ONE. MORE. WEEK.

One more week.  One.  More.  Week.  

I hate wanting to wish my last week here away so quickly, but I am so looking forward to some warmer temperatures, treating myself to a Canada Goose jacket (for when sub zero temps come to Toronto... it shall be my "you survived your first stint in Nunavut" gift to myself, because self care!), and baseball games and Jason Mraz concerts and grad school and the LCBO!  And cheap produce and food and fast internet!  I was telling a friend the other day how I've honestly forgotten what regular prices for grocery items are, and I'll probably be hitting up Loblaws on Friday and crying at how inexpensive everything is... or how two weeks, not two days, worth of groceries will be about $140. 

I thought I'd write an entry for people to read in case they are considering coming up here.  I had some helpful advice before coming here, but there were many things I had to learn on my own as well, and if I can help someone else prepare for their time up here, then amazing!  You too, can benefit from my mistakes!  

I figured I would start with packing.  To get here, I borrowed a 181 quart Rubbermaid trunk from a friend, in addition to a Coleman wheel cooler to check as my luggage.  Traveling domestically, bringing produce and meat and stuff is no issue in Canada.  If you're coming up here to work, you're going to be here from anywhere from two to four months, and you want to be prepared.  I came prepared for any event from military-style coup d'etat to nuclear holocaust to weekend in Vegas.  I probably did not need the fancy clothes.  

Speaking of clothes, seriously forget anything "professional" and "nice" and leave it at home.  I maybe wore my black dress pants once, got dust and mud all over them, and said screw it, and bought a pair of jeans.  Which I have faithfully worn.  Things are not formal and professional here, it's dusty and dirty, it rains a lot, and you just want to be comfortable.  And warm!  Never listen to anyone who tells you that if you're going in the summer it's going to be 20 and warm... maybe some summers, sure, but here in Igloolik, we had a pretty cold summer, and on average I would say it was 7.  We saw temperatures of 18-20degs maybe two days?  I wish I had brought warmer clothing, and better shoes.  I also found myself wearing less makeup that I usually do, not really caring how my hair looked, and not as much jewelry, so I could have probably left that all at home as well.  Just think "comfort and warmth" when you're packing, and you should be fine.  I also think next time, when I get my community assignment confirmed, I will ship a humidifier up ahead of me.  The air here is super dry - if I don't put on heavy duty lotion my skin cracks and bleeds - and nosebleeds have been a bit of an issue.  Also remembering to bring heavier lip balm, and can probably do without the hair dryer next time :)

I filled my cooler up with frozen meats, pre-made president's choice burgers, and lots of frozen fruits and vegetables.  I also brought nice bread and nice cheese, as the only bread they sell up here tends to be of the Wonderbread variety, and the cheese is usually Kraft or Compliments style.  You can expect to pay anywhere from $2-$10 more for basic items at the grocery store.  For example, I made tuna casserole the other night, which cost me about $55 in ingredients - a meal which costs me about $15 to make back in Toronto.  But it kind of gets to the point where the stupidest, littlest things make you happy.  A $5 slushie from the convenience store?  Oh sure.  A $4 super sugary worse-than-Tim-Hortons Crispy Crunch flavoured cappuccino from a machine in the Northern Store which was probably cleaned never, becomes the highlight of your work week. 

In my carry-ons (a gym bag and a roller carry-on) I packed as much fresh produce and bread as I could, in addition to several changes of clothing, books, and my laptop.  I have heard horror stories of people arriving, but no luggage for days on end.  The person who picked me up at the airport quite rudely stated to me within two seconds of her sighting me that I packed way too much stuff, but I feel I had just enough while here, especially in the food department.  I know I spent a lot less money up here than I would have had I not brought all these food items, for the most part, I was warm, and things were ok.  That pretty much takes care of how to pack and what to bring!    

You need to understand that not everyone here is going to speak English.  And many times, it is broken English.  Inuktitut is one of the official languages of this territory, as French is to Quebec.  I had to really check myself and my thoughts the first few days when I hadn't picked up on any Inuktitut words and phrases yet, and was grinding my teeth and thinking that they should speak English.  Please remember that they were here first, and they are probably more "Canadian" than you or I ever will be.  

