The Forcast Calls for Snow

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Well well well, look who finally decided to jump back on here. It's definitely been awhile since I last updated this thing. I don't even think that I finished updating my blog from my DBA Tour in 2007. You know, the whole Vancouver Island trip? Yeah, that one.
Well as you can see I've jumped out the window for another adventure! I'm currently chiiling in Iqaluit Nunavut. Haha chilling.... I think right now it's pretty warm out. The temp is looking somewhere in the area of -35 I believe. I just arrived yesterday afternoon. It was a weird way to get up here. The old room mates (parents) were gracious enough to drive me to Ottawa to catch my flight. With that being said, we had to leave Hamilton at midnight and drive all night to make it to Ottawa at roughly 5:30am. My flight left at 10am so after foraging for some breakfast we killed time hanging out with the Ottawa airport until my flight left. Something amazing happened while I was there though. For the first time ever, I went through security and didn't set off any bells and whistles! That never happens!! I'm proud of myself. So yeah, I jumped on the plane, and found my seat infront of two super young girls. They were probably 3 and 7 years old. Definitely not the age of quietness. It's kinda silly because I switched my seat on the plane to try and get a better window seat and to not have someone sitting beside me. I accomplished that goal. But unfortunately I didn't realize that the people behind me could also be a minor threat to my sanity. For the second time in this post I am proud of myself. I didn't lose my shit on them. The younger of the two kept crying and saying how she wanted to go home, and the older kept reaching forward and touching my sweater. The only way I could stay out of jail was to pretend I was sleeping. Anyhoo, enough about that. The flight up here was fantastic. I love flying so I pretty much had my face glued to the window. I always find it crazy how for instance, in Ottawa the weather was mondo crappy. But when we took off we disappeared into the clouds and moments later we burst through the cloud cover to reveal blue skies and that wonderful sun dealio! I always find the super neat! So yeah, the plane did it's thing and I did my thing. Seeing as how there were lots of clouds going on, I couldn't really see the ground at all so all I could really do is sit there and pretend that I was asleep. After awhile I decided to check out the little navigation computer that tells you where your plane is. At that point, we were north of Quebec and slowing creeping up on the Arctic Circle. I took another look outside and could see that the clouds were not as thick as they once were. Beneath the clouds I could finally see the ground. It took me a couple looks to realize that it wasn't just more clouds and was in fact the ground. Snow. Ice. That is all. I am in Hoth. I think later today we're going to go get our pictures taken with a Tauntaun. It's pretty insane here. As the plane started to descend to prepare for landing, we got under the minor cloud cover and I was able to get a better look at the surroundings. As I previously mentioned, snow, ice. That is all. As far as the eye can see. It is just a vast desolate land of nothing. Few trees here and there, other than that.... Nothingness. Haha. I believe that Iqaluit is at the tip of a bay. When we were landing I was able to see all the frozen ice and where the ice had broken. It was crazy neat. It was kinda like when you put too much weight on a plate and it cracks very neatly and you could pretty much glue it back together perfectly. Pretty awesome. So yeah, we finally landed and I was somewhat prepared for the coldness which was about to kick me in the man bits. I got off the plane and onto dry ground once again. 30 seconds. That's all it took. 30 seconds for the snot in my nose to freeze. Probably even sooner actually. It is friggin' COLD. Hahaha, well what can you expect right? So I got into the terminal and Ryan and Karolina were there to greet me. We jumped into the truck and Ryan drove around for a bit to give me a mini tour of the area. We drove to this area where the road ends and it pretty much empties into the bay. The bay as I said is more or less frozen. So what do you do with frozen water? You get out and go for a mini stroll on it! Didn't go very far at all. Just a small jaunt. After that jaunt, I officially decided that in order to come home with all my toes, I need to always be wearing two pairs of socks. I've had cold feet before. But I've never had feet so cold that it burned. Even when I'm wearing socks and boots. Sweet jesus. So yeah, got back in the car and drove around some more. It's very small here. Finally we made it back to Ryan's house. Shower! Warmest shower ever...
Blah blah blah. Wow, I'm being crazy long winded here. I will cut to the chase then. Basically what happened after my shower is I napped quickly and then started having a couple beers. We ordered food from a place called The Snack. My poutine cost $12. Dear god. Everything is crazy expensive here. A 12pk of soda is $15. Redbull for $7. So on and so forth. Our entertainment for the evening was going to a place called The Storehouse. It's a restaurant/bar/dance place. We went for wing night, which was actually a very reasonable price for wings. $5 for 10. Not too bad at all! Although a regular sized can of beer is $7. Yeesh. It's really neat though, while you're hanging out and drinking and eating you have random Inuit people come up to your table trying to sell you random items. For example, amazing stone carvings of animals, handmade animal jewelery, paintings and drawings. Ryan ended up buying a sketching from a gent. Pretty nice drawing at that. It's pretty cool seeing all this neat stuff come to your table but I can see it getting annoying after awhile. So the night progressed, we got a wee bit drunk and enjoyed some merriment. After wards we were standing outside about to get into a cab when all of a sudden I get grabbed and pushed from behind! I seriously thought that I was about to get in a fight. But as it seems it was the same Inuit gent that Ryan bought the sketching from. I guess he used the money that Ryan gave him for the sketching to get ridiculously drunk. I guess the grabbing and the pushing was his polite way of asking if anyone had any cigarettes to give him. We told him no and sent him on his way. It was pretty out of nowhere. Haha. So we jumped into a cab that was sitting there and the cab driver had a good time laughing at me about the scene that he had just witnessed. Good times. Haha. So we arrived back home where we ordered more $12 poutine and sat around for a bit. Eventually I passed out on the couch and ended my first day in the arctic.
So now I'm here. Spending what day light I have left typing away haha. Not to sure what we're up to today but you will definitely hear about it. Well, read about it suppose. Anyhoo, I've spent way too much time on here so I will take my leave.
Good day to you all.
Stay sassy

-Andy

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