It's Cold in the Dark!!

It would seem that time has gotten away from me again, and here I am bewildered that's it been ages since I blogged about our adventures.  To be truthful, my creative juices have been flowing as I became Tuk's resident poet for several monumental staff member's birthdays, including Greg's, so I have been busy writing....just not here.

The last time I left off, we had just celebrated Hallowe'en.  Well, now we are past Remembrance Day and on our way to Christmas....soon.  This weekend will mark the first Sunday in Advent, so as of then my own personal Christmas season begins.

The side of the school on our way inside from recess last week
at 10:35 a.m.  The moon is still out!

Since Hallowe'en, it's been getting darker and colder - MUCH darker and MUCH colder! Each day we are losing 10 minutes of daylight.  We are at the point where morning recess is spent completely in the dark and we go home for lunch during dawn.  By shortly before 1:00 p.m. the sun is rising on our way back to school for the afternoon.  Even though I say the sun is rising, however, I mean that it makes an appearance over the horizon.  It is absolutely stunning because it is a 2 hour sunrise/sunset combination, because by the end of the school day at 3:45 p.m. the sun is on its way down, and by 4:15 we are in total darkness.  Yup....this is life in the North!  I'm not sure which is worse, total darkness or total daylight.  At least with the total darkness you can go to sleep and not be bothered.  Extra daylight would make you think you had to stay awake, which explains why the Inuvaluit are generally a nocturnal bunch.  What difference does it make whether you sleep during the day or night?  There's logic in there somewhere.

We knew that this was coming, and although I miss the feel of the sun on my face, I have to say that as a family we are more amused by this than we are bothered by it.  We know that eventually one day the sun just won't rise at all!  No dawn.  No twilight. Not even a peep of daylight for three whole weeks! The good news is that we will be in Ontario for most of that time, and by then I am sure that we will be happy to see the daylight.

We are extra glad that Gramma Wilson/Greg's Mom bought us a thoughtful anniversary gift called a Happy Light, which is plugged in by the computer here.  We turn it around so that everybody can bathe within its glow.  It is supposed to mimic the sunlight without the UV rays and help combat seasonal depression, which is something a lot of people who are not from here begin to enjoy about now through to March, when the sun is staying up for a respectable amount of time.  We have been taking our Vitamin D pills and everybody takes their turn in front of the Happy Light.

While all this darkness is descending upon us, so have the colder temperatures.  We have not had a lot of snow, unlike our friends and family in Ontario, but we are 'enjoying' (in the most sarcastic tone EVER) some polar temperatures that have us shivering in our temperature rated boots!  The average temperature these days is somewhere in the -20C range, and with the windchill it takes it down to somewhere between -30C and -40C.  The coldest it's been so far was -45C.  The rule is, once the temperature hits -40, the kids stay in for recess.  There are days when Patrick and Charlotte go sit in Greg's room quietly during their respective morning recesses so they don't have to go outside, and since their teachers are Tuk born and raised, they chuckle because they were so cold when it was -20C outside with windchill.  My kids gave up their recess privileges ages ago!

Another interesting fact I have noticed about the children up here is that the majority of them are very quick and independent when it comes to dressing in their outdoor clothes, even the kindergarten aged kids! They can jump into snowpants, boots, sweater and parka, hat, scarves (one for the neck and one for the face) and mittens/gloves in about a minute flat.  I have never seen it go so fast!  Some of the kids dawdle on purpose so they don't have to go outside, but the majority of the kids up here love the outdoors no matter what the temperature!  They'll tell you one of their favourite things to do is to "play out", which means go outside. My poor kids hurry into their clothing, but they're just pulling the snow guards from their snowpants over their boots by the time most kids are getting in line!  They don't get in trouble for it.  The teachers understand.  Poor Patrick, though, has never been the fastest at getting dressed in either indoor or outdoor clothes.  Until recently, I used to either help him get dressed or hand him his clothes, and when he was young I used to say, "I bet you can't put your shirt on in 5 seconds!" and of course he'd beat the challenge.  It's just that left to his own devices, he'd take 5 minutes to put his shirt on!  Well, now that he's 11 years old and puberty is well upon him, I just encourage him to move along when it comes to his indoor clothes at least.  Outdoor clothes, however, find me holding open his parka and handing him what he needs to put on next otherwise we'd all be in the van waiting for him until noon.

Some kids actually wear their snowpants as pants.  I asked about that, and was told by a staff member that they actually just wear a pair of long underwear so they don't overheat inside and just wear their snowpants all day.  Hmmmmmm.....maybe that's what we should be doing for Patrick!  When we come home for lunch I have told him not to worry about taking them off, but then there is the question of his bathroom break before heading back to school.  "I can't pee with my snow pants on, Mom!".

Right.  The kid has a point.

A Matter of Water Part II OR Noah's Arc of the North

Did you know that almost every major religion in the world has a story or record of a major flood which wiped out the evil in the world?  It's true.  I learned about this in my World Religions class while I was working on my undergrad degree back in the pre-child era.  Well, did you know that us Wilsons now have record of a major flood?  Oh yeah!  Read on.....


Some of you who follow me on Facebook will know about this MISadventure that befell our family a few days ago, but I would not be a faithful Blogger if I did not dutifully record the Wilson Family version of The Flood.  My Mom the Scrapbooker follows a saying, "If it isn't in the scrapbook, it didn't happen!".  Well, I guess I am following the mantra "If it isn't in the Blog, it either didn't happen or I didn't want to put it in."  Just kidding.  Here is the Wilson Family version of the Great Flood......


Once upon a time Jen was at home cleaning up the kitchen after the troglodytes left to go back to school.  She had put the dishes in the dishwasher and was at the kitchen sink washing the pots and pans, which do not go in the dishwasher.  As she washed the pot that had contained the chicken noodle soup, she felt the floor begin to vibrate, which is the telltale sign that the water truck is backing up beside the house to begin its daily delivery.


(A Quick Note: For those of you who have been following the blog for a while now, you will remember the Labour Day weekend we spent without water because our water tank ran dry.  For those of you who haven't been following as long or who need a kick in the head to remember such a scarring occurrence in our family history, please refer to the Blog entitled 'A Matter of Water'.)


Ever since that fateful day when the Wilsons ran out of water and had to spend part of the Labour Day weekend without water, the sound of the water delivery truck backing onto the property and the subsequent sound of rushing water into the tank had been music to her ears.  On the weekends when other members of the Wilsons are home, everybody went running to Jen to ensure she enjoyed the sound of the daily water delivery.  Indeed, a rotten day could be brightened by the sound of that water truck!

On the day in question, Jen was happily employed in the kitchen listening to the water gushing into the water tank, when, all of a sudden, there was a loud and startling, "BOOM!".  Jen jumped and before she could even react by finding where the noise had come from her socks were soaked with water!  She looked down and saw a flood of water coming from underneath the kitchen counter and pooling on the floor.  She ran around to the living room because she could still hear the sound of rushing water, and saw from across the living room that the door to the laundry room, which houses the heat pump, hot water heater and enormous water tank, had waves of water streaming out from underneath the door onto the living room floor!  The water truck had overfilled the water tank to the point where even the overflow unit which was supposed to protect the house from disasters such as this, was overflowing!  The ungodly noise Jen had heard before the water started to fill the living room was the lid of the water tank blowing off!

