And I am Off!

I know I was going to talk about my adventures exploring Kimmirut in my next blog. but I found out I will be traveling to Igloolik to do a relief for their store.

I was a little hesitant at first because I am comfortable in my store and I know the ins and outs.  Igloolik is on an island off of mainland Nunavut about 2 and a half hours flight from Kimmirut . The town and store is much bigger than mine ( population is 1700ish)

I leave tomorrow from Kimmirut and overnight in Iqaluit . I have a 7 am flight from Iqaluit to Igloolik and will arrive there around 9ish. I am pretty sure I will be put right to work.

I am looking forward to seeing another community and maybe getting a picture of a walrus.

The next update from me will be in Iqaluit or Igloolik which ever I get inspired by first!

I have been Horrible

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!

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!

An Experience of A Life Time

(Before I get into my Adventures. I was offered an opterunity to "guest blog" over at a fellow blogger Lily's Blog Nunavut Chillers she lives with her husband and super cute puppy Pepper in Baker Lake. Check out my guest blog here )

Yesterday I got to experience something that many "southerns" only dream of doing.

My friend Jen and I had been talking about going on a skidoo trip out the harbour to the floe edge for a couple of weeks now but we wanted to have someone to go with us since we didn't have a clue where to go.

Jen and one of the relief RCMP officers wanted to go on Monday and they invited me to go along since Monday is my day off .  It was an absolutely beautiful day here in Kimmirut! The sun was shining and the sky was clear you could see forever , which made it perfect weather to go out in.

 Jen and Michele had to get the skidoos gas and oiled up so I went out side to sit on my deck .... and it was so warm out I didn't put on my coat ( Ok so the coat I was wearing was my goose but minor detail!) I was able to capture a picture of the plane coming into Kimmirut.... something I haven't really had a chance to get since most of the time I am at work when they are coming in or asleep!

We ski dooed out on to the harbour and along a well used trail that Michele and Jen had taken on an earlier trip out. We had decided to to take a picnic lunch since we did not know how long we were going to be out. We left Kimmirut a little after one and our first stop was going to be at an ice shelf about 15 mins outside of Kimmirut. Jen had been there before at low tide and it was massive! Unfortunately when we set out it was high tide so we didn't get to see it larger until our way back .

Once we got there we went and took some pictures. Unfortunately the snow was rather deep and since I was not blessed with long legs I got stuck on my way to take a picture with Jen and ended up flat on my back ... I made a modern snow angel though :)

                                          (My not so graceful fall)

                                         Jen and I in front of the ice shelf

We continued on past the ice shelf on a very well traveled skidoo path it seemed like we were going to the ends of the earth. It is so flat out there with the exception of the hills on the sides. We ended up going up a "mountain" I call it I am sure it would just be considered a hill but it was pretty cool. We decided to have our lunch on top of said mountain!

                                          Looking down the mountain

After lunch Michele placed a call into the detachment to confirm the location of the floe edege from another member who had been out their earlier . It seems like we were way off in our approximation of where the floe edge was ( we were approximately 38 kms from Kimmirut when we called in I later learned the floe edge is about 10 kms from Kimmirut ) we decided to attempt to find the floe edge.

Down the mountain again and this time instead of following the trail back we broke off  on to the unexplored (ok well un skidoo marked ) Hudson Straight. It was then that I realized that I am experiencing something very few people in the world get to experience. We were "trail blazing " as Jen called it. There was something thrilling about exploring the unblemished Straight.  I know alot of you are probably thinking HOLY CRAP off the trail!?? We had a sat phone , GPS and a gun so we were in good shape.

We would have gone further toward the open water but we came across a largish crack that we didn't want to go across. We decided to turn toward Kimmirut and ride parallel to the crack . We never saw another human being or animal the whole five and a half hours we were out .

I can see why so many people want to go hunting and fishing all the time. It is absolutely breathtaking out there. I am still in awe of the trip . I came back excited , cold and smiling... Perfect Day!

 

 

Spring and Summer plans

Ahhh Spring....


I still cannot believe it is here some days! Maybe that is because some days it is beautiful and others I am damn sure I should be wearing the Goose again. I haven't given in yet! As the days get longer and brighter I cannot help but feel full of energy.

