An Adventure in Shopping

I feel like things are starting to change in Nunavut ...

It brighter  , warmer and there is more snow! We have had two blizzards in the past week .... so not cool but it does mean that spring is coming to the Arctic! I can't wait to see what spring is like in the North. I came in May so technically they were heading into Summer then.... or so people tell me I still think that last summer didn't happen and with all the fog we had we skipped it.


With all the nice weather in the forefront of my mind I began to think about new clothes (hey a girl can dream about wearing nice summery clothes) and one of the ultimate things I have wanted ....a pair of riding boots... Not ones for actually riding but the tall calf hugging looks awesome with legging kind.

This was the realm of impossibility for me as I have quite large calf's ( approx 21 inches in circumference) most boots are not made for people with larger calf's or if they are you have to have a size 13 foot to wear them. So I took to the Internet searching for not just extra wide calf boots but super wide calf boots. During the process I came across a site from the UK called duoboots.com The boots were so beautiful and they had my foot and calf size. So order away I did for a beautiful pair of black leather riding boots.

The email came ..... they had been shipped....by DHL.. not very cool since there is no DHL depot here in the North ( let alone Kimmirut) once the boots made it to Ottawa I saw in the tracking that they were waiting to be picked up by recipient AKA Me. Ummm Hello DHL I am not any where near Ottawa. A frantic telephone call to the DHL ppl and I confirmed that my boots would be picked up by a third party carrier and delivered to me here in the frozen tundra by Canadian North.

Canadian North is the other major airline that serves the North... it does not fly to Kimmirut another frantic phone call goes into Canadian North cargo people in Iqaluit who are very nice in giving me the waybill number and telling me I have to talk to First Air cargo since Canadian North does not service Kimmirut.

At this point I am dreading that IF I can ever get the damn boots here they will probably not fit. So I make the call to First Air cargo ( who ROCK by the way) and the guy tells me yup they have them there. Being impatient I ask ... When I can I expect to receive them ? How about 1:30 pm today... Sounds good to me! Gotta love Freighters!


My boss was going to the plane and as it was my day off I asked her to pick up the boots for me and then I would go get them from the store. I practically bolted from my house when I heard the plane take off zipping my parka on the way out I raced to the store and picked up the bag containing my coveted boots.

Sitting in my living room I opened the box.....they were beautiful black and classic looking I put them on and started to zip and then I hit a road block....They Did Not Fit!

I could have cried ..... I do believe a small tear was shed ....my perfect boots did not fit. What could I do I could return them but that is such a hassle since I am not near a DHL spot I would have to pay for the cargo to ship them back. It was only a few measly inches that stopped me from zipping my dream boots.

Googling how to stretch boots and all sorts of things came up .... then I came across a website called bootbands.com... A woman who , like me had large calf's and couldn't find boots to fit these boot bands come in all sorts of styles and zip into the "gap" area of the boots. So I took the measurements and ordered up a pair.... not wanting to give up on these boots.

I got the boot bands today and zipped them in and they are perfect!!!!! I had to get the middle size so they don't hug my calf's as skin tight as I had originally wanted but they are so awesome. I am so happy I can now be the girl who wears leggings with awesome boots . The great thing about the boot bands is that you can use them in many different boots because they zip in and zip out!

Now all  I need is the snow to go away so I can wear them!

So This Is Fall?

 I am back after a short intrenetless hiatus! I went over my limit for the month of my Internet so I could only do the basic of things and even when I bought an extra GB of bandwidth I was still overly cautious ( YouTube is my downfall sometimes!) I was very worried about making it until my anniversary date of the 18th !

Now that I have finished my rant over the lack of Internet, here is what has been happening in Kimmirut.


Fall has descended on Nunavut.... I have a hard time typing this because I do not believe it is fall .... I am pretty damn sure it is winter though everyone tells me that it is fall and winter is not yet here. I did miss the leaves turning and the smell of fall in  New Brunswick this year but  I got to have some awesome adventures this fall/winter.

One of the things I have been doing recently is socializing with friends more. Almost every night we get together for dinner and tv or a movie. We also go to each others houses and just chill. It is a new thing for me as I would have people over once in a while but generally stuck to myself now not so much which is great now that the days are getting shorter!

Ever since daylight savings time ended I have been having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the sun goes down before my lunch  is over.. ( I normally have lunch at like 2-3) It is pitch black when I arrive home it really messes with your mind. It is hard when I am off and sleep in till like 10 , 11 or even 12 ( sometimes I need the sleep ) and I only have a few hours of day light..

