Thankful

Pictured above: Saturday night's sunset at 11:30 pm. The turquoise ice road on the way to Aklavik.

Life leads you down some amazing paths sometimes. I have been led down one such path, and could not be more greatful. There are some amazing people in Inuvik, many of which have touched my soul and livened my spirit.

titleless. pictureless.

My last weekend in Inuvik was well spent.

Friday night I went out for dinner with a friend to the Caribou cafe. Saturday I went to a breakfast at the Anglican church, and then tagged along down the ice road to Aklavik with my friend Dustin and his family. We took a drive around town, walked through the house Dustin lived in for four years as a child, and drove close to the foothills of black and red mountain. We stopped for a few photos. The ice road is slick now, as the temperatures have been mild, but the ice is still extremely thick, and amazing to look down through. We went on a late night walk around the ski trails, watched the sun setting at 1130pm. It was peaceful, and gorgeous. I was in good company. Today, I caught my last mass at the Igloo church, and then also made it to the tail end of the Anglican service, as I was meeting up with Dustin for brunch. Later, I was invited to his house for a scrumptious dinner and a fun card game. It was a weekend full of fellowship and friends, and a great way to end my time here in Inuvik.

Today, I began to feel rather anxious and nervous about my last bit of time here in Inuvik. It has been an amazing experience...actually more then amazing, I just can't think of a stronger word. It's hard to close a chapter of your life that is progressing so nicely. It's difficult to leave a town, a job, and people you have grown very fond of. It's very hard to be unsure of what the future holds for you, at the same time though, it is thrilling in the best sense of the word. I think my time here in the North has been a special one personally, one that I do not think I could adequately describe to anyone in words. The learning experiences I have had and the relationships I have formed will be held close to my heart for a very long time to come.

I hope you are all sleeping soundly, and that life is a thrilling joy for you too.

Sachs, Dempster, Wow.

I have now been to each of the six communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. I was in Sachs Harbour yesterday, it was a chilly -33 with the wind, but the sun was shining and the people were kind. Everything with our meeting went well, I just wish we would have had a bit more time to walk around and explore town. The picture you see above is part of town, with the Beaufort Sea in the background. Sachs Harbour is a community of 120ish, located on Banks Island, much further north then Inuvik. They are known for their polar bears and their muskox, of which we brought back two huge boxes. I didn't see a muskox though, they just completed their harvest - the coral where they heard them in was empty. One of the townspeople said there were a couple polar bears around Sachs lately, but I saw none. It is pretty flat, white and treeless in Sachs Harbour. I felt welcome in the little town, as we preached about Integrated Ocean Management Planning for the last time.

Today I got to go along with one of the habitat biologists at work to check on a new bridge that is being put in 30 or so kilometers down the Dempster. It was neat just to see what she does as her job, and to drive down the Dempster a ways...it would be amazing to camp all along there in the fall time. We saw a couple fox on our drive to the bridge site. The drive was amazing, and apparently the Dempster becomes fantastically gorgeous when you enter the tombstone mountains in the Yukon. Guess I'll have to come up this way again some day!

So this is my last weekend in Invuik. Come Tuesday, I will be venturing to Yellowknife for a three night stay at a gorgeous looking lodge for an 'all staff work planning' meeting for work. It should be great. Then I spent a couple days in Edmonton on the weekend, then I'm back in Ontario. Wild. I really cannot believe how fantastically fast my time here has gone. I went out for dinner tonight, not a regular thing I do, there's not too much option in town...but it was nice. We'll see what the rest of the weekend brings me. I'll be sure to share it with you.

alive.

It's almost 11 pm and still bright like a 5 pm Ontario sky. I could easily become an insomniac here.

Guess what, I saw the Governor General Michaelle Jean here in Inuvik the other day, she drum danced and blanket tossed. I was in Monday's globe and mail article to prove it.

So, I wrote this following paragraph on Sunday, I was feeling it...

Some of you may feel the following words are kinda crazy Christian. But you all know me, and I am just a regular girl with regular faith, who heard a good speech. Sometimes, I feel so close to God, and other times so far over the hills. Today and now, I feel great, close and lively. The Catholic church here in Inuvik has spirit, and I experienced that spirit today. Service was lead by the deacon, as Father Matthew was in Tuktoyaktuk doing a few baptisms. He preached his homily with such passion and devotion, my attention was never swayed. He spoke about life, his descriptions and examples so real and visual. He expressed how God is alive today and now. He spoke about how some Christians go through life being bored. He asked us what it means to be alive in Christ. He asked us what it is to be alive. To have life, and zest. I wish I would have had a tape recorder during his sermon, I really thought that he put things so well. His message though came clear to me: embrace life, let it sway you, enjoy it, and live it, pray to God that you will not get bored. God is the doctor of life!

