Trip further north

On July 14, I got to go up, up and to the top of Baffin Island. I accompanied colleagues on a visit to the closed Nanisivik Mine site. Here are just a few of the interesting pictures I managed to take. They're a little out of order thanks to the upload function on my blog. ;)

One year...

So, as of today I've been living in Iqaluit, Nunavut for one year. People have mentionned that I should do a post on how I feel after a year. At times it's hard to believe that it's been a year, but at others it seems like much longer.

For instance, one of the landmarks that first struck me when I arrived was the igloo-like building of the Kamotik Inn. It was a restaurant from the 1970s that was rumoured to be closing on and off again for a long time. Rumours proved true this weekend...the K-Inn was there on Friday, but torn down and completely removed when I wandered by its former location this lunchtime.

The St. Jude's Cathedral is also progressing onwards. I first visited Iqaluit for the official groundbreaking of the Cathedral. Last summer it seemed to remain mostly the same, but this spring they've started building upwards. The hope is that the Cathedral will be ready for services on Christmas Eve of 2009.

On a more personal front, I've managed to do some interesting traveling in the past year. As of May 2007, I had never visited any of Canada's three territories. I can now say I've visited Nunavut (and live here!!) and the Northwest Territories. In September 2007 I stopped in Coral Harbour, Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet and Repulse Bay. In November I went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. In January I travelled to Vancouver for a tradeshow. At the end of February I was in Toronto for another show. In April I went to meetings in Baker Lake - the geographic centre of Canada! That's pretty good when you factor in my trips to Kansas and Virginia for holidays as well!!

I've sung in several Iqaluit Community Choir concerts, including wearing an amauti for the singing of O Canada in three languages (Inuktitut, French and English) on Canada Day! At church I'm starting to sing solos during communion services and am helping the organist pick out new pieces to learn with the group.

I've even started playing softball in the past few weeks...the aches and pains won't let me forget it!

I still go to the movies quite frequently. I've wound up seeing quite a few films that I otherwise would not have due to lack of options, but I've realized that I'm not as scared by all the action films as I used to be. Pushing the envelope and all that. ;)

I've made some headway with work projects too. Completing publications like the Nunavut Overview is definitely rewarding. Meeting Nunavummiut and industry leaders through outreach activities is also great.

I've also met a great group of people. Nunavummiut are friendly and welcoming. People come and go so much that we're always meeting new people and learning new things.

What more can I say? Until next time...