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.