Air Maybe or Travel in the North

There are many things that people taking flight would like to believe to be true.

1)    You will arrive at your destination on time

2)    There will be a bathroom on the plane

3)    Your flight attendant will be able to do a service on your flight

4)    The plane will be able to land at your destination

5)    Your plane will be able to depart from your point of departure

6)    Your seat is your seat

While these are all well and good, they may not always come to pass when flying in the Arctic.  Over the past three years I have had the chance to fly to a umber of northern communities, sometimes planned and other ties not.  Out of approximately 20 flights, I have been delayed roughly 15 times.  These delays are usually not simple 10 or 15 min delays but ranged from 30 mins to over 24 hours.  The most common reason for delays are a ‘mechanical’ problem or severe weather.  The delays can be frustrating, tiring, entertaining, or sad depending on the day.  I have been treated to several airport picnics served by the flight crew, an impromptu fiddle/accordion concert, northern lights show,  and the eternal search for wifi and outlets. We always seem to get where we are going eventually but it may take time and a great deal of patience.  However, I have learned a few lessons along the way: always wear layers, have snacks to eat or trade, something to entertain/distract yourself, and a sense of humour.  Travelling in the north is not for the faint of heart or those who live on a tight schedule but it is always an experience.

Airport Picnic day 2

From the Arctic to Europe - Grad trip memories 2011

Students - check, passports - check (just barely), funding - check, me as a last minute chaperone - check :)This year it was decided that the school would send our graduating students on an end of year Graduation Trip, destination: Paris, Venice, and Rome. Many of our students have not traveled outside of Inukjuak let alone the country. There were feelings of excitement, fear, and curiosity in equal measure as the students prepared to board the plane that would take them so far from what they have always known. En route to Europe we made a stop in Montreal to do a bit of shopping as both students and teachers were in need of summer clothes; hazard of living where the ice breaks up the last weekend of June. After a visit to the local college where a number of our students will be attending this fall and more shopping than is good for any one person, we took the students for a day of at La Ronde. We thought that it would be a good idea to spend the day before our evening flight to Paris burning off energy running around an amusement park. The weather was not promising when we arrived at the park but despite a few showers during the day it didn't hamper the fun. Once we were in the park, teachers and students split up to race for the rides, we would see each other every so often in lines for the different rides. The bad weather was actually a great thing for us for despite it being a holiday in Quebec we had the park nearly to ourselves. Late in afternoon it was time to head to the airport to head to Europe, once we managed to round up all the students we were on our way. I'll admit that I was as excited as they were to fly to Paris, it is one of my favourite cities to wander around. We encourage the students to try and sleep on the plane as we were in for a long day of touring when we arrived, some of them actually listened. After getting everyone through customs and finding all their bags we were on our way into the city of lights. It was fun watching the students reactions to Paris, surprise and delight seemed to be the most common. We found ourselves staying in a hostel not too far from Notre Dame and this is where the 'fun' began. Travelling in the summer in Europe does tend to have its disadvantages, one of which is there are a lot of people. Staying at our hostel were several other large school groups. Nice enough kids but perhaps a little misguided. We were woken up at about 2am by one of the young men yelling "I love you!" and "Will you sleep with me?" to the open windows of the girls on his trip. He was very drunk and apparently very horny. We felt rather sorry for the chaperones of his trip, they had their hands full with 40 students and only 2 chaperones. Not that we were without difficulty on our trip. The next night was another sleepless one for the chaperones on our trip as we had a group of our students sneaking off to "try and find internet" aka "a bar". We found them pretty quickly, actually coming back to the hostel, only a couple of them having drunk too much. Unfortunately one of the boys that had been drinking was on some medication that did not react well with the alcohol. This meant another 2am wakeup call as the male chaperone came to tell us that the student was acting very strangely and seeming to have no idea where he was. Long nights of strange followed by good days of touring around Paris; the Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, bike tours, and of course the Eiffel tower. Our last night in Paris was another sleepless one unfortunately. We had a restless evening as the students were getting their bags ready to leave the next day for Venice and there was a great deal of running around between their rooms. The were slow to get settled down and we were keeping an eye on them as we patrolled the halls, often running into the chaperones from the trip with the "love" student. After the chaperones had finally gone to bed for a light doze we were woken by the new that one of our students was feeling ill and in a fair bit of pain. It was decided to take him to the hospital, just to be on the safe side. Good thing we did, it turns out that he need to have his appendix removed. Seriously, what are the odds? A kid flies down from the Arctic and all the way to Europe only to need to have his appendix removed in Paris. Well arrangements were made and his operation was scheduled for later that day, the day we were to be leaving for Venice. It was decided that since I was the extra chaperone, I knew Paris fairly well and spoke French, I would stay with the student during his operation and either take him back to Canada or meet up with the group again depending on what the doctor decided. The rest of the group had to run off to catch the train to Venice I settled back into the hostel for one more night to await the doctors verdict. Side note: there are some very cute and helpful

