My husband's passion for flying started with a classic Fisher Price Airplane and his imagination. Over the past five years, he has worked extremely hard to get licensed as a commercial pilot in addition to getting his engineering degree. We got married a year and a half ago and spent our first summer together with Josh working on his multi-engine and IFR ratings. Our dream was for Josh to get a flying job, somewhere in the great Canadian north.
We weren't expecting to go quite so far north (nor East)!
Josh received a job offer that will move us to Iqaluit, Nunavut for the summer and then we'll settle in Yellowknife, NWT in the fall. He will be the ramp manager for the Iqaluit base and then will learn to fly the Dornier. My first reaction to the word "Nunavut" was a cold shiver down my spine. However, after doing a lot of reading about Iqaluit, my excitement is growing and growing to experience what others describe as a "beautiful, horrible, spectacular and challenging." Most say they would go back in a heart beat. The more I read, the more excited I get to go experience the Arctic for myself.
The territory of Nunavut stretches some 1.9 million km and is nearly one-fifth the size of Canada. Iqaluit, the capital city, has a population of 8000. Two thirds of this population are Inuit. The rest are predominantly Eastern Canadians. English, French, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut are the main languages found in this territory. Weather wise, blizzards can occur anytime from October to May. Winter months see temperatures of -30C with harsh windchills and the summer months can see highs of +10C and lows of -10C. It would appear that we are heading into a second winter!
Since accepting this job offer, Josh has been studying hard for an exam needed to be able to fly two crew airplanes. That leaves me to shop! Thanks to the information found on the Nunavut Nursing site and a number of personal blogs, I've compiled a long list of "must haves" and am having fun exploring Campers Village, Wholesale Sports and MEC. Josh will head to Yellowknife for training in the beginning of February. I'll follow at the end of March after MCing Hannah and Lance's wedding and once I get a nursing job. My excitement for this adventure continues to build and we feel peace in our hearts that this is the right move.
