Adventures in Nunavut

My friend Alison's birthday cake, she joined as an extra driver/chaperone on the trip. Happy Birthday in Inuktitut syllabics at Dairy Queen.

Any questions on what I miss about BC?

Ah yes, the Mountain High Mud Pie from Red Robin's, Classic!

Enjoying Tim Horton's at the Edmonton Airport on the last day.

All suited up and ready to go whale watching in a zodiac at Tofino, BC

A Grey Whale's tail

Fun times playing at Long Beach, BC

So Tired, sleeping on the Zodiac

Testing out the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach, BC

Hiking on the way to the caves

Canoeing for the first time

I think I tuckered them out!

Tiger Woods or Happy Gilmore? Adventures in mini-golfing in Parksville, BC

Underground in the caves at Horne Lake Provincial Park

Climbing Trees a new experience

Camping in a Teepee overnight at Horne Lake Provincial Park

On tour at the Catalyst Pulp and Paper Mill in Crofton, BC

Horseback Riding through the rain forest in Cobble Hill, BC

Sea Cucumber Hot Dog? Exploring the touch tanks at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Nanaimo, BC

The 8 Students on the trip near Mill Bay, BC

Rock Climbing in Victoria

Outside the Yellowknife Airport

Inner Harbour in Victoria

Ah Yes, life couldn't be complete without a trip to 7-Eleven and the discovery of gigantic slurpees.

Sipping tea in a tent, while spending a day out on the land with the students.

One of our students dressed up as part of a science experiment on the warmth of traditional caribou clothing compared with synthetics.

A 2 day old baby coming home on the airplane from Yellowknife to Gjoa Haven. The students and other chaperone joked that I should adopt it.

Adventures in Nunavut XII

Here comes the end of May, and the countdown is under two weeks for returning to BC for the summer. I actually only have 5 more days with my students, before finishing out a few administrative days. It has warmed considerably, most days now range between –10 and +5, and I can finally see some earthy gravel/tundra in parts as the snow has begun to melt, though all the lakes are still well frozen over. Crazy, but it is exciting to see another color on the ground with about 8-9 months of snow on the ground. The sun doesn’t rise or set as it is up 24 hours a day, it definitely takes some getting used to. Everyone is pretty tired, and everyone just seems to be putting in time until the end of the school year. I’m busy wrapping up report cards and all the administrative stuff that goes with the end of a school year up here. We are getting outside lots to play games and have day camps with the students out on the lakes. If you can believe it, I managed to get sunburned with a parka and a toque on this past week while we were out on a lake. Myself included, we have some of the funniest tan lines I have ever seen in my life, far beyond the realms of farmer tans, with always wearing sunglasses to dampen the glare of the sun on the glistening snow. Otherwise there really isn’t a whole lot happening here, I can’t wait to return to BC for the summer, and I just got my class list for next school year, so I have an idea of who I’m getting and what I’ll be in for next year.

The real adventure this month was my trip to BC with 8 students and a chaperone from May 7th-18th. We toured around Vancouver and Vancouver Island. I had some pretty tired and fairly homesick students by the end of it. It was an interesting experience watching them interact with so many new people, things and experiences. Highlights of the trip included horseback riding, caving, rock climbing, whale watching in a zodiac on the west coast, swimming, time at the beach, shopping, West Edmonton Mall, the Vancouver Aquarium and Science Centre, getting to touch and play with some ocean creatures, walking in big trees, and lots of funny moments. I could tell a lot of stories from sleep walkers to restaurant experiences to sleepy students. The stressful moments included a temporarily lost student in West Ed., and a rental transportation nightmare that ended up working out well with a friend from camp named Alison who came and bailed me out by driving a second vehicle with us for the trip. We had amazing weather for the trip, only a bit of rain on one day in BC, but nothing serious. I think it got up to +28 one day in Vancouver, which was definitely a little too much for my northern acclimated Inuit students, especially since it only gets about as hot as +10-15 at the warmest time in August up here. A worthwhile and draining experience! A special thanks to the friends who helped and dropped by to say hello, the kids enjoyed meeting you.

I’ll be back down “South” on June 9th and making my way towards Kelowna for a week or so, before going to the island to visit my dad and friends for a couple weeks. I hope to spend 3-4 weeks at Eagle Bay Camp in July, before getting myself back together in Kelowna for a week in August to make ready for my return to Nunavut. I look forward to hearing from many of you, and seeing a number of you over the summer.

