blizzard day (number 2)

well, i got my wish of wanting to experience an arctic blizzard. it started yesterday, cleared for a bit in the evening, and is back even worse today. the wind is gusting to 80km an hour, and with the windchill the temperature is now at -57C. our office is closed for the day, along with much else. i went out for a walk yesterday and it was pretty cool. i snapped a few pictures, but in the 5 seconds i had my hands out of my mitts, it felt like my fingers were being crushed in those medieval torture device thumb screws. pain right to the bone!

at first i thought "woohoo, snow day!" but a few hours into it and i'm just kind of bored. i've had my breakfast, talked to a few other hotel guests, watched some netflix, done some knitting, started another puzzle (my third), refreshed facebook a squillion times, and stared blankly out the window at the indistinct building across the road.

i've purposely held off having a third cup of coffee so that i could venture out to get one later, as my big activity of the day.

i also keep glancing over to my box of wine. but it's not even noon, so i'm trying to hold off.

here is a photo journal of today's very brief jaunt outside:

there's my hotel. and you can just make out the apartments across the street.

let's go a few steps closer....

yup, they're coming into focus now. a few more steps...

there they are, the first one clear, its neighbours fading behind it.

and that's enough of that, i'm freezing. back to the hotel. still visible! 

and a couple of pix from yesterday that i like:

wind sweeping across the lake.

someone pushing their way through the wind as they cross the lake.
this is my favourite photo

and hey, look at that, it's after noon now!

chill weekend in rankin

haha, a weather pun.

but i'm not going to waste time talking about the weather. it's cold here. the end.

today i had a lovely relaxing day. i woke up and watched the american/russian hockey game while having coffee and a bagel. then i did a couple of crosswords with more coffee. finished off a puzzle with another coffee. not surprisingly after all the coffee, i felt a little antsy and needed to get out of the hotel. showered and bundled up and headed out to nowhere in particular.

i decided to go visit alice (aka: my mitten maker). yup, i just popped by. well first i popped by the wrong house, and was told that alice lived next door. oops. backtracked one house. her daughter and grandson were there too and we had a nice visit. i apologized for just showing up but they said that's how we do it here, and to come visit again.

wandered around town a bit. went into the two grocery stores. no, not to buy anything, just for something to do. but really, there's more than just groceries. the Northern is like a mini department store, with clothes and groceries and toiletries and sofas and washing machines all squeezed into the size of my normal safeway.

walked down to the edge of town and sat down on a snow mound for a while, just enjoying the peace and quiet. then headed to the arena for the raffle. talked to a few people as we waited for the draw. didn't win anything. oh well.

came back to the hotel and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich (which i burnt) and some sweet potato fries (which i also burnt). just watched Blackfish (about killer whales in captivity) and it was quite sad and disturbing. now for some red wine and my knitting. ahhhh...

i can't believe i still have a whole other day off!

farewell nunavut!

down to my last few hours in rankin inlet. i've been jotting down reminders of the things i've liked and disliked about staying here, and the like side wins by a landslide.

things i love about life in this little arctic hamlet:

• i love the sunrise and that i am always awake to see it
• i love the colour of the snow at different times of day. blue, pink, orange,  white.
• i love looking away from town into absolute darkness
• i love the silence, except for the sound of dogs barking somewhere in the distance
• i love that no one knows their address, but everyone seems to know who lives where
• i love that people give their phone numbers as just 4 digits, because the first three are always the same
• i love shared taxis
• i love that there are no sidewalks
• i love how trucks and skidoos just made their own roads. why go around the lake, when you can go across it!
• i love all the homemade parkas (i can never brag about knitting my own scarf again)
• i love babies in hoods (amauti is the inuit coat the mothers wear - the babies look so cozy!)
• i love wearing snow pants. this is something i plan to do at home, fashion be damned!
• i love that it's like a town full ofsouthpark kennys walking around. nothing but eyes in hoods
• i love having to do that full body swivel to look to the side.
• i love that i'm "from down south". winnipegger = southerner. weird
• i love the friday night bingo on the radio that everyone plays
• i love the sense of a close community and that i have temporarily been a part of it.