So I ask you: what does it mean to be alive?

My mind is busting.

There are so many things right now that I want to write down, to express and to share with you.

I'll start with my day yesterday. One of the Fisheries officers from work was ski-dooing out to Sitidgi lake (which is about 60 kilometers west of Inuvik) to do some monitoring, so he invited me along (or I may have invited myself...). So there I was scared almost out of my pants driving a big skidoo over trails that were sometimes already well broken in, and sometimes chest high powder. I only got stuck three times. One of these times, I got myself unstuck! I know snowmobiling is not the most environmentally sound practice (in fact it is one of the least...) but I really wanted to get out on the land as so many people here do, so I figured 'when in Rome...' I did not know how physically demanding ski-dooing is. My body is crying this morning. So anyway, the fisheries officer from work has a little camp set up on the shore of Sitidgi, because he will be going out to monitor the fisherman until the ice melts (which he said will be the end of May). I stayed at camp while he went out and did his work, and just about dosed off inside the canvas tent with a bow floor atop the snow.

He returned, and we proceeded to skidoo all the way across this monstrous lake to see a plane. Yes, a plane, which crashed a number of years ago, and is in the middle of nowhere. The reason why this plane (pictured above) is so interesting, is because there is a group of men from Fairview Alberta who are trying to get it from the banks of Sitidgi Lake back home, so that they can restore this special plane. This is not a small task. It is a huge plane, and the area is so very remote. What a wild endeavour.

I was chatting with a couple of the men we met there about their mission - this plane is a 1943 Canadian made water bomber. It was originally used in the Air Force, but when it crashed it was being used as a water bomber by Buffalo Air out of Hay River here in the NWT. This plane is very unique, there is only one other of it's kind in Canada, and this is why it is of such interest to the people who are trying to get it out. Their plan is to put the plane of large skis, dismantle the wings, and drag it out with this funny looking ice machine, of which I did not snap a photo of. I wish these men luck, and pray that they do not rip apart the landscape on their way back to Inuvik on the trail system.

Yesterday I had an amazing, awesome feeling. You know how you feel when you are somewhere natural, somewhere stunning, but you feel sort of like you are one in many people who have seen that landscape? Like you are just one of the many people who have stepped on that rock, who have swam at that beach, who have hiked those trails? Well, yesterday I got a feeling that I was experiencing completely untouched, and unvisited landscapes, and oh, what a feeling. The first photo above gives you that feeling. Utterly pristine.

The weather was amazing yesterday, a comfortable -15ish. As you can see above, we stopped and made a little fire with some dead spruce trees, which are so skinny and short, they are easy to harvest. It was great to have some nice weather, I not once felt very cold. It was an amazing day, and despite my nervousness about skidooing, I am glad I did it, and experienced the land of the Northwest Territories another time.

I have much to say, but will leave you with that for now. Happy Sunday, go feel life today!

Only in Inuvik...part two

Only in Inuvik do you see advertising for reindeer meat sales on the local 'rolling' channel.

Only in Inuvik

Only in Inuvik would you see the pilot hanging out of the lone plane on the tarmac trying to receive a paper of some sort from a person who may be an airport worker...Did I mention you do not have to go through security before getting on a plane in Inuvik?

Now you know why I love it up here so much.

bLast

Thanks for coming North to visit me Mom. I had a blast. See you soon.

what the world?

Life makes me feel strange sometimes.

There's so much love out there, along with so much hate.

So many beautiful things to see, with a life much too finite in which to see them all in.

So much dissatisfaction, so much satisfaction.

The days in the Arctic are getting increasingly longer, the sky stays bright until about 11:00 pm. The days are also getting warmer, I saw some dripping yesterday off of the roof of my apartment as the temperature rose to freezing. It's snowing right now, which very irregularly happens in Inuvik because of the subzero temperatures.

Change is in the air...again.

I had a great week - walking around boot lake with mom, stumbling upon the Inuvik cemetery; shopping 'downtown' Inuvik; cooking and baking up a storm; going out on the land to a friends camp via ski doo; looking up in the sky for the light show; staying up late; having a successful community meeting here in Inuvik; and enjoying life!

Let me tell you about the photos you see above: The first is of some empty fuel drums down by the river just outside of town, it is all too common to see poor sites like this around town. Next is a picture of a sun dog from yesterday, a faint outline of the 'rainbow' went all the way around the sun. Finally, there's a picture of the Inuvik cemetery, Mom and I noticed a trend in the lifespans of people here - short.

Well, that's it for now. I feel like this entry has odd pictures and odd words. All the same, hope you enjoyed reading, cause I enjoyed writing.

Now to the soccer tournament!