The Polar Lounge

A Graduation to Remember

2007-06-12T11:42:00.001-07:00

After several weeks of hard work, graduation has come and gone. Luckily, everything went off without a hitch and we've been told by some of the older teachers that it was the best graduation ceremony they've ever seen in Inukjuak! Of course, I can't take any of the credit. It was really Colleen, Sylvain (French secondary 4/5 teacher) and their students who did all the work.

So what does the best graduation ceremony look like, you ask? Well, we have several pictures below to answer that question. The best part is, these pictures won't induce years of traumatic nightmares like the seal pictures a few weeks back.

This is the dynamic duo that put it all together. The masterminds if you will. Colleen and Sylvain.

These are the masterminds with their slaves... I mean grads. Or it's a picture of the next cast for the musical Rent. I'm not sure which.

Putting the minions to work.

What-do-ya-know. Hard work pays off!

The technical wizards running the razzle-dazzle a.k.a sound and video. Khan and Markus.

After getting a computer science degree at Waterloo I can proudly say that I can make a slide show and run a projector. (Disclaimer: Markus did not actually create the slide show... Sylvain did)

Every single person in Inukjuak shows up to watch the procession. Good thing it's too cold for fires to spread.

It's good to know that the "West Side" was proudly represented at grad.

This picture is included for the benefit of my family. Tell me who that guy in the red shirt looks like... (Click on it to get a larger version)

Believe it or not, this cake took 6 people 5 hours and 12 glasses of wine to decorate.

Posing at prom.

Eva, our DJ, about to do what she does best...

Rock the house!

A perfect way to end the day, with the crowning of the queen. Of course it took until 4am until everything was cleaned up and we were in bed.

As you can see, everyone did a fantastic job of putting this together. Of course now that exams, grad and prom are all done and over, there's only one thing left to do.

We're coming home :)

Wedding Invitations!

2007-06-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I got a little sun-burn on my nose yesterday. It was horribly exciting because I was pretty sure my skin would never be able to absorb enough vitamin D through all the layers we have been wearing! It snowed on June 1st but the river is starting to break open and today it was 5 degrees Celsius!!! It felt pretty awesome when the wind was at our backs.

This weekend was made even better by a surprise bachelorette party for myself and another girl up here. Much fun was had and my legs feel like I may have danced a smidge too much;) . Thanks Girls!! I'll try to get some pictures up as soon as I snag them off of someone's camera.

Oh, yes the other bit of news is that you should be keeping your eye out for your wedding invitations. Markus and I sent them approximately 8 days ago and they should be arriving any day now. The only hitch in the invites was that we decided to post them on a day with 60km winds... and Markus accidentally let a couple go for a "free ride" across the Tundra! Thankfully we were able to round them up but our hearts stopped for just a minute.

Markus and I are getting so excited about coming home. I can't wait to not have to wear my winter coat! Also, I think it is going to be funny to see how Hudson deals with grass. He prefers to pee on snow and has never seen or felt anything as crazy as green grass let alone a tree.

Cheers,
Colleen

2007-05-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I know it has been awhile since we posted, however, we really feel like we've gotten into a nice groove. Nice grooves = regular routines = boring to blog about. So brace yourself for our spectacularly run-of-the-mill ho-hum post;)

This past week my students wrote a standardized exam for English. It took 4 days to write but I think they did OK. It was very difficult watching my students write this exam because it wasn't prepared by me. There is nothing more grounding than feeling like your students achievements and failures are my own. Of course I realize that their education is far bigger than this one year but... I can't help but wonder if I did them justice.

Markus and I have been to two BBQ's this weekend. At both I ate way too much and went home incredibly happy to have the smell of smoke on my clothes. Sadly, the weather still isn't really BBQ worthy... keep your fingers crossed that we might see some +'ve temperatures soon!

Tootles,
Colleen

29 days to Go!!

2007-05-17T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

This is a quick post to let you know that I'm craving sunshine. It snowed agin last night and I think I cried a little when I took the dog out for his nightly whiz at 4 in the morning.

So the count down is on: 29 days until we get on a plane and enjoy some greenery!

Tootles,

Colleen

Come Sleet or Snow or Rain

2007-05-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody,

Well, as you've probably guessed by now, our entire lives revolve around the all powerful Hudson. We cater to his every whim and we have found out that no matter what kind of weather it is outside, that's not going to stop him from forcing us out in it. I guess this is why we got a puppy in the first place. Get us out and about more. Sometimes, though, I yearn for the good old days where we actually slept at night and got to stay out of the rain. On the bright side, though, we get to post all kinds of fun pictures with our little ball of fluff.

Here's Hudson after taking a much needed bath. Apparently being washed is exhausting.

Apparently, he's not too picky about where he falls asleep, either. Half way up the stairs it occurred to him that this was as good a spot as any to take a break.

Having a staring contest with his new favourite toy, a plush giraffe. Amazingly, all the stuffing is still inside.

Ok, ok. I know it looks like the our dog never moves, but I swear he was a fountain of energy JUST before this picture was taken.

We definitely haven't had time to do anything else exciting since we got our new little guy, but as soon as our lives resemble some level of normality, we'll let you know what else is new.

Later,

Markus

Grey weather

2007-05-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been incredibly gloomy. Lack of sleep ("good puppy") and lack of sunlight is starting to catch up with us. It has been bizarre weather lately because it is overcast but it stays light outside until 9:30-10:00pm.

To fight the weather we're trying to get outside in the fresh air but .... I'm starting to miss the colour green! Especially when I hear that everyone is planting back home. We're starting to see a little bit of green lichen and moss on the Tundra but the snow is getting soft and it is a bit treacherous because you don't know if you are going to go up to your knees. In contrast, my students are loving this weather. They have ski-doos and are getting out on the land just before the river starts to thaw. They are bringing back a lot of Canadian geese. It is crazy how crazy they are over goose meat!

I'll get Markus to post next time. He's been the hardest hit by Hudson's cries so I'm letting him have a nap. Funny enough, Hudson is sleeping with him;) (My family won't be surprised to hear that I can still sleep through just about anything!)

Tootles,
Colleen

Meet Hudson!

2007-05-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

Today we awoke to freezing rain. Unfortunately, my students were supposed to go on survival today. This is the third time they have tried to take my group of kids out on the land but the weather just won't cooperate. At this rate, instead of going ice fishing they will be going goose hunting!

Hudson wasn't too keen on freezing rain. He went "code yellow" pretty darn quick this morning. He fits right in this house, it is nice to go outside but... not when mother nature is turning on you! As promised, here are some pics of our now expanded family:

(I swear the snow is slowly melting...)

Yes, I did ask our friend Sasha to take our "family portrait!"

It is time for me to get ready for school. Hope everyone is doing well.

Cheers!
Colleen

Just a quick up-date!

2007-05-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

Hey There!