things i won't miss:

• dry skin. seriously, i slather on coats of lotion and i still feel like my skin is cracking.
• all the static to go along with the dryness
• brain freeze from the outside in. that's where the cold hits: right between the eyes.
• coffee. oh my god i am just so sick of it. everyone drinks coffee all the time. i have been havnig 4 cups a day, just because it's the thing to do.
• coffee-mate. drinking 4 cups of coffee and i don't even have cream!
• the evil giant ravens. they just hover and circle above me, like they are waiting to pick at my frozen corpse. man, they creep me out
• the constantly drippy nose
• wiping said drippy nose with the wad of frozen-snot kleenex that is always in my pocket
• my eyelashes freezing together when i blink.

actually, i like that. i'm moving freezing eyelashes to the "i love" column.

well kids, that's it, i'm outta here. flying south the rest of the winter :)

a wonderful arctic weekend

what a wonderful weekend! it started off with a walk up the hill at the edge of town to watch the sunrise. i stood on the hilltop, the wind blowing, snow drifting across the rocks like they were steaming,  and everything glowing pink as the sun came up. the world was so quiet and beautiful.

i could see this every morning and still be in awe

i went to the community centre and put a couple of tickets in to win some sealskin mitts... alas, no luck. but a lady gave me her number and said she could make me a pair. then i checked out the Matchbox Gallery, a little art shop and studio, where a couple of people were working on their sculptures, followed by a bite to eat at the sugar rush cafe, a cute place with 50s diner decor. Finished my poutine and headed back out to see the sunset. later in the evening, someone on the rankin inlet facebook group posted that they were having a bake sale, so i decided to go. i wandered around, trying unsuccessfully to find the address. i asked a few people if they knew where it was (giving the address) but no one knew. finally i asked for her by name and was pointed to the right house! it was a bit odd knocking on a stranger's door. and even odder when a young man answered the door, and i had him and 4 kids in the background staring at the unknown girl in the doorway. everything was pretty much gone except for some buns and bannock, so i bought some bannock.

today there was a real highlight. i made arrangements to meet a woman and her mother to look at some mitts her mother made. when we went in the house, two elderly ladies were kneeling on the floor, cutting up a big chunk of frozen caribou with ulus (curved inuit knives). there was also a young couple and 3 children in the small house. they were all very welcoming. the mother didn't speak any english, so her daughter translated. we chatted for a little while, and she showed me the mitts - too big :( she told me how the older ladies really like eating the frozen caribou because they have no teeth and it just kind of melts in their mouth. then she asked if i would like to try some. Yes, i would! i have never eaten caribou before, let alone raw, frozen caribou, carved right in front of me. It was good. it didn't really have any flavour. but it did just melt in my mouth. she even offered to give me some to take home, which was so kind. they have lots of people that needs to feed, and i didn't want to take it from them. the visit with them was definitely one of the coolest things i've done so far.

sweet adele and some frozen caribou meat

this evening i went for a drive with a teacher i met. we drove just a little ways out of town, and wow, it was something else! away from the lights of the little town, the stars sparkled in the night sky, and utter blackness was all around. we stopped the truck and stepped outside for a moment. oh, that wind! i think it must have been gusting at about 80km/hr or something. i could barely open the door, and once outside i could only stand with my back to the wind, it was so powerful. we only lasted about 60 seconds and i had to get back in the truck. i thought my face would peel off out there! god, how could people survive in that?? the final stop was a tour around the dump. it was surreal, like a post-apocalyptic landscape. first there was the stretch of oil drums, and then piles of abandoned frozen trucks, mattresses, coils... it was extra eerie in the dark. no polar bear sightings, just a large white rabbit darting across the snow (perhaps it was late for a very important date).

all in all, a fantastic weekend. i can't believe it's my last!

