It's Not You, It's Me.

I'm beginning to think that I'm cursed when it comes to traveling. Specifically trying to get home. This past week I was in Iqaluit for work and the travel woes that came with the trip were indeed, woeful.

You Ask, We Answer!

A while back, I asked you to send us your questions and we would answer whatever you came up with. You certainly didn't let us down!

Lessons from the Kitchen

Today, I learned some very important lessons. The first is that I am not Canada's next baker. Actually, that's an overstatement. If there is a gene that makes baking things easier, mine has been altered slightly. Or is possibly missing.

The second important lesson I learned today is that plans, even solid, well-thought-out plans, can go awry. Fast.

The third lesson I learned today was that it is indeed possible to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it can make you believe in miracles.

All of these lessons were learned today in the kitchen, as I and my entrepreneurship class spent a feverish hour and a half baking for our bake sale. As the first few sentences suggest, all did not go as planned; actually, it would be fair to say that little went to plan. I blame the marshmallows. No, wait, I blame the internet site that stated the marshmallow recipe was quick and easy. It was quick, for sure. It was anything but easy.

The task seemed relatively simple: 4 no-bake recipes. A little mixing, some chocolate dipping, and we would be good to go. How amusingly naive. The chocolate wouldn't coat, the marshmallow wouldn't cut, and the time ran away from us as fast as it could.

While things didn't work out as smoothly as I hoped, the end result was better than I expected, and we are on track to make some decent profit for our efforts. The Nutella cookies were awesome, as were the chocolate chip coconut cookies. The peanut butter truffles sold out in a heartbeat, and the cake batter truffles fared almost as well.

Despite everything, our project was a moral success, if not quite a commercial one. Next time we will focus on easier and more profitable choices like cupcakes. And to make sure they bake well, I'll ask my wife to make them. :-)

-J

We're Back!

We apologize to everyone for the hiatus we took after New Years. There has been a lot going on around here, but things are finally starting to settle down.

I am happily ensconced at the high school as a substitute teacher, and work has been very steady - I've been there almost every day since I started. Some of the teachers have heard rumours that social promotion is coming to an end, which offers some hope for the future. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, social promotion, or social passing, means that students are promoted to the next grade of school, regardless of their actual performance. The advantage is that everyone remains on the same level as their peers. The disadvantage should be fairly obvious, which is why teachers have been pushing the government to rescind the policy. Hopefully it occurs soon, but of course, if it happened tomorrow, the current group of students would be grandfathered.

Otherwise, I'm very much enjoying substitute teaching. It can be crazy at times, but also very rewarding when you have students that you know can graduate, with a little bit of your help. There's no question that teachers deserve their summers off, but I think most of us would argue we should also qualify for that attractive benefit.

I've also recently begun the last course for my Project Management certificate at Humber College. There's a lot of math involved, which wasn't my favourite subject in school, but there's even more writing, which was. Project management is one of those disciplines that seems to be part of every other job, which makes it universally useful. I'm hoping it will help parlay itself into a job when we return to Ontario. If all goes well (and the previous courses suggest so), I'll be graduating in mid-April of this year. After that, who knows? I've tossed around the idea of going for a Bachelor's of Education. My only concern (although it's a big one) is that I've heard there's a 10-year waiting list to teach in Ontario. Anyway, I'll cross that bridge in the future - for now, I'm hitting the books, and enjoying my job, which is a rare pleasure for anyone, I think.

Lily and Pepper are doing well, and are both as cute as ever.

-J

Working in Nunavut, Part 2: Choosing Balance

A while back, I wrote about working in Nunavut for a blog community I subscribe to in my professional life. I was asked to write another post recently, but thought I would share it here as well, since the work posts seem to be popular searches when people are researching Nunavut.

Someone made a comment that it's a choice to be made whether you decide to find balance between your work life and your home life, and while that is true - it is nice to have the option. Sometimes when it feels like it is too competitive or the norm to work extra hours, the choice isn't really yours to make. I'm thankful for the ability to choose to be balanced as I feel it has made me much more productive both at work and at home.