I'm not sure if this is Igloolik-specific, but people here walk in the middle of the roads, as there are no sidewalks.  Get used to driving at a snails pace as children like to do dumb things, like run up to your vehicle while you're driving.  I use my horn here more than I do in Toronto.  

When you are up here, shit will happen, and things will go wrong.  Electricity goes out a fair amount, and there are scheduled power outages (the hamlet is run on diesel generators).  The internet here sucks (although I'm reading they are laying out a new fiber optic network so I hope when I come up here next, this won't be an issue.  If Hawaii can have great internet... Nunavut?  Why you havin' nunavut?) and it's expensive, and you get 10gb per month.  Best to get a terrabyte hard drive and put every Simpsons episode ever made on it so you have something to keep you busy.  

In addition to that, your drinking water and raw sewage will all be pumped into/out of your home via trunk.  The drinking water isn't all that clean and I had major stomach problems when I first got here.  Now only on the rare occurrence that happens - I found boiling water then letting it cool then running it through a Brita filter kinda worked, but it still tasted like dust.  You will run out of water.  Your sewage tank will also fill up, making it impossible to run water.  These are easily fixed with one phone call to the hamlet but it will be annoying.  I do need to say though, it's been pretty good for me while I've been here.  I ran out of water only once, and couldn't use water due to a full sewage tank once, but both issues were fixed within an hour of my calling.  There was a period where I lost heat and hot water for two days, and that was pretty miserable, but it got fixed, and I survived. 

If you're in the community during polar bear migration season (October-February/March) bring a whistle and wear it whenever you go outside.  Polar bears are scared of loud noises.  If you see one, blow it and make a lot of noise and stamp your feet and run into the nearest house and call RCMP.  Sometimes they wander too close to communities because they smell food.  When this happens they usually get shot.  It's might seem harsh to us, but when it comes down to a polar bear vs your loved one, and the polar bear would eat your loved one in a second, which would you rather have?  

This kinda leads to my next point - if things like hunting, making carvings from the bones/tusks/teeth of animals, etc makes you squeamish and you're morally opposed to hurting animals for any purpose, perhaps the North isn't for you.  You need to understand that the Inuit have been doing this for millennia and when they kill an animal, the entire animal is being used - meat and entrails for food; blubber for food, gum, and lighting oil lamps; skin to make clothes; teeth, bones and tusks for carvings, artwork, and tools; etc.  The federal government has established quotas for each animal which is hunted, so it's not a free-for-all, and really, this does help with population control.  If it bothers you, again, don't come up here.  Also, if it bothers you, think of all the inhumane and horrible ways we humans have come up with in killing each other... and we're supposed to be the superior species?  I feel like I've had to field a lot of questions pertaining to that since I've been here.  

Part of coming to Nunavut as well is to forget and let go of what you know to be normal and commonplace - your values, your opinions, you way of doing things; your own personal discourse.  It is different up here.  But just because it's different from your normal, doesn't mean it's bad.  The Inuit, living in some of the harshest climates on Earth, are all about survival.  And, especially in Igloolik, they love their traditions and want to keep the culture strong.  I found that once I stopped having expectations and truly opened myself up to learning and being present, things got a lot easier.  It was a great lesson to re-learn, and I hope I can carry this back home to Toronto with me.   

Warm fuzzies

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.  And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.

Maya Angelou

I've hit the two week mark!  Two weeks from today, at this very minute, my last flight from Ottawa to Toronto will be touching down at YYZ.  I'll gather my luggage, find my ride, and get back to my little house in Greektown, and start assimilating myself back into urban, big-city life.  

It really does feel like I just got here though.  I have been enjoying my time immensely in Nunavut and almost thought about deferring admission at UW until January... but it's probably best I go back and get it over with while I'm still motivated to finish school.  Nunavut will be around once I finish.  