doctors in Paris at the Hotel de Dieu (hospital near Notre Dame). After the surgery they decided that he would need to stay in the hospital for another 2 days, then he could rest one more day in Paris, and then we would be allowed to rejoin our group in Italy. Good news for us, it would have been a little disappointing to have to fly back to Montreal without having seen some of Italy. He was released from the hospital, allowed to check into the hotel, and do a little gentle sightseeing before we left for Rome to meet our group. When I gave him a few options as to what we could do before our train left, we decided to tour the catacombs of Paris. Very creepy and very interesting, not for the faint of heart though. Once you are underground and in the catacombs there is no way out except straight through. If you enjoy the macabre I definitely encourage you to go and ogle the tunnels of artfully arranged bones, complete with the sound of dripping water and the odd echoes that haunt the place. Not a bad way to end our visit to Paris. Later that day we headed to the train station to make our way to Rome where we would meet the rest of the group. We left a bit early as the hotel staff had warned us that it was coming up on a holiday and that the station would be a little crazy. Good thing we left when we did because about 10 mins after we arrived at the train station we found out that the subway line we had been on was stopped, and no one could tell us why. I left my student to guard the luggage and went off to find some supplies for supper on the train. We were taking the night train to Rome because the Doctor had said that it would be better if the student could spend the trip lying down rather than sitting up. Less of a chance to see the scenery but better comfort and healing for him. We found our car and got settled in, we were sharing it with a family from South Africa headed to Florence to visit family. Very nice woman and her children who were very interested in the fact that we were coming from the Arctic. Finally arrived in Rome the next morning and made our way to the hotel where our group was staying to get checked in. Next task, to find them somewhere in the eternal city of Rome. Luckily they had left us a copy of the itinerary, and since it was close to lunch time we decided to head for the restaurant were they were to be having lunch. Rome is a beautiful city and I enjoyed looking around as we figured out how to get to the restaurant. We passed by the Spanish Steps and several fountains on our route. When we found the restaurant and went int to join the group, you would have thought that a celebrity ha arrived. The other student were so glad to see us, particularly him as they had been uncertain if he would have to go back to Canada. We joined the group for their pizza lunch and toured the rest of the afternoon through the Vatican and did a little shopping. It was nice to be back with the group again and share in their experiences. The Vatican was beautiful, I love the statues throughout. Later that night I sneaked off to get a look at the colosseum by myself. The group had done a tour there the day before but I wanted to see it for myself. Even though I couldn't get a look inside it was beautiful, and there was almost a summer fair feel to the evening as I wandered around. There was someone playing the accordion in the park nearby, and vendors selling snacks, coffee, and light up toys that they sent whizzing into the air. The only thing I would have like would be someone to share the fun of it with, but it was a small price to pay for the experience. The next day we were off to Pompeii to play among the ruins and learn the secrets of the city. It was a beautiful hot day, perfect for exploring ruins. The students really enjoyed the day, a few of the girls even took the time to do a little throat singing in the middle of the amphitheatre, a sound that had probably never been heard there before. Tired and slightly sunburnt we headed back to Rome for our for our last night before flying home to Canada. We finally said goodbye to our students in Montreal after seeing them safely onto the flight back to Inukjuak. Our journey complete but memories to last forever. To experience such a trip that shows them a different world is a wonderful experience to have at their age, just getting ready to start a new chapter in their lives.

Quebec Roots Project- Book Launch Montreal

Over the course of this past school year my students have been involved in a literary project through the Blue Metropolis Foundation and Quebec Roots. Along with five other communities in Quebec they were chosen to write about life in their community, what it is that makes their town/school unique. Today was the culmination of 7 months of hard work as we were able to see the book in print for the first time. They have been writing, editing, rewriting, and taking photos that describe "Life in our changing culture". The entire project was a great experience for the students as well as myself as we worked together to make our pieces the best that they could be. In the end, Blue Met. was able to get funding for three students (and myself) to fly down from Inukjuak to Montreal to attend the book launch. I was so proud of my students, I actually started to get teared up at one point when two of my students were at the front of the room, reading pieces from their work to the audience of fellow students, authors, and photographers. The cover of the book is actually from a photo that one of my students took, and the girl in the picture was one of the students that was able to come down to Montreal. It was a complete surprise to her, she was pleased but a bit embarrassed to tell the truth. I was interesting to see the students interact at the launch. The Innalik students were the oldest of the students involved and although they were shy at first T, J, and D soon got into the spirit of the launch. After a few of the students presented, the schools were given their books for the first time. I was like christmas, complete with ripping paper as the book boxes were wrapped in newspaper. Once the books were out all heads were down as they saw their hard work of writing and photography in a real book. After the initial read was over all the students began exchanging books, getting autographs from each other. It was great to see my students meet, greet, and exchange signatures from the other groups. You could see the pride and happiness on all the faces of the students involved. It was a great day. I am so proud of them all :)

