Friday, February 28, 2014

The Second Week of February

King George V Mountain. February 9, 2014
It was great to have the sun back but already people were complaining that it was too bright.  All over Arctic Bay, curtains were being drawn shut to keep the sun out.  I'm certain this action is repeated in all high arctic communities.  It's ironic considering residents have been wanting to have the sun back for the last two and a half months.  Similarly, this kind of behaviour can be found all over the world; humans are forever searching for that unattainable equilibrium.  When it's too dark inside, the curtains are open.  When there's too much natural light, the curtains are closed.
            
February 10, 2014
The arctic landscape appears more striking when the sun is up in the sky.  The land is bathed in a wide assortment of colours, giving amateur photographers such as myself more opportunities to snap pictures.  During the second week of February, I took some great shots of the sun rising over the surrounding mountains.  King George V Mountain in particular was "drenched" in colours of orange, white, pink, and purple.
            
Feeding time!
The town's sled dogs were howling quite a bit during the week for reasons I have yet to determine.  So far, I've narrowed the possibilities down to hunger, boredom, cold temperatures, approaching humans, communication, and singing.  Like any loud noises, the howls can get annoying.  Maybe one day I'll go out onto the ice and howl with the sled dogs.  Bring some seal meat and have a "grand old time".  I must commend the owners for being able to stand the howls when they go out on the ice to feed the pack.  I would be wearing ear plugs.  Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to go dog sledding with the locals.  My current plan is to go at least once before June.
            


The second week of February concluded on Friday the 14th - Valentine's Day.  Staff and students were encouraged to wear red and/or pink clothes.  The only Valentine's Day colour I had was red, in the form of a dress shirt and tie.  To celebrate the occasion, the entire student body assembled in the gym after afternoon recess for Spirit Team Activities.  The gym was decorated with red ribbons and hearts.  Upon entering the gym, students and teachers went to their respective teams.  I co-lead Team Rabbit with Piuyuq, the school's acting vice-principal.
            
The Spirit Team Assembly was organized by a small committee of teachers, chaired by Iga, the high school Inuktitut teacher.  She acted as the MC for the assembly.  They had prepared a few competitive games for the teams to play.  The first was a puzzle where teams had to assemble six hearts in the shortest amount of time.  What made the game challenging was that the hearts were of different colours and they had been cut up into a variety of shapes.  We did our best but unfortunately, Team Rabbit did not win the challenge.  However, we successfully assembled the six hearts.
            

The second was a dice throwing game where if you rolled a certain number, you place a sticker on a poster chart that has your team name on it.  To play this requires participants to form a circle around the poster chart that's on the floor.  Ten rounds were played (preschool to high school).  Unfortunately, I forgot which team won the game.
            
The third and last game was 'Hot Potato' or in this case 'Hot Yellow Ball'.  Spirit teams each chose one person to sit in a circle in the middle of the gym to play the game.  As the music played, the ball was quickly passed around, and the teams cheered until there was one person left standing.  I believe the Polar Bears won the game.
            
To conclude the assembly, students were given chocolates in the shape of hearts.  Afterwards, everyone was dismissed for the weekend and following week.
            
Bilingualism in Nunavut.
There would be no regular classes for the third week of February because it is reserved for all Nunavut teachers and administrators.  The week is known as Professional Development (PD) Week or Professional Improvement (PI) Week and Nunavut educators take the time to upgrade their knowledge and skills in a variety of areas.  Educators can stay in Nunavut or leave the territory for the week.  All you need to do is complete the necessary paperwork and get your application approved by the school board.  For this year, I would complete my PI in Iqaluit (more on this in an upcoming post).  Travelling back to the 'big city' would also give me the opportunity to revisit the place where my Arctic adventure began back in 2012.  Last year, I stayed in Arctic Bay and learned how to read, write, and speak basic Inuktitut.        
           
And finally, when it comes to Arctic housing, people like it when their residences have cold rooms to store fish, frozen foods, and animal skins.  The cold room is usually the first room you walk into before entering the heated residence.  I think this design is based on the igloo where the entrance area is lower than the sleeping platform, thus acting as a cold trap.  I don't have a cold room at my residence but some of the southern teachers do.  And it can get pretty cold in there, with ice forming on the walls and door.  


