Interesting perspective

What does it mean to be in the north. My whole life, I've referred to where I lived as "north". When I grew up in Goulais river, I was in "Northern Ontario", and made sure I was not lumped into the Ontario to the south... Then I moved to Thunder Bay and it was the same, I was living in Northwestern Ontario, and felt as though that was different from the rest of my home province.  Then, yet again, I moved to a place that craved its' own identity. Greenstone and the 5500 residents definitely have a strong sense of pride in where they come from. The harsh winters, the great "secret" fishing lakes and the absolutely unforgiving winter weather and treacherous highways.  Actually... Come to think of it, in Goulais River and Thunder Bay, we always talked about those same things. The things that made us "different" from everywhere else. The great fishing, crazy winter weather and horrible driving conditions... I've started this blog with this thought to introduce you to something I've noticed up here. 

When I am talking to someone from Whale Cove and I refer to home... Whether the home I am talking about is where I have my childhood memories or where I own my house now... I refer to it as "Ontario". I don't say Goulais River, Sault Ste. Marie or Longlac... I just say Ontario... Because to anyone here... They are all the same.  

Everything in life is relative, and for the first time I can say that I am definitely from the "South". Here's something to think of... I live about 2200 km north of Sault Ste. Marie, and almost exactly 1800 km north of Longlac.  It would be a shorter drive to go to Florida than it would be to drive here. And anyone that lives in Nunavut excluding the residents of Arviat, would call where I live now..."south".  Whale Cove is one of the most Southern places in Nunavut. 

It makes you think, Perspective is an interesting thing. 

Anyways, the last week I have had to get back to life in Whale Cove.  After my trip to Iqaluit, I had to adjust again to the quiet lifestyle of it here. I have started to really make some headway in my class lately as well!  I have my GCHS ENG1D class from last year (Wilson's gr10 class now) to thank for this huge improvement in my class!  Mr. Wilson and I have started a pen pal program between our two classes. My students have really started to take interest in their writing and have started trying to make improvements in their writing and language skills. They have become interested like never before! I'm excited for them to get their first letters back from Wilson's class.  Some of them have already connected on Facebook and are telling me about their penpals. (Hopefully their letters will still be relevant). 

Many of my students have unbelievable stories that they should have the opportunity of sharing with someone who isn't accustomed to the way of life up here. They have done so much at such a young age, they hunt, they fish, they play but most importantly and impressively they survive. The class that they are writing to will get a sneak peak into the lives of true Inuit people.  A great experience for everyone!

As for the weather (the common thing to talk about). The skies opened up last night and dumped a bunch of snow... The winds have reached 70km/hr and have been howling for the whole weekend... And it isn't supposed to stop anytime soon. This seems like something that will become normal for me, and already is losing its appeal to talk about. But. Yea... I think winter might be here. Now I need to find out what I'm going to do with my 4 wheeler!  Haha I don't have anywhere to store it yet... But Sean said I should be okay if I just tarp it up. The quad season is almost over. :(

I wanted to write this tonight to make sure I wished everyone a happy thanksgiving!  I am truly thankful for many things in my life... For my amazing family, for my supportive and caring friends, for the lessons I have learned in life that make me a better person and also for the lessons I will have the opportunity to teach.

Have a great thanksgiving everybody. 

Travel guide for Iqaluit

So I am back in Whale cove after a week long trip to Iqaluit. It was a great trip... But it's also nice to be back in whale cove. 

As we all would, i expected that in Iqaluit the taxis would be just like everywhere else... after the cabbie explained that it was 6 bucks per stop anywhere in iqaluit, I said generously, "I'll get the cab fare". There were 3 of us in the cab... Julia and Jenny (my new teacher friends from Repulse Bay) were nice enough to let me in on a little secret of the north. The cab fare is per person. Haha. That would have been a pretty pricey cab ride!

So yea. There are many things like this that are different here.  A good thing to remember when in Nunavut is to not assume anything. Many things  you would just assume are just the same as everywhere else until its too late and you notice they aren't. 

The people in iqaluit are very artistic, the local cultural art is the  most amazing I've seen in regards to carvings and jewellery.  It may be an Inuit art themed Christmas!!

