Conclusion of chapter one

So here I am, at the completion of my four month journey in the North. I'm back in Ontario, and am a little overwhelmed with it all. After a stunning conclusion to my journey (spent at a lodge just outside of Yellowknife, and enjoying and exploring Yellowknife and Edmonton), it's done, and over. One part of my life has ended, and another is beginning. I cannot believe the speed of it all. The speed of life. When I look back and reflect on my past four months, it's almost indescribable. I'm not sure words could do it justice. Maybe it is something that I will hold in my experience back, close to my heart, an experience that I had on my own, but shared bits with others. On that I am certain has changed me, and opened my eyes to even more of the life that is out there and has yet to be lived. One that I will remember for ever and ever. One chapter closes and another one opens. You know how you feel when you get to the end of a really good chapter of a novel? You feel a lot sad, but also a lot excited to read on in the story. I feel this way, sad one part is over, but always excited to devour more of this novel of life.

Thanks to all you for reading my outlet of words over the past four months. I will certainly keep you updated on my future adventures, and will rename and continue to use this blog when my next exciting adventure ensues.

Share love and peace always.

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!

The Muskrat Jamboree

This past weekend was the annual Muskrat Jamboree in Inuvik. The festivities started out on Friday night with the opening ceremonies. This began with the crowning of the Jamboree King and Queen and the community feast. The community feast included a lot of Eskimo doughnuts and a lot of traditional meats, all made by community members and brought to share among the community. After the feast, there were some hilarious games, one of which I entered with a few other people. You know the game where you pass an orange between people via your neck? Picture it, and picture my team coming last, the only team still standing, and looking like we are literally making out with one another in a rushed sort of way. Too funny. There were a ton of other funny games, and after the games were done the drumming and dancing commenced. It was a really good dose of culture, the melodic rhythm of the drums beating along with the matching dance beats was fantastic. The dancing is definitely interesting, there are many moves that represent different things, like animals, canoeing, etc. The first picture above depicts the backs of the outfits that the dancers were wearing. After the drum dancing, there was a jigging competition complete with a three man band - fiddle included. Next was the old timers dance. All and all, a good first day of Jamboree.

The next two days were full of activities - dog mushing, plank walking, log sawing, nail driving, ski-doo racing, BINGO, honey bag hockey, harpoon throwing, tea boiling, bush skills, and muskrat skinning. All of these were held down on the river. I was up close for the muskrat skinning, which was hard to watch, and my photos sucked, because I was shooting into the sun, but there is one above of the ladies doing the competition. It was amazing how easy they made it look. Poor lil' muskrats. There were always tents selling chili, moose stew, muktuk (beluga), hamburgers and of course, Eskimo doughnuts down at the river. Last night was the talent show in the school gym, which had some gems, but lasted forever. My favourite part was probably the fiddle competition.

Activities continue today, the last day of the Jamboree activities, and most of the town has no work or school, as it is considered a civic holiday. Although DFO does not honour this civic holiday (booo) I'm still taking the afternoon off, because I've worked up a bunch of overtime.

I also went out a couple times this weekend with friends. I'm still really loving all the nice people that I have had a chance to meet up here. Do you ever get going in such a good situation that you just don't want it to end? But you know that it has too, it will, and soon? I feel exactly that way, I have something good going here...

Aurora freakin' Borealis

I knew there was a reason why I named my blog "Aurora Renews".

Aurora is the Roman Goddess of dawn who renews herself every morning and flys across the sky with a zing of energy in her soul, announcing the arrival of the sun. Boreas is Greek for wind.

I can see why the Aurora Borealis were named after this Goddess - the pink and green lights of the North that I just experienced certainly gave me an installation of renewed energy in my soul.

This is an exert from a poem by Lord Alferd Tennyson where he is describing Aurora:

Once more the old mysterious glimmer steals
From thy pure brows, and from thy shoulders pure,
And bosom beating with a heart renewed.
Thy cheek begins to redden through the gloom,
Thy sweet eyes brighten slowly close to mine,
Ere yet they blind the stars, and the wild team
Which love thee, yearning for thy yoke, arise,
And shake the darkness from their loosened manes,
And beat the twilight into flakes of a fire

I am not usually one for poetry, but I thought it was nice.

Even if you can't see the Northern Lights where you are, look at a star, a single star, and gaze at it for thirty seconds. I'm sure you will notice that at the end of that short time, you will be in complete awe. Our world is a beautiful and precious one. Enjoy it while treating it kindly friends.

Heli - copter.

Wow, I am so lucky.

Yesterday afternoon I got the amazing pleasure of going on a helicopter ride. We traveled from Inuvik North East to Tuk across the tundra, and then west along the coast; we were filming for a documentary that my boss wants to make about the Marine Protected Area that is soon to be regulated through DFO. Actually, we had a professional filming, I was just along for the (WICKED) ride. First we saw moose, then we saw an arctic fox or two. Then we came upon the herd of Caribou that you see above. They were just minding their own business as we noisy humans blew by. Next we flew above Tuktoyaktok, then onward along the (very) white coast. We headed as far west as Shingle point, took some footage of a couple lonely cabins, and then headed to Swimming point, where we refueled the helicopter. We loaded back into the little vehicle, and traveled south eastward, across the Delta toward Inuvik. I have seen pictures of the Delta in the summer, with the mountains bordering the deposited material that is lush, low and moist. If it looks anything in summer like it does in winter, then the delta, is gorgeous.