Cold Room.


Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Return of the Sun

February 4, 2014
As I mentioned in a previous post, 2013 saw the highest number of recorded suicides in Nunavut.  The final tally at the end of the year was forty-five.  The rate is dangerously getting close to one suicide per week.  Suicide has been a big problem since the territory's creation in 1999.  In response to last year's high suicide count, the territory's chief coroner, Padma Suramala, is calling a special inquest into the high suicide rate.  As well, ASIST workshops would be held in fifteen communities starting in February.
            
February 4, 2014
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) is a two day, 15-hour workshop, designed and administered by LivingWorks.  The "highly interactive, practical, [and] practice-oriented workshop", gives participants the tools and skills needed to help "prevent the immediate risk of suicide."  Classes can be taught in English, French, and Inuktitut.  Teaching the course in Inuktitut is made possible by the 17 local Inuit ASIST trainers in the territory.  LivingWorks is hoping to increase this number in the near future.
            
Arctic Bay was the first community to receive ASIST training on February 4th & 5th.  The participants would be the teaching & administrative staff of Inuujaq School.  Naturally, regular classes were cancelled for those two days.  The English instructor was an RCMP officer and was accompanied by an Inuit instructor.  A local Inuit lady was hired to provide English-to-Inuktitut translation for the school's two unilingual Inuit teachers.  The workshop consisted of interactive lectures, instructional videos, group sessions, and acting out scenarios requiring intervention.  ASIST uses a speaking intervention model; physically stopping a person from committing suicide is left to the police and emergency services. 
            
I really liked the ASIST workshop because I learned a lot and feel better prepared should a student or adult come to me and say that they have had feelings of suicide.  As well, I am trained to detect some of the warning signs and in response, approach that person and talk to them about what they are feeling.  I liked how all the teaching materials were Inuit-oriented.  Most of the teaching resources in the north come from the south, making it a challenge for learners to see the relevance. 
            
At the same time, the workshop was (a little) stressful for many because suicide touches everyone in the north.  It appears that every Inuk has had a family member(s) or close friend(s) that has committed suicide.  No one wants to relive those painful memories.  I was aware of suicide when I was growing up down south but it never affected me until I began teaching up north.  One of my students in Iqaluit chose to end his life in December 2012.  I didn't know about it until another student came and told me.    
            
Everyone received a certificate for successfully completing the two-day workshop and posed for a class photo.  The ASIST trainers departed for Resolute on February 5th, the next community to host the ASIST workshops.
            
The Sun arrives.
Supposedly, the sun arrived on February 5th at around noon, except no one in town could see it due to low overcast clouds.  Mother Nature was forcing everyone to wait an extra day.  At least we were treated to colourful clouds on the morning of February 4th.  Everyone got a good look at the sun when classes resumed on the 6th.  The mood in the air was anticipation; think of the large crystal ball in Times Square making its descent during the New Years Eve celebration.  I briefly interrupted my second period Social Studies class to take a picture of the sun as it slowly crept over the distant mountains.  A few high school students from other classes briefly came over to my class to get a glimpse of the sun.  At lunchtime, I grabbed my camera and headed over to the Northern Store to get a better shot of the sun.  I didn't want any power lines in the picture.
            

Inuujaq School held a sun celebration on the morning of Friday, February 7th in the gym.  Before 9am, the staff cleaned the gym, hung posters made by elementary classes, and set up chairs and tables for a morning breakfast.  Invitations were extended to parents, elders, and community leaders.  Teachers and students were wearing bright clothing and traditional Inuit sunglasses made out of cardboard. 
            
Inuujaq School student Rosalie lights the qulliq.
The celebration began with the lighting of the qulliq, a traditional Inuit oil lamp.  The lamp was lit by Rosalie, a high school student.  Then the middle school students performed an Inuit song that welcomed back the sun.  The girls sang the lyrics with Eunice, one of the middle school teachers, while the boys played on Inuit drums.  The performance was well received by everyone present.  The last act before the breakfast was a yoga exercise led by Dane, the grade 4 teacher.  He explained that it was a way to say "Good morning" to the sun.  Everyone followed Dane's movements and it was interesting & entertaining to watch.  
   


