Home

Home has been incredible. I have spent so much time with my family and friends, doing everything I cannot do in the arctic. I promised myself I would go without stopping and live every moment to my best ability... I have done that well. Today I finally crashed. I am so over tired that it makes me laugh. I figured that between naps, I would blog to fill all of you in on what vacation done my way looks like.

I spent the first days down South with my family. I did dinner with mom's side on a Saturday and with dad's side on a Sunday. I spent as much time as I could with my baby sister Jenna. I went out to St.Catherines to stay with her for one night. We took my college friends and one of her room mates shopping in the states.

We ran into this chicken across the boarder. Jenna never turns down a photo op

On the way home from the States my sister got a phone call she had been waiting for. Jen was up for a huge job opportunity and managed to get herself in. (no surprise here... the girl is a go-getter to say the least) She grabbed a position as the Canadian SCORE rep and is currently travelling Canada on the Budweiser Big Rig with this beautiful group of Bud Girls.

Jenna, second from the left

Of course, Jenna's new job was the perfect reason to extend my stay in St.Catherines for celebration. Where I also got to dance in my first rain storm since my return.

I planned to spend as much time as I could at the cottage. I managed to work it out well. I love this place more than any other place in the world.

 I spent the first weekend there with my college room mates, Lauren, Candice and Sara, as well as Candice and Sara's boyfriend's Brent and Luc.

These are my felstead sisters

We are big fans of jumping pictures... and Brent is not a fan of cold water on over cast days.

I shot my first pellet gun and smoked my first cigar at the cottage this summer. I have excellent aim but the cigar wasn't my best idea. When my friends left, Pat came up between jobs on the road. When Pat left, I spent a very relaxing night alone before my family joined me the next day.

When the family arrived, the party started. We broke out every water toy and boat. We played every board game and I whooped my dads butt in a few rounds of Chinese checkers. We hit up the cliffs for jumping and we entertained ourselves with knee boarding, water skiing and tubing.

My dad and I woke up early one morning to take a canoe trip together. It felt really nice to spend alone time with my daddy after so long, especially out on the water surrounded by greenery.  

I spent a week and a half at the cottage and when I got back Candice and I drove out to Niagara Falls to stay at Sara and Laurens. We drank copious amounts of cheap wine and watched Disney movies. Three of us took a trip out to Decew falls in St. Catherines, which my sister had told me about.

We missioned it with the help of perfectly placed ropes down to three water falls, where we played like children in the water. Thank goodness for my underwater camera.

Yesterday we went up to Sara's cottage and spent the day in Lake Eerie. I have gotten more sun than this arctic girl can handle. I am going to rest up today so that I have enough energy to sing my lungs out tomorrow at a Brad Paisley concert with Candice, Luc and my friend Kaila. Until I crash again, I plan to enjoy the last week of this very non-stop vacation.

Summer Vacation

I have blogged before about the family I have become a part of in Iqaluit. I work, live and play with the same people. I don't think my words have adequately described the depth of my love for these incredible people. I have made friends who have been there for me through the hardest of times and shared every ounce of joy through the best times.

Being back in Ontario for vacation, I find myself sitting in the car, or on a chair in the yard, or on freshly cut grass, just thinking about how lucky I really am.



Jenna, Brett and Melissa, walking Jersey



I have the most wonderful friends and family, both in the GTA and in Iqaluit. I suppose distance really does make the heart grow fonder because in the past year I have developed an appreciation for relationships that never saw depth like this before.



Myself with my mommy



 I counted down for months to the day when I would get to return home for my three week vacation. Now, that vacation is actually here, I landed in Toronto on the 17th. I have been on the go every second since landing and every single one of those seconds has brought me joy. Every single thing that I had missed, rushed into my life the night that I arrived, like an over flowing cocktail at happy hour.



Siblings

I have a friend who I have blogged about before. I actually met him in Iqaluit while we were opening our stores. Patrick was the greatest baking partner I could have asked for. He always had me laughing or on occasion, dancing at five in the morning and he kept me highly entertained while he was around. He was something special and I had wished at the time that we had lived in the same province because I knew if we did we would be great friends. Its an interesting thing to try and keep in touch with people you haven't known for long while you're so far apart, fortunately we managed.