In the delta area we spotted two crouched creature, which turned out to be a couple of arctic lynx. Possibly the neatest wildlife I have ever seen, they did not mind our hoovering, instead they continued playing, pawing at one another, until they ran off into the willows. So neat. I have a couple of pictures of these creatures, I will post them soon.

Another highlight of yesterday was coming home to some muskox meatball soup. Mmm, thanks classy eskimo.

Tomorrow, I take on Sachs Harbour; located on Banks Island, this small (population 120) hamlet should be interesting.

My belly is grumbling, and dinner awaits. Its 8pm, and the sun is still a shinin' and will be until 10 pm. I'm (almost) in the land of the midnight sun.

Peace.

The Aklavik Mad Trapper Rendezvous

The day begun with some chilly temperatures, but some bright sun, and a beautiful drive on the ice road.

This morning, Mom and I hoped in the truck with Amy and Wade, and drove over to Aklavik, where it is Jamboree time. (Uh oh, cats outta the bag...my one-eyed-classy-Eskimo is my Mom!)Every spring, each of the communities take turns hosting their Jamborees - basically a festival of games and food for the whole community to participate in. Aklavik's Jamboree is a four day festival filled with dog mushing, dizzy stick racing, plank walking, egg tosses, flour packing, ice chiseling, snowshoe racing, talent shows, BINGO, jigging competitions - the list goes on. We got to Aklavik by noon, just in time to see the eager yelping dogs take off on their sleds for the 10 km race with 1000 bucks for first place. Then after taking a short drive around town, we went down to the jamboree site on the river, and waited for the games to commence with a bowl of homemade chili and bannock in hand. There is a picture above of one of the dog teams in action, and following that, a picture of a wall tent where Annie the elder was giving out caribou soup to other elders and visitors (regulations up here do not allow Inuvialuit to sell the caribou that they have hunted - they can only give it as gifts). Seeing as I had come over from Inuvik, Annie let me try some of her yummy caribou soup.

There were a number of people from Inuvik that I knew at the games, which was nice, because it meant Amy and I could enter the four legged race! And, although Amy, Jon and I came in dead last place, I laughed my ass off. There were a number of other hilarious competitions that we all had a hoot watching. Like dizzy stick races, where you have to spin around a stick 10 times and then race to a pylon. There was a lot of falling going on!

So as pristine as you and I might think that the Mackenzie delta is, there is still a fare amount of litter bugs in the North. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get to Aklavik on the ice road, but today, the ride home took almost three hours. We stopped and picked up each and every bottle and can along the ice road that we could see. Amy and Wade will get a pretty penny for picking up the litter of others! (You get money for recycling almost everything up here). There was a ton of cans and bottles in the back of their truck by the time we got home.

All in all, a good chilly day was had by all. I now know what a Jamboree entails, and I love the good clean hilarious fun of it all. I'm looking forward to Inuvik's Jamboree, it's next weekend!

This one eyed chick was cold!

Can you guess who this one-eyed-classy-eskimo is?

DEWy Tuktoyaktuk

My title isn't dewy like the grass in summer, or dewey like the decimal system either, Aunt Joan/Mom. Instead its DEWy like the radar system...

So yesterday I was in Tuktoyaktuk for another Community Consultation meeting regarding the Beaufort Sea Integrated Ocean Management Plan. The picture you see above is of a Distance Early Warning Line station. I'm sure many of you are familiar with these radar stations that were built across the far North of Canada during the Cold War to detect incoming bombs from Russia. Most of these sites have been abandoned, leaving behind some pretty toxic waste. These sites have plagued the people of the North for a while now. I'm not sure what the status of this particular DEW line site is in Tuk, looks like it is still in action.

The drive up to Tuk was amazing - the ice road was bumpy, but the sky was clear and we went through the sand hills, north out of the delta, into the barren tundra, and onto the Beaufort Sea. Yes, I walked and drove atop the Beaufort Sea. I was also in good company, two co-workers both whom I admire quite a lot for different reasons, and a local Inuvialuit who chatted us up about the caribou/wolf hunt that he just got back from. His blistered cheeks were proof of his time on the land. We also saw a couple moose on the way home.

On a completely separate and exciting note, I have an exciting, very exciting, visitor in the North with me :)

A Ptarmigans-eye view

This is Inuvik from above, at the top of Baldie (a hill that I climbed today, named so because it is the location where the towns gravel pit is...the hill is becoming progressively bald). Today was slightly hazy, but mostly sunny and gorgeous. Also warmer at -22. My friend and I went for a walk on the boot lake trail, and ended up here.
Later, I went for a ski on the trails with some borrowed skis and a group from the ski club. I saw a group of Ptarmigans (stunningly white Arctic birds from the Grouse family).
Another fantastic day in Inuvik.

Pingo

Oh dear readers, my apologies. I have gone much too long without a blog. My excuse is the insanity of my week.