The whole city is lined with this cultural art. The streets have carvings on every corner, the buildings have cultural "graffiti" on them and the government buildings all have cultural aspects to them as well!  It's really neat to see. 

Another thing that was very different from anywhere else I've been is the restaurant/bar atmosphere here. It is very common and completely expected to have many locals come by your table to try and sell you their artwork.  Some come by to show you their latest carvings, others want to show you their earrings or necklaces... but, my personal favourite was an artist (a regular in the bar) that everyone knows as "smiley", he stopped by to entertain us, to make us laugh and also to talk us into buying his amazing wall hangings. He started by showing us a really nice painting on canvas, it was of narwhals and had a Nunavut theme in the background with the flag, some Inuktitut syllabics and an inuksuk. I really liked it, so I asked, "how much?" And the games began!! Smiley named his price, "100 bucks for this one." He knew this was a game of bargaining and definitely named a high price to be able to settle a little lower, but this bartering is an art in itself, and Smiley has definitely been doing it much longer than I.  We went back and forth for a bit and settled on $60. Julia (One of the girls I met on the plane & my new nunavut teacher friend) said she wanted one too, but he had left... I'm sure he heard her, he went away, only to return with 5 more. 

He came right back to our table. And this time he started much cheaper. He said he would give us a "deal" 1 for $40 or all 5 for $150!! This was a deal if you went on what I just paid for 1! But I am sure he won on that last sale. We ended up somehow getting all 5 for $100. The lesson here is ... if you are ever in any restaurant, Name your price when they come around with artwork. They will definitely leave at first, but if you have named a fair price (one that you and they are comfortable with) they will almost always come back and accept your offer. Make sure you have the cash on you. It's probably a wise thing to have a few hundred on you when you go out... Just so you are ready for the artists. 

The local artists depend on this market to make their money. They depend on the transient crowds in the hotel bars and restaurants to buy their artwork, and to be honest, I was taken back by how good it all was!

You definitely can get deals in these places too. If you were to go and buy carvings at the art stores, sometimes you could pay 3-5 times as much as you would in the bars.

You kinda cut out the middle man. The main trick is to know when to buy. A carving that was priced at $250 at dinner time may drop to $150 by midnight. Sometimes the artists need to sell, (for various reasons). The later the time, the better the deals!  But remember, the best quality artwork can be found at dinner time. 

Flying around Nunavut a little has given me a different perspective too. Many times during this trip to Iqaluit I witnessed the extremely laid back way of life that I am getting used to here. As an example... I got my boarding pass to board the flight back from iqaluit. On the pass it says that my seat is 10A. Normally you get on the plane and find your seat... Well today when I boarded the plane, there was only 1 guy on the plane before me... I looked for my seat, the guy was sitting in my seat! Haha. Before I could say anything he said, "we just sit wherever we want in the north... Grab my seat, I think I was 6A."  And that was it.  So when you get on a flight up here (if you are ever travelling in the north) and you like window seats, make sure you board the plane quickly. Before they are all taken. 

I was lucky enough to meet many people during this trip who made it very fun and also informative!  I was given a great tour of the city by my new friend Cheryl... She showed me the old Hudson Bay company buildings

that were built a very long time ago, showed me many different places that had unbelievable views and took many great pictures.

After the tour we went to a movie (by far the smallest theatre I have ever been in.) and she also took me out for a night of karaoke at the world famous Iqaluit legion.  Was great to get out and see the sights!  Thanks Cheryl! 

All in all, it was a great trip to Iqaluit. It was interesting to see how BIG a city of 7000 people could actually be.  

While sitting in the restaurant I didn't feel like I was in Nunavut. The city of Iqaluit is truly multicultural.  I know that seems weird because it has such a small population, but I can say that I was amazed with the different races, ethnicities and cultures that were present there. It definitely has a feeling of a big city.

 Most of Nunavut's government buildings and headquarters can be found in Iqaluit as well.  

Anyways, it a great place to visit! Lot to do and many friendly faces, cultural art and expensive groceries!! 

Until next time!