The 5th Return

I forgot to mention in my previous post that while I was in Ottawa for the summer, I visited the Canadian Museum of History and the Museum of Nature.  (The Museum of History is actually located in Gatineau, Quebec, just across the Ottawa River).  I visited both museums with a friend I hadn’t seen in 15 years.  The Museum of History had finally opened their new exhibit – “The Land and Its First Peoples: 13,000BC – AD 1500” – on July 1, 2017, to coincide with Canada’s 150^th birthday.  There is a section of the exhibit that features a story about an Inuk man whose remains & tools were found near Arctic Bay in the 1950s.  He lived in the area 800 years ago. 

            

The centre piece is a detailed constructed mannequin, depicting what the Inuk man may have looked like around the time of his death.  The people of Arctic Bay gave this ancestor the name Nuvumiutaq - “person from the peninsula.”      

            

I was really impressed with the display and I felt like an insider because I was present when the researcher in charge of the project came to Arctic Bay two years ago and spoke to the high school students about the project.  (Her presentation was held in my classroom).  I recognized all the people in the educational video that was playing on loop next to the display.

            

My friend and I also visited the other exhibits in the museum.  The museum received a major renovation before the Canada 150 celebrations.  Of course, some things remain on display, such as the small Ukrainian church, and that decorated bus in the Children's Museum.  (I remember walking through that bus when I was a child!)

            

I hadn’t returned to the Museum of Nature since the major renovations of 2009 & 2010.  I finally had the time this summer to go inside and check out the improvements.  The exhibits have been rearranged, improved, and features new content.  My favourite gallery was the Arctic Gallery.  I was disappointed that the fossil digging area for kids had been removed from the Fossil Gallery.  Now I won’t be able to pull off that prank my dad & I had been planning for so long.

             

I flew to Arctic Bay on August 8.  I was glad to be going back but also sad that my summer vacation was at an end.  I met several coworkers and the principal at the departures gate in the Ottawa Airport.  We briefly shared our summer experiences before boarding the First Air flight to Iqaluit.  Unfortunately, the new terminal building in Iqaluit wasn’t opening until August 9^th, the next day.  I was really looking forward to seeing the interior but that will have to wait until another time.

            

Arctic Bay is in there . . . somewhere.

We almost didn’t make it to Arctic Bay.  Low clouds had rolled into the bay forcing the pilots to abort the first landing attempt.  This was the first time I was on a plane that had to go around for a second try.  It was an eerie feeling because the plane descended for several minutes but then began to gain altitude.  The pilots only informed the passengers about the situation five minutes after the aborted landing.  The second landing attempt was successful.  The Arctic Bay passengers wouldn’t be spending a night in Resolute Bay after all!

            

My residence looked the same as it was in June.  The local housing authority removed the large piece of plywood from my front door the day before.  (The front door was covered to prevent people from breaking in).  I spent the next three hours unpacking and settling in. 

           

The first day for teachers was August 10.  Everyone greeted each other and shook hands.  We all sat down in the media room for the first staff meeting.  The principal officially welcomed everyone to a new school year.  Several committees were formed and the teachers received their teaching assignments & schedules.  We also learned there would be a staffing shortage for the next little while.  Three more teachers were leaving Inuujaq School.  Sarah, the Grade 9 teacher, had accepted a teaching position down south, Ryan, the high school media teacher, was moving to Iqaluit to teach at the middle school, and Connie, the high school Inuktitut teacher, was moving to Iqaluit to attend Arctic College.  Sarah had already left but Ryan & Connie were leaving in late August.  The school would have to rely on substitute teachers until new hires were found.

           

I am still the school’s Professional Development Liaison but I also took on a new job: recording staff meeting minutes. 

           

I rearranged my classroom and immediately began preparing my course outlines & materials.  I will be teaching three classes this semester: Grade 10 English, Grade 10 Social Studies, and Grade 10 Percussion.  I was ready to go by Monday, August 14.

           

Gas boat.

I was surprised to see the gas boat in the bay on August 10.  The large vessel usually arrives in late August to refill the gas tanks at the Gas Station.  I asked around town and was told the gas tanks were nearly empty and needed to be refilled.  In a few years, the government will have to build one or two more gas tanks because more & more vehicles are being brought up on sealift.

            

There is no snow during the month of August.  Despite the town being way above the Arctic Circle, snow doesn’t begin falling until September.  However, sometimes there are large chunks of ice floating in the bay.  The temperature usually hovers around positive single digits.  Speaking of ice chunks, everyone was surprised to see so many of them on August 13.  They floated into the bay overnight and looked like they had broken apart from a very large iceberg.  The information that was passed around town was that the ice chunks had come from Greenland.  I just hope they will melt before the sealift ships get here.  Otherwise, the ice will prevent the barges from getting close to shore.