I have been a horrible blogger.
That is right it has almost been almost 2 months since I have updated my blog. I did not mean to fall by the way side. It always seemed that life interrupted and by the time those things I was too tired to write.
I have also been suffering from writers block for a bit too. Alot has happened since I came back to the North from vacation and I have had a few new experiences but just did not have the "bug" if you will to write about them. Not that I did not want to share my experiences with you ... I did but just did not know how to get the thoughts out in a decent post.
My blogger notepad is full of half written posts about a few different things .I am looking forward to updating everyone on my current goings on in Kimmirut. Personally I have been on a path to a healthier me and part of that is keeping up with this blog. So that means now there will be more frequent posts by me. :)
Upon my return to Kimmirut I purchased a four wheeler. According to my friends that practically makes me a Nunavut lifer now. I on the other hand feel it gives me more of an opportunity to explore Kimmirut and the surrounding area. So I have had fun learning to drive it ( that was an adventure and a half) and exploring places that I only ever knew the general direction of ( Reversing Falls and Soaper Lake)
Tonight's blog is going to be short ... mainly because I have to get up early in the morning . I will be posting some new posts this weekend about my first few excursions on the four wheeler this weekend...(psst there will be lots of pics!)
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label I am here. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I am here. Show all posts
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
One Year
One year ago I left behind all that I was comfortable with and made the decision to move to Kimmirut Nunavut. I don't think i have ever been more scared to do something in my life!
The last year I have learned alot about myself. The move to Nunavut was crazy I spent days buying things I thought I would need, stuff I was not sure even existed in the Great White North. It is crazy to look back on that time because I did not have a sweet clue as to what I was getting myself into. I knew a little about Nunavut and I researched the hell out of Kimmirut but you don't really know what it is going to be like until you try it.
For me the move to Kimmirut would be the first time I would be away from my family. I have never lived more than 2 hours away from them.... hell I had never lived outside New Brunswick! Being 2000+ miles away from them in a fly in only community was different. I have to say Skype and the Internet were my saviours during the first three months in Kimmirut and the fact that my family got kick ass long distance plans didn't hurt either!
I went to Nunavut with a very open mind. I was going to soak up as much culture as I could . I even committed to learning some Inuktitut, my vocabulary started small with two words (Dayma- meaning finished and Emito which basically translates to thingy lol and yes I know my Inuktitut spelling is bad but hey I am a phonetic learner!) My vocabulary quickly grew because I kept asking our local staff how to say things. I am not fluent in Inuktitut but every day I learn more and more and begin to understand more and more.
I got to experience new foods that I never would have even touched if I still lived back in New Brunswick. I have eaten 7 different country foods ( goose, 2 types of seal, walrus , ptarmigan, caribou, arctic char and Beluga mukktuk( skin and cartilage) I have been out boating in an arctic canoe amongst the ice bergs , hiked over trails that Inuit have been using for centuries , trail blazed over the frozen Hudson Straight. I have experienced so much in my first year in the Arctic I have been amazed at my own sense of adventure.
When I left St.Stephen I was so sure I was going to be alone in a frozen town . Instead I have a amazing and diverse group of friends! There are some Arctic veterans ( 7 of my friends have lived in the Arctic for at least one year prior to us meeting) and some Nunavut newbies and we all share something with each other. It is crazy to think that a dozen of us ended up in the Arctic all for different reasons and have become such a tight knit group. My friends have helped me get through each hurdle that I thought would have be screaming to come back to St.Stephen I appreciate each and every one of you !
My family is also one of the biggest supporters of my move North. Everyone thought I would be able to cope and as much as I doubted them many times I have to say without their backing I don't know that I could have made it in the North. The North can be a lonely place to a single girl who moves from a loud house full of family to a small house on the harbour with a cat. When ever I needed anyone back home for a pick me up or just some TLCFS( Tender Love and Care Family Style) they were just a phone call away.
I am looking forward to what the next year brings in my Nunavut Adventure!
Friday, March 1, 2013
Hello World Are you Still Out There?!
