Happy Dance - Too Excited to Sleep!

I'm too consumed by excitement to get any sleep.  Today was a great day!  I am getting more comfortable in my class and within the school with each passing day.  I will just give you the highlights as it is after midnight already and I have to be up and ready early in the morning.

John, the principal has graciously lent me (and Krisanne too) a lap top to take home during the evenings to do my blogs.  This means that I have more free time during lunch and before/after school to spend getting to know the staff and students.

I know every one of my students names, as well as a number of other students within the school...this is a HUGE feat for me as I am really not the best with remembering names quickly.

Today I taught two lessons in which the students were engaged and produced amazing work.  I was so happy and proud of them.  I know this can change day by day in any classroom, but to end a week on a high note is always a positive in my books!

After school I joined the Huskies program again.  I really enjoy being a part of it because it allows me the opportunity to build relationships with students in other classes and different grades.  I was very flattered when the students seemed genuinely please when I answered in the affirmative when asked if Krisanne and I were now also their coaches (along with the other teachers leading the program).

Tonight was movie night at SP (Sam Pudlat).  The grade sixes helped to transform the school gym into a 'movie theatre' complete with chairs in the back and crash mats at the front for students to lay on.  The movie was projected onto a large screen connected to the gym wall.  There was also a canteen set up and run by the same grade sixes....they made a killing!  Quite a few of the teachers showed up to help out and enjoy the movie, Monsters University.  It was pretty cute and funny.

After everything was cleaned up, put away and all the students were safely out of the school krisanne and I were informed that a snowmobile and qamutiik (sled) had been secured for tomorrow morning to take us out to the fishing derby!!!!  This is apparently the first fishing derby to occur in Cape Dorset and it is supposed to be a HUGE community event.

We first heard about the derby a couple of days ago and had inquired about the likelihood of being able to catch a ride out to the location (it is about a 45 minute snowmobile ride out onto the sea ice, or somewhere between 2-5 miles depending on who you talk to).  The locals and SP staff we talked to earlier in the week suggested that we ask around, put an add out on the local information site and maybe inquire about it over the radio.  Easier said than done when you don't really know anyone and have only been here less than a week!

Well....Katie, Jess and Heidi, three maritimers and fellow Mount graduates who are working and living in Cape Dorset, worked tirelessly trying to make it happen for Krisanne and I.  We knew that they were asking around and speaking to locals they knew, but I had no idea just how far they set the net.  Earlier on in the evening, things were just not looking good though, even with all of their trying.  Katie had managed to procure the use of a qamutiik for us, but everyone who had a snowmobile was either using it/ could not pull the qamuttik on the back, or their machine was just not working.    In the end, at about 8pm tonight Margaret (the Inuktitut teacher at SP) called Heidi to say that she had managed to rent a snowmobile for tomorrow and if we were willing to split the cost then she would pull us in the qamutiik!!!!!!!!!!! To rent a snowmobile the cost is about 200 dollars for the day.

WE ARE GOING OUT ON THE LAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, obviously I assumed the night could not possibly get any better.  I mean what seemed like the impossible suddenly came together at the last minute, thanks totally to Katie, Heidi and Jess!!!!

Well, after the movie we had made plans to go over to Krisanne's neighbours for a visit.  It was a beautiful night, clear sky and not too cold (very little wind).  We popped into Krisanne's so she could get changed and drop stuff off before heading over.  When Jess and I came back out we were met with... you guessed it, the northern lights!!!!!!!!

Krisanne was still in the house, and Jess and I started yelling for her to get out here.  She came flying out, thinking there was a polar bear, haha but nope, something way better.  The three of us just stood in the middle of the road and marvelled at them for a while.  They streaked across the sky, in dark to light aqua greens.  They were so bright and clear, it felt like you could just reach out and grab a hold of them.  They snaked around the sky fading and thinning out in parts, only to resurge thicker and brighter.   Krisanne remarked that it was easy to understand how people could have and would still imagine these lights to be spirits.  It really was very awe-inspiring.

Well thats all for now.  More to come if I make it back from the derby alive! haha