Nunavut Newbie v.2.0: Iqaluit Newbie

Comments

2011-05-01T12:10:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone!

I have removed the ability to read or post comments on here as I am getting way too much spam.

If you have any questions or comments for me, please comment on a post in my new blog. Please note that I get a lot of questions and can't answer everything.

New Blog

2010-08-07T22:56:00.003-05:00

Well folks, I don't really have much more to write about Nunavut anymore, so I am setting up shop at my new blog, Unexpectedly Jaime. I will be writing more about myself and my new experiences down south, so please check it out.

Thank you to everybody who has commented on this blog over the course of the last 4 years. The kindness of my readers will always stand out to me as one of the best parts about keeping a public blog.

A Few Thoughts

2010-07-28T21:23:00.003-05:00

Curbs: I don't like them. I am not using to having to mind short walls of pavement when driving.

Spiders: Hate hate hate them. There are no spiders in Nunavut, which I loved. Now that I am back in the jungle of Ontario, spiders are about 10 times more scary to me. There was one on the steering wheel last night and I started to have a panic attack. Thank goodness there was a bunch of napkins in the door pocket so I could grab it and throw it out the window. If not I would probably have driven into oncoming traffic. Spiders, small but indirectly deadly to the unadjusted Nunavut ex-pat.

Grocery stores: Only a person who has not been living in a place with decent grocery stores can truly appreciate them. I went last week to pick up some things and I admit, I was a tad frightened. I was too overwhelmed to do any productive shopping. Today I went armed with a grocery list as I decided to make supper for my dad and myself tonight. Super Store (is that what it's called?) is still a little intimidating but I love how cheap everything is and how much selection of everything there is. I'm not kidding, I stared with my jaw hanging open at the expansive yogurt section for a good 5 minutes. I couldn't decide what to buy, there were so many options.

Inception: My sister and I saw it last night, it was excellent. We managed to get tickets mere seconds before it sold out. I couldn't believe the amazing deal...$10 gets you admission, popcorn, and a drink (not small sized, either). I will be going back for more Telus Tuesdays at Famous Players!

YMCA: Cue heavenly music from above. Yesterday I had my session with a personal trainer. The Y here uses TechnoGym equipment...very neat stuff. It's all electronic and records your workouts and tells you where your seat is supposed to be, how much weight you should be lifting, how many reps, sets, etc. It's just what I need to get back into strength training. Also, may we discuss how amazing it is to have a shower after you're done working out? It's a very new luxury for me and it makes me so happy. One of these days I'm going to blurt out in the showers, "Man I love a good shower after a workout, isn't it amazing!?!" only to be met with silence from people disturbed by my extreme ease of pleasure.

Ups and Downs

2010-07-27T08:22:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a long day.

For starters, my sleep is all screwed up. My entire life, I've always been a night owl who sleeps in as late as possible. When I do sleep, I sleep deeply and normally- as in, I don't walk, talk, or move in my sleep.

Since I came back to Sarnia, my sleeping patterns are markedly different, albeit in a good way. I'm tired by 10pm (probably because it's dark here), and then I sleep lightly until about 8-8:30am, at which point I can't stand to be in bed a second longer. I also apparently talked in my sleep last week (I randomly said Anthony's pet name, ha) and the other night I accidentally knocked everything off my night table in my sleep. I attribute the changes to stress, the fact it does get dark out here, and the twin-sized bed I have here. I've been sleeping on a queen-sized bed since early 2008 and I'm used to having space. It's also so warm in my bedroom as I don't have curtains yet, it's uncomfortable to lie there for any length of time.

After I woke up, I had to do several errands. One of which was switching my driver's license to Ontario. My mom had told me to go to the wrong building, so then I had to drive to the right building, where I was told I needed more identification. I had to drive all the way home, grab my passport, and drive all the way back. I was somewhat irritated by this because the drive is about 15 minutes each way through several traffic lights. Sarnia has become quite the retirement community so traffic is often moving at 45-50kmh, much to my frustration (I've gotten used to driving faster now). When I got home, I told my dad it was so annoying to forget something down here because in Nunavut, you turn around and drive 1, 2 minutes tops to go anywhere. Here it's a good chunk of time you're spending to get anywhere.

Anyway, I got my license sorted out, although I was sad to see it go. No more half-smirking when I have to give my license to people and they cross their eyes trying to figure out what they're looking at.

After a few more errands, I came home to find all of my totes had arrived. Canada Post has been very expedient in shipping my bins. They've only taken 3-4 days, tops. I opened all of the bins to inspect my items. When I got to the tote with most of the breakables... broken. Almost everything...smashed. My carvings, my expensive Princess House stuff, my housewares. Garbage. I couldn't hold back the tears when I picked up my beautiful inukshuk carving from Sanikiluaq and I felt under all the bubble wrap that it was in more pieces than I could tell.

One might say, "Oh, it's only stuff," and while that is true, I only kept the things that actually meant something to me. I sold SO MUCH of my stuff, leaving only my "invaluables." Needless to say, my giant pile of garbage put a giant pile of sadness on me for the rest of the day.

When I finished moping, I decided I would go and sign up for a YMCA membership as I had been planning to do that and I needed something to cheer me up. I've got that all sorted out now and I'm so glad to be part of a gym where I can actually shower after working out. Where I worked out in Iqaluit didn't even have running water (though no fault of its own, and I didn't actually pay anything to use the gym). I have an appointment today with a personal trainer (included in my membership) and starting tomorrow -- if I'm not too sore -- I want to start going to some fitness classes.

After all of that, I went out for dinner in Bright's Grove with my mom, her boyfriend, and my sister.

Here are a few photos to keep your interest.

Beautiful Lake Huron sunset.

Me and Anthony in Iqaluit.

I took this photo and I like it a lot!

Traffic jam in Canatara Park, Sarnia.

Back "Home" Part 2: Adjusting

2010-07-24T20:50:00.003-05:00

I called this entry "Adjusting" because the last 3 days of consisted of basically that. I'm living with my dad until January or February and it is a big change to go from living alone in Iqaluit to living with my dad in Sarnia.

Fortunately, my dad and I are alike in ways that I think will make it easy to live together. We're both pretty laid-back and spend our time just hanging out, napping, watching TV, or surfing the Internet.

It is a bit of a bummer to go from having a 900+ square foot apartment all to myself to a single bedroom with one of my parents, an ad hoc internet connection (no wi-fi yet) and sharing everything else. My dad's apartment does have 2 bathrooms which is definitely a good thing.

Anyway, I've had a lot of time to think about the differences between northern and southern living and I'm eager to write about them before I fail to notice them anymore.

#1. Driving

Driving up north is a laid back and slow affair. There are no street lights, only stop signs. The speed limit is 40kmh and most roads are unpaved or paved but needing repairs. In Iqaluit, you get used to where stop signs are and only limited attention is required for driving. Most of the time you're watching out for pedestrians or just have your eyes focused on the road in front of you.

Down south, driving is substantially more difficult. I find that I have to remember to look at street lights. I'm not used to waiting for something to tell me I can drive, so I'm usually staring at something other than the light.

I also find it hard to judge how fast other people are driving and tend to be a little on the overly patient side when it comes to making turns on busy streets. It's hard to be a good judge of others' speed and I'm scared I'm going to get into an accident. I get nervous near bicyclists but down here, you rarely see small children playing by the road like you do in Nunavut. My worst fear up north was hitting a child with my car.

Also, as I said, the limit in Nunavut is 40kmh unless otherwise posted. Most of the time you're driving between 25-45kmh. Here, I often look down and see I'm only driving 45-50kmh because I'm used to driving that speed. I have to tell myself each time I drive to step on the gas.

The best thing about driving down south? Paved roads. I can't believe I'm in a spot in my life where I am grateful for paved roads, but here we are.

#2. The Weather

After hearing years of "Wow, you live in Nunavut? Isn't it cold there?" I'm now back in the heat. I have to tell you...I don't know what's wrong with people, because a well-dressed person in -30C is A LOT more comfortable than a seasonally dressed person in +35C + humidity. It's disgusting here, I don't even want to go outside. It's too hot to do anything except hang out in air conditioned buildings. I've sweat more in the last 3 days than I have in the last 3 years.

#3. Distractions

Now that I'm back here, I'm interested in everything and anything going on around me. When I drive, I stare at all the advertisements around, and when I'm in stores, I stare at everything. I swear I must look like a confused and lost child in Wal-Mart. I'm so busy looking at all the products around me that I nearly bump into people. Everything is so different from what I'm accustomed to, I can't help but to try and take it all in. I am sure this will stop at some point but until I do, please watch out for the space cadet in aisle 4.

#4. "How was that?"

I got my first one of these today. My parents are selling the house I grew up in and I met the new homeowners today. The wife said, "Oh, you're the one who just came from Nunavut. How was that experience?" I wanted to reply, "Are you asking me how the last 4 years of my life went?"

For starters, I don't even know how to answer this question. It was my life. It was complicated and different but great and always a learning experience. When graduates finish 4 years of university or college, people don't ask them, "How was it?" There isn't an answer. I know this question is going to pop up a lot (for the rest of my life!) so I'd be wise to just come up with a dazzling and amusing response. I replied today with, "Um... life changing." I think I will probably just start saying, "Cold." I'll go for the cheap laugh, it always works.

#5. My Little Secret?

I don't know if every northerner who leaves feels the same way, but I so totally embraced being a northerner that I feel like a different species than southerners here. It's no lie, northerners are different. We've learned to live a different life from the majority of Canadians, away from popular culture and everything else. I feel distant from other people here, like I can't relate with anybody. Basically, I feel like I just came back from living on the moon for 4 years and I'm totally out of touch with everything. My life has been radically different from the typical Sarnia life, almost of the point of being crippling. I don't really understand a lot about basic living down here. It's so hard to exemplify but I feel constantly confused by how things have changed since I left. If you've ever seen Shawshank Redemption, I'm sure I feel a lot like Red and Brooks did when they finally left Shawshank. To go from living in what's basically a bubble for 4 years and then re-injecting yourself back into normal culture is overwhelming.

#6. Small World

It's really strange to sit here and think I am not going anywhere anymore. I'm not on holidays, I'm here for good and I feel like my world just got smaller. When I first moved to Rankin Inlet, the isolation hit me within about an hour. I realized how far away from everything I was and that I couldn't even afford to leave. I felt separated from everything I had ever known and was living in a strange new place. I know it's the just the shock of leaving, but I feel somewhat trapped here. It's the same feeling I had when I moved to Rankin. I feel so far away from everything, even though I'm back in my hometown, back where I lived for 20 years. It's discomforting but I'm sure when I get more settled I'll feel better.

Those are the main things, I might think of more, might not.

This upcoming week is going to be a busy one. Just today I started the paperwork to take over a lease on a 2007 Ford Fusion and on Monday I have to sort out changing my driver's license and getting insurance. I am really sad I have to give up my Nunavut license, it's been a great source of entertainment from other people. "Whoaaa there's a dog sled on your license!" I will miss that so, so much.

I'm also going to sign up for a YMCA membership to give myself something to do for the next few months.

That said, if you're in Sarnia area, look me up. I'm unemployed and kinda bored!

Back "Home" Part 1: Leaving

2010-07-24T20:29:00.008-05:00

Well, I have arrived at my new southern home for the time being.

On the 17th, Anthony came up to Iqaluit and we spent the 5 days of his trip packing stuff up and hanging out with my friends. It was SO great to have his help, I don't think I could have done it without him. Anthony has all of the culinary skills between us and he's very creative, so he managed to create us meals with the leftover stuff in my freezer. We ate quite well for the 5 days. I had a ton of frozen smoked trout so we were eating that everyday. After a particularly long day of packing, some friends came over for board games and I wolfed down several packages of smoked trout.

I had already done quite a bit of packing and throwing things out before Anthony arrived so the only things left to do were the end-of-the-line stuff. It was hectic trying to remember to do everything and clean everything.

I had no idea, but Canada Post has a weight restriction of 30kg for anything you send through the mail. Anthony and I hauled down several Rubbermaid totes to the post office, only to find out from Jordan that they were too heavy. I felt terrible for Anthony because he had done all of the heavy lifting and we had to bring them back to the apartment and back up the stairs. Once we redistributed some weight and got them under 30kg (most were 23-25kg), they were much easier to handle.

Anyway, on Wednesday we woke up early and finished everything up. I had my official apartment "march out," I dropped my vehicle off to its new owner, we mailed all of the totes, and checked into the airport. By dumb luck, Anthony and I were both on first class on Air Canada. I had booked his ticket through Aeroplan and first class was the only thing available (for a cost of 25 000 points) and I had gotten first class because it was strangely cheaper than Tango on the website when I booked it. It turned out to be a great happy accident because we were allowed 3 checked bags each, and I had my cat with us in the cabin but there was still lots of leg room. I'd never flown first class and I'm glad I did, it was a nice treat for my last arctic flight. As the plane took off, I was a little upset I'd never see Iqaluit again, but the free wine helped soften the blow, haha.

We picked up Anthony's car at the Ottawa airport and drove to Oshawa to spend the night. Since we had the cat, we didn't want to drive the entire distance in one day. On the drive, we stopped at some Smart Centre to eat and change. I took some clean clothes into a WalMart bathroom and changed into them. It felt SO good to put on clean, non-sweaty clothes, you have no idea. In Oshawa I took a shower and put on pajamas and again, it felt great to be clean. I crawled into bed and basically passed out.

The next morning we leisurely awoke and left. We got McDonalds breakfast -- Anthony's treat -- because he knows how much I love it. A bacon and egg McMuffin never tasted so good.

We made it back to Sarnia around one and Leah was eager to get out of her cat carrier.

All in all, a relatively smooth and painless move, though it was long and tiring. I started preparing in early June so I am glad it's finally over. Check out the next entry for my thoughts about being back south, I didn't want to create one giant entry.

Good Mail Day

2010-07-05T21:13:00.003-05:00

There's nothing I love more than a good mail day. Today was the ideal mail day. I got 3 items, none of which were bills or junk.

1. I got the handbag I ordered from eBay. This was a little splurge as I'd been wanting the bag for so long. I sold so much of my stuff in such a short time, I decided to buy myself a present. I can't wait to start using it. I was surprised how quickly it arrived! From Florida to Iqaluit in 9 days (it arrived on the 30th). I think it's a record. And surprisingly enough, the USPS tracking information continued to update even while it was in transit in Canada. It's so nice when things actually work the way they're supposed to. Things like quick shipping, accurate information from southern companies...they're luxuries up here.

2. I received a postcard from a cohort on a web forum I frequent. It also came from the USA, though it did take quite a bit longer. It came from New York state, so it doesn't make sense why it took longer than a package mailed 2 weeks later.

3. The last item, also from the USA, was from my boyfriend's mom. She sent me a really nice card and it made my day. Something as inexpensive and easy to do as mailing a card to somebody really makes a big difference. I'm going to try and remember that so I can repeat the gesture.

In other news, I have almost everything packed. The only stuff left is the stuff I'm still using. When Anthony comes up next weekend, we're going to finish it off and then I'll finally be able to relax! I want nothing more than to soak in my last few days here, go for some nice walks, eat some nice meals, and go for a couple drives. Besides the stress of giving away my cats, the move thus far has been seamless and easy. Even giving away the cats happened quickly, it was much quicker and easier to find a home than I originally anticipated. I can't remember if I mentioned in my previous entry, but there was about double the interest in the cats than my Suzuki or TV...combined! That was a big surprise. Had I known it would be easy to find somebody, I would not have been so stressed out about it all year.

I'm also happy because I have and will be donating a lot of stuff to charity. 3 boxes of stuff plus 3 garbage bags of clothing. On the weekend, I filled an entire Rubbermaid tote (the largest size) with clothes. I walked away for a moment and then had a breakthrough thought. I asked myself how I would feel if I was without most of those clothes. I realized I didn't care about most of them, and so with that I filled an entire garbage bag (about half the tote) to go to charity. Now I am bringing half a tote and a suitcase of clothes. Pretty good for a 24 year old clothes-buying addict, I have to say. I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Before last year, I was constantly buying clothes and other stuff online. I rarely buy clothes online anymore (I can count twice in the past year) and I only make the odd online purchase here and there anymore. A pretty big improvement from the once and twice a week online buying habit I had before!

Anyway, enough about materialism. My latest obsession is planning to buy a car when I move to Sarnia. Originally I wanted to buy something brand new but after giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to go with a nicer used vehicle. I've been looking online, but it only serves to make me feel impatient that I can't buy something RIGHT NOW. I know, car buying cannot and should not be an instant gratification thing, but I'm a generation NOW person and delaying the pleasure of buying a car is excruciating. Okay, that was a little melodramatic, but I am excited about owning a car that isn't so much of a soccer mom-mobile. And about seeing my friends and family. And having Timmy's and McDonald's whenever I want, at any time of the day I want. And mail that only takes a few days to arrive. And stop lights and highways and long Wal-Mart aisles of candy. And considering it was 17C today and I was sweating my butt off...air conditioning!

Am I Really Leaving?

2010-07-04T00:45:00.005-05:00

As the move date gets ever closer (17 days from now), many of my conversations with friends and coworkers revolve around my leaving. People keep asking the same questions: am I excited? Am I nervous? Am I sad?

The answer to those questions is...sort of? The reality of it all hasn't really set in yet. Even when I'm selling off my worldly goods, even when I'm packing my parka into a Rubbermaid tote to take a much-needed rest...it just doesn't feel real. I feel like I'm packing for a long vacation. But even then, the distracting excitement isn't there. Oh sure, I am excited, but once I'm back in Ontario, my journey is far from over. I have to find another job, I have to buy another car, I have to stuff to do related to my visa. I'm only in the midst of the hard work required to make it to the end of 2010. It's been a long year already but it's far from over.

To be honest, I don't really remember how I felt before I left Ontario. I think I was pretty aware of the fact I was leaving, though. At the time I was excited to quit my much-hated job and experience a different way of life. I know that once I was in Rankin Inlet, I never really felt like I was in Nunavut. I'd stare at a dot on a map telling myself over and over, "You live there. That's where you are now," but it didn't made sense. It took about a year for it to really, really sink in.

Now, as I prepare to leave, it just seems too weird for words. It's happened so quickly. It seems like just yesterday it was January and Anthony and I were discussing when I should move. July seemed excruciatingly far away. I had a hard time just making it to the end of March, when Anthony came up for a visit. Those 3 months dragged so slowly, I thought March 27th would never arrive. Somehow in my agony of waiting for March 27, it became July.

I realized that once I've left, it's just going to feel like I'm on vacation. I will wonder what's going up here and try to stay on top of local news and gossip because I'll feel like I'll be back soon. I don't know how long it's going to be like that for, I'm guessing a few months. I am a bit scared of the adjustment period and I'm scared I won't like the south anymore. I'm scared things will be so busy and so hectic that I'll long for the days of gazing out my window and seeing 1 car drive by in the span of 15 minutes. However, there are so many things I'm looking forward to doing, seeing, and eating that it masks any kind of worry I have about the adjustment factor.

I've been a proud northerner for 4 years and yes, I am sad about not being a northerner in a technical sense anymore. However, I believe I will always be a northerner in spirit. You become a northerner and then it becomes you. I've embraced this place and I've loved it and taken in as much as I could and I know somewhere in me, Nunavut will never leave. The lessons learned here cannot be unlearned, the people cannot be un-met, and the memories will certainly linger long past the day I'm still appreciative of 24-hour convenience stores.

Things I Never Thought I'd Ever Say

2010-06-30T22:03:00.004-05:00

WEATHER
"It's only -20C? Heat wave!"
"It's too warm to wear my parka, I'm walking home in a sweater." (In February in Rankin, after eating maktak.)
"It's a dry cold. -30C isn't so bad."
"My fingers hurt, I got freezer burn again." (This is what I call the intense feeling of pain one feels when putting bare flesh on outdoor metal.)
"No, it's only June. There's still snow."
"I can't believe they're tobogganing...it's June."

CULTURE
"Is it just me or is this dog sled kinda slow?"
"Do you think they'll be serving maktak? I really want maktak. With some soya sauce, mmmm!"
"Will you take a photo of me in the igloo?"
"I can't pick anymore berries...my fingers are frozen stiff."

PRICES
"$4 for a 2L of Pepsi? Oh my god! SO CHEAP!"
"$6 for a beer? Wow, what a deal!"
"So $12 gets you a KFC Big Crunch and fries? Seems reasonable I guess."

TRAVEL
"Do you think you'll be home from Repulse Bay tonight?"
"I went to Igloolik, Chesterfield Inlet, and Repulse Bay in one day...for free!"
"I'm only bringing 4 Rubbermaid totes back with me plus my suitcase."
"What do you MEAN my suitcase is over 70lbs?"
"I got my return ticket for $1400...super cheap."

ODDITIES OF NORTHERN LIVING
"If you're going to Yellowknife, can you pick me up some rum?"
"Did the plane come in? I want my rum!"
"I wanted to buy milk but everywhere in town was sold out."
"No, polar bears do not wander around my neighbourhood."
"I know it's only November but if I don't mail these Christmas cards asap, they won't make it in time."
"Wow, my Internet is actually kind of tolerable. This 3 minute YouTube video only took 5 minutes to download."
"I'll drive the [Honda/SkiDoo]!"
"What time is it? Midnight? Oh, it's still bright out. I thought it was only 7ish."
"I can't keep my window open at night...I live next to White Row."

SHIPPING
"Wow, only one week for that package to arrive? From Ontario?!"
"Did somebody say FREE SHIPPING!?"
"I order my shampoo and conditioner online."

T-Minus 32 Days Until the Big Move

2010-06-19T16:05:00.006-05:00

Thanks so much for all the nice comments you guys have been leaving lately. They've been really nice to read.

For those wondering, I am going to keep writing post-Nunavut. Once I'm in Ontario, I'm going to start a new blog to chronicle my life as a born-again southerner.

There's been lots of movement since I posted my to-do list. On Tuesday I went around town and posted some signs. I noticed they've already been removed from a few places. That's testament to the fact SO MANY signs get put up on a regular basis. It actually bugs me because if the car and TV don't get sold soon, I have to go put and signs back up.

Since I posted, my cats have found a new home. Their new owner is coming to pick them up tomorrow. I'm going to miss them a lot, they've been such good company. I will never give away a pet ever again, once in a lifetime is more than enough.

There's been some interest in my TV and my Suzuki also. Once those things are sold, I won't have anything left to sell! I sold and gave away the last little bit today. I had a box left plus 2 bags of clothes so I brought them down to the thrift shop. The Anglican church has a thrift shop down in Green Row and I was more than happy to donate my stuff.

Starting Monday, I am going to start mailing 1 or 2 totes back to Sarnia each week. With all the money I'm giving Canada Post in the next little while, I hope they use it to hire more workers at the post office here. Our mail is unthinkably slow right now. On Monday, I received an Entertainment Weekly from MAY 14! It was a whole month late! I've seen on Facebook other Iqaluimmiut talking about how slow it is, so I know it's not just a fluke. Everything I've been receiving lately is 2 weeks to a month late. I'm expecting a postcard from NY state and I am expecting it to show up mid-July. Anthony was in Germany in April and he sent me a postcard from Cologne. It took about a month to get here. I'm not going to miss the constant frustration here that is mail.

On the agenda for this weekend (as far as moving is concerned) is pack up a tote or two, get rid of some of the cat litter I bought on sealift, and drill holes into my Rubbermaid totes. Normally I just use tape to keep the lid on my totes but since these totes are not going to be opened again until early 2011 likely, I decided to do it the right away and do the cable tie thing. The best way to keep the lid on is to put the lid on, drill holes along the edge of the lid that go through the lid and the tote, then use a cable tie to hold them together. Not even the war field that is Canada Post can pull the lids off then! (Knock on wood!)

This will be my inspiration when packing my stuff:

Current view out of my apartment:

(Coincidentally, this photo is exactly 1 year old. I took it June 19, 2009 at 11:30pm)

New apartment view:

(Okay, well, the view will be from one of those apartment buildings. And it will be facing the water.)

I'm still trying to find a job in Sarnia so I can buy myself a purty new car, so keep your fingers crossed that something comes my way.

