Field Trip Day

I just came back from my field trip! It was very, very cool.

For starters, I haven't used any mode of transportation besides my feet since August 1st so I was even looking forward to the bus ride.

I got to school and someone told me that I should have brought a container for picking berries. I didn't feel like walking home to get one but I was lucky that someone else lent me a container.

When we got on the bus and drove away I was giddy to not be walking! I sat at the very back and it was the bumpiest 25 minutes of my life but a lot of fun. I was kind of disappointed that I didn't have a camera to take photos with because it was such great scenery. When we got there a few of us immediately started picking berries. I didn't get too many, maybe a couple of handfuls. I wish I understood Inuktitut a bit better because I can't understand what people's names are. I need to see them written down before I even attempt to repeat them! Haha.

We picked berries for about 45 minutes until it was lunch. It was great timing because I could hardly feel my fingers anymore. My current winter jacket is quite short and coupled with the fact I was wearing jeans and no wind pants, my lower back was so cold and exposed. When I was trying to get my food my fingers were so cold and tired I almost dropped things.

For lunch we had sandwiches and caribou chili. The chili was really good; not spicy at all which I can't stand. After lunch someone had caught 3 arctic chars and started gutting one right there on the floor. I was mesmerized because I've never fished in my life and I've never seen a fish cut open in front of me. I think the guy cutting the fish heard me say that because he took a chunk of its insides and started eating them while watching my reaction. He cut up some of the fish and only a few people started eating it. Some people were trying to get me to eat it too but I was hesitant because I realized if I didn't like it, I would probably start gagging and I didn't want to embarrass myself. I finally caved into the peer pressure and grabbed a big chunk and I actually liked it. The skin was a bit hard to eat but something tells me they're not big on chewing here.

So that was my proud moment.
After that we all played games of which I won none. It was okay, though, because the prizes were mostly children's sized clothes and we don't have kids.

One of my friends brought her husband, baby, and puppy. Her husband said the puppy was an 8-week-old 95% huskey, 5% lab...but all that meant to me was that it was sooooo cute.

The cabin we had gone to was in Iqalugaarjuup Nunanga park. I tried to find the cabin on Google Earth but I can't seem to locate it.

All in all it was a fabulous day but after today I think it's parka time until next July. :)

(posted by Jaime)