Weathering A Wintry Weekend

Indeed it's been too long since I've posted, but that's only because I'm having too much fun, which is forgivable right? November has gone ridiculously quick, with basically a half week off around Remembrance Day. The high school had their own ceremony on the Friday which had a great deal of student involvement. The grade 12's made a banner with the names and photos of the 98 people that have died serving in Afghanistan (see photos). Two weekends ago, we were lucky enough to get tons of entertainment all in a few days. A trio of professional musicians (violinist, clarinetist, and classical guitarist) came to Inuvik to tour the Eastern Arctic and gave several concerts over the 2 weeks they were here. A storytelling festival sponsored by the northern arts council was held in Inuvik and a fundraiser for the food bank was held at the Legion featuring East Coast music. So I managed to work at a community feast on Friday night at the youth centre, serving up berry smoothies to chaotic masses of kids, and then headed to the serenity of storytelling for 3 hours. My favourite was a man from Ft McPherson who wasn't the most lucid storyteller, but had the whole audience roaring as he jumped from story to story. Saturday I caught the East Coast music night and danced the Newfie Stomp and capped it all off with a music concert on Sunday. The community band (which if you remember I've joined and am playing the tenor saxophone) played tremendous renditions of the themes from Jurassic Park and Dances With Wolves along with both Rock Around The Clock and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I can't say it was moving, but at least we made it all the way through and managed to end together. Very important.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to take part in a winter survival course. It's not like we got an actual certification, but the hospital has been running training for their staff for years, since they often travel to remote communities and of course there's been plane crashes and such. So we had some in class stuff on what to wear, what to bring, how to build a good camp with shelters and an effective fire. All good stuff to think about. So Saturday we went just outside of town and camped out on a lake. We had gone out the day before to make snow piles for our quinzees, so Saturday we set to work hollowing them out and filling them with alder and spruce boughs for bedding, building a lean-to tarp shelter to cook under, felling a tree to make a fire reflector and basically working too hard to remember it was cold. Lucky for us it was only -15 and overcast, which is much warmer than usual. It's supposed to start getting colder this week, staying at or below -20 and we're down to only 2 hrs of daylight as of today. Being outside on the weekend really made me notice the lack of daylight. With the snow to reflect light, it's not too dark even in the night, but I didn't really feel like we saw much of the sun what with the overhanging clouds. Only two more weeks of school after this week and the Christmas break will be here. I've opted to stay up here for the break and house-sit for a couple of teachers. Everybody says it's really nice and quiet up here around Christmas, so I think that'll be a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Southern Ontario, although the Christmas displays are out in full force here in the North too. I'm going to try and do a photo diary of what Christmas in Inuvik looks like, not too different I guess, but there's a few Inuvikisms that people might appreciate. I'll miss seeing everyone at home, but you're welcome to drop me a line over the holidays and we can share some Christmas cheer or loathing, whatever your preference.