I only have 10% battery life left on Markus' computer and I'm already tucked into bed so I'm not going searching for the power bar so this is just a quicky to let everyone know that.... WE GOT OUR PUPPY!!!

Tomorrow we will post some pics of our bouncing baby boy named Hudson (After the Bay of Course - it turns out I am my fathers daughter;) ).

He's 7 weeks old and hilarious but also a wee bit tiring during the night.... keep your fingers crossed that we don't wake the duplex neighbours again...

Until next time,
Cheers!
Colleen

Conniving Canines

2007-04-29T16:43:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how news can pile up when you don't post for two weeks.

To start us off today, I want to revisit an April fool's joke that seems to have come full circle on us. As many of you know, Colleen and I took care of our friend's dog, Miku, for a couple of weeks while they were off frolicking to Cuba. Miku warmed up to us immediately and we ended up enjoying her playful presence MOST of the time (3am being the usual exception).

Here's a picture of Miku making a slide down the hill...interesting for me.

Of course, after Steph and Pat came back and took her away, the house suddenly seemed much emptier and it didn't take long for thoughts of getting our own little puppy to squirm their way into our minds. We mulled it over for a couple of weeks, talking over the pros and cons every morning, noon and night and eventually, it became clear that getting a puppy right now just isn't the rational thing to do. So what's the first thing we do after making this decision. Why, we think it's a grand idea to have Colleen's student come over with her batch of new puppies. The 6 week old balls of fluff were armed with the usual arsenal of cute eyes and playful yelps and within moments they had handily defeated any resolve that remained within either of us. After a couple sessions of observing, poking and proding we've decided on one. He'll be joining the household next weekend, at which point we'll make sure to post pictures and decide on a name.

Otherwise, things have been grand for us both. The combination of Easter and Colleen's birthday brought with it a showering of gifts and packages even more generous than usual. We have to send out a huge thank you to everyone in Germany for their amazing support. This includes Grossmama, Grosspapa, Tante Lina und Luise and all the lovely Schönbergers in Mauern. Of course, they weren't the only ones to spoil us. My mom sent us many gifts and goodies which will be very handy for our upcoming honeymoon camping trip. Brian and Heather also sent us a fantastic parcel from Seattle which included some wonderful smoked salmon and even a little bit of eye-candy in the form of 300.

Oh, and before I forget, even though it wasn't my Birthday, I did end up getting a gift of sorts this past month. I was accepted into Trent and Western for my Bachelor of Education in Mathematics and Technology, and have accepted the offer. This means that I'm going to be spending the next year in London, Ontario close to many friends and even some family.

Before that, though, it's time to get ready for our new fuzzy housemate.

Until next time,

Markus

P.S. We've had not one, but two polar bears in town in the last week. Sometimes I'm very happy that we're only a 2 minute walk from the school.

Back into a Routine.

2007-04-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

Our Easter break has come to an end. Mom and Dad made it safely back to Ravenna and Miku (the dog) has gone back to her true owners. (Some of our friends from here went to Cuba to get married over the break - Congratulations Pat and Steph!!) Now that everything is returning to "normal" Markus and I are finding our house a little bit bigger without all of our house guests! I think I may have even convinced him that getting a puppy is a good idea! I'm still working out the logistics of housing a Husky-cross down South and I think I've come up with some feasible solutions.

In other news, Markus and I will be moving home 2 months from tomorrow!! It is wild how fast this school year is flying by.

The weather has finally improved so Markus and I are going to go bask in the -2 degrees celcius weather.

Tootles,
Colleen

Dogsledding, igloos and icefishing

2007-04-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

We've been sleeping in and eating well. Tonight Markus is brewing a caribou roast which we are excited to introduce Mom and Dad to. Unfortunately, caribou meat is a bit like cabbage in the gas production department... We'll see how many of us are still breathing normally by morning;)

We have been going out on the land in short bursts because it has been very cold with the windchill (around -26 degrees celcius). My favourite trip so far was dogsledding with a local man. We had no idea what to expect and it was definitely an experience I will not forget. The biggest surprise: the dogs led themselves with us as passengers. The local man, Adamie, rode on his snowmobile while we were riding on a skinny little sled. Markus took over the snowmobile every once in awhile and managed to snap some pictures of us cruising along.

Yesterday Dad and I went for a long hike up to a point called The Beacon. It isn't that far but with the wind in our faces the entire way up it felt like we had bested Mount Everest. The climb was well worth it because you could see for miles in every direction.

Markus, Dad and Mom went ski-dooing to check out some igloos that were built just outside of town. They were also lucky enough to go icefishing. Apparently farmers aren't necessarily fishermen because they stopped that after a couple of hours and came home empty handed. Here are some pics of the inside of the igloo:

Tootles,
Colleen

Mom and Dad have Arrived!

2007-04-06T11:06:00.000-07:00

Mom & Dad made it safely to Inukjuak. They have been greeted by good ol' fashioned Tundra wind.

Here is a picture of me, Dad and Miku trying to not be blown away.

Mom made it outside for a walk too. Look at those fancy new boots!!

Hope everyone is having an excellent Easter break!

Cheers,

Colleen

We have a new dog!

2007-04-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

We just wanted to share the exciting news that we just got Miku, our new housemate. She's a German Shepard/Husky mix and comes to us very well trained. She's playful and gets us to go out on walks a lot more than we used to. Here's a picture of Miku and me together:

All three of us are very excited that Colleen's parents are going to come up and visit soon. We've already made all kinds of plans for when they come, but now Miku will also be able to join in on the fun. It's starting to warm up a little now, so it won't be quite so bad to go ice fishing or trekking out on the land. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same as ever. A few of our friends have gone off to Cuba for a couple weeks, leaving us behind, but we have our new friend around to keep us company.

Anyways, I better go take Miku for a walk. She's chomping at the bit to get outside.

Till next time, take it easy,

Markus

Eaten By Polar Bears

2007-03-16T18:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been an inexcusable amount of time between this post and our last, but in our defense the title of this post is far more exciting than anything that's happened here in the last couple of weeks. There have been a few funny moments, like when Colleen got spammed by Jahova witnesses. I don't mean email spam either. This was a letter, painstakingly hand-written with fine cursive lettering attempting to persuade us to enlighten ourselves. Turns out that even Inukjuak isn't far enough away to escape the wrath of Jahova.

Instead of writing at length about nothing, I'm going to opt for an efficient point form list of things that have been happening up here:

Got new clock radio to wake up with. Fear of missing school due to power outage is abated.
Woke up to that good old Inuit classic "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound gang. I sure hope all the elders were still asleep.
Went to have shower only to discover that our water pipe had frozen. I don't understand how this could happen. It's only -55 with the windchill outside.
Write down some important dates so I don't forget them:
55 - The number of teaching days left in the school year.
17 - Days until Colleen's parents arrive, take a look around, come to their senses and
promptly leave again.
19 - Days until I find out which schools rejected me for teacher's College.
21 - Days until I have a near death experience for forgetting Colleen's birthday (Sonja, for
the love of everything good and holly CALL ME to remind me).
141 - Days to loose my Christmas weight and look good in a tux (Oh yeah, and remember
to say Yes).
96 - Days until we fly back to civilization and milk some cows.
1 - Days until I forget about Colleen's birthday again.
Beg friends and relatives to send us wedding song ideas in a public forum, like a blog. This one one will do.

