Hudson's Bay

Awesome day.

After school, dropped into the regional science fair. Students from all over the Cree School Board came. Saw one of the two science teachers, C., I was working with just a week ago. He came up with two Sec 3 students, who did a project on solar panels. Unfortunately, in Waswanipi there were no Sec 4s or Sec 5s that did projects from all over. There were some pretty amazing projects and I even got a presentation in French (and interacted a little bit in French). The fair was suppose to go from 4-6 pm but the judges didn't even finish until 7:30 pm!!!

After that walked over to the gym. I snapped this one because the light over the bay was beautiful. I will need to go by and sit in on a sunset sometime (damn wish I had a tripod). Too bad Dave is not here with me he would love it.

Here I am at the gym. It is on the Inuit side (so even Cree have to come here to use the gym) and I played in the volleyball tournament that the Youth Fusion team had set up. I was happy to play a little - most of the ones that came were Inuit. The sports here are intense. The gym is full of people and busy busy busy. These kids are AMAZING at sports because they work hard and train. I met lots of little kids and learned lots of clapping games. I gave out stickers to 10 different kids (originally I wanted to give to one but then they all swarmed me). There were some pretty cute kids that I just wanted to pick up and take home with me.

Walked back and got lost a little bit but it is so safe here. There are always people around, whether zipping in Ski-doos or just wandering through the street. And the lights .... the northern lights are going crazy tonight! Absolutely stunning. Green flickering all across the sky.

Photos don't do it justice, you just have to come up and see it. I think at least once, every Canadian should come up and be up in the north.

Whapmagoostui

Last night, we stayed in Chisasibi. In the morning, I did a drop-off/pick-up of equipment at the high school and then jetted to the airport for our flight at noon. Between the three of us women, we had 880 pounds of check-in luggage. Since we're only allowed 30 pounds check-in each, the excess ended up costing an additional $580. I swear, we had about 16 boxes and suitcases. Here I am getting on the Air Creebec plane. Yaaaay!!!

This sounds stupid but I am very VERY proud that I can say 'bonjour' and 'merci' with an accurate Quebecois accent that the stewardess thought I was Francophone. When she asked me what I wanted - northern Quebecois accent is thick and I don't know what she even said - plus I forgot how to say 'ginger ale' I had to switch back to English. It was nice to sit on the plane and not do ANYTHING for 35 minutes!!

Moving between place to place is hard work*. We've been on the road off and on 5 days now - having left Waswanipi on Saturday, to Rouyn, then to Waskaganish to drop off other staff and FINALLY in Whapmagoostui (wah-MASH-to), our final destination.



Here, A. is guarding our stuff at Whapmagooshui:

T., who is another staff, had arrived 2 days earlier. He took us to the school and we met some teachers, got ourselves sorted and had a mini meeting. At the end of the day, we got introduced to everyone at a teacher's meeting. Mostly the school is supportive but there is one person causing a big pain for us. I cannot publicly go into details about this.

After work, we walked to the Northern Supermarket on the Inuit side. Whapmagoostui is half Inuit and half Cree. They don't like each other as the Cree wanted to be part of the deal with Hydro Quebec. The Inuit voted against it. Whapmagoostui is the one Cree community that has, therefore, lost the opportunity to get funding (i.e. $) from Hydro Quebec. The other Cree communities ended up having schools built by Hydro Quebec and they are nice schools. This school board is probably one of the richest ones.

Anyway, there are lots of food choices at the Northern. There's even tofu! It's nearly $3 though. A. and I shared milk, eggs and a block of butter ($7.99). I think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are $2.05 for three. Actually everything is not as horribly expensive as I had expected. We walked back and a dog followed us. T. said not to pet them because there is a rabies epidemic here right now and you can't tell which has rabies and which does not.

We didn't get back and unpack until 7 pm. I ate a giant bowl of pasta with some premade pesto and devoured my poor asparagus which I've been carting around since SATURDAY (from supermarket to car to hotel fridge bar to car to fridge to car to ... you get the idea). Man I took a plethora of food up - a suitcase full and a cardboard box. I even have daikon, beets, kai lan, tempeh, two bags of Daiya and a giant box of salad, two bottles of Kraft salad dressing. T. said that almond milk is popular here since it is portable and doesn't have to be fridged. I am so happy but I haven't been able to find it yet. For now I'm drinking milk with my expensive Quebecois granola. I don't like drinking milk but I got sick of eating yogurt with it. I can't wait to find almond milk again!! I hate milk!!!!

I'm not exhausted, just glad to be sitting. It's actually nice that it's a little bit of a workout to move stuff around (bruises suck though). Now I am sleeping at a research centre owned by University of Laval. I get my own room with 2 sets of bunk beds. This is only for 2 days as we wait for another bed to be moved to an actual house. Man we've been moving for 5 days - I don't want to move anymore!!! I have to repack all my food ...

