Time Flies! northern lights and fishing derby!

It is incredible to believe that I stepped off the plane in Cape Dorset only 6 days ago!  The time here is already going so quickly but like the saying goes "time flies when you're having fun"!

My class is great! The kids are full of energy and I appreciate them so much for being so sweet to me and helping me understand the community here and their lives.  One of my absolute favourite times with them is in the morning when they are reading while others finish their breakfast. I walk around and see what they are reading and ask them questions about it, or ask if they want to read to me (they are all so eager to show how much they can read, and I have to say it is incredible to think how far they have come with English in such a short time!). The students have picked up on the fact that I like to spend time with them, so when I sit by one of them reading, I often find that they all congregate to where I am and participate in whatever book is going. Some of their favourite books include anything about animals (which is right up my alley), and I have found it so enjoyable to be surrounded by them and reading together.  It is a special time that I hope continues for me during my time here because it allows me to see what they already know, but it also is a time of sharing connections and stories over the pages of a book. For example I learned yesterday when looking at a picture of an eagle, that they don't have eagles here but they have falcons and that they go south for the winter, I also learned while looking at a goose that the students will get me one to eat if I'm here in the summer and they'll show me how to catch a goose.

I realize my blogs have been sounding like roses and rainbows, and feel that perhaps some things are being missed because I am so content here.  Many things are different in a classroom here. The strictness of some of the customs in a southern school are not as apparent here.  The atmosphere at the school Terin and I walked into on Tuesday is one of safety, comfort and it has a strong sense of community which is similar to the south.  Another difference is that the chitter chatter that occurs in the halls and sometimes during class time is always in Inuktitut, but since I have shown a great interest in learning the language they usually will translate the gist of whatever is being said. In terms of lessons, yesterday and I did a very basic introduction into the scientific method, and the book I found seemed inadequate for an Inuit classroom, because it was so southern, so I changed it and we talked about what science is and where we can see the effect here in Cape Dorset. It was pleasing that by the end of it the students understood that the creation of new "things" and the discovery of new "things" and the way to solve problems involves hypothesizing. Somebody in the world had to come up with the idea of creating a motor which now can be found in snowmobiles, but they didn't just say "oh we don't want dogs pulling our sleds, or down south horses pulling our carriages" they had to come up with ideas and plans to try out.  I'm hoping to have them hypothesize about something next week (I just haven't figured it out yet).

Last night I also had the incredible pleasure of seeing the Northern Lights! They were right above the house I'm living in, and I heard my host scream with excitement and I ran outside and saw them. They are AMAZING. Here they are this weird greenish colour and they just slither across the sky in weird and beautiful ways. I completely had a moment where I felt like I was in a movie, or not really here as I stared up at them. They are a sight to be seen!

One of the most exciting things to happen yesterday was that Terin and I found out we will definitely be going out to the community fishing derby today. My hosts and another very cool teacher arranged a sled and a snowmobile for us. We will be heading out shortly with that cool teacher to experience the land, and I'm so exited that I can hardly wait to share the experience on the blog tonight!

On that note, I must depart. Pictures will follow!