pitures

I'm having trouble sending more than one picture at a time. Bear with me.

sight seeing

It's been almost a week since I arrived in Kimmirut. I've seen the whole village and have hiked out into the country (or 'on the land' as they say here. It is a rugged awesome land. When they describe Canada as the 'Great Lone Land' they must be thinking of this part. Around Kimmirut are huge rolling hills of limestone and even large hills of what looks to me to be very iron-rich magma intrusions (maybe batholiths, although that may not be the correct term). On Saturday, Paul Mooney (the principal who hired me, but is going back to the classroom full time) and I hiked to Sopher Falls, which is the entrance to Katanalik National Park. That was a distance of about 10km one way. The land is so big and empty. No trees, just small shrubs and mosses, grasses, and lichens. The rest is exposed rock. Sopher Falls itself is beautiful, with clear greenish water rushing over white marble rock. We tried fishing for char, but didn't get any. Hiking back to the village we were able to cut off about a half-hour or walking by walking on the seafloor at low tide. The tides here are among the highest in the world, up to 10m. Yesterday, I helped Paul paint his house, and then we took his ATV to the reversing falls at the mouth of the Sopher River. This was another wonderful experience. We tried fishing again, and I caught a cod fish, about 5 pounds. Today, I am at school, trying to get a handle on the courses I will teach as well as learning the routines of the school. Tomorrow is the first day that I actually have to be here. We have staff meetings for three days, the kids come for a couple of hours on Friday, and then we start classes next Monday.
The internet system at the school is very slow and it takes about 7 minutes to send two pictures so I won't send many right now (although I have taken well over 100). After I get a faster set up at my house I'll try to send more. I'd love to hear from any of you. You could e-mail me or leave a comment
Cheers, Jim