Expenses! And unseasonable warmth (and rain?)

I picked a good year in which to move to Iqaluit (so far...). Right now it is 9:00pm and the temperature is around 2°C and raining/snowing as it has been all day. I have been told that this October has been unseasonably warm. The rain will likely make this a slippery winter, however, which is a downside.

I have been spending lots of money on baking supplies attempting to stock my shelves with all that I need for cooking food. Today I bought olive oil, and before that lemon juice, butter, honey, and peanut butter. Mainly things that will last some time, making this an extra expensive month. Besides that, I bought a parka this week (an expensive Canada Goose one. It cost less up here though because they have some sort of deal with Northern retailers. I saved $150 on the price that it would have cost online). Some things up here are just more expensive, and for some things I will need to just suck it up and pay the extra amount (fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, dairy products, etc. Basically anything perishable). Apples aren't bad for price, and neither are peppers. Cucumbers, bananas, and oranges are very expensive and dairy and meat of any kind is expensive. Some things can be ordered online, like snack foods, beans, pasta, cleaning supplies, and vitamins. Right now Amazon is charging high prices for shipping to here with the regular postal code (X0A 0H0), but they have free shipping over $35 to the postal code X0A 1H0, which also ships to here. That will save me (and most of the others here) a bit of money. Last year the post office here was the busiest in Canada and also received the most Amazon shipments (apparently).

I am feeling quite well settled in here. I know my way around the majority of town (walking everywhere will do that!) and I know most of what I am required to do at work. I'm still working on learning the administrative side of being the head lifeguard. Yesterday a lifeguard I work with told me (after looking around to check for any teenagers) all of the reasons that he finds working with teenagers 'weird'. I stood there and listened and suggested that since only one teenager was responsible for the weirdness, maybe it was just her... Not all teenagers. Of course, the irony existed in that he clearly didn't realize that I am a teenager. It's like telling your female supervisor that you think is male that working with women is weird. It should be interesting when he finds out!

As of now, I am feeling successful and capable (unlike Sunday which was insane...). I'm still figuring out my role and my life here, but I'll be okay. And I think this will be a good year! I am hoping to be home for Christmas, but I will definitely be back (God willing) for camp to counsel... At least for a few weeks and hopefully for the whole month.

My new parka! I expect to never be cold again. It is down-filled and lined with coyote fur. It is also overkill for the weather now but will be necessary later.

Rain at odd times means puddles in potholes! When it freezes at least those holes will be filled, albeit slippery.

Several of the buildings here (all of the schools and the city hall) have small circular windows, built in a time when people wanted to keep out the cold and not have to look at the snow and ice. Modern buildings have big windows like Alberta to see the bay and town.

Arctic char that I bought and cooked. There is a store here called the Nunavut Country Food Store and it is not a yeehaw cowboy hat kind of store; they sell frozen hunted meat from the area, and I plan to slowly increase my range of food experiences through them. This week was char (similar to salmon and fairly normal for me), next week will be caribou (a little stranger but still fairly normal), after that seal (definitely different but not that strange), and finally whale (VERY different from what I have eaten before!). The whale that they have right now is narwhal, but I think they change it based on what the hunters sell to them. Altogether a very cool store.

Life is good here! I like Iqaluit so far.

- Aliya