I have a good many plans for spring and summer which I am just starting to plan out now which is fun and exciting. Some of my friends and I have started to get healthier ,eating more veggies and cutting out the processed foods. This is week one .. not going to lie this week has been a bit of a struggle. We are following a mashed up version of Joel Furhman's Eat to Live( the book we are reading)  It basically promotes lots of fruits and veggies and limited meat and dairy .... which for this carnivore is very hard. I was doing good until Wednesday when I realized I had two thawed pork chops in the fridge so I invited a friend for dinner and we ate those :P They were yummy too!

As side from eating healthier I am also trying to walk more and more which is good because a couple of my friends have dogs so we can go for walks with them. Last week my friend Jen and I went out on the ice with her dog Sophie ( who is adorable!) I also am starting back into my Wii workouts which I always had a blast with because it was fun.

One of my goals for this summer is to get my first DSLR camera and learn how to use it! My friend Jen has one and has learned a bit from fiddling around with it but wants to learn more and so do I . With the help of a good friend of mine Sarah she helped me decide on one camera and I will be getting a Cannon Rebel T3i!

Soon it will be time for me to start getting ready to go back to New Brunswick for vacation which is exciting! I don`t really have much planned at the moment other then a visit to my nephew`s class room to talk to his class about living in the North. I have started preparing what I am going to talk to them about and show them. I am going to make a slide show presentation of pictures for them and bring home my Wolf mittens to show them! As well as write all their names in Syllabic for them.

Once I come back from vacation I have decided to buy a Honda ( or as my New Brunswick friends call them 4- wheelers) it will make getting to the outskirts of town easier and I wont need to rely on friends to drive me  except in those very deep winter months when everything freezes to death. My friends Devi , Jen and I are going to go exploring in the Reversing Falls and Soaper river which is just outside of town but up a couple of very steep hills that really arnt the best for walking.

So far my spring and summer are shaping up to be very fun and eventful!

Oh Sweet Vacation ...only 2 Months Away

Happy St. Patty's Day or rather late St. Pats Day !

Yesterday  marks two months until I leave for vacation!  I did not even realize it until just now . On May 17th 2 days after my one year anniversary of landing in Nunavut and 1 day after my 1 year anniversary of moving to Kimmirut. It is crazy to think that a year has almost come.

Vacation is exciting and scary as hell! I wonder if I will be able to adjust... it is funny to think about having to reintegrate into southern society! Things will definitely be different .. the grocery store will be an interesting experience.

I feel somewhat country bumpkin living in the North... going to Iqaluit which is only 1000 more people than St. Stephen was a shock. I don't know how arriving back in New Brunswick will be I know things will be a lot different than the North ... I am so use to the slower pace of the North that I don't know how the hustle and bustle of the south will be.

I think the things that I will need to adapt to are the following :

Driving in Kimmirut is very slow max speed limit is 30km/h and most times we go much slower due to the road conditions. As well there is probably about two dozen vehicles in Kimmirut , most of them belong to the Hamlet or the Housing corp. Very rarely will you see more than one other car on the road. The south will have a multitude of cars , trucks  all going 50km/h or more in a crazy line.

Shopping in Kimmirut is way different than the south. There are only two stores and they are more grocery stores than general merchandise so alot of shopping happens online here in the North to be able to go into a store and physically buy something will be an almost new experience. One of the things I am planning to do when I go home is buy new clothes and that might be an all day experience!

Weather is also something that will be a change. May in New Brunswick can be one of two things Sunny and HOT or somewhat overcast and rainy. Although I am hoping for the sunny part I am not sure how I will deal if the HOT part is true. I spend few days here in the north wearing t-shirts but most of the time I was wearing jackets and jeans.... I may melt in the south!

Eating Out... in Kimmirut that means I went out to someones house for supper. No restaurants in town so I get to look forward to yummy treats when I am home. For Christmas my dad sent me a card that entitles me to a sub from the local sandwich shop, Chinese food at our favorite Chinese place and a plate of homemade french fries from the greasy spoon.  I am sure I will gain 20lbs on vacation but I will enjoy all the delights I don't have access to here in the North.

