You have to try it!

Since Friday evening, one of my students has been telling she is bring in raw caribou for me to try. I knew that this was something I would have to experience since it is very disrespectful to refuse. So, I told little Rachel that I would indeed try it, but she had to bring in a SMALL piece. Today, after lunch, she kept her promise about bring in a piece of tuktu for me to try, so I had to keep mine as well. Thankfully it was small and frozen. I took a tiny bite of it and as soon as it entered my mouth it wanted to jump out. All I could taste was blood. I tilted my head up and let it slide down my throat. I smiled and said, "neat". Then Rachel said I had to finish it, so I told her I would take it home with me because I had just put a new piece of gum in my mouth and I wasn't finished chewing it. She bought my excuse and at the end of the day the little piece of caribou, along with the bag of blood, had been thrown out.

I have eaten a granola bar and several cups of coffee since then - I still feel the caribou coming up my throat.

Something else that is hard to get used to:

• static shocks. Because it is so dry up here, everyone is a walking ball of electricity. EVERYTHING I touch gives me a shock. In a single day I am shocked about 60 times. It hurts. The shocks are strong. The shocks could stop my heart and then start it again.

The Classroom: The Nunavut Experience

Yesterday was my first experience teaching a class in Nunavut. I'm starting off slow; this week I will conquer English, next week I will attempt science and the third week I will try math (God help them). I have to keep in mind that these are not like students from the South. They are ESL learners and even though they sound like they can speak English, writing English is a completely different story.

It was hard to assess what level they were at before I started. Donna told me to teach paragraphs so I went to class with a booklet of worksheets I had prepared. I wanted to show the importance of topic sentences. I gave several paragraphs and asked the class to find the topic sentence - no problem. When I moved on to the next activity and asked them to replace the topic sentence with one of their own, my lesson was completely lost. "Why would we write a new one? It already has one?" "Can I just write the topic sentence down again?" "This is boring." So, we struggled through this together until I realized it wasn't going to happen, so we moved on. That was Monday's class.

Today's class was a different story. I am told you can tell when alcohol is in the town by the mood of your class. Beginning late last week, students, who hadn't been in school since December or January, magically turned up. School offers students a safe haven with a routine. Teachers are constantly playing catch up with these students. You need to always be welcoming and be happy that they are there (even if it's a huge hassle because they are so behind in work). So my class that is usually 10-12 students is now 18. So that means that kids who are "new" have been speaking Inuktitut for the last number of weeks, with no supervision, being able to do whatever they want. Goodie.

So I started my lesson on the board. Review: "What is a paragraph?" "What do you need to make a paragraph?" "What does a topic sentence look like?" etc. We moved on to the NEW worksheets. I gave them topics and they needed to create topic sentences, and then choose two of those topic sentences and create paragraphs. Sounds easy? Well I thought so too. As soon as my Co-op teacher left, their respect and obedience left as well. Students were yelling my name, laying on the floor, counting cigarettes, making holes in their desk, asking me for help and then giggling when someone says something in Inuktitut. It's an unnerving experience. My Co-op teacher came back in and saw that they were abusing my kindness and my openness to their culture. After break she was going to set them straight. 

By the end of the day my worksheets were completed and they were told to show more respect for me at all times, not just when my Co-op teacher is around. I didn't take any of this to heart because I know that I'm a new person and that my teaching styles are not perfected in my own province, let alone in Nunavut where I am the minority. 

Things that are hard to get used to or accept:

• Having them talk to each other in Inuktitut. You feel like you are the brunt of all jokes, that they are criticizing you, and that you're missing out. You could never say, "While in my class you must only speak English" because their language is a huge part of their culture, but it is something to get used to.
• Having them work on the floor. Today they abused that privilege, so from now on they will remain in their desks unless they are doing group work. But, sitting in desks is a white man's rule, and it is unnatural to them.
• You need to lie out EVERY single step. That is something that is important in the teaching profession, and I'm slowly learning how to do this. But, in my other practicum’s, most students were able to receive a few instructions and produce the final project - that will not happen here.
• The number of interruptions. Honestly, there are about 20 announcements made over the intercom daily. All are in Inuktitut and I don’t know what they want.
• The social issues that I’m not aware of but need to be sensitive to. It’s hard to make a student write a paragraph about camping when perhaps they were up all night because they had no place to sleep because they parents were up all night partying. 