Hi All!
It has been quite a while since I updated my blog. I feel really bad about that but I have been busy and just didn't think about updating. This blog I am sure will be long since I am going to let you in on what has been going on with me.
I made it through Christmas! I was so sure that this was going to be the end of my journey in the Arctic before I moved up here. I was going to be the first person in my family not to be home for Christmas. My family sent me presents and bright and early Christmas morning ( we are talking 6 amish ) I was awake. My friend Devi who was also staying for Christmas spent the night at my house so we both wouldn't have to be alone on Christmas , she slept through my Christmas morning Skype session with my family. I have to say that Skype and the Internet saved my sanity during Christmas I felt like I was actually there which was awesome. I got some awesome gifts from my family such as a new Kobo Glo e-reader from my mom and dad, Chapters gift cards from my sisters and Davids Tea from my youngest sister and a Kitchen Aid Stand mixer from my Nannie! Needless to say she wrapped the mixer quite well and my family has some funny pictures from Christmas of me trying to unwrap it.
After Christmas was pretty quite here in Kimmirut. I spent alot of time with my friends who were in town and on New Years Eve I went to 11pm Church service with Devi and came out to hugs , cheers and fireworks as the Hamlet set off a bunch of fireworks. The Hamlet's firetruck came around and wished all of us a Happy New Year, which was followed by a skidoo parade on the ice!
Soon I was feeling the burn out of not being able to leave town. Back home if I got bored with St.Stephen I could go to the city and have dinner and a movie here it is very difficult to do that due to the fact we don't have anything like that here. It is a 30 min and $500 flight out to Iqaluit to be able to do that . I was lucky in early January a friend of mine was going to be in Iqaluit and I could use her discount code and got to go to Iqaluit for three days. All I can say is I know what people who live in the sticks feel like going to the city. After being in Kimmirut for 8 months straight I was really overwhelmed!
Iqaluit has restaurants, bars, exotic food ( I recommend Yummy Shawrma!) and the Northmart.... The Northmart is litterly the Superstore of the North it is the big sister to the store I work in. I could have stayed there for hours! It was so different from grocery stores back here in Kimmirut ! I was able to see the Museum and the Visitors Information center as well as just walk around and see the city!
The plane trip to Iqaluit!
Iqaluit was awesome but it was also good to get back home. Work has been going good and I cannot complain. I was in charge of the store for about 12 days while my store manager had to go away for a conference and there were no problems.
A great thing that my friends and I have started doing was a book club. So far we have only read one full book and one chapter of our second. We started it as a good way to get together eat healthy and read books and have good conversation which has helped with breaking up the monotony of winter. Right now we are reading Shake Hands With the Devil by Romeo Dialler about the genocide in Rwanda. I have only read one chapter but it is shaping up to be a good book.
Earlier this month I had to finalize my vacation time for this year. One of my work benefits is that they pay for my trip out of the North to the nearest major center , which for Baffin Island is Ottawa. After much humming and hawing over what I was going to do for vacation, was I going somewhere other than back to New Brunswick? I wanted to go overseas to Scotland or down the Florida originally but after talking to my sometimes practical older sister I decided to forgo the large trip this year and go home and do some smaller trips. I plan on going to the states to do some shopping and to PEI to visit my little sister who is living on the island this summer.
However I am planning a big trip to Scotland and London next year for vacation! I think I almost have my little sister convinced to go. One thing I definitely want to do is go on the train that was used for the Harry Potter movies . It goes from Fort William in the Highlands of Scotland to Mallig a small seaside town where you can take a ferry to the Isle of Sky.
I am sure I will come up with many more ideas for my vacation before it arrives next year until this New Brunswick I will be back home May 17th - June 13th!
It has been quite a while since I updated my blog. I feel really bad about that but I have been busy and just didn't think about updating. This blog I am sure will be long since I am going to let you in on what has been going on with me.
