the hunt for the bear-a-sauras goes on

I am faced with what i think any amateur faces when blogging... there’s way too much to write about when you don’t keep up to date and i often procrastinate. To keep things simple i’ve decided to make use of my favourite skill...organization. brace yourself.

The River Breaks:

When the ice on the Mackenzie River cracks the ice shifts and the chunks of ice move on top of one another or push each other together to form mini icebergs. This is possibly the coolest thing I have seen since I first saw the mountains out West. The ice is still so thick and is frozen in a chandelier type formation. Okay this is really tricky to explain but let’s just say it would make a sweet postcard. There are so many of these icebergs that are slowly being pushed out of the way so that the water can move through. The Titanic surely would have no hope at this time of year.

May Queen:

It’s a tradition in Norman Wells that every year in May the firefighter’s association holds an event called May Queen in which all the new men in town have to dress up as women and compete in a little competition to see who is the best woman.  I have to say it was almost as fun getting the new guys ready then it was watching them perform. Ben let me paint his nails and some went as far as shaving (obviously they didn’t think about how unfortunate it’s going to be when their hair grows back worse than ever) There must have been 50 men in the sassiest outfits I have ever seen, it was absolutely wild. I couldn’t help thinking about how this would NEVER happen in Toronto, cross dressing yes, but not like this.

Epic Hikes:

We have so far been on three epic hikes. The first Ben and I went on alone and involved a romantic date in the dump as well as a failed attempt to make it to the lake due to mass amounts of snow. Then the snow melted and we went up to jackfish lake and went on the second hike along the edge of this crazy cliff, gorgeous. It made me want to pack a bag of necessities and run away into the wilderness and live off the land, then i got hungry and quickly changed my mind, apparently living off the land doesn’t include macaroni. The third hike involved mass amounts of bear poop and so much swamp water it flowed over my rubber boots so that i was literally walking knee deep in swamp, delicious. I believe if i keep hiking i’ll either find gold which will commence the second gold rush or i’ll end up face to face with a bear, please note that i would prefer the gold rush.

Along with all this I’ve been working at the daycare which has been wild. Nothing like bugger filled adorable babies to set a smile on your face. It’s this fad for babies to wear intense sun blocking sun glasses up here as the sun is super strong but every time i put them on their faces i can’t help but laugh. I call my group “the cool dudes” i’m sure they’d appreciate the nickname if they could talk, i'll have to take the burps and dirty diapers as a sign of affection instead. Also it is bear season and I’m trying to decide which to purchase, bear mace or a shot gun, please provide your opinion as this is a difficult decision. On the one hand, police hold mace so that might be kind of cool, plus there’s less chance i’ll accidently injure someone. On the other hand a shot gun definitely looks more intense but i don’t know how to use one and so the chance that someone else would accidently end up in an insane amount of pain is probably rather high. Yours to contemplate while i continue my days polar bear-less.