As you can see, things have been relatively same old, same old. We're still keeping active, having a great time with friends, looking forward to St. Patrick's day and, of course, dreaming of warmer weather.

Till next time, peace out homies,

Markus

Brings New Meaning To The Term "Googly Eyes"

2007-02-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

Before I begin today, I want to warn people that the pictures contained in today's post might be a little... disturbing for our more squeamish visitors. For those of you with 22" monitors and T1 connections, it might already be too late. Then again, if you own a 22" monitor and have a T1 connection, then I don't feel that bad for you.

Last week was a little more eventful than usual as we got not one, but two fun surprises at school. The first wasn't as tragic as it could have been. A water truck driver decided to take a shot at the local 0-60mph speed record while exiting the school yard. Apparently this isn't the best thing to do over rough and snowy terrain since tons of water sloshing around in your tank might cause this to happen:

I'm pretty sure there's something in the manual about NOT doing this.

That's right, the water tank might tear right off the back of the truck. Now, I did mention before that this could have been a lot worse than it was, and the reason I said that is because sewage trucks make the exact same stop every morning. As I'm sure you can imaging, having one of them split open on the playground would have made for a less than ideal working and learning environment in the school.

All in all this event gave everyone at the school a little bit of excitement, but it can't compare to the treat that the grade 4 students got on Friday. One of the local hunters brought in a seal he had caught the day before and with masterful precision that only years of practice can bring, he skinned and dissected the seal in front of all the kids.

During a math lesson, the expression on the children's and the teacher's faces are reversed.

Not only did he show them exactly how each piece could be used, but he also encouraged the children to touch, play and even taste things to their hearts content. Unlike the supervising teacher, the children were far from squeamish and some even had a sense of humour about it all.

Awwww. He's so cute!

Taking Valentine's Day a little too literally.

What? Do I have something on my face?

I've got some more pictures of the actual slicing and dicing, but I thought I'd just link them so that you could have the option to view them. I'm not posting these to disturb people, this is simply the Inuit's way of life. If blood and dead animals disturb you, don't view these pictures!

In this one the hunter is pointing out various parts of the seal's digestive tract.

This is the most gruesome picture, but it also shows just how good the hunters are at making sure that nothing is wasted.

I find events like this fascinating because it shows just how in-tune some of the Inuit still are with their former way of life. It never ceases to amaze me that people were able to live in these kind of winter conditions with the meager resources that the land up here provides. When I think of some of the elders in this community and the difference between how they lived life 70 years ago and how we live now, it reminds me to complain a little less about the small "inconveniences" that I think of as challenges in my own life.

In any case, I should go and make some dinner, although, I think I might have pizza instead of seal tonight.

Take it easy,

Markus

A little fun in the "Sun"

2007-02-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

Word on the street is that you Southern Ontario Kids have been enjoying many a snow-day. Mean while we've been partying it up Luau Style. We went to a Hawaiian party last night which meant wearing snow pants over top of my capris. It was totally worth it because I won the Pineapple!

Cheers,
Colleen

ps: Markus' Note: chickpeas + 3 cloves of garlic + oil = great humus + Baaad garlic breath

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2007-02-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

This is a special post from the entire Wolski clan in Canada to wish Grandma a very Happy Birthday from all of us. We might not be able to fly to Germany to celebrate with you, but we thought that showing you we're all thinking of you here on the Blog might be the next best thing.

We hope you have a fantastic time!

Here's Collen and Me thinking of you.

This is the family in Dryden wishing you all a happy birthday.

Here's a closeup of the cake that mom made especially for you.

Happy Birthday!

A Walk On The Wild Side

2007-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Hello Everybody,

The good news is that everything is going well up here. The bad news is that the internet has slowed to the point where I can barely check my email anymore. I'm almost pining for the days of dial-up. In fact, I'm seriously considering trying out a dial up service or two just to compare the speeds. It's very sad.

In any case, we had a small break in the weather last weekend and I decided to jump at the chance of wandering out without spontaneously freezing and seeing what the village looks like from a distance. As an extra added bonus, I was able to do it from the aptly named "beacon hill" which is nice and high. The walk was a welcome break to the constant indoor life I've been leading and after warming up the camera and salvaging a few precious seconds of battery life, I snapped these pictures in a record 8 seconds or so.

The pictures don't do the view justice. The sun glints off the snow for miles and miles and the effect is simply jaw dropping.

Here's the Beacon with a view of Inukjuak off in the distance. You'd almost miss it if you didn't know it was there.

Since I was spinning around in a circle taking quick pictures in the meagre few seconds of battery life that I had, I was fortunate enough to get these three pictures which I spliced into a nice 180 degree view. Inukjuak can be seen in the right picture.

Since my little excursion the temperature has slipped back down to -40, but I'm still determined to keep up these explorations when the weather permits.

Keep warm everyone,

Markus

Horrifying? You be the judge.

2007-01-24T07:53:00.001-08:00

Hey Everyone,

First bit of news is a bit disturbing. You see, the previous Special Ed teacher has been re-assigned to an full time grade 3 classroom and because there is literally nobody else to do the job, the Sp. Ed. torch has now been passed to me. That's right, the guy who hasn't done any English grammar in WELL over a decade is now going to teach children who are struggling. Since I honestly could not remember the difference between an adjective and a pronoun at first, I decided to embark on some intense studying for the sake of the 12 poor souls that have been put in my care. After much reading, hours and hours and hours of online research, remembering that I did take a course in Waterloo titled "Children's Acquisition of language", I've now got some pretty good phonics games, reading activities and even know the difference between a synonym and a homophone. So far I haven't done any irreparable damage, but there's still lots of time left before the end of the year.

In other news, the wedding plans are now starting to consume a much greater part of our lives. Between picking out tuxes, music, invitations, chalets for visiting family and about a billion other things we could be spending all day every day worrying about every little thing. Good thing we're not picky.

I'm also happy to report that we're both keeping active and trying desperately to make up for the outrageous amounts of food we had to eat over the holidays. Sunday volleyball games are finally happening again, and when you combine that with Badminton night, Floor Hockey night, Bowflex and Tae Bo, I'd have to say that we're doing pretty good.

In any case, I'm going to stop this rambling and let you get on with your much more interesting lives. The only thing I ask is that if you have any great wedding song ideas, don't be shy in recommending them!

Later,

Markus

Oh, before I forget this has the potential to be really good news. Check it out.

