First Impressions

So here I am. The most north I've ever been...Iqluit, Nunavut. Population: 7000+

A few hiccups to start off with: I forgot my laptop!!! And the apartment has wireless internet. I also brought with me study questions on CDs. It's pretty disappointing, but the pros I guess are I can waste less time surfing the net, and I'll be forced to study at the hospital. I also forgot to pack my favorite comfy jeans.

I enjoyed my last cup of vanilla latte at the Ottawa airport, which I had to down quickly before going through security. I started buying all sortsa junk food at the airport too in this panic that I couldn't buy anything in Baffin. I bought this book called "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" ... great so far, review to come.

Air North was great! It was a nice 3 hour flight. There was meal service!! Like a whole tray of food: scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, fresh fruit, muffin, coffee, tea, juice, water (in your own little water bottle). Prior to the food service, they came around with hot steaming towels. After the meal, there was a large warm cookie in a tin foil bag. And just before landing, we got hard fruit candies. There were pillows and blankets on the seats too.

I think people think I'm Inuit. The security person in Ottawa looked at my boarding pass and asked "going home"?

The town looks like a fishing village. All the houses are on stilts (like portables classrooms in elementary school)...something about damaging permafrost if they dug foundations. The tallest building is 6 stories. There is one paved road, and no sidewalks. They paint buildings random colors without regard to esthetics. Sand flies everywhere. The weather's sunny and 10 C or so. This weekend it's Canada Day, next weekend, it's Nunavut Day. Two long weekends, yay!

The apartment is nice. Modern furnishings. Two other residents are coming up this weekend, and hopefully, they'll want to do things together. Outside the back door, I have a view of the bay - floating cracked ice and the terraine across the way looks like the Rockies flattened out but without greenery (if that makes any sense).

I haven't done any shopping yet. There's a big grocery store 30min walk away. The cabs are a $6 flat rate, whever you go, and they will pick up multiple people along the way too. Advice has been to get in the front seat cuz you'll never know who you'll have to sit next to.

Instand noodle count: 9 (I brought 10 packs with me). They don't have deep bowls or chop sticks in the aparmtent, so I had to eat it out of the pot with a fork and spooon.