a light breeze

i looked out the window across the lake, and was taken aback to see that the world was going in reverse! snow was gusting across the lake and i could see four people heading north, all walking backwards. Step by step they plodded into the past, like someone had hit rewind. like when superman flew so fast around the earth the time rolled back! The illusion was ruined when a snowmobile zipped across, going in boring old regular forward motion. but then it was out of the picture and we returned to backwards land. It really was sort of surreal to watch. Briefly one of the four turned around and tried to walk straight on into the wind, but quickly spun back around and resumed his blind trek.

and no wonder; that wind stings! i barely had any exposed skin, but where the wind did hit was like thousands of little fingers pinching me with tiny nails. i want to say it's like being pelted in a sandstorm, but i have no idea what that feels like. maybe if i ever experience it, i'll say it's like the wind in rankin inlet.

but now i'm home, stripped down to a normal amount of clothing layers, enjoying a glass of red wine, and perfectly cozy.

10 days in, 10 degrees colder

My second weekend in Nunavut. Funny how when i first got here i posted a screenshot of the weather at -30, thinking that was cold. oh for a day when the windchill was only -30! the the actual temperature is now -31, with the windchill making it -43. It's been like that every day. i check the forecast regularly. it's predicting that next week sunday will get up to -27. oooh, nice!! seriously, that sounds nice. oh how my standards have changed!

anyway, friday nights the big event in town is Bingo. people even come in from other hamlets to play. so of course i joined in. everyone goes to the community centre to buy their cards, but the game is played over the radio. i had dinner with my supervisor and co-worker, dabbing along excitedly as the numbers were called. i was getting pretty giddy on the big bingo as i was only 3 away... and the pot was $15,000! oh well.

because it is a small town, my co-worker knew almost every winner that called in. Oh that's Laurie from downstairs. That's my cousin. That's my aunt. that's my other cousin. probably would have been pretty awkward if i'd won. people would be thinking, who the hell is that? she's not from here! damn southerner taking our winnings! haha. it was a fun night, and seeing as it's another $15k next weekend, i may just have to play again.

Today is the big craft sale. i'm looking forward to it; hopefully there will be something cool i can get for a souvenir. and again, people from all around the area will be coming in.

ooh, yesterday there were three polar bears just on the outskirts of town (at the dump). my co-worker was going to have her husband come get me to go see them, but he said they were already being chased away. but really, they were pretty damn close to the town, and thinking about my little solo walk last weekend, it turns out my polar bear fears were actually not all that irrational. my co-worker said she was chased by a bear about a year ago. how shit, how terrifying. i think i will have to reign in my inner explorer and keep safety a bit more at the forefront.

one final note. i think i'm going to rejoin facebook. 10 days of the isolation up here and i think this may be as good a reason as any to get back on. it's all about staying in touch and sharing with friends, right? well, seeing as i've got no cell service and can't even send a text, i'm feeling the need to reach out. how else will they know that i'm in such a cool (pun, har har) place?!

roaming around Rankin Inlet

there is no point hiding out in my hotel waiting for better weather. that just isn't going to happen. so i decided to go for a nice leisurely walk to explore the town today. but seeing as it was -37C, i just had to get prepared...

leggings: check.
2nd pair of leggings: check.
socks: check.
2nd pair of socks, extra thick: check
leg warmers: check
jeans: check.
sweater, hoodie, scarf, tuque, snow pants, coat, : check, check, check, check, check, and check.
boots: ugh, hard to bend over with this puffalump body.... check
and mitts: check!
...and only 20 minutes later i was ready to go

it was all worth it! i wandered about for nearly two and a half hours and was perfectly cozy! i ended up walking a little bit out of town, towards the Hudson Bay. i ventured off the road onto some snowmobile tracks, and then off the tracks to climb some rocks for a slightly higher vantage point. i really felt like quite the adventurer; not a soul around, the snow crunching beneath my boots, huge black birds soaring above, the faint barking of dogs somewhere in the distance, and snow and ice stretching endlessly before me. and then i started freaking myself out thinking of polar bears or encountering some other disastrous fate and decided to head back.

i wandered up and down the streets, blinking away ice crystals on my eyelashes. with about half an hour of daylight left (ie: around 2:45), i returned to the hotel and peeled off the many layers. aah!

here are some more photos:

downtown

off the path and up some rocks for a view... ooh, so pretty!

looking out over Hudson Bay

this is what -37 looks like.