Grocery shopping falls into a separate category then regular shopping. A few of my friends who have lived in the North before say that going to the grocery store in the south is a religious experience. I know I work in a grocery store now but I am sure I will spend an hour our more in the local Superstore and Sobeys when I am in the south. The range of fresh produce and goods will be astronomical. I will get to remember what fresh meat looks like rather than frozen.


When I first thought about my vacation I was debating on where to go what to do . I only have three weeks and seeing my family was an important part of my vacation. I was planning on going somewhere for  a week and spending two weeks at home. The only down part is I don't want to travel by myself though I shall have to do so eventually. This time I think I am just going to plan a short trip to Bangor Maine for some shopping  and a trip to PEI to hang with my sister.

Next year however I am planning a 10 day long trip to Scotland and England hopefully with my little sister. I have decided that even if no one goes with me I am going to go . I figured I moved 1800 km away from home I can go another 3000 or more by myself!

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!

 

This is my friend Devi and I out on the Breakwater on New Years Eve

 

 

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!

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!

 

 

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!

Snowstorm!!!!!

My next blog post was going to be about my visit with my Nannie  as she was due to leave today.. Guess what she is still here! We got a wicked snowstorm last night and into today. Lots of snow down and mixes of freezing rain and snow needless to stay no planes flew today.

After spending the better part of the morning re- arranging Nannie's travel to Monday so she wont miss any of her connections ( and possibly saying a few choice words for her travel agent who said they did not take care of cancellations or weather delays) and calling home to make sure that people back home knew she was not coming. She got all settled in I had to go to work which sucked but oh well.


Before work I decided I would go take some pics of the outside and the weather .

Looking out on to the harbour ... that is actually fog not snow but love the pics.

After taking these pics I decided to indulge in some snowman building... It was just the perfect snow for snowmen! I did not have much to work with to make the snowman but I grabbed two green thumb tacks and a baby carrot and a piece of licorice and green food coloring.

This was my final creation:

Sadly when I came home from work for lunch Mr. Snowman was no more due to the freezing rain :(  It was still fun to dress up in all my winter gear (snow pants and all) and romp around in the snow!

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!

 

 

 

The Answer to Many Questions......

I have been rather bad about blogging this past month it has been very busy at work but now things are settling in again and I am swiping the inspiration for this blog from my friend Sarah's blog post on one of her friends blogs.

Alot of people ask me what is it like living in Nunavut. My mom is always telling me of people asking what it is like .. People are generally curious about the North. It is kind of like stories of the Wild West that we absorb and want to know about but are unsure if we would ever want to experience it ourselves.

I am  going to let you in on some of the differences between Kimmirut Nunavut and St.Stephen New Brunswick. There are many and some are trivial and others are not so much!

 Family- In Kimmirut my family consists of my cat as the rest of my family is back home. I am very lucky though that my family has invested in some great long distance plans! I just call them and they call me back. I am also lucky that we have Skype for when I have a moment of homesickness and want to see my family.

 No Trees- Yup I left the land of the forests of Maple, Oak and Birch trees to the land of no trees. It is kind of a weird experience not having any trees to look at especially as we are now into fall a time in New Brunswick that is filled with falling leaves of many different colors. However Kimmirut has amazing rocks and hills that makes you feel as though I have a rocky forest around me!

 My water is delivered by a truck... due to the permafrost there is no in ground plumbing! I have a yellow plastic tank in my entry way two -three times a week the big silver water truck comes and fills my water. Also because there is no in ground plumbing my water comes from a lake.. a very pretty one at that . The water is ok for cooking but I wouldn't drink it out of the tap it has a different taste to it. My sewage is also on the truck system. Twice a week they come and suction out the tank that is sunk into the ground.

Shopping is another thing that is very limited.. there are two stores in town. The Northern ( where I work) and the Co-Op. Both stores are not very large and are very General Store types offering groceries to general merchandise. The other thing is Internet shopping is a great tool only you have debate if the shipping is worth the product. Alot of items I want cost almost double their price in shipping or won't ship here!

Another thing most would miss is getting in the car and going for a drive... not really an option here the roads go to no where . Also the roads are unpaved so the chances of your car surviving would be pretty slim!

