Nunavut Newbie v.2.0: Iqaluit Newbie

A journal that will hopefully help out anyone who is thinking about moving to Nunavut or anywhere in Northern Canada.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Blog Crazy

Good news! Jeff discovered a list of bloggers in Nunavut. I guess the Internet has more to offer for us than we thought. Jeff found this list which we are going to try to be listed on once we have more entries.

We've been spending so much time reading these blogs and I'm feeling even more excited about moving up there. It's going to be a weird adjustment but I think we're ready to take on a new way of life!

I think all of the blogs we've read have been written by teachers working up there. I wish I had some kind of game plan as far as working goes but unfortunately I haven't been to college yet. I think I'm interested in teaching up there so I wonder what I would have to do to become a teacher without going to school in another province.

I guess I'm hoping to work in a co-op store or a restaurant/hotel but I'll have to see. I do know I am very interested in going to Arctic College in Rankin Inlet so at least I have something to look forward to in my free time.

Jeff called Nunavut this morning to find out if his offer is official yet and they said they'd let us know on Tuesday. It's going to be one long weekend, that's for sure. We're letting our parents know this weekend that we're almost definitely moving there. I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but we're getting married right before we go. At least our parents will be happy about that!

Anyway, I should get some sleep. It's almost 3am but I just can't stop reading Nunavut blogs!

(posted by Jaime)

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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

To-Do List

This is our to-do list as of June 27.
*last update: September 27*
I took out all the strikes so you can actually read it, and added some useful points.

1. Get Leah (our cat) spayed and declawed.
2. Transfer car ownership to Jeff's parents. (Ownership stayed with Jeff, his parents took his car.)
3. Buy (nicotine) patches to quit smoking. (Jeff)
4. Move. ("Duh" --Jaime) (Movers came July 28.)
5. Get married.
6. Get printer ink cartridges refilled. (If you own a printer, you may want to bite the bullet and stock up on these!)
7. Move furniture to Sarnia (Sold most of it, threw other stuff out, kept some at Jeff's parents'.)
8. Cancel rent.
9. Cancel car insurance.
10. Cancel hydro.
11. Cancel cable.
12. a) Cancel DSL
12. b) Cancel phone line.
13. Obtain Government of Nunavut health cards and other necessary documents. (Didn't worry about it until we got here.)
14. Get G License. (Jaime)
15. Find birth certificate. (Jeff)
16. Buy new wardrobe. (Jeff)
17. Look into winter gear.
18. Confirm government job perks.
19. Buy pet carrier for Leah. (Thanks Matt and Allie!)
20. Look into northern camping gear.
21. Throw out unwanted clothes, etc.
22. Pick out favourite books, store the rest (at Jeff's parents').
23. Pack shortwave radio.
24. Throw out all food.
25. Get rid of goldfish and tank.
26. Buy new litterbox for Leah.
27. Allot time for errands in Sarnia.
28. Buy a better digital camera (a very good investment so far).
29. Take back empty beer bottles.
30. Buy a wilderness survival book. (Didn't do this, we'll just read stuff on the 'net.)
31. Bring all coins to Coinstar machine in grocery store.
32. Stock up on cat food and cat litter. (Also a very good investment.)
33. Order more contact lenses.
34. Sell couch/loveseat and table/chairs.
35. Buy more food.
36. Obtain enough suitcases and Rubbermaid containers for the flight. (Buy the biggest ones you can find and fill them as tightly as possible...you won't regret it, I promise....as long as you don't go over any airline and/or GN limits, heh.)
37. Book Leah into flights.
38. Clean the apartment.
39. Say goodbye to everybody.
40. Open a joint bank account. (Don't do this unless you know what bank you'll be dealing with.)

What We Regreted Not Doing/Bringing:
-More food
-More food
-More food
-(get the idea?)
-More cat litter and food (the selection of pet things here, especially for cats, is bad)

If you're moving up here, my advice to you is to buy anything you think you will need/want at some point in the future. Get carried away. If the GN is shipping your stuff up, go nuts. It is very difficult to even get near their shipping limit (6000lbs for two people). For example, if you think you need a new TV, buy it and let it get shipped. The only real problem with buying everything in sight is when you and your things finally arrive, you likely won't have room. But that sting pales in comparison to #1 the prices of things here and #2 the lack of selection for things here.

(posted and updated by Jaime)

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Introduction

Hi everybody.
If you are reading this, you are probably here either because you know either Jeff or myself (Jaime) and you want to see what we are up to, or you are thinking about visiting/moving up North and you are disappointed by the information you're finding on the Internet.
Before I go any further, I will give you the story as to why we're here.

After living in London, Ontario for a year, Jeff and I knew we had to get out of Ontario for awhile, if not permanently. Simpler life appealed to us both so it was just a matter of Jeff finding a job in another province. In May he found a job in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. I remember when he found it. I think he asked me, "Hey, wanna move to..uh..Rankin Inlet?" "Where's that?" "Nunavut," "...Uhhhh.."

By June 26 he had the job and we started Googling "Nunavut" and "moving to Nunavut" like crazy but with no results. It was only when we found a list of Nunavut blogs did things start to fall in place a little better.

So what we hope to accomplish with this blog is two-fold: we'd like our friends and family to read about what we're doing on the other side of Canada, and we'd also like to give people a first-hand look at what it's like to go from living in the warmest part of Canada to one of the coldest. We are looking especially to target other people who are or who are thinking about moving to Nunavut. There is a lack of information on the Internet for people in mine and Jeff's position (pre-Nunavut) so we are hoping that by putting our plans and our stories here, it will help others in planning their move to Nunavut.

So, no matter who you are, we hope you will benefit from our blog.

Update: July 16, 2008

This blog is now in phase two of its hopefully long life. I'm the only author now as I have moved onto Iqaluit and Jeff has stayed in Rankin Inlet.

I am no longer a newbie to Nunavut but I don't have the heart to change the name of the blog. Because I'm not a newbie anymore, I don't generally write about newbie experiences, which was the initial point of the blog. If you need information about moving to Nunavut, be sure to read the first 6 months of my writing. After that, it becomes less about first-time experiences and more about how life is going in the north.

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