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!

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!

The Days are Running Together

WOW!

Time is flying by here in the North I cannot believe that we are already into the second week of December. It has been a really hectic time here.


When I first got to Kimmirut my store manager Sheryl told me that Christmas would be our busiest time of year. I didn't think it would be that busy but oh boy! We run alot of events at the store from Moonlight Madness to Ladies night and more

Each of these nights has games, specials and more. It is pretty fun running them everyone is hyped up for the games and really get into the spirit which is awesome to see.

The past couple of weeks have seen many parcels come through the door of our store from my family back home . I am not allowed to have them because they are sooo sure I would peak and or unwrap my Christmas presents early ( I soo would) so they are in my bosses name and I will get them when it is Christmas Day.

I have to say that this Christmas is going to be tough for me being away from my family. I will be the first person in my family to miss Christmas at home. It sucks and I wish I could be there but I knew when I signed up for this that I would be here for Christmas . It was even a source of many days worth of tears when I first found out about coming to Kimmirut.

I am so glad that my family has been sending me care packages filled with Christmas goodies and decorations. I have been able to keep certain Christmas traditions alive such as putting up my Christmas tree the first weekend in December ( I slightly preempted this) and making Christmas cookies.

This is my first fake Christmas Tree!

When I first came North I was so sure Christmas would suck for me without my family and while it will not be the same  I have found that some of my friends will be in town over Christmas. Most of my friends are transient like I am and we have formed a great group. So I will not be at home alone sitting on my couch  crying ( like I imagined myself in the early days of moving North) I have two (possibly three) Christmas dinners to go to and one of my good friend's I met here is going to stay over at my house Christmas Eve.

I am also looking forward to seeing how the Hamlet celebrates the holidays .. There seems to be games and fireworks and a skidoo parade I am sure I will be out there snapping pictures and trying to capture it all so I can have it for keeps.

On a happier note I also (Finally) got my Canada Goose parka! I don't know if I shared the saga of my parka with you all or not but I ordered my Parka once I was in Kimmirut and I ordered the Canada Goose Resolute men's 2XL parka and I waited.... It took two and a half months to get here. In the mean time my boss let me use her parka I then found out hers was a 1XL men's parka... Needless to say when it got in it was too big! Which lead to a call to Iqaluit Northmart to see if they would swap my parka for a smaller size. They were cool with it and then came back and told me they had a 1XL Expedition parka in Red and Black... I chose the black and packaged up my parka to be sent to Iqaluit.

I got the "new from Iqaluit" parka and it was a 2XL... I was slightly pissed but then I tried it on and found it fit wayy different than the Resolute parka and still fit nicely so I kept it.

Here is me rocking out to my new parka!

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!

 

 

Liebster Award Nomination!!!!

The other night  I came home from having a get together with friends at about 1am and was checking my email and found a Tweet from my friend Sarah who blogs as www.sarahontheroad.com telling me she nominated me for a Liebster Award and giving me a link to her blog post ... I had to admit I was curious as to what exactly a Liebster Award was.

The Liebster Awards are given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who do not yet have 200 followers.

                                                       

The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome

RULES:

1. Each Person posts Eleven things about them
 

2. Answer the questions the nominator made for you, and create 10 more questions for the blogs you nominate.

3. Choose nominations and link them to your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them.
 

Here are Eleven Random Facts about Me !

- Books are a passion and something I cannot go a day without reading! My friends have even described a bibbliomaniac and I fear some days it is true! I have spent many a nights awake just finishing the last pages of a book sometimes even the sun is coming up!

- I love to bake but I hate to clean up my baking dishes... I wish I had a person just to clean up all the dishes you accumulate from baking.

- I hate mornings .. it is kind of sad how much I enjoy sleep I have the most annoying ring tone on my old cell phone as I can ( a Roster crowing ) and I set my alarm for three different times before I wake up..

