Some of you may know that I have been trying to organize a trip to Lutselk'e, a fly-in only community on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. Our school board runs a charter flight every few months for IT and other support, since Lutselk'e is a very small community with limited access. Of course, I encountered a few issues with the process, namely insurance to get on the plane etc. etc. But I found out I'll be heading there tomorrow (as some sort of IT slave)! Very excited, the East arm is supposed to be beautiful. Hopefully I will see some of it and not just be inside all day
Anyway, there's lots to talk about but that's the big news these days. Maybe going camping on the long weekend (and trying to avoid hungry bears). How are you spending your long weekend?
Mahsi,
Galen
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Problem With Waiting 3 Months to Post...
... is that there's far too much to talk about.
At the moment, I'm on Spring Break (which means, of course, that i have time to blog again)! But, it's still just below zero and a snowstorm hit today. Hmmm, let's do a quick recap of the last three months. Bear in mind there's a lot of things I won't discuss in this particular forum, so you'll just have to ask me in person :).Got some pretty interesting stories, so remind me!
Got to go skidooing for the first time. And again. And again. I think it'll take me a long time to get bored of that! One of the teachers was kind enough to offer up his skidoo any time I wanted to use it, which was really generous and really appreciated. Took it on trips up and down the river, and out onto the lake. Ran out of gas one time just as I was leaving town (about an hour walk back). That was a good lesson, but a tough one (still, could have been worse)! Had to call in some favours to get driven back out to the abandoned skidoo in the dark. Skidooing is phenomenal fun, although quite expensive. It also really opens up your outdoor mobility in a town like Hay River. Toronto, not so much.
Got out on the land, a bunch. Sometimes through school programs (trapping camps, which were great)! Sometimes through helping people out, and sometimes through the amazing generosity of the people in town. All of those experiences were wonderful, and I learned a great deal about hunting, trapping, and living in the north. There were certainly some enlightening times (learning how to skin beaver and other animals, learning how to set large animal traps and snares), some exhausting times (hauling water up from the river, driving a skidoo through dense bush all day), and some exciting times (watching the ice break in the wake of the skidoo and getting splashed, chopping straight through inch-thick ice as I was testing it, and having a string of bad luck while out setting beaver traps). There are a few times I've been petrified out here, and most of them happened on the land while riding on the back of someone's skidoo!
Finally got my ultimate program off the ground! Getting about 6-10 people per night, playing 2's or 3's in the gym. It's a good group, and I'm excited we're finally getting it going!
Took a firearms safety course and am now completing my application for a license. Alister claims that this is the beginning of my descent into shotguns, handguns, and then assault rifles. Interested in hunting when I get back to Ontario, but is it really that practical? I have no gear whatsoever, and I can't think of many people who would want to come with me. Anyway, I eat meat. I think it's way more poignant to kill and prepare your meat yourself, rather than buy those little packaged bundles at the grocery store. It makes you appreciate the process more. You see what it took to grow the meat, and that you had to take a life to have meat. I think that's a really valuable lesson about where we fit in with our environment. I do not enjoy killing animals for sport. I enjoy being outdoors, being sensitive to the environment, and participating in the full process of harvesting meat. I'm aware that this is probably going to ruffle some feathers, so feel free to email me and discuss!
Oh, I got into Northwestern!Looking forward to starting the program in September, although I admit it was difficult to go through the admissions process while being up here. It's also tough projecting my mind 6 months into the future, and trying to be clear and present in Hay River. For a month I was seriously considering staying in Hay River for another year. I'll still consider coming back. But those of you who know me well know that I'm seeking a particular type of work, and you can't find that work up here. So something has to give. Maybe in the end, I'll decide that the work I want to do doesn't exist, and move back. Of course, that too would ruffle a few feathers!
