Sorry I haven't wrote in the past couple days, I haven't gotten to the Library until now. But here I am. I have sooo much to tell you all!

So let me tell you some more about Inuvik. I walked around a bit yesterday after work, visited a few of the store that they have. Alot of the stores are convenience-type stores, often with strange things to find. I went into the last of Inuvik's three grocery stores last night, they had no milk, and almost no fresh fruits and veggies. Apparently milk and fresh stuff goes like hotcakes up here. They must get shipments not all that regularly. Someone at work said the Ice roads are opening up now though, so that means deliveries will be more regular, and that prices will largely drop. In the in-between seasons, everything that is sold in grocery stores has to be brought in by plane, making everything very expensive. Last night I also paid a visit to the rec complex, and it's awesome! A nice lifeguard dude with a huge beard showed me around, they have a skating rink, beautiful pool, and a work out room with really new looking equipment. I get a free membership for the gym and rink from work, so I will certainly make use of that, and the pool, which really doesn't cost much at all. Next week sometime I hope to have Internet at my apartment, it will be easier for me to write then.

I think it NEVER stops snowing here in Inuvik. Even though it is -27 degrees outside, there is a constant sprinkling of snow. Every street is consistently covered and they really never seem to clear it, somehow it gets compacted and not slippery like it would get in southern Ontario. Because of the sensitive permafrost all of the infrastructure is above ground...including all of the utility piping. So all around town you can see these "utilidors" which house the water systems. Its kinda neat. Because of the really cold temperatures, everyone here has to plug in their car, otherwise it will not start. Also, everyone heats up their vehicles, or again, they won't drive! Its funny, everyone turns on their car and lets it run for 10 minutes while they go back inside to do whatever. Kinda an idle shame...but its necessary if you want to drive up here!

I get one TV station at home, its CBC and has the same show programming as you guys, only at 6 I see 'Northbeat' its all northern news, kinda cool and interesting to watch.

Today at lunchtime I took a walk, and saw the famous Mackenzie River for the first time. Of course it was totally frozen, and so was I by that point, but the river is the beginning of the Ice Roads that lead south, and further north. It was wild seeing stakes and speed limit signs on the middle of a frozen river. Work is out of town a bit, and so I get a ride with a girl who lives in my building. Because it is out of town a bit, you can see downtown Inuvik from where I was standing, it was like a weird blip in between the every scrawny trees. So far each person that I have met in Inuvik is slightly odd, I guess you have to be to live up here. I fit in well. Ha.

Oh! another thing. Today at work one of the girls was talking about how power outages are really common in Inuvik. Then today after work while I was making dinner...the power went OUT! I couldn't believe it. Luckily I had a light. But it was only out for about 10 min, otherwise it woulda been one COLD night.

I have been taking lots of photos, but will post them once I have my computer online.

So now a little about work. Although this week I really have strictly been getting myself acquainted with things and reading lots, there is some really interesting stuff coming up for me. On Tuesday of next week, along with 3 other coworkers, I will be travelling (by a smmmmmall aircraft) to Ulukhaktok and Paulatuk. Both of these two communities have completely Inuvialuit populations, and one has 270 people while the other has 400. I have added a map of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, which falls with in the Beaufort Sean Integrated Management Planning Initiative area, which is the area of study for my section of Fisheries and Oceans. If you can properly make out the map above, you can see where Inuvik is and where Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok (Ulukhaktok is known in English as Holman, and is on the above map as so) are, and I'm going there next week! We will be talking to people in the communities about the possibility of their areas being turned into MPAs...Marine Protected Areas. I have packed alot of info into my head this week about all that the DFO does up here, and MPAs is just one of the things they are doing under the Oceans Act. So I'm not sure exactly what to expect with these community visits, but it will be an experience! The main office that the oceans sector of the Inuvik office deals with is the Winnipeg office, and they have requested my help with a couple things during these upcoming months. One of these is to help with a conference on Ecosystem Based Management in Winnipeg. So come Feburary I may pay Manitoba a visit! Neat huh? I'm also helping with a few working group meetings that are occurring next week. One is a TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and one is a Biophysical working group. Both of them are working toward integrated management for the Beaufort Sea. I'm still trying to get all this jazz straight in my head, so hopefully I'm telling it correctly to you guys!

Anyway, if you have read this far, your the best...I hope each and every one of you is doing well enjoying the crazy warm weather in Ontario and Tasmania (dad and kris!) I'll try to post more often. There is so many times during the day when I think of one of you guys, think 'Oh I'd love to tell so-and-so about this neat thing or that'.

Until next time...