Exciting News & Fall Biathlon 2020

A really big announcement was made two & a half weeks ago and I would like to address it here.  You most likely already know about it and I’m aware I could have mentioned it in my last post, but it would have felt tacked on at the end.  I also thought about writing a separate post, but it would have been a very short one.  And we all know how much I prefer to write large posts.

First, a quick backstory.  Becky Han, an Inuk singer, song-writer, and activist, posted a tweet on her Twitter account in late September, asking for clothing donations so she could send them to Inuujaq School in Arctic Bay.  Originally, school administration had asked for snow pants because winter was fast approaching and there are many children who need them.  Her calls on Twitter were widely shared and were noticed by Canadian actor & film producer Ryan Reynolds.  He’s quite famous in Canada & the USA.  Most people up here know him from the Deadpool film series. 

Mr. Reynolds contacted Becky & later the school to inform them that he wanted to help.  He got in touch with the clothing company Canada Goose and made a deal with them to provide 300 jackets, Baffin Boots, and other winter gear to the students.  The actor was quoted saying that Canada Goose “went so far and beyond matching me.”  I can assume he and the company split the clothing & shipping costs somehow.  Of course, such information will most likely stay secret for a very long time. 

You can read more about the announcement from the following news sites:

APTN – A Tweet, A Parka Company, And A Response From Ryan Reynolds

Nunatsiaq News – Warm Winter Clothes Head To Nunavut . . .

Nunavut News – Ryan Reynolds And Canada Goose Donate 300 Parkas To Arctic Bay

The excitement here has been nonstop for the last two weeks.  Everyone in town has been talking about it.  Some clothing donations have already been received – thank you! – but they’re not from Ryan Reynolds & Canada Goose.  The school is anxiously waiting for the big order to arrive.  We’ve all been asking ourselves if everything will be delivered at once or in small batches.  Shipping that many clothes require a lot of space.  I wonder if a charter plane will be hired to fly everything in.  Either way, if you’re reading this Mr. Reynolds, the students & people of Arctic Bay thank you immensely for your generosity.  When the COVID-19 pandemic ends and the travel restrictions are lifted, please come visit the community & Inuujaq School.

One of my coworkers hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner at her place on October 10.  I was unable to attend because I was supervising cadets burning wood behind the airport.  She prepared a take home meal for me in a large aluminum pan.  Thank you!  I didn’t have to worry about dinner for two nights after the long weekend.  She also added that she & her guests could see the bonfire from her house.

Fast forward to Saturday, October 24.  The next big event for the cadets of 3045 was the annual Fall Biathlon competition.  The corps takes over the school’s gym for the morning & afternoon, and converts it into an air rifle range.  The competition is a timed relay race where participants shoot .177 lead pellets at metal plinker targets and run outside for a kilometre.  All participants shoot & run three times except for the 1^st year cadets.  They only run twice.  The running is supposed to simulate cross country skiing.  Unfortunately, there isn’t enough snow on the ground for the real thing.  The goal is to complete your relay in the least amount of time.   

The cadets arrived at 9:30am for setup.  There was a lot of equipment to bring out.  Plinker targets, backboards, sandbags, tables, chairs, flags, air rifles, mats, pellets, clipboards, stop watches, pens, Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs), coffee machine, hot water urn, cups, & Coleman stoves, just to name a few.  Even though lunch was two hours away, it was better to have everything out and ready to go.  That and we needed to have boiling water ready for the MRE pouches.  You don’t want to keep hungry cadets waiting.

Start Line.

When the air rifle range was ready to go, the cadets were formed up for a general briefing.  I welcomed them and explained how the day was to proceed.  The corps only has three plinker targets so only three cadets would go at a time.  Yes, technically we could have more go, but that would require “stopping & starting the clock” on paper a lot to calculate the correct times.  I decided to make it easier for the time keepers by having a dedicated stop watch & shooting lane for each competitor.  Participants would complete their relays in any given order.  I put my trust in the cadets to volunteer when they were ready.  Lastly, the cadets were divided into three groups: 1^st year cadets; 2^nd year cadets; seniors.

The competition began at 10:30am.

