I an still in the process of unpacking and not much in the mood for writing -- but had to mention that the lake is starting to freeze. You can see these odd patches that don't move. I heard it gets to be 8' thick and folks drive trucks on it.
The view out my new windows is even better than the old one - though it is in the same direction so maybe it is my imagination. In the night sky, straight in front of me (and directly over the lake) is Orion and to the right is Venus. It is a spectacular view. Mind you, Ken says it is not so special in the winter when it is all white and you can't tell where the land ends and the "water" begins. I'll withhold my judgement.
Cheers,
Cindy (who better get back to marking the journals of her students)
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Cheeks
The feeling is returning to my cheeks. The second wedding in two days and that meant another night of dancing and games. This time it was Janine and I and we had a great time. I got up for the jigging contest and one of my students captured it on video. I'll get it next week and post it. I have no idea who my partner was - all part of the fun.
The wind is around 80kph and whipped us home; but was worth it when Janine took the time to look up from the road and noticed the aurora. There is a planet (Venus?) and lots of stars and then the aurora dancing in and out of them.
Awesome.
The wind is around 80kph and whipped us home; but was worth it when Janine took the time to look up from the road and noticed the aurora. There is a planet (Venus?) and lots of stars and then the aurora dancing in and out of them.
Awesome.
Blizzard
I recall reading that Baker Lake is the blizzard capital of Canada. Tonight I am verifying the truth of this. The morning was crisp but held no warnings of the evening to come. It was the second day this week with some ice over puddles on the morning walk to work but nothing to cause worry. Okay - two days ago some kids said there were snowflakes at lunch but I didn't see them. Ostrich!
There are two weddings in town. Each will feature a feast and an evening of square dancing. I promised the students I would be there. After my appearance last weekend at the teen dance I received a flurry of invitations to show up at the latest shindig. I was able to convince Jonathan to come with me and as he went upstairs to change I heard the front door open and close and for some reason decided to take a look at the weather. Holy mackeral!! There was enough snow on the front porch that the smokers standing in their slippers made tracks. Get out the parka.
Jonathan and I had fun walking to the arena and even more fun at the wedding party. I played one of the games where you stand in a circle and toss a die and if you get the previously decided upon number you go into the middle and jig with the "stick" in your hand until the next person rolls the number and takes it from you. At the end of 10 minutes the man and woman in the middle get a prize. I made it to the middle twice and clogged to a cheering crowd. That just got me geared up for the next event: do your best crazy dance to "Wipeout". I shook my bum and finished with the splits. I wouldn't have thought to do the splits but some students kept asking me to do them (ever since I did them at the teen dance I get daily requests). I made it into the finals and came about 5th overall. Darn it - I wanted the purple fun fur fuzzy jacket. There was no way to beat a little kid - but what would he want with a purple fuzzy jacket thing? Sour grapes on my part ;-)
Jonathan left as he was getting way too hot in his new winter boots. Tomorrow night we plan to take shoes in a bag. That meant I had to walk home alone and that was an adventure. By now the storm was ..... well, a storm. The wind was raging and by the time I hit the high road I was blown the rest of the way home. At one point the drifts were over my hiking boots. Craaaaazy. (but fun) Let's face it, it wasn't that cold and so it was still fun. I am well aware that add a drop in temperature and I will not be celebrating the arrival of winter.
I snuggled up (it was after 1AM) and caught the rest of a movie I had started watching on TV at lunch. Then the power went out. There was nothing to do but go to bed. I was wakened by the TV when the power came back on 2 hours later. The wind is pelting ice crystals at my windows. They were hitting me in the face on the way to the dance so I feel better being on the inside of the house. The sound is pretty loud, but I think I am now tired enough to fall asleep.
Good night from Blizzardville.
Cindy (who wore her old parka tonight that she bought to go to God's River in 1986)
There are two weddings in town. Each will feature a feast and an evening of square dancing. I promised the students I would be there. After my appearance last weekend at the teen dance I received a flurry of invitations to show up at the latest shindig. I was able to convince Jonathan to come with me and as he went upstairs to change I heard the front door open and close and for some reason decided to take a look at the weather. Holy mackeral!! There was enough snow on the front porch that the smokers standing in their slippers made tracks. Get out the parka.