Breakfast consisted of various fruits, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, bannock, coffee, tea, and juice.  Inuujaq School staff served the people in attendance, handing out plates of food, juice boxes, yogurt, and spoons.  If people wanted seconds, they had to help themselves at the long row of tables at the front of the gym.  When breakfast was finished, everyone helped in the cleanup before returning to their normal routines.  Regular classes continued for the rest of the school day.  Everyone was happy that the sun was back.  I could only imagine how envious the people of Resolute and Grise Fiord were because I heard they wouldn't see the sun until the end of the month.  


Arctic Bay's mayor, Philip Kalluk, distributes breakfast to hungry students.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Late January


By late January, it had become apparent that the sun was making its return.  The days (or nights) of near 24-hour darkness were long gone.  By midday, the town and the surrounding mountains were slowly being bathed in Arctic sunlight.  If the mountains weren't in the way, the sun itself would appear much earlier.  The 'word on street' was that the 'Grand Return' would happen around February 5th or 6th.  Regardless, I was glad that we were receiving some sunlight because I could take more pictures.  True, I could use flash, but it just doesn't beat natural sunlight.
            
King George V Mountain and
Gas Station.
My guitarists learned how to play seventeen notes across six strings and how to read them as traditional notes.  The Hal Leonard Guitar Method Books we use keeps it simple by limiting the note positions to the first three frets on the guitar.  I reassured my students that in music, there are only seven letters to memorize - A, B, C, D, E, F, G.  (It was too early to introduce them to accidentals).  The only thing they needed to remember was that the letter sequence frequently repeats (ie. 8 times on a piano).  For added reinforcement, they completed some theory worksheets.  They also looked at several classic tunes and folk songs from the textbook, basic guitar chords, and a few popular songs they requested me to transcribe onto guitar tablature. 
            
I was lucky to be allowed to purchase a blue guitar from the local Co-op.  This enabled me to teach five students instead of four last year.  If the school is awarded the Musicounts Band Aid Grant I applied for back in November, then I'll be able to purchase the necessary equipment to take on more music students on guitar and percussion.  I'll have to wait until the end of February to find out.
            
In Grade 10 English, the remaining two weeks of January were spent reading more short stories and completing the accompanying activities.  My students also wrote in their journals, choosing and answering questions from a long list I found on the Internet.  In Grade 10 Social Studies, my students continued their study of the Canadian government and its structure.  As a plus, they looked at the structure of the Nunavut government.
            

Wednesday, January 22 was a big day for the cadets of 3045 Army.  Instead of a regular training night, the corps held a Parents Night, where parents would see their sons and/or daughters receive promotions, awards, and be chosen for the upcoming biathlon and skills competitions.  The Guest Reviewing Officer for the parade was the newly elected mayor of Arctic Bay, Philip Kalluk.            
            
Arctic Bay mayor Philip Kalluk
inspects cadets on parade.
The parade began promptly at 1830 hours (6:30pm) inside Inuujaq School's gym.  The Commanding Officer of 3045, Lieutenant May, who is now the former mayor, escorted the newly elected mayor to the front of the podium where they were saluted by cadet Sergeant Reid, A.  Philip Kalluk inspected the cadets on parade before receiving a march past.  Afterwards, he gave a brief speech, thanking the cadets for their hard work, and the parents for supporting the cadet movement. 
            

After two junior cadets were promoted, the parade moved on to the presentation of awards.  The first batch of awards were for top cadet, most improved cadet, and obtaining physical fitness levels in bronze, silver, gold, and excellence.  Next came the presentation of certificates to those cadets who passed the firearms safety course.  The course was administered by one of the local RCMP officers.  Moving on, Lt. May presented the biathlon team that would be travelling to Whitehorse in early February for the upcoming northern competition.  The chosen cadets formed a line in front of the podium where they received an enthusiastic applause from the audience.  The procedure was repeated when I announced the eight cadets who had been chosen to represent the corps at the Iqaluit Skills Competition in late March.  I would be their coach and escort officer.
            