Horrifying? You be the judge.

2007-01-24T07:53:00.000-08:00

Romantic Idea # 391

2007-01-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

For those of you that find relationships difficult and never know how to take things to the next level, never fear, the love doctor is here.

Here's an idea that's guaranteed to get results. Just have your date put on windbreaker pants and then go out for a romantic walk in -37 degree weather. After a few minutes those pants will start cracking and breaking apart from the extreme cold giving you a nice gradual transition from all pants, to some pants, to NO pants. Awwww yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about.

Remember not to attempt this too far from some kind of warm shelter since extreme frostbite may ruin the mood.

This tip has been brought to you by Colleen, who decided that she was too cool for snow pants, but luckily realized the folly of her ways early enough so that no damage was done to her poor chilled legs.

Alas, the pants did not survive.

Markus

2007-01-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

I am exhausted! First day back at school went fairly smoothly but I am really, really tired. My body liked getting up after 9... oh vacation how I miss you already. I think the other thing that my body is having a tough time with is the cold. While we were away things got a little bit chillier up here. This whole week it looks like we'll be lucky if we get a high of -15 degrees celcius! To say the least, it feels a bit more like winter up here.

I miss everyone already but I am also really glad to be getting away from the incredible amount of goodies at home. I think that was the other reason I was so tired after school today - my blood sugar wasn't constantly soaring. Fingers crossed, I will stay away from the sweets so I can still get my bottom into a wedding dress this summer.

Tootles,
Colleen

The Best Things In Life

2007-01-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. No matter how much my life has changed in the last year, coming home always brings things that are familiar and pleasant. Sometimes there’s a surprise or two waiting, like your 6’ 4” youngest brother towering over you at the airport, but by and large, the important things never change.

Here's Mikey, our friend Adam who's 6' 7" and Daniel all towering over me, and I'm far older than all of them.

I was extremely relieved to see that unlike Colleen’s neck of the woods, there’s still snow up here. Living in Inukjuak I had forgotten how beautiful the combination of snow and trees could be.

This is just outside our front window. I love trees.

You might think this is just a nice picture, but in actual fact I'm showing off the snowman I made. OK, I guess the kids helped too.

I have to admit that two weeks of relaxing, eating, sleeping, eating and then eating again may have spoiled me a little. Like every other year, my mom has done a formidable job of making every moment of the holidays a gorging opportunity. After the first week I started to feel a little guilty about it, but then again what fun is it starting a new year without the challenge of shedding those extra holiday pounds. To give us a “rolling” start, Daniel, Sonja, Mikey and I have been heading to the gym for some squash and cardio action. Bernie couldn’t join us since he’s busy forming his own German yodeling band. At least that’s the impression he gives dressed in his fine new Lederhosen which were generously given to him by our grandparents and Christine this Christmas.

Yo-de-lay-de-hooooooo.

Of course, when Daniel isn’t at the gym he’s got his alternate workout routine. It’s a complete multi-step program that consists mostly of acting like a jungle-gym for the foster kids. Here’s what the routine looks like:

This is the motivation stage which consists mostly of the kids jumping and yelling at the top of their lungs.

Once Daniel is able to roll off the couch and onto the floor it’s time for advanced upper body strength training consisting of 1, 2 and finally 3 children increments.

Now it’s time for lower body endurance training. For this segment Nala barks to give motivation and encouragement as Daniel struggles to make it to the couch.

Having made it to the couch, Daniel is allowed a brief respite before the screaming motivation has begun anew.

In any case, all of us at the Wolski house have had an amazing break. Unfortunately, all breaks must eventually end and yesterday Bernie had to return to Brandon to start practicing for a concert next week. This meant that we had to snap family Christmas shots in record time before his bus came to whisk him away.

Just us zany kids.

The whole crazy family.

I’ll be heading out on Friday to spend a day with the Dielemans before Colleen and I return to Inukjuak for the next 6 months.

I hope that all of you had just as good a time as we did at the Wolski house, and don’t worry about those extra holiday pounds. We have a whole year to work it off now.

Happy New Year everyone!

Markus

Wahoo!

2006-12-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

We're Back!!!!

Markus and I had awesome flights and are both super excited to be in our respective homes. Well, we're both almost home. As I'm writing this Blog Markus is driving from Winnipeg with Daniel and Bernie and I'm mooching a bed from Tonya tonight(and a lift to the farm tomorrow - Thanks Commander T! ). We had an amazing dinner at Milestones with Alex and Tonya before dropping Markus back off at the airport. Then I went to the movies!! What a treat! We watched The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith and of course we chilled at Timmy's :). I didn't realize how much I missed hanging with the Bio Crew until I got another taste.... Thanks for showing us an awesome time guys.

Merry almost Christmas!

Cheers,
Colleen

ps - Give me a call at my parents if you want get together over the holidays! I'll be about until the 6th.

I Survived Survival!!

2006-12-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an excellent day for survival. It wasn't terribly cold (-8 degrees celcius) but the wind was a bit vicious gusting from 20 km to 50km an hour. One of my favourite moments was when the guides asked us to point at Inukjuak after we were several km away - turns out my sense of direction is just as terrible up here as it was down south;)

We left the school around 9:30 and headed out onto the land. This is the view from my seat. I was sitting on furs in the back of the humotik (a sled the Inuit use behind their ski-doos).

Here are two of my students in their parkas. They were able to take their own ski-doos out on the land and for some reason they loved racing past my sled...
Along the way the guides stopped and showed the kids some survival techniques. They showed them how to set a fox trap properly and then they demonstrated how to use a net in the winter. I thought this was the coolest rig. They put two sticks on either side of the river. Attached to the sticks are either end of a net. They poke two holes in the ice where the stick markers are and pull the nets up. The system looks a bit like a clothes line.... but one that runs under the frozen layer of ice. After they removed their fish they pulled the lines back underwater and refroze their markers into the surface. Cool!

Along the way we saw two caribou. One of the guides immediately pulled a gun out of his humotik and then there were two dead caribou! (Guns on a school trip?? Pardon?) They skinned the caribou right there and the kids got to help. It was a really interesting process and these guys were quite efficient. It took them 1/2 and hour to skin and carve the meat. They divied up the meat into garbage bags and we all wiped our hands in the snow and then hoped back onto the ski-doo and headed for home. I'm saving my roast for the New Years. Mmm.

This is a picture of me and some of my students. Guess which one is me?!
Cheers,
Colleen

The Count Down is ON!!

2006-12-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

A week from now I will be happily hanging out in Toronto with Alex and Tonya! (Knock on wood - the weather up here is the only potential hitch). My class is winding down. We technically still have classes up to the morning of the 21st but many of my students are leaving this weekend to visit family and friends in other communities up here or to go shopping in Montreal. So this upcoming week promises to move a little slower.

