Dog Whisperer

Yesterday Sarah and I were able to cross off another item on our Northern bucket list.  The mayor of Pond Inlet took us out with his dog team. We were not only able to experience the ride itself, but we were able to see the preparation that goes into getting the dog team ready to go out. No wonder they charge so much for a trip, there is a lot of work that goes into it. I expected him to use a whip to control the dogs and even though he did have one he barely used it. He seemed to mostly control the dogs with words. It was like he was the dog whisperer. I’m not quite sure what he was saying because it was all in Inuktitut, but whatever it was they always seemed to know exactly what to do. It was amazing. During our trip we caught up to another dog sled team. This excited our dogs and made them speed up. We almost crashed into the other sled on numerous occasions. The man who took us out, Jacob I believe his name was, had to use a metal anchor that goes into the snow/ice to slow them down and stop them to prevent this. Although this was terrifying it was also quite fun. We stopped and talked to the people on the other sled for awhile. Turns out they were on the airplane we were on when we arrived here and that they were just babysitting the team. The team of dogs they had were quite young. They were only about one or two years old and just learning how to run properly in a pack. They were so cute though. She told us that one dog was named Gadhaffi. When we asked why, she replied by saying that the owner named him that because he didn’t like him. One of the dogs, which you will see pictures of, was hilarious. He would refuse to sit on the snow like the rest of the pack. He would park his butt on top of the guy next to him like he was too good for the ground. The other dog just let him do it too. It was a really fun day on the land and an experience that is not common even for people that live here. Our host Pat who has lived in Pond Inlet for over thirty years has not even had this opportunity yet. We were very lucky.

Today we had a professional development day at the school. Here they call them “O” days. Not really sure why. The staff from both the high school and elementary school got together to discuss the IQ principals. This is something that we began to learn about in Nick’s class, but was interesting to see in application to the schools. I feel like I have a much better understanding of it now and even though it is created and based on Nunavut I feel like I can take home and apply a lot of it to the Southern schools as well. It was a very informational day.

Some random stuff:

1.    The air is super dry.  Your nose may possibly feel like it is constantly congested, which mine has. I have almost considered Sarah’s home remedy of pouring warm salt water up it. After seeing her attempt it I am going to hold off for as long as possible.

2.    Kids up here refer to their teachers and administration by their first names. This would bother some people, but to me it just seems natural.

3.    I have learned that crayola markers are not as safe as they are advertised. This past weekend part of my preparation for the next week was coloring Jolly Phonics sheets for the kindergartens and I had an incident. One marker decided to leak all over my duvet and by my duvet I mean my host’s. And of course it had to be bright orange of all colors. For washable markers they are not that easy to get out. It took a lot of time and a lot of stain remover, but all was well in the end. Just an fyi for all you elementary teachers. Color at the table!