-  My favorite city to visit is Boston so much history and love walking around Cambridge

- I have way too many travel ambitions and they vary from wanting to see Greenland to lounging on a beach in the Bahamas

- Before moving North I would never eat anything that was not Chicken , pork or Beef ... Now I love seal and muktuk... but I would still never eat a Mushroom

- I am a huge Criminal Minds and NCIS freak.. I could watch them for ages and never get bored

- I believe there should be a recipe for everything... Soups , baked beans and things that my family tell me is just a bit of this and that annoy me so I make them give me more precise measurements

- Grocery Shopping relaxes me.. Nothing better than finding yummy foods to eat and being able to take as much time as you want... Grocery shopping on the fly frazzles me

- My musical tastes vary depending on my moods... I love everything from rap to classical , heavy metal and country

- Nothing is better on a cold winter night ( or in this case Fall night) then watching Disney cartoon movies... reminds me of being a kid!

My TEN Questions form Sarah are:

1. Where is your happy place?  My Happy place is sitting outside in the sunshine reading my books.

 

2. What is your least favourite thing to do? Dishes... I don't know why but that is my least favorite chore

 

3. Why did you choose to live where you are living? I didn't choose Kimmirut per say as this is where they placed me but I did make my preference known for Nunavut and above the Tree Line.

 

4. What is your absolute comfort food? It may sound gross but elbow macaroni cooked and then you take a can of Campbell's tomato Soup and do not dilute it and mix it with the macaroni... it is my child hood favorite.

 

5. If you had to pick three friends to be on your team to survive a zombie apocalypse and explain why they are on your team! Humm that is a hard question.. I would say Jen because she is the person that I think would have the most level head and could keep the hysteria down. My friend Hanna would be the one who would find food because she is always trying new things and could probably convince us to eat crazy things.  My sister Whitney because she has enough survival skills to keep us all alive!

 

6. What is your most favourite song? That is for sure a hard question! I like too may songs but if I had to say if there was one song I favorite is a Parody of  LMFAOs Party Rock Anthem... Called Potter Rock

 

 

7. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?  Craziest thing I have ever done was break out dancing and singing loudly in the middle of  the store I work in because the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" came on

8. If you could have coffee with anyone in the world who would it be? and why? I would love to have coffee with Hannah Howell she is my favorite author and I would love to just talk to her about how she comes up with her ideas and can make them carry on through many books.

9. If you could go on an all expenses paid holiday for 2 weeks – where would it be? I would go to the Scottish Highlands... it has always been a place that fascinates me the mystery and the history .. I would explore every castle I could.

10. When did you start blogging and why did you continue to blog? I started this blog because I wanted to share my experiences living in the North. I also wanted a way for my family to keep in touch with my adventures without having to send out a million emails every time. As well not everyone gets to experience the North and alot of people have questions so I hope my blog answers some of them.

My 10 Questions for my Nominees are:

 

1) What is your favorite move of all time?

2) What is one skill you do exceptionally well?

3) If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go an why?

4) What is one food you would never stop eating?

5) What is your worst habit.. Would you change it?

6) What is the one thing that always comes with you on all your moves?

7)  If you could dance with one celebrity for an hour would you dance with?

8) What drew you to area where you live?

9) What is the one piece of clothing in your wardrobe that you love?

10) Why do you continue to blog?

 

 

My Nominees:

 

 Darcy- http://eighteightyone.blogspot.ca - A former Nunavut Blogger who now resides in Fort Mac and I love reading his adventures out West.

 

Townie Bastard- http://towniebastard.blogspot.ca/ - The Godfather of Nunavut blogging ... Have to say he is a plethora of information!

 

Golda- http://justgolda.blogspot.ca/- A teacher here in town who has become a great friend this blog is her adventures as a teacher in the North

 

Hailey- http://allofitornunavut.blogspot.ca/- A teacher in Whale Cove NU, her adventures in the North

 

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!