We have had an interesting week. On Tuesday we visited the legislature building and took the tour. Nunavut became an independent province in 1999. Most of the MLA's are Inuit. One man is in his eighties and only speaks Inuktituk. The others speak both English and Inuktituk or just English, so their interpreting equipment is very important. Apparently Inuit culture is fairly consensual. After the first person speaks others add to the conversation without arguing until consensus is reached. The politics up here is non-partisan as there are no parties.
Thursday was the only day we went to the soup kitchen and it was great to see new volunteers, people who are staying for at least the summer. There is a lot of coming and going in this community.
On Thursday afternoon we headed out for a walk onto the Tundra higher than the town and to the North. We had walked for about twenty minutes when Mike spotted a paw print that most definitely was not a dog's print, almost certainly Polar Bear. I took a photo of it and then we walked briskly back to the car. Thankfully we could see a man and his dog further out along the path we were on, returning too. Dogs out here are working dogs and should make a fuss if they sense polar bear near, so it was reassuring to see them walking calmly towards us. As a man from church who is from Saskatchewan, and has plenty of experience of bears, said, Black bears hide from humans but Polar Bears hunt humans!
We also had a meal at Karen and Darren's house with Mike and Margaret Gardner. Mike and Margaret really are remarkable people. They have worked in churches in several very remote communities before the age of computer communications. Diocesan discipline was strict. They were allowed to order a certain amount of food for the sealift each summer, but not as much as Hudson Bay workers. If they ordered too much there were random items missed off their order! They are a very gentle English couple, yet Mike used to go out to camps on the land by dog sled in winter and he supplemented their diet by hunting.
On Friday Karen invited us to her works' IQ day. IQ in this case stands for Inuit culture and knowledge from the Elders. The setting was Sylvia Grinnell park. There was a lot of Country food available and I had some Caribou stew. It tasted good. Aalasi, an elder and lay reader from Apex church, also gave a talk on the use of local plants. She says the local women are not as healthy these days as they rely on store bought food. It was a fascinating talk. Aalasi has an incredible wealth of knowledge.
Saturday we had a gorgeous long walk along the Sylvia Grinnell river. We walked along the river and ended up just above the falls. This was a route we could not have taken a few weeks ago due to the ice. The mosquitoes are out in force so I wore Mike's bug shirt. At home biting insects love Mike, here they love me and some bites swell badly so I get to use the shirt. Most of the time I had the hood down, but as we walked along and the mozzies got worse, in my scramble to get the hood up, one was trapped in there with me. I managed to get it before it got me, but there was a very red splash of blood left on the visor. Was it my blood or Mike's blood or someone else's. It certainly didn't belong to the mosquito!
Sunday was my last full Sunday here. Mike preached at the English service and then again at the Inuktituk Praise service in the evening, this time with an interpreter. The evening service is always lovely as you can really see God moving among the people. We had lunch out with Darren and Karen at the Frobisher Inn. My chocolate cake was amazing - lots of cocoa and a sweet almond layer. That's what makes me salivate.
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| I have waited weeks for these flowers to at last bloom. The leaves are nice in a salad - they taste too bitter for me. Apparently the leaves make a nice side dish mixed with seal blood and blubber! |
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| The inushuk that marks our walk beside the sea. The first time we saw it, it was surrounded by ice and the bay was frozen. |
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| The first ship of the sea lift. |
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| The fluffy parts of this willow tree are used as wicks in the qulliq - the local style of oil lamp. Also if collected and put inside boots, the fluffy bits help keep your feet warm and lift your mood! |
