Here we go again...

Greetings!

It's been a while I know, but I'm now writing to you from Kangiqsujuaq. It only seems like yesterday that I arrived but I've actually been here a week now, and over the course of the coming days, weeks and months I'll keep you posted about life up here.

I've already chalked up a few 'firsts' in my life in the short time I've been here: this is the most northerly place I've ever visited and the first time I've been 'north of 60', it's the first time I've ever had to teach in August, and it's also the first time I've lived next to a golf course! Yes...there is actually a golf course here, but more of of that in the days to come!

(Click on photo to enlarge)

The village is very beautiful, and you are very aware that you are living in a natural amphitheatre, with imposing mountains surrounding you on three sides. As for the spelling, I'm none the wiser as I've seen at least three different variations since I've been here, but the most common seems to be Kangiqsujuaq (no 'r'), so we'll stick with that from now on.

Thanks to Melanie I've had some boxes of food arrive so I'm not starving, but my cargo from Inukjuak is yet to materialise, so just like last year I've been living out of my suitcase for the past week. I packed more pairs of underpants in my suitcase than I did last year, but I've just about run through the whole range of combinations afforded to you by a couple of pairs of jeans and two or three T-shirts. I've also no internet or phone at home yet, and with my TV stranded somewhere between here and Inukjuak, my evenings have not been all that exciting. I suppose I could devote myself to my work....

For the time being I'm using the internet at school, but when one considers that my house here is a mere stone's throw away from the school (it really is - I've tried!), I suppose there are far worse hardships in the world. Posts will become more regular once I'm hooked up at home, but keep looking in as I'll still try to update on a fairly regular basis. Until next time....

(Click on photo to enlarge)

The final countdown

This time next week I shall be firmly ensconced back in the North for a fourth year of fun and frolics above the treeline (I actually fly up this Saturday). I can't quite believe it's been that long but it has, so I guess that some part of me must enjoy the experience, and as regular readers will know I'm travelling even further north this year, to the community of Kangirsujuaq (or Kangiqsujuaq, depending on your source); I shall be able to confirm the spelling next week. The community is also known as Wakeham Bay, after Captain William Wakeham who, in 1897, led an expedition to determine whether the Hudson Strait was safe for navigation. Not sure of his findings; again, maybe I'll be able to tell you next week...

The population in Kangir(q)sujuaq/Wakeham Bay is just 591 by the last count (compare that to the relative metropolis of Inukjuak with its population of around 1500), which will make it the smallest place in which I've ever lived, but there are still a couple of stores there, and as long as the TV and internet work I'll be fine. Not sure when/if Melanie will be joining me; she returns to the UK for a month or so at the beginning of September, and she also has a few job possibilities around Kingston, although nothing's definite yet. If she does come up it'll probably be around late October, so at least that gives me a couple of months to get the new Northern apartment clean!

How I'll furnish said apartment is yet to be decided. I've no idea quite what type of accommodation I'll be getting, and at the time of writing all my 'Northern possessions' are still boxed up in Inukjuak. When they'll arrive in my new home is anyone's guess - remember the saga of the 24 boxes? - so I'll be sure to pack a good supply of underwear in my suitcase this year!

24 boxes

My cargo has arrived! The underwear crisis is now over and I have to say that I have never enjoyed cleaning and washing so much as I did today. I say enjoyed, but I guess the cleaning process was more of a necessary evil; the apartment I'm living in has finally been shorn of the grimy crust left by its previous occupants and is now something approaching a home. I must say that the most harrowing part of the process was not the removal of hitherto unseen rotting foodstuffs from the corners of cupboards, nor scrubbing unwelcome stains from around the toilet bowl, but opening a dresser draw to find a hair staring back at me...someone else's hair...eeeugh...I think I have a new phobia.

On the school front, I still have no students but I now have a list of names, so I may soon have to work for a living once again. Can't argue, I suppose; at least we didn't all end up being swallowed by a black hole today. Would have got rid of those unwanted hairs though...

Casting the net

Sunday 7^th September

I am now online, sort of, thanks to someone else's wireless network which is unsecured and cunningly named 'wireless'. The connection is of Shatneresque quality (see my first post), but I have been able to send and receive a few emails and catch up with the outside world. Andy Murray has made it to the US Open final, Lewis Hamilton has won a thrilling Grand Prix only to be demoted to third and England have snuck past the mighty Andorra by a couple of goals. Oh, and Stephen Harper has called a snap election for October, which should serve as the B-Movie to the one in the US in November (although as this is Canada, perhaps that ought to be an 'Eh-Movie'). I haven't missed much, then.

Still no cargo, so had to hand wash smalls and socks. It's a rock 'n' roll lifestyle up here.

Went down to the river with Dominick and Celine this afternoon, and enjoyed a fine couple of hours fishing, skimming stones and eating berries which Celine assured me weren't poisonous. If my blog entries end abruptly in the next day or so, I will know that she was wrong. The landscape by the river is truly beautiful, a fact that one forgets once the snow has come.

No fish were harmed during the writing of this post.

I feel old

Friday 5^th September

Recruiting has now begun I've been told, so who knows, I may yet have company in the house of learning that is my classroom. Still no cargo though, and consequently the pants and socks situation is reaching crisis point. Forced to make an emergency shopping trip to the Northern store for essential supplies; wonder if Manchester City's new owners would be able to afford to shop up here? Now let's see, do we buy Robinho or this loaf of bread...?

Went to a party at Stephanie's house this evening and got to meet most of the new staff at Innalik. I am now officially old. I need to take care not to over use the phrase "Well, in my day..." Maybe I will now be viewed as the wise old man who lives on the hill, and everyone will now make pilgrimage to my door in order to hear my sage words of wisdom. Trouble is, I don't live on a hill...

Students? Ah, I thought we’d forgotten something!

Thursday 4^th September

My first trip into school revealed the fact that no recruiting has actually been done for my course yet, so I face the term as a player playing to an empty stage, much like the third Mummy film after its first week of release. I had the misfortune to see that film this summer and let me tell you, when the Yetis appeared, I think I momentarily lost the will to live. However, I survived, although whether Brendan Fraser's career will do the same is debatable, when one couples the Mummy with Journey to the Centre of the Earth...now don't get me started on that one!

But I digest...

Still no cargo by the way, so I'm surviving with what I had in my suitcase. Down to my last two pairs of socks and underpants now...