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| Arctic Char. |
The
weekend of March 2 - 3 ended with the purchase of a large frozen Arctic Char
fish from an Inuit local for $20. Compared
to how much it would cost down south (maybe double?), this was a good
deal. He was the same person from whom I
bought bannock for $2 a piece at the Northern Store. Just like in Iqaluit, if you're Qallunaaq, local
Inuit artists, hunters, or residents who have something to sell will approach
you to make a deal. You can accept or
politely decline. With a large fish in
my possession, I now had to figure out how to clean and prepare it. Thankfully, there is plenty of information on
the Internet and I can ask a local resident.
Inuujaq
School hosted a Scholastic Book Fair on February 28, and March 1 & 8. The book fair was also open to the public
from 3:30 - 5pm. The event was organized
& coordinated by Amber, a Student Support Teacher. Scholastic shipped a limited amount of books,
posters, games, and learning kits, but also provided catalogues and order
forms. Shipping to and from Arctic Bay
was covered by Scholastic. The books
ranged from preschool to young adult.
The posters were of comic book heroes, teen music artists, and film
actors. During the school day, students
who wanted to make purchases and/or submit orders were escorted down to the
library by their teachers. Mail orders
would take about a month to arrive. The
book fair was a success, bringing in around $1300. Amber was pleased by the turnout and
delighted that the school didn't have to cover any shipping costs.
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| Morning Clouds. March 8, 2013 |
For
the week of March 4 - 8, several Inuit teachers & I had morning and
afternoon recess duty. Teachers are
assigned recess duties for an entire week rather than a day per week. For
twenty minutes a day, my main task was to supervise the high school students,
making sure they didn't smoke too close to the building, and keep the younger
grades from coming over to the high school wing. My other task was to make sure everyone got
along. What made my first recess duty
week more interesting was that I was the only Qallunaaq teacher on duty. I was essentially, the 'Token White Guy'.
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| Me in my Canada Goose Parka. |
It
was nice to get outside for some fresh air rather than spending the ten minutes
photocopying in the main office. But, it
was unfortunate to see the vast majority of high school students smoking. The price of cigarettes is around $20 a pack. It was shocking to hear them talk about Inuit
kids as young as 9 beginning to smoke. I
had several debates with students as to why they should quit, the most obvious
reasons being: you live longer and you save a lot of money every year.
Even
though ten minutes is not a lot of time, the elementary students enjoy every
minute of it, playing on the school's two play structures. Some use pieces of cardboard as toboggans to
slide down a nearby mound. There were
even a few snowball fights (no one was injured). Overall, my recess duties were not as hard as
I thought they would be and I was glad the high school students helped me
improve my Inuktitut vocabulary.
Inuktiturunnaqsivalliajunga. (I am learning to speak Inuktitut).
The
morning of Sunday, March 10 was one of slight tension because it was time for a
haircut. I'm normally calm but this time
I would be cutting my own hair. Arctic
Bay does not have a hair salon but there are locals who cut hair for a fee. Wanting to save money, I stood in front of
the mirror with the electric razor I received from a friend in Iqaluit. When it comes to cutting my hair, it's like
mowing a lawn. I go for an army buzz
cut. Easy to maintain and you don't have
to worry about getting head lice. As for
sideburns, I cut them as well. To make a
long story short (pun intended), I was satisfied with the end result and only
had to sweep all the hair off the floor.
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| King George V Mountain. March 13, 2013 |
Wednesday,
March 13 was one of my toughest days yet because the afternoon was dominated by
parent-teacher interviews (2 - 6pm).
Midterm report cards were also handed out that day. I was expecting to see the parents / guardians
of all my students, but only saw four.
There was one parent who required a translator because she did not know English. I explained how their child was doing in my
class regarding class work, attendance, participation, and attitude.
There
were two moments when I was waiting for parents that I spotted and photographed
a convoy of ten snowmobiles driving across the frozen bay. The first time they were driving to the
industrial area to pickup gas. The
second time they were heading in the opposite direction. Even though they weren't dragging any qamutiks (sleds), I assumed they were heading out on a land trip. My assumption turned out to be correct because they were Canadian Rangers, going out on another patrol of the surrounding area.
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| Canadian Rangers Convoy. |
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