Brrrrrrrrrrrrr It's cold in here.... we must be Ontarians in this Northern-sphere! (we are lame and loving it)

Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik)! What a place this is, and what a welcome we have had! We arrived in Pond after a short delay in Iqaluit, at 8pm on Wednesday evening... to bright sunlight, and seriously aw-inspiring views. The people we have met the last few days in the community and in the schools (Nasivvik High School and Ulaajuk Primary School) have been equally as amazing and welcoming.

Overhead view coming into Pond!

Despite the almost 20 hours of day light (and even though the sun does set for 4 hours now, the sky is still light 24 hours/day), we slept well in our awesome temporary home at Bob's (a Superintendent here). We spent yesterday and today getting accustomed and familiar with Pond, it's education and health centres, and the public library. The staff at Nasivvik, where we have spent most of our time setting up lessons and chatting with teachers, student assistants and anyone who was around for a talk, are all very accommodating and have said they are excited to have us. We have had a good chat with the Principal of the High School (the awesome Meeka), and have got a better idea of the curriculum we will follow for the next four and a half weeks. We are excited to start teaching at Nasivvik on Monday!
Ulaajuk is a primarily Inuktitut speaking school, so we will hopefully get in there to do a few lessons with a translator or other students... all in all it has been a busy and exciting first few days in Pond.

Nasivvik High School

Liz and I both experienced some freezing fingers and bums this evening when we had an impromptu playing-out (playing outside) session with a group of about fifteen kids! They are all so friendly and came right up to us asking us a million questions in Inuktituk and English. Although Liz and I did go to an Inuktituk class last night at the High school, we are not quite able to follow (anything) of the Inuktitut, but we got by with smiles and piggy-backs. After a lot of games of freeze (literally) tag, we had to head home at around 9 for some dinner! Hello peanut butter!

That's all for now! Tomorrow we head to the flea market in the community centre (C-Hall!), and will maybe walk out to the Ice-berg that's anchored in the shore ice about an hours walk from town!

Lot's of Northern love!
Liz and Reba