Leaving To-Do List

2010-06-13T14:55:00.006-05:00

Admittedly, leaving here is a lot easier than arriving! I at least know what to expect of the south. Nevertheless, there's still much to do. I know people appreciate(d) my moving to-do list...so here's my leaving one!

~~1. Give away Moon Unit and Dweezil. :(~~
2. Sell the Suzuki.
~~3. Sell the rest of the stuff in my apartment.~~
4. Change addresses on:
-Reader's Digest
-Our Canada (hush, I know my taste in magazines is elderly)
-Visa cards x2
-Bank account (change branch if possible)
-Bell Mobility bill
5. Cancel internet (I WON'T miss the Internet here!)
6. Pack stuff
7. Mail stuff down
8. Figure out if a storage unit is necessary
9. Clean up the entire apartment once empty.
10. Find something fun to do for when A visits.
~~11. Find out where the local thrift shop is and drop off unsold stuff.~~
12. Get Suzuki professionally cleaned.
13. Replace burnt out light bulbs before leaving.
14. Buy a new vehicle in Ontario.
15. Cancel car insurance.

UPDATED: 2010-06-19

That's about all I can think of. Not so hard! I've already sold the vast majority of stuff I wanted to sell. I'm currently trying to figure out how many totes the rest of my stuff will fit in and decide whether it's necessary to get a storage unit in Sarnia.

As a final note, if a certain person leaves me one more rude comment (I know who you are, I'm not stupid), I will be forced to disable anonymous comments for everybody. A good majority of my comments are from anonymous readers, so if you want to continue to be an idiot, you will wreck it for everybody. Consider yourself warned. I'm sick of your slanderous commentary about my life and I find it in REALLY poor taste that you would choose my blog of all places to blast your garbage. If you don't like me or like what I write, stop reading it.

The 5 "W"s

2010-06-05T19:24:00.010-05:00

I've been asked to give some explanation about my choice to move back to Ontario.

It started last fall. I decided to write the entrance test for the RCMP. I already work for the RCMP and after thinking about it since the day I started my job in 2007, I felt ready to try it out. My original plan was to wait to start the process when I felt ready to leave Nunavut. I did not feel 100% ready last fall but knowing it could take up to a year for the process, I went ahead and started.

Soon after, my mind was occupied by the idea of moving. It seemed inevitable after writing the test (I was certain I had passed). Everything just seemed like a forward march back down south starting then.

Shortly after I received the results (I passed), I went on Christmas holidays. It was then I met my boyfriend Anthony, who had found me online through this very blog and with whom I'd struck up an online friendship. I even went and visited him in his town, Ann Arbor. Without going into much detail, everything changed for me. I knew what I needed to do.

I came back home and canceled my RCMP application. It was a difficult thing to do as I'm not a fan of backing out of things, especially since all my coworkers knew I had applied.

Anthony and I were talking every single day (we still do) and things had gotten serious. After talking about our options, I decided that since I was planning to leave Nunavut anyway, I would move back to Sarnia so we could be closer while we continued to date.

So that's the deal. I rarely go into this much detail about my personal and work life, but I know everyone is interested in the details.

Now that I've returned home from my last ever vacation from Nunavut, the idea of leaving is becoming real. I don't know what it's like for other Nunavummiut, but I have lived most of my adult life here. I moved out of the house I grew up in when I was 19 and moved to Rankin Inlet shortly after turning 20. I'm 24 now and so much of my adult life has revolved around living here. There are things about being in the south that confuse me (most infamously, pay-at-the-pump gas stations). The rapid pace at which things change confuses the hell out of me. Self-checkouts were just getting big when I left. Timers on stop lights, iPhones, electronically-paid parking...it's a whole different world I'll need to learn.

As a final thought, the only part I am feeling genuinely sad about is the fact I can't bring 2 of my cats. If you know of anyone who wants 2 smart, friendly cats, let me know. They are spayed/neutered, de-clawed and 2 of the best pets you could ever ask for.

On a different note, I came across this website. It's an online store filled with different "Canadian" food. I thought it might be of interest to Nunavummiut who stock up on certain favourite groceries on vacations. They even sell Laura Secord chocolates!

July 21, 2010

2010-06-01T17:11:00.004-05:00

"The time has come," the narwhal said,
 "To talk of many things: 
Of shoe stores--and sealifts --and TJ Maxx-- 
Of McDonalds --and Burger Kings--
 And why the south is boiling hot-- 
And whether Canada Post will ship my things."

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am moving back to Ontario on July 21st. I booked my flight today, I am departing in style: in executive class because for some reason, it's cheaper than economy.

I'm excited and scared and all sorts of emotions which I'm sure will become more varied as the date gets closer.

My blog posts will now be focused on the process of leaving.

So far this is what my to-do list looks like:

1. Find homes for my 2 cats. Anyone want them? They're great cats but I just can't take them with me.

2. Pack and mail down all of my stuff (at my own cost unfortunately).

3. Figure out where to send my stuff.

4. Hold a yard sale and sell everything else.

Anyone wanna help???

Procrastination Station (About Vacation)

2010-04-29T20:16:00.008-05:00

I thought while I sit here and procrastinate doing productive things like working, eating (has it really been 36 hours since I last ate? oops), and cleaning, I figured I'd write an entry to tide you over for the next while.

In 9 short days, I depart on a fun-filled, busy vacation. Last summer when I went to Alberta, I posted a "pretend scrapbook of future memories." Here's what's in store in the upcoming month:

A dream come true. Amazingly, this vacation is going to be so good, this isn't even going to be the best part.

Very excited about this. Growing up so close, it's kinda lame I've never been.

I'll be celebrating 2 birthdays during May, one of which being my 24th. No, I am not turning 28, contrary to popular belief (what's up with people always thinking I'm 27?). Funny story actually, last year nobody had any idea how old I turned, not even my own mother. I got every age between 22 and 27 at least once. ATTENTION WORLD: I AM TURNING 24 THIS YEAR.

Replace the words "Jungle Jim's" with Frankenmuth. Also pumped about this, should be fun. This is going to be a big day, I'll be meeting a lot of important people.

SO VERY EXCITED about this part. I can't even believe all of this isn't the best part yet.

I can't seem to escape this place when I go on holidays. Why must everybody I know live here? That's okay, I actually don't mind it so much anymore.

This is probably the 3rd best part about my upcoming holidays. I'm going to be spending a lot of time here, which I am thrilled about. 10 points* to anyone who knows where this is! *Points not redeemable anywhere on planet Earth.

2nd best part of holidays (the gentleman in the green, NOT the cold weather).

So what's the #1 part of my holidays? I'm not giving it up that easily! You'll have to wait and find out.

P.S. Some of you may know (or think you know- Kara, I'm looking at you, haha!!) what my next post is going to be about so please don't give it up. I'm trying to create some momentum here, eh?

Cardiac Arrest, Northern Prices Style

2010-04-08T20:41:00.003-05:00

Please swallow all foods and take a deep breath before casting your eyes on the photo below.

Clyde River, Nunavut. 12 cans of Coke. And no, there is nothing special about this case of pop. It's just a regular case of Coca Cola. For $60.

I used to think $21 for 12 cans in Rankin Inlet was expensive. I'll never say that again.

Photo credit goes to a brave coworker of mine.

Vehicle Lessons, Dog Sledding, & Long Overdue Price Photos

2010-04-05T22:55:00.005-05:00

Well folks, last week was that time of year again. Yes that's right. A new chapter in the book of Vehicle Lessons Learned was added. After a particularly windy day, I was driving around Iqaluit's "New Plateau" area. I rounded a curve and boom. Stuck. Foot to gas pedal, no movement. My first thought was, "This can't be happening. This isn't real." I thought if I gave reality a few seconds to set in, I'd push the gas pedal again and we'd be on our way. No such luck. Attempts to dig or push the Suzuki out of bumper-high snow rendered useless. Yes, I was genuinely stuck. After a few phone calls placed to Wynberg's after-hours towing line and $200 later, the XL-7 was back on the mean streets of Iqaluit. I am never driving up to New Plateau area again...unless I have to.

The most embarrassing part of the ordeal was that I wasn't just on any drive, I was giving a "tour" of sorts to a visitor. I felt like a northern poser who had just been outed as a newbie southerner. A little bit of my dignity was left in that ditch, haha.

On Monday of my visitor's stay, we went dog sledding. I had never been and wasn't sure what to expect. The dogs weren't behaving too well unfortunately and so we had to stop often so the guide could motivate the dogs to run. I also learned that every single piece of outwear I own isn't good enough when all you're doing is sitting or standing. My fingers went numb in sealskin mittens and my toes were freezing in my -70C rated boots. Still, it was enjoyable.

Now for some photos. I've included some photos of grocery prices as it's been way too long since I've done that.

Walking to the dogs.

Me checking out the doggies.

The view while sitting.

Don't be fooled by the gear...I'm freezing under there.

The view while standing.

The dogs take a break while the humans eat some snacks and warm up.

Click the photo for a link to a larger size.

These photos are making me hungry.

I want chicken, I want liver, Meow Mix Meow Mix....holy freaking cow.

Money-saving tip: don't bring your pet to Nunavut.

More good advice: don't get addicted to energy drinks. That IS a 12-pack, folks.

Also, avoid making babies in the north if possible. Or let your baby roam free outside.

Probably the most ridiculous mark-up of them all.

My Parka: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Other Coats

2010-03-04T21:50:00.009-06:00

Once upon a time, I was a brand new Nunavummiuq who had never experienced a Nunavut winter (ohmigawd to think!). It's hard to imagine now such a time existed, but it's true. The year was 2006 and back when I was naive and the "newbie" part of my blog was still true, I purchased for myself Canada Goose's Mystique parka.

Here's a recent photo of me wearing my purchase.

(That's me in Igloolik!)

The parka cost in the range of $600 from Weaver & Devore in Yellowknife. I had no idea what I was in store for buying a parka I'd never seen, for the harshest winters in Canada I'd never experienced.

This winter marks my 4th winter in Nunavut. Whenever the topic comes up, Canada Goose parkas ALWAYS come highly recommended from me. I don't care how good other brands are, I don't want to wear anything out there that WASN'T designed for this weather.

But after 4 winters of wearing my parka from October/November to April, I will tell you that I can't stand it anymore. I rarely speak of negative things on my blog, but I have a secret: I hate my parka. It comes out of nothing except being sick of wearing it, and being too cheap to buy another one.

Let me discuss the ways I hate this parka.

The colour: It was the only option I had at the time and I can tell you, this is Canada Goose's ugliest colour besides plain white (I can't fathom why on earth anyone would buy a white parka where it is always snowy, but that's beside the point). My parka is basically the colour of vomit. Or of coffee with too much cream. Which brings me to my next point.

The stains: I admit, part of the reason I hate my parka is because of how disgusting it has become. After roughly 26 months of wearing it, it has acted as a bib, splash guard, and napkin countless times. Despite the fact the parka is the colour of coffee, it still manages to display a lovely collage of coffee stains. Splatter art? I think not. Being that I'm too cheap, lazy, and distrusting to have it dry cleaned, I've resigned myself to living with the numerous stains (which, trust me, do not end at just coffee). The good news is that if I'm ever stranded on the land, I could probably eat the outside of my parka and get enough nutritional intake to survive awhile.

The hood: To anyone thinking of buying this parka, I will tell you that the length is great, but the hood is terrible. There is some kind of velcro contraption on it that does NOTHING and there is no drawstring or anything to hold the hood on your head. When I lived in the Kivalliq, land of constant violent winds, the hood might as well have been gone with the wind (ha ha I'm so funny). In fact, the hood is pointless unless there is zero wind (a rarity, I assure you). With wind, you have to hold it on your head or wrap a scarf around the outside of the hood. I cannot understand why a company that puts such effective, well-thought out hoods on its other parkas failed to do anything even remotely useful for this parka.

The malfunctions: Okay, maybe I am getting picky now, but sometime toward the end of winter 2008/2009, the zipper started falling apart. For many months I was unable to unzip it completely and had to resort to stepping in the thing. I will admit the zipper has seen a LOT of use, but it still disappoints me that for the money paid for it, things are falling apart. Don't even get me started on the cuffs. The cuffs are a ripped up mess and won't last another winter, I know that for sure.

The look: Can I tell you how many times I've been told I look like I'm wearing a sleeping bag? Please? Oh wait, I can't, it's too many times to count. Actually, I get the comment so often that it makes me laugh. I had thought the same thing about it when I first got it.

Anyway, this entry isn't going to wrap up with some cute "but I love my parka anyway!!!" I wrap up this entry by telling you that I avoid the parka whenever necessary. And I also wrap it up by posting a geeky photo of me using my parka as a blanket, which it came in decidedly handy for a cold plane.

Dear parka,

We've been together a long time, but I think your days of hard work will be over soon.

Happy New Year

2010-01-29T21:26:00.005-06:00

Every time I don't write for awhile, I start to get a case of blogger guilt. I imagine my blog as a stage, my readers as the audience, and I'm up on stage with nothing to say.

Anyway, I'll try to piece something together.

2009 was a great year for me, though it had its ups and downs like every year since 2006. For a little while when things were tough, I must admit I cursed the north. However, I quickly pointed out to myself that the north is never the reason things are difficult; life happens no matter where you are. If you're not happy here it's so easy to blame Nunavut for it, but Nunavut is rarely the cause for difficulty. In my humble opinion, anyway.

Likely due to my age (young), and how much has happened since 2006 (a ton), I can say without a doubt that nothing is ever static up here for me. Friends leave, situations change, the north grows. In the industry I work in, I watch friends/coworkers leave throughout the year. This would really bother me if new people weren't also arriving throughout the year.

Overall, 2009 treated me well. I started a new job, finally moved into my own apartment, and I started to settle down here. I made new friends, lost 30lbs (yeehaw!!), took up curling, started working out regularly, went on 2 awesome vacations, and bought some nice things (like this 24" iMac).

In December I went down to Sarnia (my hometown) for Christmas. It was the first time I'd spent Christmas in Ontario since 2005 (pre-Nunavut). I had an amazing time and really enjoyed myself. My brother, his fiancée, my sister, and my best friend were in town and it was awesome to see them. My best friend moved away in 2003 or 2004 so that was really the last time she and I had hung out in Sarnia. My 17 days of holidays were VERY jam-packed. There were 2 nights where I didn't even get a chance to sleep. All in all, it was probably my favourite vacation I've ever been on. I decided early into it that I would start spending every Christmas with my family/friends. Life's too short to spend so much time away from the people who mean the most to you.

Anyhoo, 2010 promises to be a year like no other before it. I'll have a visitor in spring and late fall, I go on holidays in May, and my brother is getting married in November. As for my blog, it is going to be under yet another metamorphosis but we won't get into that just yet.

I'm sorry I don't have much to write about these days. February 1st marks my 3.5 years of being in Nunavut and so it is increasingly more difficult to imagine my life from a southern perspective. I am open to topic suggestions, though.

Air Trip

2009-11-10T17:09:00.003-06:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Where have I been? Between the gym, badminton, curling, work, and my "social life," I really, honestly have not had time to write. I'm rarely home for more than a few hours at a time. And you know what? That's a heckuva lot better than having nothing to do but pump out entries! So sorry to say, but if you've been missing my entries, I sure haven't.

As I type this, I have to be out the door in 30 minutes for curling so this will be a shorter version of the entry I wish I had time to write.

On November 1st, I went on what I called an "air trip" being that it couldn't be a "road trip." I had the opportunity to visit Igloolik, Repulse Bay, and Chesterfield Inlet in one day. It was amazing and I loved every second of it, even freezing my butt off on the Pilatus.

I don't have time to post the photos and provide witty and urbane commentary, so please just look at the album on Flickr. You'll save us both time.

Twenty minutes before I have to get my butt out the door again. Townie Bastard hasn't slaughtered me at curling yet, though I'm sure my time is near!!

Answers

2009-08-24T20:35:00.007-05:00

I guess it's time for a post, eh?

Life is back to normal post-holidays. I've been working out a lot, eating healthier, and going tanning. I also booked my Christmas holiday but that's not important right now.

I have yet another chapter in the book of Jaime and Her Ignorance Toward Vehicle Ownership. It's a little thing called registration. Tomorrow marks 1 year of owning my beloved Suzuki. It also marks 1 year since I had it registered and insured. My insurance is no problem, I got that covered. I pay an exorbitant amount to cover myself, it's under control. What I don't get is why the hell my registration expired in April and not August. I didn't pay much attention to the sticker on my polar bear license plate, but I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I needed to renew it sometime in August.

Wrong! Last weekend I was pulled over by the lovely law enforcement officials of our dear city as part of Take Back The Night. The By-law officer took my insurance. "Ha!" he laughed, "Your insurance is expired!"
"No it isn't, I know for a fact it expires August 25."
"Yeah and what's the date today?!"
"August 14."
"Oh yeah."

That was a bit nerve-wracking but I chilled out and handed him my registration.
"AH HA! This is expired! It expired in April."
"Oh sh...no, really?"

I escaped without a ticket, but not without a lesson: Nunavut's Department of Motor Vehicles has seemingly arbitrary expiry dates for registration. If you know why this is, please explain.

And now, I've been getting quite a few question-comments so I'm going to answer them here.

Q: My family is also looking at Iqaluit. I am a Registered Nurse, so am looking at government positions, wondering what the housing is like that they provide?

A: There are many houses, townhouses, and apartments. Housing is decent. Any more specific, and you'd have to find out where you're living because each unit is different. I don't work for the GN and I don't live in GN housing so I'm not much help.

Q: Should I buy a car here or there, if there should I fly there..can you even drive all the way there? Is it safe, or just as safe as Ottawa for a single girl to live? I notice the salaries are quite high but does that just match the cost of living or can you actually make more money there? Is housing readily available? Is there a region that you recommend for someone that will be going to the North for the first time?

A: Whoa whoa whoa. First of all, you cannot drive to anywhere in Nunavut. You have no choice but to fly. You can buy a car down there and have it sealift'ed up, or you can buy one here. There are decent options in the larger communities as far as I know. In Iqaluit there is anyway.

It's reasonably safe but like anywhere in the world, if you put yourself in a dangerous situation, you may not be lucky. I don't walk around town by myself at night, but I don't in Ontario either. Other than that, no, you're not going to be mugged walking down the street in broad daylight. Not by a long shot.

Housing is available depending where you move and who your employer is. Some jobs provide housing, others don't. Iqaluit has some private accommodations, but it's better to have a place secured before you move here, and that goes for any community.

Yes, you will make money here assuming you don't spend it all. Don't assume it will be easy to save, but you probably won't be broke.

If you're going to the north for the first time and aren't sure if you'll like it, I suggest Iqaluit. We have familiar amenities here such as a gym, movie theatre, restaurants, bars, etc. If you're up for a challenge, anywhere in the north is your arctic oyster.

P.S. You won't be able to drive between communities. I suggest you do some more research before committing to moving here.

Q: I want to move to Nunavut. Can you email me at you@email.com?

A: Sorry, no. I do not send out general "how to move here!" emails. Please ask me a specific question and I can attempt to answer it. If I sent emails to everyone who left these comments, I'd have to quit my job and chain myself to my computer. I'm not a mind reader, you have to tell me what you want to know.

Q: Is the people friendly there? I want to spend some time there to know the mother nature and original living style of Nunavut. Is anyone willing to like to keep some one and show places?

A: Nunavut is very friendly. I can't answer your second question because I'm not on speaking terms with every single person here. Only they can answer for themselves.

As a general note, I enjoy answering questions, but please think your question through first. Don't make me smack my head against the keyboard, please. It's brand new and very pretty and I don't want to break it.

Also, welcome to Nunavut Tara and Jordan & Steph!! I've been impatiently checking your blogs for updates! I look forward to reading your observations.

Happy 3 Years

2009-08-01T21:36:00.005-05:00

(I apologize for the tininess of the photo; it won't seem to upload larger.)

Congratulations to me! Today is my 3 year anniversary of moving to Nunavut. This time 3 years ago, I was probably sitting in the apartment in Rankin Inlet, staring out the window in shock.

I don't know if I ever wrote about this, but for probably the first 2 or 3 hours after landing in Rankin Inlet for the first time, I felt nothing but panic and dread. As much preparation as you do, as many pictures as you see, nothing really compares to the moment you look out your new apartment at a completely strange and different world. I felt like I had just landed on the moon. I'd never been so far away from my family and friends, and knowing it would be months before I'd see them again shook me to the core. I was, as you might say, freaked out. It was August 1st and I'd just come from a 45C humidex in London. It was 4C in Rankin Inlet that evening. I put on a toque and we went out for a walk. I stared at Hudson Bay in fascination. I breathed in the fresh air, looked around, and officially decided I liked the place. From then on, I've loved Nunavut and have never looked back.

This place has been good to me. I consider myself to be a very lucky person in that I have everything I want and more. I have Nunavut to thank for that. It's difficult to imagine what my life would have been like had I never moved north. I'm not sure I could even fathom a guess at what I'd be doing right now in Ontario if I never left. I've changed so much from the days of riding the Cherryhill bus in London everyday; from the days of freaking out about spending $90 at the grocery store; from weaving through crowds at Masonville mall.

Anyway. Thanks for 3 great years Nunavut, and I'm sure there will be at least 3 more great ones ahead.

Oh! And to everybody who mocked me when I said I was moving north, especially to the person who told me I'd never last and all the people who said I'd hate it: You were dead wrong, losers.

Jordan and Steph

2009-07-23T20:08:00.003-05:00

I keep forgetting to include this on posts so now it's getting its own post!

Check out Shelter-The Journey to Nunavut by Jordan and Steph. They're in Ontario and about to move to Nunavut. I love their blog, it's easily one of my favourites. So if you know what's good for ya, you'll check it out!

P.S. It was 23C here yesterday. Although it's nice to have some variety in our weather, it's way too warm for me. That's how I know I've been northernized.

Home At Last

2009-07-19T19:59:00.004-05:00

Well, I arrived back in Iqaluit today. It was one of those vacations where you dread returning but now that I'm here, I'm glad to be. I can tell I've relaxed a tiny bit because I didn't want to ram anybody with my cart in North Mart. Seriously, I hate shopping there. But today, it was tolerable. I hope it sticks.

I sent home all my worldly goods on Friday. Amount of my future retirement into the hands of Canada Post? Three hundred. I really didn't think I bought that much, but I always compare my trips to when I came back with 4 or 5 huge totes (hey, I was moving).

All in all, I actually had a lot of really annoying experiences in Ontario and I'm glad to be out. Sometimes I forget why I ever left but then all it takes is 2 weeks there and I'm running back north. Ottawa was the worst, especially the cab drivers. I had a very bad experience in The Southway Inn's restaurant, The Shallows. I don't know about you, but when I'm done eating, I like to NOT sit and wait an hour before the server decides to look at me again. To put this in perspective, the couple next to me was seated while I was in the middle of my dessert. They paid their bill before my server (also their server) would come back to me.

I also enjoy not being scammed by creepy cab drivers. Ottawa, can I have that 20 hours of my life back?

But happily, I've been reunited with my Suzuki, 3 cats, clean apartment, friends, and fresh arctic air. Every time I come back from holidays, I get the same excited feeling I had when I first moved to Rankin Inlet almost 3 years ago to the day. I think it's the smell of the air, it makes me remember the newness and the adventures that lie ahead. I'm not sure what adventures will unfold before I vacation again, but here's hoping they're positive ones.

Obligatory Vacation Photos

2009-07-07T13:59:00.006-05:00

After a busy, exhausting week in Alberta, my sister and I have returned. West Edmonton Mall was so much fun, especially the water park. I didn't end up doing very much shopping but still managed to have an overweight suitcase (according to Dr. Air Canada).

Jasper was amazing of course. Every single time I told someone we were going to Jasper, the reply was always, "Oh! Jasper! I LOVE Jasper! You're going to have a great time!" Indeed, it's a hard place to dislike.

Anyway, I won't bore you with words. Here are some choice photos.

My sister and I (right and left, respectively) on some space drop ride in Galaxy Land (at WEM). We staged this and then were too cheap to buy the actual photo.

A slice of heaven...I love water slides.

