Life Up Here: North of the Wall

Inuksuit made from snow and ice.

It's winter. And we're talking real winter, not that pansy-a** winter most of the country will experience. Kids walk to the bus stop when its -37. Cars get plugged in each and every night, and if the school bus stops running a parent starts up a snowmobile and pulls a wagonload of children to school. (OK, so that last one hasn't happened. Yet.) Seriously though, I've noticed that at around -50 funny things start to happen with the house. The bathtub won't drain because the drainage pipes freeze. The dryer won't dry the clothes because the vent outside the house has frozen closed (we just go outside and break the seal the ice has created). We took the car in for an oil change last week. The mechanic accidentally left it unplugged all night, so we had to keep a rental for the weekend until they could move the car inside to get it warmed up again (so it would start).

How do we deal with the insane amount of cold, you may be wondering? We do lots of stuff, and most of it focuses on staying warm and toasty inside.

Nothing beats board games and card games. Many nights you can find JJ and the kids playing Pokemon, chess, or checkers. (Yes, JJ is a Pokemon champ. The game has way too many rules for me, and is ridiculously complicated, but JJ learned to play so he could relate to his children. What a great dad!)

Can CJS finally beat Daddy at checkers?

Coraline and a friend playing monopoly.

When it's too cold to go outside and play, the only other option is to have friends over to play inside. Captain Jack and his friends like to dress up as Ninjas, act out fight scenes, and have Mom take videos.

Captain Jack Sparrow and neighborhood pal JN.

Transformed into two ninjas.

"Now you fall over and I'll gut you."
"Dude, you gutted me LAST time!"

This one may seem like a cheat, but video games are invaluable for passing the time. For Christmas CJS and Coraline both got new 2DS XL hand-held game systems (prior to this, Coraline had a basic Nintendo DS that was 6 years old, and they both owned LeapPads, a child's game system meant for much younger kids). Before coming to the north, anticipating boredom, JJ bought himself an Xbox One game system. He downloaded all the games and updates before we left Thunder Bay, thinking ahead to our limited internet access here in Iqaluit. He thought he was prepared for everything. Then he tried to play a game up here. During the couple of months between updating everything in Thunder Bay, and getting around to unpacking and setting up everything, the majority of games needed to be updated again. And again a week later. Gone are the days of simply plugging a game into a system and going to town (we miss you, Pong). Today's games require internet access for constant upgrades. We've managed to make due with most of the games; those requiring huge downloads of information just don't get played. Our internet speed is firmly set on "snail pace", so if you decide you want to play on the xbox one evening you may need to sit back for 45 minutes or longer to wait for the game to finish updating itself. Current games being played: The Witcher, Far Cry 4, and Minecraft.

Johnny Depp plays Pac Man.

Another way to unwind and relax (not to mention stay warm) is to drink tea. Inuit elders have been doing this forever. They use blueberry leaves, or saxifrage leaves, or one of the few other herbs that will grow on the tundra. These leaves and berries are harvested in late summer, before the first snow fall. No way am I organized enough to have a stash of dried tundra leaves prepped for winter, so my go-to is herbal tea from Celestial Seasonings.

Saxifrage growing on the tundra when
we arrived in August.

Music is a big part of life up here in Iqaluit. An instrument doesn't require sunlight or technology, and there is a core group of volunteers who run music lessons weekly. Coraline has been practicing the fiddle on a regular basis. She hopes to keep it up when we return to Thunder Bay. For Christmas Captain Jack wanted a drum set. He got an electronic drum pad instead, which he plays daily. When everyone starts playing it is a joyful cacophony.

Fiddle practice before bed.

3 different songs happening at once here. I take lots of Tylenol
when this starts up.

When we're lucky we get to go to real concerts. This is
the Inuksuk High School Drum Dancers performing at an Ubuntu concert.

Fuzzy Coraline playing the fiddle at the same event.

When weekends start to feel long, the kids like to hang out at the Frobisher Racquet Club. It is a decent spot, with 3 courts, a TV for the kids to watch if Daddy is playing, pool table, golf simulator, and a bar/canteen.

We con Daddy into taking us to the Racquet Club.....

.........so we can play pool.

We are lucky right now in that both kids are seriously into Lego. If I buy it, they will build it. And then spend hours playing with the little people who inhabit the village they have created.

We build things with Lego.....

Lots of things!

We barbeque in the cold........JJ wasn't sure it would be possible to barbeque--does propane even flow when it's this cold out? Do lines freeze? Turns out, yes and no! JJ has BBQ'd steaks and hotdogs just this past week. Once when he was planning on doing steaks he brought the propane tank inside for a night, to keep it warm.

The Arctic Grill Master.

Sometimes the schools put on fun events. These pics were taken at a celebration in January. The kids had a traditional Inuit dance competition. The objective is the kids who can maintain the correct form for the longest time, win. It looks exhausting, as the ideal "form" is to hunch down into a squat position, and hop while kicking your legs out to the side. If a child falls over, or puts a hand down, or can't kick out enough, they are tapped on the shoulder or pointed to. That child then leaves the floor. A child can also voluntarily leave the group if they have had enough. Girls compete against girls, boys against boys. When there are only about 4 or 5 kids left, those few are declared the winners.