Publisher’s Note —
One-time Lac La Biche POST student reporter Aliya Weening has agreed to let POST readers see more of her storytelling skills — this time her own story — as she lives and works in Iqaluit.
The 17-year old J. A. Williams High School graduate, who until recently was a senior lifeguard at Portage Pool, is now the lifeguard supervisor at the Iqaluit Aquatic Centre. Weening joined the 8,000 other residents of the Nunavut capital in late October. The traveling teen has her own blog page, and has allowed the POST to reprint some of her recent findings from the frozen north.
Enjoy the excerpts in what we hope will be a continuing piece.
* We’ll go back a month or so for a little catch-up ...
October 25, 2019
I picked a good year in which to move to Iqaluit (so far...). Right now it is 9 pm 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...
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.
November 7, 2019
Finally I can put this expensive jacket and all of my base layers to use (sort of... It’s still only -24 today with wind chill and this jacket should be good for down to -50). The bay is starting to freeze, so that the tide goes out, leaving behind a thick sheet of ice like a skating rink with obstacles. I’ve been glad for the ice shoes that I bought for my boots- I can walk confidently straight across the ice or down the slippery rocks at my house. It’s not safe to walk too far out on the bay right now- the ice isn’t necessarily thick enough to hold weight everywhere, and the areas closer to the end of the tide shift constantly. It will be interesting to see how the ice behaves once the bay is fully frozen ...
I like it here, and I’ve appreciated all of the people who have reached out to me and kept in touch. It helps me to feel less isolated even with no roads out of this place. There is beauty here; it just looks little different than down South (everyone that I know from before Iqaluit: you are Southern people now). The more that I look, the more I see beauty and good reasons to stay.
December 05, 2019
I was walking home from work tonight, thinking about the day, listening to music, and, looking up and straight ahead of me I saw the shape of Orion in the stars. I like constellations- they make me feel grounded, like I know where I am. To my left and right in the sky was the Big DIpper, and directly above me was Cassiopeia.
The stars follow different rules here; I can’t use Orion to find Cassiopeia like I did in Alberta. As I watched the sky, the Northern lights began to appear, first on the horizon to the west, then arcing across the sky, south to north. They crossed the whole sky right above my head like a dancing green and purple scarf.
I was overwhelmed.
The Northern lights in Lac La Biche are green and wispy, like delicate puffs of smoke. They skirt the horizon, avoiding high skies, and move just slightly. They are beautiful, but small. The Northern lights here are here. They are straight up above my head, just out of reach. They make me want to dance with them, to never take my eyes off. They make it so that you don’t know where to look- it all changes so fast. They are strong, like a ballerina with certain, confident movements.
I knew that the Northern lights here would be brighter and more dramaticthan what I’ve seen before. After all, this is the North. Somehow I wasn’t prepared at all. The colours brought out something in me- something like awe. It was as if I had to get away from the lights of the city, so I walked. Out of town and up the first hill that I saw. And I tried to take a picture, but the lights didn’t show up on my phone camera. I got a solid shot of black. The lights didn’t last long. They never seem to. As naturally as they’d appeared and danced their way across the sky, they blinked out into darkness.
I walked home.
Stay tuned for more updates ...