The Beaufort Sea Partnership meeting was this past week, which means people came from all across Canada to talk about Integrated Ocean management in the Beaufort Sea. It was quite the three day event, and I was the designated minute taker (oh the joys of being a student) and I facilitated three breakout sessions that asked participants from all sectors (government, Inuvialuit, Industry etc) to identify pieces that may be missing in the drafted Integrated Ocean management Plan. It was a good experience, and I can now say I know much more about facilitation and writing on flip charts then I ever have.

Aside from the Beaufort Sea Partnership Meeting, today I had to say buh-bye to my new friend Sarah. She's the coop student who had my position last summer, and who is currently working at the Winnipeg DFO office for her coop term. She was here for the past three weeks to help us with the community tour and the BSP meeting. But we've spent the last four weeks together (one in Winnipeg, then three here), and now I already miss her! It's fun having another student at work to laugh with, and ask stupid questions to that you might not ask a boss. She will be in Waterloo this summer though, so we will reunite :)

The picture above is of a Pingo in Tuktoyaktuk. I'm going there again this Tuesday. A pingo forms when a small lake drain. The permafrost that surrounds the unfrozen sandy ground where the lake once was, begins to spread. When this happens water in the saturated sandy ground freezes and expands, pushing excess water ahead of the freezing ground. As the circle of permafrost moves toward the centre of the once present lake, the excess water comes under increasing pressure, and the lake bed is pushed up, and up, forming the hill you see in the picture above! It's a unique northern land form!

Well, the Muskox hunt in Sachs is ongoing (for a town of 150 people they are legally allowed to harvest 10 000 muskox off the land!!) and this means that it will be in the grocery store soon. Alexa got me some from her friend early, and I have muskox-eggplant lasagna in the oven. (My apologies to you vegetarians, but only in the north right?)

Enjoy your evening. I will enjoy my (bright!!) one.

Atitu!

My blog title means Hello in Inuvialuktun.

This week was pretty busy at work...next week the Beaufort Sea Partnership meeting is happening, which means 50 people are coming to Inuvik from all over Canada to talk about the Beaufort Sea Integrated Management Plan. Wildly busy work week.

The highlight of my week was Aklavik. Aklavik is another one of the six Inuvailuit Settlement Region communities that I am travelling to for the community consultations. It is in the delta, and not on the Beaufort coast, which means it has winter ice road access. So we drove the hour to Aklavik on the ice road, and drew nearer and nearer to the Richardson Mountain range, of which you can see in the second photo above. The first photo was taken 'downtown' Aklavik. Have you heard of Albert Johnson? He's otherwise known as the 'Mad Trapper' and of course is famous up here and especially in Aklavik where he was eventually caught, killed, and buried in the cemetery that is just behind the sign in the first photo.

Funny thing, I'm off to the Mad Trapper tonight...the bar in town here owes its name to Albert Johnson, the crazy fugitive whom killed two mounties, and to whom no one knows the ancestry of.

Growing up?

Whew. That was a busy Monday. Tomorrow I will be travelling to Aklavik, one of the 6 Invialuit Settlement Region communities, by ice road. We will be having the same meeting that we have had in the other communities, and at this meeting, both the Inuvialuit and Gwich'in will be present.

Want to hear about my weekend? Saturday was spent skating in Cal's yard. Cal is my boss, and him, like a bunch of houses in town, have rinks in their front yards. You can see an action shot of me above. We played some hockey, and I loved it, I felt like a little kid who couldn't skate...becuase I can't stop on my skates! (Lindsay, it makes me want to play hockey at school with you!!) Sunday was another great outdoor day (even though it was -35 degrees C). I took a skiing class, it taught me some good basics, and it was a good day outside.

On a separate note, I'm not sure I like this whole growing up thing. After talking to some friends in Waterloo, it's becoming more and more real. My friends and I are growing up, graduating, getting jobs, moving away, and doing life. And, as it happens, 'doing' life involves a heck of a lot of change. I think there are a lot of things and people that I will miss this summer, and the months to come after that. But maybe these things will be replaced by even better ones. You really never can know what the future holds.

A Love Affair...

with the Canadian Arctic.

Ulukhaktok and such

Ulukhaktok has spirit.

Today I was in Ulukhaktok to host the same community consultation meeting that we did the other day in Paulatuk. Although I was in Ulukhaktok last month, I didn't get a proper taste of it. Today I tasted the spirit and beauty of Ulukhaktok. As we flew over the Beaufort Sea, the weather was clear and I could see solid ice for days. I took a bunch of photos from the plane of the ice, and the snow drifts atop the ice. It was pretty neat sitting there considering that I was in a small aircraft above the Arctic ocean...a situation I would have never pictured myself in four months ago.

The first picture above is of ont he main strip of Ulukhaktok, notice the gorgeous background. To my left would be the Beaufort, the ocean, as Ulukhaktok is located on Victoria Island. Everyone in town seems to own a snow machine, vehicles were much fewer then Inuvik. All the young children get carried under their Mommy's parkas (and these are fancy homemade decorative parkas) in these bundles on their backs. One of the lady's who was at our meeting had a 5 month old that was on her back, tied around her in a bundle when she arrived. It was neat see how they keep their babies safe and warm from the cold. Over one of the meeting breaks I had to go next door to the hotel and make sure our soup and bannock was going to be ready for our supper break, and there was such a nice restaurant there with all sorts of baked goodies. I also took a stroll to the Northern, the grocery store in town. The kids in town caught up with me and Alexa while we were out, and were so friendly, wondering what our names were. I guess we were recognized as being out-of-towners. I suppose that happens when the town's population is 270. Later on after the meeting was complete, the sky was coloured with the sunset, over the bluff landscape the colours looked gorgeous. The third picture shows some of this colour, along with one of the three churches that I noticed in town! Also in the picture above is my friend Devin. He was hanging out in a snowbank just outside the Hamlet building where we had our meeting. He told me he was 4 years old and in grade 3. I think he mighta been fooling me...

