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.