Jen freaked out!!  She tried to wave through the water to get to the front porch to yell at the delivery guys to stop, but the truck had packed up and was leaving before she could get outside.  What to do?  The only possible thing she could think to do was to get out the mop and the bucket used for the biweekly floor cleaning, but realized quickly it was a losing battle.  After a few phone calls to the landlord, who was not in Tuk at the time, and to the Hamlet of Tuk Offices, Jen realized she had to get Greg home.  She called the school and spoke to the school secretary, Audrey, who is the Authority of All Things Tuk.  She would know what to do.  Audrey sprung into action and called her husband, who promptly delivered a wet vac, and she sent Greg home on a 'Household Emergency' day.

Greg arrived home just as the wet vac was arriving, and between Jen and Greg, the half inch of standing water that was filling the living room and kitchen was sucked and/or dried up within a few hours.  Whew!  It was at this point that Jen updated her Facebook status stating that Greg, her Knight in Shining Armour, rescued his damp Damsel in Distress from her damp castle.

The story goes on from there.

A little while later, Greg noticed that the floors were still pretty cold, which was chalked up to the fact that some pretty cold water had pooled on it for a while so of course they would be cold.  Then the air started get colder, so the thermostat was turned up, only there was no heat.  Oh oh.  According to Jen's brother, who happened to call at the time, the Wilson family's rental home operated on radiant heat, which explains the baseboard heaters lining the walls and the sound of the trickling water running through them.  The heat pump in the laundry room, was not a furnace, but a heat pump which warms the water and pumps it through the pipes which run along the baseboard.  Or at least this is what Jen understood from Darren.

It began to get pretty darn cold.  After an emergency texting session with Audrey, a name was procured and said gentleman called to come look at the heat pump.  Sure enough, it had met with disaster during the flood, and was luckily a quick enough fix.  At this point, the gentleman, who also works for the Wilson Family's landlord, began to notice the laminate hardwood floors buckling.  The Wilsons were dry and warm, but sitting on a pile of water it seemed.

Upon his return, the Landlord paid the Wilson Family a visit to inspect their (well, his) floor, and to view the buckling, which was even more prominent and showing in several areas.  It would appear that the Wilsons will be living in a construction zone because the entire living room floor has to come up, the soaked padding has to be removed, and the floor underneath has to be examined for damage.  Yippeee!!

Today Jen was in the kitchen cleaning up after the troglodytes, who had just left for school again, when the floor began to vibrate.  Rather than smile and welcome the sound of the water delivery, Jen tensed, and a nervous knot formed in the pit of her stomach.  Gone are the days of a happy water sound.  From now on there will be nerves involved in the daily water delivery.

Here ends the story of the Wilson Family Flood. Thanks be to God....(and all involved who helped to get us dry and warm!).

Hallowe'en

HALLOWE'EN

BOO!!  (Did I scare you??)

The month of October is filled with anticipation in Tuk...for October 31st! Of course, kids all over the United States and Canada get excited about Hallowe'en.  There is something fun about dressing up in a costume or a disguise or being somebody different for a day or a night.  Up here, though, Hallowe'en is HUGE.  Since the Northern store only carries limited costumes, make-up and other seasonal merchandise, most families make homemade costumes that are simply out of this world.

Charlotte the Wonderful Witch

There is something about a homemade costume, don't you think?  Growing up, I was always lucky that I had a parent who sewed.  Over the years, my mom sewed me a gypsy costume, a wonderful polkadot clown costume complete with patches on the knees and a ruffle for my neck, a pilgrim costume including the little hat that turned back, and a wonderful ghost costume with a tie in my school colours that made me the 'school spirit' - lol.  I wore these costumes for several years in a row over the years and when they were outgrown or no longer used, they were passed on to other kids in the neighbourhood.  Up here, though, the costumes have a northern flair to them, which is only fitting.

The celebration of Hallowe'en would have begun on Friday, October 24th with an all ages Hallowe'en costume dance, but it was cancelled this year due to the fact that somebody broke into the Community Centre where the dance was being held.  I don't know how much damage was done or if it was a punishment, or whether things had to be replaced and they used the budget allocated for the Hallowe'en dance to pay for it....I'm not sure, but there was a lot of disappointment in the community about it.  How sad that the actions of a few idiots ruined it for everybody else.

Patrick the Tacky Guy...on the left

On October 30th there was a costume parade at the Community Centre, and people of all ages, especially kids, dressed up and went to be judged by members of the community.  Prizes were given out by age, and the kids had a ball. James, Patrick and Charlotte were not interested in going, and by the time we found out about it, it was almost too late anyway.  I am told that a lot of the kids who dress up and attend this event wear a different costume the next day at school, and then perhaps even something different again to go out trick-or-treating!  That's like a bride changing from a ceremony dress to a reception dress, which is becoming a popular thing.

James, the Ghost of Christmas
Future!

Anyway, the next day at school was Friday, October 31st - Hallowe'en.  That morning you could feel the excitement throughout the school...there was a buzz of energy that was almost palpable.  During the morning, kids came in their regular clothes.  There was a door decorating contest sponsored by the Grade 5 class, and they came around and judged the doors, which were adorned with all manner of spooky decorations.  My favourite door was Charlotte's Grade 3 class.  They made the neatest haunted houses for their door.  Each class had also been designated an amount of wall space in the gymnasium to use for decorating for the costume contest in the afternoon.  Some classes went all out, others....not so much, but it sure was fun to see what they came up with to decorate their space.  The Junior and Senior Kindergarten classes were definitely the ones who put the most effort into their wall space and they were creative and fun to view.


One thing lacking up here in Tuk at Hallowe'en are pumpkins turned jack'o'lanterns.  They do not travel well past the Arctic Circle, and they are so heavy that the cost is prohibitive.  This is why this year one of the stipulations of the gym decorations was that there had to be pumpkins somewhere in the design.  It was a little strange not seeing a jack'o'lantern glowing on front porches or in windows, and I admit I was a little sad not to have carved a pumpkin with the crew - but such is life.

Patrick's class before the judges post-parade.

The costume parade at school was amazing!!  Each class had their spot in the gymnasium and after lunch, they were brought to the gym in their costumes for the judging.  There were all kinds of community members in the gym watching and cheering for the kids.  I was in the audience too, and I had so much fun!!  They were playing great music and I was so enthusiastic, bopping there in my seat, that I actually got some of ladies sitting around me dancing too!

Some of the costume highlights were: a homemade Queen Elsa coronation costume that was even better than the Disney deluxe version; another Elsa whose hair was braided the way Elsa's was and then sprayed silver; an old Nanuk (which means grandmother in Inuvialuctin) with a cane and a hunched back; a two person (i.e. two-headed) werewolf; the most authentic vampire I have ever seen with make up that looked like a Hollywood make-up artist had travelled to Tuk; several cute and beautiful homemade princess dresses, pumpkins, clowns and witches and the cutest jellybean machine I have ever seen.  There was also a toddler running around in a homemade Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume whose real name is Jake.  I took a lot of pictures!

James' class.  His teacher dressed up as Snow White because
she is the GRADE 7 teacher......get it?

 At our house, we had a Wonderful Witch (who did not want to be a scary witch), a dancer from Weird Al's video about the song "Tacky", and the Ghost of Christmas Future.  Nobody really understood the boys' costumes...which was sad, but they just aren't into Weird Al Yankovic or classic Christmas movies up here.  You know when someone comes up to you and gives you a weird look and says, "What ARE you?"  Well, James heard that far too often in the span of a few minutes, and took the Santa hat off his death costume after that.  Patrick just ignored peoples' comments about his Tacky costume.  WE all thought he looked wonderful!  I dressed in long white gloves, some Hawaiian leis, and wore a headband with colourful streamers hanging from it, took a teddy bear, and smeared lipstick all around and on my lips and went as a kid who played dress up.