Oh! Bernice came up! That was an awesome and intense week! I don't think Bernice thought we'd be so busy! Spent the weekend on the reserve at the K'amba Winter carnival, watching hand games, dogsled races (we followed in a skidoo! Just like the locals!) and eating fry fish and bannock. Went to the falls and hiked around. Ate at many different houses, all of them with fantastic food and wonderfully friendly people. Had a nice couple day on the skidoo. We played around on the river for a bit and then went out along the lakeshore where I flexed my muscles and made a fire. Ate some buffalo stew. Yum! Speaking of buffalo stew, we ate a ton of wild meat (courtesy of another generous friend in Hay River). Maple moose breakfast sausage, buffalo stew, buffalo steak. Yum yum, it was awesome. I don't think bernice expected to eat that well either :)
I've been thinking a lot about my time in the North, especially since I'm not into the last quarter of my year here. I've been criticized a bit for spending most of my waking time volunteering (either at school, or at after-school programs, or helping people out with various projects). There are people who feel that I'm being taken advantage of, and perhaps in a sense I am. Most of the work I do is done for free. But I also feel that I learn a lot from each experience, and that's why I put myself wholly into each one. I've never been so involved with a community, so invested and so accepted. For me, that's going to be the toughest part about leaving the north. I've contributed a great deal to this community, but I've also been given a lot back. I learned what it means to love where you live. I learned what it means to help people out whenever you can, and how much of a difference that makes. My hope is that the lessons and knowledge I gained here stay with me, and are not forgotten when I return to the city.
Finally, I haven't posted pictures in a long time! So here they are, courtesy of Bernice! The astute observer will note that my hair colour is different (it used to be purplish but it's faded to a beaver-esque brown) and that the big frozen lump in one of the photographs is in fact the same waterfall I posted pictures of last Fall. I actually walked behind those falls while they were semi-frozen. Got some great shots, but not an experience I am likely to repeat (far too scary)! Also, look at the fire we made and trees I brought down with my bare hands! Grrr! Manly! Also, Bernice I am sorry I make a face every time you take a photo of me. Now everyone can share your pain!
I hope this extra-long boring post makes up for the preceding extra-long boring time of no posts!
Good luck to you all,
Galen
At the moment, I'm on Spring Break (which means, of course, that i have time to blog again)! But, it's still just below zero and a snowstorm hit today. Hmmm, let's do a quick recap of the last three months. Bear in mind there's a lot of things I won't discuss in this particular forum, so you'll just have to ask me in person :).Got some pretty interesting stories, so remind me!
Got to go skidooing for the first time. And again. And again. I think it'll take me a long time to get bored of that! One of the teachers was kind enough to offer up his skidoo any time I wanted to use it, which was really generous and really appreciated. Took it on trips up and down the river, and out onto the lake. Ran out of gas one time just as I was leaving town (about an hour walk back). That was a good lesson, but a tough one (still, could have been worse)! Had to call in some favours to get driven back out to the abandoned skidoo in the dark. Skidooing is phenomenal fun, although quite expensive. It also really opens up your outdoor mobility in a town like Hay River. Toronto, not so much.
Got out on the land, a bunch. Sometimes through school programs (trapping camps, which were great)! Sometimes through helping people out, and sometimes through the amazing generosity of the people in town. All of those experiences were wonderful, and I learned a great deal about hunting, trapping, and living in the north. There were certainly some enlightening times (learning how to skin beaver and other animals, learning how to set large animal traps and snares), some exhausting times (hauling water up from the river, driving a skidoo through dense bush all day), and some exciting times (watching the ice break in the wake of the skidoo and getting splashed, chopping straight through inch-thick ice as I was testing it, and having a string of bad luck while out setting beaver traps). There are a few times I've been petrified out here, and most of them happened on the land while riding on the back of someone's skidoo!
Finally got my ultimate program off the ground! Getting about 6-10 people per night, playing 2's or 3's in the gym. It's a good group, and I'm excited we're finally getting it going!
