It always takes me a few days to get adjusted to the arctic. I am never sure if it is the rich air, the long days of bright sunlight or the reflection. Sometimes I think it is the water or the traditional foods that I eat while visiting these wonderful little corners of the world. But really it is the fact that I am away from the stressful life of the city and have had the opportunity to just relax. My body always takes full advantage of this and I find myself falling down from complete exhaustion by mid afternoon. Proof that the city is way to much for the average human to withstand. We just get used to the hustle and bustle much like a person gets used to the smell of a dog or their own shoes. Funny how an athlete never smells the true strength of their own order.
Today I tried again to convince the children to write me a story on what climate change means to them. And again I was unsuccessful. The children don't have conventional school here. There is a school and there are only 7 children that attend. The teacher is one of the mothers and it is run more like home school. And really that is the way it should be. At the most northern community in the world, life is simple. Family is the most important thing and most families consist of at least five children. They still live a subsistent life style like no where I have seen before. The one store in this community opens at 10am and closes at 3pm. It's fresh produce consists of potatoes, apples, onions and oranges. Everything else is canned, dried or frozen. The store also has a limited selection of clothing consisting of a jacket, one suit for a boy around 10 years old, half a dozen shoes and a fairly large selection of socks. You know what they say....the two most important things to keep warm are you feet and your head. There is also tobacco, bullets and beads to craft with. The post office is next door and it also doubles as the bank.
One of the most hilarious things I find about small communities like this consisting of 50 people plus. Is that I will ask one of the kids where someone lives and they will say they do not know. I am not sure how this is possible as you could almost hit every house with a snow ball if you stood in the middle of the village. Of course there are many sled dogs here and they are some of the strongest and biggest dogs I have ever seen. The puppies are tied up like the adults at an age of probably 4 months old and I believe this is to train the dogs at an early age what their purpose is. Even as puppies you can clearly see which ones are the alpha leaders and which ones are the followers. And when a dog has no more purpose it is shot and it's fur is saved to use for Kamiks, which is the hand made boots they make in the arctic all around the world. Every place you go whether it is Canada, Alaska or Greenland makes them all different, changing them with embroidery like they do in Canada or with a darker leather in Alaska or tall ones in Northern Greenland to shorter ones with colourful leather sewn in like they make in the southern half of Greenland. The sleds are also different depending where you are in the world. Some are long, thin, short and some have tall backs and some have thick runners. When I show the hunters my photos, they could not really care because they have more than likely seen more beautiful and dramatic things while hunting for days on the ice. But when they see the photos of the sleds...that is when they want to see the photos..to compare and make notes.
And the ice is something that is really changing. Today I was told that the ice is only good for 3 months which is crippling for these communities that depend on country food. In a week I must travel by dogsled from Sioapaluk to Qaanaaq and this scares me quite a bit. I don't trust the ice but I do trust the hunters. Today they told me that the peninsula is starting to melt so I will have to go over land through parts of this journey which can be much more difficult. Also today I watched as a father and a few children walked out onto the ice to the centre of the bay. It made me very nervous just watching and later when I looked out the window again, I noticed that the foot prints became very dark as if water pooled in the spots and refroze. None the less if I feel it is dangerous I will be taking the helicopter.
The sun rises around 7am and sinks around 10pm and as each day passes the sun fills the sky even longer. In just a few weeks I will be experiencing close to 24 hours of sunlight which is very difficult to adjust to especially if you are not used to it. I remember waking up in Uummannaq last year at 3am in the morning and the sun would be as bright as 3pm. I just wandered around in complete amazement as many of the local were still up as time really ceases to matter. The most amazing thing is when the sun sinks. The whole sky turns apple red and the cliffs covered in snow turn pink with a pastel blue sky as a backdrop. Tomorrow I hope to convince the children to write me a story but I know I will not succeed until the shipment of popcorn arrives. Yes popcorn is something the children love the most and apparently the person with popcorn can rule the world...well maybe just the children from Sioapaluk.
