A Frosty February

Hello All! This month had been filled with much more excitement and adventure...let's get started...

February 14th was a special day...Shane couldn't even wait for the day...so I got a valentine early (the night of the 13th)

On Valentine's Day the school participated in Jump Rope for Heart to raise funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In the afternoon the elementary students went from class to class learning new jump rope techniques. Here's some fun pics from that day...

My grade 5's Angelina and Bridgette

Little ones having fun

Shane with his group of munchkins:)

Learning to jump rope!

Elsa...so cute and dressed for Valentine's Day:)

Later that night there was a Valentine's Day Dance and I watched the door with a couple gals

Krista and Arctic Cat

Tiff, Krista and Cat

All Dressed Up- Jan and Lydia

Make-up and pretty in pink- Anita

Rebecca in a dress of mine from Jon's wedding and Neevie

Earlier in the day the floor hockey tournament finals were on after a week of games in celebration of the Olympics. Here is one of the bronze medalists- Jason

Bronze medal

After the weekend all of the teachers were off to Rankin Inlet (the second largest town in our Region). Of course we had to fly there...since all of the towns in Nunavut are fly-in and only accessible via plane (unless you take a ski-doo for a very long ride!) We spent a week there enjoying an eye-opening conference filled with keynote speakers (who were amazing!) and many workshops. We were able to see some of the town too, which had a bit more to offer than Repulse Bay.

It began with an opening ceremony and the lighting of the kudlic (a stone lamp that burns seal oil)

We also enjoyed a fashion show with beautiful hand made parkas

Seal Skin Men's Parka

Beautiful Purple Parka and Kamiks (Inuit boots)

Traditional Women's Japa 

Leather and Fur Japa 

Women's Seal Skin Japa 

Beaded Traditional Japa

Altogether (students from Rankin)

One of our keynote speakers (Shelia Watt-Coultier) with Ducas and Paula

Closing Ceremonies had lots of entertainment

Dancing

Drum Dancing

Throat Singing - Young Students

Throat Singing - Adult Sisters (and baby in amauti)

During our breaks we were able to explore and get some pics near the giant inukshuk

We also visited an art gallery (matchbox gallery) that educated and created ceramic works

Inuit with Kudlics

Dancing Polar Bear

Muscox with Inuit

Inuit with spirits

After the week we left Rankin Friday night...landed in Baker Lake...only to be stuck there for the night...

Here we are at the airport...

Shane...our comic relief

Fortunately we stayed in a lovely lodge that had a beautiful view of Baker Lake

 

The dining room at the Lodge

Now we are home sweet home in Repulse Bay, enjoying a blizzard on the Arctic Circle...but before it came, I got some pics on the beautiful bay

Shane and Ryan as the sun begins to set

The sun shines through a crack in the snow drift

Jet in the sky, inukshuk on the sea ice

Snow pushed up with the rising and falling of the tides

So there are a few pics from our February adventures!

March will be filled with brighter days, more time on the land and birthdays galore!

Stay Tuned!

Lighter Days

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but honestly....there wasn't much to blog about except the weather! Since we arrived back in Repulse Bay after Christmas break, we haven't had a full week of school due to all the blizzards. Last week we actually had four days of teaching....our longest yet! We don't get a whole lot of snow here....what we get stays and blows in from the land during the blizzards and creates huge drifts and zero visibility. Here's a little pic from our living room window one day.

We actually just got over a full two day blizzard and I did NOT go out there! However...today was so beautiful! Shane and I went out on the ice (one minute walk from our door) and snapped some pics with the nice camera Alex handed down to me. Here's what we get to see everyday...so beautiful!

a chilly -30 degrees

and the sun sets over Naujat (Repulse Bay)

The kitties have been doing great, actually getting along!

The other day we looked outside and the neighbour was hauling out some caribou from the outdoor freezer

Shane and I also helped the grade 4 teacher Elsa with nail club, a treat for the kids here:)

Cuties!

Repulse Bay is also being nominated for Kraft Hockeyville and some students took a picture near the Arctic Circle monument to send for the nomination.

Last week we celebrated Anti-bullying week and we did it in style. The Canadian Red Cross sent us all pink shirts and we had an assembly to celebrate and had Travis Price send us an inspirational video just for the students of Tusarvik.

Some of my new students and student council 

Grade 9's

Grade 7's

Veronica (grade 10) and me

Laimmiki and me 

Janie (we love her!) and some grade 2's

High School chillin'

High School Cadets

The school in a heart

If there is anything you'd like to see or know about...please comment and let me know! I'd love to get more feedback. Stay tuned for more Arctic Cat Adventures...there will be many more as the sun stays out longer and the weather gets warmer (well...-30 instead of -40)