Then there was Greg.  Greg's students were teasing him throughout October and said to him that with his round belly, he should be a pumpkin for Hallowe'en.  Well, Greg decided to go for it, and he dressed as a jack'o'lantern.  I painted classic triangles for his eyes, an upside down triangle for a nose, and a goofy grin around his goofy mouth, and he added a green wig to be the leaves and stem of the pumpkin.  The kids loved it, and teased him about the hair, which he tossed around and joked about how great it was to HAVE hair!  The best thing about Greg is that he takes whatever  ammunition the kids could potentially have against him, and he uses it himself before they even have a chance.  The fact that he's fat and bald makes him a perfect pumpkin, and they loved that he went with their suggestion.  He sure did get a lot of laughs from the community members too!  On a side note, last year Greg shaved his head and wore a checked long sleeved dress shirt and a black fedora and went to work as a plumper version of Walter White from Breaking Bad.  It was great!

Charlotte's class in front of the judges after their parade.

Oh yeah.  There is one thing I forgot to mention.  On Hallowe'en night, it was -20C before windchill, and there was blowing snow and crazy wind with reduced visibility.  It was downright miserable outside!  James and Patrick opted out of trick-or-treating, preferring to stay in and hand out candy in their woolies.  They said no amount of candy was worth being out in that weather!  Charlotte, on the other hand, wanted to brave the cold.  We realized that she was going to have to wear her snowsuit if she was going out in the weather so she hopped into that, we took one of Greg's black windbreakers and put it on her backwards, added a black toque and gloves and a red cape, and I did her face up as a vampire.  She was the coziest vampire out there! She was out for half an hour and then she called it a night.  Greg followed her in the van, not really wanting to be out in the weather, and he discovered that all the parents were doing the same thing with their vehicles and snowmobiles.  Like I said, the weather was terrible!

On Hallow'en night the RCMP detachment does up their garage as a haunted house, and this year it was excellent.  Charlotte got part way through and chickened out.  All chickens get to sit in a warm room and drink hot chocolate plus they get a small bag of candy (which is big by Southern Ontario standards).  The ones who survive the haunted house get a cup of hot chocolate and a big bag of candy.  The Fire Station gets out their two trucks and they put on the lights and let the kids climb on them.  You can trick-or-treat at the two grocery stores and all the kids know which houses give out full size chocolate bars and which ones give out cans of pop and which ones give out home made fresh candy apples.

Now that Hallowe'en has come and gone, we have settled into November at school, and before we know it, it will be December and time to come back to Ontario for a visit!  Now that we are seeing the Christmas commercials on TV, we sure are getting excited!  We have heard that Southern Ontario didn't exactly have the greatest weather for trick-or-treating either, so we don't feel like we missed out on much.  I have to say that it sure felt weird to be dressing the kids in their costumes for school.  Although I groused at first about Hallowe'en being Black and Orange Day at school, there is definitely something to it.

From the Crazy, Frozen Wilson Family to yours

we hope you all had a safe and enjoyableAll Hallow's Eve.

Happy Hallowe'en everybody!!

It's only November!!

The fall weather in Tuktoyaktuk is, in a word, schitzophrenic.  It can be cloudy and dull for days on end.  By cloudy, I mean the deepest and thickest clouds I have ever seen!  The light hardly gets through because the clouds are so dense!  Every now and then a hole forms in the clouds and you can see how far the clouds extend up into the sky, and there is a patch of blue poking through.  I look at the sky longingly, and wish for brighter days.

Then there is the wind.  I wrote about this before.  When the wind picks up and blows in off the Arctic Ocean it can be windy for days, and when it is that windy, the wind chill makes temperatures dip.  A few days ago it was -22C with the windchill.  What month is it again?  Only November?  Sigh.  When the wind blows like this, it shakes the house and makes the lights flicker.  It gets so damp and cold that all you can do is shiver.  I wear two sweaters, one on top of the other, and my hand-knit wool socks over top of my regular socks, and we all enjoy a snuggle underneath our Gramma afghans when we are sitting at home.

Charlotte running to check out the ice on the ocean.

Down at what they call 'the point' you can see the ice shaped waves, as the ice formed over the wavy water.  The lakes and the ocean are beginning to freeze up and it's a daredevil kid thing to go walking or snowmobiling over the thin ice on the lake.  Last year a younger community member broke through the ice on his snowmobile and drowned. It was very tragic. Already this year, two snowmobiles have cracked through the ice and into the harbour! Luckily, both people survived. The locals don't think that it's very cold outside right now, but that water temperature is low enough for hypothermia to set in pretty quickly!

And the snow and cold temperatures!  Did I mention the snow and cold?  It began snowing on and off by the first week of October, and now the snow is permanent.  There is actually an Inuvialuctin word for 'the first layer of crispy snow that falls in autumn".  Great!  Nobody has any idea how many more layers of snow we can expect, but after a while when it gets so deep and cold, who cares?  Did I mention the cold?  Currently, every day we are observing temperatures of -10C, unless the wind picks up, and then it gets colder.

Then there are days like today.  The schitzophrenic weather provided a spectacular day today filled with sunshine and blue skies that made the snow sparkle on the ground and put a spark in our eyes!  Oh, to see the sun shining and lighting up the darkness!  It was wonderful!

We are wearing all our winter outdoor clothing now, and one of the things about the lake freezing over is the anticipation of skating!  Charlotte is very excited about this prospect!  We have ordered our winter parkas which are rated for extreme weather conditions, and our boots are all temperature rated to -70C, so we are ready to take on the winter.

The locals are very happy to be able to use their snowmobiles, and caribou hunting season is about to start, which has a lot of boys in Greg's class very excited.  Another thing the locals are excited to be doing is fishing because the whitefish are what they catch right now, and they are supposedly really delicious.  We were speaking with one gentleman and he said he was going out on the land to go fishing this week and hopes to catch about 300 fish to get his family through the winter.  Amazing, huh?  The reason the locals are excited about fishing right now is that this is the time of year for roe, which apparently is a delicacy.  See below for the definition of roe, for those of you who don't know it.

1. Roe (/roʊ/) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked ingredient in many dishes and as a raw ingredient.

Yeah.  Well, I guess every person to their taste.  My idea of a delicacy is a perfectly cooked lasagna...with the correct balance of ground meat to cheese ratio.  Now I am craving my sister-in-law's lasagna.  

The other day while it was super windy out, Greg and the other intermediate teacher were taking the Grade 7s and Grade 8s on a walk to the local dump, which is about 3.5 km out of town.  There was someone there to talk to the students about how they are going about picking a location for a new dump and what considerations one takes in choosing such a thing.  That day it was -22C out including the windchill.  Greg dressed in his winter coat, a sweater, a hat, and some gloves plus his super warm boots and he was toasty warm.  The students teased him for dressing as he was.  They were wearing coats that were in no way warm enough by Southern Ontario standards, and some of them had light gloves and hats; however, they were toasty warm by Tuk standards.  Maybe we'll feel that way once we're on the other side of winter when early spring comes around and we rise out of the polar temperatures and back to the temperatures we are experiencing now?  It will be interesting to see how we feel once we're on the flipside.....in April.  Or May.  You never know.

Another interesting thing that has been happening here is the tardy sunrise, or at least daybreak on a cloudy day.  Here is a picture I took just as I was taking the Senior Kindergarten kids out for morning recess at 10:00 a.m. last Wednesday.  Notice how the lights are still on inside the buildings and the streetlights are still on?

