Eight months and counting….

Monday marked the eight month mark of my stay in Iqaluit. Eight months! I could hardly believe that when I realized it over the weekend. It’s funny how time can seem to move so slowly at times, but at the end of it all it seems to have gone by so fast. And the older you get the faster it goes! I once had a colleague explain to me his theory on the perception of time… I hope this isn’t too depressing for anyone. He said that if you think about it, as you get older time appears to go by faster, as I’m sure we’ve all experienced. So from that perspective, by the time a person is 20-25, we have lived half our lives, as we perceive it. What do you think of that?!

To be truthful, there haven’t been too many days or periods that have gone by slowly for me. Even the winter hasn’t been as bad as I imagined. I was fully anticipating being holed up inside my dwelling for days on end due to weather, unable to consider walking anywhere from December to March. The reality is I haven’t missed a single day of work due to weather and there have only been a handful of days when I couldn’t walk to work due to weather or the cold. Dry cold is very different from damp cold, just as dry heat is very different from humid heat.

And there is so much here in Iqaluit to keep people busy – if a person finds themselves bored in this town, it is their own doing because there are two gyms, the squash club, a curling rink, a community choir, more than one ice rink offering hockey and public skates, the public pool, a theatre, the francophone centre, the library, and I’m sure the list goes on. Most of the recreation facilities are well subsidized, so joining classes or leagues is really quite reasonable. I just got a three month membership to the pool for $80! That’s not bad at all. I was initially sceptical when I heard there was a pool in town… but I went and checked it out on a recommendation and it is quite large, and very clean. I now go to three Aquafit aerobics classes a week, and lap swimming on Sundays. I love it! Very good for pregnant joints and bones… oh, does everyone who has been keeping an eye on my blog know yet? I’m pregnant! I’m just reaching the four month mark, and things are going very well. Mark and I are very excited! My goal in Nunavut is to reach my one year mark at the end of June, but we shall see… baby may have something else to say about that! Right now I’m looking forward to a trip down south… and I mean the real south, the Caribbean, not the temperate south, in early April… our baby-moon – that’s what the kids are all doing these days ;). Then mom and Mark are planning on visiting separately in May, so I’m sure the time will fly by.

I have been noticing the icy clench of winter loosening its grip ever so slightly over the past week or two. Don’t get me wrong, winter isn’t going anywhere anytime soon… there will still be snow on the ground well into June, but there has been a noticeable difference in the air. We have even had a day or two that went up to -15! That’s down right balmy! And the best part of the season progressing is that we are getting our sun back! Now, when I get off work at five, there is still a touch of twilight left in the sky, and with the time change fast approach in a couple of weeks, that is only going to make it better. I am so thankful for that!! Those with gear for outdoor winter activities have been enjoying themselves…. mostly snowmobiles, but I have seen the odd cross-country skier out. Apparently cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing are very popular in the spring. Me, I’ll just be happy to get out hiking again!


You'll notice that my photos are very sun fixated this week. I got a lot of positive feedback about my walrus post - I was surprised! Next week I'll open your eyes to the wonderful world of polar bears and share only the most interesting things I have learned about them since moving to Nunavut.