Settling in.....

Saturday, August 30, 2014.

We made it.  We're here.  I haven't had much of a chance to write about it because within a day of arriving school started!  Wow, were we shocked!  Greg and I quickly planned our days, went in the day before and moved the desks in our classrooms, and hit the ground running.  You can bet we will be in planning mode later on this weekend.

Boarding the plane...tight security huh?

Let me get you up to speed.  After arriving in Inuvik at the end of the Dempster Highway last Saturday, we were told there would be no flights to Tuk until Monday.  We were booked for the 6:00 p.m. flight on Monday, but when we showed up at the airport, our flight was cancelled because Tuk was fogged in.  We returned to the airport on Tuesday, and waited until 6:30 pm for the fog to clear.  Then we boarded a 9-seater tin can, and flew across the lakes and inlets up to Tuktoyaktuk, our new home for the next year.

On the plane heading over to Tuk from Inuvik.

Tuk is a typical northern community.  The buildings are all simple and sturdy, and there is no grass or frivolous decorations along the  roads or in the yards, and everything is dirt...dirt driveways, dirt roads, dirt yards.  It reminded me a lot of Northern Ontario.  This will all change once the snow comes and covers everything with a thick layer of white.  When it rains ( as it is doing today) large puddles form on the roads and in the yards, and the kids like stomping in them.  Ours are still watching them with horrified expressions on their faces, but I would bet that by June next year they'll be joining in without a thought.   There is a nursing station and there is a doctor in for 2 weeks at a time once a month.  We actually flew up with the doctor from Toronto who is here this time.  He is a Family Physician who likes the north and comes up to Tuk and the other communities often.  This time he brought his resident, who was new to the north and looking rather overwhelmed.  There are a few grocery stores in town, and they all have an extended part that sells houseware and clothing and outdoor gear.  It's sort of like a grocery store and hardware store wrapped into one with some clothing on the side.  (Side story: When Charlotte's new friends at school were admiring her t-shirt, one asked where she got it.  When Charlotte told her she got it at Walmart the girls' eyes got big and they asked her what it was like to shop in the store.  Their parents only order online!).

There is a taxi service in town as well as a community centre and youth centre, which are both very happening places.  The community centre hosts most of the adult sports and clubs and youth centre hosts all kinds of great sports, clubs and groups for the kids everyday after school and on the weekends.  It is adjacent to the arena, which is waiting for it to be cold enough for the ice to form.  This arena runs on real ice and is seasonal.  Too bad the hockey season can ONLY go from November until early June!!  There is also a municipal building which houses the local government, services such as the water/sewage commission, our local RCMP constabulary, and the Chief and Council, too.  There is also a government building for Territorial services, such as driver's licenses, health cards and that kind of thing.  Oh yeah, there is also an airport, as seen above. I can't forget that!

A view from down our street at 10:30 p.m.

Those are the buildings and services WE would use to define a community, but there is so much more to Tuk.   There are family smoke huts all along the south side of the village up and down a spit of land  that is protected from the ocean where families smoke the meat they hunt to preserve it.  Each family has their own traditional smoke hut, and are constantly smoking their meat so they can freeze it for later.  There is an ice house, which looks like a wooden outhouse above the ground. When you open the door, however, there is a giant hole, like  a well, with a ladder headed about 30 feet below the earth down into the permafrost.  It has been dug out and is a massive underground storage for families' food.  Again every family has their own spot for their food, but in order to reach it you have to wear a mining hat or have some sort of light for down there, and there is a big bucket on a winch that you take down with you so you can haul your food up and down there as you climb.  There is no electricity, so you have to make sure your flashlight is working.  There are also sod huts, which are the traditional houses built by the Inuit here during the spring and summer months. I haven't seen these yet, but I am eager to see one.  One of these huts was built to show to Queen Elizabeth when she visited Tuk in the late 60s.

We learned all this through the students in our collective classes over the last few days.  We asked them to show Greg the town, and take him out and show him the sights during the last 90 minutes of the day on Friday.  After a nod of approval from the principal, out they went! There were kids who hardly said a word in the classroom who opened right up when they pointed to the area beyond the village and said, "That is where I am going hunting for caribou this weekend!" or "The caribou I killed on the weekend is in our smoke hut right now!" A whole bunch of kids were very excited to be going out on the land for the long weekend with their families to go fishing and hunting, and living without electricity and living in a more traditional way.  They love that, and the challenge involved with it.

It is incredible to look around this land and realize that the cold does not stop them.  They live happy, productive and fulfilled lives by living WITH the land, and not AGAINST it.  I am really looking forward to learning more while I am here.  In the meantime, we have boxes all around us and need to spend some time unpacking.  I will post some pics of Tuk and the area, and I will also post some pics of our house once it's all unpacked and looking comfortable and cozy.  Judging by the wind and rain and fog today, the cozier the better!