kimmirut, I'm here!

Well, the big day has come and gone. Laurel and I drove to Toronto on Monday evening and stayed overnight in the airport Sheraton. A bit pricey, but worth it since we needed a bit of a celbration anyway. We had a nice meal and tried to get some sleep, but we didn't get much. We were up at 5:00 the next morning and to terminal 1 by 5:30. Getting my ticket and getting all 6 heavy bags checked was an adventure but eventually it got done. Laurel was waiting in the car for all of that because we took the word of a porter about how we should go about things. We didn't have a lengthy farewell but a tearful one none-the-less. The flight to Ottawa was a huge contrast to the flight to Iqaluit. On the Ottawas flight there were many people in suits, with brief cases, whereas on the Iqaluit flight most were in blue jeans, baseball caps, with knapsacks. The flight north took a little over 3 hours but was quite pleasant. First north offers real food on their flights and served a very good breakfast. It was cloudy for a good part of the way and I didn't have a window seat anyway, but it cleared for the landing in Iqaluit and we were able to see the coast guard ice breaker Terry Fox in the harbour. After a 45 min layover about 10 people and a mound of baggage boarded a Twin Otter for the flight to Kimmirut. This time we flew below the clouds and I had a window seat so I got some pictures. (I'm not sure that I'll be able to send too many as I don't have a high speed connection.) On the flight were another teacher and the new principal but I didn't know it at the time. After the three of us loaded our bags into the back of the RCMP pickup truck (and getting help from the officers!) we drove to my new digs. Inside it was jammed full of furniture. They had installed new carpet in the living room, and two bedrooms, and there were two new beds, a new sofa and chair. These were all piled into the living room kitchen and bathroom along with the old beds, and old sofa and chair. There was barely room to move. In addition, the workers hadn't cleaned up their mess and the apartment was filthy with sawdust and bits and pieces of things that had been removed to install the carpet but hadn't been put back. This didn't help my homesickness much. So I went for a walk and took some pictures of the village. It is built into the side of huge hills and the roads? are much steeper than I had imagined. There are a few vehicles, mostly pickup trucks and service trucks, but there are ATVs everywhere. And snowmobiles sitting in yards in all states of repair. It couldn't be described as a pretty village, although the setting is marvelous. Too much evidence of waste and improper disposal of old snowmobiles, ATVS, and all the other signs of 'civilization'. I've been into the school and it is a nice place. I have a quite well equipped science room that is my domain. I haven't a clue what I'm going to teach in the first week yet let alone the rest of the year, but there are some very helpful staff members whom I have met who will be able to guide me. I suppose I had better end for now. I'll try to include some pictures but it may take some time, so there may not be very many. So long for now. I'll post again as often as I can.