I have heard that Ulukhaktok has a nice craft shop in town, and so asked the people at our meeting about it. We were disappointed to know that it was closed, but delighted to find that we could call Joe and he would open it up for us. So we got a hold of Joe, and he took us over. Among a huge pile of muskox hides, there were some really gorgeous prints that are all made in town. I was tempted to get one (they were all stunning, traditional and unique) but instead ended up with some really gorgeous cards and some mini seal mitts that are a zipper pull.

Oh so we also stopped in Tuktoyaktok to pick up someone who was coming along with us to help with the meeting. Tuktoyaktok (always referred to as Tuk up here) is a community also on the Beaufort that I will be visiting again in a couple weeks. Tuk is famous for thier Pingos, I will post later with a photo of a pingo, and what the heck it is in case you are someone who is wondering. (No Kris, its not a distant relative of the dingo....) Tuk is also famous for the song Stompin' Tom sings about the town, do you know that one?

It was neat driving into town on the towns 'bus' today, and seeing a polar bear hide hanging outside of someones house. It's funny, I have a somewhat renewed perspective on subsistence hunting ever since I have been here. I still can't see the purpose of the sport hunt, but I have become really comfortable with the hunting that the Inuvialuit do for their direct consumption and use.

So although I didn't see a polar bear today (well, I didn't see a live one at least...) I did see some other Northern wildlife. When we were back in Inuvik and driving into town from the airport, we had to slam on the breaks...there was a huge moose in the middle of the road. And when I say huge, I really mean HUGE.

I am hugely tired, and must get to my cozy bed. Enjoy your cozy bed tonight, wherever you may be.

Today has been nice so far. I went to the Igloo church for mass, and the priest was finally back from his extended holidays. The small parish had a potluck for him in the parish hall, which is basically a long mobile type building. Anyway, so I wasn't going to go, but when father matthew noticed that I was new, he told me to come, so I walked behind the church to the hall, and had a nice lunch with a friend who goes to the same church. A number of people introduced themselves to me, its funny how small this town is, everyone knows when you are new! The priest talked to me a bit, he is so nice, said that sometimes he has some friends over for dinner and that I should come over to his appartment sometime for dinner. He is quite young, and also quite passionate, it is nice to see that in a priest. So then my friend asked if I would like to go out for a ski when we were done eating, and I was all in! I warned her of my lack of cross-country-skiing experience, but there was another newbie coming along, so she would show us the ropes. She got us all geared up (the cross country ski club here has some great gear) and we were off on the gorgeous trails. I really enjoyed it, only fell twice, and it was a stellar workout.

On to the photo. I took this picture yesterday in Paulatuk. After an early morning and a shaky landing on a little plane the community meetings that I have been helping to organize commenced. The photo basically sums up Paulatuk in the wintertime...very very white. It looked the same way when I was in the community back in January. In the summer between the houses, you can see the Beaufort Sea. But currently it is a wall of white. We hosted the community meeting in the visitor's centre-the main building in town that contains the offices, hotel, parks canada office and the grocery store. The Inuvialuit are all quite engaged in the details that we presented regarding Oceans Management Planning, and brought up alot of concerns regarding their traditional ways of life.

People here keep talking about summer time in Inuvik, and I'm sad when I have to tell them I will not be here. It's surprising how much this town has grown on me. It's amazing to see the fellowship that goes on in this town. I like the type of people here. Not to say that I don't like people in the other places I have lived, but there is just something so fresh, welcoming and down to earth about the people here. No pretentious bullshit. Just real people. Hopefully I'm real too.

Winnipeg in a photo or two.

Moi et une polar bear (Krista, note the roos). Moi et une snow sculpture at the parliment buildings (they are all over the city). Une pedestrian bridge (complete with a restuarant half way accross) over the Red River.

I like you winnie, and peggy.