The playground at Mangilaluk School at 10:00 a.m. just before sunrise.
The sun actually rose around 10:30 that morning.

  When we wake up now in the  morning, it is pitch dark and remains so until almost 11:00 a.m.  The sun set this evening at 6:24.  We know this because today it was sunny outside the whole day! The skies were blue and the snow was sparkling on the ground like diamonds! It was definitely a day for sunglasses outside, and the sunset at 6:24 p.m. was extraordinary! As Greg was walking into school this evening for an hour of planning in his classroom, he realized that when he left for school 12 hours later it would still be dark outside.  Pretty soon we will be experiencing a small amount of daylight in the mid-afternoon without an actual sunrise or sunset, and then total darkness for three weeks.  Luckily, we are going to be in Ontario with all of our friends and family during two of those three weeks.  

Here are some beautiful pics of the sunrise and the lights shining off the Arctic Ocean this evening.  It was such a boost to see the sun today!  I can't begin to tell you how lovely it was to breathe in the crisp cool air and look up and see that gorgeous blue sky!  I guess we had better enjoy it while it lasts!

While we have settled in to life in what we consider right now to be winter cold temperatures, we are looking forward to our time in Ontario over Christmas.  We are still waiting for some backpay that is owed to both of us before we can book the final leg of our trip home, but we will be doing so soon, and then we will let you know when to expect us at your doorstep!!  Now isn't that a frightening thought?  Good thing it's Hallowe'en coming up soon!  Hallowe'en is another subject altogether up here, and I will be blogging more about that later this week, once the finishing touches have been made to our costumes.

In the meantime, as you enjoy the last that the fall colours have to offer, and go to the pumpkin patches for your Hallowe'en needs, think of us in the North and smile.  We are with you in spirit!

Thanksgiving Thanks

It's time like these when I can't believe how great God is! It is so true that when He closes a door, He opens a window.

Greg has had several difficult days in a row, and has come home and been very depressed.  It is difficult to see him like this, and it made me sad and depressed too.  The kids noticed, and they have been concerned too.  It's not homesickness...it's just life biting us in the butt.  However, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Greg received a very happy phone call and things are looking much much better.  I'll be able to blog more about this later on in the week, but suffice to say, the spark is back in Greg's eye and he is laughing again.  The Greg I know and love has returned, and that has boosted me, too.  Thank you to our Prayer Army, our Guardian Angels (who must be working overtime these days), and to God!!

Tonight there was a Thanksgiving Feast at Kitti Hall, the Community Centre here in Tuk.  While we did not attend the actual supper at the hall, we did go to watch the traditional Inuvialuctin drumming and dancing.  A few students of ours were taking part, and we wanted to see them in action.  The dances are short, and tell stories about whale and caribou hunting as well as other particular stories passed down through the generations.  There are both male and female dancers.

In order to drum or dance, you have to be in a good state of mind both spiritually and mentally.  I relate it to sin-free Christians receiving Communion.  The boys are all teenagers or young men and they wear a white homemade shirt with a hood over their regular clothing and handmade traditional mukluks when they drum.  The drums are about two feet in diameter, and covered in something white, probably animal hide, and about 6 inches deep.  To me, they resemble large embroidery hoops, just a little deeper.  They bang them with a wooden stick, and they all look the same.  While they are banging their drums in sync, they also sing/chant.  During each song, they get to a point where instead of banging the front of the drum, they hit the back of it too really hard and the beats are closer together than they are when they are beating the front.  The songs are short, but each one definitely tells a story.

As for the dancers, the boys wear what they have on to drum but they add a pair of traditional animal hide gloves trimmed with fur and embroidered.   The dance moves for a guy involve a stepping from side to side and then when the drumming gets louder and the beats are closer together, they bend in a partial squatting position while pounding one foot to the ground, and the other leg is turning them around.   It is quite complicated but really neat to watch.  Their hand gestures all look like they are holding a harpoon or hunting weapon and throwing it.

The girls wear a traditional handmade shirt, usually made of a cotton floral and colourful trim, or a dress, again floral cotton with a square neck, short puffed sleeves and a ruffle at the bottom of the dress, which goes to their mid shin.  The ladies, too, wear mukluks. When the ladies dance they move from side to side and their hand gestures are much more subtle and vague.  There is a lot of side to side movement and twisting the hands, which are held open with fingers straight, back and forth. The females' dances are usually about helping on the hunt, skinning and traditional female activities that occur around hunting.  Sometimes you will see a girl drumming but most of the time it is the males who drum.  Occasionally there will be a dance for both boys and girls, too.

There is one boy in Grade 7 whom I taught and who Greg currently teaches who was drumming and dancing tonight.  He doesn't have much to say or do in class, and he defies all the rules about no hats in the school.  He attends school semi-regularly but he is not interested in classroom learning.  He is, however, an avid dancer, drummer and hunter.  He is a proud Inuvialuctin and I have never seen that made more clear than tonight.  He was incredible!  It was amazing to see him dancing, singing and drumming with his piers, a smile on his face and looking relaxed and confident, a true and proud young man.  I also watched a lot of the younger boys watching him and the other drummers and dancers and you could see the admiration in their eyes.  It was inspiring.

Toward the end of the drumming and dancing, there was an announcement that the last dances were for everyone to enjoy.  Before I knew it, this student, who for some reason calls Greg 'Mike', was in front of us, handing a pair of traditional gloves to Greg.  He said, "Hey Mike, will you come and dance with me?".  It took Greg a nanosecond to accept the gloves, and go to the dance floor.  Apparently, when a man wants to invite another man to dance with him, he hands him his gloves to wear.  It's a pretty big thing.  Greg knew this and was humbled that this student thought well enough of him to ask him.  Before long, all the other staff, including me, were called by name to come and join the women dancing.  It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed hearing the drums behind me while I moved to the beat, watching the female dancers like a hawk!  It was also neat watching this student show Greg the dance moves and going slow and deliberate so that Greg could get the hang of it.

After it was over, Greg looked at me and said, "How many people do you know who are invited to dance the traditional dances of the Inuvialuctin people?  Wow!!".  This student said he was really happy that Greg took up his challenge and hoped that he would dance with him again at the Christmas feast and Greg was most pleased to be asked already.

Later on, we were at the local grocery store, which is open until 10:00p.m., picking up a few items, and this student and his friends walked in, baseball caps securely fastened on their heads again.  I thanked them for inviting us to dance and told them how incredible it was to hear the drums and listen to them sing and chant.  I asked them if there was a way to know what stories or legends they are re-enacting when they dance, and they said that when we come to their practices, all we have to do is ask and the leaders will tell us.

We were really sorry that we didn't have our camera with us, especially because I now know that it is okay to film them.  I haven't had the nerve to ask them before because I felt like an outsider, but now I know they don't mind, and I look forward to posting some pics about them.  They are quite a sight and the drumming goes right down into your soul.  It is quite a spiritual experience.

Anyway, for as many challenges as we have experienced over the last few weeks, this evening has really shown me that we DO have much to be thankful for celebrating Thanksgiving up here in the North.  As we left Stanton's, there was a whole crowd of people in the front of the store who all shouted out "Happy Thanksgiving Mr. and Mrs. Wilson!" and we shouted the same greeting back.  We knew the majority of the people in the store, and it was an incredible feeling.

Before I finish up, I want to express how grateful we are for all your prayers and support, because without them I don't know if we would be experiencing some of the eye-opening things we have, and your love is what spurs us forward when we want to turn and run.