Jonathan and I had fun walking to the arena and even more fun at the wedding party. I played one of the games where you stand in a circle and toss a die and if you get the previously decided upon number you go into the middle and jig with the "stick" in your hand until the next person rolls the number and takes it from you. At the end of 10 minutes the man and woman in the middle get a prize. I made it to the middle twice and clogged to a cheering crowd. That just got me geared up for the next event: do your best crazy dance to "Wipeout". I shook my bum and finished with the splits. I wouldn't have thought to do the splits but some students kept asking me to do them (ever since I did them at the teen dance I get daily requests). I made it into the finals and came about 5th overall. Darn it - I wanted the purple fun fur fuzzy jacket. There was no way to beat a little kid - but what would he want with a purple fuzzy jacket thing? Sour grapes on my part ;-)
Jonathan left as he was getting way too hot in his new winter boots. Tomorrow night we plan to take shoes in a bag. That meant I had to walk home alone and that was an adventure. By now the storm was ..... well, a storm. The wind was raging and by the time I hit the high road I was blown the rest of the way home. At one point the drifts were over my hiking boots. Craaaaazy. (but fun) Let's face it, it wasn't that cold and so it was still fun. I am well aware that add a drop in temperature and I will not be celebrating the arrival of winter.
I snuggled up (it was after 1AM) and caught the rest of a movie I had started watching on TV at lunch. Then the power went out. There was nothing to do but go to bed. I was wakened by the TV when the power came back on 2 hours later. The wind is pelting ice crystals at my windows. They were hitting me in the face on the way to the dance so I feel better being on the inside of the house. The sound is pretty loud, but I think I am now tired enough to fall asleep.
Good night from Blizzardville.
Cindy (who wore her old parka tonight that she bought to go to God's River in 1986)
Saturday, 24 September 2011
Things and Kisses
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)
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)
Spring Break Up
I love the duo called "Spring Break Up". The group consists of Kim Barlow and Mathias Kom and they are hilarious and sweet. I saw them perform at the Port in Nanaimo and right now they are playing on CBC Radio and I am not sure I can keep writing as I just want to sit in a chair and listen.
I'm back! However, it is not a day to sit indoors and listen to the radio. It is gorgeous outside and so I am going to run away. Days like this are not common and will be fewer and fewer. There were traces of snow the other day. Yup. Snow. Sigh.
I'm back! However, it is not a day to sit indoors and listen to the radio. It is gorgeous outside and so I am going to run away. Days like this are not common and will be fewer and fewer. There were traces of snow the other day. Yup. Snow. Sigh.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
My Apartment
Someone asked me about my new place. It is quite nice and is one of the newer apartment complexes in the hamlet. It's a bit small - and I don't even want to think about my 37 pieces that should be arriving next week!
This is the view from the bedroom end of the apartment (the bedroom door is on the right).
The bathroon is behind the kitchen -- right off the front door so convenient for those transitions from cold to hot when you can't wait.
There is a large hall closet across from the bathroom.
This is the view from the front door. You can see the pantry on the right. There are sliding doors and the door to the right of the pantry hides the washer and dryer.
And all my stuff will go ........ where?
BTW, you may have noticed in others pictures that the roads are red. I think I mentioned before that it looks like you are on PEI. It is a very dusty place and hard to keep clean. At school we have to remove our shoes and change into "indoor" shoes. Here is a sample of the dirt on my entrance floor.
It's quite a nice colour - and makes it much easier to see for sweeping.
Bye for now.
Cindy (who also had red mud on her pants)
The bathroon is behind the kitchen -- right off the front door so convenient for those transitions from cold to hot when you can't wait.
There is a large hall closet across from the bathroom.
I will have to clean off the counter if I am going to make room for a microwave. Other folks have put it on top of the fridge. Ugh.
And all my stuff will go ........ where?
