Post-Solstice and Food Mail

Good afternoon from cloudy Iqaluit!

Well, the solstice has passed and with it brings a strange thing called darkness. It's been nice to see the sky get a little bit dark for awhile, though it still doesn't stay dark enough to allow for a good night's sleep without an eye mask.

Sadly, summer in Iqaluit hasn't proven to be very warm yet. It's still chilly enough to require a coat. This doesn't bother me too much, however, as one day it got up to 16C and I thought I was going to sweat to death. It felt like it was at least twice that hot. I don't know if I've just acclimatized extremely well, or if there's something funny going on with the atmosphere in the arctic.

I'm proud to say that in the last two weeks I've arranged a liquor order, food mail, and I went in on a deal with other people to have some flats of Coor's Light brought up on the sealift. All of these are things I've avoided in the past because they seemed complicated at a distance. Surprisingly, all 3 were remarkably easy to do. Especially the food mail, which I did today. The store I'm using for food mail is Marche central du nord. You can do everything online which is appealing to me. It seems much easier than the food mail orders I witnessed being made in Rankin, too.

What brought me to finally break down and make a food mail order was the complete lack of kitty litter in Iqaluit. The stores have been out for a few weeks now and I am getting extremely desperate. I have 3 cats so you can only imagine how desperate I am!

In other news, I should be getting my vehicle soon. I am extremely excited about it...I think I've mentioned that! As it turns out, my income tax refund should pay for the majority of the cost which is really quite convenient. Pay taxes, get a vehicle.

I've been trying to figure out where I will take vacation this fall. There are literally so many places I want to go and the only people I have to consult on it are me, myself, and I. I'm almost definitely going somewhere by myself which is exciting. I'm thinking about the following places: Texas, Florida, Maine/New Hampshire, Hawaii or some other southern resort.

I'll probably stick to North America as it's a bit cheaper, and I want to see more of the US states.

And because everybody up north is always thinking ahead for future vacations, my best friend and I have decided to go to Cairo together in February. This might even be more exciting than the new vehicle.

But back to Iqaluit. Canada Day was great! I had the pancake breakfast at the Arctic Winter Games arena which also housed a craft/rummage sale. Then I went to the parade which was short but sweet. Next came the pig roast we had for work which was also enjoyable. Then I ended the day at the Roots & Wings concert at the francophone centre. I've been to the francophone centre twice now and I really like it there. I get to brush up on my French by seeing great French concerts.

So far the thing I love most about Iqaluit is that I pretty much live my life the way I would if I was down south. I can go to the gym, the bar, the movie theatre, a fancy restaurant, and I can order fast food from The Snack at any time of day. I can pick between 3 different cafes, and I can get decent KFC and Pizza Hut. I can take my pick between probably 10 different newspapers, and countless magazines. The only things that are really missing are being able to see my family, going on road trips, and going to the mall. No offence to my family, but I don't really miss these things at all. At least, they aren't things I think about on a regular basis. One of my close friends here is moving back home in the winter and I know he's very happy about it. He talks a lot about the things he misses and how he doesn't understand how I could like it so much in the north. Since we frequently talk about this, it's really had me thinking about it. And I'm more sure than ever that I will spend the rest of my 20s and probably most of my 30s in the north. I've tried to imagine myself moving back to Ontario (and the south in general) and it just doesn't sit well with me. I truly, genuinely love it up north and as it stands right now, I have no plans to ever move back to a province.

I had someone tell me recently they liked my blog because I didn't just talk about how much I love it here. I was confused because I've rarely said anything negative. And for good reason: I don't have anything negative to say! I wonder if he was reading the right blog...