Helenenorth

 Hello all A very busy week. The grade 4, 5, 6  Sautjuit class visited a Catholic School in Toronto in the fall, and this week, that class came up here.  21 students, grades 7 and 8, 5 chaperones, their teacher, and their district superintendent.  The weather has been very sunny and bright, but very cold and windy.  Unfortunately, the thermometer never climbed above 26 below zero, so the students were not allowed outside.  I had one of the teachers stay with me.  She had to ride to school every day in the truck because she couldn't walk on the icy snow and she couldn't stand the cold.  I hiked every day on my new ice dancing clips.  Boy--do they work well!  I can actually dance!! The focus was Inuit culture.  Each day, there were varying activities from sewing to animal skinning and story telling, for Sautjuit students and Toronto students.  There were no regular classes.  It was all culture. We had planned to take them se...

 Hello all Sorry if I did not get to visit you on this past trip, but it was a little hectic.  My main reason for making the cross country jaunt was to complete my income tax and I am glad I did.  I actually get a refund this year!! I have met new friends in Montreal, and had a wonderful time visiting some Inuit art shops, the Mc Cord Museum, Old Montreal and a jazz club.  Of course we ate far too much, but it was worth it.  The diet has started again!! School has settled in.  Of course on the way back from Montreal, we had a night in Kuujjiak, gratis the school board.  So, we have only had 3 school days this week. We have been busy preparing the school for the visit from St. Daniel's in Toronto.  Some of our students visited them in November.  They will be here for Culture Week.  Culture week is a time to celebrate the Inuit Culture.  Everyday will feature something fun, and unique.  Ice fishing, seal hunting, igloo building, ...

 Good morning all Another true north adventure this week.  We had a 48 hour blizzard with winds of over 137 k an hour, and 13 cm of snow!!  It blew so hard, I thought my house would blow away.  It shuddered and shook.  As you know, our homes are manufactured, and they are set up on stilts because of the perma frost.  So, the wind got underneath and really gave us a good shake up.  And was it noisy--I couldn't quite figure out the note--but it was like a deep growl that never stopped. I was worried that the power poles would blow over, or that the many big dishes would smash-but nothing like that happened.  Only the power lines blew off.  On the hill here, we did not lose power, so we were ok. The other side of the village was not so lucky.  They lost power early on. Today is bright and sunny, small wind, but about minus 29 with a wind chill of minus 42.  Our road is totally closed with drifts as high as a house.  Parts of the v...