BTW, you may have noticed in others pictures that the roads are red. I think I mentioned before that it looks like you are on PEI. It is a very dusty place and hard to keep clean. At school we have to remove our shoes and change into "indoor" shoes. Here is a sample of the dirt on my entrance floor.
It's quite a nice colour - and makes it much easier to see for sweeping.
Bye for now.
Cindy (who also had red mud on her pants)
Dance the Night Away
Friday night was the continuation of Grad Night. The search for the missing fisherman is still going on, but so must the grad celebration. I arrived late because ........
Amanda is doing the Jillian Michaels workout and I have done NOTHING for my body since arriving so I invited myself to join her. She had also made "Indian tacos" for dinner and invited Jonathan and myself. We had a great time and it was hard to leave. Hence....I arrived late to the party.
I got there in time to join the musical chairs game. I made it about half way through before night finding a seat. At one point I plunked my butt right on top of another woman. Everyone had a good laugh at that. I sat with Becky (the Inuktitut teacher) and her mom. Her mom was from Chesterfield Inlet and as a bride came to Baker Lake on a dogsled when she was 19. I played two more games (a dice game/present grab and the get in # groups) and watched the grads play a couple of other games. The music was super. One of my students played the guitar and there was a great kid on the drums. The accordian was shared by an old woman and a young man and a couple also played the bass guitar. I was hoping to be able to dance but the square dance was next and it was almost midnight. I was getting tired and I knew the square dancing would go for ages. It is the kind without a caller and you have to know the patterns. I really wanted to jig - but will have to wait for the next dance. Nancy, one of the cleaners at the school, puts on music and we dance in the classrooms. She said that they often have teen dances on Friday night and then at midnight the kids have to leave and the adults dance. Next time.
I was chatting outside to two of my students and one of the grads and asked where I could buy a pop. (I thought there might be some for sale at the grad event, but there wasn't.) She said she was in the mood for one as well and walked me over. Oh my!! Candy heaven. The store was a house with the walls all gone and replaced with racks and counters of junk food. I bought a Diet Coke in a bottle and a bag of cheezies (I know, I know - I just did the Jillian Michaels thing). The bill came to $7.33 - it was the SMALL bag of cheezies and a SMALL bottle of pop. That should keep me out of candy hell.
Cindy (who is recovering from the sugar rush)
Amanda is doing the Jillian Michaels workout and I have done NOTHING for my body since arriving so I invited myself to join her. She had also made "Indian tacos" for dinner and invited Jonathan and myself. We had a great time and it was hard to leave. Hence....I arrived late to the party.
I got there in time to join the musical chairs game. I made it about half way through before night finding a seat. At one point I plunked my butt right on top of another woman. Everyone had a good laugh at that. I sat with Becky (the Inuktitut teacher) and her mom. Her mom was from Chesterfield Inlet and as a bride came to Baker Lake on a dogsled when she was 19. I played two more games (a dice game/present grab and the get in # groups) and watched the grads play a couple of other games. The music was super. One of my students played the guitar and there was a great kid on the drums. The accordian was shared by an old woman and a young man and a couple also played the bass guitar. I was hoping to be able to dance but the square dance was next and it was almost midnight. I was getting tired and I knew the square dancing would go for ages. It is the kind without a caller and you have to know the patterns. I really wanted to jig - but will have to wait for the next dance. Nancy, one of the cleaners at the school, puts on music and we dance in the classrooms. She said that they often have teen dances on Friday night and then at midnight the kids have to leave and the adults dance. Next time.
I was chatting outside to two of my students and one of the grads and asked where I could buy a pop. (I thought there might be some for sale at the grad event, but there wasn't.) She said she was in the mood for one as well and walked me over. Oh my!! Candy heaven. The store was a house with the walls all gone and replaced with racks and counters of junk food. I bought a Diet Coke in a bottle and a bag of cheezies (I know, I know - I just did the Jillian Michaels thing). The bill came to $7.33 - it was the SMALL bag of cheezies and a SMALL bottle of pop. That should keep me out of candy hell.
Cindy (who is recovering from the sugar rush)
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