Enjoy...

Whirlwind

Hello from Edmonton!

Friday afternoon I got the go-ahead to travel to Edmonton for some training that was (will be) this week. I was originally going to fly out on Saturday but the weather forecast looked ominous with an impending storm, so the afternoon became an unexpected whirlwind!

School's in!

It has been too many years since I first stepped inside a classroom, although I still recall my first day of grade seven, having transitioned to a new school. Yesterday I had a similar experience, albeit in a different role. I had my first substitute teaching gig, and for those of you that follow this blog, you'll know that day was a long time coming.

I was covering Science for grade 10's and 11's, and it went pretty smoothly. The first and last class got to watch a film about the brain, which was fascinating. It covered the brain's role with respect to fear, risk-taking, psychopathy, and sexual response, the latter topic generating the most interest and the longest period of whispered giggling.

The middle class enjoyed ("enjoyed" might be too strong a word) a worksheet on the properties of corrosion. Going through the video and the worksheet made me appreciate the value of science in school, more so than when I was in high school. All in all, it was a great experience, and I look forward to repeating it.

I'm back at work at the store today, and while the prospect of a 7 day workweek isn't awesome, it beats the alternative.

I used to look forward to Mondays as my first day off in a week - now it will be because I'll have an opportunity to get back into a classroom. I can't wait!

-J

Country Food: Nipku

One of my lovely co-workers recently brought in some home-made nipku for us to try after her family made a big batch. What is nipku you ask? It's caribou that has been sun-dried and naturally preserved. The only ingredients are caribou meat, sunshine and time - healthy and natural!

It's quite a treat for people when they can get it; and it's eaten as a snack the way one would eat beef jerky. I've seen people auctioning off portions of it, or asking if anyone has any...it's a hot commodity for sure! I was lucky that I got to try some, and I saved some for Jeff as well.

Lovely Ami also took pictures of the process and I shamelessly stole them to show you here. If you're not good at handling pictures of raw meat, you may want to not click through.

Hello from Iqaluit!

This post is being posted pretty late in the evening, I'm sorry! My only excuse is that I've been in Iqaluit since Monday for work and the days have been long, so I'm pretty tired by the evening. I'm actually writing this from the hotel bed (1st overtime of the Pittsburgh/Boston game is on in the background and I'm so stressed! Playoffs make me so nervous!)

When we left Baker on Monday morning, it was a sunny day with a beautiful forecast in store for the week (12 degrees tomorrow, I hear!). Unfortunately, Iqaluit was having an unexpected freak snowfall on Monday and we were prepped in Rankin that if the weather was bad, we would overshoot Iqaluit and fly to a community in Quebec to refuel, and then return to Rankin where we would have to spend the evening. Needless to say, there were probably a dozen people from my work alone, and we were very anxious to land in Iqaluit on Monday if there was any possibility. Our collective fingers were crossed!

IQ Day - Ice Fishing

One of the benefits of my job is experiencing IQ Days - a couple of days a year where we get to go out on the land and learn about the Inuit culture/traditions. Short for Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, translated as "that which are long known by Inuit", it allows us an opportunity to step away from the office and enjoy the land.

News!

I mentioned in my last post that I had some exciting news. Here it is:

Working in Nunavut, Part 1: Making the Move

Update November 2013: You can read part 2 here.

Recently, I was asked to write for a blog community in my field about working in the Arctic. I started writing without a clear plan, and came up with an honest reflection of how I feel after working here for a few months. Here is what I came up with - apologies to everyone I already spammed with the article; I just really wanted to share it here as well. :)

Operation: Retrieve Husband (aka Our 3rd Blizzard in 2 Weeks)

Blizzard protocol was broken on Wednesday morning when we got up to start our day - the weather looked pretty miserable (lots of blowing snow, crazy winds, low visibility) and yet there was no warning or watch on Environment Canada's site. Hrmmm...this did not bode well for us.