When I first came here, I wondered how I'd be able to adjust to small town (or rather, hamlet) living.  My friends jokingly referred to Nunavut as "Planet Hoth".  My hiring manager referred to it as "the wild wild west".  I've lived in big cities all my life - Chicago, Berlin, Toronto, Auckland... but you know, the adjustment wasn't so bad.  

What did help, though, were the people of Igloolik.  Everyone is so nice here.  When I've gone on walks through the community, everyone I pass stops and says hi, and usually asks where I'm from.  In the store, if you make eye contact with someone, there's a smile and a wave and a hello.  When I'm driving around, and you pass another car, more often than not you get a wave hello.  People are just genuinely nice here, which is a far cry from Toronto, where I feel people avoid eye contact with you with purpose, like if they look into your eyes you'll get shot straight through with lasers, like that Sphinx-y Southern Oracle in The Neverending Story.  

I've been having some really great social work moments up here as well - great learning experiences, learning more about counseling, how I can better serve people and how I can be a better listener.  With a language barrier, pictures, drawings, smiles and laughter go a long way.  I've learned to take things more slowly.  There's also been some really wonderful moments where I have felt so honoured and humbled to have been able to be there for someone, respond to a cry for help, and have been able to support someone in getting their needs met.  I am truly grateful to those who've come to speak to me, who've opened up their hearts and put their trust in a total stranger, from a different part of Canada, and a different cultural background.  It takes a lot of balls to open up to someone and to talk about difficult things, especially when there is a limited amount of time, and a lot of work to be done, and I am happy to have been able to support some when they have needed it the most.  

A client called to check in about some things today and it was great to hear from them.  When we were getting ready to end the conversation, they stated they had one more thing to tell me.  Sure, I said.  "Karina, I can't thank you enough for all the help you gave me and my family." they said, and my lower lip started to quiver.  "Because of you, I learned how to laugh and smile again and it is the best feeling in the world!".  I think my heart almost stopped when I heard that - in the best way ever.  I explained that they were the ones who did all the work because they were the ones who found the courage inside them to reach out; I was merely there to facilitate the process once they had made that choice (gotta love existentialism).  "No no," they say.  "You showed me I had the courage."  

I might or might not have closed my office door and had a good cry for a few minutes after that.  Once in a great while, I am humbly reminded why I set out on this path to begin with.  These humble reminders are wonderful feelings I tuck away in notebooks, journals, sticky notes in my day planner - when the going gets tough at work or in life I can read these and remember why I do what I do and why I need to continue to do the work that I do.  My wish for them is to one day be able to pay this forward and in turn show compassion and kindness towards another human.  We all need to be good to each other.  I am blessed that I am able to serve.   

Gratitude is the greatest of all heart openers.  When it enters the heart, love pours out.  For every kindness we receive, gratitude inspires a hundred acts of giving.  

 

Out and about in Igloolik

Despite last week being hectic, I got to go to three new places and explore: the elementary school, the dump, and the cemetery.  

  
I thought the elementary school was pretty cute, with artwork by students decorating the halls, and many tributes to local culture.  As Igloolik is one of the most traditional communities in Nunavut, there was a lot of artwork, photographs, and artifacts throughout the building.  In the absence of students, I felt like I was walking through the halls of a museum as opposed to a school!  

The teachers are starting to come back from their summer vacations in southern Canada as well, and students are starting to be registered for their classes.  Like other five and six year olds in Canada, students will get registered, but attendance in class tends to be lower than other provinces and territories, as schools seems to not be pushed up here like it is in other parts of Canada.  Parents don't get penalized for letting their children stay home from school; there are no truancy police.  Social services also wouldn't get involved if a child is absent from class too much - I'm sure if we did it would be constant overtime!  Many teenagers will drop out of high school in their late teens as they find themselves pregnant and ready to start a family.  This has probably been one of the most difficult things for me to comprehend as a southern Canadian, a former English as a Second Language teaching assistant, and the daughter of a teacher, as I was always lectured about the value of an education and how important school is.  But after visiting and seeing how much local culture permeates the walls of the elementary school, and how much focus there is on Inuit Societal Values I can see how learning takes place - both in and outside the classroom, and in the home, through storytelling, through art, through cultural activities and oral history.     

