An Arctic Blizzard

     Today, we had a blizzard, which meant the whole town shut down for the day. Visibility was less than 2km (most times, less than 1km), winds were 50-60km/hr, and temperature was -15 degrees Celsius. I was going to go outside to take a picture of the houses below, but was advised not to (especially, since I've been recovering from an illness the past few days... and it is a real possibility that you could get lost in a white-out). Instead, I opted for the safety of the house, and took a photo of the houses below through the dining room window. Normally, the view is majestic: mountains in front of mountains, a beach and harbour to the right, colourful homes below. None of that was visible at this time of day, and this was during a more clear part of the blizzard! However, we made the best of it by spending time with our lovely neighbour, Maata.

     Maata is a really interesting lady; she's taking a course at the Arctic College presently, and is also 8 months pregnant! In just a few weeks, she will be leaving to go on confinement (this is what it's called when a pregnant woman flies to Iqaluit for the last few weeks of pregnancy and stays in the boarding house there until she gives birth; if all goes well, the mother and child are released to go home a few days afterwards, which is very similar to the way we do it in Halifax, just different names for things). She taught me a new card game, called Speed, and she's a ferocious player! We had a lot of fun.

     Katie and Jess had some walrus in their freezer, which they took out for myself and Maata. She said that she and her baby were craving country food, and though still not feeling 100% from my illness, really wanted to give it a try. Now, in the south, my palate is pretty eccentric (so, I've been told), and I know that I tend to like a lot of things that my southern pals do not. However, even I was somewhat surprised to find that I LOVED it! I ate it raw and thawed, I ate it frozen, I ate it in a soup, I dipped it with bannock (is there a Dr. Seuss book in the making, here?). It tasted both meaty and fishy (in a soup, mostly just meaty). Above, Maata is cutting up some frozen chunks with an ulu, to munch on. She and Jess made some delicious walrus soup. Maata laughingly told me that I was really Inuk, because I liked it so much.