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!

Leaving on A Jet plane ...with a Pink Cat Carrier

So my itinerary is confirmed the recruiting office sent it off to me yesterday and I confirmed with them today. I was a bit worried about bringing my cat Paislie in the cabin with me as I know I will be taking a smaller plane into Kimmirut but they confirmed everything and she is all set too!

The itinerary is a bit hectic leaving Fredericton at 6am .... ouch I don't like early mornings and I will have to leave St.Stephen probably around 4am to get there! The great thing is it is a short flight to Ottawa with a layover then off to Iqaluit a short layover in Iqaluit then on to Kimmirut. Paislie is confirmed for everything the whole way.


This lead to a impromptu race to Wal Mart for a soft cat carrier! My younger sister and I went and hummed and hahhhed over a few and finally decided on this pink flowered cat carrier...

So my cat is going to be a styling flying kitty!


Today was also another day of checking things off my To Do list. I had to talk to Service New Brunswick about my Medicare card since they have not mailed me a new one yet and stopped into the Eye Dr about more contacts.

I even was able to get everything switched at the bank. So today I felt like I accomplished quite a bit. I was even able to get some sizes for totes so I can ship some items to Kimmirut!

Since I am off work tomorrow I think I am going to decide what I am taking with me and hopefully get some stuff sorted out. I need to figure out my final baggage allowance and decide how many additional bags I am going to take with me on the airline.