I miss random trips to the city for a movie going out for dinner and the like... the closest spot I can do that is Iqaluit which is a 30 min flight away or 120kms! It would take alot of planning and is definitely not something I can do in a day unless I found a friend who has a skidoo who would go to Iqaluit just to watch a movie lol!

Although there are alot of things I miss from home ... but there is alot I don't miss

I use to drive 30 mins to and from work rain or shine and on some not so carefully tended roads. Now I get to walk 30 seconds to work... I guess now no more weather days for me :(

I get to try new foods I would normally never have an opportunity to try such as seal, beluga, char and bannock. I also got to try some new experiences such as going boating amongst ice bergs hiking some pathes that people traveled for thousands of years and got to explore an area of the community that has been around since 1909.

I have to say that moving to Nunavut has been an amazing experience so far and I look forward many more experiences!

Birthday, Boating and more

I have not been very good about writing my blog for the past few weeks.  I have been try and experiencing new things recently.


I have had the opportunity to go boating twice now which was amazing! Although I have yet to realize I need a Parka to go boating. I tend to get cold way too darn fast!

My second boating trip was with friends from work for my birthday. August 6th was a holiday here as well as back home .. it also happened to be my 25th birthday! The plan for our day was to go out to a spot called Iqaluit ( no not the city however there were times that I thought we were almost there) to go fishing. Possibly a bonfire and more.

When we started out it was sunny and beautiful a light breeze was awesome! We have been having a really interesting summer here in Nunavut. The city of Iqaluit has been without sealift because of the ice in the bay. Well some of that ice has come hit the outskirts of our bay and I got to seem some large ice bergs!

I love this iceberg! It looks like a lion...

We stopped off to an area where Randy and Ning's families had cabins. We wandered around and I found a caribou antler and decided I wanted a pic ..

Also during out outing we got to see killer whales! I have never seen a whale before and that is saying something considering I am from the Bay of Fundy!

After we hit the Iqaluit spot we got to do some fishing... I didn't catch anything but still had fun and would love to go fishing any time!

The weather turned chilly and to say I was cold would be a lie ... I was frozen solid the winds coming off the boat and the rain chilled me to the bone. We stoped to grab some food and such before we headed back into town.

While we were there we decided to take the guns out and shoot at the ice bergs. I have never shot a gun before in my life so I was not allowed to shoot the 308. So I got to shoot the 22 which was cool no kick back or anything. I got Ning to take pics so I would have proof I shot it .

I got to shoot it twice and then I let someone else take over since I haven't got a clue about guns.

I had a great birthday and amazing time boating with some awesome people!

If You Wait for The Weather You will Be Always Be Inside

My store manager told me the other day that if I kept waiting for the weather to be nice to go out and do things I would be inside always. We have been getting alot of icky weather here. Nothing super bad just foggy , drizzly and rainy. I know that to alot of you down"south" would be praying for some of that .( You guys can keep the humidity)

 I was off on Wednesday and decided to take Sheryl's advice and get out. My version of getting out had been walking  and I decided to walk a bit further. So I packed my bag with water ,munchies ,camera and off I set with no real plan in mind.

I am lucky that Sheryl knows what area I go exploring in in case something should happen to me she would know where to send them!

Here is where I started

This is looking out on the spot where I usually stop my walk due to the sled dogs that are out there. However they seemed not to be there today.. I did find a deceased dog  out there which was sad since it was just lying there.

After crossing over the small stream I decided that I would go up this hill and see what was up there

First Hill done. I was proud of myself  as you can see the fog is out and it semi darkish out , no rain at that time but it looked like it the whole time.

Here is the next hill ... the top is covered in fog!

Once you go up you must go down! Here is a view from the top of the hill.. You can kind of see the ATV trails, that is what I was walking on!

So far the only non carving Inuksuk I have seen semi close up  in the second picture the red hill in the upper right hand is the hill I climbed up to and then down.

Looking down on town from the top of the hill my house is the one with the white roof on the left

Half way down the very steep long hill the adrenalin was pumping I am petrified of heights!

The end of my hill.... Thank God!