Sometimes it's really difficult to express all the love and gratitude we feel for you, but please know that we truly are grateful for your love and support.

Thank You.

On the Outside Looking In

We sent Greg out to Yellowknife last Sunday, along with all the other permanent teachers in Tuk,  who joined 800 teachers from throughout the Northwest Territories at a three day conference.  He was busy going from session to session and listening to the keynote speakers, and he surprised a few vendors and speakers who were there, too.  

You see, First Nations Education is a small and intimate circle in Canada, and for as large as Canada is, the leading experts and people 'in the know' for First Nations/Metis/Inuit Education collect a lot of air miles with the travelling and speaking engagements in which they participate across our fair country.  Several people's eyes popped out of their heads when they saw Greg.  "What on earth are you doing HERE?" was uttered/stammered/exclaimed by them, and when Greg told them the quick and dirty version of how we came to be in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, they were amazed, but they understood.  Sadly, it is a story that we are hearing more and more often about teachers in Ontario.  No jobs means you go to the place that will give you one!

Anyway, Greg met up with some old associates from his IEC days, not to mention some vendors.  Nelson Publishing was there flogging the books that Greg helped to get published that are legends from the Muncey Reserve, which is the reserve on which he worked outside of London.  These levelled readers are available from the Kindergarten to Grade 6 level and were designed to teach children about some of  their traditional stories and legends.  Nelson was there to show other First Nations what they can do with their own legends to help carry on their culture. Greg had been telling some staff members about these books recently, and was able to pick up a copy of them and say, "See? Here's what I was telling you about!".  That was pretty cool for Greg.

The other thing that happened is that everywhere Greg went, he saw quotes from and textbooks by a woman named Sharon Friesen.  She is a professor at the University of Calgary and she has helped to developed the framework that the Ministry of Education in the NWT is using to improve education over the next ten years.  Anybody in the field of education here in the NWT knows her and uses her name in hushed, awed tones.  She also happens to be Greg's thesis supervisor for his doctoral studies.  When various VIPs discovered this, their eyes bugged out of their heads!  This means that Greg must speak with her on a regular basis - and he can soak up as much knowledge from her as possible.  Wow!!  Greg has really enjoyed working with and learning from Sharon over the years, but he had no idea how much influence she has in First Nations Education!

Greg has pretty well felt his whole life that he has been an observer, always on the outside looking in.  He realized this about himself at fairly young age, and by his adolescence had come to terms with it.  It is one of the reasons he is such a good listener and deep thinker.  When you are always watching, it gives you time to think.  (Incidentally, the name Gregory means Watchful.)  When Greg was working with the Indigenous Education Coalition, IEC for short, he became very involved in First Nations Education, despite the fact that he was already working on his thesis which was about FNE, and he had taught on a few different reserves.  The IEC, however, exposed him to various First Nations Organizations at both a provincial and federal level, and he had the opportunity to meet several people who are important in the field of First Nations/Metis/Inuit Education.  He was aware each time that he met someone of substance, but he didn't realize that he was memorable to them, too. When the IEC had to cut Greg loose due to loss of funding, Greg figured his days of being on the edge of First Nations Education were over, so imagine his shock and surprise when he not only met some of these people, but they recognized him!  

Greg has realized that when God closes a door, he always opens a window, and now that he is no longer affiliated with the IEC, he can build these relationships and further his career.  Greg is memorable; he is worth knowing; and perhaps he is more on the inside of his chosen profession than he realized.

A Tour of Tuk - Part One

A Tour of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories

by James Wilson  (photographer),

Patrick and Charlotte Wilson (van passengers),

and Jen Wilson (driver of the van)

Hello Dear Friends and Family!

Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories!  Today it is snowing and it's a balmy 1C.  It is a grey day, as the fall days tend to be up here, and since we are out of school for the week, I thought we should take a drive and introduce you to our community.  We took pics of several buildings and landmarks but we decided to portion them out over a few blog postings.  James became very interested in taking the pics and getting  'just the right' shot, and Patrick and Charlotte sure did enjoy driving around and listening to Weird Al Yankovic while James and I worked on our project.  James also learned how to download pics from the camera to the Apple Desktop, so that's cool too.  It's always good to learn!

So...here is our house.

Nah.  Just kidding.  This ramshackle old thing is the pretty little eyesore at the corner to our street, though. We don't think anybody lives in it, or at least we hope not!

THIS is our house...and some people you may recognize. Patrick insisted on standing right behind Charlotte, but all three of the Wilson Kidlets are there, along with our box of groceries placed on the railing of the deck. Can you see the yellow box?  A giant box of  48 Eggo waffles was on sale for $12.99!!  That is an incredible price for up here and since we FINALLY have a deep freezer for the first time ever in the history of our family, we bought a box.

All the buildings are built on pilings, as you can see, due to the permafrost.  This means that everybody has a deck or front porch at the front of their house to accommodate the stairs to get to your front door!  We have a lovely front deck, but we can't figure out why because it just means that we have to shovel it in the winter and nobody wants to sit outside in the spring or summer because the mosquitoes are the size of small birds.  Oh well.  We have a generous front deck.

The house was built by the current owner's brother about 7 years ago. Shortly after they moved in, his wife wanted to go back to school so they moved to Inuvik and they've been there ever since.  They sold the house to the current owner, his sister, who lived here happily with her boyfriend and two kids until she decided she wanted to go back to school.  She was an Educational Assistant at the school and is going to school to be a Teacher, so she decided she wanted to rent the house to somebody in the education field.  All that was available in Tuk were one bedroom apartments suitable for the typical person who comes to Tuk to teach, a young single at the beginning of his/her career, or an older, experienced professional who wants to try something different at the end of his/her career.  This second type of person may bring a spouse with them but all their kids are typically grown.  It was quite unusual for a teacher with a family to be headed up here and so townsfolk were most impressed and curious about us.  It also worked to both our advantage because we needed a three-bedroom house, and our Land Lady needed to rent one in order to attend school.

The red box in the front....in case you missed it....is our garbage box.  Every house that is occupied in Tuk has a red box placed near its stairs.  When your garbage is collected the lid is left open and you leave it open until you have something to put in it, and then you close the lid.  Garbage is collected every couple of days. We think the white boxes are for dirt so you can use it for your own driveway, but we are unsure.  We will ask soon, in case there is something we should have in there to prepare us for the snow, which, as you can see from the first picture, has begun to arrive.

That is all you are going to see of our house for the moment.  We will devote another blog to our house and give you the grand tour.  I want to hang up all our pictures and finish unpacking our last few boxes before you get to see the inside...unless you Face Time us....then I'll give you a personalized grand tour, and I'll just steer you around the remaining moving boxes.

Moving onward.  Here are some pics of the centre of our universe, Mangilaluk School. The picture to the left here shows the ramp leading to the main entrance of the school.  The big yellow part off to the right of the door is the gymnasium. When you turn to the left there is the rest of the school. The school forms a rectangle, and where you walk in is one of the short sides, with the office and bathrooms.  Down the one long hallway as seen below, is the primary wing.  This houses Junior Kindergarten (a new addition this year...up until this year children started school in Senior Kindergarten) all the way to Grade 4.  The other long hallway houses Grades 5 to 8. 

The final side, the second short side along the back of the school houses the high school.  Up here high school doesn't actually start until Grade 10, but the Grade 9 classes are in the high school wing because there's no room for them elsewhere.  The library is in the middle part of the school toward the back.  It is small, but well stocked and is open to the community from 4-7 four nights a week.  I don't think it is open on the weekends.  There are bathrooms in the high school wing for just the high school students, along with Shop and Family Studies rooms.  The school is full to bursting and they badly need more space.  I have heard that there is talk of building a new wing for the school but I'm not sure when or how it is going to occur.