Sorry, I am a bad blogger

I feel awful that I haven't been keeping this blog up this year. I let teaching projects and other activities overwhelm me and I let the blog suffer. I ran into a friend at a book launch in Montreal today and she reminded me that she still checks my blog as it is a contact to the North for her. I felt extremely guilty and made a spring resolution to mend my blogging ways. Apologies to anyone that cares. Next post to follow ASAP

Joy and Agony of Exams

It is that time of year that most look at with either dread or delight depending on their situation. As a teacher it is mostly delight with a hint of dread; delight that the time has come to torture your students, and dread that you now have to untangle their answers to formulate marks. I rather enjoy making up exams, figuring out the wording to best jump start a brain without giving the answer away. Thinking back to my days as a student, I remember how much I would freak out at exam time; unable to sleep and nervous about the outcome. Agonizing over my math and science exams, trying to reword yet another view on a piece of poetry for english exams. Now as the teacher, I find myself trying to balance a fine line between not too easy and not soul-crushingly hard. Trying to be fair to those who have studied and worked all year and yet still challenging. Now with 2 exams down and 2 to go the results stand thus: English (pretty easy but students were lazy, I actually didn't write that one), Math (perhaps a little too long and difficult), over the next 2 days we will have the Science and Social studies exams (both written by me so we will see how it goes). As my students write I find I have plenty of time to catch up on the odd pit of paper work and report cards that are due end of the week. From a teacher's point of view the week is long but not very difficult, a bit boring and yet entertaining at the same time. For the students it had been mostly a week of agony with the possibility of joy when the week is over (and of a tiny bit of worry over their report card marks). The year is winding down, boxes are being packed and classrooms are looking a bit bare as things get cleaned up for the summer. It has that bittersweet feeling about it.

You might live in the north if....

An ever growing collection of various observations from those of us living in the north :)

1)   Going to the store is the highlight of your day
2)   -40 degrees is the new +10
3)   You call the Municipal 3 times then yell "Mother$@#%*$! sewage!!!!" (possibly happens on a regular basis)
4)   It takes 4 teachers with University degrees to figure out how an Ikea can-opener works
5)   You have to crawl over the tundra to get to school
6)   You automatically know that a Honda is a four-wheeler
7)   Not flushing is actually acceptable due to water shortages
8)   Getting your groceries is like reliving Christmas
9)   You can exclaim, "Holy *&*^ it's cold!" at least 280 days of the year
10) Being asked if you are a 'ghost' by a kid at the store because you are so white is normal
11) It's perfectly normal if you wake up to your entire house swaying from the wind
12) You have created a special knock that differs from those of the carvers
13) You can walk across town in 25 minutes but you still find an excuse not to
14) You can start a rumour and it'll get back to you 5 minutes later, sometimes with crazy changes
15) You regularly order Febreeze to fight the foul odours from the bowels of your students
16) You end up doing your laundry at school
17) You will be able to slide from school all the way to your house....possibly without a running start
18) You realize that you can do anything, then you do it
19) You could end every sentence with "Welcome to (____insert name of community____)" followed by a chuck and smile and know that there is some truth to it
20) Teachers are the last to find out what is going on and then we are expected to have a witty answer
21) When you get calls from Solo Mobile and have to explain that cell phones don't work up here
22) Jehovah's witnesses can't visit, but they sure call!
23) Tu peut manger chaque repas avec un tuque sur ta tete!
24) You can experience all 4 seasons depending which window you are looking out of
25) You are utterly confused when you try to open the door to your house with your classroom key
26) Tu sais que tu vis dans le Nord quand la seule sortie scolaire de l'année est d'aller glisser sur la coline au coin de la rue
27) You have to adjust the projector in your house for movie night because your house is lopsided
28) Your kids leave during an anti-smoking speech to go smoke
29) Your house smells like poop when sewage removal comes
30) When you download a Fart application for your IPod to retaliate against your students
31) You know that if you are flying home from another community you will get there...eventually
32) You have had a parent bring ammunition to school for their child
33) When it takes longer for you to get dressed to go outside than it does to get dressed in the morning
34) You have ever found yourself wearing a parka and a flower lei at the same time
35) The entire town (with the exception of the school) has shut down because everyone has gone fishing
36) You have more winter socks and mittens than any other pieces of clothing
37) You can tell the difference between a snow-machine and Honda by sound alone
38) If you have ever sat outside your house in delight watching the Aurora Borealis dance across the sky
39) You have seen fellow teachers slice open a seal in the school lobby for a school activity
40) Movies and TV shows are like gold for trade purposes
41) You have ever had someone come to your door with an unidentified animal skin telling you "Good price"
42) The school has been closed for a blizzard in May
43) School announcements come in 3 languages and take about 15 mins on the PA system
44) You have seen repair men thaw out your frozen furnace with a blowtorch inside your house
45) You attend the May 24 weekend bonfire in a parka and snow pants
46) The alarm goes off at the school because the building in too cold, in JUNE.
47) The teachers are all wearing fleece to teach because the school is too cold, in JUNE.
48) You have watched a sunset at midnight and the northern lights an hour later.
49) You have helped someone move in -50C temps using hand sleds to push boxes through the snow.
50) You carry pepper spray just in case you run across unfriendly animals on a walk