Civilian volunteer Darlene Alooloo (left) is presented with a Duke of Ed certificate. 
The final award was the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, presented to those cadets who "set their own goals and challenges, work towards them, and then be recognized for sustaining the commitment[s] they have made."  The self-development program is open to youth aged between 14 - 25, and is available in 3 levels: bronze, silver, and gold.  At the time of the parade, five cadets, a civilian instructor, and a civilian volunteer achieved the bronze level.  They each received a certificate, medal, and pocket watch.
            
Civilian Instructor Micky Iqaqrialu
receives his Duke of Ed certificate.
Everyone was treated to a reception of cupcakes, donuts, cookies, tea, and coffee after the dismissal of the parade.  When the parade square was swept and cleaned, I had the skills team form up in the centre.  I introduced myself as their coach and briefly went over what we needed to learn & master for the competition.
            


Master-Corporal Allurut-Reid receives his Duke of Ed certificate from the mayor of Arctic Bay.
The following Wednesday (January 29) was a Parent-Teacher interview night at Inuujaq School.  Parents & teachers were given the opportunity to meet for the first time after school during the second semester and speak about the progress & behaviours of their children/students.  Unfortunately, I didn't meet the parents of all of my students but I still met some nonetheless.  In our discussions, I touched on attendance, behaviour, and academic progress.  The parents I spoke to were receptive to my observations and comments.         
Dogs on ice. (January 31, 2014)
       

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Back In The New Year


On the morning of January 2, a mere day after welcoming the year 2014 with old friends, I was driven to the Ottawa airport by my father.  The time had come to fly back to the far north.  The new semester was starting on the sixth and all staff were required to be in town on Friday, January 3rd.  I bid my father farewell after placing my belongings on a baggage cart.  I had arrived a good two hours before departure and the lineup to the First Air check-in counters weren't long.  The only hassles I had were dropping off my luggage in the oversized baggage area and going through security.  The lineup through security was long.  Sigh, First World Problems.

The other southern teachers arrived several minutes after I sat near the departure gate.  We chatted about our Christmas and New Years adventures while we waited for boarding.  The First Air jet plane was almost full with just a few empty seats remaining.  I sat at the back of the plane so that I wouldn't be bothered by parents with crying babies; they usually sit at the front.  We arrvied in Iqaluit three hours later, the time being just after noon.  Since the Arctic Bay flight wasn't until 2:30pm, I lounged around the airport terminal and watched the minutes tick by. 
            
As usual, the passengers of the Arctic Bay/Resolute Bay flight were driven to the turboprop by bus.  First Air flights to remote northern communities adhere to an 'open seating' policy.  Your plane ticket just guarantees that you're allowed on the plane.  The plane lifted off into the cloudy, afternoon sky and travelled northwest, up Baffin Island for 3 hours.  About halfway, day turned to night.  Back into the dark void, I thought.  This flight also reminded me of when I first flew to Arctic Bay (a little over a year ago at the time of this post).        
            
The turboprop gently landed on the brightly lit gravel runway and taxied to the terminal.  Everyone disembarked so that the ground crews could refuel and restock the plane with food.  The southern teachers and the principal collected their bags at the front of the terminal and were driven back to their homes by taxi.  I got a lift from Frank.  The first thing I had to do when I arrived home was shovel the front porch; it was covered by several inches of snow.  I got out my shovel after placing my luggage inside.  It's good to be back, I thought as I looked around.  The next task was putting everything inside back the way it was.  Several hours later, my residence looked as if I never left.
            
Friday, January 3rd was a staff day.  Teachers had the morning to clean their classes and prep their opening lessons.  "Welcome back!" & "Happy New Year!" phrases were exchanged between all Inuujaq School staff.  I would hear these same phrases again from students who would see me shopping at the Northern & Co-op stores.  The afternoon was dedicated to cleaning & organizing the storage room, resource room, equipment room, and staff work room.  At the end of the day, the rooms looked clean & orderly.  I was surprised by how much unwanted stuff we threw out.
            
I spent most of the first weekend of 2014 at the school, writing course outlines, looking over the materials I had in my classroom, and crafting my opening lessons.  For the winter semester, I would be teaching Grade 10 English, Grade 10 Social Studies, and High School Guitar.  An added prep period would give me time during the school day to correct work and make photocopies.           
            
