I feel as if I am heading into another world... I am used to being a fairly competant person, but in this world I know nothing.

Canada Games and beyond

2011-02-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

Well the Canada Games are finally drawing to a close and I can breathe a little easier... I was heavily involved in the archery competition this week since my husband Sean has been coaching two members of the Nova Scotia team, and I went along for moral support. The two boys Sean was coaching did an amazing job, setting personal bests against the top archers in the country. Both of them have only been shooting for a short while, but they performed like seasoned pros under incredible pressure. We are all extremely proud of them and can't wait to see how they will do in the future!

Now that the pressure of the Games is off, I am starting to realize how little time is left before I head up North, and with lessons to plan for my school here in Nova Scotia right up until the day before I leave, it's going to be hard to get everything done.

I was really happy to receive a welcoming call from my host family a couple of days ago... but when she asked me if I had any questions, I hardly knew where to begin! I know so little that I don't even have questions yet. I'm sure I'll think of some as the day grows closer.

I have also been e-mailing back and forth with my host classroom teacher, Emma Anso, who sounds like an amazing person. When I went on line to find out more about Sam Pudlat School I found an article about her class from last year, who managed to create a book for a time capsule project (If you're interested, the whole article can be found here). I also discovered that another teacher from the school has just begun a choir (again, the whole article can be found here). All in all, it sounds like it's going to be a really creative group... I'm looking forward to meeting them.

I have done a lot of workshops over the years with my trusty harp, and assuming that I don't encounter any huge barriers about bringing her along (more about my trials and tribulations with trying to get information from Air Canada Cargo to come in further blogs I'm sure), I am looking forward to showing her off to the kids and hopefully getting a chance to record some of my trip in new songs.

Every day, as I nail down more and more of the details, this trip is becoming more and more real for me.

Connections

2011-02-11T16:08:00.000-08:00

One of the things that excites me most about teaching (and particularly about teaching in Cape Dorset) is making connections... The world of Nunavut seems so far away from the world I know, and yet we are part of the same country!

While I am in Cape Dorset I hope to connect my class with a class in Nova Scotia, whether electronically (through e-mails or skype conversations) or through snail mail letters back and forth, or through whatever means I can devise. I mentioned this to a friend of mine, Jane Baskwill, who is a specialist in children's literature at Mount Saint Vincent University, and she told me about a project she is involved in called Publish It.

Essentially, this is a project whereby students, parents and community members can create and publish simple picture books. After a short conversation, we decided that this would be a wonderful concept for me to take to Cape Dorset.

We still don't know how everything will sort out, but I now have the software for creating the books on a removable hard drive and I have some samples to take with me. I'm really exited about the idea of bringing Inuit culture back with me and I'm looking forward to the possibility of creating some books about life in Cape Dorset (maybe even in Inuktitut if the students can help me out!).

If you would like more information about Jane Baskwill's Publish It project, you can find it Here.

And I am still looking for a "sister class" here in Nova Scotia who might want to connect with me and my students while I am in the North, so if you're interested, please send me an e-mail!

Learning a language

2011-01-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

It's never easy to learn a new language.

I love languages, but as I mentioned before, Inuktitut is so very different from any other language I've learned. According to everything I've read, the Inuit languages are related to eachother throughout the circumpolar region, but they don't resemble any other language groups- They seem to have developed independantly. The grammar is quite unique in my experience, and there are a lot of unfamiliar sounds to try and produce.

Obviously, I'm not going to be able to learn nearly enough before I leave, since I am up to my ears in a wonderful practicum here too, but I have found a great website where you can listen to the Inuktitut language and learn some of the grammar...

http://www.tusaalanga.ca/

I'm hoping to spend at least a little time on this website before I go.

What to wear continued...

2011-01-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

So I'm all set for the cold, but I started realizing that my harp, is not.

I realized that I was going to need a really good case if I want her (she has a name; "Gwenivere" and a personality too!) to survive the three day journey.

