Northern Adventures

 One thing I have come to appreciate is how much slower and simpler life is in a remote northern community. Because we are in a fly-in community, it is harder to get a lot of "stuff" here. There are sea-lifts in the summer time when larger items can be shipped in but for most of the year, flying here is the only option. With flights only coming in three days a week, weather permitting, things take longer to get here.  And so, at the end of a meal, we don't load the dishwasher; we fill the sink and wash the dishes by hand. Water is brought to our home by truck and stored in an outdoor tank, although I'm not sure how they keep it from freezing. Our septic tank has to be pumped out regularly, and last weekend, the tank was full so the water stopped working until a truck could come and pump us out. We keep jugs filled with water in case the truck doesn't come quickly enough. The water that we get is collected from a lake outside of town and is not treated and so we ha

Whale Cove is a place of contrasts.  These young men were back early from lunch so I asked them what they had been doing the day before- as we are still on 50% attendance.  Tom who fancies himself a gansta- he is the one in blue, had been caribou hunting with his dad.  They had shot a caribou and he told me that he shot his first caribou when he was 5 years old.  A 5 year old can apparently safely use a 22 with his father's guidance.  He is 10 now and can hunt and assist with both skinning and butchering the caribou.  They eat the meat raw here.  I tried a very little today and it was actually quite tasty. A day later, one of the senior students stopped in say she heard I was looking for Seal Skin Mitts.  She has been working on this pair and was almost done.  We made a plan for me to buy them from her when she was done and she went home and changed the cuff fur, as she thought it would go better with my coat.  She then brought them in for me to try.  She was learning this skill fr

 Despite a serious lack of trust among the Nunivummiat of the vaccine, the public health arrived and over 100 people received the first dose of the Moderna Vaccine! We are grateful to be in a territory that takes such good care of their peoples!  Roxanne and Blandine- two young women on staff role- modelled for others! Our arms were a bit sore on the second day but we are all hoping to be back to “normal” soon. 

This was our first Sunday in our new home!  We went for a walk down to the harbour and there was a great view of Hudson Bay!  It was a windy Day.  The Weather App told us that with the wind chill it was -42 celcius!  Kids were tobogganing without covered faces.  Everyone who goes by waves and says hello!   We discovered that the COOP which is the one store in town is not open on Sundays, so we decided to head back after we stopped at the Bay. Then we had a call from the DEA secretary. She is the District Educational Authority secretary.  Sort of like a local set of Trustees.  Her daughter works for CALM Air and had let her mother know that our shipped goods had arrived.  So  Agatha, the secretary called the local bus driver and asked him to fire up the bus and head to the airport to pick up our stuff.  We have no vehicle and the airport is about 7 km away.  The other option we would have had was to check what the local RCMP was up to because they are happy to help with airport pick ups

  We have been busy at work.  Leaving in the morning in the dark and walking home in the dark in the evening.  Luckily we were able to get out a lunch on Thursday and went for quite a walk today, Saturday on our way to the school to do some work. We are really enjoying getting to know the staff and students in the Inuglak school.  It is challenging at the moment as we have the students on alternate days due to COVID restrictions. Every adult who wants one is able to get the first Moderna Vaccine on Tuesday and so we are hoping by the end of February to be pretty much back to normal here, as there are currently no cases of COVID in Nunavut. We are loving the people, the beauty of the barren scenery and getting comfortable in our cozy little house.  These pictures show me as we set out from our house for a walk today and the view towards Hudson Bay down the roadway...Impossible to describe!     We have our internet figured out now, and so will be able to post more

  We arrived in late afternoon Tuesday and it was almost dark by the time we headed down to the Inuglak School. The school bus driver picked us up and brought our luggage to our lovely little  house about 500 yards from the school. People have been super welcoming and it’s really “warm” apparently - only -15 tonight. This is the view from the front steps of the school as I left at the end of the day today! Saw an arctic hare as big as a dog! But it was too fast for me to get a pic! Will take some time to blog more on the weekend. Busy at work- Oh yes, and the school secretary’s husband caught an 8 foot Polar Bear and she was skinning it all day yesterday. Can’t wait to see it when she is done. 

  It is lovely, warm and sunny in Winnipeg (-14 with the windchill) and the end of our Quarantine is in sight.  We will depart very early in the morning of the 12th and weather permitting we will arrive in Whale Cove two flights later before the sun goes down, which is at 3:10 pm these days. We have also heard that continued control of COVID in Nunavut means that the Inuglak School will hopefully be moving to a lower stage next week.  Great news, as we can't wait to meet the students!  

 Hello all- So we received the following update on Whale Cove:  Stage 4- Whale Cove As of Monday, January 4, 2021, Inuglak School in Whale Cove will be implementing its Stage 4 Action Plan Inuglak School in Whale Cove will remain closed until further notice from the Chief Medical Public Health Office All instruction in Whale Cove will be conducted remotely. Teachers and school staff will be contacting their students and families on a regular basis. Goodness! We leave Ontario and are going into the same situation up north. In more positive news, there are NO active cases in Nunavut and we are hoping this closure will not last long.  Whale Cove is not on the first immunization schedule for next week but will hopefully be done soon.  6 Days until we fly in! For those interested, here is the official Whale Cove Website. Some beautiful pictures!  https://www.whalecove.ca/photos/

  We have one more week in the Isolation Hub in Winnipeg.  Today we were outside for an hour and a half walking to get fresh air and came back with very rosy cheeks.  That was 20 laps of the parking lot. It was only about -14 outside.  Nothing to Whale Cove which is -34 with the windchill today!  Just in case you were wondering, the Premier of Nunavut, Joe Savinkataaq was just on to ensure one and all that no Nunavummiut politicians travelled over the Holidays.  

  Ian's Covid test came back negative which is a relief.  We are allowed to go outside to walk in the back parking lot supervised while he has symptoms but can't walk at the front where we might see other people and come into contact with them.  We did 20 laps this morning that worked out to just over 5 km with our awesome new boots on! Meanwhile, we spend lots of our time indoors studying the Nunavut Education Documents.  They are really interesting.  I have been looking into what is called "Land Based Instruction" and came across the list below.  Clearly we will be learning a lot!