My sister and I canoeing on Pyramid Lake in Jasper.

Me with my hour-old tattoo (under the bandage) with 382 Galaxy Land tickets. All it got us was an inflatable frisbee.

Elk on the road...we saw so many of them.

We did a tour thing to Mt. Robson.

We rented bikes and biked down this trail (which eventually led us nowhere).

All in all, we had a great time. I love the west. I've spent time in both the Atlantic and Pacific regions of Canada and although I loved the maritimes, I think I'll be adding myself to western Canada's population some day.

Also, here is what I learned from holidays this time: don't travel on little to no sleep. I was awake basically from Sunday at 9:00am MDT to Tuesday morning at 1:30am EDT. I did it voluntarily because we had a very early Greyhound bus, however it made the rest of the day very frustrating. I ended up leaving my jacket in an airport shuttle (which I got back), then left my iPod and cell phone at security in Edmonton. I was cranky all day, and then eventually burst out crying when we missed our last flight. The nice people at Air Canada took pity on me, though (they said they thought I was 17 or 18!) and gave my sister and I a free night at the Delta with $50 to spend on meals. I imagine that's pretty standard if it's Air Canada's fault that you missed your flight, but it still made me feel better.

On Holidays

2009-07-01T13:00:00.003-05:00

I'm on holidays now...if you want to see what I'm up to, check out my Twitter page.

Northern Speakeasies AKA North Mart

2009-06-23T20:46:00.005-05:00

One of my favourite parts about vacation preparations is buying tiny, trial/travel-sized products. Unfortunately, our North Mart has an embarrassing selection of trial-sized products. I believe right now they are offering one brand of shampoo, no conditioner, trial-sized Lady Speed Stick, a small bag of cotton balls, and super cheap Gillette Sensor razors- not a trial-sized product by any means. I had a Gillette Sensor as a young teenager, it was the first razor I owned. I'm not sure how that classifies it as a trial-sized product, but okay, North Mart, go for it.

In light of dental work I've had lately (the first in many years- oops) I wanted to bring mouthwash on holidays. If you've ever shopped in a Nunavut grocery store, you know that such a product is locked behind a cabinet. Any products here that contain alcohol are locked up. This includes mouthwash, hairspray, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover, Purell, and vanilla. Although I am a mentally sane person in most ways, I always find asking to get into the cabinet uncomfortable. I'm clearly not a user of inedible alcohol products, but I always know that for one split second the employee is asking themselves, "Okay, is this girl just going to drink this hairspray later or should I let her take one?"

This evening I asked a North Mart employee, "Can I get in there?" referring to the locked cabinet, and I immediately thought, "Oh great, Jaime. That doesn't sound desperate!" It's funny: even though I intend to use the products legitimately, I always tell myself I have to seem convincing of it. Mouthwash was all I went to North Mart for but I told myself, "You can't check out with just mouthwash, you'll look insane!" Yes, I really do have these thought processes.

Maybe I analyze things too much, or maybe I'm just delirious since I'll be in Ontario 48 hours from now. Nobody needs to relax right now more than I do and I'm so thankful I can do starting around tomorrow at 4:30pm.

I believe I already said this but...so long suckers!

Extra extra, read all about it...
I forgot to include some photos!

Oh, is it really 11:30pm? Hmm, I don't feel sleepy.

2:30am. Nope, not falling asleep anytime soon.

3am and the sun is up. Oh goody.

My okpik collection. I love these things. I'm not really into Inuit art, save for okpiks and Kenojuak Ashevak prints (if I could afford one). So while my carving collection remains at a measly 2, my okpik collection continues to grow.

Vacation Pretend Scrapbook

2009-06-17T21:11:00.005-05:00

Well, it's one week until I leave on holidays for a few weeks. What does this mean? It means I'm literally unable to form a thought that doesn't revolve around vacation. I feel myself becoming more useless in social situations. The only thing circulating through my head is, "Arby's, McDonalds, Wendy's, Starbucks, Timbits, malls, pavement, trees, American Eagle in person!, flights, layovers, family, home-cooked meals by Mom, beaches, cake, Sunripe, Lake Huron, Canatara Park..." and really, I could go on for a long time.

It's also the only time I allow myself to get frustrated and annoyed with the north. Right now I've nearly reached the end of my rope when it comes to potholes and slow drivers.

In general, I love the north and I'm glad it's different from the south. But right now, what I wouldn't give to go to McDonalds at 1am and then take a stroll through a 24-hour Shopper's Drug Mart. I'm not like this any other time except for when I know it's coming very soon. And really, isn't that the best way to be? I rarely think about the south between holidays, it's only the week before that I become antsy to leave.

I'm surprisingly less stressed out this time around. Last August as I was preparing to leave, it felt like there was so much to do. Now I think I'll be able to get away with some light cleaning and packing my clothes.

And because I'm literally unable to think of anything except vacation, here is a pretend scrapbook of photos I may possibly take during the next few weeks:

But of course. First meal for sure.

My journey then brings me to Edmonton.

And the famous mall.

Oh yes, god love the mall.

Mom and Dad, I'm totally kidding. (Only I'm not, but I hope they believe in reverse psychology.)

Canoeing in this park anyone?

Then two weeks of beautiful Lake Huron.

And many a peaceful drive.

I likely won't be updating until I get back, so the fake pictures will have to do for now. See ya, suckers!

Labels and Coincidences

2009-06-04T19:24:00.003-05:00

1. I added a list of all my entry labels on the sidebar. Now if you're here looking for information, this will make the search through entries easier.

2. I am going through all my entries without tags and adding tags. It struck me just how many names of commentors are names I recognize now from work, town, friends, etc. It's such a small world here, but it's great knowing people are walking around here and my blog helped them or inspired them or whatever it does.

3. It was a whopping 7 Celsius today. Outside, I thought, "I never thought 7C could feel like summer but here we are." I wish I had an explanation for why it feels so much warmer than it actually is. I don't know why a sunny 7C is t-shirt weather here and warm jacket weather in Ontario. It's more than a state of mind.

4. If you live in Iqaluit and you're one of those people who drives 20-30km the whole way down Niaqunngusiaq Road, just know that I'm out there and I'm getting very annoyed.

God Bless This Mess

2009-06-03T21:08:00.005-05:00

Please excuse the mess of a layout this blog is sure to be until I figure out how to get my old template back.

It seems I had no choice but to upgrade my account or something or other. It really annoys me when websites force you to change; I find it usually just makes things more complicated. However, I was no longer able to leave comments on newer blogs which is frustrating. Amanda, I've left you tons of comments that seem to go unposted by crappy Blogger. Jordan & Steph, thanks so much for the kind words, I appreciate it. I'll leave a more detailed comment on your blog when I get this muck sorted out.

In the meantime, I offer you this funny story about ravens building nests on the CBC building in Aklavik, NWT. Gave me a good laugh today. I particularly enjoyed the line about the penthouse suite.

Well it's 10pm and the sun is shining. Better get cracking on fixing this template.

EDIT:
Well I figured out the commenting problem. Turns out it had nothing to do with my classic layout, it was Firefox. ARGH. Wish I'd known that before I changed it. I've got it back mostly to how it was, but it's just not the same. I had that template for 3 years with no intention of changing it. Ugh, technology!

EDIT AGAIN:
Reverted back AND I can comment. Now there was a solid 2 hours wasted! It's time to get some sleep. Lesson of the day: Firefox for Mac sucks. Looks like I'm stuck with Safari if I want to comment on newer blogs. Anyone else have problems? Basically my Firefox forgets I'm signed in when I'm on blogs. The dashboard is fine, it's just blogs. So when I go to leave a comment and select my profile, I can't access anything. Oi...okay seriously, sleep now.

Vacation Rituals

2009-05-26T22:11:00.007-05:00

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, my twin. No sign of her, my appearance must have gone back to obscurity. Even when Happy Birthday was sung to me in the midst of wing night at the Storehouse, nobody came up to me and said, "Hey Molly, happy birthday!" Phew! Maybe I really do have my own identity here.

Well, it's 11pm and for the past week or so, I've been having to force myself to go to sleep. Right now it is a bit dark, but light enough that I can make out buildings across town (I have quite the view). This is my normal reaction to the prolonged sunlight. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to affect me much in the morning after a night of sub-par sleep; I just have so much energy to go around.

In one day less of a month, I will be on vacation. Yay! My sister and I are going out west to Edmonton and Jasper and I can't wait! My sister has never been to any provinces outside of Ontario and has never been on an airplane. I'm pretty excited about just seeing her reaction to such a different atmosphere. I have a full week booked for our trip which includes the West Edmonton Mall and outdoor day adventures in Jasper National Park.

Upon my arrival back to Ontario in early July, I have nearly 3 solid weeks to relax and visit. Let me tell you, this blogger needs a tan badly. There will be days of nothing but sunshine, patio chairs, trashy novels, and fresh fruit.

This will be my 4th visit back to Ontario since moving to Nunavut in August 2006. I don't think I'm alone in saying that we develop rituals on our vacations. My Sarnia rituals are:

1. Going to Sunripe. This is a small store in Sarnia that sells primarily produce, but also has delicious baked goods, dips, seafood, and other organic and healthy foods. I LOVE this store. I always stock up there within 24 hours of being in Sarnia so that for the rest of my vacation I can hoard cheese sticks (with their amazing eggplant dip), chocolate-covered pretzels, homemade cookies, and fresh cherries. I always buy those same 6 things, a stay in Sarnia just wouldn't be right without one of those.

2. Ordering a cake from William's Pastry. It is shameful how much sugar I ingest while in Sarnia, but if I had to choose just one ritual, it would be ordering my plain white cake from William's. I don't even know how to write in words just how good their cake is. Oh yes, and I always buy some of their famous oatmeal cookies. Man, it's sad just how much I look forward to food.

3. Many drives through Canatara Park. If time permits, I will always take the long way to go anywhere so that I can drive through the park. It's not hard to understand why when the north is so barren.

4. A drive up the lake. I was fortunate enough to be raised about 600 metres from the shore of Lake Huron. I love that lake and always miss it when I'm away.

5. Weather-permitting (I've been to Sarnia once in the winter), at least one bike ride can be expected of my holidays. I love biking through Sarnia on summer nights and hope some day I live somewhere that I can take summer night bike rides under the trees.

6. Of course, visiting the fam. That's a given!

Of all the things I love about holidays, I think the following picture sums up quite nicely why sometimes it's nice to get away for awhile.

Feel free to tell me about your own vacation rituals, I'd love to hear them.

Wanted: My Twin

2009-05-16T09:07:00.003-05:00

So it seems I have a twin in this town. Finally. In London, people were always asking me if I was related to so-and-so, because I looked just like them. Then in Rankin, the same thing happened. "Are you sure you didn't live here like, ten years ago? I could have sworn you did."

It was a relief to move here when apparently I was the first person to look like me. But then on Thursday at North Mart, someone confused me for someone else. I found it funny, until yesterday when I was mistaken for "Molly." This was funny for another reason: I was hauling a large a box of liquor to my car. Molly must be throwing a party soon, too, or she's about thisclose to joining a 12-step program.

In reality, I'm not at all surprised when people confuse me. I am pretty generic looking. Aside from my tattoo and death-defying clumsiness, not much tells me apart from other 20-something girls. But I want to meet this Molly and see if she really does look like me.

In other news, we had a blizzard yesterday. While this is my third "spring" in Nunavut, it still took me a bit by surprise. I think this is the latest I've ever experienced a blizzard. I know there was one in May or June in Rankin in 2007, but I was on holidays and missed it (I got a sunburn that day, actually). Despite my shaking apartment, rattling windows, vibrating tinfoil (on the window above my bed), and a verifiable draft coming from the window, I still managed to fall asleep around 7pm last night. I awoke at 9am, feeling refreshed and ready to commence Saturday cleaning. And people wonder why I don't want kids! I'll take 14 hours of undisturbed sleep over changing diapers any day.

Anyway, it's that time of year again. The time when the grocery stores run out of kitty litter and cat food. I have about 4 days left of food and am kind of nervous about it. I had to make a food order last year from Marche Central just for some litter. Looks like I'll be making one again on Monday. I've been putting off making a sealift order for cat food and litter, but I guess I should.

Well, I hope all the southerners reading this are enjoying their warm long weekend. I'll be in my house with the heat turned up, hoping the snow melts any day now.

Mid-May Rambles

2009-05-07T21:16:00.004-05:00

I'm alive...I think. I've been so tired the last two weeks or so. I'm not alone on that, it seems to be an Iqaluit-wide problem. Or at least, my work-wide. There's been a stomach bug going around town for awhile. It finally caught up to me and pretty much everybody I see on a daily basis. Since then, we've all been fatigued. So I blame my lack of posts on a 24 hour stomach bug I had once. Haha.

Anyway, not much has been going on with me. Oh, there's the odd big thing here and there, but not blog-worthy.

1. My apartment is great. I'm slowly trying to decorate it. I bought a rug on eBay. eBay is basically my best friend because you can choose an object you want and there are so many options to pick from. So many poor sods list with flat rate shipping. It's too bad they can't hear my diabolical, greedy laughter from up here. I bought an area rug fairly cheaply ($199 tax, exchange, and shipping exclusive). It was sent via FedEx and arrived fairly quickly.

b) The Shopping Channel is dangerous. This is the main problem I have with the cable company. Everything else is great...but the Shopping Channel has an evil allure to it. I don't like it.

2. I started my new job, finally. From the date I applied to the date I started was 4 months. Not long in the land of government, but I was definitely eager to start. The new job is great, since you asked. I hadn't realized how stressed out I had become. Since I started the new job, I've relaxed considerably. It's a nice change from the last 2 years of tension (for one reason or another).

3. I went to Cape Dorset over Easter. I can't find my USB cord or I'd post photos. I got to see Jen again and meet little Ezri, who is every bit as cute as she looks in photos.

4. I've booked the bare bones of my next vacation. I leave in one month and 18 days. I should probably book a bit more. I'm taking my sister to the West Edmonton Mall. I'm also planning to take her to Jasper. Does anybody have experience with Jasper Adventure Centre? I'm planning to book a day or two with them. They seem pretty good and it's not too expensive.

During my holidays, I have 3 glorious weeks in my hometown to do absolutely nothing. It's really too bad that I'm flying through the Twilight books right now, because they would be perfect for reading on the beach. Oh well. I'll just have to ask some local preteens what they're reading and I should be set. That was a burn on myself. As much as I love Twilight, I do remind myself that 8-year-olds love it more.

5. The sun is setting much later these days. I don't know the exact time, but civil twilight is sometime around 10:30pm. It is too bad I won't be around for much of it this year as the summer is my favourite season in the north. I'm a little worried at the possibility of having a heat stroke during my holidays. I'm not used to the heat or humidity at all anymore so I kind of feel like I'm wittingly walking into the fiery depths of hell. September in Toronto last year was miserably muggy. I literally felt like someone had made me a jumpsuit of warm, damp sponges that I couldn't escape from. Vacationing during this time is also bad because I end up buying shorts and cute tops that serve no purpose up here.

6. I feel like my klutziness and absent-mindedness is at an all-time high lately. Today at lunch, I was heating up some mini pizzas for me and a friend. In the midst of chatter, I engaged the lock on the oven door. I don't know why, but it seized or something and would not unlock. I felt like an idiot calling our housing hotline, considering my record of making those calls never bodes well for my intelligence:
Call #1: "Um hi, I was turning on the dryer and the knob snapped off. I need a new knob."
Call #2: "Hi, I was trying to lock the door and my key snapped off in the lock...and I'm late for work."
Call #3: "Yeah hi, my house has no heat. I noticed it yesterday but thought it'd fix itself. Now it's freezing in here."
Call #4: "Hi, I was playing with my oven and now I can't open the door. The lock is stuck. There's pizza in there."

This past week, as I've told many people, I left shrimp to thaw in the cabinet. Only, I left it a little too long. Like, a week too long. I have never come close to vomiting from a smell, until Sunday. I don't have a weak stomach, but I will be avoiding shrimp for the next eternity or so. Despite being my favourite type of food, I tend to have a lot of problems with bacteria-infested seafood.

I won't even go into the story of how I fell out of my car while being driven home. If you know, you know. If not, well then, sorry you missed it!

That's all for me. This blog entry was mostly pointless. There probably won't be much to say in the next several weeks, I'm warning you now.

Insert Title Here

2009-03-21T19:36:00.007-05:00

Not much from me lately, I've been crazy busy. And I actually mean that! As somebody else observed, I've been coming out of my shell and actually going out. It's great, I'm enjoying it and the days are going by fast.

Yesterday was the first day of spring and it was actually quite warm! I checked the weather when it was -7C, but the high was -5C. I've said it before and I'll say it again (and again and again)...anything warmer than -10C up here feels like it's actually above zero.

When it stays warm enough to lose the parka for a few days, I'm going to have it dry cleaned. It has 2.5 years of coffee spills on the front of it (I never claimed to be graceful), not to mention I've probably sweat more in that thing than I sweat at the gym. It's starting to feel disgusting to put on, but I think it's just a mental thing. Unfortunately, the zipper is starting to go on it, and the cuffs are fraying a bit. I'm disappointed considering how much it cost. Less than 3 years and it's falling apart. And trust me, I don't wear it more than I have to. I have days where I just cannot make myself put on boots and a parka, so I leave the house in sneakers and a peacoat. I always end up regretting it later, but I never learn my lesson.

Speaking of lessons, I learned yet another vehicle-owning lesson this week. I noticed my front passenger-side tire was getting flat, but I kept forgetting to get it filled. A friend agreed to loan me a pressure gauge so I would not overfill the tires. In her driveway, we whipped out the old fashioned one, the kind with the ruler-like stick that pops out and tells you the pressure. We pushed it onto the nozzle and nothing happened. We tried again and again, but it wasn't moving. So then we pulled out a digital one, and it kept reading 6-8psi. We didn't understand why it wasn't reading properly, so my friend phoned a friend, and he met us at the gas station. It was then that we realized that the pressure in that tire really was 6psi (it's supposed to be about 25psi). I have no idea how long I drove around like that, either. Another lesson learned. I need an idiot's guide to owning a vehicle, I swear. I didn't know I was such an idiot about it, but you don't know what you don't know. It's actually nice learning these things, learning to be more self-sufficient.

Anyway, I'm all moved into my own place finally, yay! And when I say finally, I mean I hadn't been in a place of my "own" since January 2008. The only problem now is acquiring the things I didn't already own. In the last month, I've purchased the following:
-TV
-microwave
-countertop dishwasher
-vacuum cleaner
-self-cleaning litter box (housewarming present for the cats, haha)
-various kitchen stuff from Pampered Chef

I'm done buying now but I would still like to buy the rest of the cutlery set I have and some decor to give this place some style. I'll be hitting the moving sales HARD! I recently entertained some guests for dinner and realized I own absolutely nothing for serving, not even salad tongs or small appetizer plates. Just writing that sentence makes me feel young and old at the same time.

The best part of my new apartment:

The view.

Oh, and happy one year in Iqaluit to me. In ten short days, I'll have been here for a whole year. Like all things do, it flew by. I can honestly say I liked Rankin Inlet better as a place to live, but I stay busy here and that's what's important, I suppose. Rankin just felt more personal and authentically northern. Nevertheless, I do plan to stay here for several more years, if I ever even get up the courage to leave! We'll see...

A Rant

2009-03-02T22:54:00.006-06:00

Of all the things people here find reasons to complain about, I have only one real pet peeve about the north: complainers.

I grew up in a city of 70 000 people in Ontario. Many Sarnians (at least from my generation), believe this to be so small and redneck and that there's nothing to do. I always thought Sarnia was a great size. Not too big, not too small. But no matter where you go, people find reasons to complain. I'm still not sure what Sarnia was missing. The CN tower? A giant stadium? Wonderland?

Likewise, I'm not sure what some people expect when they move here. Wonderland? Malls? Twenty-four hour coffee shops? What can you possibly want? In my opinion, the only legitimate complaint here is that we are all far from family. Everything else can be overcome if you want to overcome it.

I think everybody I've met in the north can be categorized into 3 categories:
1. The people who go out, have friends, and enjoy living here.
2. The people who don't go out, don't have friends, and hate it here.
3. The people in between who are just biding their time, waiting for the next phase in their life.

I strive to fit into the first category and I believe I do. My pet peeve is the people in the second category. They're the people who, when I told them I was moving to Nunavut, made a face at me and scoffed, "WHY? Why would you want to move there?!" It's tragic that these people are actually let into Nunavut borders because they're like parasites, feeding off any whine and complaint they can muster up to bother people with.

There is only one rule you must abide by when you move here and want to like it: you must try. If you don't try, you will never like it here. You must attempt to make friends, you must attempt to leave the confines of your home and workplace, you must attempt to engage in cultural activities. If you don't, what's the point of even coming here?

To anyone who hates it here...we won't miss you. Don't let the tundra hit 'ya where the good lord split 'ya. Go home, back to where things make sense to you, and stop bugging everyone who likes it here.

And quite honestly, this post was inspired by people I know. I don't know if they're reading this, but I hope they are.

Thus ends the only angry rant you will ever read on this blog. Phew!

PS: I'm not implying that the north is perfect or that there are no problems here. We know that there are. My issue is with the people who can't see past their own whiny, high-maintenance personalities to find something to smile about here.

Fiddler on the Igloo

2009-02-14T10:37:00.006-06:00

Last night I went to go see Inuksuk High School's production of Fiddler on the Roof. The school allows members of the public to join the production, so I knew a few people in the cast and crew. It was nice to get out and see a play since I don't often get to do that anymore. I was very into theatre as a teenager. For me, a week without a rehearsal never happened. Anyway, sitting in the audience just doesn't feel right, so depending on what show gets put on next (probably next year?), I think I might volunteer. I'm always looking for reasons to get out of the house.

It was a warm-ish week here in Iqaluit. Because it's normally too cold to snow, when the mercury rises a bit, we get dumped with snow. I think it snowed a few inches here, but it's hard to tell because it is so fluffy and because it's so windy. The drifts on the roads were really bad and there were numerous car accidents this week. On the main road (Niaqunngusiaq Road) the drifts were so bad near The Road to Nowhere that the downtown-bound lane pretty much disappeared in some spots. I was very paranoid driving to work yesterday, especially since it was Friday the 13th and all.

As for the IKEA stuff, they called me back and told me that since I live in Nunavut, they would ship my order to a warehouse in Winnipeg where I would have to pick it up. Even if you have no idea that there are no roads in Nunavut, and that Iqaluit is on Baffin freakin' Island, wouldn't you AT LEAST think to yourself, "Wow, that's probably 2 days' worth of driving"? Really, wouldn't you?!
"Can you pick it up in Winnipeg?" the sales rep asked me. I laughed. "Um, well I live on Baffin Island so that really isn't an option for me." I probably could have explained that she was calling from directly south of me (Montreal) and that shipping it west wasn't necessary. However, I was on my cell while driving to work, specifically, I was driving on the little bridge by the Frobisher Inn where everybody gets into car accidents so I was not in the position to give a geography lesson. So I told her just to cancel it. I should have added, "And please for the love of god, study a map on your next coffee break."

I think I will just wait until I move into my new place (ETA TBA) and then have I Shop 4 U put some IKEA stuff and whatever else I buy on the sealift. From the looks of their website, they arrange it all. I'm still nervous about the idea of sealift, though. How do I know what date my stuff is to arrive? And what if I'm not there when it arrives and someone steals it? And how do I arrange someone to bring it to my house?

Anyway, here are this week's reader questions. I am going to start compiling them in my Nunavut FAQ page so that future readers don't have to sift through entries to find answers. I hate sifting. No more sifting.

Q: So Government of Nunavut employees get subsidized housing whereas federal government employees in Nunavut get staff housing. Do I have that right?

Are there any other differences between the perks in the two levels of government there?

