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.