May In A Blur

The month of May always goes by fast.  The school days just fly by.  May is the last full month of school.  The semester ends in early June.  I’ll give you a quick review of the last three weeks.

The weather usually gets better around this time of the year because it’s spring.  There’s still ice in the bay, but the snow in town begins to melt.  It’s also the time I wear my sealskin parka.  I snapped a selfie on May 6 before heading home on my skidoo.  I wanted to see what people see when I drive by.

My guitar students spent the last three weeks learning chords, riffs, and short songs.  They also looked at the songs they requested to be included in the class fake book.  I collected their requests in February, and researched, organized, & printed the books in March. 

My Grade 10 Social Studies students continued their study of Canada’s residential school system and my Grade 11s looked at globalization’s affects on quality of life in Nunavut, Canada, and the world.

Speaking of quality of life, living conditions in Venezuela are getting worse due to the hyperinflation of the country’s currency.  The Bolivar, as it’s called, has been losing value with every passing day, and prices have skyrocketed, reminiscent of what happened in Zimbabwe, and, if you want to go really far back, the Weimar Republic.  I bring this up because one of the middle school teachers showed me a gift they received from a Venezuelan friend: a purse made out of Bolivars.  The teacher let me photograph it because I wanted to use it as a visual aid when I talk about hyperinflation in Social Studies.

May 14, 2021.

The annual fishing derby was held over the Victoria Day weekend.  Many people left to fish at far away designated lakes, while others chose to fish in town.  I hiked up tall hill on May 23 to take pictures of the community and the surrounding area.  The weather was perfect.  The sun shined brightly and there were clouds in the sky.  The clouds cast large shadows on the land & ice below.

May 23, 2021.

Downtown & Uptown.

Eastside.

It took me about 25 minutes to get to the top of the hill.  There wasn’t enough snow on the ground to use the skidoo.  My efforts were rewarded by the breathtaking views.  I took out my newly purchased Nikon camera and snapped as many photographs as I could.  I took pictures of people fishing out on the ice, all the neighbourhoods, the school, prominent landmarks, and the many skidoo trails that crisscrossed the ice.  The town was relatively quiet.  There were only a few vehicles driving around.  A lot of people do leave the community to go fishing.

Inuujaq School.

Arctic Bay Airport.

I also took a few pictures of Victor Bay and reminisced about my day trip at the beginning of the month. 

I descended the hill and stopped into the Co-op to buy a few things.  I walked home and immediately went to work editing & sorting the photographs I took. 

Victor Bay. May 23, 2021.