This is what sunrise looks like ... this was taken about 9 am

 

 

Sometimes we don't even get sun just little teasers! This was about 12pm

Then the sun goes away

Through all this change of daylight hours the weather has been very inclement as well! Blizzards and snowfall warnings have hit Kimmirut twice in the past two weeks it is now officially Canada Goose weather ( for me it has been for the past two weeks!) I did not purchase my Canada Goose parka until I got up here mainly because in New Brunswick that is not possible in May so I ordered mine through work and it isn't here yet :( So Sheryl lent me her Canada Goose Resolute parka ( the same model  I ordered )  she does not need it because she is way acclimatized but I do!

 

 

 

Loving the Goose!

 

 

One Month Seems like a Life Time

As of Friday I have been in Nunavut a month. It has not seemed like a month it has seemed like I have been apart of the Kimmirut community for much longer. Which is great because it means I am accepting Nunavut as my new "home".

I still miss New Brunswick , especially my family but we talk alot through Facebook and the great phone plans everyone has gotten :) I am loving my job and the people I work with. I learn something new everyday. I am working on my Inuktitut ... I have progressed to 9 words.... OK well phrases and 7 words.

Slowly but surly I am getting use to living in Nunavut. Before I moved I was eating a lot healthier and working out more. Moving here got me out of whack I was eating alot of convince foods that I could just throw in the oven. I am working on making healthier eating a priority to me. That means Wednesdays will be my cooking day ... no more baking for me more making meals for the week .


There is a goal I have for myself that I want accomplish this summer. At the other end of town there is a big hill that goes up past the RCMP detachment to this flat spot by the power plant. I put some pics from up there in my last blog. I want to walk up that hill and just chill on the upper part when the sun is up, Which is pretty much from 2:30am until 11pm and supposedly getting longer!


Now that the ice is breaking up I cant wait to take some more pictures of the area. Although it has been rainy and foggy here so not ideal picture taking. Although I am looking forward to seeing the Sea barge when they come in. We are expecting ours to come in the middle of July.

The sea barge is how large quanties of dry shelf stable foods get shipped to Nunavut communities. It is a better freight pricing and can supply you with alot of dry goods and cleaning products. I was lucky because Sheryl( my boss) was able to get my cat litter and cat food on the barge order. Though it was very hard figuring out how much cat food my cat eats and how much litter she uses because I bought cat food and littler supply for a year.

A cool thing for us in Nunavut that happened this week was Qiniq (our Internet provider) launched a new package. Here in Nunavut the Internet packages are similar to Rogers there is a cap after so much usage. I hit my cap this week ( which was ok because my renewal date was tomorrow) Well the new package is like 80 bucks a month but gives very fast speeds and a higher cap.  I was super pumped because I was not able to really use the Internet except for basic Facebooking .

Sorry for no pictures this time but I am sure I will find something to take pictures of here against soon!

Back to the World

I am sure some of you thought that I abandoned my blog ..... your not so lucky!

My first week in the North was quite eventful! Work is entertaining and very challanging. I like that there is never the same thing twice . Good thing to keep my mind fresh. My co-workers are great and teaching me some Inktatut so far my word count is up to 4 words!

Kanwipe- How are you?
Dayma- Finished?
Nacome- Thank you
Your Welcome- which I cannot remember but it still counts!

I am sure I just butchered the spelling of those words.

I have met alot of people which is awesome and am starting to recognize a few faces. I also can make my way around the "subburbs" and the arena which I did not know Kimmirut had until I went to make a delivery with Sheryl.

I can now get around on my own!

The big challange I faced was my internet. As a person who has been connected to my friends and family through the internet to lose that connection was crazy! Especially when I was off for two days in a row! It turned out I did not pay my internet ....Oops ... guess I didnt know about that one. Then my modem wouldn't pick up connection... got a replacement and that one didnt work! Now I am all hooked up! Thank god I was getting a bit stir crazy.


One of the hardest things I have had to get use to with moving is the weather! There has been a bit of a cold snap here and it is a bit of a pain in the butt to bundle up to go to work. The biggest kicker was when I was talking to my little sister Allyson during the long weekend. She was like "Oh it is so hot here and I think I got heat exhsution" mean while I woke up to snow that covered the ground.... Ok so it didnt stay but it was still there!!

Well that is all my musings for now... look forward to hearing more from me for now on! Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and commented it has been great to hear from you!