So I wasn't very bloggy this week we have been very busy the past week gearing up for sealift... So guess what the next blog will be about . that is right SEALIFT!

Walking in Sunshine and New Experience!

This past Wednesday I was off work and for once the sun was out and it was warm(about 13 degrees) I decided to go for a walk around the road by my house. Mainly to see how far the road went and to take some pics , now that alot of our snow is gone and the harbour is melting.

I was off taking pics on a chunk of snow when I heard a growl and turned around to find a pack of 6 dogs behind me. To say I was a bit scared/panicked would have been an understatement. The only thoughts that went through my head were "Crap I don't have a stick to beat them off if they come after me " and " There are like 6 of them one of me...odds arnt good". After my little panic attack I found they were tied out so I was like ok cool I can still take some pics. Which I did until I got a bit too close to them and they started howling , then the whole mountain erupted in howls....

I later found out that one of the guys from town keeps his dog team out there since you are not allowed to have that many dogs in town. He told me he actually has 24 dogs , he just got 4 dogs in from Iqaluit. Here are some of the pics of the dogs:

I also got to take some awesome pics of flowers that are starting to pop out here.. We don't have many flowers here and what we do have are very low to the ground. Alot of pink flower and low shrubs .

After I finished my walk I came home and was chilling when about 730 Sheryl calls and asks me if I want to come over for another adventure in "Country Food" . Country food is what wild game is called here. I was a bit hesitant but said Ok and off I went.

We had Muktaaq which is beluga whale skin and cartilage. The pieces are cut up into about 5cm rectangles. The cartilage is then scored so it is easier to eat. You dip the pieces in soy sauce or put some salt on it. My first piece I was very hesitant ... what happened if I got sick?! So I doused it in Soy sauce.. Sheryl and Sam asked me how I liked it .. I said it was very salty... their response " Most people don't use that much Soy sauce". In total I had about 6 pieces. It really doesn't have a taste , but with soy sauce it was good. I mean Tuesday is not going to become muktaaq night in my house but I would eat it again.


I also purchased my first carving. It is a smaller one about 2-3 inches high and carved in the local soapstone called apple green. I love my little swan!

WIND IN MY HAIR!

Exploring in the Rain and Snow

Since my last post I have been working like crazy..

We had to do our general merchandise inventory on Saturday which was kind of fun and monotonous which made the day go by faster. I hadn't had much of a chance to explore or do anything exciting. I am settling into a great routine.

It is very hard to keep up with your healthy eating routine when your access to alot of the foods and brands I ate at home is very limited. I asked my manager if it was possible to get my favorite Greek Yogurt in and sure enough it was possible and today it came in on the plane! I was pumped.

There are only six 4 packs in a case and with an expiration date if the middle of July .. I foresee another case coming in before then lol..

A cool thing I have learned since moving to Nunavut is that my name Jeka means jacket in Inuktitut ... For almost 25 years my name has not meant anything and now it does... The little kids here think it is cool.

I am slowly learning Inuktitut I hear words and then I lose them so I think I am going to have to grab a notepad and write words down phonetically when I hear them and what their meaning is so I can remember it.

Last night I got a phone call for Jacket , from my bosses husband inviting me over for BBQ. I love BBQ so I never turn it down and living alone cooking for one person sucks. After a great steak we were sitting around chatting about Kimmirut and the areas I have been in. Sam and Sheryl suggested we go for a drive to the "outskirts"

Sheryl , Sam , Cassie and baby Dougie and I get into the truck and off we go. I have to say that I live in a beautiful area! Even though there are no trees there are tonnes of beautiful rock formations , natural lakes and even some bushes!

I got to see great expanses of water , which is great because I love water! The area reminded me alot of New Brunswick and PEI all mixed into one. We also went up to the top of one of the big hills in town by the Power plant(who knew?) and our water lake , the old dump and the new dump .

Here are some pics from the top of the big hill!

                              This is off toward where people go hunting to the flow edge.

The Heel from up high

Ice break up

                                              
                                                 The one with the white roof is Mine!

                                                    I love the backdrop for this pic!

I can't wait to explore the outskirts when the weather is a bit more co-operative and there is grass!

Until next time!