Okay, so this might have to be snappy, as there is someone waiting to use the computer here in the hotel lobby. But I just wanted to tell you all a little bit about Winnipeg.
On the second day of the forum (which was yesterday), Sarah (the DFO coop student from Waterloo who currently works here in Winnipeg, and formerly worked my position in Inuvik) and I went over lunch for a little walk to the legislature building to take some pictures of the famous 'golden boy' and along the way we saw some neato polar bear statues and some neato snow sculptures. I took photos of them all. Then yesterday evening after the forum was completed, a good number of DFO persons went for a drink at the hotel pub here, and then Sarah and I went on a bit of a walking tour of Winnipeg. It was REALLY cold, but we ventured to the intersection of Portage and Main. This intersection is the centre of downtown, and in fact an intersection that cannot be crossed by pedestrians above ground, you have to do it below ground in tunnels! Apparently it is also the windiest intersection in Canada (I don't quite understand why??) We continued our walk down to the Red River, which you can skate multiple kilometers on, and I took some shots of a really neat pedestrian bridge. Then we moved onto the 'Forks'. An area of Winnipeg called such because it is located where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers converge. There was a really neat indoor market with independant stores, restaurants and natural foods. I got some quinoa, wheat free granola, manitoba jam, and a really neat purse/bag made of hemp in BC. I really enjoyed this area of Winnipeg, it was quite unique. We were also able to go to the top of a tower and look over the rivers. 'Twas great. Then we went out to a pub near the hotel, and some older DFO employees met up there, and they drank me under the table. I folded by 1130! (and was extraodinarily disapointed when I realized I forgot to go outside and look at the lunar eclipse! darn it!!)
So today I went into the DFO office located on the University of Manitoba Campus and worked out of that office, I took the bus in and it was a good day. After work Sarah and Rod (a grad student working with DFO) and I went to dinner at this great Thai place, my food was amazing, and some good curry, tea, ice cream and fellowship was had by all.
Okay so that wasn't as snappy as it maybe should have been, I think I have officially pissed the waiting dude off. eeek. Here I go. I'll post some pictures once I arrive back in Inuvik tomorrow.
Sleep well, wherever you dwell.

Friendly Manitoba

Now I know why they call Winnipeg Winter-peg. It's as cold here as it is in Inuvik! What the heck! Though, it was nice waking up this morning with daylight. I heard it is the coldest city in North America with a population over 600 000.
So last night as well as tonight I tagged along with some Winnipeg DFO people for dinner. Both were really nice, it was fun to eat out, theres sort of a lack of restaurants in Inuvik. Today the conference here at the hotel was really good, I learned a bunch and was actually able to pipe up a couple times in the breakout groups and put my student-ish two sense in. The food was good too, lots of fresh fruit and veggies! Oh Oh, and I won a prize! haha we played this game where we had to get into groups and make up a 30 second blurb that we would say to Peter Mansbridge if we were trying to convince him to come and do a story on the Marine Protected Areas in the Beaufort Sea. So my group and I came up with the idea to warp the lyrics of YMCA to be BMPA and had a ball singing in front of all these important DFOers...haha it was fun. I won a travel mug and a $10 gift cirtificate to Tim Hortons. Looks like I'd have to drink a butt load of tea in the airport in order to spend that...naturally there's a lack of Timmy's in Inuvik. Luckily the cirtificate dosen't expire!
Today I was pretty restricted to the hotel, but tomorrow and Thursday I will have a little more leeway to go outside and explore Winnipeg a little bit. On Monday I did a little bit of shopping, but many stores were closed because it was "Louis Riel" day. Some famous Metis convict? I guess it's Manitoba's equivalent of Family day. So yes, hopefully I will be able to explore a little more tomorrow and thursday and report back about Winnipeg! It seems like a pretty standard Canadian city to me. Larger then KW, smaller then Toronto.
One interesting tidbit I heard someone mention in the airport is that the meaning of Winnipeg is win= dirty and nipee= water in Cree. I guess the red river is a dirty one!

A fantastic day in the Arctic

It was a beautiful day in the Arctic today. No, not beautiful, gorgeous. Wait, which word is more extreme? I guess I'll let you decide.

The pictures you see above were taken today at Airport Lake (named such because it is close to the Inuvik Airport [duh]). The weather was great (only -19 this afternoon!) and so Amy picked me up and we went on a long walk on Airport Lake with her two labs. There was a road cleared over the ice, and there are a number of camps located on the lake. These 'camps' are like people's cottages, though they are quite shabby, and often involve fishing and hunting. Most Native people here own a camp somewhere in the delta, or have friends that own a camp in the delta. So Amy and I had a really nice walk around on the lake, and then we hopped back in the truck and headed up, via snowshoe, to the lookout tower that is just outside of town. I took some photos from up there as well, you could see for miles it seemed.

So tomorrow I venture to Winnipeg via Edmonton, tomorrow I will be staying in Edmonton overnight. I get into Edmonton earlyish tomorrow evening, I think I will go somewhere in the city for dinner.

I hope you (yes YOU) are having a good weekend.

Peace.

So much excitement, so much Canada

I have never realized what a good school I go to until I came here. Whenever I tell someone that I go to the University of Waterloo, and they are from outside of Ontario, they always are making some sort of comment that it's a good school, and that pretty much all of Canada knows of it! I have never appreciated the Universtiy enough I guess.

Although Waterloo is well known for it's good University, Ontario is pretty much regarded as the stereotype: Onterrible. And seriously, I can see where people are coming from. All too often, the population of Ontario sends out a vibe that Ontario is the ONLY province that exists in Canada. When in fact, as I am realizing more and more every day, there is SO much more to Canada, and so much more to discover see and do in this wonderful country of ours! There is so much more to Canada then then Ontario, so many more people who live in our extremely diverse country. And once again, I want to see and experience it all. I'm getting on with this goal next week, as on Sunday I am leaving for Winnipeg! I'll be there for about 5 days, and will get to see what Winnipeg is all about. I also really want to visit and experience the Candian Rockies (among the rest of the world). I have chatted with a bunch of people who are here in Inuvik from BC and the lifestyle sounds like one I would appreciate.