I know i look a bit frosty, but i was totally comfortable. well, my eyeballs felt cold once in a while (who knew eyeballs could get cold!), and my hand when i took it out of my mitt for photos, but otherwise i was perfectly content. Looking forward to more bundled up strolls.

snow and ice and everyone is nice

ok, i realize i've only been here for two and a half days, but so far, i love rankin inlet. i love the small town vibe; the friendly community is so welcoming. whenever i pass someone as i walk, they smile and say hello. i love the openness, i love the clean, crisp air, i love walking down the wide roads and across the lake as ribbons of snow sweep across my path.

today was lovely, it went up to -7 or something (-13 with windchill). i went for a nice walk over my lunch break, wandering into the core area where the grocery store, banks, post office, etc are. it's as close to a downtown as there is. i chatted with a couple of people as i went, and with those i didn't speak to, we still exchanged big smiles and hellos.

i snapped a few shots on my phone today.

walking to work at 8am

walking across Williamson Lake to work (the red building at the end) after lunch

the sun heading down... and it's only 1pm

Rankin's Inukshuk

I might bundle up later and step outside to see if i can see any northern lights. or i might just bundle up in my pjs with a glass of wine and watch tv. unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be a doozy of a cold day with temperatures going down to -30... -45 with the windchill. makes it pretty hard to wander around and sightsee or take photos. 

but i will definitely head out in the evening because i bought my ticket to.... the beer dance!! there will be two bands playing, and beer brought in for purchase (Rankin allows booze to be brought in, but there is nowhere to buy it in town). anyway, i'm really excited about the beer dance because apparently they only happen a couple of times a year, so this is a big event. yay! and how can i not attend something called a "beer dance"? BEER DANCE!!! i will let you know what it's like.

but now i'm going to sit back and relax in my room, with the sound of skidoos zipping around outside

the call of the north

Friday morning an email was sent out at work, asking if anyone was interested in helping out at the office in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. They needed someone urgently, and for about 3 weeks. Naturally i jumped at it. An adventure! Another part of this big beautiful world I could explore. I have never been to northern Canada before, so this was going to be a whole new experience. And i love those!!

By Friday afternoon my flight was booked for Wednesday morning. I spent the weekend shopping and packing. I bought a new winter coat and boots (I'd been planning on it anyway, this just spurred me on). I was also told to pack food, seeing as it is very expensive and selection limited. I felt like I was packing for some kind of arctic expedition with my tub full of food. Such a strange trip!

The flight was smooth and all the staff so friendly. Before I even arrived I was getting these warm and welcoming vibes. As we neared the town, flying over nothing but snow, ice, and freezing waters, I wondered why on earth anyone would want to settle down here. It sure didn't look very inviting.

I got off the plane and walked up to the small airport, wisps of snow blowing over the tarmac. I was told that Rankin Inlet was known for its strong, harsh winds, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. It was brisk, but refreshing. Then again, that was the warmest point in the day. I felt quite different walking back to the hotel at 5pm, when it was already pitch black and noticeably colder.

Anyway, time to get ready for work. I will write more later. Especially once I have had a chance to go look around during the daylight (which will have to be the weekend) I really have to bundle up today - it's ridiculously cold out! Check out what the windchill makes it "feel like".

brr!!!

things that make me happy

sometimes I like to complain. but today, for a change, I thought i'd share a few happy things. and i'll put it in bullet point form because bullet points also make me happy!