The first day of the semester, as well as the first week, moved a lot faster than I thought.  For each class, I welcomed the students, introduced myself, handed out folders and notebooks, and went over the course outlines.  Grade 10 English would be my largest class with 13 students.  My smallest class was guitar with five students.  For the first day, my English students copied notes on literary elements, my Social Studies students started the module on Canadian government, and my guitarists learned the parts of the guitar and how to properly take care of it. 
            
For the rest of the week, my English students read two short stories and completed the accompanying activities.  My Social Studies students briefly learned about the history of Canada and how it adopted Britain's style of government (federalism).  And my guitarists learned notes on the first & second strings, how to read guitar tablature, how to count, as well as playing together.  It would take some time for them to read traditional music notation without difficulty because it's like learning a whole new language.
            
Source: BBC News
When I flew back to the high Arctic on January 2, a cold wave was beginning to form across southern Canada and the northern United States.  The polar vortex, usually confined above the 49th parallel, moved further south due to sudden stratospheric warming (SSW).  This led to record breaking low temperatures in southern Canada and the United States.  In fact, at times it was colder down south than in Nunavut.  For Canadians, the sudden drop in temperatures came as a surprise, but everyone adapted rather quickly because us canucks thrive in cold weather.  As for our American neighbours, the extreme cold wave resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled, schools & businesses being closed, and many inches of snow.  Snow even fell across the state of Tennessee!  According to Wikipedia, the whole bitter episode cost $5 billion USD in damage.  As for me, I escaped the extreme cold by flying to the high Arctic.  How ironic.  
            
Since the late 1990s, blogs have become very popular in the Digital Age.  Accessible to anyone who has a computer and Internet access, blogs contain: commentaries on any given topic; instructions on how to complete a task; online diaries; and provide an alternative to mainstream media.  Readers can also contribute to a blog by leaving written comments and/or links to other blogs, videos, and websites.  This enables bloggers to build social relations with their readers and other bloggers.  As of today, there are over 150 million blogs on the Internet.  With so many blogs out there, it is a huge challenge to attract readers.  Your blog has to be unique in its approach to a particular topic and offer enough content to keep people coming back for more.
            
I'm now into my sixth year as a blogger and it's still amazing to see readers from all corners of the world accessing my five blogs (4 inactive and 1 active) and leaving comments if they choose.  (Thank you, Google Stats).  Currently, my Iqaluit blog is leading in pageviews.  I strongly doubt I'm the only person blogging about Canada's Arctic but at the same time, I don't think there are a lot of us.  Anyway, the point I'm getting at is that it wouldn't be long until one of my blogs would attract some mainstream attention. 
            

Back in October 2013, I received an email from Steven Chase, an Ottawa Parliamentary reporter for The Globe and Mail (G&M).  He explained that he and other G&M reporters were being sent to the north to write articles for a special series titled, The North: Myth, Reality, FutureThe special series would be published in late January 2014.  Arctic Bay was one of the communities he would be visiting in late November and my blog had appeared during his Internet searches.  He wanted to speak to me about life in Arctic Bay and who to talk to about getting a tour of the Nanisivik port facility.  Feeling surprised and excited by the request, I hastily replied to the email and spoke with Chase over the phone several days later.  I had never spoken to a reporter from a major newspaper publisher before.  The informal phone interview went well and I answered all of his questions to the best of my abilities.
            
We met up at the Tangmaarvik Inn in late November and talked about a variety of issues.  He said he enjoyed visiting Nanisivik, the site where the federal government wants to build a naval refueling facility, and being taken out on the land by a local Inuk.  I invited him to come to my classroom and speak to my Grade 12 Social Studies students.  He happily agreed, wanting to ask my students about how they liked living in the north and what they knew about Canada's Arctic policy.  Chase came to my classroom the very next day in the afternoon and had an intelligent discussion with my senior students.  Afterwards, my students & I thanked him for visiting and wished him all the best in his future travels.  He left for Resolute later that day.
            
This experience has taught me that you never know who is really paying attention to your blog(s) until they come calling.  And when they do, the results can be positive and/or negative.  Obviously, this was a positive encounter, one that makes me think that I may have what it takes to write for "the press".
            
            


(Final Note: I've now spent a little over a year in Arctic Bay).