china, james brown, and the cops

May and still cold. Will the winter ever end? Went out to the chinese restaurant (yes they have one of those here) and had an actually decent chinese meal. okay it wasn't like toronto chinese but it was still pretty good, i've realized you have to lower your standards a bit. one must accept that the bruised apples aren't that bad and that 2 degrees is the new 10. after our chinese meal i thought it would be brilliant to entice Ben into a romantic walk down to the pier followed by walking home along the snow covered beach.... boy was i wrong. i mean the pier is still my favorite place as it has a wicked view but the beach walk was definitely not as 'sweet' as i thought it would be. It took me a while to convince Ben that the snow on the beach wasn't extremely deep and so naturally the second we both made it onto the beach we sunk up to our shoulders in snow and had to find a way to shimmy out of it and lie flat on the snow spreading out our body weight in hopes of staying afloat. finally edging our way to the end of the beach we then had to trek through the forest that divides the beach from the main road while being constantly terrified of the hibernating bears possibly (let's be honest, probably is more appropriate than possibly) sleeping below us. by the time we reached the road we were soaked from the waist down and completely covered in mud. oh the north. on monday night we went to soccer. i was the only girl (this happens often here in the wells, let's just say it's a man's world- but it wouldn't be nothin' without a woman or a girl). anyways we played four on four and feeling the need to compete with the aggression of the game i managed to push or trip every player out there, including the town priest- whom i actually ended up biting, well to be fair he did run into my mouth. it's still decently cold here and were waiting for the day when the river ice breaks free and floats away (apparently this is a big deal here, i'll try and take a photo but it'll probably just be white...) i had to get a police check the other day so i went to the rcmp office, they have three officers here and no actual policemen. i thought they'd be really tough and butch as they have to take charge of this whole town but they're not. Quite simply, i'm pretty sure there was a reason they dispatched these particular officers here and it wasn't because norman wells is crime ridden and these are the men to stop the brutalities. we've now fully moved into our trailer and once i figure out how to fix our camera i'll take some photos. although before i do i believe i should change my name to something more trailer park-y, like betsy-sue or annabelle-may. still avoiding them nordic bears.

across the universe

this marks the official beginning of my second week in norman wells and i already feel like i know this place from the back of my hand. a fact about norman wells: it was formerly a hamlet and just became a village during the 80's, they actually have official documents in the town hall to prove they are now to big to be called a hamlet, this is taken very seriously up here, no joke. so my first full weekend here, what an adventure. on friday we watched the royal wedding, how hot was the queen looking! anyways, that was all good and fun until we decided it was an appropriate time to take a drive up to jackfish lake for some stargazing. this is where the true northern wilderness adventure began as we managed to get the car so stuck on a bed of snow there was no chance we were going to be able to move it. five of us, alone, in the forest, and now its getting late and finally starting to get dark and cold, more or less the makings of a wonderful horror flick with anthony hopkins and someone incredibly sassy staring as me. we got slightly creative, using branches under the tires for traction and the pole end of a rake to try and dig the wheels out but sadly no luck, this continued on for another hour, then another hour and after 2.5hrs we all gave up just in time to see the wildest northern lights one could have ever imagined. waist deep in snow, alone in the wild, on the side of a hill, in darkness. it's strange because it's been so light out until so late here that usually you don't see the northern lights but that night (possibly do to the fact that we were in the middle of no where) they were out in full swing. they came right over our heads so bright and low it seemed like you could actually touch them. they were way cooler than the fox i saw the other day which im pretty sure is the arctic version of a raccoon. it was the most surreal experience ever and for a second there i actually appreciated the arctic, then i remembered how i couldn't move due to the snow and that lurking behind any of these trees a polar bear could be waiting for me and the appreciation vanished as quickly as it came. after this display of brilliance we gave up on freeing the car and walked home luckily avoiding any ferocious wildlife or the arctic version of jack the ripper. other than this northern man vs. wildly stuck car experience nothing too much has changed. there's an incredible amount of static up here and so everywhere i go my hair stands on end like that electricity experiment at the science centre and i get the most painful and loud shocks, possibly to remind you that although you are in the middle of nowhere you are still alive. the other day i was running on the treadmill and went to grab hold of the bar as i was getting really tired, i got the most intense shock, it was as if the treadmill was saying "don't give in you lazy bugger" so i've decided to sign up for a marathon they have here so as to not anger the treadmill again. the best part is that it's called the bearathon marathon (moment for chuckling) and just for competing you get a t-shirt (probably with a bear on it), a medal (also probably with a bear on it), and bbq (fingers crossed it isn't bear meat), now that is my kind of marathon, it's in june so i'll have to start preparing but i won't complain as there isn't THAT much else to do. i must say i'm grateful to be hidden away in NWT after last nights elections as i can promise you harper would NEVER come up here, it's no longer a hamlet after all, and we definitely aren't producing any fighter jets. the polar bear ain't got nothin' on me.