• I went to Stars on Ice last week (yay!) and at the end of the show Kurt Browning shook my hand (YAY!!!). i practically knocked over the two little old ladies next to me in my eagerness. I wanted to tell him that i'd been coming to the show for 20 years, but couldn't utter a single word; i just shook his hand frantically while grinning like an idiot. but maybe that's ok, because when i went through my collection of Stars on Ice programs from over the years (obsessive nerd), i realized that this was only year 19. so next year i'll have to tell him :) yes, i get just as giddy and awestruck now as i did in 1994.
• i'd been brushing up on my French lately so that i could take a "second language evaluation" at work. i was very stressed about the 45 minute oral test. I took it 2 weeks ago, on a day i was really sick, and.... I got the marks i needed, yippee! so now I've been upgraded to a bilingual employee, which means a teensy bit more money, and hopefully more opportunities. way to go, me.
• i am in love with ataulfo mangos. they are sooooooo delicious and less than a buck each at superstore. yumyumyum!
• we finally had some nice weather and the weekend was beautiful! i sat outside in our backyard for the first time since moving in 6 months ago, drinking a beer and reading a book in the sunshine. so content!
• my 3 year old niece came for a sleepover and we had tons of fun doing arts & crafts and baking. plus, she is just too adorable when she's asleep. when she cuddled up to me and held my hand, i thought my heart was going to explode.

that's it for now. nothing over the top exciting, no jaw-dropping updates, just some simple things that make me smile.

snow and stupid

ugh. today is not exactly off to an auspicious start. for one, it's snowing. AGAIN. it's april 21st, and it's snowing. come one! am i ever going to get a chance to enjoy my new backyard? afternoon drinks on our sunny deck, evenings sitting around the firepit... sigh... not to be realized anytime soon.

this morning i got up around 830, shuffled downstairs in my housecoat and slippers, and put on a pot of coffee. i plunked myself down at the table to go through the newspaper and do the crossword. my usual routine. as i was drowsily flipping pages, i heard i tinkling noise. huh. i wonder what that is, i thought, continuing to flip. tinkle tinkle drip drip. is the tap on? finally i come out of my sleepy fog enough to consider that something may not be right in the kitchen. sure enough, the coffee maker is pouring coffee straight down onto the element, cascading over the counter and onto the floor. the pot sits empty off to the side. and oh, fantastic, the drawer beneath was slightly ajar so a cups worth of coffee has also poured in all over the cutlery. oy.

yup, today definitely has the makings of a day when i should just laze on the couch, avoid the miserable weather, and not undertake any complicated tasks (like coffee-making!). but i'm off to a birthday brunch at my dad's. gotta go brush the car off. grumble grumble.

there's something rotten in the state of denmark

Hello from Denmark! I'm feeling quite sleep deprived and although caffeine is keeping me awake, my brain definitely isn't working at full capacity. Although the first half of my holidays was a lazy, relaxing, sleep in til whenever week in the sun, the second half is a go go go travel and see and do as much as you can, sleep when you get home week.

The first flat we stayed in was close to the central train station. we walked past the sex shops, strip clubs, kebab and shwarma shops, fashionable boutiques, trendy cafes, cool pubs, and fruit stands. We went for a walk around and i took pictures of the hundreds and hundreds of bicycles everywhere. I'd heard about it, but it really is more than i expected. very neat.

we noticed that lots of people were walking about with beer, which is always a novelty when you come from a place where that's not allowed. so we joined the locals and grabbed a couple of Carlsbergs for our walk. at night our street was full of people. a few prostitutes loitered around the sex shops advertising ''erotic lifestyle'', a crowd of questionable men stood about the doorways. further down, groups of friends sat on stoops chatting and drinking their beers. people lined up for kebabs, cyclists rode by, and the occasional car passed. we sat on a stoop and people watched.

the next day, after not getting enough sleep, we hopped on a train to Helsingør. It's famous for its castle - Elsinore castle from Hamlet. It was cool, as castles usually are. The town was very cute too, with all the cobblestone streets and patio restaurants. Then, to make use of our 24 hour train pass, went to a town further north and sat on a bench on the beach, stunned at how those crazy Danes were swimming while we sat in our sweaters. Finally, we stopped at Hillerød and walked to a cute cobblestone (of course) square that overlooked another pretty castle on a lake.

tried not fall asleep and miss our stop on the train back to Copenhagen.