A: No, we both get subsidized housing. True, I did live in a staff house for awhile, but that's a long story and not the norm. Indeterminate federal government employees receive subsidized housing in which rent comes off their paycheque. It works the same for the Government of Nunavut. As for other perks, I believe federal government employees receive more cash benefits on our paycheques. We receive 3 or 4 cash benefits, I think. An environment allowance, a living cost differential, fuel & utilities, and possibly another one I can't remember (but I think I covered them all). The Government of Nunavut just gives one northern allowance, an amount similar to our environment allowance. The amount of our allowances, like the territorial government's, are also based on which community you live in. We in Iqaluit receive the smallest amount, whereas an employee in Grise Fiord would receive more. I'm not 100% sure if every federal department has it, but the agency I work for gives twice-yearly cheques that pay for your flight to the nearest large city (Ottawa for Iqaluit, Winnipeg for Rankin, not sure of the others). Your spouse and dependants also receive this money. We also receive quite a bit of vacation time, but I honestly don't know too much about how it works because it's different for the different groups of employees who work for my federal agency.

Do you find the long dark days depress you? If so, how do you combat the depression?

A: The abnormal levels of sunlight have never consciously bothered me, but I do find I'm much sleepier in the winter. This year I've been taking vitamin D. I noticed a big difference in my moods after being on it for only a day. I didn't realize how much the lack of sunlight affected me, but as soon as I started taking it, I became much less irritable and I didn't feel as tired all the time. When external factors like sunlight affect you, it's easy to dismiss them because you don't realize it's happening, it's not a conscious thing.

To combat the winter blahs, I make sure I get plenty of sleep (read: I give in to the fatigue), I take vitamin D as I mentioned, and I make sure I get out of the house once or twice a week to socialize. Having a social life makes a big difference!

Q: Was it really hard to leave behind your family and friends in London? How often do you get to go back to visit?

A: My friends and family don't live in London, I'm from Sarnia. I only lived in London for a year before I moved to Rankin Inlet. I don't ever go back to London because I truly hated it there, but I go back to Sarnia everytime I'm down south (approximately every 8 months). Very few of my friends still live in Sarnia, and I'm not very close with my family, so leaving them wasn't difficult for me. In fact, I prefer to live far away because it allows me to have my freedom and to stay away from family drama. Not everybody up here is like me, though. I've known people who were incredibly homesick, and it seems they don't last very long here and if they do, they hate it anyway. For me, southwestern Ontario doesn't feel like my home anymore and I would never move back there so I do not get homesick. However, sometimes I miss my favourite parts of growing up there: the big park near my old house, summer bike rides, swimming in Lake Huron, and going on drives to Bright's Grove. I make sure I do these things when I'm in Sarnia, so I only start to miss them when it's time to go on vacation again.

Q: Do you have any idea how many applications on average the government receives per job posting?

A: I have no idea. It would depend on the job, I suppose. Jobs not requiring education or experience would get more applicants, whereas specialized industries would probably have less competition. That's true of anywhere, though.

Q: Is is possible to live close enough to work in Iqaluit that one can get by on foot alone?

A: Yes, of course. The only place you wouldn't want to walk from would be Apex (which is a subdivision good kilometre of out town), or the furthest reaches of Lego Land (getting near Apex). And you probably wouldn't want to walk to the opposite end of Iqaluit (where there are several businesses). All the new houses and apartment buildings are being built are a bit further from things, but you could still walk to work from them. Where I live now is about a 15-20 minute walk downhill to my office, and about 30 minutes back up hill. I didn't own a car until this year, so I'm probably more open to longer walks than people who have never walked anywhere in their lives.

Q: For someone who dislikes Ontario winters like myself, is it ridiculous to think I could have a fun adventure in Iqaluit for a year? Is not being a winter person pretty much a deal breaker for having a good year or two there?

A: In all honesty, I hated winters in Ontario. Hated! But here, I don't mind it so much. I dress better for it, and the cold here is dry, so it doesn't suck the warmth from your bones the way Ontario cold does. Also, because it lasts for about 8 months, you just get used to it. And when the temperature warms up to even something like -10, it feels so warm to you that you feel like dancing in the streets in shorts and a t-shirt. I've done a 180 about weather; I won't go back to Ontario between June and August anymore, because I've found I just can't handle the heat and humidity. I'm grouchy and dizzy and I never stop sweating. I was miserable even in September last year in Ontario. It was just so humid that I didn't want to go outside. As far as adventure goes, it's impossible to not have an adventure here. You get to experience things you never thought you would, and you can partake in cultural activities that will enrich your soul. I sound like a tourism pamphlet, but it's true. The only stipulation for having a good time here is that you honestly have to try. You can't move here, never go outside, never participate in anything, never make friends, and expect to love it here. A good time won't land on your doorstep.

Do you find it's rather easy to save up money there? Because I am thinking I would be able to since they pay for your move, you get subsidized housing, and there are no malls there so I probably wouldn't do much shopping...

A: Oh, Anonymous. I laughed, but only because you sound like me before I moved north. Even though they pay for your move, you still end up spending money on buying new things you'll want to bring with you. Subsidized housing still isn't cheap, and online shopping is so much more addictive than shopping in a mall. Oh, and don't forget that everything you can buy here is way more expensive. For me, an admitted recovering shopaholic, I've saved nothing. I spent all my savings on a vehicle, housewares before I moved here, and an expensive vacation. But that's just me. Some people leave with a lot of money in the bank. I'd like to be one of them, but saving doesn't come naturally to me. The big money-drainer here is vacation and food, so just watch those two areas and you should be okay.

Now for some photos since I don't post enough of them.

Tuktu (caribou). I think something scared it, it was standing completely still in the visitors' centre...

Hello!! I don't see a shadow so that must mean summer is just around the corner! (This guy was also found in the visitors' centre, I think they might have an animal infestation problem).

It's a very little known fact that ancient inuit didn't travel great distances by dogsled to hunt animals, they were harvesting car tires.

The last thing you want to see when you come home from work (your indoor cat on your roof). This is my eldest fur-baby, Leah.

Fur-baby #2, Moon Unit. She LOVES footwear, as you can see.

Fur-baby #3, Dweezil. I wish I could say this isn't a normal thing he does, but it is. I think he wishes he was taller.

Reader Questions

2009-02-08T21:04:00.005-06:00

In the spirit of not usually having any idea what to write about these days, I've decided I'll start answering reader questions again. If you've written me a comment that ends in a question mark, you'll notice it went unanswered. Well, I'll try to start answering them again. However, think about your question before you ask. If you presume it's going to require me to spend time finding the answer, or spend time writing the answer, I won't answer it. I'm not going to go out and take photographs of things for you and I'm not going to engage in time-consuming research to find what some random word in Inuktitut is. Maybe someone else will but I have a Nintendo Wii and a comfy bed, and I prefer those things over unpaid research.

Recent reader questions...

Q: "Do you have a picture of the palteua subdivision that I heard so much about in Iqaluit."

A: I assume you mean the plateau subdivision? No, I don't. I have photos I took looking at town from the plateau, but not photographs of the houses there. They're just new, nice looking houses.

Q: I am originally from Ontario as well and am interested in moving to Iqualuit to be a research analyst (if they will hire me). What is it like being an outsider there?

A: It's about the same as being an outsider anywhere else. Iqaluit isn't very traditional, chances are you will only feel the stress of moving to a new town and figuring things out. English is spoken everywhere and the percentage on non-inuit here is about 40%. So you won't really be an outsider, you'll just be another person living and working here.

Q: If you could sum it up in one sentence or so, what is it that makes you love the north so?

A: One sentence! That's difficult, you know. But okay, you got it. What makes me love the north is that I can go outside and hear absolutely nothing, just complete silence. I love quietness. I'm aware there are many quiet places in Canada, but I wound up here and that's what I choose to love about it.

Q: What is your job?

A: Sorry, but I do not share that information publicly. I work for the federal government, that's all you need to know.

Q: Is there stuff to do for children? activities?

A: In Iqaluit, yes. There are sports teams and if your kids are young enough, there are daytime playgroups. In Rankin Inlet there were some sports teams and gymnastics. There is also Sparks/Brownies/Guides/Rangers/etc in some communities, it would just depend. I don't know about smaller communities.

Q: Can someone eMail/post a typical grocery list cost? Milk, bread, bananas?

A: I had plans to do this before I moved out of my old house. I can't remember if I kept all the receipts. If not, you can still expect a post like this from me in the next 3-5 months or so.

Q: What kind of internet connection is obtainable in Nunavut?

A: Qiniq is available in all communities. Check the site for packages. Northwest ~~Hell~~ Tel also provides Internet in some communities.

Q: Also, I know there are no roads, but is there a chance any ATV trails or the such exist that could get you into the area?

A: Possibly, but I have no idea. You'd have to ask somebody in Thompson or Churchill.

On a completely opposite note, I have a question for anyone able to answer. Does anybody have experience with I Shop 4 U, or with buying IKEA items online (from the IKEA site)? Their site doesn't list any shipping prices and the only way to find out is to call them.

Great News

2009-01-25T15:35:00.004-06:00

Good things are happening in the land of Jaime. I'm starting a new job soon! Same organization, same pay and all that, but in a different building and doing different work. I'll be doing completely different work from what I do now, so it'll be a great learning experience. I've been with my current organization since June 2007 and I've been on a term contract the whole time. In Rankin Inlet, it wasn't a big deal, because I was covering a maternity leave and already had my own apartment. In Iqaluit it's different, because federal government employees here get housing (and I happen to be a federal government employee). I'll finally get my own apartment which is a big deal. I can finally settle down a bit and the best part: decorate.

So yay to me! I'm very excited about the new job. I'll be sad to leave my current office, but I need a change and this is a great opportunity for that. I really like my job but I couldn't turn down an opportunity to let my career grow. Now that I have this permanent contract and a new job, it'll be easier to stay here in Iqaluit for a long time. I always planned to stay in Nunavut for ten years. I have no idea if it'll happen, but so far so good. I'm working on my 3rd year already, it's hard to believe.

So, despite a minor setback last week, things are going well. I expect this year to end much differently than it started and I'm pretty darn excited for it.

It's nice that things have been going so well for me since I moved to Iqaluit. If you know me personally, I think you'd agree I really deserve it...

Lessons Learned

2009-01-21T15:38:00.002-06:00

Well, my dear readership, I never claimed to be a smart person.

I recently moved again (within Iqaluit, long story) to yet another place that isn't "mine." So anyway, I plugged my car in at this new place. Normally, at the old place, the car would still struggle to start despite being plugged in. I moved to a colder area of town and Monday morning, the vehicle starts no problem. It was fairly cold outside, so I was confused. Why did it start so easily? I thought about it on and off during the day, and realized at some point that the outlet at the old place was probably never turned on at the panel! Duh! As stupid as I felt, it came as a relief because it had bothered me before that plugging it in didn't always work. Now I know it was just the outlet. I hope I didn't do any damage to my Suzuki.

Among other recent lessons learned, I learned that moving in -40C is not fun, not fun at all. But that's whole other story.

Well, I'm off to get ready for wing night, one of the perks of living in Iqaluit. Wings and beer and good friends...Wednesday nights don't get any better!

New Year Ramblings

2009-01-11T15:27:00.006-06:00

Whoever suggested gasline antifreeze, thank you! It seems to be working well for my cold-frightened Suzuki. I know a few people actually suggested it but I had no idea how to obtain this product and put in my car. Then someone told me, "Just ask the gas pump attendant and they pour it in." Easy enough! This is my first car so I'm still learning the ropes.

The New Year's resolutions are still going well. I decided to drop the resolution to renew my membership at Atii Fitness Centre. I never really enjoyed going to the classes there, the few times I did. I didn't have a bad experience with them per se, I just didn't enjoy them very much. I think it's the wall of mirrors you face in the "classroom." I don't like looking at myself or the idea that other people could be mocking my complete lack of grace.

I've taken a new approach to my exercise regime. I used to go right after work to get it done with, but I realized that since I generally have nothing to do anyway, I'll push it back later. That way I (usually) get the gym to myself and I know I can't eat snacks when I get home from work at 4. And when I do get home after the gym, I don't have enough time to sit around getting bored. It works for me, though probably not for other people who have kids and spouses and whatnot.

Anyway. The days are getting longer again which I'm sure every northerner is thrilled about. On Friday I was driving home from work at 4pm and I thought, "Wow, the sky isn't completely black! Yay!" It was just mostly black.

Right now I'm in a mental bind about my vacation. I planned to go out in April but every way I look at it, it seems better to wait until late spring or early summer. I don't really want to wait, though, but I suppose sacrifices have to be made sometimes. This time around, I'll be hitting up the Dominican Republic, Montreal, Hamilton, and my hometown, Sarnia. As close as I lived to Hamilton my whole life (3 hours away), I can't recall ever going there. My boyfriend is from Hamilton so I'm going to go meet his family (we're taking vacation together).

As any northerner has probably experienced, going home at holidays is usually described as "busy and hectic." Everybody in a 200 mile radius that you're acquainted with wants you to come visit them when it's generally not feasible for you. I have a hard time scheduling in everybody and every time, somebody has to be dropped. I dropped out Toronto when I went home last March which angered one of my friends. I can understand why they'd be upset that I didn't come visit, but if they understood how many things I need to do when I'm in Ontario, I hope they'd understand. For me, Toronto is the "must go to" spot for all of my vacations. My brother and my two best friends live there, as well as other relatives whom I haven't even had time to see in a few years. It is really hard to plan all this, especially when you have to plan it around people's schedules. I heard someone up here once say that if our friends and family want to see us so badly, they should come to us! I must say, I agree. It would make my life that much easier!

Now for some pictures from December!

My friend Tori's mittens during a walk. Tori, being from Ontario and all, found it amusing that ice was forming on us during a cold morning walk.

Steam rising up from the sides of the breakwater dock. I'd never seen anything like this before.

Another view of the steam at the breakwater.

One last view of the steam.

Boats in the morning.

I love the shape of this building. I can't imagine how cramped it is inside, though!

A dog watching Tori and I.

The road near the breakwater.

Getting ready to go to my work Christmas party. Notice the dress over the snowpants?

Me on my way to the Christmas party. I am actually quite dressed up under all this. I apologize for the weird look on my face.

Sled dogs near the dump.

Iqaluit from New Plateau area.

Iqaluit from the breakwater dock.

Yours truly, covered in ice.

2009-01-05T20:48:00.002-06:00

Dear Qiniq,

I apologize for all the lousy things I've called your company recently (never to your face, though, I'm not one of those people). You see, your modem had annoyingly been resetting itself over and over again, approximately once every 15 seconds. The internet was barely useable and was extremely slow when I was able to get sites to load (without photos of course). I blamed your company and chalked it up to the usual slow-downs we experience sometimes as your customers. I understand you are way over-subscribed and cannot help it. When this problem went on for two or three weeks, I still blamed your company and hoped it would get better. I even thought of blaming my wireless router, thinking maybe its signal was getting in the way of yours. Your modem didn't seem to think so, though. It just kept on blinking.

Luckily (and I'll explain that later), when I came home from work today, my modem was being okay but pages were not loading. I unplugged your modem and let it set for about 5 minutes. When I came back and plugged it in, I realized your modem had slipped away permanently to Modem Heaven and would no longer be able to connect me to Facebook. Within 5 minutes of this, I was in your office with my modem, and you agreed it was broken. You gave me a new modem and now I can finally use the Internet in a somewhat-normal way. I'm now SLIGHTLY getting my $120/month's worth, as opposed to NOT AT ALL when it wasn't working. I say I'm lucky the modem died because I probably would have continued blaming your company for several more weeks until I realized something was actually wrong.

RIP Old Modem, you lived a hard life.

Regards,

One of your surplus customers

Sometimes, I really can't believe I pay $120/month for the Internet, and not even a fast connection at that. The thing is, I've used the lower tier of Qiniq ($60/month) and it was so bad I couldn't handle it. I'm an Internet junkie, I use my own connection probably 4-6 hours a night and if my Internet is slow, I'm gonna be grouchy.

Anyway. I've been keeping up with my resolutions so far. I've been going to bed early, taking my vitamin pills, and today I brought some treats to work (at 8am, not 8:30am). I haven't rejoined Atii Fitness Centre yet, I'm not sure if I will this month. I'm trying to eat healthier and I worked out today. So all that's left are the long-term plans.

Oh, and I am working on a BIG grocery prices post for the past several months. I've been collecting all my receipts and plan to scan them and write a post. Sadly, Iqaluit's prices are no match to Rankin Inlet's inflation, but I hope it'll still amuse some.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T14:48:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! 2009 is going to be a good year, I can just feel it. I'm not sure what I thought about 2008 when it first started, but I do remember feeling like it would be a year unlike any other.

I achieved several goals in 2008. I made a point of being as independent as possible and it has served me very well. 2008 was one of those years where I feel like if I could get through it, I could do just about anything.

Highlights of 2008 include:
-Moving to Iqaluit and living by myself for the first time
-Adopting Moon Unit and Dweezil (kittens)
-Buying my Suzuki
-Going on vacation by myself to BC
-Getting my tattoo and snug piercing
-Meeting my current boyfriend
-My best friend from Ontario coming to stay with me
-My boyfriend coming to Iqaluit for Christmas

On December 11, my best friend came to Iqaluit. Tori lives in Toronto and loves it there, so I wasn't sure what she'd think of little Iqaluit. She's always open-minded, though, and so she did end up enjoying it here. She told me she knew she'd never want to move here, but she did have fun experiencing a different lifestyle.

I wanted to take her out and do something cultural but unfortunately it fell through. I had contacted North Winds to take us dogsledding and I was annoyed by the fact they never called me back. I had to basically hound them to get an answer. We were supposed to go sometime between December 12 and 16 and they were going to call when they knew which date. December 15 rolled around and I had to call several times to get a hold of someone and I finally got an answer that night. Apparently their car had been in the shop for awhile and so they couldn't take us. I was polite, but pretty disappointed with their lack of customer service. It would have been nice to know that way ahead of time so I could have booked with someone else instead of finding out at the very last minute and only because I called multiple times. I'm only writing this on the blog so others can avoid North Winds and their lack of customer handling.

Tori and I did manage to go out and do some things and I really enjoyed having her here. Tori, come back anytime!

Anyway, back to 2009. I find if I have a certain goal, it helps if I mention it a lot so I feel more committed to it. Here are my 9, count 'em, 9 New Year's resolutions:

1. Exercise and eat healthier...the usual resolution! I'd like to lose some weight before I go to the Dominican Republic this spring.

2. Get my credit card bill down and keep it down. I went as far as reducing my credit limit on my main card. I'm sorry, but I don't need $25 000. Nice try, CIBC, raising my credit limit without asking me first. I reduced it down to a limit even lower than my original limit and I've cancelled all but one other card.

3. Actually save money this year. Since this is a public blog I won't disclose how much I'd like to have, but it's much more than what I have now.

4. Start going to bed on weeknights by 11pm. I've been awful for going to work on very little sleep and I curse myself all day for it. I spend almost every weekday wishing I went to bed earlier so I'm going to start doing it.

5. Start work a half-hour earlier than I normally do. Getting out of work at 4 is amazing.

6. Take my vitamin pills every day. I've been taking vitamin D and I've noticed a big change in my moods, it's great.

7. Re-join Atii Fitness Centre so I can go to aerobics classes.

8. No more shopping sprees. I may even go so far as to impose a budget on myself, but I'll see how it goes without one.

9. Bake something to bring to work once a month. I've only done this once but it was a nice boost on my kitchen self-esteem, which I lack in badly. Everyone enjoys seeing people enjoy their food creations.

That's it...we'll see how it all goes!

Also, I have a question for anyone who is qualified to answer this:
My Suzuki doesn't like to start if it's colder than -30. I have a battery blanket and I keep it plugged in of course. I also have the proper oil and I had the vehicle winter serviced in November. Is there something else I can do? No snarky answers like, "Move south!" please and thank you.

PSA

2008-12-05T17:31:00.005-06:00

I feel like a jerk for having to say this, but I'd only say it if it was becoming a problem, and it is:

Please don't add me on Facebook because you read this blog, unless there is some kind of special circumstance (like I already know who you are or you're one of the Northern bloggers I'm acquainted with). I don't and won't add people just because they are interested in moving here. I apologize for sounding rude, but my Facebook is for people I know.

On a completely unrelated note:

I don't know if you read this but if you are, please know that I think another 10 months to wait is ridiculous. God damn the north...

Comments left on other posts related to either of these topics will be deleted.

Christmas in the North

2008-12-02T19:02:00.005-06:00

Here I am again, spending yet another bitterly cold winter in one of the coldest places on the planet.

On December 1st, 2006, I was walking home from school for lunch and all of a sudden I thought to myself, "What the hell kind of crazy am I? It's December 1st, unofficially winter, and I live in the f&%@ing ARCTIC." Of course, as we all come to know, it's nowhere as bad as the hype.

Two winters later and I've become blase about it. I think I'm starting to understand the kids I see out in the dead of winter with a thin coat and no toque. I've come to the point now where fashion feels more important, but it could just be this whole big city thing (haha). People in Iqaluit definitely dress up more than Rankin Inlet in the regard that fashion and style seem more important to people here. Janice and I went out to dinner the other night and she said she noticed that she was the only person she saw properly dressed for the cold.

This year I have a vehicle so if I'm just driving somewhere quickly, it's a pain to haul on the giant parka. I'd sooner wear a lighter coat and risk freezing for 10 seconds.

So along with this being my third winter, it's also my third Christmas spent in Nunavut. I'm not a big fan of Christmas so I've never gone back to Ontario for it. I like that it's a quiet ordeal here and I don't have to worry about finding myself in a crowded mall. I also like that so many people leave for Christmas so it's even quieter.

I'm expecting this Christmas to be a good one. I'm not a fan of talking about my personal life here, but I will admit that I have a boyfriend and he's coming to Iqaluit (from Cape Dorset) to spend it with me. He was going to be the first person to ever come to Iqaluit strictly for the purpose of visiting me, but in an act of total awesomeness, my best friend from Ontario decided to visit this month, too. She'll be here next week and I'm thrilled. I'm so excited to show someone how I live my life here.

Anyone who lives here knows it can be hard to convince southern loved ones to come visit. It's very expensive and -30C doesn't sound too appealing to southerners. I know people whose relatives come visit every few months and I hope they don't take it for granted. It took over 2 years for someone to come see me so it's a big deal to me!

Anyway, while Tori is here, we are going to go dogsledding. This is also on the agenda:
-A trip to North Mart. I can't wait to see her reaction to prices. I wish someone could have seen them in Rankin since it's so much cheaper here!
-Hike around Apex, weather permitting.
-Drinking in a bar, Nunavut style (The Storehouse)
-Walk down The Road to Nowhere, of course. Can't come to Iqaluit and not go Nowhere!
-Visit the museum and visitors centre

And whatever else I think of.

Anyway, I'll leave you with some photos of the recent huge craft sale and the purchases I made there.

The line up just to get in! I went early and was at the front of the line, so I was able to wait in the vestibule (of the Arctic Winter Games arena). There are lots of people you can't even see in this picture, like how many other people were in the vestibule. We were packed in like sardines. The people I was with brought a thermos of hot chocolate, mugs, and cake. Geniuses indeed!

This was about 20 minutes after it started and there was still a line outside!

Okpik and plaster Alaskan family. I couldn't resist; I've never seen anything like them before (the dolls).

Oh the things they can do with bone!

Vintage Cape Dorset calendars.

Okay, the other things I bought are Christmas presents so I'm not posting photos of them!

I didn't buy this at the craft sale:

The first and only carving I've ever bought and I'm quite fond of it.

Where Do You Live?

2008-11-10T18:32:00.004-06:00

There comes a time in the lives of every Yukoner, NWT'er, and Nunavummiut when it is required that we tell someone from the south where we live. This usually happens when purchasing something on the phone, booking travel, or when travelling down south. If you're lucky, the person asking you the question knows where you're talking about. What happens when you're not so lucky is a whole other story.

I have been asked by a person in Vancouver if Baffin Island is "the campground near here." I've had my Nunavut driver's license mistaken for a Yukon license even after being closely studied by an LCBO employee.

Another common occurrence is receiving mail with the most botched up spellings of Iqaluit, Nunavut, and my postal code (X0A 0H0). When spelling my address several times, it's pretty much a guarantee that the parcel that comes will have mistakes in it. The address that Urban Outfitters has on file for me is so wrong but somehow the packages always make it.