A routine quickly established itself when the first three competitors began.  The cadets would start running, leave for some time, return, shoot in the prone position, and then leave.  Cadets who were waiting were put to work refilling the pellet bowls and noting the targets the competitors did not hit.  Frank kept some of the cadets busy upstairs by having them identify the provincial & territorial flags.  Pretty soon it was 11:30am.  The senior cadets fired up the Coleman stoves and started bowling water.  The competition was stopped at 12pm for lunch.

The cadets labelled their main meal pouches and placed them in the pots of boiling water.  The meals were ready to eat after 15 minutes.  I prepared mine last because officers east last.  The cadets brought out extra tables & chairs so they could eat in the gym.  Lunch lasted for an hour and the cadets cleaned up the eating area. 

The competition continued in the afternoon.  The remaining participants volunteered when they were ready to start their relays.  I continued to monitor the stop watches and scoresheets.  A few cadets continued making sure the pellet bowls contained five pellets.  The competition was done by 2:45pm.  Everyone spent the next 20 minutes cleaning the gym & putting everything away.  The scorecards were placed in a sealed envelope and placed in the cadet office.  I told the cadets I would review them at a later date.  The winners of each categories would be announced in the near future.

There were a lot of boats swarming around the bay while I was walking home after the competition.  I was surprised to see boats in late October because the bay usually freezes by this time.  The boaters were hunting narwhals.  There must have been narwhals swimming near the shoreline because quite a few boats found themselves floating close to land.  Being so close to the community prevented the hunters from using guns.  They could only use harpoons.

I stopped and watched them for a few minutes and then continued walking home.  I had to school work to prepare.  I assumed a few narwhals would be caught.

                

Operation Bonfire 2020

In-person cadet training resumed on Saturday, October 3.  The cadets & I were glad we could finally begin the 2020-21 Regular Training Year.  The cadets played sports on Saturday, and shot Daisy Air Rifles on Sunday.  On Wednesday, October 7, the cadets reviewed drill.  I made a list of items the cadets needed for their uniforms.

The first big event of the year was the annual weekend bonfire.  I scheduled the event for the evening of Saturday, October 10.  All planning & preparation had to be done in advance because there would be no time on the day in question.  There was marksmanship in the morning and sports in the afternoon. 

The cadets created three lists for the bonfire on October 7: personal kit, corps kit, and food.  Personal kit was their responsibility.  The cadets had to help me assemble the corps kit & buy the food from the Co-op.  Corps kit contains things like paper towels, garbage bags, scissors, roasting sticks, shovels, matches, Firestarter sticks, and toilet paper.  For food, I bought hot dogs, marshmallows, juice boxes, and granola bars. 

We assembled at the school’s gym to take attendance & load the supplies into two pickup trucks.  Frank lent me one of his trucks and a senior cadet was able to borrow their parents’ truck.  We drove to the airport and arrived at 6:45pm.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to secure an ATV & trailer.  We had to walk down to the bonfire area behind the airport.  The wood we burn is collected along the shoreline during the August beach cleanup.  The cadets have been keeping this area clean since 2013.  Even though we couldn’t do a cleanup this year, there is still plenty of wood in the woodpile.  It took some time to reach the firepit because we had to carry everything with us.  The heaviest items were the juice boxes.

The junior cadets shoveled the snow off the wood pile and brought wood pieces to the firepit.  The senior cadets arranged the wood pieces while I organized the food table.  A large round wooden table has been at this location since I arrived in the community.  The senior cadets used matches, Firestarter sticks, and naphtha to get the wood to burning.  The fire grew to an acceptable size after 10 minutes. 

Everyone grabbed a roasting stick and immediately proceeded to the food table.  The hot dogs were distributed first.  The hot dogs were roasted to various degrees of doneness.  I like my hot dogs roasted with a few black streaks.  Some cadets roasted theirs completely black.  The hot dog buns & condiments were next.  I only bought one ketchup bottle & one mustard bottle.  No one eats relish. 

The cadets continued to feed the fire with larger pieces of wood.  The fire grew taller & brighter.  I occasionally glanced towards the community, wondering if the people could see the fire.  The heat from the flames pushed us away.  The cadets took many pictures with my camera. 

Marshmallows were for dessert.  I roast mine quickly.  Some cadets like the outer layer to be roasted black.  Some marshmallows were lost to the fire.

I bought two boxes of granola bars this year to give cadets a third choice.  Eating too many hot dogs & marshmallows can make a person sick.  As for the juice boxes, it’s always good to have beverages at a bonfire.