Snow Fest POV

March Break was calm and relaxing, filled with friends, snow, and a few parties. I also found the time to finally make my own pair of paluks (leather/fur mitts). A little big and slightly crooked but not bad for a first timer. The week passed too quickly, there was also the small matter of my birthday being celebrated at the end. Small cheesecake party with friends to celebrate, other than that I would have not acknowledged the day.

The next week was back to school, at least for a day and a half, then myself and two of my fellow teacher found ourselves on the plane headed for POV (short for Purvinituq). When I heard that there was a snow festival held there every two years, and that this year was going to be the next year I knew I wanted to attend. I mean really, how often do you get to go to a snow festival in the Arctic? We bought our tickets just after X-mas but never gave our students a hint that we were going to the festival. If they know that there is a chance that their teacher might not be at school they think they don't have to come, so it was a secret till the last day. It was funny, when we got on the plane it felt like we were heading off on our real March break, I guess it is the delight of just going somewhere new. A short flight later we were one the ground and trying to get a ride to my friend's house. We were able to call the bus but it seemed to be taking forever and a very nice fellow that worked at the airport wound up giving us a ride instead, always an adventure since all we had to go on was the house number and anyone who has ever been to the north knows that there is little logic to where the houses are. Finally found it and was able to get the key for the circus girl (there was a circus troupe in town working with the kids), settled in and headed out to explore a bit. First thoughts: POV is pretty flat, and the streets made it feel slightly like a maze, but we headed towards the water and looked for the biggest buildings as those are usually the Co-op store or the Northern. Picked up a few supplies and saw a former student who had recently moved from Inukjuak to POV, nice to see him and hear all his news. Home for dinner and got ready to join the fun at the community centre for the evening concert.

Wow, lots of country style music with a little gospel thrown in, some local rock bands, a history game show, and a fashion show. we tracked down some of our students who were playing in the festival and found out that they would be on at about 2am. So being good teachers we settled in for the night to support our students (they actually weren't bad, young and still need a lot of practice, but they were entertaining). Most nights the concerts were pretty similar, a few bigger names and some very traditional acts, highlights being the circus acts put on by the kids on the final night and some fiddlers from the south. During the days were the main events: igloo building, traditional nets fishing under the ice, a marathon, dog sled races, and most importantly the ice and snow carving contests.

The carvings were simply amazing. Taking the huge blacks of ice and snow and transforming them into such works of art. Traditional figures, each telling a story, carved over several days with a wide variety of tools. To see the carvings progress from day to day was like magic. I was happy when my favourite carving won 1st place in the contest. It was a beautiful piece of a boy climbing over a cliff to hunt birds in their nest. The artist was from Nunavut and usually does more abstract carvings of stone and other materials but for festivals he carve in ice. Stunning work. The week ended with a feast on the ice; frozen, raw meat and fish, and later the final concert night.

After finding our way back to the airport the next day we settled in to wait for our flight. Delayed of course as there were so many people trying to get to Montreal or home. At one point during the wait some of the musicians headed south got out their instruments and gave a bit of an impromptu concert. Before we knew it there were people jigging and clapping along to the music. After a wait that seemed to be forever we were finally able to board and head home. As nice as it was to be away, it was even nicer to be home again.