Another popular one is when ordering something down south, the staff rep asks for a "physical address." Many of us don't have mail service to our house, we only have P.O. Boxes. It's this way in all of Nunavut and I'm guessing most of NWT and possibly Yukon. The northerner will say either, "I don't have one," or "I have one but it's no use to you. Your package is going to the post office anyway, my friend." The rep will then try to argue this. "You HAVE to have a physical address! How does [UPS, pizza, etc] get to your door?" or "No, it's not going to the post office. It comes directly to your house." Oh I beg to differ!

So on that note, I beg of you, fellow northerners, what are some stupid questions or responses you've gotten related to where you live?

There is a discussion about this right now on Kara's blog but feel free to share your answers here!

Obligatory Vacation Summary and Photos

2008-10-18T15:14:00.005-05:00

I've been back in Iqaluit for a few weeks now, I guess it's time for an update!

The rest of my vacation went splendidly! Vancouver was a blast, I really liked it there. I'm actually surprised I did because I'm not a big city person at all and much prefer rural settings (duh, look where I live).

Hmm, where did I leave off? Ah yes, my second last day at the ranch. That day I went on my last horseback ride of the trip. I spent a total of 9 hours on a horse during my 7-night stay at the ranch, but somehow it just wasn't enough!

On Sunday, September 7th, the owner of the ranch flew me in his private plane to Vancouver. That was an experience and a half.

Me standing at the "gate," ready to board the plane.

Taking off from the ranch.

BC from 8500 feet (or is it metres? who knows).

Being in the front seat of the plane is probably the best way to fly.

In Vancouver I fit in as many activities as possible. I visited Granville Island which was pretty cool, the Vancouver Police Museum, Metrotown Mall, Stanley Park, and I walked pretty much the whole core of the downtown. I went to a psychic on Granville Island which was very interesting. The very next day I completed my only goal for vacation: to get a tattoo!

I love it!

Not too long after that, I went to Toronto to catch up with my two best friends and my brother. I also got the chance to see my cousin, whom I hadn't seen in over 2 years. I finally went up the CN Tower which in all my years as an Ontarian, I never got around to doing.

This was taken from the Sky Pod, which is higher up than the regular observation deck. From the Sky Pod, we see the Sky Dome, which after all my years as an Ontarian, I refuse to call by its current name.

After Toronto came Sarnia, which I spent mostly running errands and going shopping at my favourite places. My time in Sarnia was much too short (only 7 days) and then I was off to Ottawa for 3 days. I spent the weekend with a friend I had in elementary school. It was so great to catch up, we had an awesome time!

By the time I got back to Iqaluit, I was glad to be home. I got so happy when I saw the snow on the ground from the plane, and even happier to feel the cold air. Of course, sleeping in my own bed is always the good thing about coming home, too.

Iqaluit's been great since I got home. I have my vehicle now and I'm all refreshed from vacation. At work, I barely recognize the staff anymore since so many new people transferred in while I was gone. It's like being new again.

Thanksgiving was also great, like it usually is. I've been lucky enough to be invited out every Thanksgiving I've been north (3 now). Pretty soon I'll have to start returning the favour!

One of my friends from Rankin is in Iqaluit right now. Thus is the beauty of living in the capital; my friends in other communities have to come here every now and then. It's always nice to catch up on the Rankin Inlet gossip, of which there is much.

Speaking of Rankin Inlet...hi Sarah!

One Week In

2008-09-06T01:08:00.008-05:00

Just a note from me to say vacation is going absolutely splendidly!

My flights to Ottawa and then Edmonton were uneventful. Well, except that this guy who I'm pretty sure had been on the flight from Iqaluit FREAKED out at an Air Canada employee when I rightfully went ahead of his bags at the baggage drop off part. He was using the electronic check-in and trying to block the baggage drop off line with his bags. I noted he was not actually in line and had been trying to figure out that e-check-in for quite some time, so I moved ahead of him. You would have thought I just shot his first born son or something. I stood facing the front of the line, clearly ignoring his infant-like temper tantrum. The Air Canada employee unfortunate enough to be told off about it dared this guy to lodge a complaint online, where it would be laughed at. I thought that was great. Stupidly enough, when it was finally my (his?) turn to check my baggage, two wickets were open and both of us went at the same time. All that and it never even mattered that some girl with one piece of baggage so viciously butted in front of him.

In Edmonton, the only way for me to get from the hotel (by the airport) to the train station was by taxi. If you know Edmonton at all, you're probably cringing in sympathy for me. I was happy to see the train station when we finally got there, but not so happy to dish out $70. I guess as far as long cab rides go, $70 is on the minor side of things. Still, that's $70 I didn't want to part with.

The ride was spectacular! I posted some photos on my Flickr which I am too lazy to post here.

When I arrived an hour late into Kamloops (around midnight), I was scared to see the taxis page was ripped out of the phone book's yellow pages. Luckily I was able to locate another one. But for a few moments there after the train pulled out of the station, I thought, "I'm all alone on the other side of the country and I can't find a freakin' cab number!!" Because it was so dark, I did not get to appreciate the beauty of Kamloops until the next morning. Bright and early at 9am (I was so sleep-deprived from two nights of late arrivals), I put on some clothes and opened the curtain. I was greeted with the view of mountains. My mouth hung open and I thought, "I REALLY don't want to go home!"

So I'm at the ranch now and it is amazing. Everybody is very friendly, the food is exquisite, the weather is (mostly) lovely, and all I know is I'll be back! If you're ever looking for a guest ranch, this place comes very highly recommended from me. And would you believe it...I'm the only guest here right now. At the most, there has only been 7 guests (including me). It's been so nice. I get to do whatever I want without anyone bothering me.

As far as travelling solo, I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's not as boring or lonely as I hoped it wouldn't be. While it would be nice to have someone along with me, I don't miss the company at all. I sleep when I want, do whatever activities I want, and I can just truly relax.

If you're on my Facebook, you'll know that I spent a gruelling 7 hours in the spa on Wednesday. That was hard work, let me tell you. Having to lie there and be massaged for hours on end? Talk about a tough life. And what's up with facials? Is that supposed to be so torturous? Haha...I kid of course. That was a day verrrry well-spent.

Tomorrow is my last full day at the ranch, and then I head off to Vancouver on Sunday. Right now I'm not sure how I'll be getting to Vancouver. I'll get there somehow, I'm not too worried. Oh, I should mention for Martin that I did end up booking at the Sylvia Hotel. My mom also suggested it (she's been before, too) so I checked it out and it was perfect. I have a room for dirt cheap...$85/night. It's right downtown on the water, near Stanley Park. It may end up being the janitor's closet, but I don't care!

I'll post photos when I'm somewhere with a faster connection!

BRB

2008-08-28T22:45:00.003-05:00

Well, tomorrow is the day!

I probably won't be blogging, but that's usually the case even when I'm not on vacation (eek). Be checking my Flickr though, as I will be abusing my free Internet privileges everywhere I go. Flickr leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to uploading files up here, I don't know why (other than the crappy Internet). Facebook works much better so I haven't uploaded anything onto Flickr since I lived in Rankin Inlet.

Anyway, this is just a short note to say so long, suckers!

Here are a few photos to keep you from going into withdrawals. I got my new camera and I love it! There is such a difference between 6 and 8 megapixels. I can't believe I ever owned such an antique, haha.

Me and my new-used SUV. I just got it the other day and I am very proud of it! It's my first car (as I've mentioned) and I'm happy to accomplish this in Iqaluit.

This is a really nice photo I took, if I do say so myself. I linked to the Flickr page so you can view it in its larger format. It's spectacular! I'm happy with how it turned out.

In Apex, looking back toward Iqaluit. I'm surprised I didn't fall in the water and lose my new camera, knowing me!

In Apex, looking south. Or some other direction, who knows. Not me.

So long, folks! See you on the south side!

Excitement

2008-08-10T17:18:00.004-05:00

Much excitement in Jaimeland.

#1. I have booked my vacation. I ended up kinda sorta leaving it until the last minute. I depart in less than 3 weeks! This is a trip of a lifetime, let me tell you. It took me a very long time to decide where to go and what to do, but I am extremely confident in the choice I made. This is a rough agenda of my trip:
August 29: Leave Iqaluit and fly to Edmonton. I won't spend much time in Edmonton but I wanted to be able to say I've been to Alberta (I've never been).
August 30: Hop on the train bright and early and take it all the way to Kamloops. I can only imagine how many pictures I'm going to take out the window. If you've ever been on the train on this stretch, feel free to tell me how it is. Sugarcoat anything negative, please. :)
August 31: Get picked up and driven to Echo Valley Ranch & Spa in Jesmond, BC.
August 31-September 7: Indulge in horseback riding, hiking, spa treatments, swimming, mountain biking, etc etc etc. So excited.
September 7: (Hopefully) be flown to Vancouver in the ranch owner's private plane.
September 7-11: Wander around the streets of Vancouver. I'm leaving this chunk unplanned. I'm going to get some seedy hotel downtown and just go where the mood takes me. My only plan is getting a tattoo.
September 11-18ish: Fly to Toronto and hang out with friends and family I haven't seen since May 2007 (which is my fault, I'm still apologizing for it, haha).
September 18ish-September 28: Hang out in my hometown (Sarnia, ON).
September 29: Fly back to Iqaluit.

I've never really gone anywhere by myself before so I am extremely excited. I anticipate this to be amazing. It's been great to just book whatever I want.

Of course, my camera decided to break last weekend while I was at Sylvia Grinnell park with some friends. I only bought it in March but I knew it was a crappy camera. I'm not going to have it repaired. In fact, I've already ordered a new camera. It's brown. I like brown. I am a little bit stupid because I bought my last camera because it was green, and it turned out to be a POS. But I know someone who has this camera and loves it, so I trust that it was a good choice.

Anyhoo. The other exciting thing in my life is that I am getting my Suzuki XL-7 on August 25 (4 days before I leave). This week will be spent getting everything in line for that. I've never owned my own vehicle so it's another first for me.

Well, I'll shut up now and post some photos I've taken lately.

There was a beautiful sunset a few weeks ago and it made everything rosy-coloured.

The same night.

Colourful houses.

My friend in Sylvia Grinnell Park.

Little waterfall in Sylvia Grinnell Park.

I meant to add that on August 1st, I celebrated being in Nunavut for 2 years! I know we all say it and it sounds a bit tired after hearing it and saying it so many times, but I really cannot believe it's already been 2 whole years. These past 2 years have been non-stop for me. They've been the best and worst 2 years of my life and I would never replace them. I've grown up a lot since leaving Ontario, I can't imagine what my life would be like if I was still there. It's amazing to me how my life is turning out, and I'm only 22. I owe all of that to Nunavut. I never expected in a million years that when Jeff suggested moving to Nunavut back in April or May 2006, that it would turn out the way it has. I thought we'd do a few years there, then move south and buy a house or something. I did not expect everything in between, and that I would eventually move to Iqaluit by myself. Everyday my own life blows my mind and it has for the last 2 years. Sometimes I just stop and look outside and wonder how on earth I got here.

Thanks, Nunavut, for 2 mind-blowing years. There shall be many more to come!

Meme

2008-07-24T16:15:00.002-05:00

Just noticed that Jen tagged me in that 3 random facts meme.

1. I hate pasta and tuna (separately, that is, not together!). Many people seem to find this very unusual. I have not met many people who also dislike pasta or tuna.

2. When I'm very tired or stressed out, I hallucinate hearing a very loud noise as I'm falling asleep. It sounds like anything from the doorbell, my cell phone, the landline phone, a door slamming, or people talking in my room. This bothered me greatly until I found out it's a recognized problem...called Exploding Head Syndrome.

3. I document my life's happenings in 3 different journals. This one, a locked online journal, and a paper journal. I've been journaling for a decade now (since I was 12). I can't handle not writing at least once a day (generally in my online journal). It drives me crazy if I can't document everything.

I don't know who has or hasn't been tagged yet, so I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this!

Blazing Through the Summer

2008-07-16T21:51:00.003-05:00

Once again I find myself babysitting pets while a coworker is away. This time it's 2 cats and they are staying in their own house. I don't think I could handle 5 cats in one house. Well, that's a lie. I'd love to have 5 cats in one house but I'm not going to do that with someone else's cats in someone else's house (since the place I'm in isn't mine).

The perk of cat-sitting these two is that it comes with the use of a Chevy Blazer! Admittedly, I live extremely close to work and the grocery store, but it's still nice to have a vehicle to bum around in. I finally got to see Apex and the dump! Ah, the dump. Always a good time to be had at the dump. In actuality, if you look past the garbage you get a very nice view of Iqaluit.

On the topic of nice views, I need to buy a new digital camera. I bought a very cheap one in March because it's green. I chose form before function and it's a piece of crap.

If you're moving north, I highly suggest buying a decent camera beforehand because you will take loads of photos that you will have forever. Nice cameras make all the difference.

In other news, it is ridiculously hot here lately, as I have mentioned. It's been anywhere from 14-22 and it's just killer. It feels so much warmer than it really is. I haven't felt heat like this since I was down south...last June. I hate the heat and it makes me feel sick. Yesterday morning on the way to work, I thought I was going to throw up because I had felt so hot for the last few days. I felt stupid when I reminded myself where on the globe I live!

Of course, air conditioning is not an oft-used term up here. I've never seen a dwelling with one and very few business have a/c. This means your windows are always cranked open. My place doesn't seem to have screens for all the windows so only 3 can be opened (out of 6). I have a screen for my bedroom window but unfortunately I can't keep it open all night. I live next to the infamous White Row, a notoriously seedy part of town. I also live across from a playground. These two things combined mean that every single night I end up having to shut my window because there are either drunks or children screaming in front of my house. It was humorous at first, but now I just get extremely agitated and I slam the window shut, hoping they hear. I can count on zero hands the number of times I've been able to keep my window open all night.

Anyway. I've restarted the Structure of Inuktitut course I was working on in the winter. That time and this time I've been constructing a list of vocabularly to add to my Inuktitut dictionary (link on the right). After I finish this entry I am going to update it, so check it out. My dictionary is now a smorgusbord of Kivalliq and South Baffins dialects, but I guess that's okay.

Summer in Capital City

2008-07-13T15:28:00.004-05:00

Where else in the world can you live and be dying for a little air conditioning...and it's only 14C outside? I'm sitting here in a tanktop, fanning myself, and it is only 14C! Granted my windows were closed all night while I was out, but it is really just ridiculous how hot 14C is.

It was very warm yesterday as well, so I went out for a walk and took some photos. Although I've been in the north for 2 years (3 summers), I forgot about this little equation:
Warm weather + bare flesh - bug-repellant = hell

Anytime the wind died down temporarily, mosquitos would come out of nowhere and swarm me. I was really getting annoyed with it and with myself for forgetting to spray some repellant on. In Rankin Inlet, the bugs weren't bad at all in town. It was as soon as you got past the buildings that they'd get annoying. But here they are just everywhere (as far as I can tell, I haven't been out on the land yet). The mosquitos are the only thing I truly dislike about living here. I can take the cold, the darkness, the sunlight, and everything else people nag about, but I hate the bugs.

Anyhoo, I'll post the photos at the end of this entry.

I found the other day that one of my close friends from Rankin Inlet will be coming to Iqaluit for work at the end of the month! I am beyond excited to see her. I'm excited to be able to show someone around. Nobody from down south has ever come to visit me, so this is the closest I'll get to that. I can't wait to bring her to the restaurants, movie theatre and the Storehouse. And I think some midnight Snack deliveries will be in order! Speaking of The Snack, I have an unhealthy addiction to their chicken burger ("The Snack chicken burger"). I just tried the poutine last night, too. I almost wish I hadn't...it was amazing. Anyway, I'll have a vehicle when Erin is here and I'll be able to take her on the dime tour. Erin will also get to meet Moon Unit and Dweezil, too.

It's great, I have so many things to look forward to!

And here for the first time in many months, are some photos:

This is the view from my front porch.

Dock thingy

The graveyard.

Iqaluit with the 8-storey building in the centre.

Apex way in the distance.

The mall and CBC.

Construction of the new Anglican church. They just tore the Kamotiq Inn restaurant down, and now they're replacing it with yet another igloo-shaped building.

Looking downtown.

Post-Solstice and Food Mail

2008-07-10T15:41:00.005-05:00

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...

Meet Me On the Sunny Road

2008-06-17T18:39:00.004-05:00

Two and a half months in, though it feels longer (in a good way).

Things are swell with me lately. The cats are all getting along and I enjoy the orchestra of purrs and meows when I come home from work.

The weather is warming up in Iqaluit and it is making me quite happy.

For the last few days I have been entered into the vast kingdom of dog ownership. I am dogsitting for a coworker while she is out of town and so far so good. I never really pay much attention to dogs as I've never owned one and 99% of them annoy me. The dog I am taking care of now has been trained exceptionally well (props to my coworker for that one). It's like he understands English, it's amazing. I've never had an interest in owning dogs as I'm a cat person through and through, but this little guy is nice to have around. I have him down at my place and I feel like I'm living in a zoo sometimes with 3 cats and a dog. The cats don't mind him too much. The kittens love to chase him around and then turn the other way and run from him. They run under the bed (where the dog can't get under) and poke their heads out at him. It's pretty funny.

The weather was so nice out today that I took the pooch out for a walk around Nakasuk School area. I think I might have enjoyed it more than the dog did. I love being outside when it's warm out. I know I'm acclimatized to the north because according to Weather Office, it was only 4C while I was outside. It felt like it was at least 15C, though. It was great.

So I am almost definitely buying a vehicle in about a month. I am pretty sure I am buying a 2002 Suzuki XL-7 off an acquaintance. Words can't even describe how excited I am about it. This will be my first vehicle and I'm proud to own it in Iqaluit all by my sweet self with my own money. I have decided that I altogether get too much of a kick out of never having to share anything.

I have been sharing a little bit lately, though. I found someone to share my couch with for Guitar Hero, movies, and my favourite: Seinfeld reruns. I've even been sharing my cooking and baking creations. Yes, Mom and Dad! I said cooking! I made us dinner the other night which he thoroughly enjoyed. My successful dinner has motivated me to cook again tonight which I am going to do after this entry.

Anyway, back to the not sharing part. It is really extraordinary how much I am prospering just by fulfilling my need for alone time. I know a lot of people don't like to live alone, but now that I've experienced it, I don't think I'll ever have it any other way. I enjoy doing two things you would rarely find me doing prior to April: cooking and cleaning. My apartment is clean and my stomach is always full. I work out regularly, my bedroom and bathroom are tidy, and I even find time to vacuum and sweep weekly. I'm unrecognizable!

Two Months In

2008-06-06T19:32:00.009-05:00

Okay so I haven't exactly been writing in here that often. The truth is, I've had another online writing outlet for the last 6 years so it takes precedence over this blog.

So right now I am two months into Iqaluit and two months away from living in Nunavut for two years. Two years! It has flown by faster than I could have ever imagined. I can barely comprehend how fast 2008 is going. It's going to be over before I know it, and I still feel like it just began! This has been a crazy year for me. I've lived in 4 different places just this year alone, and between moving, starting a new job, going on vacation, and all the personal things going on with me (or that were), it's made for a busy year. I haven't really felt I can just relax yet.

For the most part, I've settled in Iqaluit. It looks like I'm going to be in the same staff house for the next few months and then I will eventually get my own place (through work). I'm eager to get my own place but I'm not complaining by any means! I really like this staff house.

My expenses have gone up a little bit, though. I adopted two kittens in May and they eat everything like it's their last meal. I now have 3 cats and it's great. I had always been adament about not getting another cat while I had Leah (my first cat), but fortunately she has taken to the kittens like I figured she would. It took her less than a week to get used to them, I was quite proud of that.

Here's a photo of my new kittens:

The black and white one is Dweezil and the tortishell is Moon Unit. I've been waiting to use those names for years.

In other news, I have joined the gym and I quite like it there. There are fitness classes almost every night so I've been going to the ones that interest me. It is so awesome that we have something like that here. Iqaluit has so much more to offer than Rankin Inlet. I've also been going swimming and I enjoy that quite a bit, too. I ordered myself an iPod shuffle to clip to my clothes when I run at the gym. I tried it out yesterday and it was perfect. I was jogging (on a treadmill) regularly in Rankin but I got out of it because of vacation and moving here. It was great to be back on the treadmill yesterday, it made me very happy. I was impressed to find I didn't need to start at square one again.

The best news I have lately is that I am looking at buying a vehicle this year, even as early as a few weeks from now. I was going to leave it to next year but I'm too impatient to wait. I've got my tax refund coming so that will help soften the blow to my savings account. I think I'll probably end up staying here in Iqaluit for awhile so I'll have plenty of time to build up the savings again.

Having a vehicle here will be a nice luxury. I'll be able to go on food mail since I'll have a ride to cargo. And I'll be able to go for drives and visit my friends without having to walk for a half hour up hill. It also means that when I get my own place, I won't have to worry that it's far from work. That was kind of stressing me out; the impending inconvenience.

I've been bugging my sister to come up and visit me this summer and I hope she does. I just have to keep showing her pictures of the kittens to keep her interest, haha. It'd be nice to have some company for a few weeks, though I am making friends quickly here. I miss my close friends from Rankin but it's a nice thing to start fresh, too. It's an adjustment getting used to making friends by myself as opposed to as a couple. When you meet people (other couples mostly) with your S.O., you have protection. But by yourself it's all you.

Speaking of Jeff, I hear (well, read) that he's doing well. If you read the other blogs hard enough, you can read about his new life, too. And that's all I'm gonna say about that!

And now the obligatory weather/sunlight update. It's light out 24 hours a day here. Surprisingly, it's not bothering my sleep at all. The blinds in my bedroom work well and I haven't needed to resort to tinfoil. I have a sleep mask and that helps things a lot. I typically don't sleep very much during the work-week anyway and I can sleep through a nuclear holocaust after work and on weekends. So overall, my sleep hasn't changed from the sunlight. The weather has been pretty nice, though it does dip to 0 occasionally.

I say this everytime but I'll try to write in here more.

Why It Sometimes Sucks to Live in the North

2008-05-10T11:02:00.003-05:00

Let me think about this for a second...

Um, NO THANKS.
And yes, that was really the only option. I've tried to buy things from Tiger Direct before, but they say this is the "only" way to get items here.

One Month In

2008-05-04T17:14:00.004-05:00

Well, I've now been living in Iqaluit for one whole month (plus 3 days since I was too lazy to write this on the 1st).

Everything is going well and I've stopped trying to commit myself to a certain numbers of years here. I think most southerners know exactly how long they would like to spend up here. I find that if I give myself a time frame, I don't think about much else. So I decided I will leave Iqaluit when I leave Iqaluit and I have no idea when that will be.

I've also been trying to resist my hermit crab-like tendencies to stay home and never go out. Everytime I go past a bulletin board, I be sure to check if there's anything I can go to. I actually found myself a book of Iqaluit's clubs and organizations which I couldn't have been more thrilled about. I've found a few things I want to join. And seeing as how there is a pool very close to my house which features adult swim times, I ordered myself a bathing suit and I can't wait to start swimming. I love to swim and it's been a very long time since I did it on any kind of regular basis.

So it looks like I will easily be able to fill my nights and weekends with fun stuff to do. I like to have a regular schedule and it's great that Iqaluit affords me the possibility of joining and doing things of my interest.

Speaking of my interest, I went and saw a movie this past week. In Rankin I used to say all the time that I wished we had a movie theatre. Believe or not, I found a website that lists what movies are playing here. I decided on The Bank Job and I headed up Astro Hill for my first ever movie-on-a-big-screen in the north. I was impressed with how nice the theatre was and at the options for snacks. The theatre itself had room for 56 patrons which is pretty good in my opinion.

One of the more exciting things that's happened to lately is that I bought myself a bike today. I love to bike and seeing as how my bike is in pieces in a shed in Rankin Inlet, I decided to just jump the gun and assume I'll never see it again. It's been quite warm lately (+1C) and I knew I would buy a bike as soon as it was warm enough to ride (comfortably). I took it out for its first spin today and quickly remembered how exhausting biking uphill is. And how muddy the roads are. I didn't let the mud or the potholes or the fact I felt like I was about to die of exhaustion dissuade me. I am pretty darn excited for the weather to warm up some more so I can explore more of the city.

