Polar Bear!

November 23, 2012

Wednesday was the day that I finally saw my first polar bear. Since I’ve been here, I have always wanted to see a polar bear and even though there were times that they were in the area, you kinda have to be in the right place at the right time. The people here take polar bears rather seriously when they are in area. Even though few polar bears stay right in town, it seems like it is still more than usual, as told by other people. Perhaps this is a result of global warming and the polar bears are making their way more south and more in land? Either way, when they are wandering town (usually in the dark...which due to the lack of current daylight here, it is for most of the day), going through garbage and looking through windows, they are threats and unfortunately shot down....like a couple this week.

Anyways, getting back to Wednesday morning, it was about 9:15am at school (it was a PD day) when John heard the news that there was a polar on the ice. A bunch of us, including the southerners who have not yet seen one, rushed into John’s truck and took a ride half a kilometre outside of town. With complete concentration, I was able to spot the small whitish yellowish blob on the ice that was surrounded by crows. With the help of a pair of binoculars, I was able to see the rather HUGE polar bear munching on some meat. Perhaps a seal or walrus??? It was too destroyed to tell what it was eating. Either way, it was a great sight to see. Almost straight from National Geographic! Later that day, I also found out that the polar bear was actually eating a dog. Was it a stray, or was it one of the unfortunate chained dogs that were left outside? I was told that there have been times when dogs have been missing from their chains!

Throughout the rest of the week, multiple sightings of this polar bear family had been seen around town. I find myself super cautious while walking in the dark in fear that I would be attacked....only in the arctic!

Arctic Blizzard

November 13, 2012

Looking forward to walking home in a blizzard! This photo was taken at 3:40pm. It was dark, cold, snowy and really windy!

Arctic Halloween

October 31, 2012

Who knew that Halloween would be so popular up in the north? Yes, the kids here do trick or treat, they do come to school with costumes, and they are super hyper from all the candy (as if they already don’t eat enough). The real Halloween celebration started the night before Halloween. Jeff and I organized, along with the help of the staff and the senior high school students, Haunted Halls, an annual event. We had early dismissal so we could set up for the event that would start at 7pm. Haunted Halls involve transforming the school halls into a haunted house. With decorations made by classes, tons of black cut up garbage bags, stuffed bodies made from lost and found clothes, loud scary music blasting from the PA system, lights turned off and a bunch of students whose jobs were to scare people, Haunted Halls was ready to start. Admission was $2 which allowed them to walk around the halls once. Even though I did witness some criers, there were a bunch kids who paid more than once to walk through the halls again. The event lasted until 8pm when the line started to slow down. On top of that, the community had lost power for a few hours, and with the outside temperature being -25 without wind chill, the school was the safe house for the community (due to the school generator). The madness from the Haunted Halls, the possible storm of people coming into the school for warmth, and the basketball game going on in the gym was a good sign to end Haunted Halls a bit early. Overall, Haunted Halls was a success and luckily I didn’t have to sleep on the school floor that night.

On Halloween, business was as usual for the first half of the school day, but after lunch, the students and staff came back with their costumes on and met in the gym for the costume contest. A lot of the high school students did not dress up but most of the primary, junior, intermediate students did. Here in Hall Beach, the uglier the better. There weren’t a lot of princesses and cuddly animals. There were lots of superheroes, witches, vampires and demons. Either way, it was great to see the kids in their costumes. And just as great to have school end at 1:45!

Trick or treating time was designated between the hours of 4-6pm. As soon as it was 4pm, the storm of kids began to show up. It was pretty consistent in the first hour. When it started to die down, Ashley and I thought it would be fun to start tricking people. She handed green onions and an almost finished bottle of plum sauce. If only we saw their faces....one girl was not impressed and gave back the onions. We offered another kid $10 for his entire bag of candy, but he thought we were just giving him $10. Ashley even took candy out of kids bags and then walked away from the door. LOL it was definitely entertaining.

I’ve been told since day one that the costume contest at the community hall was a must-see. And it sure was! The costumes were incredible! In order to compete in the contest, you had to have your face covered so that you were unrecognizable. I came just as a spectator. There were two categories, children and adults, with cash prizes for first, second and third places. The contestants walked around the hall promoting their costumes while getting photos taken by all the spectators. During the judging, the contestants walked around the circle so that the judges could make their choices. After all their votes were in, they gathered all of the contestant in that age category and announced the winners. The winners went up on stage to unmask themselves. It was great to see the winners, and contestants reveal their true selves (some of them were my own students!).

Haunted Halls

Halloween Day

Community Hall

 (left: second place winner)

 (yes, Tupac is still alive)

 (i wanted this costume to win)