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.