Took a firearms safety course and am now completing my application for a license. Alister claims that this is the beginning of my descent into shotguns, handguns, and then assault rifles. Interested in hunting when I get back to Ontario, but is it really that practical? I have no gear whatsoever, and I can't think of many people who would want to come with me. Anyway, I eat meat. I think it's way more poignant to kill and prepare your meat yourself, rather than buy those little packaged bundles at the grocery store. It makes you appreciate the process more. You see what it took to grow the meat, and that you had to take a life to have meat. I think that's a really valuable lesson about where we fit in with our environment. I do not enjoy killing animals for sport. I enjoy being outdoors, being sensitive to the environment, and participating in the full process of harvesting meat. I'm aware that this is probably going to ruffle some feathers, so feel free to email me and discuss!
Oh, I got into Northwestern!Looking forward to starting the program in September, although I admit it was difficult to go through the admissions process while being up here. It's also tough projecting my mind 6 months into the future, and trying to be clear and present in Hay River. For a month I was seriously considering staying in Hay River for another year. I'll still consider coming back. But those of you who know me well know that I'm seeking a particular type of work, and you can't find that work up here. So something has to give. Maybe in the end, I'll decide that the work I want to do doesn't exist, and move back. Of course, that too would ruffle a few feathers!
Oh! Bernice came up! That was an awesome and intense week! I don't think Bernice thought we'd be so busy! Spent the weekend on the reserve at the K'amba Winter carnival, watching hand games, dogsled races (we followed in a skidoo! Just like the locals!) and eating fry fish and bannock. Went to the falls and hiked around. Ate at many different houses, all of them with fantastic food and wonderfully friendly people. Had a nice couple day on the skidoo. We played around on the river for a bit and then went out along the lakeshore where I flexed my muscles and made a fire. Ate some buffalo stew. Yum! Speaking of buffalo stew, we ate a ton of wild meat (courtesy of another generous friend in Hay River). Maple moose breakfast sausage, buffalo stew, buffalo steak. Yum yum, it was awesome. I don't think bernice expected to eat that well either :)
I've been thinking a lot about my time in the North, especially since I'm not into the last quarter of my year here. I've been criticized a bit for spending most of my waking time volunteering (either at school, or at after-school programs, or helping people out with various projects). There are people who feel that I'm being taken advantage of, and perhaps in a sense I am. Most of the work I do is done for free. But I also feel that I learn a lot from each experience, and that's why I put myself wholly into each one. I've never been so involved with a community, so invested and so accepted. For me, that's going to be the toughest part about leaving the north. I've contributed a great deal to this community, but I've also been given a lot back. I learned what it means to love where you live. I learned what it means to help people out whenever you can, and how much of a difference that makes. My hope is that the lessons and knowledge I gained here stay with me, and are not forgotten when I return to the city.
Finally, I haven't posted pictures in a long time! So here they are, courtesy of Bernice! The astute observer will note that my hair colour is different (it used to be purplish but it's faded to a beaver-esque brown) and that the big frozen lump in one of the photographs is in fact the same waterfall I posted pictures of last Fall. I actually walked behind those falls while they were semi-frozen. Got some great shots, but not an experience I am likely to repeat (far too scary)! Also, look at the fire we made and trees I brought down with my bare hands! Grrr! Manly! Also, Bernice I am sorry I make a face every time you take a photo of me. Now everyone can share your pain!
I hope this extra-long boring post makes up for the preceding extra-long boring time of no posts!
Good luck to you all,
Galen
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Time Flies, and walking to find internet
Hey all,
A common refrain for this blog seems to be, "It's been ages since I updated." So I'll spare you. Oh wait....