Please don't feel like I'm complaining. I'm enjoying my time up here. It's new and with that there are a lot of new experiences I will encounter. I haven't decided if this is something I'm interested in doing in September, but I am still open to the idea. If I decide to come here it's because I know that this is the right place for me to be, not because of the limited opportunities in Nova Scotia or the pay increase.

Games Night and Qamutiik Ride

Saturday:

Mandy and I went to play board games with a group of teachers. It was a good way to pass the night. Highlight of the evening was while we were playing the game Taboo. It's a word game where you are given a card with a word on it, and you have to try to get your team to guess the word, but there is also a list of words you are not allowed to use to describe your word. It's a really fun game. Well we had played several rounds when it was my turn again; I went through 5 cards and every time I was "buzzed" for saying one of the illegal words. I was so frustrated! When it was my turn again during the next round, I made up for my mistake by getting my team to guess 7 words.

Sunday:

I woke up with one thing on my mind - lesson planning. I had to get ready to teach on Monday. I'm taking over Donna's English class. I am beginning with lessons on writing paragraphs. It was hard to prepare for the lessons since I don't really know where my students are with their writing. So, I found some worksheets, writing prompts and examples to start with. Before I give them work to do I will talk to them and assess what level they are at - that's diagnostic testing (Sue would be proud). After lunch Dave asked us if we were interested in going on skidoo ride. Mandy and I were so excited. We bundled up in all our warmest clothes and set out.

Dave had set up the qamutiik with caribou skins, a sleeping back and a foam mattress to cushion the sled. It had bungee cords wrapped around it for us to hold on to. It was still a bumpy ride, but our backsides were comfortable. We brought hot chocolate and cookie to enjoy once we stopped. They were a refreshing snack, but we were anxious to get going. We continued driving towards the iceberg. It was about an hour-long drive out. Since we were sitting on the side of the sled we couldn't see what we were driving towards. All of a sudden the sun disappeared. As I turned my head I was astounded to see a massive chunk of ice.

It's no wonder that the Titanic sunk after hitting an iceberg. They are massive pieces of compacted snow. Dave told us that this iceberg is a chunk off of a glacier that could be thousands of years old. During the summer months this will travel through the bay around Pond Inlet, and will eventually make its way down to Newfoundland and out into the Atlantic Ocean where it will eventually melt. It was amazing to see. A lot of the towns people come to this iceberg to chip off ice and bring it home to drink. Everyday I have iceberg water and it tastes so cold and pure.

On our way home I felt like my toes may fall off. I began questioning which toes could I live without. I told David how cold I was and he suggested that we run to get the circulation flowing through our bodies. I started off sprinting - it would have been quite a scene. I didn't realize how heavy my boots and layers were until I woke up this morning. I was so sore. When we got back to the house Mandy and I took off our layers and spent the rest of the evening under blankets close to the fire. We were chilled to the bone - it was a feeling that wouldn't go away.

Overall it was an amazing experience. I have been on many skidoo drives with Uncle Don, but never have I been so cold. I hope you're able to see my photos of my adventure (it's in the slideshow above) but if you'd rather see a larger picture, check out: http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x364/mpinket/My%20Trip/

I'm glad you're following my blog. Please comment and share your thoughts!

“The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” - Sigmund Freud  

My First Weekend

Friday:

I woke up with a plugged ear. I assumed my sinus cold had spread to my ear. I decided I should see a doctor/nurse incase it was serious - it's so hard to enjoy your day when your balance is off. I waddled my way into the health centre, located in the middle of town, and took off my boots then sat down. That is something that is hard to get used to. Whenever you enter a building, (school, health centre, restaurant) you remove your boots. I find this especially hard because my socks pull off with my boots, so then I'm stuck in my bare feet. Anyways - what service at the health centre. It's much faster than the old Aberdeen Hospital. Within minutes I was in the nurses' office and she was taking my temperature, sticking something in my ear and handing me a bottle of eardrops. Since Nunavut doesn't have a great deal of doctors, nurses are given more responsibilities - they can do pretty much everything. My nurse was originally from out west, and I asked her if she would consider going back "down south" and she said she would find it boring since there are so many restrictions.

After my appointment I went back to school for last couple hours. When I walked into my class one of my students said, "you're late - you have detention". I found this incredibly ironic since most kids come to school whenever they want (if at all). I just smiled at her and took my seat. We watched a movie called "The White Archer" which was filmed here in Pond Inlet. As I watched it I realized that most of the actors were people from around the community. Half way through the film the recess bell rang, so I ran down to the staff room to get some coffee, in there I met one of the main characters, Lamech Kadloo. He was sitting there because his wife is the school secretary. My co-op teacher, Donna, introduced us and I told him he was famous and he agreed because that was the 8th movie he had been in. Small town!