10 Days In

2008-04-10T20:38:00.003-05:00

So I have survived a week and a half!

So far I have eaten at 3 different restaurants: The Frobisher Inn, The Discovery Lodge, and The Nova. All three surpassed the nicest restaurant in Rankin which is a very nice change. However, The Discovery Lodge and The Nova were quite expensive. Many thanks to Janice, who treated me to dinner at The Nova. Although I had only been in town a few days, it was nice to see a familiar face.

I've got myself all hooked up with Qiniq and I am happy about that!

Work is going well and for the most part, the days go by quickly.

I'll hopefully be moving into my own place next week. I'm housesitting at the moment and I am so desperate to fully unpack my stuff. All of my things have been in Rubber Maid totes since the end of January and I am getting quite sick of it. I long to place things on shelves and in drawers. It's sad how strong such a banal desire is!

I've been driven around town enough now to have a basic understanding of where things are. I'm really hoping I am put into an apartment downtown because I do not own a vehicle and I'd rather not have to use taxis everytime I want groceries or to check the mail.

I'm enjoying being by myself. The first few days of being alone were strange but I've mostly adjusted to it now. I'm used to talking A LOT more than I am these days, so I feel like a total chatterbox when I call friends and family in Ontario. I really enjoy not being woken up at night, not having to share food, cleaning up my own messes, not having to remember to be considerate of someone else, not having to look at another person's mess, and best of all: not having to listen to another person or their music or TV shows. I am obsessed with silence. That's one thing I really like about the north. It's so quiet. You can go outside and hear absolutely nothing. I love that. So needless to say, only hearing myself in this townhouse is amazing.

I hope this blog is interesting in a two-fold kind of way. On one hand, I have just moved to a place where I don't know a soul, and on the other hand, this is my first time being completely on my own. I've never lived by myself before and I've never had to depend on myself so much. There's always been someone around to help me. So I hope if you're reading this that you'll look forward to reading about the tremendous growth experience I've just begun.

Go Figure

2008-04-06T20:31:00.007-05:00

On Friday after work, I decided to walk to the Quickstop near the house I am staying in temporarily. If you know Iqaluit, it's the Quickstop on Apex Road. I was listening to my iPod as I walked because it's a long walk from work. I did some shopping and shoved my headphones in my bag. I was having a hard time with it because I'm a klutz and I was sweating profusely (my parka is huge). I didn't bother putting my headphones back on after I finished in the Quickstop because I hate juggling with ten million things.

Anyway, the next day I got suited up to walk to Arctic Ventures and I noticed I had lost one of the rubber earpieces from my headphones. It was nowhere. $80 headphones: garbage. They're unusable without the ear piece and the larger pieces they came with don't fit in my ear. Thankfully for me, there is a ~~Radio Shack~~ The Source by Circuit City in Arctic Ventures so I picked out another pair (with more earpieces, ugh).

Then today I was looking through my Rubbermaid totes for anything to entertain myself with. I found an old purse, opened it, and inside were my unused pair of iPod headphones. Arghh. At least I know the ones I bought are better quality.

Have I mentioned I love the fact that there's an electronics store here? I'm a pretty big geek, so I can only imagine how much time I'm going to be spending in there. I've already purchased a cell phone from it. My very first cell phone, no less. I am still figuring out all the functions but I can't for the life of me figure out how to change the time. I'm not technologically illiterate, I know how to navigate menus and everything, but there is nowhere to change the time. It's nowhere in the instruction manual. So I beg of you...if you own a Samsung m510, please tell me how to change the clock!

Nunavut Newbies v.2.0

2008-04-04T20:06:00.002-05:00

I'm here in the big city!

My flight went smoothly. I was so nervous on the plane about whether someone would be picking me up at the airport. Thankfully, my new boss was there and so I calmed down a lot! He took me to the house where I'll be staying until the 14th. It's a very nice townhouse. Unfortunately, it's on the top of a hill (one of many, argh) and walking home from work is quite exhausting. I'm not sure where I'll be after the 14th, but hopefully I won't have to stay in too many more temporary homes. I bought so much house stuff on vacation and I'm eager to unpack it all and start living life in all green! That's right, I kind of have an obsession with green. I won't even make a list of all the green things I bought. You'd promptly close the window and swear to yourself you never knew one person could be so insane.

So, Iqaluit. These are the differences (compared to Rankin) that I've noticed so far:
1. Much bigger, obviously.
2. Hills. Everywhere. They make me not want to leave the house because it takes so long to walk everywhere and it's so tiring.
3. Loads of French people. I like it, I like the trilinguality (if that's a word) of this city. Plus it gives me a chance to use some of the French I learned in high school.
4. The Northern-brand bread is ACTUALLY soft here. I've had my loaf since Monday and it's still 100x softer than the freshest loaf I ever bought in Rankin.
5. 2L bottles of pop are $4.79. I almost fainted when I looked at my receipt.
6. I've already had more offers to buy carvings, jewelry, etc. in the last 4 days than I had in 6 months in Rankin.
7. It definitely has a more urban feel here. Maybe it's just because I don't know anyone, but I feel very anonymous here.
8. The Quickstop is actually convenient. I did a bit of grocery shopping in one today. I wish Rankin's was like the ones here!
9. The restaurants here are actually nice. Pricey, but nice.
10. There are so many taxis.

And although I had the same job in Rankin as I do here, my duties are quite a bit different. It mostly comes down to how the office is run and the larger number of people working in it, but I feel like I'm relearning everything over again. I'm excited about it, though. I loved my job in Rankin and it's great to be able to keep doing it.

The biggest challenge for me is going to be finding a brand new circle of friends. I'm not really sure how I'm going to go about doing that, but I definitely plan to start going to courses or whatever. I still have to figure out that stuff. I know there's way more to do here than Rankin, but I'm not exactly sure what there is yet!

Also, I'd like to point out that it is not cool to be offered a free dog when I miss my cat terribly (she's still in Rankin). I almost briefly considered it...almost. Then I remembered: I know nothing about dogs, especially large dogs, I don't even have my own place, and Leah would hate it (Leah being my cat). It'll be really nice to have my cat back. She'll make the adjustment phase of living alone much easier.

So all in all, I'm really liking it here so far. I can't wait to feel like I actually know what the heck is going on.

The Problem of Stuff

2008-03-30T10:42:00.004-05:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm insane because I paid to fly 4 overweight Rubbermaid totes from Ontario to Rankin Inlet, and I'm going to pay for them to make it to Iqaluit tomorrow with me.

The 37 hours it took to go from Sarnia to Rankin Inlet were quite stressful. I made it to the Sarnia airport an hour before my flight, but apparently the Air Canada employee wasn't in yet. That airport doesn't have an x-ray machine for baggage, so they have to open up all of your items and dig through them. Because I had so much stuff, a long line formed and everybody was staring at my open Rubbermaid totes. Apparently packing popcorn is funny. I heard more than a couple laughs about all the popcorn packages interspersed in my totes that day.

In Winnipeg I was all prepared to haul off my 5 pieces of luggage...but only 4 showed up. And a bottle of hair styler sprayed inside the only tote that had electronics in it. The baggage counter people told me to keep coming back to see if my lost tote arrived on a later Toronto flight and thankfully it did arrive later in the afternoon.

The next day, the Calm Air people kindly informed me that any item over 50lbs cannot be guaranteed to be loaded on the plane. I knew I was allowed one priority piece, but it turned out my suitcase couldn't be made priority since it too was over 50lbs. I looked down at my clothes in dread that I might end up wearing the same get-up for the next while. The Calm Air employee also told me the flight was full and she insinuated that there was no chance in hell I'd be seeing my stuff for awhile.

By some stroke of luck in my favour, all of my things made it to Rankin. I didn't even mind hauling my totes out to my friend's truck; I was just so happy to see them.

On the Move: March 31

2008-03-20T12:29:00.005-05:00

For most, moving from one northern community to another isn't nearly as difficult as moving from the south to the north. However, it is not the case for me. I will be moving on my own and as I have never lived on my own before, I have the added task of buying myself everything a person needs to live on their own.

Almost of all my things are on their way (or have arrived) at my new home, but most of my things are extraneous items. On this vacation I have had to buy myself all sorts of things like dishes, cutlery, towels, pillows and anything else I think of while browsing Wal-Mart's aisles for the millionth time.

Don't get me wrong, this task has its own way of being exciting, but I feel it's a never-ending mind game. When will I ever have enough? Do I really need all those tealights? What items should I splurge on?

So, back to the big picture. I am moving across Hudson Bay and right into our quaint capital, Iqaluit. Doors of opportunity opened for me that I couldn't possibly refuse. As I said, I will be going alone and staying alone. I will not answer any questions about that; you can come up with your own conclusion. I do not need apologies or anything of the like.

This is going to be a big year for me and I plan to write all about it.

(posted by Jaime in Ontario)

A Wee Update

2008-02-27T00:56:00.004-06:00

A teeny tiny update for all you faithful readers out there...

This will continue being a Nunavut blog. I just need a few more weeks, I promise. I'm coming back sooner than planned.

(posted by Jaime)

Happy 100th

2008-02-09T21:27:00.002-06:00

Oddly enough I am using my 100th post to tell you that I'm not dead.

This blog is about to go through a complete overhaul and you'll just have to wait to see it. I don't even know what'll happen yet myself, so trying to figure it out won't lead you to anything. All I can say is that I can guarantee you that when I start writing again, it will not be from Rankin Inlet.

If you've left me a comment and it's gone unanswered, I apologize. I would prefer not to be in the answers business anymore. It was taking up large chunks of my time trying to answering things. There are many bloggers who would be happy to answer your questions.

Thank you to anyone who still checks this regularly. I'll be back, I promise. It'll take me a few months but I will start writing again.

(posted by Jaime)

More Flyers

2007-10-17T12:18:00.001-05:00

I finally got around to uploading some more scans of the Northern flyer. Enjoy!

(posted by Jaime)

blogmi titiraqtunga*

2007-10-14T22:33:00.002-05:00

I apologize, I haven't really been keeping our blog up. I feel bad when people say they like our blog because there's not much to it anymore besides old posts. I think I'm going to start writing in it once a week. I can handle that.

Luckily, this fall has been pretty mild so far. The temperature has been hovering just around zero, which isn't too bad. The roads and "sidewalks" have been really muddy. Usually the mud is frozen when I walk to work in the morning, but by lunch it's a huge mess and I'm surprised I haven't lost a shoe in it. I have to admit I am not looking forward to another long winter. Jen once wrote about this and I completely agree...as Nunavummiut (especially ones who have left warmer climates to live here) we are expected to enjoy the winter and not say that it sucks. But the winter does suck! It can't be denied. Who can say they don't love those balmy 17 degree days in the sun more than they love the -50C windchill days when you grab a metal door handle and learn what real pain is?

I keep meaning to take photos of the Inuit art we have purchased so far. We've bought a few things recently. A large drawing, a painting (I think), a wall hanging, and a bookmark. I forgot to ever mention that my ivory ring broke while we were on vacation. I was in a McDonalds bathroom in PEI or Nova Scotia and I swung my hand too fast and the ring fell off and broke into a few pieces. Jeff's dad was able to glue it back together but I haven't worn it since, out of fear it'll break again.

Anyway, Thanksgiving. We were invited to dinner at a friend's place last Sunday. The food was amazing. I don't think I could ever complain if wine and lamb are involved! Of course, the company was excellent too. We're lucky to have such cool friends here. That's the major difference in our lives here since last year. I'm pretty sure that Thanksgiving was the first time we went out (socially) last year, and we had been in Rankin for two and-a-half months by then. I could be forgetting something, but I'm pretty sure it was the first. After that, we didn't really make any friends until December and things have been great since then. Last year it never really occurred to me that I should be making friends to hang out with. I was friends with people, but we just didn't hang out. Now I can't imagine going back to that. One of the interesting things about living here is that if you're hanging out with a group of friends, usually the provinces and territories of Canada are pretty well represented. However, we have met far fewer Ontarians than I originally thought we would. For the most populated province in Canada, I only know a handful of Ontarians here. I actually once met someone who was living in our hometown (Sarnia) before he moved here. It was at work and I needed to see his driver's license and boy was I shocked when I saw "Sarnia" on it.

This week marked an interesting (albeit sad) "milestone" for our blog. Someone who read our blog last year while preparing to move to Rankin has moved on to another job outside of Nunavut. If you're reading this Mike, we wish you the best of luck! :) You taught me to stop replying with, "ME?" when someone asks me a question about myself, haha.

For the time being, I have removed my email address from our blog as I have had zero motivation to answer questions lately. I sincerely apologize if you have sent me an email and I haven't replied. I always procrastinate replying until I am in the mood, but I am still waiting to get in the mood and I'm not sure if it's going to happen for awhile.

The last thing I have to say is that I am in the process of learning Inuktitut. Inuktitut qaujisaqtunga. I don't know if that was correct, but if it was, it was supposed to mean, "I am working at discovering Inuktitut." Jeff brought home a CD-ROM that teaches the structure of Inuktitut and I am trying to learn as much as possible. It's a very thorough, lengthy, informative CD-ROM. I am not even half-way through and I have learned quite a bit. I am so excited to keep working on it. Learning Inuktitut is pretty much the most practical thing you can do here and I would absolutely love to be able to understand it enough to listen to elders tell stories about their lives.

*If that was correct and blog actually has no Inuktitut translation, it meant, "I am writing in a blog." I don't know the word for "my" yet.

(posted by Jaime)

Comments

2007-09-22T14:40:00.001-05:00

Due to the complete asshattery of one person, I am now moderating comments for our blog. You must be a registered user of Blogger and it must pass through me before it is posted.

Sorry, but being a judgmental asshole doesn't fly on this blog. Better luck insulting us next time! I know you live in Rankin, whoever you are. Look me in the face and repeat what you just wrote on our blog.

(posted by Jaime)

Blah blah blah

2007-09-16T18:45:00.002-05:00

I'm a terrible blogger, but I'm zen with it!

Summer, although not officially over, is definitely over in Rankin. It has snowed a few times and there is frost on the ground in the morning. I'm grumbling about the idea of having to pull the parka out of the closet again. I was really getting used to the idea of just wearing spring jackets.

We had an excellent summer, one that will surely be hard to top. Buying an ATV is definitely one of the better choices we've ever made.

I am considering the idea of going to Yellowknife for a few days in November. Jeff needs to go for work and I really want to see Yellowknife (and trees and Wal-Mart, heh). When we're finally done living in Nunavut, I would really like to buy a house in NWT or Yukon. I love the north, but I'd like to live where I can actually go for drives, have fast food, and go to movie theatres. That said, we're still relatively glad to be here. I'm not going to write about it here, but we've been going through a pretty awful experience which has caused us to seriously consider leaving, but we've decided to stay. Although it's been a generally unfair experience, we've learned lessons we probably wouldn't have otherwise learned.

Anyway. Other than that, not much else is new. I was off sick from work for 2 weeks due to some kind of strange skin condition. Between that and recent going ons, we haven't been out on the land lately. There are photos from the last time we took the ATV out on our Flickr (link on the right bar).

Be sure to check out A Journey Northwards. Jackie is moving to Rankin in a few weeks. We've been chatting on Facebook and I'm looking forward to meeting her. :)

(posted by Jaime)

Google Meme

2007-09-02T15:03:00.000-05:00

I was tagged for a meme for the first time, so here it is. Plug your first name and the following verbs (needs; is; likes; wants; gets; and says) into Google and copy the first (or best) five responses. I should point out that this meme is getting difficult because everybody and their mother is doing it, and the majority of my Google results are other Jaimes doing this meme. Jaimes are meme suckers.

Jaime needs...
...more work in the question/answer department.
...the swim of her life.
...proof.
...some villains.
...votes!!!

Jaime is...
...given two bionic legs, capable of propelling her at speeds exceeding 60 mph.
...offered a job as a ghostwriter for one of the ritziest and richest.
...a graduate of The University of Toronto.
...seen briefly in a commercial for Martini
...officially engaged.

Jaime likes...
...to veg out.
...Halloween is so much better than Valentine's Day in so many ways.
...WVU Girls.
...to pick up rocks and carry them around.
...to bundle up in lots of clothes before it is even remotely cold out.

Jaime wants...
...to lose her virginity.
...a balloon picture published by shabang11.
...in on the action picture published by southfh.
...chocolate.
...to be Miss Florida Teen U.S.A. so badly that she even dreams about it at night.

Jaime gets...
...Jaime gets up close to the swells in Beverly Hills.
...my vote too, she's the girl next door, incredibly beautiful and wholesome.
...Ugly about Betty.
...Sent Home from Pussycat Dolls.
...glazed for the Emmys.

Jaime says...
...bye to baby weight.
..."donkey" in a Nova Scotia pub.
..."2 X 3 = 6" PAUSE Tape to validate the answers of your students.
...he finds the reading-skill programs particularly helpful for learning.
...he feels like we know enough about our missions and gameplay to do this now.

I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this meme.

(posted by Jaime)

Happy First Anniversary

2007-08-01T21:14:00.001-05:00

As of today, Jeff and I have been in Rankin Inlet for exactly one year.

The past year has gone by so quickly and for good reason: it's been an awesome year. Many people didn't think we'd last even this long or they thought that we'd hate it. I have bad news for those people because we love it here and plan to stay for several more years.

I could sit here and write paragraphs and lists of what we've learned and what we like, but we'll just leave it at "lots" and "almost everything" (respectively).

As for what's going on with us lately, we've been house- and dog-sitting for our friends who are on vacation. It's been different having a house to ourselves and a dog to take care of. They have a great view from their kitchen, I can see water! It's a nice change from the land-locked view we have from our own apartment.

Other than that, not a whole lot more is going on. I'm really enjoying my job. I've always had an interest in law and the justice system so the tasks I do are very interesting to me.

We've only obtained one more piece of Inuit art and it's another ring, heh. The new one is made out of gold and has the face of a walrus on either side. I never got around to posting a photo of my ivory ring. On vacation that ring fell on the floor of a McDonalds and broke into a few pieces. Not even a Happy Meal could make me feel better about that, ha ha.

(posted by Jaime)

Smoke?!

2007-07-21T00:29:00.002-05:00

Ummmm I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that this is in fact not good.

P.S. I added a Nunavut FAQ section (see the sidebar). Let me know if there's anything I can add or change!

(posted by Jaime)

Summertime

2007-07-10T21:43:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if anyone checks out our Flickr page so I decided to post some of the neat photos we've taken lately.

We found this old bottle in the park (Iqalugaarjup Nunanga). Does anyone know how old it is? I'm interested in knowing. There are old pop and beer cans all over the place here, some older than others.

This is the largest piece of bone we've found yet.

This caribou must have had a good dentist in its day because even though it's dead, it still has whiter teeth than me:

Jeff and I are enjoying summer here. Going on vacation really helps to refreshen your passion for the north. Anyone who's been north knows that you really, really need to get out every now and then or it just stops being enjoyable. Since we've been back, I've gotten re-excited about things that I hadn't thought about since we moved here. After the long winter, I had forgotten about most of the things that made me glad we moved here. By May, all I could think about was how much I wanted to see people and places I've known my whole life, but by June I just wanted to be back with all the new people and places.

We've gotten fully back in the groove here. Our number one excitement has reverted back to Mail!! Yipee!! not unlike most people I know here. We slept one night in a cabin here (which was awesome) and I woke up the next day to see Jeff had ordered us a tent and two sleeping bags. So I guess camping is going to become our new hobby. I'm not aware of any of the northern bloggers regularly camping which is interesting because it's so much fun. I'm considering buying a cabin next year as well. Now that I'm working, I need something (other than retirement) to save for, or else I'll end up spending everything.

I'm really looking forward to the idea that somebody, anybody! will come visit us next summer. We haven't had any visitors which is too bad because I think most people I know would love it here, especially now that we have an ATV and camping stuff on the way. They're all going to get some major pestering next spring so they might as well admit defeat now and start saving money. ;)

(posted by Jaime)

Baker Lake

2007-07-02T14:58:00.003-05:00

I made a trip inland to Baker Lake this past week, and thought I'd put up some photos.

An old Hudson Bay Company post which has been turned into a visitors centre.

A little bit of leftover snow on June 28th.

Snowmobiles on Baker Lake.

Calm Air Saab 340 landing at the Baker Airport.

There are a few more photos of Baker on our Flickr page if anyone is interested. The link is over on the right sidebar. Here's a couple more pictures from around Rankin the last few days...

This is the remaining ice in the Meliadine River.

Jaime on the mighty Honda.

(posted by Jeff)

Ublakut

2007-06-26T19:06:00.001-05:00

After countless hits from people searching, "how to say good morning in inuit," I will finally reveal the answer:

Ublakut (at least in the Kivalliq region).

There! Life is complete. Continue as you were.

(posted by Jaime)

Home Again

2007-06-19T21:50:00.003-05:00

Well, we're back from vacation. We're just in time for the longest days of the year, too. How convenient, says Jaime sarcastically. I'm not sure if the sky actually gets dark because I've been asleep if it has. And that doesn't really say much, since sleeping has become quite difficult for me since coming back. We have two-thirds of our bedroom window tin-foiled but the pesky one-third left is enough to keep me awake.

Our vacation was very relaxing and we were able to do and see and buy everything we wanted (well, within reason). After Summerside, PEI, we spent 2 nights in Halifax and 2 in Lower Sackville with Jeff's aunt and uncle. Jeff felt sick for most of the time so we ended up taking it easy in Halifax/Lower Sackville. Once we arrived back in Ontario for 2 weeks, we really learned the definition of taking it easy. Other than visiting Tobermory and Windsor, we really didn't do too much other than shopping and spending many hours on Jeff's parents' patio. Jeff's parents have a nice piece of property which was perfect for relaxing.

Jeff's parents' front yard.

As for the sun, here is what I'm talking about:

The sun at 9:41pm.

The sun at 10:29pm.

The sun at 11:07pm.

Let me also point out that last night (when the photos were taken), it was cloudy. Right now it is clear out and it is even brighter:

The sun now, at 10:10pm. I gotta figure out a way to clean that window without buying scaffolding...

I'm going to stop bragging about our sunlight now because we're not even north of arctic circle, where the sun actually does not set. In Rankin it does set, just briefly. In other Rankin news, it appears that many people have left for the summer. Our apartment building seems completely dead, though I do know of a few people in our building who haven't left.

In other news, I also started my new job as the Detachment Clerk for the RCMP yesterday. It's a temporary gig -- just until March -- but I anticipate it to be enjoyable and a good experience. Everybody is really friendly so I imagine the time will fly by.

We finally were able to take out our ATV and take a few rides. It's amazingly fun and I can't wait to take it on the land. As soon as our fishing rods arrive in the mail, we'll be in real business.

To finish this entry, I leave you with the best purchase from our trip.

A gigantic, behemoth remote control.

"To obtain a dialing wand, mash the keypad with your palm NOW." (Any fellow Simpsons buffs reading?)

I'd also like to point out that Jeff is so bored right now, he is reading the phone book.

I'm not lying!

(posted by Jaime)

Maycation

2007-05-25T20:34:00.002-05:00

Greetings from Summerside, PEI! In case you've been wondering why we haven't been updating lately, it's because we've been enjoying what we call Maycation 2007.

Here is a brief rundown of what we've done so far:
May 10-16th: I (Jaime) spent time with friends and my brother in Toronto. Good times were had and many dollars were spent. By the end, I had been to the Eaton's Centre 3 or 4 times and my feet were very sore. On the flight from Rankin to Winnipeg, I flew with Sheila Rogers and Jonathon Torrens, who were in town for our golf tournament. Rick Mercer was also supposed to be on the flight but I guess he didn't make it to Rankin for some reason.

May 16-19: I spent a few days in mine and Jeff's hometown, Sarnia (Ontario). Although I was constantly on the go, it was a nice change of pace from Toronto. Not to mention, I was able to drive myself around. I hadn't driven since July! I was surprised at how easy it was, considering it had been 9 months of not driving anything. I hadn't even ridden a bike.