Anyway, a lot happened in the last two months. I moved (was relocated?) out of the trailer I was staying in due to water coming up through the floorboards (the water was soon followed by it's sinister cousin mould). I am now living in the Hay River highrise (the only highrise in the area, I'm told you can see it from across Great Slave Lake in Fort Providence). There's an interesting history to this building so allow me to find my reading glasses and rocking chair:
In the 70s there was interest in running a pipeline through the NWT (sound familiar?) and at the time, interested parties thought that Hay River would be a great place for an administrative center. Also, as anyone who lives in a city will tell you, it is impossible to operate businesses without a tall building to state your importance. Thus, the high-rise was born. Towering 17 stories of glory above a town of 3,500 people, the highrise was a pinnacle of economic growth. Until the pipeline was cancelled. So instead some people live there. Apparently in it's early years the high rise was quite fancy and a posh place to be (city living in Hay River)! However, it soon gained a reputation for drug use and violence (hope my parents aren't reading this). The high rise still retains this reputation today, although maybe not as pronounced? Really, it isn't that bad, I haven't had any issues and the people are pretty friendly (if drunk, sometimes).
So that is where I live now. I moved away from a 'dodgy' neighbourhood (called Disneyland) into a 'dodgy' apartment, but everything's been cool so far. I miss the trailer though, I miss your cottage feel and wood burning stove and poisonous spores. I miss your free onsite laundry and dishwasher, and cold water at your command (not available in the highrise). I miss walking 20 minutes to school and seeing/hearing domestic disturbances outside my front window (although they weren't that frequent). I miss the cacophony of your heating system which gently lulled (and shook) me to sleep. I miss your mud room with couch. I miss having channels on the tv. I miss the plants and the hordes of flies that lived in those plants.I miss wireless internet that I borrowed from neighbours. I miss how when I ran the washing machine, the living room chair became a bucking bronco.
There's many other things that have happened since my last entry (and even more that happened before that i didn't even talk about). I think I'll pace them out, like some sort of serial novel. In retrospect it will seem that January was a flurry of activity, and the most remarkable part of November and December was that it got down to minus 20.Assuming I update soon.
Hooray!
Galen
A common refrain for this blog seems to be, "It's been ages since I updated." So I'll spare you. Oh wait....
Anyway, a lot happened in the last two months. I moved (was relocated?) out of the trailer I was staying in due to water coming up through the floorboards (the water was soon followed by it's sinister cousin mould). I am now living in the Hay River highrise (the only highrise in the area, I'm told you can see it from across Great Slave Lake in Fort Providence). There's an interesting history to this building so allow me to find my reading glasses and rocking chair:
In the 70s there was interest in running a pipeline through the NWT (sound familiar?) and at the time, interested parties thought that Hay River would be a great place for an administrative center. Also, as anyone who lives in a city will tell you, it is impossible to operate businesses without a tall building to state your importance. Thus, the high-rise was born. Towering 17 stories of glory above a town of 3,500 people, the highrise was a pinnacle of economic growth. Until the pipeline was cancelled. So instead some people live there. Apparently in it's early years the high rise was quite fancy and a posh place to be (city living in Hay River)! However, it soon gained a reputation for drug use and violence (hope my parents aren't reading this). The high rise still retains this reputation today, although maybe not as pronounced? Really, it isn't that bad, I haven't had any issues and the people are pretty friendly (if drunk, sometimes).
So that is where I live now. I moved away from a 'dodgy' neighbourhood (called Disneyland) into a 'dodgy' apartment, but everything's been cool so far. I miss the trailer though, I miss your cottage feel and wood burning stove and poisonous spores. I miss your free onsite laundry and dishwasher, and cold water at your command (not available in the highrise). I miss walking 20 minutes to school and seeing/hearing domestic disturbances outside my front window (although they weren't that frequent). I miss the cacophony of your heating system which gently lulled (and shook) me to sleep. I miss your mud room with couch. I miss having channels on the tv. I miss the plants and the hordes of flies that lived in those plants.I miss wireless internet that I borrowed from neighbours. I miss how when I ran the washing machine, the living room chair became a bucking bronco.
There's many other things that have happened since my last entry (and even more that happened before that i didn't even talk about). I think I'll pace them out, like some sort of serial novel. In retrospect it will seem that January was a flurry of activity, and the most remarkable part of November and December was that it got down to minus 20.Assuming I update soon.
Hooray!
Galen
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