You Big Baby

Today was my first day actually teaching the kids. It went really well. The kids were angels in comparison to the last few days. I think that their regular teachers threatened them within an inch of their life before they were dropped off to ESL. I won't complain though. I realized today that ESL children need more repetition and that in thirty minutes everything planned doesn't necessarily get accomplished. I have learned this in numerous classes, but it didn't really hit home until I put it into practice.
I learned today that people in Nunavut, Pond Inlet, especially are terrified of house flies. This may seem like an unrealistic fear to us, but I guess what happened is there was a mistake in translation years ago. Nurses tried to explain that house flies carry germs and should be swatted away from babies, but they took germs as meaning lice which is an uncommon occurrence up here. Also, house flies only appear for a few weeks in the summer so it is something unfamiliar to them. They have barely any insects up here.
Today the children in one of my classes learned one of my fears. They were getting called out of class to get their TB tests and when they returned their arm was still bleeding a bit. For any one who knows me my own blood, let alone others blood, makes me squeamish and very faint. The kids discovered this and chased me around the room with their blood stained arms held out yelling "big baby"!
Today was also my first experience doing a northern recess duty. For those of you who complain about duty, I don't want to hear it. I know I myself well never complain again. I almost turned into a popsicle. Duty here is quite different. Here it is quite acceptable for children to rough house. This caught me off guard because at home whether meant out of fun or spite a fight would be sent inside to the office. Here as long as it is good spirit it is allowed. I guess it is just part of their culture. The kids also run around poking each other. It seems to be some kind of game. My plan is to figure it out. It will be my goal for the end of the week.
After school today I had my first staff meeting. It was spoken in both English and Inuktitut. It was such a great experience. I love this place and I love learning new things everyday!
Sarah and I are just about to head out for our second adventure. This time we have packed extra batteries to ensure we get all the pictures we want.

On a side note, one thing I find fantastic about the schools up here is that they provide breakfast for all their students first period. You should see the storage room. It is filled with boxes upon boxes of granola bars, cereal, pancake mix, etc that arrived specifically on the sea lift for this program.