Friday April 17, 2026

 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 seal hunting and ice fishing, but the weather would just now allow it, so they pretty much were inside for the week.   Also, the manager of the arena was stranded in another community, with no flights, so the students missed out on playing hockey. Today we had a feast,  for the whole community.  It was seal, caribou, baleen whale, musk ox, ptarmigan, Canadian goose, char and walrus.  It was all raw and frozen.  The Inuit also made up caribou stew for those not wishing to eat raw.  I ate the raw char--yum--a little salt and soya sauce.

I also learned how to really use the ulu today!!  I am going to buy one at the coop for $15--works really well for cutting the char finely.  It will be my go to knife for sushi making.

Tonight is a concert and I get to start it off with 3 pieces.  The featured guest is an Inuit singer song writer and guitarist, born in Kuujjiak, now living in New Brunswick.  He and his band will perform.  He is Joey Partridge--not of the Partridge family band--ha, ha.  Seems like a very nice guy.

My little set went pretty well, except the monitor did not work, so it was hard to hear my back up music, but I made it!

Weather is not looking great for them getting out tomorrow--so what is new!!

Hurray, it is just slightly overcast, so the plane will fly.

Now, back to work for 5 more weeks!  

The 3 d printer generated Inuit Sunglasses.  In the old days they were carved from caribou bone.  Matthew painted them his favorite colors--they match his shirt and pants, very fashionable.

The guests made wrist bands, head bands and snow pants.

Skinning the muskox.

Plucking the ptarmigan.

More plucking.

Nunnguku making a handle for hand ice fishing stick. It is called an ipuk.

Matthew having a close look at the Muskox.

cutting up caribou

Skinning a piece of seal.

Setting the table, Inuit style.  All frozen, raw meat.

Hacking up the frozen, fermented walrus.

Frozen Baleen.

Unpacking the frozen char for the feast.

This kindergarten student loved the food!

Notice the ulu, the sharp blade cut through the raw, frozen meat.  You add salt and soya sauce for taste.  I just ate the Char--just like salmon.

A feast that everyone loved.