I made it through Christmas! I was so sure that this was going to be the end of my journey in the Arctic before I moved up here. I was going to be the first person in my family not to be home for Christmas. My family sent me presents and bright and early Christmas morning ( we are talking 6 amish ) I was awake. My friend Devi who was also staying for Christmas spent the night at my house so we both wouldn't have to be alone on Christmas , she slept through my Christmas morning Skype session with my family. I have to say that Skype and the Internet saved my sanity during Christmas I felt like I was actually there which was awesome. I got some awesome gifts from my family such as a new Kobo Glo e-reader from my mom and dad, Chapters gift cards from my sisters and Davids Tea from my youngest sister and a Kitchen Aid Stand mixer from my Nannie! Needless to say she wrapped the mixer quite well and my family has some funny pictures from Christmas of me trying to unwrap it.
After Christmas was pretty quite here in Kimmirut. I spent alot of time with my friends who were in town and on New Years Eve I went to 11pm Church service with Devi and came out to hugs , cheers and fireworks as the Hamlet set off a bunch of fireworks. The Hamlet's firetruck came around and wished all of us a Happy New Year, which was followed by a skidoo parade on the ice!
This is my friend Devi and I out on the Breakwater on New Years Eve
Iqaluit has restaurants, bars, exotic food ( I recommend Yummy Shawrma!) and the Northmart.... The Northmart is litterly the Superstore of the North it is the big sister to the store I work in. I could have stayed there for hours! It was so different from grocery stores back here in Kimmirut ! I was able to see the Museum and the Visitors Information center as well as just walk around and see the city!
The plane trip to Iqaluit!
The bright lights of Iqaluit from the plane!
This is the Anglican Church in Iqaluit it was recently rebuilt after a fire destroyed the original.
Yup want a double double in Iqaluit it is so possible!
A great thing that my friends and I have started doing was a book club. So far we have only read one full book and one chapter of our second. We started it as a good way to get together eat healthy and read books and have good conversation which has helped with breaking up the monotony of winter. Right now we are reading Shake Hands With the Devil by Romeo Dialler about the genocide in Rwanda. I have only read one chapter but it is shaping up to be a good book.
Earlier this month I had to finalize my vacation time for this year. One of my work benefits is that they pay for my trip out of the North to the nearest major center , which for Baffin Island is Ottawa. After much humming and hawing over what I was going to do for vacation, was I going somewhere other than back to New Brunswick? I wanted to go overseas to Scotland or down the Florida originally but after talking to my sometimes practical older sister I decided to forgo the large trip this year and go home and do some smaller trips. I plan on going to the states to do some shopping and to PEI to visit my little sister who is living on the island this summer.
However I am planning a big trip to Scotland and London next year for vacation! I think I almost have my little sister convinced to go. One thing I definitely want to do is go on the train that was used for the Harry Potter movies . It goes from Fort William in the Highlands of Scotland to Mallig a small seaside town where you can take a ferry to the Isle of Sky.
I am sure I will come up with many more ideas for my vacation before it arrives next year until this New Brunswick I will be back home May 17th - June 13th!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
I am Here!
It has been so long since I wrote a blog post I figured I should let all my readers know I am still here!
It has been hard to get motivated to write sometimes as things are getting busier and busier. October so far has been great here in Kimmirut! We already have snow on the ground and the temps are definitely what I would call winter back in New Brunswick , however they keep informing me that it is only fall!
To kind of give you an update on what I have been up to thus far in October ( yes I know it is almost over) I went to two Thanksgiving dinners! One with my group of friends here in town ( it was pot luck and oh so yummy!) and the second with my store manager Sheryl and her family.
For the first part of October we were getting flurries off and on until finally it just decided to snow! Here are some pics from our first "official" snow fall....
I also finally ordered my Canada Goose parka! I really debated on weather or not to buy the Goose or to go with a three in one parka.. After input from people I know who live in the north and knowing the wussy I am I ordered the Resolute parka. I was not adventurous and ordered it in Navy. I still haven't gotten it yet ( it is probably sitting in Iqaluit waiting to be shipped to Kimmirut) I will let you all know how it is once I get it.
