Back home

I have returned from the north and have been eating fresh veggies and all sorts of wonderful things since I got back!  Its good to be home, but it was a great experience being up there.  I met some fabulous people and had some amazing experiences.  Something I will never forget!

Thanks to everyone who followed my blog, it was great sharing these experiences with you!  I am now moving to Boston, perhaps I will need to change the name to the "Beantown blog"!  Keep in touch!

Nicole

Grise Fiord

I've been wanting to share about this community for many weeks but never got to it.  Grise Fiord is Canada's most northern civilian community. (Alert is farther north but is just researchers)  The settlement was created in the 50's by the Canadian Government who moves people from northern Quebec promising them housing and hunting and that they would be able to return home in one year in exchange for sovereignty in the high arctic.  The offer to return was later withdrawn when the government realized they needed to keep people there in order to maintain their sovereignty.  Oops!  So its now a community of approx 120 people, surviving in the far, far north!

Kamik's contined

So the kamik story has gotten worse.  Today I found out that my friend Janna not only wears smelly boots, she had to chew on the soles so they would be soft enough to sew!  Ewww!  Based on the smell, I can't imagine how they must have been to suck on.  She said she almost threw up and the teacher did the other boot because one was enough.

Here is the house I walk by on my way to work, see the boots hanging?

Kamiks

As the snow continues to fall here and the weather gets cold, more parkas are coming out as well as kamiks (boots)!  My co-worker Janna made a pair for herself last year, they are made of seal skin with several layers of fleece underneath.  They look really cute, many people were grippers over them for walking on ice.  The uppers are made of treated seal skin and the bottoms are untreated and as a result... they STINK!  But my favourite part is that she has to store them in the freezer over night because they would ROT if she left them out.  Ewww!  People usually keep them in their front room where it is cold enough but because she is an apartment she doesn't have one of those.  I saw some kamiks this morning hanging on a hook outside someone's house.  Just hanging there, being kept from rotting!  I know that's what I want in my boots =)

Inukshuk

Igloolik is known for its giant inukshuk.  It was too cold to get up close but here it is from a distance.  Its at the entrance to town on the way from the airport.

Animal Watch

baby huskies

boat trail through the ice

People have been asking me about animals and while I haven't seen anything but the extremely large and scary ravens, since arriving in Igloolik I've heard about more and seen more skins.  

During visit yesterday, someone told me a few days ago there was a polar at the dump.  And today there were a bunch of boats out in the bay because apparently the belugas where in the bay and they were hunting.  I still haven't seen anything though!

I have decided that the smell of country meat (or blood, I'm not sure) is really quite distinguishable and not my favourite smell.  Many of the houses I have entered this week have fresh meat in them and the smell overpowers you when you walk in the house.  I wish I could capture it like a scratch and sniff but I don't think its a smell I will ever forget.  

The Health Centre

I'm very impressed by the health centre, its much bigger and nicer than I expected.  It's new, less than 2 years old but is a great space!  There are 5 nurses, a home care team, a community health worker (who does health promotion), a couple of admin staff and this also the home of social services (although social workers have been cut as of yesterday!).

front door

labour and delivery room

"in-patients"

waiting room

front desk

the ER

radiology

my office - usually the doctor's office

staff room