Tomorrow is not going to be such a slow day. I will be going out on a "Survival" trip with my students. I'm a little nervous since the survival teacher speaks only Inuktitut and my students will be driving me on their ski-doos. Their is something wrong with this picture! I'll try to post some pictures of our adventure. After being out on the land all day I'm coming home for a Christmas dinner and then I will be superivising my first school dance. The school dances here go until 2 in the morning and then we have to clean up! I might pull old lady status and bring some kleenex.... the kids up here love techno. Yeah.

Tootles!
Colleen

Birthday Bash

2006-12-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

As most of you know, this Wednesday was the day that everyone could call me up and laugh at me for getting another year older. I was hoping that moving to the cold north would somehow slow down my aging process, but then again I never really took biology in high school. Even though I couldn't postpone the birthday, when it did come, it was a great time. We had a dinner party after school and I got to open all my presents which included:

A wonderful sweater and scarf from my grandparents
A blender from Colleen to make some great soups, milkshakes and "health" drinks
Lots and LOTS of chocolates care of the lovely Schönberger family across the pond.
The best Lebkuchen in the world - Vielen, vielen Dank Tante Lina & Louise!
Neverwinter Nights 2 from Daniel, the brother who I fear knows myself and my vices better than I know myself
Chocolate covered almonds, tub-o-salsa, strawberry jam, warm socks and a blender recipe book filled with many deliciously fattening recipes from the Dielemans

The conclusion I've come to is that I'm super spoiled, but I'm certainly loving it! On top of everything, I haven't even received some of the packages that are still on the way. It's a tough life I lead. Speaking of having it tough, we're having a big party for the B-day this Saturday, so I'll post again with pictures of everything after that. In any case, I want to thank everyone for their wonderful gifts. They are very much appreciated and will most certainly make my days up here a little bit brighter.

Until next time, take it easy.

Markus

Santa - Functionally Fat

2006-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Walking to school in the mornings with 50km winds whipping at my face made me realize that Santa is rotund and rosy for a reason. Insulation.

Man it can get cold fast, but what keeps me warm throughout those frigid walks is the thought that a month from now I'll be warming my feet back home and working on increasing my own insulation via cookies. It's been eight months since I've been home, and let me tell you, I'm ready to come back. Although, there is the whole shopping thing to think about. Having to go to the mall, dealing with huge crazy lines, insane holiday traffic... oh wait. Wait. I don't have to deal with ANY of that this year. The downside is that my selection of gifts might be limited. I guess I can always pack up some of that arctic char or caribou that's still in the freezer. Of course, the people on the plane might not appreciate the smell when it thaws. Maybe I'll just stick with online shopping.

In any case, I'm about as excited as I've ever been at the thought of heading home for Christmas, and to answer the question before it gets asked, I want clothes. Lots of shiny new clothes (Metro shiny please).

Anyways, I have to head off to bed here, but I promise that the next post will come a lot quicker than this one did. And Bernie, if you ever take a second out of your rock-star schedule to read this, call me and tell me what you want for Christmas cause I have no clue where to even begin.

Later,

Markus

A Small Community

2006-11-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

This week was supposed to be a crazy one for me because it is the dreaded report card week. Even more dreaded because it is my first attempt at writing report cards. However, it has turned out to be rather quiet. I am still working away on my report cards which, in this school board, are all done by hand but I only have 13 to do so really I cannot complain.

The reason this school week hasn’t been crazy is because an elder passed away in the community. Everyone is affected when someone dies in a community of 1200. Especially since family sizes are large here it feels like everyone is connected to the person in some way. As a result, the school is closed for the morning and will likely be closed again on the day of the funeral.

On a brighter note, Markus and I have gotten confirmation of our flight back home. Weather permitting we should be arriving in Toronto on the 22nd of December! Wahooo! Watch out Ontario I've got some shopping to do! I never thought I would be the one to say this but.... I miss shopping! That will probably last all of five minutes when I meet the crowds in the mall but I really can't wait to be able to pick out my own groceries.

How About Pictures AND 1000 Words

2006-11-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

We’ve been looking for our camera cable for over a week now and finally found it. That means you’re all in for a picture extravaganza.

Colleen and I have really started to settle into the life and community up here thanks mostly to a particular group of people we’ve been hanging around with on a regular basis. I figure Halloween is as good a time as any to introduce some of these new faces. Most of the pics are from a fantastic Halloween party we went to last weekend where the costumes were imaginative, the food was plentiful and the games were hilarious.

This is Vicky who had an amazing costume. She lives just one house over from us and makes us jealous with her brand new StarChoice satellite dish.

Amilie made most of this costume from scratch. She’s also one of the bravest teachers in the school since she teaches the French secondary 2/3 class which, from a behavioral standpoint, is probably the most challenging in the school.

This is Colleen who you all know and love posing for an 80s glamour shot.

This is our friend Dorcas who also lives right next to us and teaches special ed. As you can see, she’s dressed up as Dorothy while I was clearly dressed up as Wolverine, although without the claws, everyone thought I was dressed up as John Travolta. Guess I didn't see that one...

This is Ben (Dorcas’ fiancé) enjoying his beverage NTV style. That’s Newfoundland TV. Ben teaches grade 3 English and somehow miraculously remembers the names of every single kid in the school.

This is Stephanie, who is either cheating or being ingeniously creative in the oh so popular wiener & bottle game. Steph is a gym teacher at the school and decided to take the easy way out by wearing her fiancé, Patrick’s, police uniform for Halloween.

Here's Colleen playing another fun party game where you have to knock one orange over a line with another orange wrapped in pantyhose and tied around your waist. Peeking out from the kitchen is Khan who knows just about everybody in Inukjuak and plans pretty much every school event that exists up here.

Last but not least, here's the insane amount of candy that we had to give out to kids. The scary thing is that it was almost all gone by the end of the night. Did we mention that Halloween is a big deal here?

I guess that about does it for the Halloween pictures that are suitable for posting. The show’s not over yet, though, because we had two more exciting events this past week. The first was our inaugural bingo game. Bingo is absolutely HUGE in this town since there’s not much else to do. They call the numbers out over the radio, and even though there’s only 1000 people in the town, the top prizes are still really great. This week a skidoo was up for grabs, so we decided to give the bingo thing a go. The only problem is that everything is in Inuktitut, so we needed a translator. Luckily, we had Nancy Mina come to our aid and we ended up having a lot of fun, even if we didn’t win.

The second big event was our first northern fondue party. We had a great spread of meats and sauces which included caribou, moose and the more exotic beef and chicken. Here’s a great picture of the group we’ve been hanging out with on a regular basis (except for Sasha who’s taking the picture).

From Left to Right we have: Brandon, Colleen, Me, Ben, Patrick, Stephanie and Dorcas.

