Classroom

Today is the first full day of being in the classroom.  I've quickly realized the benefits of knowing about the cultural nuances of Nunavut prior to coming.  My nose squinching and eyebrow raising have

been (as far as I can tell) noticed and somewhat appreciated by the students. I think they also appreciate my attempts at speaking Inuktitut too and they eagerly and slowly show me the proper way to say things, and thanks to one student I accurately said the word "poop" in Inuktitut after he pointed out to me as we looked at a national geographic magazine during recess that sheep have funny poop. He's right, they do.

Right now, though I am in the North, I have to be honest and say that I have been finding more similarities with the school and students than differences. I somehow felt I would come here and feel completely out of place and look at the students as unfamiliar, but so far I feel the familiarity I'm accustomed to back in Nova Scotia. The differences I do notice are not IN the students or locals, the differences are in the situations they face and deal with daily.

Perhaps because I am in the process of settling in, and everything is new to me I may somehow psychologically be trying to find these familiarities, and maybe in a few more days I will be better able to distinguish more of this experience, but maybe not.  It's still all too exciting to tell!