Apparently TODAY is the day to go dog sledding.

It's -6 today and so sunny. This is the nicest weather I've seen. And I came home sick from work. Great.
I slept away the day and I'm feeling a bit better-the stomach flu sucks.

Anyway, yesterday was dog-sledding. It was fantastic. My team was Akita, Kabloona, Juno and Jager. Jager apparently is named for an arctic bull and rightly so-this dog had the biggest head I have ever seen. Akita and Kabloona were the leaders and Juno and Jager were the wheels. Within the first, say 100 metres I had tipped my sled and had to chase my dogs. It was very graceful. After that though it went really well. We went on the perfect day (although as I said, today might have been better). Yesterday was warm enough, sunny and clear. We went in the afternoon and the sun was just setting as we were leaving. It was really pretty-we went through all kinds of forest and on a lake.
I wanted to adopt a dog. They had one named Klondike who was being adopted by a man from Tsiigehtchic (pronounced sig-a-chic-I think it must be Gwich'in). He was adorable and so friendly. They said he was only two but he was no sled dog-he wouldn't pull and he was always more of a pet. The dog handler also said that they have three other dogs to be adopted before they can have a new litter. They are so pretty and they all had such personalities. When I got my team, they told me Juno was a fighter and he had to stay away from the other teams but then Akita was the one always trying to start things with the other teams.

Me and My Team!

Lynn and her team-I only remember that the dog on the left is Blue.

Me and Klondike-he wanted to sit on my lap so badly but my pants were too slippery.

Kabloona

Jager

I also bought pictures from the people who work there but I have to wait for the disc and I will post them if they`re good then!

Big Plans

IT'S CONFIRMED. I am going dog sledding tomorrow. My first arctic activity. And the weather is supposed to be a balmy -15 degrees, feeling like -25.

I'm too tired to come up with a name.

I just came off my second set of three nights. Not quite as crazy as the first three, but still busy.
I have a new roommate-he leaves the toilet seat up and his beard trimming on the tap. I am disgusted everyday.
He's a medical student-been here for five days and is already travelling to Tuk (tuktoyaktuk-another small town north of us) with some of the doctors to sightsee for the day. Seriously.

Nothing much is new. I tried to see the Northern Lights-not as easy as it sounds. I think I maybe saw them; it might have just been my imagination. They were very light and it was relatively unsuccessful. I'm rather disappointed-I've heard that they're better south of here. Seriously again. I didn't even try to take pictures. Lynn and I have made plans to go dogsledding on Sunday. I have to call to make a reservation today when I get up. Here's hoping they aren't booked!

I think I know the meaning of a hard day's night now. I just came off of my first three night shifts this morning. Two new babies, one obscenely drunk man and a medivac later...
The plan for tomorrow is groceries, the gym and homework. How exciting.
I went over to the nursing residence and had dinner with Lynn tonight. I think I'm going to head out of town a little bit tonight to see if I can see the northern lights-I looked up a good place and it's about a five minute walk from my house.
I'll have some more pictures to post tomorrow!

Who needs a life when you have a gym?

Not much new today. I was at the hospital for my Neonatal Resuscitation course for the morning. It went well and I feel good about that. I made some dinner, watched t.v. and walked to the gym in -36 degree weather. It was -47 with the windchill. It didn't seem that bad until I had to layer up to leave when I was all sweaty and hot. That's about the highlights.

-46 is too cold.

Arctic Foods or V&S Options-this is the cheaper grocery store

It's been pretty cloudy and grey since I've been here. I'd like to get out to see the northern lights soon-I'll have to ask around about the best place to see them. I went out last Saturday to finish grocery shopping and take another look around. I was able to get some fresh fruits and veggies from the fruit truck. Apparently every few weeks a man (Tim?) comes up with fresh produce from B.C. and just sells it in his truck. It was pretty nice quality and not too expensive. Some of the things I think are most expensive are cheese ($17.99 a brick) and cereal ($8-14/box).I took a taxi home because I had a big box of veggies and the cabs are only $5!

I decided to treat myself to something at Cafe Gallery on Saturday too. Here is my delicious carrot cake and french vanilla steamer. It was so cold out that my camera fogged up when I came inside!









I also went over the the hospital on Friday and met the nurse educator. She set me up with some shifts starting Sunday. My preceptor has some time off so I was with another nurse for the frst three shifts. I started on Sunday and had three day shifts. Today I have a day off and then tomorrow I go in to do a Neonatal Resuscitation Program course. I took the course at McMaster in September so it will be a good review. I start on Friday, nights with my preceptor.

Last night I went to the gym here with one of the other nurses after our shift. It's nice enough and I walked over today to get a gym membership. I'm planning to go again tomorrow. Seriously though, walking to the gym and then downtown was the coldest I have been since getting here. My skin that wasn't covered on my face ached so much from the wind. I now know that it was -46 with the windchill so no wonder it hurt. I finally made it to the Cafe for lunch and my eyelashes were frozen to my face. It was not great.
I stayed there reading for a while while enjoying a cafe mocha, got some groceries on the way home and then came home to work on some homework and that's about the extent of my trip so far. I'm hoping that it will be more exciting in the weeks to come. Lynn and I are planning to go dogsledding if we ever have time off at the same time :)

How cold is too cold?

I wish that I had taken a picture at the Inuvik airport because they too, like Yellowknife and Norman Wells, have a stuffed bear (polar) at the airport. Is this some sort of northern thing? I've never seen a stuffed animal at an airport before and they ALL have them here. Weird-I'll snap a picture on my way out.

So I finally arrived on Thursday. We were scheduled to arrive around 1:00 and didn't make it up until after 3:00. I was actually just glad to finally land up here. It was not too cold when I arrived. Only about -16 celcius. The nurse that I'm subletting from, Paul, picked me up at the airport. He took some time to show me the major things around town (which I was very thankful for) and we went to home hardware to have a new key cut. I had a $5.00 bagel (are you serious!) at the Cafe Gallery and then came back to my new home until April.

The View from My Front Door

My House!

My New Bedroom

The Hospital in the Morning

I settled in that night and then I went out on Friday to check out the downtown and get some groceries. The hospital is about a five minute walk from my house. I have to duck under the utilidoor (where all the water and sewage lines run above ground) to get there-it's nice to be so close!

The Sunrise at 1:00 p.m.

The Silver thing is the Utilidoor. The houses are colourful!