There was a big Hip-Hop dance Friday night at the "Sea Hall". The students had been working on it all week, and instructors from all over Canada came to teach for the week. The building was packed, and everything said in English was translated into Inuktitut. There was traditional throat singing, folk dancing (accordion music and group dancing) and then hip-hop battles. It was a very long night. It started at 7 and by 9:30 it wasn't over. There were seats, but those were for all the elders. Mandy and I were on the floor, and we must have sat every way possible to get comfortable, but it wasn't possible. I got fed up and decided to stand in the back. As the night wore on, I decided I would go to the bathroom. All houses in Pond Inlet have limited water. It gets delivered Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It restricts our shower lengths and how much water we can use, so I try to use the washrooms in public places to save our water. So, as I said, I decided to go to the washroom. That was a mistake. None of the stalls had toilet paper - I don't mean they were out of toilet paper, I mean there were no dispensers. So, I went in search of some, and once I found it I went back in. I quickly realized I wasn't alone. There were kids everywhere; they were crawling under the stalls, over the stalls - everywhere. This doesn't work for me so I left, and as I did, all the kids stared at me.

When we got home Pat, our house mom, wanted to inform us why our internet had been so slow. I guess their internet is different than ours back home. They have 3 GB to use for a month, and for years that had been more than enough for them. During the one week we have been here, we exceeded their 3 GB to 7 GB. This pushed our internet into dial-up mode, so everything is much slower. It's like I'm back in 2000.

Saturday:

Mandy and I went for a walk around the town to take more pictures. We went into one of the stores (there are two grocery stores) and a bucket of KFC chicken was $49.99 (flown in), bags of chips are $8, toaster strudels are $12 - our eyes popped out of our head.

Because of the restricted internet access, I can't post pictures for a while, but this place is beautiful. We're supposed to go to someone's house tonight to play board games.

New Experiences

A list of new experiences from today:

• Inuit tug-and-pull: kind of like tug of war, but a bone is used (we used a hockey stick), and you hold the stick horizontally with both hands and try to pull it away from your opponent. I won, but at the cost of blisters on my hands.
• I saw a dead seal being pulled behind a snowmobile. 
• I poured warm salt water up my nose to make it less stuffy. I feared drowning, but I'm okay and I can now breathe!

After supper Mandy and I went for a walk. We took as many pictures as we could before the cold killed our batteries.

Pond Inlet is really beautiful. My pictures don't do it justice.

Words I'm learning:

• ullaakkut = good morning (oo-laa-koot)
• nakumiik = thank you (na-ko-meek)
• ilaali = you're welcome (ee-laa-lee)
• qanuippit = how are you? (ka-noo-ee-peet)
• qanuingi = I'm fine (ka-noo-ee-nge)

Welcome to Nasivvik High School

My desk, decorated by my students before I arrived.

Yesterday was my first day at my new school. I am in a grade 8 classroom and I will be teaching Social Studies, Math, Language Arts and Health/Science. I need to be there for 8:15, and classes start at 8:45. The school has a breakfast program for all the students, so when I arrive in the morning, my co-op teacher and I pick up our bin of breakfast. It is usually apples, oranges, and sometimes oatmeal. Each class gets one can of frozen juice. Once students arrive in the morning, a couple of them come into class to prepare the juice and cut up the fruit. At the end of the day, other students will clean up and do the dishes. This program insures that all students who come to school do not have empty stomachs. I think this is a wonderful program and because the entire school places importance on it, and allows some class time to be lost because of it, it helps these students start their days off right. It's something we should copy down south. All the students were very friendly towards me. They were quiet at first, but once they felt comfortable with me they began asking questions: "How old are you?" "Is that your hair?" "Do you dye your hair?" "Do you have a boyfriend" "Do you have a dog?" "Do you have any siblings" - so many questions. It was a real eye opener. Having just left my NS practicum school on Friday, my experience there was still fresh. So here are some of the difference:

My classroom

• Class size: classes are much smaller. Mine is about 25 students, but on a good day I have 16.
• Attendance: sporadic and undependable. Students come to class when they feel like it. Many kids sleep in and miss the morning classes. Some kids may be expected to stay home to babysit, or miss class because they are out on the land (learning valuable skills), or some miss school because no one is forcing them to go. If a student had poor attendance in NS, the school would be calling home as much as possible, or some teachers may decide those students cannot be caught up or helped. Here in the North it goes with the territory. Attendance is an issue; try your best, and be welcoming and grateful when they do come. Having students stroll in while I'm teaching will be something I need to get used to. 
• Classroom configuration: My class is set up in a horseshoe shape and kids frequently sit on the floor to do their work. I doubt many grade 8s would go for that back home.
• Students call teachers by their first name. It's odd, but I feel the respect me just as much as my NS students. 
• Different curriculums.
• A grade 8 class here is not the equivalent to a grade 8 class back home. This is because they are actually ESL learners because Inuktitut is their first language. Grade 7 is their first experience with english speaking teachers for the majority of subjects. But don't think for one second that they aren't smart! In math class I sit with them and learn their lessons because at some point I will be teaching it to them - in a race they beat me every time. Also, their comprehension of the events in Japan and Libya are much better than my grade 9s - shame on you 9-1, and 9-2.  

Similarities

• They love games
• They love gym class
• They go outside at lunch and recess
• All students want to know more about their teachers as humans
• They love movies, music, computers and TV
• They want attention, to feel loved and to know they're safe - and that is something I can always try provide :)

"You Must Be New"

The phone rings at 6:30 am to wake me and Mandy up. We were both tired because the night before we had to endure a loud party taking place in the room above us, and we were blinded by the outside street light that shone right through our window. We were troopers though; I got up to shower and dry my hair as Mandy straightened her hair from the night before. Our big day was ahead of us, and we had grown increasingly joyful that we were taking this adventure together.

Downstairs in the hotel lobby the shuttle to the airport left without me and Mandy - not because we were late, but because the driver was 80 years old and refused to add our luggage to the van. He was adamant that it would not fit, so as Tracy and Jennifer left us behind with an empty van, we enjoyed the free juice and apples supplied by the hotel. 

My plane blanket that 

reminds me of my

Snuggie or of Sarah

Anderson's sweater. 

We arrived at the airport and we had no problems. Our bags would be checked from Ottawa straight through to Pond Inlet. That was a huge relief. We boarded the First Air jet, and took our seats. Onboard we received the most wonderful service; hot towels, breakfast, blanks and snacks. It was a three hour flight, so onboard I read "An Idiot Abroad". I felt that this book could become the title of my blog.

As we flew over Northern Ontario into Nunavut, you lose sight of anything familiar. It is all white. You would think we were flying over clouds, but it was just the white tundra underneath. As we stepped off the plane in Iqaluit onto the tarmac, this surreal feeling came over me, "Am I really in Nunavut?" 

As Jennifer and Tracy left Mandy and Me, it struck us that this will be the last time we will see them until we all return to MSVU in April. We hugged and said our goodbyes as we wished them luck. It was just me and Mandy sitting in the airport. It was culture shock. Mandy bought a sandwich for $6.00. The gift store prices started at $64 for a nightgown - we're not in Kansas anymore. We realized how out of place we truly were when Mandy (at my request) asked an Inuit woman where she got her Tim Hortons coffee. As she tried to explain the location, she quickly replied, "you must be new", then she gave up. Mandy and I just laughed, as we gave up our last chance to have Tim Hortons for a month. 

We soon boarded our next plane to go to Clyde River, then onto Pond Inlet. The plane sat 16 people and my seat vibrated furiously during the flight. All Mandy and I could do was laugh and take mental notes to add to our blogs. 

We arrived in Pond Inlet around 5:30 and were greeted by Dave Parks. He and his wife, Pat, have agreed to house us for the month. Pond Inlet is truly beautiful. As the sun set over the mountains, it became clear, this is my home for the next month. Google earth doesn't do this place justice. I will try to explain the beauty on a later blog with pictures, but just trust me, it's breath taking. 

Dave and Pat prepared a wonderful supper for us, and we spent the evening getting to know them and their 2 year old grandson. I feel very at home and welcomed here. I am blessed.

That seems like enough for today. I will write soon to explain my first day!

On the Road Again

Today was the big day. Nothing too exciting to report. We spent the day in Ottawa where we toured the sites and ate amazingly yummy food. We're all pretty tuckered and looking forward to hitting the sack since we all have a long day tomorrow. Mandy and I arrive in Pond Inlet around 5:30 tomorrow (6:30 back home), and Jennifer and Tracy get to stay a night in Iqaluit.

Got all my clothes laid out tomorrow. Its hard to prepare an outfit when you need to consider how many layers you need. When we arrive tomorrow it should be -34 - say a prayer for us!