1200 beads

For Black Friday weekend, our neighbour had a sale at her fabric and fur store (in her garage), and I picked up some beads to try my hand at beading. I've been oogling over some of the beautiful beaded moccasins since I got here 6 months ago, and decided that after successfully making my own kamiks, it was time to make some!

This upper took about 1200 beads (individually stitched) and around 12 hours to make. One more to go before I can start cutting the pattern for the rest of the moccasin.

Last night we celebrated Winter Solstice (the darkest and shortest day of the year) by lighting up some sparklers to brighten the night's sky. 

We didn't all have it quite figured out...

This morning was a community pancake breakfast. For $2 a plate, we couldn't pass it up! 

And I thought it was about time I showed off my awesome sealskin and beaver mitts that I got at the Christmas Bazaar in November, made by a woman named Suzie! My family and friends here are calling me a "lifer" now that I have office Nunavut mitts and plan on staying here for who knows how long! (they would say for life)

Christmassy feel

Walking to work this afternoon after my lunch, I took the time to stop and look out over town. There is a very Christmassy feel, even with many of the Christmas lights hiding between the houses and behind the blinds.

(For those of you wondering, this photo was taken at 3:44 pm. The light in the foreground is from the street light just behind me)

cutest little one

I've been caught up in the excitement of Christmas shopping, Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales, and being able to see the Northern Lights as I'm walking home from work at night and again walking to work in the morning.

I spoiled myself a little bit by buying a new camera that will actually let me capture pictures of the day-long night sky, so be prepared for a lot more blog posts with images!

The Daycare closes it's doors for the holidays this Wednesday night, and I am SO looking forward to my Christmas vacation in Toronto!!  (I will be taking A LOT of pictures on this trip!)
Though I don't get back until late afternoon on Christmas day, I can't wait to see all my family (even Carlin!) and friends! In fact, you better book your time with me now because my calendar is filling up quite quickly!!

In the meantime, I am excited for Christmas activities to pick up around town and to get out and enjoy the -52 winds! One of these activities includes the Daycare's children performing in the Christmas concert this Tuesday, my nephew included! This will be his first performance ever, and he will for sure be the cutest little one there!

skidooing

I finally made it out skidooing yesterday afternoon with a few friends. We're down to the last few weeks with sunlight. This photo (taken just before 1 pm) shows the sun at it's highest point during the day. It also shows the Coppermine River frozen over with the ice sparkling in the sun. Unfortunately, it got dark quickly, and none of my other pictures turned out at all.

Annnd my kamiks are finally done and perfect to keep my toes warm in the 30 below weather! I love them and I love showing them off!

tidbits

A lot has been happening so quickly, that despite the slow pace of life here, I've been getting caught up in the new season! Here are a few tidbits of the past week or so -

We got our first blizzard of the year. this picture doesn't really show the amount of snow that was blowing around, though winds were gusting between 50 and 70 for the whole day. I was happy to stay home sick for the day! 

 I made it out to sewing the night after the blizzard, ready to get started on the pattern I picked out for the top of my kamiks. I spent most of the class tracing the pattern and cutting it out. 

By the end of the next class, I had this.

 And 2 classes later, I have just one more top to sew on and then I'm finally on to my duffles! Almost ready to wear them, and it's almost cold enough, too!

On this particular day, I was obsessed with the ocean freezing over and how beautiful it looks to me. Also obsessed with showing how early and quickly the sun is setting these days.. While these were not all taken on the same day, they were taken within the same week.

10:50 am

12:30 pm

4:30 pm

5:00 pm

I made the most deliciously frothy hot chocolate, which ended up being way too much for just one mug, so of course I had to make 2 of them... and drink them both. Did I mention the double layered marshmallows???? 

 Another blizzard!

 And a really lousy picture of the walk back to work after lunch today (4 pm) (why isn't it as dark as the 5 pm picture from earlier, you ask? Well, daylight savings time, sillies!). That light in the sky is the moon.

And for anyone wondering - yes! I have seen the Northern Lights and they are absolutely stunning. Walking home from work last Monday (5:30 pm), the sky was clear of clouds but full of trillions of stars and dancing green lights. I nearly had to pick my jaw up off the frozen ground. Unfortunately (and quite obviously), the camera I have is not nearly high enough quality to catch the beautiful lights, but my birthday is coming up next week.... (hint hint)

a quick scrunch of the nose

I've been feeling more and more "northernized" over the past few weeks as I've been settling in to the colder weather and realizing that it's not so bad. One thing that I've definitely picked up on is some of the local "regiolect" and mannerisms.