The playground is outside the front of the school and it is a pretty cool one as playgrounds go.  The primary kids have a separate recess from the junior kids so everybody has ample time to play on the equipment.

 This red building is called Stanton's.  It is a grocery store owned by the Hamlet of Tuk.  The Manager of the store's name is Marius, and he is one of our Go To people for all things Tuk.  His wife works as an EA at the school and they are from Newfoundland.  They are wonderful and some of the warmest and most welcoming people I have ever met.  This store has your typical groceries, but some of their goods are sold at a lower price than the Northern Store, the other grocery store in town.  This is to help supplement the cost of living in the north.  If you are going to do a proper grocery run, you would typically visit both stores because there are items sold at one store that aren't available at others, and one store will sell something that is less expensive at the other store and vice versa.  We have learned this lesson ourselves, and when we mentioned it to other staff members, they laughed and said, "Oh you've figured that out already? Good for you!".  I will take you on a tour of Stanton's and the Northern Store the next time we go grocery shopping so you can see what prices are like.
 The Northern Store has the post office in it, and so we also took a picture of the Canada Post sign.  We figured you'd get a kick out of seeing the syllabics for Tuk written underneath the name.  There is also something whimsical about seeing the actual name of Tuktoyaktuk on a Canada Post sign.  Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  Yes, Friends and Family, there is a Tuktoyaktuk!  A few other things about the Northern Store worth mentioning...they sell more than just groceries.  They have a small clothing section, a baby section, housewares, hardware, toys, furniture and more.  The building isn't very big, so it's all crammed in there. I also think they have a catalogue from which you can order all kinds of stuff.  I'm going to ask about that.  When you are on medication, the Northern Store in Inuvik fills your prescription and flies it to Tuk.  You can pick up your prescriptions at the Northern Store here.  I am quite happy about that, considering I am on a few different regular medications.  You will notice the ramps coming from both stores.  I thought it was for grocery carts, but that is not the case.  Grocery carts do not leave the store, and they do not use bags up here.  You get cardboard boxes a la No Frills and use the cardboard to burn in your wood burning stove. How convenient!

As this is running a little long, we will save the rest of our pics for another blog in a few days.  However, James said to me, "You HAVE to show them a picture of the Arctic Ocean, Mom!" so, here you go....some pics of the Arctic Ocean, which we can see from our house.  James took this picture as we were driving by it on our way back home.  Notice all the driftwood?  This gets pushed up the McKenzie River and winds up being deposited all along the shore line of the ocean.  Pretty soon the locals who supply firewood for a living will be hauling the wood off the shore and storing it on their yards under tarps to cut for next year's firewood.  It's pretty saturated, so it needs to sit for a year to dry out.

Since it is so cloudy and snowy out in the fall and the snow clouds are so dense and dark, our daily life occurs in shades of grey, as you can see from these two pics of the ocean.  The clouds are heavy, although lightening.  We are hoping the sky will clear and we can enjoy some sunshine before the sun sets.  This morning the clouds were so dark, the streetlights were on until about 9:00.  Currently the sun rises around 8:30 am and is setting around 9:30 p.m.  Over the weekend the sky was clear and the Northern Lights were dancing in the sky! One night the Lights were green, yellow, pink and purple!   I will experiment with the settings on my fancy camera and see if I can get some decent pics of the Northern Lights.

 Some things, however, just have to be seen in person to appreciate.

An Apology

To All My Faithful Blog Followers....

I apologize for not having blogged in a while.  I have been incredibly homesick as have the kids, and I have been trying very hard to be strong for them, which leaves me with little energy or desire to do much else.  I have been consoling, encouraging, cuddling and helping the kids to sleep, and as soon as they are, I cry myself to get out all my sadness in order to be strong for them the next morning.  It's exhausting really.

To top that off, life in the classroom hasn't exactly been easy.  I won't say much, but suffice to say that Grade 7/8, with all the typical attitudes and hormones, is one thing, but add a HUGE disinterest in learning or even caring about school, and that has left both Greg and I disheartened and frustrated. That is not to say that all of the kids are like this is why I am most grateful that Michele, the new Grade 7/8 teacher, is taking over, and I can enjoy supply teaching.

That said, it was hard to leave the classroom last Friday.  The students had been told on Wednesday that Michele would be taking over and that I would be supply teaching around the school.  The problem was, it took so long to hire a replacement for the original teacher who was supposed to be in the role that they grew to like me and who bonded to me.  There were kids who actually cried and got upset when they heard that I was no longer going to be their teacher!  I received notes saying that I was the best teacher they had ever had and how much they were going to miss me being their 'everyday' teacher.  I was shocked, and quite pleased, although I do feel bad that they have to get used to a new teacher and new procedures and a new schedule all over again....6 weeks into school.  However, it is all for the better.  They made me cards, and students I didn't even think cared that much about me were asking me not to go and to please be their teacher.  Huh?  If they only knew how unprepared and overwhelmed I felt during the 5 weeks I was in their classroom!  At least I didn't let them see how I really felt!

This week has been exceptionally difficult because Greg and all of the 800 permanent teachers in the Northwest Territories are in Yellowknife this week for a week-long conference.  This means that not only is Greg gone, but so are 99% of the other adults in Tuk with whom I fraternize.  The kids and I are lumping along, but we will all be happy when our Fearless Leader, who is NOT homesick, arrives home on Friday.

Anyway, it's been pretty emotionally draining around here lately....but the good news is that we have reached out to our family and friends to ask for some help and you have all been absolutely wonderful, bridging the 6,500 km gap through Skype, email, phone, Facetime, Facebook and snail mail.  We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives!!  We have also had loads of support from our Spiritual Army!  You have lifted us up in prayer and during times when I am low, I remember how much love and support we have from all of you, and I immediately feel comforted knowing how much you all care.  Words cannot express my gratitude to you.

It was so much fun to take my Mom, Darren and Natalie on a tour of our house via Face Time yesterday.  We get to show off our place and you can see what I have been describing.  I have heard a lot of compliments about my writing (blush)...many people say that they feel as though they are here with us, and I humbly thank you for your compliments.  It was SO cool to show my family what our house looks like and when I stepped out on the front deck to show them what it looked like outside, they saw, to their shock and horror, that it was snowing out, and that it was staying on the ground!  It hasn't left yet, although as the day goes on you can see the ground poking through.  They also asked to see the Arctic Ocean, and so I swung them around and....there it was!  Unfortunately it was a grey day, so the sky and the ground and ocean all looked pretty drab....but they saw that it was a 2 minute walk from my doorstep.

Charlotte's BFF's family just got a web cam and got all hooked up with Skype.  Charlotte was over the moon that she got to sit and video chat with her BFF, who is just as equally having a hard time being away from Char as she is from her BFF.  Today is also her BFF's birthday, so it was great that they got to chat together for the first time.

So...if you want to Face Time us, call us at the number we have given you, and we'll give you the $20 tour.  As I said to my Mom, it is a $5 tour but because you have to cross the Arctic Circle there is a surcharge.

Again, my heartfelt apologies for not posting recently.  Tomorrow I think I will take you on a tour of Tuk, and I will post some pics of some of the different buildings.  We did go to church for the first time on Sunday and it was....interesting.  We will bring the camera along next week and take some pics.