Do you ever just get very excited for no reason at all? I have been feeling that lately, and oh what an amazing feeling to feel. I hadn't felt that feeling for a long while before I got here, and I'm glad it's back.

I hope you all had 'love'ly Valentine's Day's. I went to a dessert potluck at a new friends place! It was sweet. Literally.

It's amazing that two months ago, I had no clue about anything that was going on up here in the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta. And now, I have learned about the many processes that are ongoing up here. It's amazing. There is so much on this planet to learn, so much. I want to learn it all. It's also amazing how in this modern developed world we live in, how inefficient we can be sometimes in our endeavors. I realized this at work over the past couple days as I was the minute taker for a two day meeting.

When I was at the gym tonight, I knew four of the other people who were working out! I love samll towns! I also played squash for the first time today. SO fun, but my arm and butt really hurt right now.

I need to retire, I'm zonked. Is that a word?

p.s. I'm watching the National on CBC, and they just had a story about 'nasal irrigation'. I learned that when you have a cold, it can be good to clear your nasal passage with a teapot thing, pouring saltwater through your nose. Too weird, but I just learned something new!

Gobbledegook?

When we got to the airport yesterday, the pilot casually came out to chat with us. He said the visibility in Sachs Harbour was about a mile or less, and that there was a possibility of not being able to land, or missing the runway! I guess it gets very foggy and windy in Sachs. Soooo my boss called it off, said we better be safe then sorry and reschedule. No Sachs for me yesterday. Ah well, I'll get there.

I have this strange thought process. Half the time, I desperately want to do more, see more, and get frustrated when I can't figure out how to do so. And then when I get the opportunity to do more, see more, I get nervous and anxious, and then think, why didn't I just settle for normalcy. It's like I want it all. Ah the common theme of our society, we want it all, and never seem to be satisfied. I'm guilty. Are you?

Well, thats my expression for the day. I think I am going to go check out the rec centre-theres a kid carnival happening there today as a fundraiser for something in town, I guess there's a whole bunch of carnival games going on and such! hahha, should be funny. I gotta do some other errands in town too. Enjoy your Saturday everyone. I just looked at the current weather. 1 degree in Waterloo, -34 in Inuvik. I can legitimately say this now: Southern Ontarians don't even know what winter is man!

life.

Lentil Tacos are scrumptious. I had a couple co-workers over for dinner tonight, and that's what we had, they were real good.

So I have to tell you about the beginning of my week, it was quite comical. On Monday morning, Erica knocked on my door early, telling me that her car wouldn't start. Apparently her battery froze up, even though it was plugged in all weekend. So, we called Amy, and she gladly picked us up. When we finally got to the office, it felt quite chilly, so we checked the temperature, and it was hovering around 7 degrees celsius, inside the office. Quite chilly. So I sat down at my computer in my huge Canada Goose parka, and tried to get to work. About 10 minutes later, we were all sent home for the day, apparently the heating fuel ran out, and all of the water pipes had frozen over the weekend. The next day was a big repeat. Got to work, and although it was toasty inside, the water was still turned off because of repairs that needed to be made, so home again! Most relaxing paid days of work ever, I must say. I tried to do some work, but it was hard to do much without the resources of the office. Being out of the office on Monday and Tuesday made Wednesday and Thursday super busy though. We are getting close to the dates of the community tour, and there are still a bunch of things to be done!

Tomorrow I will be venturing to Sachs Harbour, another of the outlying communities on Banks Island, its on the shores of the Beaufort. We are going there to speak to the possible Marine Protected Area that we spoke of in the other communities as well. I added a picture above of the plane that we took to Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok when I went a couple weeks ago, we will be on the same plane tomorrow. It will be interesting to see another of the Inuvialuit communities! Oh Oh! and I'm going to Winnipeg the week after next, for an Oceans & Science forum, hosted by the DFO Winnipeg group that we work quite closely with. I'm psyched to see another area of Canada!

Snow Machine

Hey. So I hope your Sunday was well. I had a good day, another Icy good time in fact...
A couple of guys that I met at a party last weekend invited me to go for a ski-doo ride. I was all over it, wanted to get out and see some more of my surroundings, and figured a snow machine trip would be the best way to see the sights of the Canadian Arctic. We headed north east to knoll lake, I on the back of Dustin's ski doo. Because of the direction we were headed in, we ended up above the tree line, in the Arctic Tundra. No more of the whimpy Inuvik conifers, instead, low lying, snow covered tundra vegetation. It was amazing to be out, out in the middle of nowhere. After crossing a few lakes, and riding over some rough trails, we made our way to the top of a large hill. You could see tundra for ever, and hear silence for good. The picture above was taken by Nathan from the top of the hill, where we stopped to have hot chocolate but it certainly does not do the scene justice.
Now I suppose you might be wondering what the temperature was. It was about -38, but I dressed warmly. Jenn, I used those warm things in my mittens, they work sooo well. I only wish I had put them in my boots too, my toes got real cold!
So I drove the ski doo around by myself for about 1 min, and embarassingly bailed. Yep, I tipped right over. Not to worry Mom, I wasn't going fast, and of course had my helmet on. But felt like a tool with my new friends. You can laugh, I give you permission.
Peace out dudes!

