Happy New Year

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

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!!

Wanted: My Twin

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

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.

A Rant

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.

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

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.

Obligatory Vacation Summary and Photos

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!

Two Months In

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.

One Month In

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.

blogmi titiraqtunga*

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)

Happy First Anniversary

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)

Summertime

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)

Home Again

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

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)

Picture Perfect

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)

Spring has Sprung

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)

General Post

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!

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

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)