May 14-18: Jeff spent the week in Iqaluit for a week-long work event. He called me while I was in Toronto and told me, "It's a freaking metropolis here!" I found it funny, considering I was in Toronto (population: 2,503,281) and he was in Iqaluit (population: 6184). On the 18th, Jeff flew to Ottawa and spent the night.

May 19th: After an extremely tight connecting flight, Jeff and I met in Ottawa. I almost didn't make it because our plane was delayed and the connection was tight as it was (my plane from Toronto was set to land at the same time I was supposed to board the Ottawa plane). There were a flew of us on the plane and they let us get off first, with the instruction to RUN! Once I ran through 9 gates and met Jeff, he told me they weren't going to leave without us anyway.

We flew to Halifax, got our rental Jeep, and spent a few hours sleeping in Lower Sackville before heading out towards Cape Breton. We spent one night in Antigonish, drove the entire Cabot Trail, spent two nights in Sydney, then drove to Charlottetown. We spent two nights there and drove to Summerside today. Jeff and I are both in agreement that Charlottetown has been our favourite part so far. That might be because it was cold and rainy for the whole trip until we reached Charlottetown.

We're on our way to Cavendish tomorrow, where we may reluctantly do the Anne of Green Gables thing.

Here are some of the nicer photos we've taken so far. As always, there's WAY more on our Flickr.

The rental Jeep. She's brand new and only had something like 1200km on her! Not anymore!

I took this photo in Cow Bay, NS. I love this photo...it's amazing.

Pleasant Harbour, Cape Breton. The grey on the top of the photo is fog...something which dominated the first 3 days of our trip.

The Cabot Trail from within Cape Breton Highlands National Park. That road sign is very, very accurate. Also, the snow during this leg of our vacation was a little scary to me, considering we were on vacation to get away from snow, heh. Luckily, the snow was just on the mountains.

Cliché Atlantic Canada lighthouse photo. Taken from Neil's Harbour, Cape Breton.

Lighthouse and red soil at Wood Islands, PEI. Taken from the ferry.

(posted by Jaime)

Nunavut FAQs

2007-05-17T22:44:00.002-05:00

If you have any questions that you would like to see answered, please leave a comment or email the address on our sidebar (at the bottom). I have tried to make these as objective as possible. Remember, I have only lived in Rankin (which is the second largest community in Nunavut), so I can only really vouch for here.

Q: What is the average temperature in the summer/winter/fall/spring?

A: Check out Weather Underground, which has records of just about everything to do with weather. The link will lead to the Rankin Inlet page, but you can just enter the community you are interested in.

Q: Is it really dark/light all the time in the winter/summer?

A: Yes, depending on how far north you live. Again, check out Weather Underground.

Q: What kind of stores are in Nunavut? Are there really no malls?

A: Yes, there are really no malls. Most communities will have a Co-op and Northern store. Both are more than just a grocery store with inventory as varied as bananas, bed sheets, and ATVs. I can't vouch for communities smaller than Rankin, but in Rankin we have a few gift stores, an art gallery, two convenience stores (one with a hardware store inside), and probably a few more businesses I'm not aware of. Iqaluit, being the capital has more "southern" style stores.

Q: If I don't want to cook, what are my options?

A: The larger communities have a KFC/Pizza Hut Express (collectively called the Quickstop) inside the Northern. Rankin Inlet has a few restaurants, and Iqaluit of course has more. There are no Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bells, Harvey's, etc.

If you live in a smaller community with no restaurants, it would be advisable to make friends with someone who is willing to cook for you, whether for free or for money.

Q: How long does it take to drive to Nunavut from Toronto? (based on popular Google hits)

A: You cannot drive to Nunavut as there are no roads into any or between any of the communities. A road from Rankin Inlet to Churchill is planned but it could be years before it is built.

Q: How long does it take to fly to Nunavut from Toronto (based on popular Google hits)

A: It can be done in a day most (if not all) days of the week. Getting into a smaller community can take a few more.

Q: Do people from the south bring their pets north?

A: You can absolutely bring your pet and I would definitely recommend it, provided your animal is still young and reasonably healthy. The travelling and/or change can be too hard for older or sicker animals. Veterinarians visit communities once or twice a year, but it is possible to fly your pet by itself to the south for vet care, however it is costly, especially if your pet requires frequent vet care.

That said, bringing your pet will help to make you feel more at home and break up some of the boredom that can set in during the winter, but make sure to ask yourself if you think your pet can handle being without immediate vet care.

If you would like to know about my own experience with bringing out cat, you can either read through earlier entries or ask me in an email or comment and I will gladly give you more details.

Q: What kind of winter clothing do you need to wear just to check your mail in the winter?

A: For myself, the post office is only across the street so I would typically put on my parka, my boots, and a toque. For a longer walk (e.g. 5 minutes or more), I would also wear wind pants and mittens.

Q: Which parka is the best?

A: Canada Goose are a favourite for a few reasons: they are downfilled, long, have fitted cuffs, deep hoods, many pockets, and last a number of years. Anything similar to that should work out fine. Do not sacrifice function for fashion.

Q: Where can I buy Inuit made anything (carvings, wall hangings, jewelry, mittens, parkas, kamiks, etc)

A: I don't know. It's really the sort of thing that you either need to come to a community and find out (i.e. who makes what), or have a contact in Nunavut to buy something for you to ship back.

Q: What is there do? Aren't you bored?

A: There is tons to do, you just have to look for it. It's really no different than any other small town in that respect. Those who look for things find them. In Rankin there is baseball (in the summer), volleyball, curling (sometimes), hockey, swimming (in the summer), a few different fitness groups, instructional classes. But enjoying the land and the people is by far the most fun.

Q: What kind of vehicles do people drive there? Are there roads?

A: There are roads within town obviously. In Rankin, many people drive trucks, SUVs, and vans. Cars are less common. Many people also own ATVs for the summer, and some own snowmobiles for the winter. The percentages of who owns what would likely depend on the size of the community, the length of winter, and the cost of flying any type of vehicle into town.

Q: Does wildlife ever wander into the community?

A: Again, I can't vouch for other communities, but in Rankin, caribou do not wander into town and polar bears that get even within 20 kilometres to town are shot. Siksiks (ground squirrels) do live within communities and sometimes hares can be spotted.

Q: So Government of Nunavut employees get subsidized housing whereas federal government employees in Nunavut get staff housing. Do I have that right?

Are there any other differences between the perks in the two levels of government there?

A: No, we both get subsidized housing. True, I did live in a staff house for awhile, but that's a long story and not the norm. Indeterminate federal government employees receive subsidized housing in which rent comes off their paycheque. It works the same for the Government of Nunavut. As for other perks, I believe federal government employees receive more cash benefits on our paycheques. We receive 3 or 4 cash benefits, I think. An environment allowance, a living cost differential, fuel & utilities, and possibly another one I can't remember (but I think I covered them all). The Government of Nunavut just gives one northern allowance, an amount similar to our environment allowance. The amount of our allowances, like the territorial government's, are also based on which community you live in. We in Iqaluit receive the smallest amount, whereas an employee in Grise Fiord would receive more. I'm not 100% sure if every federal department has it, but the agency I work for gives twice-yearly cheques that pay for your flight to the nearest large city (Ottawa for Iqaluit, Winnipeg for Rankin, not sure of the others). Your spouse and dependants also receive this money. We also receive quite a bit of vacation time, but I honestly don't know too much about how it works because it's different for the different groups of employees who work for my federal agency.

Do you find the long dark days depress you? If so, how do you combat the depression?

A: The abnormal levels of sunlight have never consciously bothered me, but I do find I'm much sleepier in the winter. This year I've been taking vitamin D. I noticed a big difference in my moods after being on it for only a day. I didn't realize how much the lack of sunlight affected me, but as soon as I started taking it, I became much less irritable and I didn't feel as tired all the time. When external factors like sunlight affect you, it's easy to dismiss them because you don't realize it's happening, it's not a conscious thing.

To combat the winter blahs, I make sure I get plenty of sleep (read: I give in to the fatigue), I take vitamin D as I mentioned, and I make sure I get out of the house once or twice a week to socialize. Having a social life makes a big difference!

Q: Was it really hard to leave behind your family and friends in London? How often do you get to go back to visit?

A: My friends and family don't live in London, I'm from Sarnia. I only lived in London for a year before I moved to Rankin Inlet. I don't ever go back to London because I truly hated it there, but I go back to Sarnia everytime I'm down south (approximately every 8 months). Very few of my friends still live in Sarnia, and I'm not very close with my family, so leaving them wasn't difficult for me. In fact, I prefer to live far away because it allows me to have my freedom and to stay away from family drama. Not everybody up here is like me, though. I've known people who were incredibly homesick, and it seems they don't last very long here and if they do, they hate it anyway. For me, southwestern Ontario doesn't feel like my home anymore and I would never move back there so I do not get homesick. However, sometimes I miss my favourite parts of growing up there: the big park near my old house, summer bike rides, swimming in Lake Huron, and going on drives to Bright's Grove. I make sure I do these things when I'm in Sarnia, so I only start to miss them when it's time to go on vacation again.

Q: Do you have any idea how many applications on average the government receives per job posting?

A: I have no idea. It would depend on the job, I suppose. Jobs not requiring education or experience would get more applicants, whereas specialized industries would probably have less competition. That's true of anywhere, though.

Q: Is is possible to live close enough to work in Iqaluit that one can get by on foot alone?

A: Yes, of course. The only place you wouldn't want to walk from would be Apex (which is a subdivision good kilometre of out town), or the furthest reaches of Lego Land (getting near Apex). And you probably wouldn't want to walk to the opposite end of Iqaluit (where there are several businesses). All the new houses and apartment buildings are being built are a bit further from things, but you could still walk to work from them. Where I live now is about a 15-20 minute walk downhill to my office, and about 30 minutes back up hill. I didn't own a car until this year, so I'm probably more open to longer walks than people who have never walked anywhere in their lives.

Q: For someone who dislikes Ontario winters like myself, is it ridiculous to think I could have a fun adventure in Iqaluit for a year? Is not being a winter person pretty much a deal breaker for having a good year or two there?

A: In all honesty, I hated winters in Ontario. Hated! But here, I don't mind it so much. I dress better for it, and the cold here is dry, so it doesn't suck the warmth from your bones the way Ontario cold does. Also, because it lasts for about 8 months, you just get used to it. And when the temperature warms up to even something like -10, it feels so warm to you that you feel like dancing in the streets in shorts and a t-shirt. I've done a 180 about weather; I won't go back to Ontario between June and August anymore, because I've found I just can't handle the heat and humidity. I'm grouchy and dizzy and I never stop sweating. I was miserable even in September last year in Ontario. It was just so humid that I didn't want to go outside. As far as adventure goes, it's impossible to not have an adventure here. You get to experience things you never thought you would, and you can partake in cultural activities that will enrich your soul. I sound like a tourism pamphlet, but it's true. The only stipulation for having a good time here is that you honestly have to try. You can't move here, never go outside, never participate in anything, never make friends, and expect to love it here. A good time won't land on your doorstep.

Do you find it's rather easy to save up money there? Because I am thinking I would be able to since they pay for your move, you get subsidized housing, and there are no malls there so I probably wouldn't do much shopping...

A: Oh, Anonymous. I laughed, but only because you sound like me before I moved north. Even though they pay for your move, you still end up spending money on buying new things you'll want to bring with you. Subsidized housing still isn't cheap, and online shopping is so much more addictive than shopping in a mall. Oh, and don't forget that everything you can buy here is way more expensive. For me, an admitted recovering shopaholic, I've saved nothing. I spent all my savings on a vehicle, housewares before I moved here, and an expensive vacation. But that's just me. Some people leave with a lot of money in the bank. I'd like to be one of them, but saving doesn't come naturally to me. The big money-drainer here is vacation and food, so just watch those two areas and you should be okay.

Q: "Do you have a picture of the palteua subdivision that I heard so much about in Iqaluit."

A: I assume you mean the plateau subdivision? No, I don't. I have photos I took looking at town from the plateau, but not photographs of the houses there. They're just new, nice looking houses.

Q: I am originally from Ontario as well and am interested in moving to Iqualuit to be a research analyst (if they will hire me). What is it like being an outsider there?

A: It's about the same as being an outsider anywhere else. Iqaluit isn't very traditional, chances are you will only feel the stress of moving to a new town and figuring things out. English is spoken everywhere and the percentage on non-inuit here is about 40%. So you won't really be an outsider, you'll just be another person living and working here.

Q: If you could sum it up in one sentence or so, what is it that makes you love the north so?

A: One sentence! That's difficult, you know. But okay, you got it. What makes me love the north is that I can go outside and hear absolutely nothing, just complete silence. I love quietness. I'm aware there are many quiet places in Canada, but I wound up here and that's what I choose to love about it.

Q: What is your job?

A: Sorry, but I do not share that information publicly. I work for the federal government, that's all you need to know.

Q: Is there stuff to do for children? activities?

A: In Iqaluit, yes. There are sports teams and if your kids are young enough, there are daytime playgroups. In Rankin Inlet there were some sports teams and gymnastics. There is also Sparks/Brownies/Guides/Rangers/etc in some communities, it would just depend. I don't know about smaller communities.

Q: Can someone eMail/post a typical grocery list cost? Milk, bread, bananas?

A: I had plans to do this before I moved out of my old house. I can't remember if I kept all the receipts. If not, you can still expect a post like this from me in the next 3-5 months or so.

Q: What kind of internet connection is obtainable in Nunavut?

A: Qiniq is available in all communities. Check the site for packages. Northwest Hell Tel also provides Internet in some communities.

Q: Also, I know there are no roads, but is there a chance any ATV trails or the such exist that could get you into the area?

A: Possibly, but I have no idea. You'd have to ask somebody in Thompson or Churchill.

(posted by Jaime)

Sunshine and Insomnia-Induced Entries

2007-05-06T04:16:00.001-05:00

Ah, there's nothing quite like being completely wide-awake at 4am because you haven't gone to bed yet because your body is confused by the lack of a schedule and the excess amount of light coming in through the windows.

I think it's even more confusing for the body when you watch the sun set and then rise again a few hours later and you're still sitting on the couch.

It's getting light here somewhere after 3am and isn't getting dark until nearly 11pm.

One more reason to look forward to vacation! It's only 4 days away now. I feel like I have a bunch of loose ends to tie up before leaving, but other than packing and preparing the cat's stuff for a sitter, I can't think of anything. It's a frustrating feeling. I feel like I'm going to get on the plane and remember all the errands I needed to run.

Let's see...I've been awake for 17 hours now, and in another 18.5 hours, the sun will set again. Hopefully I can fall asleep before then...eek!

(posted by Jaime)

Advice

2007-05-04T14:56:00.002-05:00

I've seen an influx of people about to make the move north, so I had the idea for this post.

This is open to anyone who's ever lived in the north.

What is your #1 northern moving tip?

Please try to give more thought out answers than "Bring warm clothes" or other obvious things. The point is to give advice that a person moving north wouldn't necessarily have thought of yet.

My tip is to buy all the household things you need before you move north. Anything household-related is very expensive and there is little selection (usually none at all!). So buy your waste paper baskets, cooking utensils, small appliances, and cleaning supplies before you come. Also, stock up on dryer sheets before you come. They weigh virtually nothing so they aren't a burden to pack, and when you see the prices of fabric softener here, you'll be glad you have your sheets.

(posted by Jaime)

At least it's warm out (-5C)...

2007-04-22T16:35:00.002-05:00

...but that pesky 50cm of snow that has fallen since last night isn't too much fun.

(posted by Jeff)

Picture Perfect

2007-04-15T14:36:00.002-05:00

We booked most of our flights! I'll be spending a few days in Toronto and Sarnia (where I grew up) before meeting Jeff in Halifax. I have 9 days in Ontario as I'm flying down May 10 and meeting Jeff on May 19 (Jeff is coming from Iqaluit for a work thing). I'm really, really excited to see my friends and family.

We'll be back in Rankin for June 17 which makes this the longest vacation in human history. The way we see it is we've gone much longer without going on vacation than everyone we know. We've been here since August and we haven't gone on a single vacation so if that doesn't warrant a month-long vacation, I don't know what does.

Yesterday we tried to go fishing with some friends but it didn't quite work out. We were unable to find a hole to use and we didn't have the right equipment to dig a hole in less than 12 hours, ha. We ended up going on a drive on the land and on the northern side of the inlet and it was enjoyable. We hadn't been up the road since the fall and it was great to see the land again.

Anyway, we were able to take some awesome photos. We really like them, and I think they're my favourite photos we've taken, so enjoy...

Searching for a hole in the ice on Landing Lake. There are cottages around the lake, which is what you see in the background. I love this photo!

Two dog teams did a few laps around the lake, presumably for some qablunaat.

Attention Ford employees: we are willing to sell you this photo. Hahaha...

A Bombadier bringing some stuff back, possibly from Chesterfield Inlet, or possibly just their cabin. I want to ride on one of these so bad.

A polar bear. You can see the gunshot hole in its shoulder.

This muskox has been across the street from the Sugar Rush for a few weeks now.

Close-up muskox head details.

(posted by Jaime)

I did take photos!

2007-04-11T21:11:00.002-05:00

Hah... and Jaime says I'd never get photos of Chesterfield Inlet:

I missed some great photos coming into town, but checked my camera and couldn't take anything. This is the Chesterfield Inlet Airport.

The doors of smaller airports in this region have walk-in-cooler (or fridge) doors on them which I find kind of amusing.

This is a photo of the edge of town. I went to get a pop at what I thought was the Northern, and an older man indicated that the Northern was way across town, so I went thirsty all day until I got back to Rankin.

This is the tail end of a Calm Air Cargo plane that left before us. I really wanted to take a picture of the vintage bird I was flying in (A Fairchild Merlin IIIA? ca. 1970?), but checked my camera before it came in!

(posted by Jeff) (with Jaime's help in the photo department)

Spring has Sprung

2007-04-11T17:08:00.002-05:00

Look at that weather! I'm not sure why I'm inside right now, because it feels amazing outside. Everytime I take a deep breath of fresh spring air, I half-expect to look up and see flowers and trees. I don't typically miss the foliage I'm accustomed to; I believe this is only the second time I've missed trees (and flowers). The first time was when fall started. I had my mom send me up some orange maple leaves which our cat promptly ate.

Nothing overly exciting has been going on with us lately. We recently bought an ATV from our friend who just moved back to St. John's (hi Christine!). We're anxious to take it out and go for a drive. It's supposed to be nice this weekend too, so if we don't take the ATV out, I'd like to drag my bike out and ride around.

Jeff has booked his vacation and a plane ticket from Iqaluit to Ottawa, since he will be in Iqaluit for a work trip at the beginning of our vacation. My own plans are still up in the air. I had originally planned to fly to Toronto at the beginning of May (before meeting Jeff in Halifax for the start of the actual vacation part), but my employment status (or lack thereof) might be changing shortly. I have a few possible jobs lined up, but nothing confirmed in any way. It's frustrating not knowing exactly when I'm going to be leaving. It doesn't leave me with much to look forward to, ha.

I'm almost done college. I have 7 class days left and I'm pretty happy about it. I'm eager to finish and start working. I finish my Simply Accounting course on April 20th and I think our Hamlet Days start April 21st. I'm looking forward to the games and things.

Anyway, Jeff was in Chesterfield Inlet today and meant to take photos, but I just noticed the camera is sitting on the desk. That's the second time he's done that when going there. Maybe we're just not meant to have photos of Chesterfield Inlet.

The sun has been setting later and later these days, as it's supposed to. It doesn't get dark until 9-ish and I absolutely love it. Jeff has different feelings about it, though, and so I somehow consented to having foil put on our bedroom window (he must have asked me while I was asleep, because the sun in the bedroom doesn't bother me).

I think that's everything from us. In blogging news, I plan to set up an FAQ soon so people can consult it to answer their questions about moving here. We've had an influx of emails lately and I think an FAQ would be more helpful.

(posted by Jaime)

Rankin Inlet Videos

2007-03-11T15:54:00.001-05:00

Awhile ago I recorded some footage of driving around Rankin. I never got around to uploading it until recently.

There are three videos: parts 1, 2, and 3 and they're in order, though it doesn't really make a difference. Parts 1 and 2 are the drive on the way to the Sugar Rush Cafe and part 3 is the drive back. There's no sound for any of them because it was just my friends chatting, unaware that I was filming (haha) so I removed it.

Enjoy the show!

(posted by Jaime)

Update of Dictionary

2007-03-04T18:52:00.002-06:00

I just finished a large update on our Inuktitut Dictionary.

Check it out!

P.S. We are also in the middle of another blizzard. It's Sunday night right now so we're really hoping it keeps up for even another 14 hours so we can sleep in tomorrow. Is that so much to ask? Haha

(posted by Jaime)

General Post

2007-02-13T19:51:00.001-06:00

Not too much to say right now, but I felt like making a post.

1. I have just updated the Stupid Keywords section. I have been updating it about once or twice a month since I first created it, and it seems to be a popular page on our blog. So check it out, if you haven't already.

2. I bought our first piece of inuit art today. As I was leaving school for the day, a man was showing one of my classmates some jewelry. He had a really nice ivory ring so I said I'd run down to the ATM and come back to buy it. I don't have a lot of interest in carvings, but I do like the jewelry.

When we have working batteries for the camera, I'll post a photo of the ring.

3. I don't know if it's warming up for good now, but this -26C (before windchill) weather feels great. Our themometre actually shows the temperature now, for the first time since about November. I've been amused by southern Ontario's recent "cold snap." Our friends and family find it of utmost importance to inform me when their weather is even remotely similar to ours.

4. I posted some photos of some Northern flyers onto our Flickr last week.

5. We finally have a working computer/TV in our bedroom. We splurged on a nice desktop with a screen far bigger than we'll ever need. The computer has a TV hook-up and with Windows Media Center we can record TV onto the hard drive and watch it later. You can even pause and rewind live TV. It's pretty neat, I love it. I don't know how I lived without it. It's great being able to pause TV when you need to get a drink or something, and then fast forward through any commercials (assuming you were away from the TV for a few minutes). Well listen to me, I sound like an advertisement. Just mentioning Windows Media Center is going to open a whole new world of stupid keywords! Possibly far stupider than "What is Nunavut in Inuktitut?"

That's all for me!

P.S. What IS Nunavut in Inuktitut? Haha...obviously kidding.

(posted by Jaime)

Blizzard Days!

2007-02-07T23:57:00.002-06:00

There has been a major influx of Northern bloggers! Man alive, pretty soon we'll be a virtual community larger than some of the actual communities in the north! We probably already are. I'd say we're bigger than Umingmaktok (census counted a population of 5) but that's a gimme.

Well, like the rest of Kivalliq (and other regions, apparently) we are in the middle of blizzard day #2. Let me tell you, we have been waiting for a blizzard day since we moved here so we are hoping to hold onto this little stint for as long as possible. It is looking like we will be back tomorrow, but I hope I'm wrong.

I pressured Jeff into giving our plans in May a little more thought, and he came up with a great idea. We're going to drive out east to Nova Scotia for our vacation. Hopefully our good friends Matt & Allie will be joining us. I am very excited because I've never been any further east than Montreal and ~~I've always wanted to see the Atlantic ocean.~~ Oops, my brother reminded me that I've already seen it several times. Umm...uh...yeah, I knew that...I just wanted to see if anyone ELSE saw the fib. Hahaha...no, I guess I just had a "blonde" moment.

In other news, I was finally forced into signing up for Blogger beta. I tried to avoid it for so long but they finally made it impossible to log into your account without switching over. I wish they wouldn't try to present it as if it's an option, because it's clearly not. I hate being forced to try new things like this, so I'm a bit mad at Blogger/Google right now. You can tell I don't have a lot to be mad at when I get annoyed by stuff like this, heh.

(posted by Jaime)

First Post of 2007

2007-01-21T20:00:00.002-06:00

It's true what they say about a sucker being born every minute.

I guess it's safe to say that we're indifferent to whole price difference thing.

To anyone who was curious about the results of our first time playing Bingo... we didn't win anything, but we did have a good time.