When I grow up...

When I grow up, I want to live in a small town. Where everyone sort of knows everyone else, where all of the shop owners are unique and entrepreneurs, and where I can walk to every service that I need. Yeah, sure cities are great for the bars, restaurants and shopping, but really do you really need to shop all that much? Do you really need all that stuff? Do you really need to go to a bar where you don't know a single soul but your wing woman? So when I grow up, which I think will be in about 10 years, I want to live in a small town. (Now I must insert a small stipulation here: It must be a small town within 400km of a big-ish town!)

Certainly Inuvik is a small town. Today I went to the liquor store and the book store, and both store owners recognized me as a newbie, and naturally struck up conversation. Its great, they know their customers, and recognize a new one. It's just more personal. I also hit up the lone cafe that's in town, its really great, I love the atmosphere.

Also, I finally discovered the 'bottle depot' today. There is no blue box program here, but they recycle the same hard plastic, glass and metal containers as we do at home, so long as you bring it in to the depot. I know a lot of people in town do not recycle. Too bad. On the bright side I did get 50 cents for my cans! hahaha.

The picture that I posted above is of a tree (hopefully you drew that conclusion on your own). The trees today were all totally encased in frosty bits. Really neat looking.

The lights were out last night, greenly gorgeous.

Another...Icy good time!

I had another 'icy' good time today. Literally. Amy offerred to take me home after work today...via a different route. So I took her up on it, and we ventured into town by way of the Mackenzie. Yep, we drove the Ice road into town! It was certainly the highlight of my day. When we hopped into her truck the temperature gauge on the dash was at -39. Brrr.

The sign that you see as you drive onto the ice road reads "Winter Ice Road Maximum weight 36000kg". This made me feel quite safe in Amy's pick up truck as I'm sure it doesn't weigh quite that much! I can't believe it can hold that much weight! Amy was saying that the really heavy 18 wheelers that drive on the road (one of which was a couple hundred meters in front of us) have to drive slowish, because when the wieght crosses the ice, it actually creates an under-ice wave, that can potentially cause the ice to break further down the river.

Anyway, so I naturally made Amy stop to take a bunch of photos, a bunch of me, of the frozen in barges, and of Inuvik from afar. Amy was telling me how in the summer all sorts of supplies, including fuel is brought in to Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik via barge down the Mackenzie. The sun was setting, and it was a gorgeous drive. While I was out of the car, standing on the frozen Mackenzie River I also took a bunch of pictures of the cracks in the ice...hahaha not really reassuring as you stand there. You can sort of see a crack in the picture I've posted above. Overall, it was quite neat to see and drive on the Ice road. The particular road I was on leads all the way to Tuk, the only road access to that town, and its seasonal. I'll be riding on it all the way to Tuk in March!

I must say something about the cars/trucks here. I'm sure I have told you how all vehicles have to be plugged in, and that you have to let it idle for 10 minutes if you actually want it to drive. But the exhaust coming from cars and buildings just hangs so low in the air. It doesn't rise or disperse. I'm not sure quite why, but I'm sure it has to do with the sub-zero temperatures.

Amy and I heard that the 'fruit man' is back in town from someone at work, so we stopped there as well. Like I have mentioned before, this guy comes up every few weeks or so with an 18 wheeler full of fresh fruits and veggies, and tons of other things too. It's like a refrigerator in the truck because of the temperatures, but I ended up getting a bunch of fresh produce for quite reasonable prices! When we asked him how long he'd be here for, he said, "until Monday, unless it gets cold" and Amy was like..."this isn't cold??" At -39, this guy is a seasoned travelling Northerner.

So I'm in my appartment right now, it could definitly be warmer in here, but I'm sipping on some Fine Inuit Herbal Tea that I picked up from one of the shops here a while back. It's really yummy, cloudberry flavour. So taht will keep me warm. You should have a warm cuppa something right now too. Go ahead...get warm.

An icy good time

Hello! Today was a bright and sunny day in Inuvik, so I went for a hike on the ski trails that are just behind my apartment. Although the sun was shining, the temperature hoovered around minus 30 degrees Celsius, and it was chilly. Nevertheless, I got bundled up, and went for it. The trails are gorgeous, they really capture what the majority of the landscape looks like around here. And they were virtually deserted save for a couple skiers and I. The picture above shows me an hour or so into my hike. I was amazed at how the ice crystals had formed on my balaclava, on my had and on my eyelashes, all from my breath! I know the photo isn't amazing, but I had to show you guys the crystals that formed. Also, it is sooo hard to take photos when I'm out on walks, because as soon as I take my hand out of my mitt, it's instantly cold. I will certainly show you all some photos of the landscape, the hike took me away from town a bit, and I ended up having a neat look from one point of the trail over town. I was just astonished by this photo, so I had to share it. Hopefully wherever you are reading this right now, you are warm and cozy, because as I write it, I sure am.