Hooray for the playoffs! Go Oilers! Go Suns!

Nick.

~The glory of God is man fully alive~ Saint Irenaeus

The Musk Ox graveyard, nothing goes bad during the cold of winter

Yet another Musk Ox head lying around

Caribou skin pegged out on the ground, I usually walk past a
couple of these each day on my short walk to school

Clearing snow on the all important road to the lake for our water trucks

While we don't actually get that much snow, it always sticks around and makes big drifts

Mmmm, Dinner Time!

The life of a water truck driver in Gjoa Haven while he waits for the water
to pump from the lake through the top loading rack into his truck.

Riding in sleds behind skidoos on the way to the lake

Our camp for the school day on the lake, complete with coleman stoves inside the tent

Okay so the mitts are bigger than some of the students,
believe it or not this girl is actually in grade 7!

Ice scoops and chisels to dig ice holes, that go a long way down!

Adventures in Nunavut XI

Alas, it is the end of April, and I haven’t written to many of you in ages! As for so many of you, it has been a very busy spring. I survived my official teaching evaluation in March, it actually went quite well all things considered. If I thought the kids’ interest was suspect in school to begin with here, it definitely has trailed off even more, I think everyone is counting down the days. At least we only have 4 day school weeks, as we take a bunch of long weekends instead of having the traditional Spring Break. I also find myself trying to get us outside to go cross-country skiing or to go skating at the arena with the kids to break up the days.

The sun is up for about 18 hours a day now, and it never really gets dark since it is so flat around Gjoa Haven. It definitely takes some getting used to, and I’ve definitely covered my bedroom window with cardboard and blankets. It’s hard to imagine its only going to get brighter in the weeks to come. As for the temperature, we get nice days that tease us, it almost got to zero today, but then it starts to blizzard and we’re back down to –20 or so. Lots of hockey tournaments and recreational volleyball and basketball tournaments going on these days, so people think nothing of piling onto skidoos and driving to the next community, which can be anywhere from 3 to 16 hour rides away!

It’s also hard to believe that is only a week until I leave for BC with a group of 8 students May 7-18th to tour around Vancouver and Vancouver Island. It’s amazing how much planning and organizing of details goes into such a trip. Lots of money too, when you have to fly from way in the middle of nowhere up north, but we have done great with our fundraising! I get to take 3 students from my own grade 7 class and the others range up to grade 11. I’m ready for some shorts and a change of scenery (Can I hear an amen for trees, mountains and unfrozen water, I must be a BC boy!), and its going to be great to watch the students’ reaction to the activities and adventures that we have in mind for them, including horseback riding, caving, rock climbing, whale watching in a zodiac on the west coast, and lots more. Only two of the students have been past Yellowknife before, and only one beyond Edmonton, so it will be quite an eye-opening experience for them. After I get back from that trip we only have about 2.5 weeks left, most of which will be spent doing cultural activities out on the land, like playing games and ice fishing!

I have decided to return to Gjoa Haven for another year. There are still quite a few frustrations, but things have gotten better, and I figure I should give it a second shot, since at least I know what I am getting myself into now, and I’m really just starting to get to know some of the kids and some of the people in the community. I will also be teaching a grade 9 age class instead of grade 7, which I am quite thankful for, as the kids coming up from grade 6 have quite a reputation.

I have also been enjoying getting out to play badminton quite a bit, and it is going to be my goal to get a badminton program at our school going instead of coaching senior basketball next year. I felt kind of inadequate with it and the commitment just wasn’t there from the older guys. I might try to do something with basketball with the junior high, but I’ll see when the time comes.

So, as everyone starts to think about summer, the barge order catalogues through our local stores arrive, and I start to think about what dry goods I will order for myself for next year instead of buying from the stores here at a premium. These catalogues are something else, hundreds of pages long, all typed single-spaced with a one-line description of each item. The catch is you have to buy a whole case of whatever you get, so I guess the real question is, does one person really need 14 jumbo sized boxes of Raisin Bran in one year? Our orders are packaged on pallets in Hay River, NWT, and shipped out in mid July, before arriving here in late September. The ice doesn’t actually break up where I live until around the start of July!

I am all done with school on June 7th, and fly out on the 9th. I’m planning on spending the summer in BC between Kelowna, Eagle Bay Camp on the Shuswap, and Vancouver Island, before coming back to Nunavut about a week into August to go back at it again. I hope that I will get to see a number of you this summer. I have definitely missed being around my friends, and all the church, camp and youth people a lot this year!