5:08am

For those of you who might wonder (which I would guess to be Rodger and my parents), I still wake up at 5:08 even though my alarm is set for 6am.  The funny thing is Cape Dorset is an hour behind Halifax, and I only woke up at 4:08 for three days at the beginning, and now I wake up at 5:08am Cape Dorset time. I also still wake up thinking I should get ready to go to Second Cup but then realize after a few seconds that, that's not the case.  I must say I really do miss seeing all my customers and coworkers, but my students here are adorable, lovely and funny and my fellow teachers are very special and fun to work with!

This week has been an eventful week up here.  We had the first day of school on Tuesday, the second day of school on Wednesday, school was closed Thursday because of an event that took place here and Friday was a half day because unfortunately a member of the community passed away.  I have learned that I cry at EVERY funeral whether I understand what is being said or not (as to be expected the whole service was in Inuktitut). It's never nice to watch people say goodbye to someone they love, and this was no exception. Despite not knowing the person it was clear she was loved by many including students in my class, and it was so hard to see their sadness. As teachers we found some comfort in offering hugs to our students and holding them as they grieved.

On a lighter note, I'm getting to know my class and realizing I have a wonderful group of students! Literacy is a big focus this year at our school and to compliment that I started a read aloud chapter book called "Bad Dog" on day one (it's a funny story from a mischievous dog).  My students LOVE being read too and really enjoy discussing new words we come across in this book. So far the main character in this book has found himself in the "slammer" again. Understandably this is a new word for my class, and now I hear them using it outside of class instead of "jail". They also now are referring to dogs as "pooches".  I've also spent most of my time with my students doing lessons to assess where they are at after a long summer. It's clear my class loves learning!

I've also found great pleasure in telling my students about my love of cats, but it clearly isn't shared by them.  Cats are definitely not common up here, and most of them are brought here by southerners (anybody not from here) and they are always "indoor" cats because outside the community of Cape Dorset is wide spread arctic land. When I expressed my love of cats and asked if they shared it, all the students scrunched up there noses as much as they could at me. If you ever come to Nunavut one of the best things to know is that  raised eyebrows means yes; a quick scrunched nose means no and an extended scrunched nose and eyebrows means "definitely not".  I'm planning on making cat lovers out of my students over the year!

The pictures I'm attaching to this post have nothing to do with the post. But I thought they might be of interest.


Terin and I live in the second house from the left. The houses are built high off the ground because of the snow and perma-frost from what I understand. When we were here in the winter I didn't realize how many stairs went up to the front door because about only half of them were above the snow. Our neighbours to the left of us are awesome!  And they have the cutest dog named Haiku who greats us everyday.

 This is a look at our block of houses if I turn around as I walk to school and look back. The community has different name for different parts of it. The view I often post from our back windows is called "the valley", we live in "the upper valley". There is also "Malusha" (which I don't know how to spell properly, "The RC" and "In Town".

 I'm obsessed with Arctic Cotton. It is as soft as it looks and apparently it is used (or used to be used) to burn.  I'm intending on finding out more information about it.

This was last night's view. The pictures really don't do it justice. 

 Fireworks are a new thing here in town. Every night people set up neat displays of them and we get treated to a show. I think it will look better when it actually gets fully dark here, but I enjoy seeing them regardless!