And thanks to those who posted on my Facebook wall that they missed my posts.  You have spurred me into action and my commitment to you about communicating what life this far north is like will get me through my homesickness.  I have asked the kids to help me tomorrow and they are quite excited.  Hopefully this will help all of us!!  Thank you everybody!!  We love you all!!! xoxoxo

Do You Want to Build A Snowman?

I hate to say it, but we are all sick.  Terribly sick.  Sicker than we've been in a long time.  Our noses are not dripping.  There is no coughing or wheezing.  Our skin is clear.  Our temperatures are normal.  Physically, we are all quite well...thriving actually.  The fresh air and lack of restaurant eating has actually caused both Greg and I to go down a pant size each!  No, I am talking about homesickness.

We have been up here past the Arctic Circle for almost 4 weeks, and we are all carrying a heavy heart, yearning for the sights, smells, tastes and sounds of home.  Even Miss Charlotte said yesterday "I'm tired of seeing the polar bear license plates!  I want to see more plain old boring white rectangle license plates!".

For Greg, it's not being able to see his parents, and missing the good old days of his previous job when the job was a happy and healthy place to be and when he loved what he did for a living and going to work each day put a grin on his face a mile wide.  The job here, although rewarding, is still quite stressful, and getting used to being back in the classroom is taking a bit longer than Greg realized.

For the kids, they miss their BFFs.  Each of them have come to me in the past week, tears hanging on their cheeks, needing comfort and reassurance that we will see them again and that we are going back to Ontario for Christmas.  Some of them are missing our beloved kitties, Orlando and Florida. All three of them are missing their amazing and wonderful school in London, St. Thomas More.  They miss the loving and supportive staff there and the great kids who attend the school.  I have never felt such a loving yet peaceful energy coming from a school before, and St. Thomas More was always a welcoming and happy place for not just the kids, but for me too.

As for me, well, I just miss the way things were.  I miss getting up in the morning and rushing around to get ready so that I could run the Wilson Family Bus to school.  On Fridays when we had a good week, I would make a stop at Tim Horton's for a medium double double and milk and donuts for the kids.  The kids loved sitting in the van with me and laughing and talking while I sipped coffee and resisted temptation of donuts, while the kids munched on their breakfast.  I miss Orlando, my big grey kitty, who followed me around the apartment all day.  I miss the closeness of our apartment.  We needed badly to get out of it....we were way too big AND it was much to small for us after five years of living there, but it was a convenient and happy place to live.  I miss that our kids lived right across the street from a wonderful park and spent countless happy hours there.  That is not to say that up here is so horrible.  It's just missing the ways things were, and it hurts my heart.

Greg and I have been reassuring the kids and we have made sure that we are all extra kind to each other as well as being sensitive to each other's needs.  I find that each kid comes to me several times a day for a hug or a cuddle, and they are kissing me more now than ever.  I am making sure that my hugs are extra tight and my words are extra loving to them.

Change is difficult.  We knew that going into this whole thing, and for as much as I would give anything to jump on a private jet and send it directly to London, Ontario, I know that we will adjust. In the meantime, I leave you with these lyrics from the Disney movie, Frozen...

They say, “have courage” and I’m trying to

I’m right out here for you

Just let me in

 We only have each other

It’s just you and me

What are we gonna do?

 Do you want to build a snowman?

Blow Me Down!!!

According to the elders, the fall season is full upon us.  There are lots of puddles up here, lake sized puddles, because the ground is too frozen for the water to absorb very far into the ground after it rains.  We are beginning to see that these puddles are frozen over in the mornings.  Twice last week we had to scrape a thick layer of frost off the van before we could drive it.  The water levels in the ocean are rising.  As per my previous posting a while back, the Arctic Ocean was nipping at the road, but the waters receded.  We began last week with wonderful temperatures....above 10C and the kids were all dying to get outside to play.  It was beautiful!  The ocean receded 40-50 feet back from the road.  You could walk out on the sand amongst the driftwood.  Now, however, the water is making its way back to shore again.  This morning the waters of the Arctic were slate grey, and looked foreboding and frigid.   I can stand the cold, the frost, the look of the ocean, and the frozen over puddles.  What I can't stand, however, is the wind.

The wind is blowing constantly here.  You can always see waves on the lake, which is across the road from the Arctic Ocean.  Incidentally, the lake is a freshwater one about 20 feet from the other side of the road, which houses the Arctic Ocean.  Anyway, you can always see the flags blowing at top speed at the Northern store, and there is a pick up truck flying half a German flag which is always blowing in the wind.  In the nice weather, the wind is gentle, but constant.  That is why it doesn't get too hot up here during the summer.  During the fall, however, the wind picks up speed and blows with a ferocity that exceeds fierce!  Sometimes it is so strong the house shakes, and clouds coming off the ocean are literally navy blue.  It is wild and crazy!  When you go out in this wind, it takes your breath away, and walking into the wind takes more stamina than a small child or elder would have anywhere else in the world.  Up here, on the other hand, the locals walk in it like experts.  You can tell who is a local up here and who is not by how they are walking in the wind!  All of us are wearing our winter jackets now, or what are now being referred to as our fall jackets, because we will be outfitted in goose down parkas in order to survive the winter, and we are wearing hats and mittens or gloves if we have to be out for any length of time.  The locals, however, are still wearing windbreakers and hoodies.  They laugh at our gloves and our pulled up hoods on our coats. This makes me think we will come home at Christmas and put on our shorts!

The wind permeates everything.  The school is freezing cold, even with all the warm (well, not so warm) bodies in it, and those kids who don't have indoor shoes are complaining about their feet being cold.  We even had a fire drill at school today, and the kids had to walk about 5 minutes from the school to the youth hall, which is our gathering place.  Since it was a fire drill, we were not allowed to stop to put coats on.  Talk about cold!?  The wind was blowing right through my sweater, and smaller children were crying and shivering in the wind. We are having trouble keeping our house at a comfortable temperature, even with a wood fire.  We are wandering around in double layer socks and wool sweaters (thanks Gramma Wilson!) and when we have to get dressed we moan, anticipating the cold making parts of us tingle that shouldn't be tingling!  Apparently, the wind will die down come winter time when the temperatures plummet,  and then we'll all be able to keep our houses warm and cozy.....until a blizzard blows in!!

In the meantime, I implore you, "Send us hot chocolate, NOW!!!!"

Shrug Your Shoulders and Move On......

One of the joys of living in a small and remote community is that sometimes when things go wrong, all you can do it shake your head and shrug your shoulders, because there's nothing else to do.  This morning on my way inside the school, the principal mentioned to me that the phones were all out.  No service whatsoever.  Great!  Does anybody have any idea why it happened? No.  Does anybody know when service will be restored? No.  Doesn't that bother anybody? No, not really.  It happens from time to time.  You have to admit that if we didn't have phone service in Southern Ontario, we'd all freak out pretty quickly, and even worse would be to have a cell tower knocked out somewhere!  Up here, you just shrug your shoulders.

Yesterday I had an appointment with the Health Centre and while I was waiting to be seen, the receptionist received a phone call from the airport in Inuvik that the remainder of the planes scheduled to fly to Tuk that afternoon were cancelled due to foggy conditions between Tuk and Inuvik.  There were people who were scheduled to fly out to Inuvik to see a visiting specialist at the hospital there, but since the flights weren't going, they were going to miss the appointments, and therefore had to be rescheduled to the next time the specialist was going to be in town.  When the receptionist starting make her calls, everybody was complacent about it.  What can you do? Shrug your shoulders, and move on.