The festivities continued the building a second bonfire.  I didn’t mind.  The more wood we burned the better.  Anything to shrink the size of the woodpile.  Lighting the whole pile requires a lot of Firestarter sticks and naphtha.  That fire would last for days, and the cadets & I don’t have the time to watch it until the end.  So, we’re forced to burn wood in small batches.

The bonfires attracted the attention of two Inuit hunters.  They were returning from a bird hunt along the Road to Nanisivik and decided to see what was happening behind the airport.  They drove up in two ATVs.  They said they saw our fires from far away.  One of the hunters was a former student of mine.  They stayed for some time, watching the fire, and talking to the cadets.      

I scheduled the bonfire to finish at 8:30pm.  We actually stayed 15 minutes longer, most likely because of the perfect weather – not too cold & no wind – and leftover food.  I had to shut everything down at 8:45pm because I didn’t want annoyed guardians & parents coming down looking for their kids.  The fires were extinguished with lots of snow.  The cadets helped me pack the leftovers & corps kit.  The garbage bags were tied shut.

We began the long walk back to the airport parking lot.  The cadets led the way.  I was the last one to leave because I needed to make sure no one was left behind.  It was very dark outside but most of us had flashlights.  The pickup trucks were running when I got to the parking lot.  I left the key in the ignition and thankfully, no one took Frank’s truck for a joy ride.  The senior cadet drove half of the cadets home.  I did the same with the other half.  I returned Frank’s truck the following day.

Another successful bonfire completed.     

 

Snow, Boats, & Sticks

Snow continued to fall on Arctic Bay on September 23.  I could no longer see the brown ground as I walked to school in the early morning.  Only tall grass was visible.  It won’t be long until the sounds of skidoos will be heard, I thought.  I was tempted to bring my skidoo to life, but decided to wait a little longer.  Seeing all the snow on the ground made me wonder if the water in the bay will freeze early?  If that will be the case, then the boaters need to catch as many narwhals as they can.

Naturally, I took pictures of the landscape.  I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.  I always have my digital camera at the ready.  The same neighbour’s dog from before watched me walk by and didn’t hide when I took their picture.

Unfortunately, a lot of snow melted over the next five days, disappointing skidoo enthusiasts.  The ATV owners didn’t mind.

I was walking home from work on September 28 when I noticed construction work happening near the Co-op.  A makeshift residence was being constructed out of seven sea cans for several southern workers contracted to build the new power plant at the Gas Station.  (I’m assuming they completed their 2-week isolation before travelling here).  Each sea can will be a room.  A large roof will connect the cans from above, creating an enclosed corridor between them.  Heating, electricity, water, and sewage utilities will be installed later.  The cans sit on large square wooden logs.  Seeing this made we wonder: if a company can do this for its workers, why can’t the Nunavut Housing Corporation do something similar for families on the housing waiting lists?

The boaters were out in force on September 30.  Several of my students participated in this latest narwhal hunt.  The tide in the bay was calm.  I watched the boaters wait, speed off in one direction, converge on a single spot, spread out again, and then repeat the process.  I thank the pod(s) of narwhals for swimming into Arctic Bay this year.  Because of you, I have plenty of pictures of the hunters in action.

I found it challenging to spot narwhals with my own eyes.  Their long tusks were not sticking out of the water.  It took me some time to figure out that if you can’t see the tusks, you look for the wakes the narwhals create while they swim.  I think several narwhals were caught & harvested.  Their tusks can be sold for thousands of dollars.    

The month of October began with me receiving several pairs of drum sticks in the mail.  I ordered them for my drum class.  These snare & tenor drum sticks are made & sold by VicFirth.  Their lengths, widths, & tips are different, but there is one thing they have in common: they’re part of the Corpsmaster Ralph Hardimon Signature Series. 

Ralph Hardimon is an American percussionist, teacher, and composer.  He’s been involved in drum & bugle corps, marching bands, rhythm & blues, and jazz, since the late 1960s.  He is one of many musical artists endorsed by VicFirth.  I was introduced to his brand of sticks in the summer of 2002 when I was attending an army cadet camp.  And as you can see, I haven’t looked back.  I only use his brand of snare & tenor sticks for marching percussion.  If VicFirth added bass drum mallets to the series, my drummers would be using them too.  Hopefully, I’ll meet the legend one day.