There are several phrases here that are really quite common (which will be hard to communicate in writing, but maybe through speaking to me, you'll be able to pick up on some of them).

From working in the Daycare and spending all day with Inuk women and children, I've really started to blend my speech with theirs, constantly saying, "so cuuuute!", "you could", "must be", "how come" and "not eeeeven".

"so cuuuute" - this is really all in the way it's spoken. Kind of a keeeeyuuuuute, starting high, dropping low with the "yu" and gradually getting higher again.

"you could" - common as a response to a question, e.g. "I could pet your dog?" "you could" OR as part of a question: "you could pick me up later?"

"must be" - also common as a response: "looks like it's windy out there..." "must be!" OR as the beginning of a statement/question: "must be just about out of coffee?"

"how come" - pretty much just replaces "why?" I've never heard anyone here ask "why?", only "how come?"

"not eeeeven" - a typical response when I said it was cold when it was 5 degrees outside.


Other examples include saying things like: "that's Allison's one" when referring to just about anything that might belong to me, "pass me the that thing", "look! we have the same and same!" (like if two people were wearing the same colour shirt, or had matching mittens).

One form of body language that took me a very long time to get used to and remember to look for is the way that facial expressions are used to say yes and no. It could be as an answer to a question, or just in agreement/disagreement with a statement, but are accompanied with no speech. Eyebrows are raised high for yes and lowered with a quick scrunch of the nose for no. When I was first working with the children, I kept forgetting to look at their faces when I was asking questions, and even with my staff I would sometimes think they weren't responding to me. I was so glad when my sister pointed out to me what these expressions meant. I've even started to use them myself!

-23

I had an unusually eventful week.

Monday night I was babysitting my nephew so that my sister could get a bit of a break and make it to sewing class. He's the sweetest thing.

Wednesday evening there was a feast at the complex to celebrate what one couple has done for the community during their time here, before they move to Edmonton for health reasons. The children from the elementary school performed some singing and jigging, and there were many emotional speeches after a giant feast of delicious food.

Thursday was the first big bazaar I've been to here. For $10 a table, anyone can rent a table and sell crafts, carvings, sewings, baked goods, etc. I was on the prowl for some slippers to wear around the house, but I didn't see anything my size. There was a gorgeous carving that I desperately wanted, but the $250 asking price was a bit out of my budget for the evening!

Last night (Saturday) was the Halloween Social, which was tons of fun. A group of 8 of us dressed up as the 7 Tetris pieces and the game player. The costume was a hit, and we were posing for pictures all night (none of which were taken with any of my cameras).

Today the snow is falling beautifully, and it's not as cold as it has been (currently only -12 compared to -23 yesterday). Maybe I'll get out and take some pictures.

Now if only I could get rid of this cough!

Reflection

In school we were always taught about reflective practice - looking back at what we've done, considering what went well and what didn't, what we could try to make it even better or to address the parts that didn't go as planned, asking more questions and taking different approaches.

Before I got here, I expected my main challenge to be motivating the staff to get excited about their work and finding a way to work in an environment where I was surrounded by a culture unlike my own. When I got here, I quickly learned that the two biggest issues would be 1) to get the building in a state where it is safe for children to spend a day, and 2) actually getting the staff to show up for their shifts. Mind you, the summer is very different from the rest of the year, as most people would easily ditch work for the day/week if the weather was nice and they would rather be out on the land/at the cabin.

The task I thought would be the hardest - finding staff who I could count on to show up for all of their shifts - didn't end up to be the most difficult. It took some time to find them, but for the past 5 weeks that we've been open, the staff have showing up to work with positive attitudes every day and working extremely hard for the children.

What has actually been the greatest challenge is feeling a huge lack of support from some of my "bosses". The centre is run by a society/board of directors, so all of the major decisions concerning the Daycare's spending, policies, etc., must be voted on before the changes can be made. I've been experience a lot of resistance to some of the changes that are necessary to keep the centre open and to improve the program, for no clear reason and without explanation. Without the support from the Board, I am extremely limited in my ability to do my job and to do it well, so I am constantly running in to obstacles. I never thought that those who hired me to come and bring change to the Daycare would be the ones standing most in my way.