Until I get my parka I spent the earlier part of this month layering cloths! I only had the spring jacket I came up in May with which definitely did not cut it when the wind was whipping through Kimmirut. Sheryl lent me her "winter" parka ( She is much more acclimatized than I am ) as a Training Parka... I feel like a Nunavut toddler!
I also got some new items in October! I bought an upright exercise bike from amazon.ca which is awesome and will keep me somewhat active in the winter... and my friend Golda brought me back a single serve blender from her trip down south..... I am loving making smoothies in it though I do need to find some recipes that are not so blah!
On October 16th my Nannie arrived in Kimmirut from New Brunswick, I cannot tell you how awesome it has been to have a familiar face from back home here. She will be staying with me until November 2nd ( I will post more on our adventures in another blog post). It is really awesome just to hang out with her and have company to talk to. She is really enjoying it here so far! She didn't even freek out about the matchbox sized plane you have to take to come to Kimmirut!
I promise I will remember to post more! Until then here are a few pics for my friends who do not reside in the North!
It has been hard to get motivated to write sometimes as things are getting busier and busier. October so far has been great here in Kimmirut! We already have snow on the ground and the temps are definitely what I would call winter back in New Brunswick , however they keep informing me that it is only fall!
To kind of give you an update on what I have been up to thus far in October ( yes I know it is almost over) I went to two Thanksgiving dinners! One with my group of friends here in town ( it was pot luck and oh so yummy!) and the second with my store manager Sheryl and her family.
For the first part of October we were getting flurries off and on until finally it just decided to snow! Here are some pics from our first "official" snow fall....
I also finally ordered my Canada Goose parka! I really debated on weather or not to buy the Goose or to go with a three in one parka.. After input from people I know who live in the north and knowing the wussy I am I ordered the Resolute parka. I was not adventurous and ordered it in Navy. I still haven't gotten it yet ( it is probably sitting in Iqaluit waiting to be shipped to Kimmirut) I will let you all know how it is once I get it.
Until I get my parka I spent the earlier part of this month layering cloths! I only had the spring jacket I came up in May with which definitely did not cut it when the wind was whipping through Kimmirut. Sheryl lent me her "winter" parka ( She is much more acclimatized than I am ) as a Training Parka... I feel like a Nunavut toddler!
I also got some new items in October! I bought an upright exercise bike from amazon.ca which is awesome and will keep me somewhat active in the winter... and my friend Golda brought me back a single serve blender from her trip down south..... I am loving making smoothies in it though I do need to find some recipes that are not so blah!
On October 16th my Nannie arrived in Kimmirut from New Brunswick, I cannot tell you how awesome it has been to have a familiar face from back home here. She will be staying with me until November 2nd ( I will post more on our adventures in another blog post). It is really awesome just to hang out with her and have company to talk to. She is really enjoying it here so far! She didn't even freek out about the matchbox sized plane you have to take to come to Kimmirut!
I promise I will remember to post more! Until then here are a few pics for my friends who do not reside in the North!
Friday, May 18, 2012
Traveling and Arriving
I have made it to Kimmirut!
This was such a long journey and a very emotional one for me. Monday night I was still not done packing so I went to work on that and inserted a bit of a going away party. My sisters got me a Wii , which made the trip to Kimmirut with me! It took my mom and my uncle and I to get everything all packed and taped. I finished packing about 12 am . I had to be awake at 2am to start the trip.
Getting to the airport in Fredericton we found that one of my totes was over weight by like a pound. So my mom did some shuffling and we made ti work. Air Canada also checked my luggage straight through until Kimmirut which meant that when I arrived in Ottawa I did not have to worry about getting my luggage , what a relief!
The flight from Fredericton to Ottawa was very noisy I was on a small Dash -8 plane. I was able to sleep and that was good. I got to Ottawa and had about a 2 hour wait until I got on the flight to Iqaluit.
The First Air flight to Iqaluit was great, I was in the last seat of the plane and had no seat mates which was great! First Air is really awesome I got breakfast on the plane as well as hot towel, three options of newspapers and a pillow and blanket ... Airline service is still in existence?