No trip to Igloolik is complete without a visit to the dump, either.  The locals refer to it as the Canadian Tire.  And unlike Iqaluit, this dump wasn't on fire, so that was good.  

Many people go here for auto scraps, parts, things to make stuff with, and food.  Lots of canned goods will get scrapped here, for no reason other than they were close to their expiry date.  Yet, we don't have a food bank.  So there's that.  

 Every so often, there are controlled burnings as well.  When illegal drugs and alcohol are confiscated, they are also brought up here to be burned.  

A quick walk up the hill brings you to the final resting place for citizens of Igloolik.  The deceased are traditionally buried at the highest point of the land, so their spirits can look over the living.  

Because of the permafrost, the term "six feet under" does not really apply up here.  Graves are slightly more shallow, and rocks are piled on top of them to mark where the coffin is.  

If you are Catholic, your grave gets marked with a cross.  If you are Anglican, your grave gets marked with a rounded thin tombstone (see above).  People have asked what happens if you're neither, and I don't really have an answer for that.  A vast majority of the people in this community are religious, and my assumption is that if you aren't, and your family is, you are buried with whatever your living relatives practice. 

It's the little things

After a trying week at work, I am grateful for the weekend, even if

I started that about seven hours ago, then got to deal with an on-call which took up majority of my day.  I have no idea where I was going with that now, haha.  The perks of being the on-call social worker!   

This week has been pretty busy.  It's pretty easy to get swept up with work, putting in overtime, taking work home with you, pondering what you could have done differently in certain situations.  Practicing self care is essential - but admittedly harder when you're out of your normal surroundings and away from loved ones whom you normally talk to.  Thank goodness for Facebook.   In addition to having a tough week, I was also pretty sick, and as things were so busy at work, I didn't feel like I could call in.  It's only today I've actually started to feel better - I can't wait until I'm back to my normal.  And because shit happens in three's (or 33's) I also lost hot water and heat and internet for two days this week - so it was kind of hard to cheer up.  Glad that's over with!

This where it gets a bit hard though - because I feel like Nunavut is one of those places that you can't really understand unless you live here.  It's difficult to complain, and vent, and people offer very many well-meaning "solutions" and "can't you just"s, etc, but the thing is, more often than not, I can't.  Because this, because that, because Nunavut.    

I got this wonderful care package in the mail from a friend/fellow yoga instructor back home and it honestly made my week.  I was skipping through the grocery store, waiving it around and jumping up and down while opening it in the check out to see what was in it!  Chocolate!  A note!  Lunch when I get back to Toronto!  Totally uplifting. 

 As you can see, I was super eager to get this box open.

Another element of self care was finally treating myself to a pizza made at the Tujurmivik Hotel.  It seriously was the best pizza and definitely the best in the circumpolar world - and also it was the first meal in over a month I haven't cooked for myself.      

 Ontarians be like wah it's 15C and I'm all hahahaha shut up.

 This week was also the week I decided to surrender and actually dress appropriately for the weather instead of pretending like I'm still in Toronto.  And guess what?  My morning commutes were a lot warmer, which made me come to the office a lot less crankier!  Imagine that.  Fashion is out the door, let's start being functional.  I am from Chicago.  I don't understand why this is such an issue.  I should know better.  

Enjoying some coffee at the Tujurmivik Hotel after a stressful morning. 

I would also like to take a moment to express how truly grateful I am that I came here and met this extraordinary young lady.  She has been a huge help in my adjusting here, a fantastic colleague, and a wonderful friend.  We've gone out on the land, shared so much laughter, vented a tonne, and she's just one of those people who just has a perfectly ridiculous thing to say during a moment of stress, which ends in more giggles and laughter.  She's also a pretty talented throat singer, and has been teaching me the basics.  We recorded a pretty hilarious video on Friday of an attempt at several songs and I wish wish wish my internet was fast enough that I could upload it!  Perhaps when I return down south.  But anyway - her friendship was worth my coming to Igloolik, and I know that when I leave in September it's not going to be a "good bye" but more of a "see you later".  Cuz there's just some people who come into your life who are just too good to let go!  And this girl, she's the goods!   