When my plane landed in Toronto I had a surprise guest waiting to greet me. Pat had flown in from Alberta earlier in the day and waited for my flight to come in. I hadn't seen him in nearly seven months and I had missed him incredibly. When I turned around and saw Pat coming down the escalator with a huge smile, carrying all of his luggage, I dropped mine to run to him. It felt so good to hug someone with a familiar face. I wore a smile so big that it hurt my cheeks, I only stopped smiling long enough to kiss him. Being home and seeing the faces of people I love at the airport made me so overwhelmingly happy that I could feel my knees shake.

When I stepped out of Pat's car it hit me all at once. The smell of the trees and grass, the fresh floral scent of warm summer air. I closed my eyes and breathed in the wonder as deeply as I could. Home smelt just the way it should, just the way I had remembered it. I felt like I was floating, I hadn't been so happy in months. I was with the people I had been dying to see, basking in the air I had missed for so long.

I will never forget the night I came home and the way it made me feel. All 139 days of my countdown were well worth what I had waiting for me down here.



My beautiful Mother



The Longest Day

I was so looking forward to being in Iqaluit to send a picture home of the longest day of the year. I will not complain however because I got an even sweeter deal... I got to be home for vacation. A really great friend of mine, Nick, who I work with at Northmart happened to be up at 1:38 am on the 21st and took this picture for me from a window in his apartment. It was slightly over cast so not as bright as it could have been, but still, much brighter than it is down here in Southern Ontario in the middle of the night. The dark makes it much easier to sleep but the light of the Northern summer made my days feel never ending in the best possible way. I felt as though there was enough time in the day and for that reason I enjoy the light nights. 

(Thank you for the photo Nick, I miss you)



2 Days

I walked in the door half an hour ago after a twelve hour shift at work. I spent the day preparing papers, papers for this person and that person, papers everywhere. I am leaving behind lists for everyone so they may be a little less lost without me... although I am only tooting my own horn by saying so. In reality, they will be fine and I will be even more fine. While they put donuts in ovens and pull donuts out of ovens all day, I will be basking in the Southern sun, bathing in humidity, baking in heat that may just suffocate me wonderfully.

I flipped on the television to offer some background noise while I put away clean dishes and change the kitty litter, it turned on to the movie 'Julie and Julia.' I've seen it before, it is a feel good, inspiration of a movie. I turned it on as Julie was writing a blog, wondering aloud if anyone actually read her words. She saw that she had a comment and clicked excitedly to read it. It was from her mother and it "doesn't count," she said. It made me laugh as half of the comments left on my blog are in fact left by my mother.

Julie and Julia also reminds me of my dear friends from home. In pastry school, we studied the theories and styles of famous chefs and their work. My housemates and I studied Julia Child's work and of course watched this film during our research. As I sit here typing this out, I am beginning to miss the art of food. I miss fresh berries and fruits and turning them into perfectly sweetened reductions. Kneading bread, piping on elaborate wedding cakes and topping mousse cakes with rich ganache and delicately handmade chocolate fans.

I can nearly taste the memories and even the remaking of them when I land back in my home town in two days. I started this count down at one hundred and thirty nine days. I thought the day would never come. It is incredible how quickly time passes. Before we know it, I will be back on this tundra and I don't think that I'll start a count down to my next vacation, but I cant say for sure. Counting down certainly reminds me of the wonder in looking forward to something, a priceless way to keep life exciting.

There are about 42 hours until I am sitting on an airplane. There are three days until my first pedicure this year and a family barbecue with my mothers family. There are four days until I celebrate fathers day with my dad's side of the family. In five days, I will be a free woman and I intend to spend the majority of my day with my bare feet buried in fresh green grass. Southern Canada, here I come... and take me seriously when I say, watch out.

My Amauti

Katie's mom, Julia, who lives back in Katie's hometown of Arviat, NU, recently sent me a beautiful amauti of my own. She had seen the pictures of me amaqing her granddaughter while I wore Katie's amauti. Of course it is the most wonderful, thoughtful gift I have been given in Nunavut. I nearly cried when Katie brought it over to me one night. I love taking Shemekia out in my amauti, she gets so relaxed and comfortable. Usually she falls asleep really quickly and I can hear her softly snoring from behind me.

