ᐊᐃᔪᖅ

Did you know that English, French and Inuktitut are the official languages in Nunavut? Almost everything has three translations on it. I can't read the Inuktitut though, because it is written in syllabics.The word written as the title for this blog means "goes home." 

Home...this is what I was thinking about as my flight descended through the clouds 90 km south of Iqaluit. The rolling hills and valleys are completely covered with white. The word barren takes on a whole new meaning. You know what it's like to stand at the ocean's shore and be overwhelmed with how vast and wide and big the roaring ocean is? I got that same feeling looking out over the tundra. Miles and miles of white snow and ice lying in stark contrast to the bright blue sky above.  Trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this is my new home was almost impossible....until I ran into the arms of my husband. That was all that it took for me to feel 100% okay to be living on this arctic ice cube of Baffin Island. Oh it is so good to see him!

 First Arctic picture...complete with a polar bear

The town itself looks like a random gathering of funny little houses that are square, colorful and above ground. There are snowmobiles and trucks and boats parked haphazardly everywhere. The snowmobiles seem to have their own roadway to avoid stopsigns and 'busy' intersections. I put busy in quotation marks because Josh informs me that nothing is ever busy here. The town is very hilly and all the buildings are wedged into the slant of the hills. We went for a drive to Apex (the nicer end of town) and found the original Hudsons Bay buildings right on the shore of Frobisher Bay. We'll have to go back in the day time and take some pictures.



We saw our first Arctic northern lights. They were very pale green. I'd dare say the stars were brighter than them, but they were the aurora. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled to the sky every night in hopes of seeing more. The stars are so sparkly here too once you get out of the town. We sure miss out on the beauty of the night sky in big urban cities. Somehow the halogen glow of a thousand street lights doesn't match the twinkle of a little star on a cold night. 

All bundled up for an Arctic walk about

The first thing I noticed since coming here is that all of a sudden I miss jet skiing! Ha ha. The snowmobiles are racing by all the time and they sound exactly like the jet skis at the lake. The sound brings to mind the smell of neoprene, 2 stroke engine oil and gasoline.


Another thing I want to learn more about is frozen water. Apparently they have 'ice tide.' We're surrounded by the ocean. So, even though the bay looks like it's covered solid in ice, it's always moving with the tide. Up and down. In and out. These leads to some phenomenal piles of ice as it grinds together and raises up on itself. I'll take some pictures when I go exploring this afternoon. And I think I'll stay off the ice until I learn more and am sure it's stable and safe to walk on. I'd hate to fall in. 

Goofy looking Skyvan

Josh showed me around the hangar yesterday as well. The Skyvan was there, what a goofy looking airplane! It is well suited to fly cargo, but I sure would be nervous if I had to be a passenger in that contraption. Interestingly, it is made by the Irish. The other plane that Summit Air flies is the Dornier,a German made plane. Both of these nationalities make up Joshua's ethnic heritage.