Tasty Turkey Temptation

Thanksgiving has come and gone and though it wasn't as balmy as the one you southerners experienced, we at least had some sun and above zero temperatures. A couple of friends made a turkey and hosted a pot luck, making for deliciousness. I baked some apple-flavoured squash, yams & apples, while my roomates brought some roast moose. The snow keeps piling up here, leading to a lot of people getting up on their roofs to shovel it off. Roof design isn't meant for a lot of snow up here, so barely peaked or outright flatness aplenty. The skidoos are out in full force, roaring around town and taking short-cuts wherever they can. They're probably better on gas than the huge trucks most drive, so I don't blame them. All the building adaptations that seem strange without winter are starting to make sense: big heavy doors with no windows & very few glass store fronts to prevent heat loss and grated steel stairs and porches with jagged edges to give you some traction in the hard packed snow. It's still a bit of shock to see kids (and teachers) trudging through the halls with big winter boots on. You can't pretend winter doesn't exist like down south, where kids (and adults) try and wear running shoes winterlong. On a winter plus side, I saw my first full blown northern lights spectacle, complete with shimmering reds and greens. So much like staring into a fire. I stood there for so long just waiting for the lights to bloom somewhere else in the sky.

The library is starting to feel alive. The junior high classes are coming in for silent reading on a weekly basis now. I've been trying to be a good librarian and have a book of the week I've read and can recommend to the kids. So far Schooled by Gordon Korman and Small Steps by Louis Sachar have been good picks. I think I might try some Jerry Spinelli next. The school has hired a part-time library tech to start running some programs for students as well. So we're starting by running a organization session on how to use your student planner. Hopefully the students can find the planners handed out at the beginning of the year and they can actually write some stuff in their calendars.

Being a part of the community relations committee at the school, I helped organzie a community feast last week. Community feasting seems to be a big part of northern tradition, so we cooked up 10 turkeys, 10 hams and you don't want to know how much macaroni, potato & garden salads and tried to fill up our gym with community members. We were lucky to get our Gwich'in teacher to bring in bannock and caribou soup too. There's some pictures added and it went off pretty well. I didn't have to do any cooking, but I rounded up door prizes from local businesses, who were all very supportive, and helped set up and take down. Lots of work for lots of people, but it goes a long way to strengthen relations with the community and get people into the school. Plus who doesn't like having a big free meal.