In the past few days, I've been checking updates of all my favorite northern blogs and I've realized that I've really gotten the chance to take a peek in other people's lives; sometimes I wonder what it would be like to put a voice to the site (I've seen all the pics). I'm definitely curious to see the communities throughout the territory now...Pang is my first taste and will probably be my first love, but the other hamlets sound awesome as well.
Hmmm...that's my first ramble for the evening.
Work started this week and, I would say, that's the main reason I haven't had the time to post. That and the fact that my supervisor was in town making me feel like I should be the 'super-employee'. I'll have to take some time at Christmas to update that one.
I think I've mentioned the steep price of baking supplies on this blog before. $40 for a 10kg bag of flour was definitely a shock when I first arrived. Finally, though, I decided that I would 'bite the bullet' so-to-speak and buy what I needed to make some chocolate chip cookies for my class. Why not? They deserve it just for finding childcare and showing up. Well, apparently this was just a bit too optimistic. For close to a week, the interac and credit card machines have been down. Not only that...the only two ATM machines in town have been broken since I got here and the customer service office at the Northern had run out of cash. It would be nice to have a bank out here! The stores were still accepting Northern Credit but, well, I don't qualify. Nope. Just me counting my pennies (literally) to buy some baking soda. I think the Co-op is up and running now...groceries tomorrow!Wow...I usually use the computer when I'm sitting on the floor with the two dogs curled up on my lap. In this position I can look out the window and up at Mt.Duval without seeing all the other housing units...it's like it's just me and the mountain. Tonight it's reeeaaalllly foggy, leaving everything coated in inky blackness. I use the word 'inky' because the air feels the way I imagine an ink bath would feel...it covers you, sticks to you, and weighs you down. Yup, it's inky out there. However, for the slightest of slight moments, a breeze blew the clouds away from the summit revealing one of the brightest half moons I've ever seen. Beautiful.
Tomorrow this little English instructor has to dig back into the cockles of her mind somewhere and pull out all the information she can recall relating to the numbers game. Bright and early I start teaching the basics in applied mathematics. Next week I'll be adding chemistry to the line-up. English, psychology, sociology, maybe a bit of history...those are my things. Math? Chemistry? Physics? Biology?
(poor segue, I know...)
p.s. Have any of you noticed the abundance of house flies up here? Is that a Pang thing? They're everywhere...and stupid, too. I grew up getting frustrated when one of them would escape the swatter once again. Here, you can actually squish them in a kleenex without having to rush. They don't move. Gryphon has decided to supplement his diet with the little creatures and, to my mind, why not? If it's ok to lick absolutely everything, why wouldn't it be ok to eat a fly?
4 comments:
...the flys are just getting SLOWER bc it's cold outside...that's why it's easier to get them.. and ya.. it's a problem up north!
...that sucks about the cash machine eh?...has the co-op run out of money too?
Nope, the flies aren't just a Pang thing, we have them over here in Kugaaruk - and they seem to always be slow, and super easy to kill - don't even need a fly swatter!!!
i wonder how much fly swatters would actually cost up here if you needed one. right now, my 7-month old chihuahua hunts them down and chews them up (no, no spitting). he's a bit spazy, but he can still catch them!
money at the co-op...yay! i just spent about $280 on groceries (i caved and bought a bunch of baking supplies and fresh meat). boo.
We don't seem to have many flies here in Gjoa, but I think that's because it has been too cold for them for weeks. We have so much wind all the time, they just get blown away. I've only seen 2 since I got here.
Sorry for my absence in commenting. I'm trying to catch up now!
As for teaching math and chemistry, I'm a science/math teacher here (I'm a science/social studies teacher by education) and if you have any questions I can try to help! But sometimes teaching things you aren't so sure of is good for the students, because you can think of the best ways to teach it because it didn't come easy for you either! Sometimes in math i feel lost because I was a natural math learner and I don't really remember HOW I learned these things.
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