Lastly, I want to use the blog as a therapeutic medium through which to talk out a very traumatic event. You see, after the fondue everyone ganged up on me and insisted that I get my mop cut. As there are no barbers in town, they decided to take matters into their own hands by unceremoniously bending me over the sink and treating me like a sheep. I’ll let you decide whether it was a good idea. Here’s a before and after shot.

Let me know what you think.

Markus

Bigger than Christmas??

2006-10-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

The last week and a half have been an absolute whirl-wind for me. I've decided to go with the most concise form of blogging and a teachers best friend the bullet point:

I arrived safely in Kuujjuaq last week and realized how much I like our community because Inukjuak is much more beautiful (I think)
I went to workshops all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday = BORING but important because I was learning about the Secondary English program here in Quebec. Sitting all day was incredibly hard for me. I think remembering how hard it is to sit still will make me a better teacher.
Kuujjuaq is the only town out of 14 Northern communities to sport a proper restaurant and BAR. I had to take full advantage of both situations. Thank-you Kuujjuaq!
Happy Halloween!! Apparently Halloween is bigger than Christmas up here and after the amount of candy Markus and I dished out tonight I'm starting to believe it! Generally, our students have really bad teeth and I can't help feeling a little guilty about contributing to the problem... But they were so cute dressed up and so happy.
Since Halloween is absolutely huge up here we managed to party all weekend long. Thanks for the party Nancy! I dressed up as a bad 80's punk rocker and I'll be sure to post a glamour shot as soon as we locate our missing USB connection for our camera.... It has to be at someones house...

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Out With The New, In With The Newer

2006-10-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Let me just start out by saying that this week has been an emotional roller-coaster. My role as the grade 7 math and science teacher has now been formally transferred to the new arrival who’s name is Melanie. What's funny is that it makes me feel relieved and yet disappointed all at the same time. I really felt like I was beginning to connect with some of the kids, but at the same time, somebody with actual training and experience will probably be able to do a better job at teaching them. In any case, I'm going to continue teaching as a sub now, and funny enough, I'm going to start with Colleen's class. She's going to Kujjuuaq for a week so I'm takin' over. She won't recognize her room when I'm done. :-)

Something that definitely got our spirits up this last week was a fantastic care package from my grandparents. It was packed to the brim with chocolates, coffee and even a container of Bresso (which took only 48 hours to disappear). Packages like these do wonders for our mood, even if it does mean a little more working out time to burn those extra calories.

That also reminds me, Colleen and I had our first caribou roast tonight. I got some from one of our friends down here and the slow-cooker was perfect for it. The roast was pretty big, though, so I guess I'll be having Caribou sandwiches for lunch all week long.

In any case, I have to get going here. I still have to go through Colleen's lesson plans for this week and I've got to prepare for a transfer session with the new teacher tomorrow.

Hope everything is going well with all of you.

Markus

P.S. Just wanted to throw out one more huge thank you to Grossmama, Grosspapa and Daniel for the packages. You really make our week when we get mail like this.

Friday the 13th!!!

2006-10-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th!

I woke up to some more of Inukjuak's perpetual precipitation. The amount of rain this area gets is incredible! It also makes it really tough to get out of bed in the morning. However, today it seemed fitting since it was, after all, the Devil's Day.

The little red man, and I don't mean Santa, must really be up to no good as the school's water supply has been contaminated with fuel. Which means no school. This is actually the second day in a row that the school has been closed which has given me the opportunity to get a lot of things done that I have been putting off. So, I guess I should stop using the blog as a procrastination tool..... ;)

Tootles!

ps - Happy Birthday Christina!

Merry Thanksgiving

2006-10-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

First of all I want to apologize to all of you. As Christine pointed out in her comments, I promised you pictures of the house long ago and have yet to deliver. Well, today I make good on that promise, even if they are a little late.

To make things a little more interesting, I thought I'd take a picture of the house in the morning and then again in the evening. See if you can spot the differences.

Here's the Morning Shot. Now let's take a look at the evening one...

What's that you say? Second picture is a little hard to make out. Lots of white things in the way. Oh, did I forget to mention that we had a snow storm and that winds were howling at about 50 billion miles an hour?

Both of us couldn't quite believe how hard and fast it was coming down, so it wasn't that much of a surprise when we woke up this morning the town looked like this:

Other than freak snowstorms, things have been going pretty good for us. The long weekend has treated us especially well in the food and friends department. You see, a lot of the teachers up here are originally from Newfoundland and they tend to make some sensational stuff for Thanksgiving. We managed to score an invitation to Nancy's house to partake in the festivities and as you can tell from the picture below, the food was plentiful. Not to mention scrumptious. That's my plate on the right of the table overflowing. Did I mention that I had seconds AND dessert. I ate so much that it hurt to breathe afterwards, but if you gave me the choice, I would do it all over again.

In any case, after a few hours went by and I was able to move again and we were eventually able to get ourselves home. The wind was so strong that the entire house was shaking, something I've never experienced before, but have a feeling I might be getting used to. Since we made it home safe and sound, I guess it's time to show you what our cozy abode looks like. Here's the informal tour:

Here's the living room, where we spend far more time than we should. Damn you free cable.

This is Colleen showcasing our lovely kitchen. Colleen is sporting a roots t-shirt accompanied by a luxurious pair of silk pajama bottoms that may have been stolen from a clown.

This is our slightly sparse guest room which also sometimes doubles as our office.

Right now my office is set up in the bedroom...

I know that it's a little student ghetto, but I'm used to it, especially after the cubicle lifestyle back in TO. There are a couple of other rooms in the house, but they're really not that interesting. The bathroom isn't anything special. Same goes for the laundry room, and the bedroom is much too messy for me to post a picture of currently.

Other than thanksgiving the only interesting news I have for you is that I might be forced to give up my grade 7 math and science position. I've heard it through the grape vine that a real teacher is coming in to take my place. I think this is probably the best thing for the kids, as I have no formal training at all but I shouldn't count my chickens quite yet since I haven't heard anything from the principal. Rumours have a way of being less than reliable, especially in a small town like Inukjuak.

Well, that's about it for now. I hope that every one of you had as excellent a Thanksgiving as we were lucky enough to have.

Until next time,

Markus

Happy (Belated) Birthday Amelie!!

2006-10-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend started really well as it was our new amigo’s (Amelie) birthday party last night. It was a great way to bring in the weekend! I would put up some pictures of last nights fun but, alas, I left the camera at home. In all honesty, this might have been for the best. ;)

I had planned to post the above brief post on Saturday but tragedy struck Inukjuak – the community’s internet went down! Markus took it pretty well in spite of the temporary loss. The internet was back up and running last night which goes to show how important it is as someone went in on Sunday to fix it. I didn’t think anything happened on Sunday here! Although not quite as tragic as the internet, I came down with nasty flu-like symptoms late Saturday night and am just starting to feel a little bit livelier. I am home from school today but I think the worst is behind me as I’m starting to feel hungry again!

Happy October!