yesterday was a miserable rainy day. i had so much fun! we took the train to Malmo, Sweden where i met up with some old friends i hadn't seen in about 6 years. yes, the weather sucked, but the company was fantastic. we wandered about the city, stopped for coffee just to get out of the rain, napped, and finished the night with a delicious dinner at my friend's flat. i even tried some traditional pickled herring (that wasn't the delicious part) and some salty licorice (nor was that). I had such a good time, i didn't want the night to end!

now we're back in Copenhagen in our new flat. it's so nice! unfortunately, the weather is NOT. it's another miserably cold and rainy day. not sure what we're going to do... kind of puts a damper (haha, punny) on our boat tour plan, or rent bikes plan. i enjoy walking around soaking up the atmosphere, but i didn't want to be so literal on the soaking part.

anyway, time to venture out again, rain be damned!

you're disgusting, but i love you anyway

you're filthy. you leave a mess all around, and i'm left trudging through it. your very presence leaves me feeling dirty. you have no regard for how your presence effects me or anyone else. you breeze into town, stir things up a bit, then vanish without a warning. how many times have you stayed a few days, only to make a hasty retreat, leaving me feeling cold and deceived? too many! i can't deal with your mood swings. you're hot, you're cold... and sometimes it makes me physically ill.

but yet i always look forward to your return, regardless of your fickle ways and the filth you leave in your wake. it's the future you promise that allows me to see past all of this. brighter days are ahead, i know it! go ahead and throw everything into a sloppy disarray, it's okay. i know you can't help it. i think you're going to stay a while this time, and make good on those sunny promises.

welcome back Spring. i missed you.

it's too cold when...

ah, january in winnipeg... you think you're so tough? you think you shock me? you think i can't handle you?? tut tut, you do this every year. you're so predictable.

i was walking home the other day, and when i blinked, my eyelashes froze together. ooh, good one winter, you're so strong, i'll never be able to unstick my eyelashes. pffft, please. and you can't fool me, even though it's so cold it feels like i've forgotton to put on pants, i know they're there, overtop of my long johns. oh, oh noooo, don't throw that windchill factor at me! -45, exposed skin freezes in 3 minutes. blah blah blah, as if have any skin exposed. eyeballs aren't made of skin, so ha!

yesterday the washing machine overflowed. water and bubbles everywhere, cascading across the kitchen floor and into the hallway. of course, january's patented "freeze the pipes" move. so cliche. so we haul out the gear, pour hot water down the pipes, sop up the water that is quickly turning to icy slush on the cold tiles, aim space heaters at the wall... and wait, unphased.

old man winter.... such a grumpy old bastard. i can't wait for him to take his teeth out and go to bed for the season.

pompoms are for pansies

my original title was going to be "pompoms are for pussies" but i blushed and realized i was too much of a pus -- pansy -- to write that. plus, that may bring in visitors on false notions of what this site contains. wait a second... i don't have any visitors. i want people coming to my blog; sketchy perverts welcome! sigh... my blog is like a ghost town, just the occasional tumbleweed blowing through. ooh, if only i could work that into a customized theme.

back to the point. i have these fairly ridiculous winter boots, with both zipper pulls broken off and replaced by key rings to keep them functional. yes, i am ingenious, thanks for noticing! yeah yeah, cheap too. less thanks for noticing that. anyway, they took about 3 hours a boot to put on because of all the damn lacing up that was required. plus, each lace tip ended in a pompom, which although cute, was excrutiatingly impractical because the laces always caught on each other, swirling together in a bola like tangled mess. so finally i chopped 'em off. adios pompoms! i feel much tougher in my pompomless boots. i tramp through snowdrifts and forge through raging storms. I'm an arctic survivalist, outta my way!!

on my home today, through a haze of blustering snow, I scowled at the slow moving woman in spike-heeled boots walking in front of me. squeak squeak squeak went the pointy heels into the snow. My boots would be across the bridge by now! as we reached the other side she stopped and backtracked, realizing she had to use the stairs to get down. Ha, move it princess! my boots can go off-roading. or off-sidewalking, whatever. i would never have felt so ferocious with pompoms on my boots, no sirree.

yup, i'm a changed woman. all grit and power, and not a pompom in sight.

except for the one on my toque.