What is there to do in North?!

Ever since moving here and not working, I get asked the question, “What do you do?”  Let me start by saying there is no movie theatre here, no walmart, no restaurants or coffee shops in fact there aren’t any shops at all.  We have 2 grocery stores.  One of them, the Co-op carries a little bit of everything including a 10” compound miter saw,  fur, a ski-doo, a fishing boat and broccoli etc.  The other carries a little bit of all your household goods.  i.e. food, tools, shower curtain rods etc.  Needless to say shopping is not one of things on my list of daily duties up here.  So we get back to the question at hand…what do I do with myself?  I’m actually very busy, and not just because I have a16 month old whose idea of sitting down is climbing up onto a chair (or any surface) and seeing if I’ll catch him as he walks off the edge.  I usually do, although he has gotten by me on occasion.  (Since writing this a couple of months ago, Reed has figured out how to climb up and off of things on his own).  Now I'm busy chasing him around and making sure everything is out of his reach, I think he's going to be a giant, everyday he can reach just a little bit further on the book shelf or table.  

So in the North, you become very fast friends with the other non-Inuit people in the North.  Don’t get me wrong we’ve become friends with some Inuit people too but we spend most of our time with the other teachers.  And luckily even though I’m not teaching this year some of the high school teachers here have adopted me as one of them.  So I have no prep work and I don't have to deal with a classroom full of kids, but I get to participate in the activities put on at the schools.  Like indoor soccer, Thursday nights from 7 until 8:30.  There is also Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday afternoons .   There is Badminton on Wednesdays  although so far I’ve opted out.  Now it’s not all fun and games up here there is also some serious television watching.  There is a group of girls who get together (including me) to watch Prison Break on Friday nights.  (we were a bigger group a while ago but have lost 2 friends to other adventures in warmer climates of the world).  Now this is a production, there is always lot’s of good food.  It’s potluck style supper and this is not your run of the mill casserole potluck.  It’s coordinated (to an extent).  We’ve had some delicious meals fallowed by 3 or more episodes of Prison Break.   A while back we were also getting together on Sunday nights for a show called Occupation Double (this is a quebec show, that’s a cross between the Bachelor, Big Brother and the Amazing Race)  It’s not my usual TV fare but it was fun and of course another reason to make food and get together.  I know what your thinking…What do Tyler and Reed do while you’re out potlucking all the time and watching TV?  Well Reeds goes to bed at 6:30 so he’s asleep and Tyler works all day and is very tired so he too is usually napping or planning for the next school day, or working out.  There is a gym in town but Tyler has turned our spare room into his own personal gym.

And now that that’s all figured out you’re thinking…but Michelle, that’s only a few evenings a week, what else do you do?

 Sometimes there are other potlucks, either on Saturday nights or Sundays for brunch, it just depends on the week.  We’ve gone sledding on the mountains around us (as a reference the mountains are bigger than Brookvale Ski park (RIP) and smaller than the Rockies. 

Reed and I sliding down the hill.

Noémie and I walking up for some sliding, you can't see him but Reed is in the amautik on my back. 

We’ve gone skating on the frozen river.  

 A bunch of kids pulling Noémie in our sled.

The family skating away....well I skated, Reed walked and sat in the sled, Tyler fallowed Reed and pulled him in the sled when the local kids weren't pulling him around.

We play outside in the snow etc.

 Also, I knit, I knit facecloths I gave for Christmas presents and headbands and cowls.  And I‘ve started knitting a sweater and other cowls, necklaces and bracelets and scarves…oooh and socks. 

Here are some pics of things I've made since arriving in the North.

I have all the necessary tools for crocheting and have started some basic projects. 

I cook, I make bread from scratch on occasion (although it usually doesn’t turn out).  But I did learn to make baguettes that were pretty tasty.  I make soup, lots of soup.  It turns out homemade tomato soup is easy and delicious and so is mushroom soup, sweet potato, leek, squash, it's all good!  I make quiche (with from scratch pie crust.  Turns out pie crust is very easy to make...I always thought it was one of those things that was very difficult).

 And bake muffins, and puree vegetables to sneak into Reeds smoothies and other foods. 

I bake (these were delicious!  Peanut butter chocolate oatmeal bars!)

There are still some things that I would like to do but just haven’t had the time.  I have a small loom here I’d like to break out and start working with.  I’d like to make mittens (some of the teachers here have made them).  They're made out of leather and fur and they are SO warm.  I’d like to go to the sewing center and see what all the women there are working on, get some lessons and some inspiration.  I’d like to clean up my computer, organize my photo's and write more blog posts, email more frequently with people, but I just don’t seem to have the time. 

Well there’s always next year!