A Little Bit Closer To Nature

2006-09-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in Inukjuak Markus and I have been enjoying the great out of doors. Somedays are closer to nature than others. For example, at school I smelt a smell that was quite "unusual." I later discovered that it was the smell of a polar bear being skinned. Yup. Right in the school. The kids each got a chance to help when they went to culture class.

The odour in the school today reminded me that I haven't shared Markus' animal incidents - let me regail you with some tails....

Story #1: Picture this, Markus and I woke up, made a cup of coffee, ate some breaky and I headed out the front door to go to school. Low and behold there was a "treasure" on our front step. Nothing says a good morning like a dead goose on our front step. Later, Markus discovered that one of his students had been a little ticked at him and decided to leave us a Goose. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat. Funny enough the same student dropped by our house last night and asked if he could come in for a visit.

Story #2: Students here love to catch things. Flies, are a common distraction here. There have been a couple teachers that come in to the staff room pulling out their hair because a student had caught 15 flies and walked into class and let them go. Chaos results. You would think that a mouse had been released in the class. Of course, this almost happened to Markus too. He was relaxing in his classroom when a student (not in his class) ran into his room and tried to make him scream like a little girl. You will be proud of Markus because he maintained his dignity and refrained from jumping on the desk. Markus managed to get the student outside to release the poor creature before it was accidentally released in the school.

Who Needs Christmas

2006-09-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

With friends and family like ours! Seriously, I don’t know what I did in another life to deserve such spoiling. Yesterday Colleen and I couldn’t even see cloud nine from where we were sitting. We got not one, but two care packages from the bestest mom ever and Alex.

We are now equipped with the finest slippers that money can buy. They’re from Egli’s Sheep Farm near Dryden and I have to tell you, getting up this morning was sooo much easier now that the cold tile floor isn’t an issue anymore. We also got tons of other goodies, including super warm socks, homemade strawberry jam, homemade salsa, chocolate, tea, Nutella and about 100 other small thoughtful things. On top of this my mom also sent us up two brand new, shiny black snow suits guaranteed to keep us warm in even the coldest conditions.

As for Alex, he has generously sent up his own personal copies of the TV show Scrubs. We now have season 2 and 3 sitting on our entertainment unit, the characters ready to dazzle and delight us with their fun and witty tomfoolery. All in all, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect day. To coin a phrase from a famous Sicilian, the support we’ve had from everybody so far has been nothing short of “inconceivable”.

Thank you all so much

A Day Of Firsts

2006-09-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another fun-filled installment at the Polar Lounge. This entry is particularly exciting because there were a few "firsts" for us this weekend. We ended up going camping on Saturday with about 12 other teachers near a picturesque part of the river. Even though there's no trees here, the tundra is still changing colour and you can see four small waterfalls cascading one after another about every half a mile if you look at the river just right.

Melanie picking a few blueberries in front of the winding river.

After packing the school’s red half ton truck up with our supplies, we all pilled in the back and set off. That’s right, all 12 of us had to fit in one truck and hold on for dear life while bouncing along a small tundra trail meant for four wheelers and snow machines. At first the ride was a little terrifying with the wind whipping at us from all directions, but soon we learned to lean into the bounces and before we knew it, we arrived at our drop-off point.

From this point forward we would have to carry all our supplies about a kilometer to the camping spot. We were all loading ourselves up with tents, backpacks and duffel bags when something completely unexpected happened. It began to snow.

It was a little rough getting our supplies to the campsite and setting up amidst intermittent flurries and extreme gusts of wind. With everyone helping out it didn't take us too long to get all the tents up and get a fire going. Just as we were finishing the wind broke, the snow stopped falling and clouds decided to leave us alone.

With the hauling and the setting up out of the way, it was time to start making supper. As we were cooking and I was enjoying the view of the river, one of our new friends, Inga, pointed out movement on the other side of the bank. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what it was, but as they turned and moved away from us I could just make out the tell-tale antlers of wild caribou. Unfortunately they left a little too quickly for me to get a picture, but that didn't matter because supper was almost ready!

A little Cookin'

Means good eatin'

After a fantastic meal, some great stories and a lot of laughs, the stars came out and we were all treated to some of the best aurora borealis that I’ve ever seen. I tried to take some pictures of them for you, but our camera’s shutter speed doesn’t go low enough to capture them properly. In any case, the rest of the night turned out to be a fantastic time of eating junk and swapping stories and we all went to bed full and happy.

We got back early Sunday feeling refreshed from the much needed social outing. Now it’s time to prepare for work, I'm afraid, and then go to bed. It’s a school night, after all.

Markus

Quicky!

2006-09-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

This is a quick post to let you all know that Markus and I are both alive and well. I had typed out a nice long post but, sadly, I lost that post to the never, never world of the web. Obviously, I'm a rookie at the helm of the blogger.

In other news, Markus and I have been pleasantly surprised three times this week to find we have real mail!!!!! ( real mail = not the Canadian Tire Mag or bills) Receiving mail has always been a highlight for me but up here it is like Christmas every time. Christine (and Crew) the chocolates arrived in excellent condition. MMMMMMMmmmm. Thank-You. Now we just have to figure out how to ration ourselves to make them last as long as possible. Gerti I also received the second snow suit. Those two boxes will be crucial in a couple of months. Chocolate and Snow suits, what more can a girl living in the North ask for??

Cheers!

Learning All About Delusion

2006-09-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody,

This past week has been absolutely crazy! I thought that I was going to have all kinds of time to do things while I was up here. Learn to play the guitar a little better, read some books I've been interested in, do some personal computer projects on the side, maybe learn another language, you know, fill up all that spare time I have since I'm up in the middle of nowhere.

Apparently while doing this planning I forgot to inform myself that I have 2 jobs. One requires extensive planning since I've never done anything like it before, and the other one is taking me longer than usual because my internet is about 1 billionth the speed of the T1 connection I so enjoyed in Toronto. In any case, there hasn't been a whole lot going on except for work, which is a shame because the weather is still pretty nice and I'm sure it won't take long to change.

Well, actually, there has been a little more than work. Colleen and I have started to get into baking. We're quite fond of making soft pretzels with either garlic and cheese, or brown sugar and cinnamon on top. We couldn't bear to pay the prices for junk food up here so we decided to just make our own. Colleen has also been busy making muffins and cakes. I've never seen her so domesticated before, but it's been a delicious experience for us both. The house continuously smells of baked goodies, which makes me nostalgic for the days of Dryden where mom always has something in the oven.

On another positive note, we've finally got the house to a state where we're happy with it. I was going to take some pictures today, but the batteries in the camera are dead and we have yet to charge them. I promise I'll get some pictures of the house to you before the week is done.

Till then, take it easy.

Is it the weekend yet?