Igloolik is also host to some insanely talented people, who are very eager to stop by your office to try to sell you All The Things. 

Like these earrings, made from soap stone.  Enjoy, mom :)

The carvers here are also excellent, and I've bought several things to take back to Toronto with me and already know where I'm going to put them :) 

This is exactly what I look like when I dance.  I couldn't not.  

The first carving is made from a white marble that's found on Igloolik.  I forgot the actual name of it (or if there is one).  The second carving is made from bone from a bowhead whale.  Both are incredibly gorgeous. 

And finally, my seal skin/fur slippers.  A client actually made these and I adore them.  

If anything, I can always admire the amazing view I have from my office.  The skies here in the "arctic prairie" are something I can't seem to get enough of.

I'll leave you with a nice shot of the hamlet I got the other afternoon.  I don't think I've managed to get too many of the town yet!  A more informative, thought-provoking blog to come - too tired today :)  

 

Halfway Home

Last week, I reached the halfway mark of being here.  30 days gone, 30 to go.  I meant to write out this big long blog entry, but come the weekend, I ended up with an insane cold, insomnia, and crappy(er) internet, and kinda felt like I was over the north thing.  Now that my internet is back (after having to buy an extra gig and pay for next month's) and I can breathe out of one nostril, and hear out of one ear again, life isn't so bad.  Now if I can work on the sleep thing, that would also be cool.

I've dealt with insomnia for the past two years or so, with it getting super awful for most of 2013.  At one point I was sleeping maybe only 8 hours a week, and it was really crappy.  I can't stand people who brag about the little amount of sleep they get, or how they "never sleep".  It's not cute, and you're not cool.  Your body and your brain needs that time to re-set and heal.  Not sleeping is overall unhealthy for both body and mind.  I've found for my insomnia, traditional Chinese medicine has been immensely helpful.  Cupping, acupuncture, herbs, massage - it didn't all work straight away, but I would say after a few months, I was sleeping pretty regularly, and only struggling to get to sleep maybe only once every six weeks or so.  I even got to the point where I was napping during the day and still able to sleep at night - I have never in my adult life napped!  And I know for sure I hated it when I was a kid.  

I was feeling rather anxious when I first got here about 24 hour sunlight and how it would affect me.  I sun-proofed my bedroom by using aluminum foil and duct tape over the windows, and every night around 9-930 I would go around the house, closing all the curtains and turning down lights to make it appear it was getting darker.  It also helped that Igloolik has had some pretty crappy weather this summer, with lots of clouds, to hide the sunlight.  And for the most part, I was fine!  

The past couple weeks though, the sun has been rising and setting.  And unfortunately, I have been rising and setting right along with it.  While Earth-Goddess-Hippie-Karina is all you are one with the Earth, keep wearing your patchouli and Birkenstocks with socks, Social-Worker-Karina-Who-Unfortunately-Has-A-Schedule is all FFS go to sleep and stay there until your alarm goes off.  

The sun has been setting and rising every night since July 30th, and we lose about a half hour of sunlight each day.  However, I am quickly learning that just because it's "setting" doesn't mean it gets dark.  Even with the six hours of set we are getting now, it will only get really dark for about an hour or so.  The remaining hours will be a dark twilight.  So, I guess that's been interesting to see and all part of "northern experience".

These skies, though:

 I am pretty sure this is what Rod Stewart meant when he talked about the ocean meets the sky - you couldn't even tell what was what the other night.  

 The only filter I used on this photo and the following was an HDR one to make the image sharper - I did nothing to adjust the colours.  The entire horizon and sky was on fire at sunset the other night.  Makes up for the Northern Lights I won't get to see:) 

On youth.

