just a small town girl

Well my first week here in Norman Wells is coming to an end and let me tell you it definitely hasn't been lacking in humor. First off 'wing night'... best night ever. It's in this bar they call "big" bar because it's bigger than the only other bar, which I guess they call "small" bar... geniuses. Let's skip right past the fact that the bar floor is carpeted with non other than leopard print carpeting and the walls are lined with taxidermy to the part where the waitress is a petite women with the worst case of googlie eye I've ever seen, you literally cannot tell who this poor women is looking at, so there I am, terrified of offending her, ordering my wings and then cowering in the corner confessing that I am glad I didn't where any leopard print that day. Something I've noticed since I've gotten here is how butch the women here are. I've lately learned to be proud of my height and decent muscle sizes and then I arrived here and am always watching my back as these women could take me out with one swing. I must remember to youtube self defense classes online. I spent three days working for the mayor in which I learned three important facts about him. First, he adopted his students baby and so he's now raising an 8 year old native girl with his partner. He teaches, does community service, marries people, is a coroner and sits on every board or mayor thing ever. Thirdly, he has perfected the art of knowing everything that is happening in town and everything about all the residents and slowly he's teaching me his ways. People here are either extremely kind and wonderful or they are completely off their rockers wacky. The snow is starting to melt, finally, and it's actually not that cold. Ben and I went for a bike ride to the dump (the main attraction of Norman Wells, yes, this is no joke) and we've been on a lot of walks through town (these take about 10 minutes). We also went to the museum, think less like the ROM more like your grandparents attic, but still somewhat interesting. I still find I speak a thousand times faster than everyone and I'm constantly biting my tongue to shut up but I'm hoping that will happen in time. I must share this, as I nearly peed myself when this occurred. A man came into the store today, he looked to be about 18 or so and of first nations decent, he wanted to buy his mother a mothers day present and so I offered him my two cents about candles and soaps and after about half an hour of browsing he came to the cash with the largest figurine of Christ's Last Supper I have ever seen, it was roughly the size of a very fat 3 year old. This is what he chose for his mother, and I pictured the look on my mother's face if I had chosen such a gift and couldn't help but contain my smile as the man paid $200 for Christ and his Disciples. These are the things one thinks about while living in solitude in Norman Wells. Hopefully this weekend will be as wild as the Royal Wedding only a little less Elton John and a little more Atanarjuat the fast runner. In case you were worried, I'm still alive.

the eagle has landed

Arrived safe and sound in Norman Wells and finally beginning to settle in. Frequent panic attacks at the beginning as I was continually reminded of how isolated it is here, but as the days go on the panic flashes are less and less and i'm growing more and more comfortable with this new arctic mentality. So far the strangest thing is how SLOW everything is here. When you do actually see another human being it takes twenty minutes just to get a five seconds conversation over with which has been quite difficult to get the hang of as my mind is racing as quick as the cars on the 401 and my mouth is moving like roadrunner. Luckily Ben still speaks at my tempo so when I'm going crazy from the slowness I can chat with him. Another thing is the lack of shower water. I never thought I would be complaining about that seeing as I used to compete to see how long I could go without showering at camp but it's dusty and trailerpark-y here and showering would make me as happy as a baby with cake. We spent easter sunday having dinner with some of Ben's work friends (one of his friends bottles his own champagne which i may try and do myself this summer, i've already started thinking up names for it but nothing too fabulous yet). It stays bright out here until past 11pm which is pretty wacky but luckily our blinds are darker than darth vader. we went out for dinner last night to "the cabin" to celebrate our 4 year anniversary and we were more or less the only ones in the restaurant, this apparently is EXTREMELY common. Our waitress does work at the school and she was saying they always need extra help there so I'll being putting my name on the substitute teacher list to try and pick up some shifts and make some extra money. I'm spending my first three days working with the mayor (yes the mayor of norman wells is my first friend here haha) he's this wildly eccentric old man with a cane and incredible taste in ties. Anyways he needs helping managing his store so I'm store manager haha, if only promotions were this easy to come by in Toronto. It's super relaxing and slow (as is everything in this town) I've only had 3 customers so far and the day is half over. Tonight is 'wing night' which apparently is a big deal here so i'll be sure to let you all know how that goes. it's been surprisingly warm here and the days are getting longer and longer which is exciting. Okay, I'm off to pretend to have something to do and by that i mean go back to the insane snails pace of the wells. tell the streetcars i miss them. still yet to be devoured.

preparation and arrival

PREPARATION: two days before leaving and mostly everything was packed. last minute. obviously, as mostly everything in my life is crammed into the last most minutes. good friday fights on the phone to rogers, turns out they don't provide service up north of the provinces so not only will i be living in seclusion but i will be without a phone for the first time in a very long time. this is the first moment that made me realize how tied i am to city life and as much as i crave being the adventurous one the thought of being disconnected makes me freak out. the past week i have gotten all of my affairs in order as well as consumed every type of food i have ever craved in fear that they won't have it up north. i've probably gained 500 pounds but not to fear as apparently food is sparse up north.
FLIGHT: had to wake up at 5:30am to get to the airport and fly to edmonton. for the first time ever i sat beside someone who didn't take up half of my seat and smell like old cheese or rotten fart. thank goodness. flight was extremely delayed but they held our connection flight for us to yellowknife. i had to run like a madman to get to it though without any breaks for food and bathroom. the plane to yellowknife was as small as my bedroom only i didn't have a bed and they didn't even have peanuts. the flight to yellowknife was terrifying and beautiful all in one and by the time i arrived i was so exhausted i could barely see straight.
NIGHT IN YELLOWKNIFE: took a cab to the b&b in which my cabbie made me homesick for the maple leafs and front street brewed amsterdam blonde. luckily the b&b couldn't have been sweeter. it was a family run business in the home with the most comfortable bed EVER. took a brief stroll down through old town yellowknife and then hit up shoppers drug mart to buy a hair dryer (i always forget something). there i was in line at shopppers with my clearance hair dryer near tears do to fatigue and homesickness. yes, thats right, shoppers reminds me of home, because besides that the only familiar thing is a dingy a&w across the street. once i return to the b&b i pass out at 8pm watching the big bang easter weekend marathon. wake up at 11pm in panic as it's bright out and i fear i've missed my plane but thats just the north for you. sleep til 4am then more big bang and a beautiful breakfast served with "special" coffee, apparently making "special" drinks is quite popular up here. i guess it warms the bones although it hasn't been that cold. after some bonding time with the 2yr old in footy pajamas at the b&b im off on my final flight to norman wells.
FLIGHT TO NORMAN WELLS: this flight was really short yet we seemed to pass over acres of nothing. it's enough nothingness to make you feel like you are nowhere and you are nothing. suddenly i feel like i may have a heart attack as i am venturing off to such seclusion i can't even picture what life will be like. lets just say you cant even point out norman wells in the arctic until you've actually landed here. the weather is a bit colder than yellowknife but not terrible and ben is there waiting for me! you walk off the plane onto the gravel like the beatles or JFK did back in the good ol' days. basically a rock star of the north. although i am still in EXTREME culture shock i think eventually i'll come around. can't quite get over the trailer life style and the fact that i have maybe seen 5 other people since i got here. the thought that keeps continuing in my mind "where the hell am i?!" day one and still alive. missing my city life and the blood is pumping as i think of my new found arctic adventure. still polar bear free.