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.