Making Acquaintances

Well, tonight was a feast in honour of the new staff in town, and along with the new teachers and nurses (who didn’t attend for some odd reason); I was introduced to the town. (and they applauded! imagine that!) There was about 80-90 folks that came, so about a fifth of the town, which is not bad but could have been better. Apparently it was a big bingo night tonight, so simply the wrong night, lol. The students had put together some graham cracker villages and we were asked to vote on the best one. I picked number 3! Best use of candies :-)

The food was good, and I am beginning to feel somewhat better with my own recovery from an upper respiratory infection. I filled my plate and was able to finish most of it. I was wondering what they would choose to cook, perhaps something traditional, but it was the usual fare for the most part – roast beef (yummy it was!), ham, turkey, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, spaghetti with meat sauce, and shepard’s pie. No desserts though, just mandarin oranges. That was different from things back east where any given supper would see heaps of pies, cakes and trifles. Had I been in my own house with all my cooking stuff, I could have whipped up some things in short order. There is always the next feast though! I met the principal and his wife, (vice principal of course) who seem nice enough, although the VP seems to have a bit of a negative outlook on the community…might be that first impressions are wrong, so I’ll keep an open mind.

The school is beautiful and immaculate. It is fairly new, and a wonderful modern design. The gym has one wall that is all glass, facing into the hallway/entranceway, so anyone can see into the gym at any given time. As well, the school is divided into upper and lower grades, and each has a skylight over a kind of mini-staging area, carpeted seating of some sort. I’ll go for the dime tour another day with the principal so I can see into the classrooms and library. The school is very First Nations themed, including Chipewyan translations on each classroom and office door. Cool. Did I mention that the street signs are also all in Chipewyan as well? I’ll try to get a photo for another time.

The people are quite friendly so far, though you can tell that some are keeping their distance. I would be more social if I wasn’t hacking and coughing over everyone, so have tried to contain my germs somewhat. I did chat up with a few locals tonight though, and look forward to meeting everyone.

I spent more time at work today, most of the day, and began sorting out my office. It sure will be nice to get my own office stuff once the movers arrive, and then it will feel like home. It turns out that the other social worker is not returning and will remain back east to care for her family while her father hopefully recovers (though he is very ill). So it is just me, and in trying to see the silver lining – I have found somewhere to live. The gov apparently does offer housing and because the other gal arrived first, she got it. I had thought she rented it from a local, but it is a government trailer, so I will be able to move in once her things are moved out. She wasn’t here when her belongings arrived by movers, so it is simply a matter of shuffling the boxes and things out to a storage shed, then I will call my fellas in Hay River to deliver my stuff. I can hardly wait! With any luck, I might be settled into my own place by next weekend. Nice. I may even have a phone and internet. I think there is satellite there already, so that’s great. I get the feeling everyone is using Bell Express Vu, so I might have to unload my Star Choice receiver somewhere first.

All in all, the week hasn’t been too bad. The temperature has risen nearly 30 degrees in the last 24 hours. It was –25C yesterday and tonight it is 4C. That’s PLUS FOUR. WTF? I am GLAD of it though, and even walked to the school tonight for the feast. I may even go out for a walk later tonight, once the snowmobilers slow down a bit…until next time…