Internet here is slow so I really can't upload very many photos. It took me 10 minutes to do 2!! Keeping a blog is also work. As I settle in more I can slowly catch up on phone calls. It's too hard moving so much right now for me to call anyone. I'm glad that at least I got to talk to my grandma for 45 minutes last week as I had not called her in 3 weeks.

OK drink some water, lotion all my dry skin and bed.


*As I was going to take a shower tonight, I noticed that I had accumulated a lot of bruises. There were a few on my knees and a few long bruises on my shoulder.

James Bay Highway

It was about 6 hours from Waskaganish to Chisasibi. All three of us girls drove - I drove for a couple of hours and we listened to Bruce Peninsula. I'm also happy to know that I have another coworker who likes Fleet Foxes and Great Lake Swimmers and Hollerado!!!!

Here is the gas station at 381 km. You have to fill up here because there is nothing for quite a distance.


After fueling up, we went to use the bathroom. A woman came in and mumbled something and I understood her!!! She said that it was cold in Cree. (The other words I know in Cree right now are purple, black and white)

More info on the James Bay Highway at this website. You can also take a virtual tour from the computer!!!! For Vince and Sonja - the dams were not visible from the road but if I head back here later I can sign up for a tour.


When we got in it was dark at 9 pm, we saw the northern lights. Holy cow the sky is green!!!

Leaving Waswanipi

Last night, D., L., E., A., S. and I stayed up for beer and pizza. It turned into a little jam party with a ukelele, guitar and more beer. Our boss even had a few with us. This is a really good crowd. Everyone is just awesome and it's sad that we have to split up now! L. and I took a picture and I drew something for her to keep on the wall of the house.

This morning there was freezing rain. I slipped and landed on my ass coming right out of the house. D. saw as he was looking out the window and said it was pretty funny. Bossman said we couldn't leave. We waited until it started snowing and the roads became better (snow is better for grip). So I got to sleep in until 11:30 this morning on the couch. I haven't been able to sleep in much since I started this job. Couches are actually good for me because they force me to sleep on my back.

Went to the local hotel for lunch - grilled cheese, coleslaw and fries with a fruit platter ($15 including tax and tips). Packed up our gear and then said goodbye to half the crew. It was a sad and awkward goodbye but we will see each other again come Goose Break when we head to Collingwood to train in May. I took a picture of the staff walking to another house.

I am sitting in the back of the car - we are packed and ready to go!

Off to the Next Place

NOTE: Been lazy and not been taking pictures.

Saturday: Left Waswanipi and got to Rouyn in 4 hours. Did some shopping and ate at a nice cafe named after Antoine Saint-Exupery. Boss and a few new hires came in. We had dinner. I tried to finish a pint of Stella and failed (I've never had an entire pint on your own). Chitchatted with A., who is going up to Great Whale to me. I love meeting other people who also worked in Korea!!! COREAAAA!!!

Sunday: There were 9 of us that met up for breakfast. Newbies make me laugh because they remind me of what it was like a few weeks ago, shy and not confident about speaking French. Got groceries for Great Whale at the Rouyn Loblaws - also bought $300 worth of snacks to take up north too (for the students). We moved equipment around the three cars - 2 headed back to Collingwood and the rest of us seven staff drove 6 hours to Waskaganish. I took one for the team and rode with the boss all the way up - good chance to get to know him better. OMG he likes Great Lake Swimmers too!!! Got in around 9 ish, still not knowing where we were going to stay. Drove to the high school, ambushing a custodian leaving the building. He took us to the principal's house and I played with My Little Pony (the ferris wheel is motorized!!!) with her daughter and her friend. Principal called another custodian who found the keys and took us to the houses. Unpacked some food, shower and then went to bed by 10:30 am.

Monday: It's a PED day (PD day) today so the school is empty. But we are here to run a teacher's workshop as well as a kid's science drop-in thingy. Helped set up teacher giveaway packages for boss' workshop in the morning - filling bags and ziplocs. Then moving equipment around. When we had a break, E. and I drove around town and there is BMO here!!! And there is a sign in Cree!! Training some new teachers now and going through Sec 5 exams.

Last night on the couch

Presents for Students

Last science class!!

I had students play 'Guess Who?' with elements from the periodic table. I taught the teacher how to run it - it worked well and most of the class was engaged and trying hard. It helped that I said I'd buy them prizes - an individual bag of chips. Of course, I didn't get the chips until after the last day of class, but I told the science teacher to pass them on next Monday.

I wrote little notes, each one personalized for the Sec 4 French kids. I saw a few in the halls on Friday afternoon so I passed them on and got some thank you's. H. said I am cute and sweet for doing so.