So I get into Iqaluit and they tell me my flight to Kimmirut has been delayed due to weather until 3:30. At 3:30 they tell me that my flight has been canceled. I am a bundle of tears at the airport trying to figure out what on earth I am going to do. I call my boss in Kimmirut and then to the Head Office for my company to find out what I am going to do , since they take care of my travel and accommodations.
They decide to put me up at the staff housing in Iqaluit and have someone from the store pick me up. Which was ok. .. So picture this a girl who is BONE tired with two carts full of totes and bags and a cat waiting . I am litterly the only person left in the airport who does not work there.
Melissa came and picked me up and when I realized that she was coming to get me I cried . The stress was crazy. I just wanted to get where I am going and be done with it .
I was able to fly into Kimmirut on Wednesday . We were delayed by about 45 mins due to some fog. So I got all checked in and such and was waiting. Then one of the First Air staff comes over and lets me know one of my totes broke open.... GREAT ... My totes were already cracked and chipped and such so I was not looking forward to this. I did a crazy tape job and got it back on the conveyor belt.
The flight to Kimmirut was pretty, since I was in a Twin Otter you can see all the landscape which was beautiful... bad thing my camera was dead.
Staying in Iqaluit was actually good for my mental health lol. I got all the exhaustion , the nerves, the emotions out of my system so I was able to meet people in Kimmirut without being an emotional wreck.
I am going to close this post for now and I will write more on my first few days in Kimmirut!
This was such a long journey and a very emotional one for me. Monday night I was still not done packing so I went to work on that and inserted a bit of a going away party. My sisters got me a Wii , which made the trip to Kimmirut with me! It took my mom and my uncle and I to get everything all packed and taped. I finished packing about 12 am . I had to be awake at 2am to start the trip.
Getting to the airport in Fredericton we found that one of my totes was over weight by like a pound. So my mom did some shuffling and we made ti work. Air Canada also checked my luggage straight through until Kimmirut which meant that when I arrived in Ottawa I did not have to worry about getting my luggage , what a relief!
The flight from Fredericton to Ottawa was very noisy I was on a small Dash -8 plane. I was able to sleep and that was good. I got to Ottawa and had about a 2 hour wait until I got on the flight to Iqaluit.
The First Air flight to Iqaluit was great, I was in the last seat of the plane and had no seat mates which was great! First Air is really awesome I got breakfast on the plane as well as hot towel, three options of newspapers and a pillow and blanket ... Airline service is still in existence?
So I get into Iqaluit and they tell me my flight to Kimmirut has been delayed due to weather until 3:30. At 3:30 they tell me that my flight has been canceled. I am a bundle of tears at the airport trying to figure out what on earth I am going to do. I call my boss in Kimmirut and then to the Head Office for my company to find out what I am going to do , since they take care of my travel and accommodations.
They decide to put me up at the staff housing in Iqaluit and have someone from the store pick me up. Which was ok. .. So picture this a girl who is BONE tired with two carts full of totes and bags and a cat waiting . I am litterly the only person left in the airport who does not work there.
Melissa came and picked me up and when I realized that she was coming to get me I cried . The stress was crazy. I just wanted to get where I am going and be done with it .
I was able to fly into Kimmirut on Wednesday . We were delayed by about 45 mins due to some fog. So I got all checked in and such and was waiting. Then one of the First Air staff comes over and lets me know one of my totes broke open.... GREAT ... My totes were already cracked and chipped and such so I was not looking forward to this. I did a crazy tape job and got it back on the conveyor belt.
The flight to Kimmirut was pretty, since I was in a Twin Otter you can see all the landscape which was beautiful... bad thing my camera was dead.
Staying in Iqaluit was actually good for my mental health lol. I got all the exhaustion , the nerves, the emotions out of my system so I was able to meet people in Kimmirut without being an emotional wreck.
I am going to close this post for now and I will write more on my first few days in Kimmirut!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)