Homeward Bound

It's been a very stressful week. There has been disaster after disasterat the house in Toronto starting with the heat going out and now the plumbing in the basement is acting up. The whole thing is driving me crazy and I'm heading home on Sunday in order to fix all that stuff.

I'm heading out for a snowmobile day tomorrow. We rented a machine and are going out on the land for the day with friends. It will be a lot of fun and it will be so nice to see more than just the town of Iqaluit.

Other than that, I'm going to spend as much time enjoying my time here. I don't really want to leave, but that's the way that things go sometimes.

Weekend Update

I was working on Friday. I was at the elementary school across the street teaching Inuktitut until recess and then the rest of the day I shadowed a student. I learned my colours in Inuktitut as well as the days of the week.

This was Language Week across Nunavut which is especially troubling since I was the Inuktitut teacher for three out of the five school days. Anyway, there was a special assembly at the school on Friday morning with throat singing, drumming, and presentations. A television reporter was there and I made it onto Igalaaq. There was a shot of all the children sitting in the gym and I'm standing in the background. You might even be able to see it here (will likely be cleared on February 12th at 6:00pm-ish).

My lunchhour was a disaster. I got home and checked my email to discover that the heat in my house in Toronto wasn't working. I sent a few emails and tried to do whatever I could to get it organized, but I didn't have a lot of luck. I felt quite ineffectual since I was so far away. I pictured the tenants huddled up in their beds trying to keep warm as icicles formed on the curtain rods. I sent my roommate some numbers and emailed my sister, but I couldn't do much more. I headed back to work for the afternoon and worried about the heat.

After school, my email told me that my sister was on the heating situation and it seemed that everyone was taking care of things for me. I felt bad about it, but apart for getting on a plane and flying home, there wasn't much that I could do. With that taken care of (to some extent), we moved. My girlfriend and her roommate were being kicked out of their apartment so that a pregnant couple could move into their two-bedroom. *** and I moved downstairs which was one of the easiest moves ever because we just walked things down the three flights and then unloaded boxes right into their new homes. We started and finished in about 95 minutes. I had three beers during the move which made it much more enjoyable, too.

Friday is usually a boring night for us even though it's Legion night. Because *** wakes up at 4am, she isn't able to tie one on on Friday because the tiredness catches up to her. We skipped going out, watched some television, and went to bed by 9:00.

Saturday was a beautiful day, but we decided to stay indoors for most of it. We went to the Northmart and spent $326 on groceries. When we got back, I checked my email and found out that the heat was back on and that a $276 service call had solved everything. That was a huge load off my mind.

We are housesitting for someone and since she has cable, we went over there for the afternoon to enjoy all the wonders of Saturday afternoon television. Strangely, we ended up watching the Junior Curling on CBC so we didn't need cable anyway. We fell asleep on the couch and missed our broomball game.

At about 5:30, we headed back to our apartment building to help with the last little bit of our roommate's move. We carried a few boxes downstairs and then drove them over to his new place. When we were all finished, we put our feet up for a few minutes and enjoyed a beer. We tried to get the hockey game, but the antenna wasn't working very well. I decided to plug the tv into the cable jack to see if it would help the reception, but instead of a clear antenna reception, we discovered that his new apartment has free cable. I began to wonder if ***'s apartment has free cable too. I will have to investigate on Monday. It's moot right now since we don't even have a television.

After the cable discovery, the three of us headed over to the Elks' Lodge. There was a fundraiser for Nunavut Sport and they were holding a Chili Bash. We met a few more friends and had a few drinks and all the chili would could eat. It was a nice evening, but *** and I were pretty tired and headed home at 10:30.

I baked oatmeal-cranberry cookies this morning. We're going out for a walk as soon as I finish typing this entry. I expect when we get back we will head over for another afternoon of television. I'm looking forward to watching the WPT of Citytv at 4:00. We might have some friends over for dinner if we feel up to it.

Wing Night

I was planning to spend some time blogging yesterday, but I was working instead. I got the last minute call and was asked to teach Inuktitut for the morning. I laughed since there are only a handful of words that I speak in Inuktitut, but they just needed someone to be in the class. I decided to help them out and I used the opportunity to have the students teach me some Inuktitut instead. I learned my numbers from 1-10, but still need to look at my paper in order to remember the exact pronounciation.

Last night was Wing Night. We headed downtown to the bar at 5:00. If you don't get there before five, then you don't get a seat. I don't really like wings so I splurged and got a hamburger with onion rings.