Long Week

Still in Iqaluit, but  I'm ready to go home. It's been a good trip and the training that I came here for has been really informative, but I miss being around my stuff and seeing my husband every day! We actually figured that we will likely run into each other at the airport in Rankin, so it will be nice to see each other even before we get home!

As I'm writing this on Thursday night, I still haven't gone on my tour yet so I don't really have much to share (being in training all day, every day, kind of limits that). I'll try to share what's been going on for the past couple of days as best I can and hopefully not bore you too much! :)

Duty Travel

I had to travel a fair amount for my last job, so it's been nice that I've been able to stay home for my current job for the past while. However, I was excited when I knew I'd be doing a bit of travel here and there because it's always nice to get out and meet new people/see different places. Here, they call it "duty travel" - sounds so official. Both Jeff and myself are traveling for work this week; Jeff left for training in Winnipeg yesterday and I left for Iqaluit on Monday. It worked out really well because we're both home on Friday within a half hour of each other, so neither of us has to be home alone.

Rumour has it...

Rumour has it that it's a very special little boy's 3rd birthday today!! Happy birthday to Liam, the best Godson I could ever ask for (and a handsome ring boy to boot!). We wish we were there to smother you with hugs and kisses, and you can show off all your cool toys. Skype tonight will have to do, but be forewarned that whether you're 3 or 23 - you will be showered with kisses each time I physically see you. xo

Rumour has it that we're getting our furniture delivered today! The barge dropped it off last week sometime, but there hasn't been anyone to sort through the inventory and arrange for delivery. Hoping today will be the day! It will be so nice to finally be able to say we're not waiting for anything else to come and we can make it our own.

Wishes DO come true...

Much has transpired since my wife's birthday, and most of it is positive. I mentioned that we were brought the wrong fridge; turns out that a scant 15 minutes after I posted, BLCS was back on my doorstep, this time with a full-sized Frigidaire - thank God! It's probably 2/3 the size of our fridge in Burlington, yet it looks half-empty compared to the jam-packed bar fridge we had earlier. That's one of many things I've learned to better appreciate since moving here; other items on the list include unlimited water, a wide variety of shopping choices, and $11 cases of pop, to name a few. 

Lily also mentioned in our last post that she made a wish when she blew out her birthday candle, and it came true! That wish was...

My Brush with the Law

I spent most of yesterday at the RCMP office. I was involved in a bar fight and it took three officers.....no, I'm just kidding. I had an interview today for a supply teaching position, and part of the process is to have a criminal check done, which of course is handled by the police. I walked from the school to the RCMP, and met a young woman who was the summer student at the office, and who was one of the 15 high school graduates this year. She hopes to become a police officer eventually, although some of her friends are urging her to go to college or university. A number of post-secondary institutions have preparatory programs for Inuit and other tribes whose education system isn't quite up to the standard we're used to seeing back home. A high school graduate from here is roughly on par with a grade 8 graduate in Ontario, so this prep course is like a bridge year to help transition these students to a level where they can tackle university-level coursework. Add to that significant discounts on textbooks, classes, and residency, and you've got a big advantage available, for those willing to pursue it.

Making a Difference

This week has been a doozy, so I am breaking it up into two posts. In no particular order, here are some of the highlights we've enjoyed in the last seven days. 

Any time we receive something in the mail, our eyes light up and big grins appear on our faces. Being so distant from family and friends is difficult to adjust to, and while phone calls and emails and Facebook help, it's the thoughtfulness of someone taking the time to sit down a write a letter or put something small but locally inaccessible into a box and mailing it that really makes us appreciate our family and friends. To wit, for those of you reading this (and by extension, those that should but aren't), here is your assigned homework: 

Work

How far would you go for your career? This was something that was really weighing on my mind when we were presented with this opportunity to go. For us, it was just less than 1,600 miles to make the move that after considering the pros and cons, made the most sense for us financially and as a stepping stone for future growth. For every hesitation we had, we kept circling back to the point that this is going to help us in the long run and we were doing it as a foundation step, not as the end of the road.