Yes, you heard me right; It will take me three days to get to Cape Dorset. I fly to Ottawa, then I stay overnight because the flights to Iqualuit don't match up. The same thing happens the next day when I fly to Iqualuit- I'll be staying overnight in order to get my final flight to Cape Dorest on the third day. I'm not complaining, I am really excited to be able to see my sister in Ottawa and spend an evening in Iqualuit before arriving, but it will be a long voyage!

Ah, but I digress. I started this post because I wanted to show how incredibly supportive Sean (my husband) has been.

Almost as soon as he knew that I was applying for this opportunity, he began constructing a new case for my harp so that she could come too.

This is hardly an easy task. A few years ago, when I had to travel to the West coast with Gwenivere, I made a bulky, but acceptable styrofoam mold of her, put it in a cardboard box, and it served as a passable flight case. Shortly after that, when we had the chance to showcase at the East Coast Music Awards in Saint Johns, Newfoundland, I got a more "official" wooden road case made by a company called "Ocean Cases". Although this case worked quite well, it is still very bulky. After my friend Dave Carroll's experiences with airlines and musical instruments (check out "United Breaks Guitars" on youtube if you don't know who I mean), Sean decided I needed something stronger.

First he took the old styrofoam mold I had made and whittled it down until it was shaped more closely to the dimensions of my harp. Then he put several layers of fibreglass over the form, took the orginal foam out and hey presto! he had a basic shape for a case. He then proceeded to paint it with a rust coat paint and drill holes to attach the hardware (hinge, clasps, handles etc.).

Finally he painted the whole thing gloss white, and cut high density foam for the inside into a perfect shape for Gwenivere.

I got some imitation crushed velvet fabric (on sale cheap!) and he cut it to fit perfectly. Then he made a pocket on the inside for my tuner, microphone etc. and now I have this amazing, high tech, indestructible case for Gwenivere...

She'll be warmer than I will be!

I have been trying to figure out the airline regulations on oversized or overweight baggage. It's not huge, but I think it's definitely heavier than 50lbs, so that will be the next problem to tackle...

But that'll be a story for another blog.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

2011-01-04T17:17:00.001-08:00

About five and a half minutes and well worth the time. This video was uploaded to youtube by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and gives a little insight into the community of Cape Dorset. I hope to be able to visit some of these art studios while I am there...

What to wear?

2011-01-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Here it is in all its glory.. the survival suit!

It's pretty bulky, but it's supposed to be really warm. I looked online and the average temperatures in Cape Dorset last year during March and April hovered around -5 to -25, but there is also the wind chill factor to consider...

My only trouble is deciding how to pack this- right now it's looking like I can either take my clothes for the month or this outfit.

But it's such an attractive look...

In all seriousness, I need to be warm, so I'm going to try and pack this. I'll definitely take the gloves and the boots, they are really practical- they both have removable inner linings that can be separated and kept inside so they'll be warm. The snowsuit is meant to be able to protect me for at least three minutes even if I fall into the water.

Hm. and they won't lose me in the snow.

How to get ready...

2010-11-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

The idea that I am actually going to head up North for a whole month is slowly sinking in... when I received an e-mail from my professor tonight saying that he had all the tickets arranged it kicked my imagination into high gear once again. I have been researching Cape Dorset and talking to people who have spent time there, but ultimately there is no real way to be ready.

I have been trying to figure out Inuktitut. I took languages in University, so I thought that would help, but it is so very different from any of the languages I know! I found out that it is not really related to any other languages, the way that Spanish and Italian and French are related or the way German, Swedish and Norwegian are related. The written form was brought to the Inuit by missionaries and is somewhat related to shorthand, which was used by secretaries to take notes quickly. It is an interesting looking language, that's for sure...

The Northern Adventure

2010-10-22T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have just found out that I will be going to Cape Dorset, Nunavut in March/April to do a month of my practice teaching. I have always been fascinated by the North and I am so excited I can't contain myself!

I have decided to start a blog so that I can record some of my thoughts/impressions when I get up there. I won't be writing on this much until we head out, but I would like to be able to let folks know where the blog will be in case they want to check in on me with their practicum classes or just for fun.

I don't know how much I will be able to access the internet once I'm there, but I will try and make regular posts.

And now the planning, the dreaming and the waiting begins.