Things I didn't expect to find in Iqaluit

• a co-op greenhouse
• a delicious shwarma/donair place
• a 24h snack bar/convenience store
• reasonably-priced produce
• an active composting co-op program (including worm composting)
• the awesome yard sales!

I'm sure I will have stuff to add to this list as I explore some more. My plans for this weekend involve more yard sales (yay) and checking out the library and the visitor's centre.

Also, I picked up my first rock this afternoon on my way home from the grocery store. That means I made it five whole days without collecting a rock. -_- In my defence it's awesome and is full of garnets (one is the size of my thumbnail!).

Iqaluit!

Here I am! it's pretty awesome!

In my first 24 hours here, I have:

• been to a work BBQ where I won a lawn chair
• had dinner with my new coworker and his wife
• used an ulu
• gone to 4 yard sales
• seen a snow bunting and a Canada goose and LOTS of ravens
• gone grocery shopping (which wasn't as scary as I'd feared!)
• walked A LOT, it's really hilly here!

Everyone here has been really friendly so far, both the people I'm working with and the folks in town - people just say hi to you all over. It's so nice. :)

Tomorrow is my first day at work and I am beyond excited! There will be a lot of paperwork and meeting coworkers and that kind of thing. Also I have to talk to the movers, my stuff didn't leave Hfx this weekend because I didn't get the money from Brookfield in time. But it sounds like my move has been pretty painless compared to some other people's experiences up here, one of my coworkers waited for his stuff for like 2 months. So a couple of weeks is not a problem, and my temporary apartment is really nice - I have close to triple the space I had at home. It's awesome. ^_^

Today my plan is for laundry and organizing and some more settling in, I might also go for a walk and get myself out of the house for a bit. There is a museum and a library and a visitor's centre, so I will probably visit them today.

Yay!! :D

it's official!

My official offer has been made and accepted, and I'm off to Iqaluit! In five weeks! Ack!

I've been allotted 900 kg of belongings/furniture/etc. The pare-down process begins when I get home...

hold please

*dusts off the blog* Hooray, I remembered my password!

I know some of you out there were hoping to see some really cool pictures of Mali by now... so was I. Unfortunately the whole project is on hold. My coworker who was over there is now back here and we're waiting to see what is happening with the project. Hopefully I'll have some info about that soon. In the meantime, I've been working on de-cluttering my house, which is about as exciting as it sounds, and trying to keep busy outside my house a little too.

Anyway, you'll know as soon as I do (provided you check back here regularly :).

winding down...

So things are starting to wind down here in camp and I'm thinking about the end of the season... which means that if you would like a postcard from Greenland, now's the time to say so. :D

Send your mailing address me at my gmail (which I think you can get from my profile), and I'll do my best to get you a postcard.

Still not sure when I will be home, but I'll update once I know.

impending snow

Yep, that right there is snow on the mountains around camp. There's quite a bit of it and it just sort of appeared overnight, with no sign of going away. It's been cold enough the last couple of days that there is ice on the little puddles in the morning (although it's pretty much melted by midday). There is snow in the forecast for this week.

*shivers*.
We had a pretty extraordinary storm here two nights ago. The wind was pretty crazy, every so often there would be huge gusts that felt like someone was taking my tent and shaking it, and heavy rain that would wake me up. So I didn't sleep too well. Yesterday was pretty sunny and today is spectacular, with a perfectly clear blue sky. It's only a couple of degrees C out there, but when the sun's out it's not so bad.

Yesterday Mike and Catherine and I got to take a trip into Fiskaenesset, which was a really great break from the routine. :) We went to the store and got some licorice and related gummy things for the next time we play yahtzee, and I bought some chips that turned out to be really terrible, which was disappointing. Danish chips are weird - they're all kind of like Munchos and Pringles and that kind of chip - like they're made out of those fake mashed potatoes or something. If you want chips made out of potato slices (like Cdn chips), you need to look for 'franske-kartoffeln', French-style potatoes.


I really like the little dragon/sea monster finials on the top of this house. It's fun to see little decorative touches like this - most of the houses in Fisk are prefab so they all look pretty much the same.


A view of Fiskaenesset from the ridge above the town. This is probably one of my favourite pictures I've taken this summer.


A shipwreck! This is on the other side of the ridge, I guess it wasn't worth it for the ship owner to recover it, so it was just left. It's in reasonable shape, I suppose - Mike climbed on it a little and didn't fall through the boards or anything. Anyway, it made a great subject.


Mike and Catherine on the ridge where I took the last picture from.

picspam yay!

Yesterday was one of the last really nice days we're likely to get, so I spent some time in the evening taking some photos. I also found out it was blueberry season so I picked myself some delicious berries as well. :)


This plant is related to Labrador tea, but I'm not sure of the name. You can see by the red that leaves are starting to turn... (it's also blurry, I wish I had a tripod, my knee isn't cutting it.)


I like how the hills look when only parts of them are sunlit. The clouds have been pretty low the last couple of mornings, and this morning they were low enough that the helicopter couldn't fly until almost 10.

More turning leaves.

A couple of neat fungus-like things.

More pics upcoming soon, we had some pretty impressive aurora last night...