Something that I noticed right away when I came here was the sheer amount of youth: babies, children, teenagers.  When driving around, you need to be really careful as they are always out on their bikes, walking along the roads, congregating in groups of people at all hours of the day and night.  I was even treated to a midnight chorus of airhorns a few weekends ago on my street.

There seems to be a harsh reality of life here though, for most of the youth of Igloolik.  On Friday, our community had the most unfortunate experience of another youth committing suicide (they were saying the third or 4th one since December).  Social services does not really intervene in terms of youth suicide, but the community had a heavy heart and you could tell by walking through the hallways of the health centre Friday morning that it was not a happy day, despite the sunshine and warmer temperatures.  It is incredibly sad to witness the death of any youth, but for someone so young to give up on life so quickly always calls into question: where are we going wrong?  Fingers are pointed.  It's the parents.  It's the loss of culture and trend towards a more colonized, southern-Canadian approach to ways of life.  It's limited access to mental health resources.  I feel that these are all contributing factors of near-epidemic levels of youth suicide in Nunavut.  But I feel that one of the larger problems here in northern communities, is that youth are not engaged.  In some of my meetings with young offenders and families, I ask the youth what they want.  I ask them their hopes and their dreams.  They take an awful long time to think about it.  Too many times I hear "I don't know".  When I was growing up, if someone asked me what I wanted to be, I would be able to rattle off a list of possibilities, everything from President of the United States to a nurse to a dolphin trainer.  I never felt like my options were limited.  How can we provide that same level of dreaming to our children in the North? 

Risk factors associated with youth suicide in Nunavut are many.  Relationship issues appear to be wide-spread here, and can often be quite dramatic.  Lack of developed coping skills in both children and adults are often a springboard into suicidal ideations.  As I stated before, there are large barriers to mental health treatment.  Our hamlet of 1500 provides only one mental health worker.  While we in social services are not there to provide counseling, we spend a good portion of our day taking and engaging people in on-the-spot counseling sessions.  Sometimes, people want to come in just to sit down and vent and have a good chat.  I am happy to provide this opportunity, and grateful to anyone who steps into my office and wants to speak with me.  But I can say this is so hard, when there is so much paper to push, and so many other things to do.  I realize the importance of this though, and I try to do this as often as I can.  As I've stated before, and am reading in various literature, our Northern communities also have high poverty rates, lack of adequate housing resouces, food insecurity, and high unemployment rates.  

Before settlement and colonization, Inuit had a horizontal family structure accompanied by a kinship-centred society.  Post-colonization, we have witnessed a move from that to a more individualistic ("Western", or "European"-based) approach and a more vertical, nuclear-based family structure.  The introduction of foreign foods, alcohol, drugs, electronics, and more individualistic ways of living has broken down the family structure and left youth caught between two worlds.  The exposure of "the rest of Canada" through media perhaps leads them to feelings of displacement, despair and longing for a life which they might never get to experience, a life which is vastly different from their own.  The introduction of Residential Schools and "The 60's Sweep" left the family structure broken and vulnerable in our Northern communities, an attempt of cultural genocide by the colonial Canadian government which will take many generations to fix.   

Schooling in the northern communities also leaves much to be desired.  School attendance is not enforced, and many youth drop out of high school at a young age to have children, or because they do not like going.  What can we do in order to get our youth more engaged in learning and wanting to better themselves?  Is this in and of itself a southern Canada value judgement?  I have been informed that many times, teachers will hand out passing grades to all students and that the system needs major restructuring.  

Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) provides a voice for Inuit living across Canada.  In drawing upon traditional knowledge from Elders in Nunavut they feel that Inuit need to:

• Pay attention to each other’s needs
• Focus on helping others as a way of promoting connection and a sense of usefulness
• Do something productive, active and healthy
• Talk things out
• Solve conflicts with others, and
• Accept that life is not always easy but that tomorrow can be better

 Source: Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami Website

I've also noticed a severe lack of things to do for youth in Igloolik.  While I have seen various advertisements around the hamlet for day camps, I still see youth up and around every hour of the day and night.  There have been a series of break-ins and vandalizing around the health centre as well.  Even our own truck has experienced some vandalization, with children writing and drawing certain phallic items into the caked-on dust.  Yes, I know our truck is dirty.  Sorry, but I need to erase your Picasso.  While yes, we can say it stems from a parenting issue of not setting firm boundaries (not establishing curfews, not enforcing education or structured day and evening activities, etc) we can also turn towards ourselves and ask ourselves: how can we engage our youth to prevent further incidents from occurring?  It has less to do with locking up cans of spray paint and not making it accessible for youth and more to do with providing them a place to express themselves and paint murals (or whatever they wish) as a group.  Lord knows we have the room and space available.  It has less to do with blaming parents and more to do with coming together to accept the responsibility that we are to support and raise this child.  We live on an island, but we all don't have to be islands.      

My thoughts and prayers are with this family and everyone in this community. 

• Nunavut Kamatsiaqtut Help Line - Phone: (867) 979-3333, or toll-free 1-800-265-3333.
  Every night, 7 p.m. to midnight.
• Keewatin Crisis Line - Phone: (867) 645-3333
  Monday to Friday 7 p.m. -10 p.m.
• Kugluktuk Awareness Centre - Phone: (867) 982-4673

Wanted: noms.

Because I cannot get the unlimited variety of groceries and produce up here, I had to bring a lot of stuff up with me.  Tonight I went Middle-Eastern for dinner, with some homemade hummus, falafel, tabouleh (because I finally found tomatoes and cucumbers at the Northern Store) and couscous.  The only thing I didn't bring up was pita bread, thinking that this would be sold up north... silly me.  So I enjoyed all of this with some toast, and used my imagination.  And cried on the inside.   

I've been getting the worst food cravings since I've been up here.  I am sure I am only craving certain things because they aren't even accessible to me while here.  Like, I got super jealous of a friend of mine who's social workin' it up in Pang, because their Northern Store has a KFC and Pizza Hut... which I would never even think about touching back in Toronto!  The Tujurmivik Hotel here in Igloolik boasts the best pizza in the territory, with people ordering from as far away as Cambridge Bay and Rankin Inlet, but I'm from Chicago.  There are turf wars over the best pizza there.  However, many people have raved to me about their Arctic Char pizza, so I guess I will have to try it.  

Lots of time the chocolate here is pretty stale and almost to it's expiry date, which is a shame.  I bought some really nice chocolate right before leaving Ecuador and wonder how it's doing, sitting all alone on my dresser... along with all the other things sitting on my dresser which I forgot to pack.  

Then I think about all the stuff I can't have right now... Chipotle, Salad King, really good Indian food, Chinese food (wanting to rent a private jet and get Heng Wing from my home suburb of Palatine [yes this was your shoutout] to deliver), and then I think of how my wonderful Greektown neighbourhood back in Toronto smells - because it always smells so delicious in the summer.  This weekend or next should be Taste of the Danforth, and even though I usually avoid it like the plague, I will probably miss my hood being invaded by throngs of people from the GTA to celebrate and pay homage to meat on a stick.  I have nearly made an itinerary of everywhere I am eating and meals I am cooking (my wonderful slow cooker Moroccan chicken made with my homemade preserved lemons which I cannot stop thinking about, for example!) once I return home to southern Canada.  I am getting my hair done the day after I get back and fully plan on going to Chipotle and ordering like 20 burritos with some chips and guac and sit on my couch like Jabba the Hut and will watch an entire season of Big Brother.  And it's gonna be a beautiful thing.   

And hopefully I am still back in time for fresh Ontario produce and will have enough time to preserve and can that stuff for the winter! 

I also really miss good coffee.  And the ability to go and get good coffee before work!  And homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Gah.  I need to stop.  

Anyway.  Polar bears.  Icebergs.  Tundra.  Clear skies and possible northern lights.  And a pretty neat job and opportunity to really make a difference here.  It's been worth sacrificing all that.