I've never understood the chicken wing fascination. It's so much work for so little return. Wings seem to me to be the meat equivalent to celery; your body works harder eating it than the caloric benefit that the food provides. There is also something inherently disgusting about licking your fingers coupled with the smacking sound, the whole thing is just too messy and gross.

Storm Cleanup

We survived the winds. They gusted up to 135 km/hour and broke records for the month of February. It's still whistling out there this morning, but nothing like it was on Sunday. It's quite nice out there at only -6 (-16 with the 44 km wind).

There was a lot of damage as siding and rooves blew off. Part of the high school blew off as did a large chunk of the eight-storey building. Some cars were completely covered in snow and a taxi that was hidden in a drift got smoked by a smow plow. It was one of the worst storms that the residents here have seen in many years.

So I'm glad that I was here for it. Most people on Sunday couldn't sleep because of the wind, but I slept soundly and uninterrupted for the whole night. As everyone else was weary and tired, I was bright eyed and bushy-tailed. The only problem was that schools on Monday were closed so I had a lazy day at home.

It was a tragically boring day. The power, which had been on for the whole night, went out at 7:45 and remained out until 1:30. I didn't have anything to do. I read my book and dozed for the morning. It wasn't a lot of fun, but at least it didn't get cold in the apartment. I did manage to take a shower, and use the battery on the laptop, but neither was enough to keep me adequately entertained.

I did get a phone call about a possible shortlisting for a teaching job, but I'm not going to think about it until I hear something definite. I'm predicting that after having no options, I will suddenly go to having to make a very difficult decision for this September.

Blizzard

Right now we're in the middle of a blizzard. Winds, according to Environment Canada are gusting to 120 km/hour. It is a near whiteout outside as the snow is blowing. The room is creaking and the winds are rumbling outside. The building is actually shaking from the wind.

It's actually quite intense. It's a little scary even. I had to let a neighbour's dog out and he was blown off his feet. Poor little guy. The snow stung against my face and I was so happy that I have a nice apartment to retreat into. This is the kind of storm that I always imagined in the north and the kind of storm that kills people. Even though it's warm out, a balmy -10 (wind makes it much colder, though), it's another reminder to me about how incredible it is that the Inuit have lived in this part of the world for hundreds and hundreds of years.

The power has flickered on and off throughout the evening. I am shocked, actually, that the Internet is working, so I'm going to publish this before the satellite dish gets blown over.

Daily Routine

My sleep cycle has really changed since I arrived in Iqaluit. The days of staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. are gone.

My partner starts work at 5:00 in the morning, and her alarm goes off at 4:00. I stay in bed while she showers, dresses, eats, and gets ready for work. She comes in and gives me a kiss before she heads out at 4:45.

I reset the alarm and then do my best to sleep. I usually get up at about 6:30 or so and then restlessly flop around until the alarm goes off at 7:00.

I'm up and showering during the 7:00 news. I get dressed into my working clothes and then usually read until 9:00. Last week, I finished Dan Harrington's book on poker strategy, Harrington On Hold 'Em: Volume 1, and am currently reading George Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier.

I've been supply teaching and I have to be ready to go in the morning if a phone call comes. Sometimes the call comes and sometimes it doesn't. I tick off school stating times throughout the morning: high school 8:05, middle school 8:25, elementary school #1 8:40, elementary school #2 8:55. Usually, if I haven't heard anything by 7:30, then I have the day off. Regardless, I am up early and face the whole day.

Since *** starts work so early in the morning, she finishes her day at 1:30. She is often home by 2:00 and we have the afternoon together. We usually have dinner at about 5:30 and are in bed at 7:30. It's lame, sure. I could stay up later, but I don't really see the point. I can sleep anytime, anywhere, and so I'm usually asleep by 8:30. On weekends or if there is something happening during the week, we'll stay up later.

Television here is completely messed. We don't have cable and only have CBC and APTN. Our clocks are set to the eastern time zone, but because the CBC transmitter is in Yellowknife, our CBC is on Mountain time and is therefore two hours later. The Simpsons that has aired at 5:00 for about 10 years comes on at 7pm. I don't mind that, but all the other evening programming is late. The National airs at midnight, and everything else, no matter how much we may want to watch it, is on too late for our schedule.

Instead, we've been watching Six Feet Under. I brought all five seasons with me and we managed to finish it up on Monday. I was very pleased with the finale, and thought that the ending was very well done. I wish that Alan Ball has written more episodes because, as the creator of the show, his episodes were the strongest. Now we're watching the US version of The Office, which I enjoy immensely. *** hasn't been hooked by the show yet and tends to doze off. When I catch her sleeping I close the laptop and go to bed.