This past week has been like my birthday and Christmas all wrapped into one. At work I was given a new monitor, mouse and chair; I got my new Nunavut driver's license, (unfortunately, my last name was spelled "Pagues") I got some really good stones delivered that I had ordered from Etsy a while back and then we got our stuff.
I was starting to feel pretty impatient about not having our things. Phil has been living here for the past 5 months on his own with the bare essentials, and although, his things were new and nice and we had what we needed, it just didn't feel quite like home. I could tell that the kids were getting tired of playing with the same cars and books day in and day out, and there's only so much walking you can do in this place. Not to mention, up until about a week ago, Seb was still telling me how he didn't like this home, and I knew if he saw some of his bigger trucks and had HIS blanket, he would start to settle in. We found out Sunday that our stuff had arrived, but that it would take a few days to get a team together to deliver our things (which I mentioned in my previous blog I believe?) Anyways, it was set to arrive Tuesday morning and I couldn't wait. They said it would be here between 10 and 10:30. I decided it would be best if I went to work that day and would leave once Phil called me to tell me they had arrived, as he had the day off and was home with the kids. Well, 10:30 turned into 12:30 and it wasn't until 3:00 that I finally got the call that our stuff was coming (and this was after angry phone calls to the moving company from Phil had taken place). I walked home from work and checked off the inventory as they brought in boxes and kept wondering to myself what would be missing and what would be broken? It's pretty expected in any move, but there is a special reputation about a Northern move and having your things sit at the hanger of the airport overnight and people scavenging your belongings. After bringing in all the boxes, there were 6 on the list that were missing - and after some investigative work the 6 had been narrowed down to 2. Like I said in my previous blog, things I was missing the most were my vacuum, mop, garbage can and the kids blankets. Well, my mop was bent in half, the vacuum was missing until the end of the unpacking, the garbage can was a no-show and I was just really grateful that the kids blankets showed up. One thing that went missing though was my years' supply of personal hygiene products (i.e. shampoo, conditioner, gel, hairspray, soap, face cleansers and creams; my flat-iron, my shower curtain, washroom garbage can, and the kids bath toys.) Such an expensive loss to me - and it's not like I use regular cleaning stuff that I could just go to the store and grab a couple of the over-priced ones. I use organic, toxic free, paraben and sulphate free cleaning products - not the most popular thing here. It's not the end of the world as our broken items like our crock-pot and my full-length mirror and the missing contents will all be replaced, but still. I only packed enough of my hygiene stuff to get me through a couple of months and it will be a while before I get paid from work or we get reimbursed the amount that was lost in the move, so I'm going to have to get creative.
Another really interesting thing is that we sold what we felt were all our worldly possessions before we got here - but as we unpacked, we both felt like it was just way too much stuff! I was already making lists in my head as to what I could sell. It says a lot about how much stuff we buy and really could do without. As happy as I am to have my books (my books make anywhere feel like home) and I'm happy to have the kids toys and blankets, and things they've made their own in their short time on this earth, I would be very happy to get rid of at least half of it and be happy with the little bit we do own. I find this place to be full of healthy reminders. :)
In other news, work is still going great. My crew are doing better every day and I've been really grateful for the compliments I've received from some of the nurses at the health centre. This morning I was in the kitchen and one of the nurses I took a liking to the instant I saw her, tracked me down in the kitchen and told me that she had done a number of rotations at this health centre and every time it was such a headache, but that these past two weeks have been the most pleasant time she's had here and she feels as though there is so much more organization in the front and so much more communication. She said that I was a true asset to the clinic and a real gem. I felt like a geek because I wanted to cry. haha!
The weather here has been phenomenal! The sun is so warm and bright, but the air is so fresh (other than the days where they are emptying peoples' sewage tanks and you're almost gagging on the smell of human waste). It's become really beautiful here. The ground is dry enough to walk on with runners or hikers and the ice melting on the ocean is crystal blue; the river is starting to break through the snow which means Char season is just around the corner. I realized that when we were living in the city I got so comfortable with the idea of my anonymity and I think that's why I've been dealing with this feeling of being more and more shy as I get older. But here, there's nowhere to hide and people expect you to wave and say hello, and everybody knows each others names and you can live one of two ways. You can either be well-behaved, polite and social without creating a poor reputation for yourself; or you can keep to yourself, be unfriendly, and have inappropriate outbursts, leaving people with nothing positive to say about you. I choose option A. I'm still dumb-founded by how nice people are here. I've had the opportunity to have a few meetings at work with some well-respected locals working in the government and felt so honoured that as I shook their hand to properly introduce myself they pulled me in and gave me an Inuit kiss, which is a little something like this: (put on your imagination hat for a second) it starts by ending up cheek to cheek but then imagine that you had placed your cheek on someone and then you were going to proceed to sniff the entire length of their cheek. It's quick, but it's like a cheek rub/sniff. It's really cute.
Also, in my last post I forgot to mention the status on our daycare life. Phil and I opted out on the idea of daycare. I just had this awful heart-wrenching feeling the day before they were supposed to go and was so grateful at how supportive Phil was. We asked a very good friend of ours if she would mind for the time being until she started her new job to watch the kids at our place and we would search for a nanny who would be willing to come and live with us. Anyways, there is possibly another mountie's wife in town who is on mat leave from having twins and she was willing to watch the kids once our other friend started work, and we will hunt at a feverish pace for a nanny. It will be weird having someone come to live with us, but it will only be a short time since we won't need them in Iqaluit and it will be a great opportunity for them as well as a big financial bonus. So cross your fingers we find someone soon.
Anyways, this 24 hour daylight is killing my internal clock. It's late, I need sleep, SOOOOOO.....
Until next time...
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