Snow day in October.... that's right!

Though most teachers may secretly enjoy a snow day (or as it goes here in Cape Dorset a snow morning, to be followed by an update at lunch), I am not one of those teachers. I think perhaps my need for routine outweighs any joy I would find from sleeping in... plus I wake up at 5am no matter what.  So alas, I'm sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, wishing I had brought all the grading I have left to do home and contemplating trying to walk through the giant snow drifts to go feign some type of normality at the school... but first I will blog!

We had a concert at the high school here last Tuesday put on by a guy named Luke and his daughter Chloe.  He's a singer in a band called Whitehorse, which I never heard of until I was told they were coming to Cape Dorset. The music wasn't exactly my style. It reminded me of the song "Hotel California" by the eagles, which is a good song, but not over and over and over again. However there is no doubt that the two of them are extremely talented (his guitar playing was awesome, and she had a beautiful voice), and it seemed the community really enjoyed having them here and I must admit it was nice to have something fun to do on a Tuesday night. One of my favourite parts of the night was the very beginning when the audience was treated to throat singing! I had the good fortune of hearing them at my friend's house a few days prior, but to see them on stage and to hear it was really amazing! I'm currently trying to figure out a few throat singing techniques, and I hope to impress my friend the next time I see her.

Unfortunately I was extremely tired that night and around 8:30pm decided to walk home... unbeknownst to me there was going to be an Inuktitut dance at the end of the night! I definitely would have stayed if I knew that, as I absolutely love being a part of those!

This past week at school has also been really fun due to the lead up to Halloween.  We had a Halloween dance on Friday night which was put on by my friend Scott (he literally could set up an awesome dance in his sleep), and we all dressed up and had a great laugh. Though my jaw still hurts from laughing too much.


I have no doubt this week will be full of fun things too, as long as the snow stops!


Proof I wear the hat Darren bought me! Thank you again!

Fellow teacher showing the kids how it's done!  yay Heidi!

Heidi let one of her students bring a puppy to school... yes that's right... a puppy!  Best idea ever!

Halloween dance, and some of our costumes.

Throat singing.. this video DOES NOT do it justice!

Another two weeks summed up.

I keep seeing the Northern Lights... they are pretty and spectacular and it's kind of hard to believe that they are becoming a normal thing for me that I don't gawk at as much as I did the first time I saw them.  I have also learned from my students that you should never whistle at the Northern Lights, it's bad luck; I can't remember why it's bad luck, but it is, so I won't be doing that.  

I've also recently developed a GIANT, ENORMOUS phobia of polar bears due to something I read in a book about Inuit traditional beliefs... It said something like a person should never wish to see an animal because it will sneak up behind them when they least expect it... or something to that nature... It was written more eloquently than that, but it made my heart skip a beat because for the first month I was really hoping to see a polar bear... then I was told stories about what polar bears are capable of, and I was shown some pictures... and I quickly decided that seeing a polar bear is no longer on my list of things to do.. the problem is I really wished to see one, so now I'm concerned one might sneak up behind me.  Walking to school early in the morning has become somewhat of an olympic sport for me, and no matter who I ask I'm basically told "run to a house and bang on the door and they will let you in"... I've began to work on my cardio needless to say. 

My class is amazing.  I look forward to each day I get to go in a teach. I definitely have a great bunch of students who are eager, fun and like a good laugh. We are definitely a good fit together. 

Today Terin and I went for a walk around the community and we decided to walk along the shore line. The tide goes out really far here and I've never walked along there when it is like that.  Though it was cold, we had a great time as Terin spotted some huge bones sitting along the receded shore line. The bones were definitely the biggest bones I've ever seen, and I'm sure they are from a whale, but it was really interesting to think these giant relics of an enormous animal were sitting there all this time and we just never noticed them when the tide was out.  

Time flies...

I woke up this morning and though "hey I should write a blog this morning". It was with utter amazement that I realized it has been so long since I have done one!

September seems to have flown by and it's hard to remember everything that happened. Updates since the last post:

-My class earned their first party by earning 100 points. They do this by walking in the halls quietly, having other teachers comment to us about how kind they are, being good examples for the younger kids and by being respectful.  It was hard not to give them a party right away to be honest!  I had to limit the points because they are really such a kind class! They decided they wanted a movie/pizza party. They chose a Mr. Bean movie and they wanted me to make "homemade pizza".  I stared blankly at them and said that if my mom lived here I probably could, but would they accept frozen pizzas homemade in the ovens at school? Terin helped me thankfully, and they had a great time!

-Paul Quassa came to our school and I got to meet him along with a couple of my students!  It was pretty exciting as I had learned about him down south from my Nunavut teacher!  I turned into a bumbling fool and he gave me a signed copy of his new book!

-Snow happened.  Lots and lots of snow. It seems to disappear by being blown over the mountains.  It makes it a bit challenging to walk sometimes, but I haven't minded it yet.

-The students had their first dance and first movie night at the school, and they did an awesome job running the canteen and setting it up! (The grade sixes take charge of that)

-An animator who does stop photography (I think it is called), came to our school and did a presentation then came to each class and shot a quick and fun film. We had such a blast with him!

-We had our first full week of school this week!

-The geese have finally seemed to have flown south. Now the ravens are back to pestering me and hovering over my head.

-Jack the dog seems to have found a forever home.

-I regularly stop and pet my new dog friend (who has an owner) named Bella Girl.

-I received a package from home which was SO exciting!  Getting mail here is like Christmas as it arrives at the school and we all anxiously wait to see if we received anything!  I almost cried when opening it!

Graeme- the animator (I hope he comes back!)