The temperature has dropped here lately. The windchill has been hovering around -50C lately. It doesn't feel too bad. The only part I don't like is that my nose goes numb within the first 30 seconds of being outside.

This is the famous Sugar Rush Cafe in Rankin. I manage to go there about four times a week. I don't know what I'd do without that place!

This is, of course, a road in Rankin. I find it amusing that the only vehicles you can see are snowmobiles, and one snowy ATV (or Hondas, as we call them here).

I also have some videos I took while driving around town, but they take much too long to upload and I haven't got the patience to upload 4 videos. I might just wait until we're on a faster Internet connection in Ontario to upload them, because it will be a lot less painful.

Well, according to my counter, we have been in Nunavut for a straight 5 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days. I have been daydreaming (and night dreaming) about how I'm going to spend time in Ontario. We're not sure what day we'll be flying back, but I imagine it will be around May 13th or so. By the time we get back, we'll have spent just over 9 months in the north.

It's hard not to constantly think about the excitement of seeing familiar faces and places, but I try not to let it dominate my thoughts. I hope that after a few trips to the south, leaving gets less exciting. I'd rather not spend my entire time living here just looking forward to leaving for a few weeks.

Jeff and I have had a few discussions about where we'd like to live after here (which hopefully won't be for about 8-10 years from now) and so far, we can't agree on anything. He wants to move to a large city, and I want to move somewhere else that is relatively remote and north. I am definitely a person who prefers the country over the city, so if I can convince Jeff that we shouldn't move any more south than Winnipeg, I'll be happy.

(posted by Jaime)

BINGO

2006-12-30T18:08:00.001-06:00

It's BINGO night in Rankin Inlet. Hah, we're about to take part in our first BINGO "party," which sounds really, really unusual, as neither of us have grey hair or false teeth. We're going to our neighbours' (down the hall) to play BINGO in a collective manner with a group of people. The radio station calls out the numbers, and if you have BINGO, you call in. I'm a little confused, but we've been promised that there will be people at the BINGO party to explain it to us. I have this strange sense that I'm going to be tonight's $20,000 jackpot winner.

Well, Jeff's out of ideas for writing so Jaime's taking over.

Anyway, Christmas was nice and quiet here. We ended up having two turkey dinners and were stuffed by the end of the night.

Santa was good to both of us. Santa got Jeff "Law & Order" season 1, a Tragically Hip CD, and the DVD of "The Constant Gardener." Santa got me some arctic-centric documentaries and a nice backpack from MEC. I was in dire need of a backpack as I was lugging around thick binders and other materials half-way across town twice a week (for Brownies and Guides). I'm excited to try it out...no more backaches and various awkward totes falling off my shoulders.

Tomorrow night we're attending another party which should be fun. Last New Year's Eve, if you had told us we'd be spending the next December 31st at a house party in Nunavut, we would have laughed ourselves silly at such an unlikely prediction. But here we are and it's strangely amusing.

(posted by Jeff and Jaime collectively)

Alone in Nunavut

2006-12-23T13:05:00.001-06:00

Well it looks like Clare and us newbies are the only ones left in Nunavut this holiday (oops, forgot Northern Sights are still in Nunavik). Actually, I should correct myself. I just noticed a new blog, M&M Cape Dorset Newbies who just arrived here, so I don't think they are flying back after 8 or 9 days in the north.

We are in the midst of blizzard #2 right now. Good thing we didn't want to fly home because we wouldn't have been able to in this weather.

Jeff and I took a walk in the blizzard last night. We jumped in a snowbank and fought the wind and it was pretty fun. Everything was snow-encrusted by the time we came back. My new aviator hat does not work very well which is too bad.

Today's big plans are to go to Ivalu gift store. Jeff's never been to it because it's only open from 10-5 M-F but it's open today for the Christmas rush. We'll also hopefully be having some people over later.

On Christmas, we are going to a friend of mine's for lunch, and a co-worker of Jeff's for dinner. It's going to be nice to just let people feed us all day. I am looking forward to it.

Well, we probably won't have anything to say for the next little bit, so happy holidays everyone!

(posted by Jaime)

Whale Cove

2006-12-15T22:50:00.001-06:00

I made my first trip to Whale Cove on Tuesday. Despite my return flight being held back a day by poor weather*, it was a tremendously pleasant town to visit.

It's intimidating travelling into a community for the first time... numerous bad thoughts flip through your head like walking 20km from the airport to your hotel if your ride doesn't show (almost happened to me in Coral Harbour due to miscommunication), but Whale Cove was very friendly. Having only 300 people in town, everyone knows everyone else, and goes out of their way to welcome strangers.

Chatting with an old friend tonight on the 'net made me realize how difficult it is to describe living here in Nunavut. Where do you start when someone asks, "so tell me, what is it like there?" It's not like living on Mars, but it isn't quite Southwestern Ontario, either. There is so many similarities and so many differences. I was totally stumped, and still, after some thought, cannot explain how it feels to live here day-to-day. To summarize

Things I like:

No traffic, minimal driving.
No shopping, few stores.
We're five minutes from nowhere.
I get to travel around and see neat places at work.
Our apartment is quiet.
The people: much friendlier than in Ontario.
The cat seems to like it here. I swear she just smiled.
Minus 50 is nifty.

Things I don't like so much:

The cable goes out occasionally, but we're too cheap to get satellite.
I (we) spend too much time playing on the computer and watching TV.
There aren't (as m)any good restaurants to eat at. No jalapeno soup or jambalaya - anywhere!!!
I don't feel as productive at work as I did working in 'the South.'
I don't get to see my family.

Things I'd really like right now, but can't have:

A 26 oz. medium-rare striploin steak from The Keg, complete with garlic mashed potatoes and three pounds of butter.
A spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's.
A pint of Kilkenny's. Or 30.
A visit with my family.
A top-speed run in my old Toyota Camry.

*I say 'by poor weather,' but I have a suspicion that it was due to the fact that I was the only person leaving town that day: the weather the day of my departure was substantially worse.

(posted by Jeff)

Shopping

2006-12-07T11:04:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Not much is really new and I'd hate to write boring, off-topic entries just for the sake of writing.

About a week ago I bought some sealskin mittens for my dad. Both Jeff and I really liked them, we almost wanted to keep them for ourselves, haha.

We have been slowly buying more winter gear. This balaclava arrived yesterday for Jeff. I ordered the same one but my size is on back-order. I probably won't get it until the middle of January, which is okay by me.

I also have this hat coming for me. I wish it had real fur on it, but it was cheap. My current toque has held up quite well so I don't think I need anything too massive to stay warm.

Most exciting of all, these pants (2 pairs) arrived today for Jeff and me. I have to go pick them up myself because Jeff is going to Coral Harbour today. It's unusually warm out right now (-17ish) so it shouldn't be too bad of a walk all the way over to the cargo building. I went to school today to drop off some homework and I couldn't believe how warm -17C felt. It's been below -30C lately so -17C feels warm in comparison. It makes me wonder how much I'm going to sweat when we visit Ontario in May.

Jeff and I made the decision a long time ago to stay here for Christmas. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas day doing something different than all of my previous 19 years.

On that note, I really need to order some Christmas presents for Jeff. I'm afraid some things won't make it here for Christmas and that's my fault. I'm not used to this online shopping thing yet.

Check out the new "important link": Stupid Keywords. I am collecting all the weird and laughable things people Google to find their way here.

(posted by Jaime)

Sissy Blizzard

2006-11-19T23:43:00.002-06:00

Well, our much-hyped (by Environment Canada) blizzard was a measly one at best. I woke this morning around 10 and saw blowing snow outside. I was hoping it'd get worse but it never did. :( Oh well, there's still lots of time left until spring for blizzards!

Here are some photos of the "blizzard":

Here we see just how wussy the blizzard really was. We shouldn't be able to faintly make out those houses in the distance, let alone the college. What a gyp, haha.

Here we see the lame gusts of wind. Pfft, I can sneeze stronger wind than that. :(

In completely different news, I think the Sugar Rush Café has a new cook because I bought these the other day:

The raw fish was actually cooked shrimp, but they were tasty nonetheless.

I think the sushi was a hit because when I purchased them, there were 4 or 5 plates left. The next day there was but 1 plate left. I hope the cook makes them again. Any food out of the ordinary tastes so good these days.

Well, this weekend was pretty slow, as per our norm (even in London). Together, we only went outside once and it was to the Northern for a ($20) 12-pack of Pepsi that Jeff used to bribe me with for a can of Coke earlier in the day. I'm so easy to please...!

Our good friends Matt and Allie from Sarnia sent us up a "care package" full of goodies. Jeff got season 1 of the Gilmore Girls...which he has now been watching for 10 consecutive hours.

I spent a good chunk of my day putting DVDs on my mp3 player.

Quality time with each other is definitely our #1 priority...ha ha ha.

(posted by Jaime)

Imminent Storm Threatens Village

2006-11-18T15:57:00.002-06:00

We have our first-ever blizzard warning in effect as residents of Nunavut. Straight from the lips of Environment Canada:

Blizzard warning for Rankin Region including Whale Cove upgraded from winter storm watch Blizzard conditions will develop overnight or on Sunday morning. This is a warning that blizzard conditions are imminent or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements. An intense low pressure system moving into the region will bring strong northwesterly winds of 60 gusting to 80 km/h in its wake creating blizzard conditions overnight or Sunday morning. Conditions will improve by Monday morning.

We're very excited. We've heard so much about the bad winter storms this area is subject to, but this is the first evidence we've seen that supports it.

In other news, I was in Repulse Bay this week, here's a couple of pictures... The first is an overview of about half the town, and the second is an arctic circle monument as seen from my hotel window.

(posted by Jeff)

YouTube Video

2006-11-08T22:05:00.001-06:00

After I sent this link to my family, I figured it would be a good idea to post it here for all to see:

YouTube video of Rankin Inlet.

I'll also include the little synopsis I sent to my family along with the link:

The large building with the red roof is the Northern store. Just after it starts, you'll see a building in the background with a green roof. That's the post office and RBC bank. After that it scans over a yellow building which is the old health center.

If you pause the video at 18-19 seconds, you will see our building. It is to the right of the building with red at the bottom. At 19-20 seconds, you will see a red building which is the college.

The water you see in the background throughout the video is the eastern shore of the inlet.

In other news, I went to my first aerobics meeting tonight. Unfortunately on my way there, I tripped and hurt my elbow. It didn't bother me during the workout but it's swelled up since then. I don't think it's serious because it doesn't feel too bad. Not to mention I've broken enough bones and sprained enough muscles in my life to know what "serious" feels like.

Anyway, aerobics was great! It was nice to get a workout for the first time since...well, so long ago I don't even remember. I also got to meet the blogger behind Rankin Adventures which was nice. I always like meeting new people around town. Janice is a lot more coordinated and in shape than me! She also didn't seem to break a sweat! My face and legs were red for about 30 minutes afterward -- probably from shock, haha.

I'm looking forward to going to aerobics next week. Now all I need is something to fill Tuesday and Friday nights and I'll be booked solid through the week.

(posted by Jaime)

It's A Small World After All

2006-11-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

When living in Nunavut, sometimes it feels like you're living on a totally different planet than everyone else. It's nice when life reminds you the world is pretty small.

I started a new class today: HR Management. I had been told that the instructor used to teach in London (Ontario) but I forgot about it until I was walking out the door wearing a Fanshawe College t-shirt (Fanshawe being a college in London). When I walked into class, I was immediately greeted with, "Fanshawe!" from my instructor.

As it turns out, he used to live two blocks away from Jeff and me in London. Not only that, but he worked at Fanshawe, which was literally across the street from where I worked. We probably walked past him in mall and the grocery store...but we had to move 2300 kilometres away to actually meet someone who in essence, was a neighbour in London. He now lives on the floor below us. For someone who loves coincidences, this blows my mind.

However, we weren't neighbours for long as he moved to Cape Dorset to work for the same GN department Jeff works for.

In other news, it has gotten pretty cold around here lately. Weirdly enough, as soon as November started, the temperature dropped 15 degrees. Today the high was around -19C. Coming from the extreme south of Canada, today topped one of the coldest days of my life. I told a few people this today and they stared at me for a second before breaking out into laughter.

I guess I'll hop on the bandwagon and report on Halloween in Rankin. Since it was pretty warm (-5C? I can't remember), we didn't get as many kids as I expected. Apparently when it's colder our building will get more kids because it's warm in here. I made the front entrance of our apartment (mine and Jeff's, that is) look like a pathetic haunted house. Xeroxed drawings of jack-o-lanterns and cut up garbage bag was the best I could do in the 20 minutes I had between getting home and the start of the kids. I don't know what it's like in other communities, but there was a specific time for trick-or-treating here. It was from 6-8 and the kids were good about staying within that time frame.

Also, the contest I won ($500 to spend on half.com) is turning into a big pain in the butt. To be able to order anything off half.com, we need an American credit card number to authorize it and an American address to ship it to. So the whole point of the contest getting us free stuff has been lost because we have to find and pay someone to let use their credit card number and ship the stuff up to us. Sigh...there goes the fun.

All in all, things are going great. We're still enjoying every second of it up here. Our plan right now is that in May I'll be out of school and we'll take a vacation to Ontario and hopefully somewhere a little more exciting than home for a bit (no offence family!). Jeff thinks I'm insane for this, but I really want to stay up here for a few years before ever vacationing south again. I want the full weirded-out effect when we go on vacation. I have dreams all the time where we go back to Ontario and the tall buildings scare me, haha. I think it'd be a neat thing to say that going "back home" gives you culture shock.

Oh yeah, the sunset at 4pm thing. Apparently the sun sets sooner than that, but that's around the time it starts getting dark quickly. It's a bit weird but I like it, and I think Jeff likes it too. In London, we would look at the clock and say, "Oh darn, it's 11pm already. How did that happen?" but here, we look at the clock and say, "Holy crap, it's only 7pm! I thought it was 10!" I feel like we have a lot of free time here which is complete reversal of London. I like it!

(posted by Jaime)

Stupid Keywords

2006-11-07T10:44:00.001-06:00

StatCounter is a wonderful thing because it lets you spy on who is coming to your website. It gives you all sorts of interesting information, my favourite of which is "came from" which shows the pages that provided the link for people to get to your website. I notice we get quite a few humourous keywords so I have started compiling them. Here they are, for your amusement. Not all of them are "stupid" per sé (like "what is nunavut in inuktitut") but random and strange and a miracle that they lead to our blog. Please note I have left spelling/grammar problems intact.

If you landed on this page because of a Google hit, feel free to actually peruse our blog. We (or other bloggers) can likely answer many of your questions.

Updated July 18, 2007.

an interesting thing about nunavut
an ordinary life of a nunavut person
arctic bunnys

best thing about nunavut
broccoli prices in nunavut [NEW]

coinstar sucks

does nunavut have a grocery store
does xpresspost take longer during the christmas rush
driving to nunavut

espn employee winter parkas

haircut in the eighties
how does an inuit sod house looks like
how does nunavut get their clothes
how does nunavut look like?
how long would it take to drive from toronto to nunavut
how long does it take to fly from nunavut to toronto
how nunavut got its name
how to say good morning in inuit
how to say nunavut in inuktitut

i got a written job offer and they revoked it [NEW]
inuktitut word
i love my vitamin cookies
iqaluit alphabet
is there a mcdonalds in iqaluit

ketchup prices in nunavut

life in nunavut.ca
love fur mittens

made you look + nunavut + forward
malls in nunavut
management associate northern store blog

nice things about nunavut
northern manitoba gets dark
nunavut good/
nunavut sucks
nunavut not interesting
nunavut gloves
nunavut parkas
nunavut dishes
nunavut village
nunavut stupid
nunavut what is it like

one thing that makes nunavut interesting

picture of parka winter coat in iqaluit
prices in n [NEW]

rankin inlet alphabet
rankin inlet coats
rubbermaid store london ontario

similarities of ontario and nunavut [NEW]
site scene, rankin inlet, nunavut
stupid tourist questions about whales

travelled a lot for work
the coldest nunavut has ever dropped in temperature
things to know about nunavut
things you don't know about nunavut [NEW]
top 25 questions on nunavut

video life in nunavut
video of a fairchild merlin in flight

wendy's homestyle chicken fillet picture
what are people in inuktitut
what is nunavut in inuktitut
what kind of people live in nunavut [NEW]
what they don't have in nunavut [NEW]
where is nunavut
what schools did laura secord go to
white kids that move to nunavut
who the name nunavut came about
why is nunavut so cold?
why not move to nunavut

yellowknife parka
yellowknife stupid tourist questions
you know nunavut when [NEW]
yuotube gramer
yuotube videos aerobicos

Keep coming back for more, I will keep updating this list.

(posted by Jaime)

Useless Update #2

2006-10-30T20:59:00.001-06:00

It looks like a few of us are experiencing lulls in our northern writing.
Even though I feel busy lately, I've been wanting to blog. I guess just not a lot has been happening with us lately.

The only things that have happened to us lately aren't really northern-related and all revolve around material goods:
-We now are awaiting the shipment of 2 Amazon.ca orders. Come on, books and CDs!
-I went on an online shopping spree at AE.com and now have $200+ worth of clothes coming, woo hoo.
-I have to get my mp3 player exchanged.

Before we moved I bought the very nice video/photo, 30G mp3 player seen here. Let me start out by saying that I bought it in June and I had been saving for it since March or so. I was like that kid out of A Christmas Story wanting that Red Ryder BB Gun. Many hours had been devoted to reading reviews for it all over the 'net. The day I finally bought the player was kind of humourous because obstacles kept getting in my way of the mp3 player. I was very excited when one morning after a payday, I finally had enough money. I quickly got ready and hopped on the next bus to Future Shop. I had planned to play around with the demo just to make sure I wanted it. When I arrived, someone else was on the demo, chatting it up with a sales associate about buying it. I noticed there was one left under the glass so I was edgy. The guy continued playing on the demo for 10 painstaking minutes before leaving. I had exhausted my ability to fake-browse within the first 30 seconds of walking in the store so the second he walked away, I walked up, and immediately said, "I want that!" pointing to the last one left. I walked out of Future Shop five minutes later and $500 poorer. On the way home, in true London style, we were stopped by a train for another painstaking 10 minutes. I almost ran the rest of the way when I finally got off the bus.

So now you have an idea of how much I loved that mp3 player. I don't have kids nor do I plan on ever having them, so I let myself get a little attached to meaningless things. But right this very minute, my poor broken mp3 ~~baby~~ player is sitting in a heavily padded box in an airport somewhere, awaiting to be sent to Sarnia, then exchanged for a new one at Future Shop, then sent back to Creative while a hopefully less-defective one gets sent to me.

People get attached to their first car but all I had was that mp3 player.

In other, less pathetic news, my Management Communications class is going well. As it's only 2 weeks long, a lot of information is jammed packed into my brain each day. Although I like this business writing stuff, I miss the Northern Issues class. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Not to mention there was no work at all!

It looks like I will be starting Brownies next week. I hope that I haven't taken on too much for myself. School, Brownies, and Guides could turn into a lot of work very easily.

Although it is much warmer here than it is in other parts of Nunavut, I've been wearing my parka since about the beginning of the month. I tend to get too warm in it but today we walked to the Northern and I wore my old/southern winter jacket. I was freezing cold and the walk is barely 100 metres. I had to go back out again to get sour cream so I wore my parka and I noticed how big the difference is. In the parka you can't even tell how cold it is out. I feel like I'm in a bubble of warmth.

Okay, that's about as much as I can muster up for now!

(posted by Jaime)

New Course Day

2006-10-23T21:47:00.001-05:00

In case anyone is interested, I started a new class today called Management Communications. It's great because I get my second textbook so far. My tuition is ridiculously cheap and it included books. I am lucky to have ended up at the ideal college for me: cheap, close to home (a whopping 100 metres!), small, and personal. Although I was looking forward to attending Fanshawe College in London, I am much more happy in such a tiny college. My program now has about 8 people in it. I was thinking today and I realized our campus has only 3 classrooms plus a "lecture hall" (a small room) and a computer lab. There is literally no possibility of getting lost, which is something that always worried me about southern colleges...as lame as that is!

I am looking forward to the rest of this class because I think communicating is something I do well.

Our instructor for this course is also a newbie to Rankin, although she just arrived and is only staying for the duration of the course (about 2 weeks). She's from Ontario, too. It was nice to talk about Ontario for a little while today. She told me that she's going through a bit of culture shock, which I think is interesting. I think Jeff and I researched the crap out of Nunavut before we came, so overall we weren't shocked. Admittedly, the only shock to my system was the home-cooked meals. Jeff and I ate out every single day during the month of July and probably most of May and June, too. By the time we moved here, we were so used to giant portion sizes that I was constantly hungry. Now I'm just the opposite; I hardly ever eat anymore!

One thing I've been thinking about lately is care packages. Jeff's mom sends up some packages sometimes and a few other people have told us they're going to send us one. Of course, they all want to know what we want. I find it pretty hard to come up with something on the spot like that, but the more I think about it, the less I really miss or want. Maybe I'll feel differently when we go to Ontario next year on vacation, but right now the only thing from Ontario that I would really like is a Homestyle Chicken Fillet Combo from Wendy's. That's about it. Heh, I should add the fact that you shouldn't let my newfound indifference towards retail therapy stop you from sending us free stuff. ;)

So I beg of you fellow Nunavummiut/Nunavikkians (please for the love of all that is holy, somebody correct me) ...what would you want in a care package?

A Wendy's Homestyle Chicken Fillet, Jaime's only real request.

(posted by Jaime)

Dishes

2006-10-22T14:10:00.001-05:00

Well, it's official. We're not the only Rankin bloggers anymore!

Check out Rankin Adventures, another lovely perspective on Rankin.

In other news, this weekend has gone by fast. I spent most of yesterday either at, or preparing for the flea market. The college's student council had a table and we sold quite a bit of stuff. I was surprised at how busy it got right after the flea market opened. There was a giant hoard of people all rushing around, trying to find good deals. It made me realize how many people there are here whom I've never seen before.

Hmm, well...not much else is new with us. We just came back from going out for lunch. I've noticed that I've become much less picky about food. Especially food that we didn't have to prepare, heh. Anything that uses dishes that I don't have to clean is yummy by me!

Jeff and I have decided that we don't like this dishes business. We made a deal that we would alternate who washes dishes but the deal isn't good for me since I'm much lazier than Jeff. Instead of doing dishes everyday like we agreed, we end up doing them once or twice a week because I leave them and they end up piling up. Right now I have almost our entire collection of plates, bowls, cups, and pots to clean (I did all of our cutlery last night before giving up). Jeff likes to prove to me that he's the smarter of us because he never lets the dishes pile up. That's okay, though. Because next time we're in the south, I'm buying a counter-top dishwasher...on his credit card. ;)

(posted by Jaime)

Life is Still Good

2006-10-20T16:36:00.001-05:00

Well, I've had a good day so far.

This morning I had my test in Northern/Aboriginal/Native/Inuit Issues (heh, it never really had an official name). After lunch I came back to class and found out I got 100% on my math exam (the class I took before this one) and 93% overall. I'm very pleased with that! When my instructor showed me my exam mark, my immediate reaction was, "No! You must have marked it wrong! No way!"

For this afternoon, a bunch of country food was brought in and we had a little party. I'm supposed to be getting a photo of the spread we ate so I can post it here. I tried almost all of the food. There was mostly char prepared different ways so I tried all of that, plus some caribou meat too. I never got around to getting some muktuk which I'm a bit sad about. I wanted my vitamin C for the day. I can still taste the char in my mouth...mmm. People were warning me that my stomach was probably going to feel weird later today but so far so good.

We also played a few games and listened to a few people talk. It was a good afternoon. Although it's been a long two weeks, I'm a bit sad it's over. Apparently come February we'll be taking an Inuit (or Aboriginal?) History class which I am definitely looking forward to. It'll be a nice change from all the business stuff we'll have taken up to that point. Next week I start Management Communications...I wonder what it'll be like.

Tomorrow I'll be helping with a flea market. Our student council got a table so I have to find some stuff tonight we can sell. I wonder how much money I can fetch for Jeff? Heh heh...just kidding.

(posted by Jaime)