Kublunuk ("White Man")

You'll all be pleased to know that I have made it safe to Cambridge Bay, Canada! I would love to send each of you a postcard, but unfortunately the price of postcards (like everything else) is ridiculously high ($2.00 each!). More on that later, though.

Yesterday, I took off from Charlotte to begin my journey. After flying through Chicago O'Hare, Edmonton and Yellowknife, I finally feel like an experienced flyer. The hardest part was getting through customs, where the customs man intensely interrogated me about where I was going, why I was going, what school I went to, what the name of my scholarship group was, what I was majoring in...Evidently, not many college students go to the Arctic to volunteer? Anyways, I ended up in Yellowknife for the night, where I went to a local hole-in-the-wall diner and proceeded to be hit on by a couple of on-their-way-to-being-drunk men. Quite fun, indeed. The blueberry pancakes and maple syrup made the whole experience worthwhile, though.

This morning, I had my first alien encounter (me being the alien, of course) at the Yellowknife airport, when I asked the girls sitting next to me, "Where are y'all from?" I have never been looked at so strangely in my life. I repeated, "Where are you from?" and suddenly gleams of understanding appeared in their eyes.

On the plane to Kugluktut I had the pleasure of sitting next to a nice lady named Marg. Marg answered a lot of my questions about Cambridge Bay, including my very first "stupid American" question, which went something like this:
"Um, I don't mean to be a stupid American, but I've been wondering...Are there polar bears near Cambridge Bay?"
Marg laughed, and said, "No, no polar bears, but we do have grizzlies every now and then!"
I replied, "I'm sure Mom will be thrilled!"

Over the course of the plane ride, Marg helped me solidify my knowledge about the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay. I knew already that it was a town of about 5,000 people situated on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. It is the capital of Kitikmeot (pronounced Kit-ick-mut), Nunavut's most western region of three. It has a bank, a fitness center, two schools (one K-7 and one 8-12), a college, a few co-ops and a KFC(northern southern food!!). It's extremely safe. Almost everyone speaks English. Currently, the ice is just starting to melt and there are at least four months of ski-dooing left. However, I should never go out of the town by myself because of the wolves and foxes. It's almost 24-hour daylight (I found out later that the sunset is around after midnight and the sunrise is at 3:30 am) and that I should make sure my clock indicates whether it is AM or PM so I don't panic in the middle of the night, thinking I have overslept my alarm.

When we got to Cambridge Bay, it was a pleasant -14 degrees (Celsius, of course). Max, the guy at the Arctic Islands Lodge who helped me find a place to stay, took me to the lodge to introduce me to Charity, the assistant manager who is graciously allowing me to stay in her house for a while. Max took me on a tour of the town. My favorite part was seeing the all of the snow-covered boats and the "beachfront property" that currently looks like everywhere else in the town...icy.

After walking down to the Visitors Center to take a look at some stuffed animals (btw, musk ox are UGLY), I stopped in at the co-op to buy some dinner. This was where I encountered the most shocking thing about Cambridge Bay yet. The food prices are very, very, very high, even when you convert them to American dollars. A jar of mayonnaise costs $10. A pack of cookies costs almost $6. I was pleasantly surprised at the price of soft drinks, though...Only $2.12 for a 12-pack of cans! Then I realized that it was $2.12 for each can, and that a 24-pack was $24.99! I guess I'm going to learn to kick the soft drink habit pretty quickly. : )

For the past few hours, I have been talking with Talia, a bubbly 10th grader who likes traveling, physics and music. In fact, she just got back from her school's Easter break trip to Italy, and it was all I could to stifle the Roman history nerd inside of me. We have talked about all sorts of things: music, movies, boyfriends, heritage, suicide, languages, alcoholism, prices, history, etc. She is very open about her evaluations of Cambridge Bay and is certainly very mature for a 10th grader.

More later on all the cool things Talia told me. Tomorrow, I'm gonna go to my first day on the job at the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, which is located in Kiilinik High School.