Greg just returned from an emergency trip for spaghetti sauce at Stanton's, one of the local grocers.  Apparently the phone lines are still down, and debit cards run on......phone lines, and the ATM machine runs on a......yeah, you know.  Since most people up here pay with debit, what to do?  Well, we happen to be friends with the Manager of Stanton's, who told his cashier, "Put it on his account!", so now we have an account at the grocery store.  That's good to know.

Since the phones are out and nobody can pay anybody up here, I wonder what kind of day it has been for the community?  I had a collection of 'behaviour' phone calls to make to parents, whose little darlings had violated the Discipline Policy at the school, which necessitates a phone call home to parents to make them aware of the situation.  Nope.  Shrug your shoulders and move on.

All I can say is, thank goodness we have a cell phone, because if our internet and cell phone weren't working, I would be pretty upset.  It's one thing to work in a remote community, but it's another thing to FEEL like you work in a remote community when you really ARE shut off to the outside world!

For most people in Tuk, the day did go on as usual.  The water truck made its deliveries, the sewage truck did too.....from what I could smell, the stores were open, the Health Centre was open, the school had a regular day, and as for the phones - oh well.  They'll be up and running......eventually.

Local Sights and Fare.....

Greg spent most of yesterday at an orientation session for new staff of the school.  I stayed home with the kids and slept through most of the day, partly due to sheer exhaustion, the other part illness.  When he came home, though, he was full of stories of his day, and I thought I would share some of it with you.  I asked him to be a guest blogger, but he's shy.  LOL

There were a few very interesting parts of the orientation yesterday.

The beginning of the permanent road from Tuk to Inuvik.

 During their tour of town, the group was taken down the road to where the permanent road is being built between Inuvik and Tuk.  Right now Inuvik is about 200 km away from Tuk and is only accessible by land during the winter on the ice road.  The ice road is usually thick enough to be opened to commercial traffic just before Christmastime and will remain up and running until early mid-April, when the ice becomes unstable. It takes about 3 hours to drive the ice road one way and a strict speed limit of 70 km/hr is enforced.  If you are caught going over the speed the limit, you are slammed with a ticket of $800!  Maybe the powers that be should be consider that for the 400 series highways in Southern Ontario, huh?   The ice road will begin about 30 seconds from our driveway and all winter we will be able to watch the vehicles coming and going.  Apparently it is quite a diversion.

Anyway, despite the winter road, there is still a permanent road being built from Inuvik to Tuk, which will make Tuk all the more accessible.  This will help their economy by lowering prices of goods being shipped up here since they won't have to fly them in.  There will still be all the surcharges of shipping above the 60th parallel and then beyond the Arctic Circle, but at least there won't be the flight and cost of airline fuel, taxes, etc.  That will help a bit.  The road has definitely been a long time coming, and is scheduled to open in 2016.

The other thing that Greg found extremely fascinating is the Ice House.  This was built by community members as a way to keep meat fresh.  Greg actually got to go down into the ground below and see how it all works down there, 30 feet below the ground in the permafrost!  It is pitch dark down there with no electricity, so you have to wear a miner's hat or carry a flashlight in order to see where you are going or what you are doing.  Greg said that as he walked further down the path, he kept thinking of the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe.  His imagination definitely got the better of him because he began to get nervous and said that if he had seen anything that resembled a brick he would have turned and ran!!  For those of you who have not ever read this story by Poe, it is highly recommended by both of us as a perfect Hallowe'en read!  He said the ice was lining the ceiling above him and was formed like diamonds, sparkling and glistening when the light hit it, and it was, of course, incredibly cold.  Not only was he given a miner's hat for light, he was also loaned a pair of work gloves to use for warmth, and for grip as he descended the ladder 30 feet below the ground.  He forgot to get a shot of what the building looks like from the ground, but I have seen it, and it looks like a wooden outhouse, or at least those would be the approximate dimension, and when you open the door what you see is the picture top left. Once you are down below there are a series of hallways with doors leading off along the sides.  Families rent these spaces so that their meat will keep.  Talk about your year-round deep freezer for caribou and whale!

During lunch, a traditional meal was served.  Greg had the opportunity to enjoy some fishy appetizers, of which he is not a fan.  There was beluga jerky and beluga sushi, and Greg can honestly say after trying both that he will never eat the stuff again.  The beluga sushi was the fresh meat after the blubber had been scraped off - which he tried out of respect and sheer interest, but now that his

taste buds have had their say, he will decline any and all offers in the future!  There was also some smoked fish of some sort, which he decided not to eat, given that he was trying not to throw up at the time.  The main course was caribou stew, muskox steaks and Eskimo doughnuts, which is the Arctic equivalent of bannock - a non-rising type of bread made by the First Nations people.  It is usually fried and although fatty, sooooo good!  Eskimo doughnuts are much the same and equally as good.  Greg loved the caribou stew. It was rich and meaty and very savoury.  His review of the muskox steaks was that it tasted much like a moose steak which is slightly more 'gamey' than a beef steak.  Since Greg likes moose meat, muskox was not that much of a stretch.  Dessert was a trifle made with traditional berries and whipped cream and cake.

Now that I have heard about the menu, I am super glad that I was at home with the kids sipping chicken noodle soup for lunch.  Our whole family had been invited along on this orientation session, but  I was not in a condition to attend, and I wondered if lunch would be like this, which meant our children would not eat. Bad news.  It was just as well that the remainder of us didn't go.

The big mountain like thing you see in this photo is the Ibyuk
Pingo, which is the second tallest one in Tuk.

The pingo from our kitchen window, also known as the
local sliding hill.

The orientation group also got pretty close to the Ibyuk Pingo, which is about 6 or 7 stories tall.  A pingo is basically a permanent, huge ice heave.  They appear as slopes of land and are usually covered with the low-lying bushes that cover the ground.  Currently they are all fall colours, red, orange, gold and yellow.  They're beautiful.  Tuk is known as the Pingo capital of the world, because everywhere you look around here, there are pingos.  We can see one from our kitchen window about a minute's walk from our house, and Greg and the kids climb it as a shortcut when they walk to school.  It is also known as the local sliding/sledding hill here.  Kids go up and down particular parts of the pingo based on age and ability level, rather like slopes at ski resorts! The Ibyuk Pingo is the second tallest one in the world. Apparently there is a pingo a bit north of here that you can climb and when you reach the top, as you look out across the Arctic Ocean, you can see the curvature of the earth!  Greg has now added climbing this pingo to his bucket list!

As for me, I'm just happy looking out at the Arctic Ocean and marvel at the fact that this is part of my daily view.  My bucket list contains seeing whales in the harbour and doing some natural 'whale watching' when the belugas come into the harbour.  I have been told now that fall has arrived, the whales' instinct is to move further out into the ocean because the shallower parts will begin to freeze over and they will get caught under the ice.  This means we probably won't see any whales until the spring.  Nobody had our phone number and they were sorry they didn't because the whales were playing in the harbour a few nights ago.  The wind and wicked waves on the ocean dragged a lot of herring into the harbour, and the belugas were attracted to the fish.  Man were we sorry to have missed that!  I have given numerous people our phone number now and said that no matter what time of day or night they see the whales,  call us!!  Sometimes they are seen in the middle of the night, but people call around anyway and everybody congregates to watch them.  I am not surprised considering how majestic they are!

So, Greg has tried some of the local fare, and has joked that I have to learn how to hunt so I can go out and get a caribou to make him stew.  Can you see me doing that?  Well, at least he didn't like the whale, because the last thing I need to do right now is hang out on the Pequod with my harpoon! Imagine that!