Katie and Stephen's panik, Shemekia



Enjoying the view on the land with sleeping baby



Wearing her miniature amauti, amaqing her baby doll

Thank you so much Julia. All my love, from Iqaluit.

Dry Grass In May

The nights are non-existent. The light never truly disappears. Katie and I hopped between friends houses and drove home at two am in daylight. It screws me up royally. I don't sleep when I should and I wake up too early. My internal clock has gone haywire. The sun shines so brightly and warmly these days that when I step out from working for a minute and take a deep breath i can feel spring fill my lungs.

The temperature today is negative one, with a wind chill of negative eight. I know it doesn't compare to the twelve degree's that my family is feeling in Oakville but it is really a beautiful thing.

Roberts dad sold the skidoo because he and Robert's mom are moving down South come the end of summer. He kept the ATVs though so Robert and I took our first arctic ATV outing on Wednesday. Ironically the last time I drove one of these vehicles was in the tropics.

I wore rain boots, jeans, a couple shirts and a sweater... that's right, no coat. It was a gorgeous sunny day. We drove up to Upper Base and found a couple of smoking hot RCMP officers in the middle of target practise. The only thing that put a bigger smile on my face than they did was throwing my head back, closing my eyes and literally feeling the kiss of the sun on my face. Those will forever be the moments that I live for.

I imagine that moment to compare to the way it feels to get off a plane in my home town, scan the room for my family and catch them in my line of sight. There are nineteen days until this becomes my reality. I started my count down when my life looked so incredibly different. Every day I have been thrilled by the idea of going home, even if only for a few weeks.

Melvin who works in the deli said to me the other day, "They say you can never really go home." Later that day I got a message on my blackberry from my friend Kayla who had just landed in Ottawa for her vacation, the first thing she said to me was that it didn't feel like home anymore.

I haven't been able to shake the fear that the woman I have become wont be able to find her way home again. What if I am destined to live this sort of nomadic gypsy lifestyle? I am even scared to lay down in my old bed and find that its not as comfortable as I remember. I'm afraid the grass wont be as green as I remember and the birds wont sing as beautifully as I imagine. Its not just fear though, its terror really.

My count down has begun to feel a little bittersweet. Home is where the heart is but this heart has been divided and placed on opposite sides of the Country.

My favorite Inukshuk's

We've spent a lot of time in park, sometimes with our seats reclined, sometimes sitting in silence enjoying the views that Iqaluit offers; they never seem to get old. After dark we drive up to the highest points in the City and look down over the bright lights. It's no Toronto after dark but it certainly has its own charm.



We park and talk, or laugh, or think. We park and find new ways to pass time during the evenings. Katie and I have taught ourselves to jump other trucks and refill fluids under the hood. We have a leak that requires us to refill power steering fluid every few days.



Jumping the Beast



We take turns driving, usually Katie beats me to the passengers seat. After the long stressful days we work, its nice to enjoy the ride without paying much attention to the pot hole filled roads.

I'm learning a lot from Katie, she trades old stories from her culture and her family in exchange for the many useless facts I have picked up through literature. I teach her the meaning behind words from the English language that are seldom used in casual conversation. She teaches me phrases and words in Inuktitut, her side of the bargain being the more difficult side. I haven't got the best memory.

I heard the clang of a cup hitting the metal of the truck bed and just as I was about to accuse her of littering, I saw her grin. She managed to throw the cup out the window of the drivers side and into the bed. My life in Iqaluit has taught me to find entertainment in simple things. We collected all of the cups and took turns trying to land them in the back of the truck. We also took turns collecting all of the cups that missed the bed and trying again until we had scored with every cup and can from inside of the cab. We laugh so hard about the simplest things and it makes life feel light and refreshing. 

Amaaqing baby Mekia

Sometimes we take the baby out for drives. It still feels strange to me to hold a baby in the front seat, no car seat, no seat belt. She likes watching the world go by from her seat on my lap.


At the end of the pier with baby on my back

Some of my favorite memories of my time in Iqaluit so far are with my Inukshuk girls, Miss Katie Inukshuk and Shemekia Inukshuk-Muckpah.