Treena's Travels

This blog was set up to journal my experience of living in Nunavut and keep friends and family up to date on these happenings. It's a wonderful place, this hideaway in the north, and I'm loving my time here. An unforgettable place with unforgettable people. I'm lucky to be here.

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Location: Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada

Monday, December 15, 2008

Temp: -33
Windchill: -39
Sunrise: 10:16 a.m.
Sunset: 2:23 p.m.

Well, I've been incredibly tardy in keeping up my blog; I hope to rectify this from this point on. It's been pretty busy here in Baker Lake the last while and, well, truth be known I've just been darn lazy. And here we find ourselves already in the middle of December! The Christmas concert has come and gone and was a huge success. The kids danced and signed to 'Christmas Island' by Jimmy Buffet. It went over really well and the teacher I work with has an amazing knack for art and so the backdrop we made was that of a tropical island complete with 2 - 5 foot tall 3D palm trees. It was so cool. Once the internet picks up on the speed I'll try and post some pics of it.

Lets see... what else is a-buzz in Baker Lake? Oh!! As of tonight we have cell service in the North! Too funny. My cell phone actually works up in Baker Lake. How bizarre. I was just talking to Tania tonight about how things are changing so much up here, even since I came up in 2005. There are a whack load more trucks on the road (and I even saw an actual CAR driving around Baker in the fall - now that threw me for a loop and left me confused for a moment as to where I actually was) and fewer snow machines. Some prices have gone down at the grocery store, but not many. Milk is a few dollars cheaper than when I moved here but a small bag of dehydrated blueberries is $11. There's getting to be more of a selection here too; the Igloo Hotel gift shop has lots of knick knacks (including some really nice Christmas decorations at VERY reasonable prices and some, er, not very authentic looking Inukshuks made of resin and from China) and the cafe has been renovated and looks really great. It's still only open for lunch on select days and once in a blue moon it opens for a supper but still, the changes are nice.

And as for the recession hitting Canada and forcing fuel prices to drop, not so much here. While gas is teetering around the .75 cent mark down south it is still 1.49 a liter here because the price gets established at the rate it was purchased at when the barge ships it up here in the summer.

Oli and I out on the land with the gang ice fishing


Bike (obviously) snowblasted by one of our blizzards


And other than that, I am getting ready to fly out on Thursday morning. Now weather permitting and barring any illnesses things should go smoothly. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't succumb to the violent stomach flu that has been going around the community for the past month. I was feeling iffy one day about two weeks ago but wasn't bad so I'm hoping that brush with it will suffice for this year and my flu shot will keep me feeling wonderful and ready to rock for the holidays. I'm really excited for this trip although I'll be traveling a lot and be incredibly busy. But, it will be worth it. I can't wait to be in stores, smelling the festive smells, hearing the music, and seeing all the decorations. I am SO in the Christmas spirit. My tree has been up since the third week in November but the festive feeling has really taken hold this past week. We had a Christmas brunch with the gang up at Todd and Jenesta's place on the weekend and the odd evening some of us have gotten together at Tania and Chad's and sat around watching the fireplace channel and visiting. I'd never given that channel any credit before but when you're up here with no actual fireplaces to be had, it's the next best thing. Heh heh, and you know Ivan swears he can feel the heat coming off of it. Too funny.

And, because we've only had two half blizzard days (last Tuesday and Friday afternoons) I'm trying to be confident that the bad weather will hold off until January so everyone's travel plans don't get messed up.

So, tomorrow night will be laundry and packing, Wednesday we finish school at 2:30 so I'll finish packing and then from 8 - 10 I'll be supervising wrapping gifts at the Northern as a fundraiser for the high school (should be fun but you can bet I'll be using hand sanitizer like a maniac to prevent catching any wayward germs). And come Thursday morning I will be southern-bound baby! Very good times.....

2 Comments:

Blogger Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

Glad you are doing well! Have a safe trip home for the holidays!

10:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Treena
how are you? me are good
my family are good
my sister go school in morning only morning
i'm go Winnipeg in December
bye
Kelsey Rose Qarliksaq

3:16 PM  

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