Noryak

This is my friend Noryak. He's my new muskox friend that I met last night at a party I was at. Yeah, a party in Inuvik, and a I was there. This guy I met at a meeting at work last week randomly called me up at work yesterday and invited me, so Ashli and a I (the girl who is from Waterloo that I randomly got connected with up here...) went over for the shindig. I haven't been inside any other houses here in Inuvik and my apartment is painfully white, so I was refreshed to find tons of colour in this place - and a huge stuffed Muskox! So when one of the guys offered to take my picture ridin' the muskox, of course I acquiesced. Everyone at the party was somewhere from the south, but they all had come to Inuvik for different reasons and had been in Inuvik for a year or so. I haven't really heard of a 'southerner' say that they have been here for longer then 3 years. But there were some really nice, welcoming, interesting people there last night, all probably late 20s in age. Each of them had a different job, some were volunteers at the elementary school, a couple biologists, one researcher, two reporters, one worked at the rec centre, one makes documentaries...they were all over the map. It was really nice to meet some more people up here, people who are so down to earth and friendly. There was also a table full of tasty treats....
One of these treats was muskox meat. So I gave er a go, and ate the meat of the animal in the picture above (well, not that one exactly, some other poor soul.) Anyway, my first taste of 'country food' as it's called up here, was pretty good. It was a dry salty meat, kinda tasted like prosciutto. It was actually quite good.
So it's really chilly out today, and was last night at well when I walked the 20 min to and from the party (I wasn't by myself mom!) Someone said last night it was to get down to -50. ha. I just checked the temperature right now, and it's -29, and -39 with the windchill. It looks pretty blowy out there...I have yet to go out, I'm kinda hiding out today, mostly because it's overcast. It's overcast, but it's still bright!
Hopefully everyone's weekends treat them well.

The sun of the arctic.

Hi everyone. Its funny how I have to be in the mood to really write, but I am always in the mood to share a picture of the sun. This is in fact an hour or two before the sun will actually disappear, despite the fact that it looks like it is in full sunset mode. It moves across the horizon to the right of this photo, until it sinks beneath the frosty horizon. I am already noticing the brightening and lengthening days here in Inuvik, the sun has started to soar higher by small amounts each day. One thing that is constant though, are the colours that erupt around the sunshine each day outside of my office window.

The Mad Trapper and such

Well, the rest of my weekend was great. What about yours? On Saturday night I went to Inuvik's one and only pub with my new found pilot friend. And despite some warnings from co-workers about the "Mad Trapper" being sketchy, I loved it! Figures, I always love the dodgey places (achem..phils...). There was a live country band, who played some good covers. I enjoyed it. Then yesterday, I went to church at the famous Inuvik "Igloo church". You can see it in the picture above. The sun in this photo was just high enough to shine on the top of the Igloo and made for a neat photo effect. Later on yesterday, I went skating at the rink. Grrrrreat. Then I showed up at the college gym for 'drop-in' soccer. It was funny, there was some 12 year olds, a buncha teenagers, and a few old guys. Funny, I recognized one of the older guys from a Canadian geographic article I read about Inuvik a while back! A good mix, and actually really fun soccer. They play once a week, so I figure I'll go out to play as much as possible (I gotta keep those soccer skills sharp for summer eh darkwingers? eh marxmen??)

Now, I'm not sure if you guys were watching the weather reports today, but Inuvik got ABOVE freezing today! Can you believe it!! We were the third warmest location in Canada today! Apparently this is pretty strange, and it's already back down to -11, and suppose to fall to -30 tomorrow. Funny thing, I didn't really like how warm it was. It felt too strange being in the Arctic and having above freezing temps in the middle of winter. I heard on the CBC that today was the warmest January 21st EVER recorded in Inuvik. Hmm...for some reason the words global and warming come to mind...

It was a gorgeous day today in Inuvik. When the sun finally came out, and the sky was clear, I went for a hike. I headed east up the ski trails that are quite close to my apartment. I went up an incline, the same hill that I walked up last weekend. When I got to the top though, it was much nicer today because the sky was clear. I was amazed that you can see the mountains from the top of the trail! I took a bunch of pictures while I was up there. The one above was one of the ones that shows the mountains. Can you see em? This picture is looking west over Inuvik, and I zoomed in alot so that you guys could see the mountains that I was talking about!

So then I walked around a bunch on the cross country ski trails and a guy who was grooming the trails stopped to say hi. He was an older man, and was super chatty about cross country skiing in Inuvik. Apparently when Inuvik was predominantly full of residential schools, part of their curriculum involved skiing and skating, so the trails were developed (this is in about the 60s he said). Also many of the Olympic cross country skiing competitors trained in Inuvik on the same trails I was walking on! He told me how I can easily get my hands on some skis from the ski club. I told him about how I already knew a couple people who had offered me skis. I think I am going to email the lady who I met through work who offered the skis up to me come Monday, see if she would like to take me out, because I'd love to give it a try. Why should I work out inside a gym if I can ski around on the arcticly beautiful trails for exercise and fun?

Town was much more lively today, I think the milder temperatures (only -17!) and the sun brought people out. I went to the library and picked up some good books and movies. I saw some mindless dude get taken out of the library by an RCMP officer. And saw all the children, like usual, hanging out in the library, playing games, and not reading!

I must say, coming here after I had such a hard summer on Beausoleil, I was qutie scared that I may experience a repeat being way further away from home then I was last summer. But I gotta tell you, I'm two weeks in, and I'm happy.

A special happy birthday celebration goes out to you Pooja.