Ouch!

It was hard to motivate myself to work today. Not only was it a Friday, but we all got off work after lunch because of the Frolics parade! It was quite fun and I was thrilled to recognize so many people on the floats, including one of my co-workers who volunteers with the Cadets. Cadets is the Canadian equivalent of JROTC, so I was very excited to see them in their full regalia marching in the front of the parade.

The Cadets

Tonight was the Cambridge Bay's Got Talent show! The acts included lots of singing, and some drum dancing, square dancing and line dancing. Between the kids and adult portions of the talent show, Renee presented Mary Kaloudlik's parka to the Cambridge Bay community. Mary is one of "the ladies" at the Heritage Society, and has worked for eight months to finish this parka made in the traditional style with traditional materials and a sunburst hood. As you can see, it is quite beautiful, and will be one of the Heritage Society's greatest treasures!

Mary and her parka

Another interesting thing about tonight was that it was the first time I've ever seen someone with Inuit tattooing in person. Interestingly, none of the elders I have met have tattooing, but it was evidently very popular among Inuit women in the past. The method used to tattoo sounds particularly painful. A needle is threaded through the skin, followed by a piece of stick dipped in oil and soot. It was common for tattoos to be located on the face (mostly radiating out from the center of the face, like in the picture) and hands.

An example of Inuit tattooing

After the talent show, I helped Renee with the canteen (concessions stand) for the family dance. It was quite a humbling experience, because it was the first time I had been around so many kids at one time. The same kids hung around for hours, constantly climbing over and sitting on the counter, yelling, asking for free stuff, asking to "help," etc. Certainly, some of them were very cute, especially a polite two-year-old named Iki with a squeaky voice. However, the majority of them were just too much to handle. I was quite...agitated. I finally explained to them that if they were going to hang around they were not allowed to yell, turn off the lights to the men's bathroom or touch the money. I think I scared the tar out of some kids who I kicked out of the kitchen for screaming at each other. As agitating as the night was, it taught me a lot about the importance of, or lack of importance of, discipline in this culture. Whereas in the culture I come from, the kids would be reprimanded if they screamed, the same is not true here. Of course, I am speaking in broad generalizations and this may not always the case. What I do know for certain, however, is that the entire experience made me think twice about having kids. : )