I have been remiss because I have been tired. I cannot believe how hard I am working. I stay after school every day and come home to eat and crash. Weekends are barely different. However, I have had a few thigs to relate to the general public and since I had a good sleep I feel awake enough to write. Don't expect another blog entry any time soon -- though I will try and not wait so long.
Big news was my palette came in. That means my "stuff" arrived. All the things I packed up at the beginning of August finally made it out of the warehouse in Winnipeg. They sat in Rankin Inlet for a bit and now I have 30-some boxes to unpack. Well, most of it is done now with a few semi-unpacked ones strewn about the apartment. There is hardly a bare surfac as the place is small. I have put in a notice to move. There is an apartment complex across the street from the school. The places are older but a big larger and they are ACROSS the STREET from the school. When it hits -65 this will be a plus. There are no openings right now but I hope to get on a wait list. I have to admit I don't know what that means as waiting up North is a game played by many and won by few.
I was able to attend a production of Cinderella last night. Hey there NTG folks, you can let out your collective breath, you have nothing to worry about. A group from the USA called Missoula Children's Theatre comes to Baker Lake and helps students put on a show. Two lovely young people did the whole thing themselves; quite an accomplishment. The kids were great and everyone had a good time. For the Lighting geeks out there....picture two sets of floodlamps on stands -- and a plug. Yay!
On the 17th is was Canada Sports Day and we had a 2K race/walk. I had a blast. I walked with Nancy 1 -- she cleans the first floor and Nancy 2 does the 2nd floor. I sometimes call Nancy 2 "Nancy Hand" because she has an injury. They both came over to the house last weekend for a little visit. Anyways, Nancy 1 and I walked together and at one point we were so slow there was an elder in front of us and I said there was no way she was going to beat us as we could never live down the embarrassment -- so we trotted now and then. The road I am on is sometimes referred to as the "high" road as it is closest to the snow fence and furthest from the lake -- hence higher up; and it is windy. It is the most open to the elements (and a good reason to move "into town"). This part of the race slowed us down the most. However, once we turned down towards the lake we put on some steam and I got silly. I began dancing down the road and entertaining the women behind us -- including the elder who was not so far away that we could say we left her in our dust. If I wasn't doing a salsa then I was pretending to walk on the catwalk. They were laughing and you know that just eggs me on. Like I said, I had a blast.
Oh - and there were prizes. We all got numbers for our jackets at the start and upon crossing the finish line we got medals. I did take some pictures. Later. Then we went inside the arena/community centre and the organizers handed out bagged lunches. Awesome! There were peanuts and granola bars and apples. Then there were the big prizes. They had all the numbers in a hat and pulled random numbers for prizes. Guess who got to dance her way to the front to get her prize? It was a device for monitoring your heart rate and other stuff - meant for athletes. I gave it away to one of my students who said it might help him in training for hockey. Cool. Might as well put it to good use. Goodness knows I have not been doing a like of exercise. I feel guilty - but also TIRED. And I know the old thing about you'll have more energy if you exercise.......but I can barely keep my eyes open. 'Nuf said; I know better; I'll get there. Sheesh.
At the prize party I had the chance to use my sigh language. No kidding! I have signed to one of the kids at school who happens to be deaf. She has a real, full time interpreter. However, this was a grown woman. Turns out she is Deaf and was there with some of her children. We were chatting and then they started to call the numbers so I signed them for her. Not a very taxing interpreting job - but being in the right place at the right time..... Hey there, Ms. Thorpe, she shares your first name!
Nancy 1 and I headed to the Northern as she wanted a coffee and donut. We sat and chatted and met some students and some of her family. A woman sat down with her son and I found out he just started kindergarden. When she went up to go get her order he moved over to the seat by me and leaned up and put his nose to mine. "Eskimo kisses" are not a myth!! I remember writing in my blog from Tasiujaq that I noticed the women did not kiss babies but smelled them and I took this to be the equivalent of the "rubbing noses" Southerners hear about growing up. However, in this region it is more of a deliberate touching; I have even seen it among adult family members. Just a wee anthropological note.
Cheers.
Cindy (who still smiles when she recalls that little nose pressed to her own)
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