It has been really tough, but I can look back and see that I have made some positive changes:
- the building has been renovated, cleaned and set up in a way that promotes exploration and play in a safe way;
- brand new appliances, building and renovation materials were donated;
- a group of ladies who enjoy their work and show up for all of their shifts has been assembled;
- the Daycare passed the inspection, qualifying for a renewed license with very few changes to be made; and,
- a program has been put in place.

I hope this isn't all the change that takes place, but even if it is, I know I can say that I contributed to the improvement of the program.

There is still a lot of work to do, and I still have a lot to learn about managing and working under a Board of Directors, but I feel like we are well on our way.
I am so incredibly thankful to those of you who have been a constant support to me, providing guidance, challenging my perspective, offering ideas, and just being a friend. Thank you for keeping me accountable for the work that I am doing and for helping me reflect on the reasons why I am here and what my capacity is to doing this job. I have and will continue to persevere thanks to you.

Quadding

I finally got to go out on the land on a quad. It took until the first major snow fall, but I had a blast! The temperature was only about -2, warming up later in the afternoon when the sun finally came out from behind a thick blanket of clouds. To stay dry, I was suited up in my snow pants, parka, winter boots and some borrowed (and very manly) leather gloves. It was the coldest on my face speeding down the various trails in the snow left by others still eager to get out on the land before pulling out their snow machines. I even got to drive the quad...and I didn't crash! Though I did run in to a few bushes...whoops.

I was having a blast kicking around in the snow.

We could see the sun off in the distance, hoping for it to come out for us to enjoy!

Took a little break for some lunch and tea.

"S Lake" 

The sun!!! 

My turn to take a snooze in the snow

Possibly the most beautiful part of the day.

Reluctantly leaving the beautiful land behind.

We did see tracks of the following animals: hikhiks, foxes, ptarmigans, rabbits and grizzlies (though the latter was probably a day old, and could be debated, but we were almost eaten by bears as far as I'm concerned!)

3 hours

I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the next week without sewing class because I'm already itching to get back to my kamiks! With Monday being Thanksgiving, sewing won't be again until Wednesday. Last night I sewed for 3 hours straight, adding the bottom to one of my kamiks, leaving only the cuff and laces to do before I start on the duffles.

Here's how it looks so far:

I'm going to have to go to Anne's fur store to get some rabbit pelts to make some mittens in the interim to help deal with this craving for sewing!

frozen dirt road

I was walking to work this morning on the frozen dirt road, cozy warm with my long johns, parka, knitted scarf, headband and mittens, wondering what I'm doing here. As someone who is constantly cold, how did I end up in a place where the ground is already frozen, snow has been falling, and the temperature is below zero from now until spring next year? How did I end up as the girl with a parka, beaver and rabbit fur mitts and seal skin mukluks?
It's going to be an interesting winter, and I'm already looking forward to my southern vacation come Christmas - Toronto is going to feel so warm!
I'm hoping the clouds clear soon so that I can actually see the Northern Lights.

kamiks

Now that it's fall, many of the ladies in town (and occasionally a guy or two) will get together Monday and Wednesday nights for sewing class. They provide all of the materials, teach you how to make whatever you're making, and you pay for your project when you're finished. 

I was looking around town for someone to make me some kamiks (mukluks), but then I went to sewing and found this gorgeous seal skin: 

Just the right size to make tall, stylish kamiks.

 After finding the right size pattern for me, I traced it on the back of my hide.

Then one of the instructors showed me how to use the ulu to cut out the pattern. Using scissors would damage the fur on the other side.

To making cutting easier, it's best to put your foot or knee on one side of the hide to keep it taught.

The finished tops of my kamiks:

The patterns for the toes:

All of the pieces cut:

I decided to do a silver toe instead of continuing the spotted pattern - to add a little bit of excitement and contrast.

I finished sewing the toe on one, and half of the other. Next will be to stitch the back!

on the cliff

When Mom and Dad were here at the end of July, the weather was still fairly summery, the bugs were still out, and the sun only set for a few hours a night. Today, the sun sets just after 7 pm and rises slightly more than 12 hours after that. The skies are cloudy most days, and the temperature sits at or just above zero, dipping below that throughout the night.

While winter is definitely approaching, I'll share some pictures from a walk I went on with my dad up on the cliff behind our house.

I can't even explain how beautiful it is here. Even the pictures don't do it justice.

The Coppermine River 

The airport...

We have hikhiks all around town (ground squirrels).

This is all going to look very different in about a month and a half.