2006-09-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today has been really dreary. It has rained all day. For anyone in the teaching world you know that when the weather turns sour students often go mad. Today was no exception. My students are in highschool so they still get to go out for their breaks and they all do because every student in my class smokes. But that is a rant for another day. Todays rant is about students doing crazy things when the weather stinks. For example, one of my students thought it was a good idea to bring a three year old to science class today. Pardon?? We just spent two full classes on lab safety. However, I neglected to mention that bringing toddlers into a room where there are open chemicals and flames is a bad idea. My mistake. I will add this into my notes for next year.

To all my teacher friends reading this post - I hope you are having better weather for your first week of school!

Happy Labour Day Weekend!

2006-09-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

It is incredible, incredible that it is the long weekend already. That means that I have been teaching for two weeks. That is crazy like a fox.

Markus and I have been having a fairly laid back weekend so far. I managed to laze about until 10:30 before Markus tricked me into getting up with his stealthy, Ninja coffee pot.

Next, we headed out onto the land for a couple of hours to collect some blue berries and to try to get on top of one of the large hills behind our house. It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the surrounding area is. The hill we were climbing is a rather large rock. I could be convinced that this is what it would feel like to be walking on the moon....no trees anywhere to be seen.... seemingly, random large puddles of standing water on top of the hill... the incredible gusts of wind that threaten to carry me off of the hill... Here's Markus trying hard not to be blown away.

While Markus and I were on our adventure this afternoon a posse of kids came up to us to see who we were. We are still obviously new in town. I think we glow of "newbyness". Anyhow, they were pretty nice kids out picking blue berries. The boys were obviously bored with the fine art of berry picking though because they decided to follow us on our climb. They really liked the digital camera and kept asking Markus to "make my picture." They are definitely not camera shy! Here's a picture that they took of us while we were out and about.

When we finally got to the top of the hill the view was breathtaking:

Anyhow, we came home, ate some left over chili and after a much needed nap I tried my hand at pretzels. Oh, we went to buy yeast from the local Northern Store and were a little surprised to find that we had to ask for yeast from behind the counter. Silly us. Yeast is a key ingredient in wine and beer making. Since this town is technically dry it is a controlled substance. There's a lot of other crazy little surprises that you bump into around here. For instance, check out what we found in front of our house this morning:

Today Markus is going out fishing in a large canoe for Arctic Char. Yesterday the people who went out caught 30 fish, so we'll see if he manages to bring back supper.

Anyways, I've got pretzels to bake and lessons to plan. Until next time.

Tootles!

What you've all been waiting for

2006-08-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I've got pictures for you all, but first a little bit of news.

I've decided to accept a part time teaching position here Innilik School. I'll be teaching math, science and computers for grade 7 students. I have a day to prepare material. YAY!
I've decided to join a couple of the other teachers at school for their evening Volleyball/Weight Lifting/Ping Pong/Billiards sessions. They're really cool guys and they let the kids come into the school after hours so that they stay out of trouble. It's been a blast so far and I'm really enjoying it.
"High Speed Internet" really means a max bandwidth of about 100k. I download at about 20k on a good day... I guess it's better than dial up, but I'm really hoping that it doesn't prevent me from doing Workbrain stuff.

In any case, here's the goods:

Notice that there's three official languages... and no known population.

A nice shot of the landscape from the airplane. Notice the lack of trees. And the snow :-)

Here's the handful of buildings that make up the town.

The trendy part of town.

In Inukjuak we get water delivered by truck every day. Except for Sunday. Nobody showers on Sunday.

Colleen sporting her light and airy summer clothes.

The only wildlife we've seen thus far. (Hint: it's on the beech and it's no longer alive)

Anyways, that's about it for this post. I'll let you know how things are going on the long weekend. Hopefully by then we'll have gone out and seen some caribou or caught some fish. We'll also post some pictures of the school and our house later.

Take it easy,

Markus

P.S. Blueberries actually grow up here. We've encountered some on our strolls out of town and heard of classes being cancelled so that kids can go pick them. That's one tough berry.

A Lazy Sunday

2006-08-27T13:29:00.000-07:00

Markus and I went for a nice walk yesterday. We realized we are living a bizzaro Jeff Foxworthy joke - I think it would go something like this: "You might be a Northerner if you go for a walk around town and actually walk AROUND the town." In Inukjuak's defence it took about an hour and did not include the airport.

I have been here since the 12th of August already and the time has absolutely flown. I have been frantically preparing for my students who arrived for the first day of school on the 17th of August. At last count I have 11 students and I am teaching them secondary 4 and 5 (that is Quebec for grades 10 and 11) English, Science, Social Studies and Math. Which was a bit of a surprise as I was told I was teaching science and math only. Awww well, everyday is a surprise!
Me: "Hello little boy who just ran into my classroom. Can I help you?"
Little Boy : " I have a knife"
Me: "Pardon?"
Little Boy: " Wanna buy it?"
Me: "Pardon?"
Little Boy runs out of classroom.

Surpise! Kids carry knives to school. In case they have to go hunting at lunch. I'm a little serious.

Markus and I have been hanging out with the other teachers at the school. It is a pretty interesting crew of people who come from all over Central and Eastern Canada. I'm really excited to work with them and get to know them better. Especially since they got Markus hang-over drunk last night. But that is gossip for the next post;)

First post from the great...green north?

2006-08-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Colleen and I have made it safe and sound to the land of the caribou and polar bears. She's been here a few days longer than I have, so I still have a few things to go see and explore like the amazing landscape. Flying in was such a surreal experience because of the low cloud cover. The flight started off in Montreal and took us into the clouds, then the plane would dip slightly below and suddenly there was a thick forest beneath us. It would only take a few moments and all I could see was cloud again. The next time I could see the ground the countryside consisted of only rocks and grass. Not a tree to be seen.

Something I will have to say is that it impressed me much more than I thought it would. The landscape has a certain beauty that's hard to describe. We'll be sure to take pictures and post them soon so that you can see what I'm talking about.

In any case, the community we're living in is very small, but the people have been great so far. The road system consists of little more than a nine by nine grid that's constantly got ATVs and scooters zipping up and down it. The two competing places to shop are the co-op and the Northern, although, competition must not be that intense since a liter of milk costs about five dollars. That's ok, though, cause our first order of food came in today so we're not starving.

I should also let you know that I've (Markus) already been offered a full-time teaching position. They want to give me the grade 7 class since the teacher had to leave for personal reasons. I still want to stick to part time, since I'm also planning on doing contract work for Workbrain as well, so we'll see how that pans out tomorrow when I meet with the principle again.

Well, those are the essentials for now. We're planning on going for some great hikes on the weekend since the arctic char are supposedly thick enough to catch with your bare hands and a huge heard of caribou are going to be migrating through this area in the next couple of months. We'll most definitely keep you updated on all the things that happen and I'll try to remember to bring the camera.

Until next time,

Markus & Colleen

Hello World

2006-08-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hello, World, hello